Vail, Colorado here we come

After a very intense month, I am happy to say good bye to Seattle for a few days. The kids have their mid-term break starting tomorrow and what could be better than going on a little trip when there are a few free days to fill with fun.

Last year we explored Snowmass and Aspen in Colorado. I would say Snowmass is the place to go if you have younger kids. Aspen has steeper slopes and the sun disappears quickly since the slopes are facing north. Aspen has a lot of good restaurants and shops though and is close to Snowmass.

This year, we decided to explore Vail. As usual, I will bring books and training gear. No skiing for me. Fortunately, little I took some ice skating lessons, so we will check out the ice as well. For those of you who do not know Seattle that well, I can tell you that it can be really hard to find ice to ice skate on outdoors here during winter hence the ice skating lessons.

San Sebastian

I sit here and realize that I did not blog about our vacation in Puerto Vallarta. And now, Christmas and Mexico feels very far away.

Puerto Vallarta was excellent to have as a base from which to go on excursions.

We rented a car while in PV and one day we drove up into the Sierra Madre mountains to visit San Sebastian, a small town that was founded in 1605. Very picturesque and hardly any tourists.

Centered around a square, this former mining town have a few restaurants, hotels, and a church.

We had a stroll around the town and had a very good lunch.

The town church.

Little I in search for ice cream

And she found it.

Later in the afternoon, we rented a couple of ATVs and drove further up in the mountains.

This was a wonderful day trip, but if we come back we have decided to stay the night so we have some time to explore this area.

ER - long time, no see

When little I was younger, she reluctantly frequented ER. Little I played with window blinds and hurt her lip badly. Plastic surgery hello. Then she played with a saucepan and fell. Stitches on chin hello. And she got a bad bug of some sort so she had to go in for fluid refill. And so on and so on. And yes, the bead in her nose. I am pretty sure she is not the only child who has had that experience.

She has also dislocated her elbow twice, and this is what I thought happened yesterday. So off to ER again.

We were lucky as there was no queue to register and no people in the waiting room. I do not think that I have ever experienced that. It turned out her arm was fine, at least according to the X-ray, but something must have happened during her gymnastics class earlier in the evening.

Well, it was a short in-and-out visit and this is the first time I see a happy girl at ER.

And I have to tell myself to be happy as long as our whole family is well and healthy.

Crafts for Valentine

When I moved to Seattle about seven years ago, I did not realize Valentine was so big here. My oldest daughter came home from school one day and said she was going to make Valentine cards for everyone in her class. I thought it was a bit unusual. According to my experience from Sweden, Valentine cards were given to loved ones, that is family members, best friends, and a boyfriend or girlfriend.

I was glad she made those Valentine cards because everyone in her class had made her one and they all had given her a piece of candy. Although I think it is a pretty sweet tradition, I am opting out of the candy part. Instead we have included pencils, heart-shaped erasers, or some other small functional thing.

The other day the little one and I had a Valentine craft session. Well, the little one did all by herself. I just needed to help out with the spelling a bit.

What am I doing these days?

I am finally getting into a routine and concentrating on working on my online retail store. And it is hard work, but a lot of fun.

Things that I have been busy with lately are paying sales tax to Washington State for all products sold and preparing my taxes. It is not as boring as it sounds, just a bit tricky the first time. And I really love doing all the different things you have to do when having your own business, everything from web design and taxes to customer interaction and market research. 

I have also finally found someone to help out with marketing, and I think it is going to be a fun team effort. Thanks Kristin for being such a good friend and for providing your expertise.

The best part with having your own business is being your own boss. I can make all the decisions and I can only be angry with myself for making the wrong ones. I also enjoy interacting with customers and selecting the products for my store. Life is good.

I am currently focusing on getting the word out about my business, so if you would like to help me, you can do so by liking my company Facebook page, and you can also go to my store and Facebook like one or several products or pin them on Pinterest. And if you have purchased a product in my store, please write a review if you liked it. I really appreciate your help.

Apart from running my business, I am enjoying reading time with little I. She is making great progress reading in Swedish and English. And I am very thankful for the library at Swedish School here in Seattle.

Z has just finished her finals and is planning for her trip to Vancouver this weekend where she will take part in Model UN where they practice international debates and discussions. Z is representing Sweden and will discuss copyright and women's education. I wish I could go! At least we can enjoy good and interesting conversations at the dinner table, apart from when little I totally takes charge and wants all the attention.

Amazon's annual party 2013

Last Saturday it was time to join all Amazonians for the annual Amazon party. For those of you who do not know, Amazon has its HQ here in Seattle and has over 51,000 employees around the world. It is a fast growing company and so it is not strange that the party took place at CenturyLink Field to house all people.

This year's theme was global shipping (my definition) and we were welcomed by boxes hanging from the ceiling.

Containers with wall dancers.

Japanese themed bar.

And a good old British bus.

And we got to enjoy Imagine Dragons coming from Las Vegas to play us some tunes.

It was all a nice evening, although I must say that it was better last year when it was easier to find friends and colleagues.

Martin Luther King Jr Day

Thank you Martin for giving the kids an extra holiday. What would we have done without you.

I got to spend some good time with I at our local bowling joint where we practiced not to throw the bowling ball and not to forget to take out our fingers from the holes before the ball rolled away.

After out bowling session with our glow-in-the dark bowling shoes, we were ready to go home.

At home, I had a Semla and little I did some Valentine crafts.

And Zoe, well she is studying—as usual—with friends.