Settling in Seattle

This move has been like no other we've done. And unfortunately we've done quite a few!

We had the option of shipping things and magically came $3 under the shipping budget! That meant that our car was only loaded with road trip necessities and a few last minute things that we forgot to stick in boxes. It was perfect.

So, coming into our FULLY furnished apartment (think nice hotel suite in terms of furnishing styles), we had four boxes to unpack, a big duffel bag, and a couple small bags. That was it. The apartment is brand new so we have a kosher kitchen again, which is unthinkably amazing! The kitchen items they stocked it with all still had the labels on them. Again, way more than we were expecting in terms of awesomeness! There were a few things that didn't have labels so we have them on the side, waiting to hear back from the company on whether or not they are new as well.

We made a trip out to Ikea for some basics we needed, a couple extra kitchen accessories, some laundry baskets, things to set up a small play area, and just because I absolutely love Ikea and don't have one near me.

We made a trip to Target for toiletry needs.

We made a trip to one of the markets with a great kosher selection for a couple things.

We made a HUGE order on Amazon Fresh for the rest of our food stocking up and I can't wait to see how that works out. The delivery will be here this afternoon!

Ok, here's a little tour of our Deeeeluxe Apartment In The Sky! (We are on the 9th floor!!)

Entryway, coat/storage closet to the left and bathroom to the right

Said bathroom, with dryer line open and kids' territory clearly marked by the bathtub

Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen

Master Bedroom

Nother view

Living/dining room being guarded by our soldier

She was dressed up as Buzz Lightyear about ten seconds before I came through with the camera

Dining area

Play area. The pile of dress-up clothes will be hanging off hooks on the wall in a few minutes. Hopefully.

Kids' Room

Love the sliding door to their room!

Part of the view from our balcony

And I made a quick video walk through to really get a feel for the place. For some reason my camera kept giving me problems, so this was my third attempt and I was clearly lacking in the pep I initially had.

The building itself is pretty much its own little eco-system. I don't have as many pictures of that yet but I will try to get some soon.

The concierge desk has every bit of information you could need and every imaginable service, including dry cleaning.

In the first week of June, a few restaurants will be opening right off the lobby, along with a juice/coffee bar and small market.

A hair salon is also slated to open soon.

There is a theater room, fully loaded with two huge screens, a kinnect, a wet bar, probably more systems that I didn't catch. You can reserve it for private use or just hang out there. Not the greatest picture, shot it with my phone, not my camera.

There is a bike shop on the first floor. Along with a shower room and vertical bike storage space.

There are four zip cars available for rent on the property.

The public bathrooms on the first two floors have tvs integrated into the mirrors. Even the single bathrooms.

The elevators all have tvs with the news playing for your quick trip. And you need to have an access code or FOB to get to any of the residential floors.

The second floor offers an area called The Mezanine, offering multiple seating areas to chill or enjoy your food from one of the restaurants, a pool table, two shuffleboard tables, and two Pac-Man tables. At the end of the second floor is the gym. I don't want to keep using the same adjectives over and over so let me just get this out of the way. Everything in this building is a whole lot of awesome, amazing, enormous, gigantic, insane, unimaginable, and so much more. The gym has state of the art equipment and I would like to pretend that I will be there daily.

The building is pretty tall and consists of two towers but on the seventh floor, there is an enormous deck called The Pavilion. It connects the two towers and has multiple areas to hang out. Some fire pits, a nice water feature, a great sun bathing area with a little outdoor shower, grilling spots, amazing views. There are four enormous, top-of-the-line kitchens with tvs and seating space available for private parties.

That should be enough to hold most of you over for now! Enjoy, I know we will.

I still need to backtrack and post pictures of our road trip. Think good and it will be good. The post will get posted!

Oh What a Day!!

When I was younger, I was lucky enough to go on a traveling summer program called Teva Tours. We got on a bus and saw the country. We camped every night, we had amazing day trips mixed with a little learning, we learned to appreciate the beautiful wonders of God's creations.

Today was like a page out of my photo album from that experience. More like ten pages actually. 

We started out with a breakfast on our little waterfront deck and headed back out on the 90. We had originally decided to save the Badlands for our return drive in August but both kids were sleeping so we hopped on the scenic loop to enjoy the view. Benny woke up about two thirds of the way through and was in awe of everything he was seeing. It was adorable! Until he had made an urgent bathroom request with at least twenty minutes until the next restroom. Then it was a mad rush to get out of there!!

We headed to a town called Wall to see the famous Wall Drug -- the billboards began calling to us at least 200 miles back! It was cute and the kids really got a kick out of all the old timey stores. 

Next on our agenda was Bear Country USA. I had been psyching up both Benny and Shuky for this, I knew it would not disappoint. And it didn't. Benny willingly kept his video off and was just as excited as we were with all the animals. Especially the bears coming up to the car!

