It’s been another week of “just living” in America. Maybe I’m calming down a little and not feeling the need to go out every weekend! Anyway, it’s been a fun week doing a bunch of different things.
On Wednesday we went and had our induction at the gym. I went first and had my tour round the machines. It’s slightly worrying about how often they tell you that the gym never gets busy – what does everyone else know that we don’t!? After I finished, Tracy went for her tour and I took the two little piglets into the pool. Both of them did some very good swimming. Harry didn’t have his tummy band and swam very well, including plenty of under water swimming. Toby did have his tummy band but swam like a little fish anyway. After an hour in the pool and starting to encourage our healthy side we went to Burger King and had a flamed grilled whopper!! Not ideal but nice nonetheless!
Harry went to soccer training on Thursday night. There were a few more boys this week – four instead of two – so I think going to training in Issaquah next week is definitely the right thing to do. Anyway, training went well, his coach praised Harry, saying that he “had skills that he had never seen another boy do at this age”. Fortunately Harry didn’t hear this otherwise we wouldn’t have heard the end of it! Considering he has been a coach for 40 years, we either have 1) a truly gifted soccer player for a son, 2) his coach gets a little carried away, or 3) American kids just aren’t very good at soccer!
On the downside, a Bosnian boy called Ferris started this week, He’d never played soccer before so no threat from that perspective, however he did win all the sprints which didn’t go down well!
On Friday evening it was my turn to choose where we ate. And being totally unoriginal I selected Zeeks Pizza, although we went to Issaquah rather than Kirkland so I had some originality to my choice. Before we went out Toby had to get changed. He had chosen his own clothes and for some reason Tracy wasn’t prepared to go out with him looking the way he did! Can’t think why – any ideas?
Harry and Toby shared a pizza – chicken on one side and pepperoni on the other. I like that about Zeeks, you can choose a different topping on each side of the base. Tracy liked Issaquah Zeeks better than Kirkland as the wine selection was better.
On Saturday as the boys were still undecided about going on adventures – Harry wanted one, Toby didn’t – we compromised and took them on a shopping adventure! First we went to the Bellevue Foam shop and ordered two pieces of foam to fit on the single beds. They will be ready for collection on Tuesday and will be our mattresses. We lay on a sample on the shop floor and they were surprisingly solid considering the weight I placed on it!
After the foam shop we went to Pier 1 imports and were actually, very well behaved! I think the giant spoon and spatula may be purchased soon though to accompany the knife and fork we already have on the wall in the kitchen.
The shopping bonanza continued as we headed off along the I-90 up the mountains into the clouds to the North Bend premium outlet shopping center. After a couple of hours mooching around here and a couple of pairs of sneakers, some basketball shorts and a few other bits and pieces later, the clouds had lifted and we decided we ought to go home.
As it had been a very busy afternoon, Tracy thought she deserved a little drink when she got home:
The bottle was empty on the side before the night was through! Although I suppose I should admit that I helped a little!
Sunday morning. A well deserved lie-in. Or so we hoped. Instead it started with “Mum”, …, “Muuum”, …, “MUUUUUUUUMMMMMM”. It was Toby and he was feeling sick. Fortunately the bowl was close by as he had claimed to feeling ill the evening before although we thought this may have been an excuse for not going to sleep (it was about 10pm at night, having not gone to sleep until about 11pm the night before).
As it turns out, he was feeling poorly and spent most of the morning being sick. It was mostly phlegm but it’s still not pleasant. After a couple of power naps he finally managed to crawl his way downstairs and it wasn’t long before he was asking what was for lunch – which was toast, much to his disappointment!
My morning was spent getting beaten on the xbox by my 8 year old son. Great.