From there it was just a skip, hop, and jump over to Mt. Rushmore but we wanted to get to our hotel at a normal hour so we did a drive by on the presidential faces and mentally added it to the 'way back list'. 

I need to mention -- the weather was in the 80s and 90s all day. I am loving it! :)

We found a cute hotel with an indoor water park, got the kids right into their bathing suits and went down for some fun. And fun it was. For all of us!! Benny had his floaties and went down the big water slides with Shuky (each on their own slides, right next to each other) while Bella and I did the toddler slides at least thirty times. And the lazy river too. She was a shivering raisin when I wrapped her in the towel, but she was still yelling 'I REBBY FOR LELLOW!!!' {translation: I'm ready for the yellow slide}

The cherry on top was coming back up to our room and finding out I won a gift certificate to Florsheim Kids Shoes (hello snazzy shoes for Benny!!) from one of my go-to spots for Benny's styling, Boys Be Cool!!

Shuky has a car mount for his cell phone and took some cool footage of the day, creating some time lapse videos to share part of our experiences. I love these so I had to share!


Cloudy moments during a bathroom break


 Crossing the Missouri River to our hotel last night

Nice little stretch of highway on the I-90

Scenic route through Badlands National Park

Bear Country USA. When the car stops, we are busy being enamored by an amazing animal and snapping pictures with the real camera.

I had a bunch of pictures I wanted to post as well, but I am wayyy too tired. I will try to do a condensed picture post at the end of the road trip with all the pictures that did not make the regular posts. In the meantime, sleep beckons to me and I will not ignore it any longer!!

On the Missouri River

Today, we began our westward bound journey toward Seattle. The kids tune into their shows and yell out for the occasional food/drink/bathroom request. Shuky and I get to actually have normal adult conversations and normal music playing! And we love seeing the different cities and sites we pass.

Tonight, we stopped at a cute little hotel on the Missouri River. Like literally right on the river. There's a door from our room to walk out to a cute little waterfront deck.  

We got a late start this morning (surprise!!) so we got into the hotel later than planned tonight. The kids are both still up, unfortunately, and super kvetchy so I need to get some snores going on in this room, for everyone's sake. I will leave you with some pictures though!

Happy Mothers Day to everyone out there!

Ready For Adventure

A week from now, we will be sleeping in a hotel on the first night of our road trip as we head to Seattle for the summer. Shuky's internship with Amazon has us all extremely excited! The fact that our housing situation will be so much easier on us this summer has me way more calm than I would normally be this close to our annual migration. I have lists galore around the apartment and have theoretically packed three times over. In my head. The physical part is moving slightly slower.

Being that we are getting put up in corporate housing for this experience, we will be shipping a box or two with kitchen essentials and then packing our car up with our clothing and a few basics and away we will go!

We plan on stopping at Mt. Rushmore and hopefully picnicing at Badlands National Park.

Shavuos will be spent in Bozeman, MT.

Our first Shabbos in Seattle will be spent with friends, low key and just what we will need.

This week, my to-do list is extremely intimidating. Which clearly explains why I am sitting in front of the computer, 'window shopping' for cute summer clothing for the kids. And blogging. And facebooking. And pinning nail polish colors. And watching HGTV.

Oh, and of course I am going away with the kids a few weeks after we get to Seattle. My annual family visit to the lovely world of California! We are super excited, my mom will be meeting us out there and Benny and I have put together quite a list of things we'd like to see this trip!

It's finals week for Shuky and that generally means I don't see him. Not this week, not last week, and quite sparsely the week before that. It's 11:10 pm as I sit and write this and he is still at school.

And this is Benny's last week at his school with his amazing teachers and friends. We are sad to be losing our  UCC family but look forward to the new experiences we will have when he goes to kindergarten in the fall. Wow, I have a kid going into kindergarten. Insanity.

I'm exhausted and overwhelmed and in denial of how much needs to be done right now. I apologize for the rambling and with that I say good night!

Benny's Tips

The Maccabeats  (an awesome A Capella group from YU) released a new video on YouTube called Smart Ways to Live, their parody of Dumb Ways to Die. I think they did an awesome job parodying an already awesome song!

Here is the original:

And here is the version from the Maccabeats:

The kids and I have listened to this a few times today already, Benny and I stopping to comment on some of the things they talk about. Benny decided he wanted to put together his own list of smart ways to live, and so, ladies and gentlemen, without any further delays, I give you:

Benny's Smart Ways to Live Tips!!!

1. Don't throw books and toys at your friends

2. Don't shoot at someone

3. Don't fight with people

4. Never eat a fish with his eyes on

5. If a nephew wants ice cream, give it ice cream

6. Don't put boogies in people's ears

The words you have just read are in no way a reflection of the opinion of this blogger. They belong entirely to the views of a four year old boy with a constant flow of randmoness coming out of his mouth. This blog takes no responsibility for the vomit the sixth item may induce in any readers.

Always Read Reviews Before Purchasing!!

Sometimes you find something posted on Amazon that just makes you shake your head in wonder. Like, what in the world is the point of this product, or why was it named like this, or WHO IN THE WORLD BUYS THIS???? You notice it has been rated and reviewed. Thousands and thousands of times. In that moment, you realize you stumbled upon a gem like no other and prepare yourself for hours of entertainment as you sift through the reviews. Breathing becomes difficult, as does seeing through the tears of laughter. 

In honor of me being awake and already caffeinated on this rainy Sunday morning, I am compiling a list of my favorite ones, in no specific order. Some may have been shared on my FB page before, some on friends' pages (or even friends of friends in the case of the lady BIC pens), some I found on my own. Whatever the case, I hope you laugh as much as I did while reading all of these! Click on the quoted review to see them all - if you dare.

My daughter asked me to slice her a banana. I responded " Ain't nobody got time for that". Then low and behold I was introduced to the Hutzler 571, and my life has been changed. I now have more time to decorate my dream home on Pinterest. Thanks Hutzler!

"Tuscan Whole Milk" can be re-arranged to say "I'll know mustache". Coincidence? I think not.

Read this book before going on vacation and I couldn't find my cruise liner in the port. Vacation ruined.

WARNING Please be advised that while wearing this shirt may seem to transform you, an actual wolf WILL NOT recognize you as a member of its pack. Real wolves can apparently sense your true human form even when cloaked in the shirt's magic. As a side note, while trying to become accepted by the wolves, I noticed the alpha male would occasionally wear a t-shirt with a collage of overweight, middle aged men playing World of Warcraft.

Adding this desk to my car's steering wheel has been baby Jesus awesome. I love emailing the Highway patrol while I drive to let them know the tag numbers of cell phone using drivers. Lordy!

First of all I'm a male. I picked a pink one up by mistake to write a quick note... Next thing I know I'm sitting down to take a pee. Be careful.

I bought two, left them alone in the refrigerator for a week, and now I have thirty-eight. Off to buy a bigger fridge.

"Perhaps you are thinking: 'But a tank costs several million dollars, not including floor mats. I don't have that kind of money.' Don't be silly. You're a consumer, right? You have credit cards, right? Perhaps you are thinking: 'Yes, but how am I going to pay the credit-card company?' Don't be silly. You have a tank, right?"

We here. This thing not find us. It not work. We watch you from afar. You think, why we post on here? We post because we want become friend. We not like movie. We not want blow up congress. We not want steal water. We not want eat you. Most time not want put thing in butt. When human ready, we show you us. For now, we wait.

Of course this isn't as good as fresh, but who has time to hunt unicorns these days?

Alright, that should be a good start to get your laughing ball rolling here. I'd better step away from my computer and get some stuff done!

Fluffy and White

I have a few things to write about but I really don't like condensing posts. I guess that's what happens when you take too long of a sabbatical from your blog! Best case scenario, I end up with a few posts saved to get published over the next couple days. Worst case scenario, all my thoughts get jumbled into one long, windy, somewhat hard to follow post. I vote for what's behind door number one!

When Benny was first born, I wanted to start an online consulting business for baby products. I started a blog to get it rolling. My thoughts were to eventually turn that into a site of it's own and maybe one day, an actual storefront - boutique style. I was going to use the blog as a review site with contact info for private consultations. It never took off, our life was blown into the wind of change, I still own the domain name but the game plan has changed. I still do private consultations for plenty of friends but I do it as a hobby. I never charge. I don't do reviews really on a main scale level.

Recently, I got an opportunity to review a product from a company called Puj. I was sent the fluffiest towel known to kidkind, called the Puj Big Hug.

It has a built in rubber notch on the hood for easy hanging, by kid or parent. 

 Bella loved how long it was. It had a bit of a train on her, being the tiny little two year old that she is, but she tends to drop her towel as soon as she sees her tooth brush anyway.

  I mentioned it before but it is definitely worth mentioning again: This is by far the softest and fluffiest towel we own. And I have nice, expensive towels from our wedding registry. 

There are 'pockets' for kiddo's hands, for easy wrapping around cute little ones. 

We let each kid have a turn with it and they both love it so much! We will have to take turns with this towel for sure! They were super warm and totally figured it out instantly.

Shuky and I both want one in our size. It's that awesome!

I would love to see it in more color options but the white is definitely a classy look! This towel feels really well made and it washed really nicely! It does have a higher price point but if that's not a deciding factor for you, I say to give it a go!

And I kind of dropped the ball on this. I received the product while out of town for Pesach and was not able to complete the review until now. Had I known this awesome product would ship so quickly, I would have had it shipped to me in North Carolina! I had a special discount code to offer but it expired before I even opened the box!

Please note: I was provided with a product in order to review with my own opinions. No compensation was provided.