It’s been a quiet week in Washington. We have been settling down into the routine of school runs, homework, soccer practice and a complete and utter lack of holidays! It feels like months since we’ve had a holiday!
There have been a few things going on though which need to be recorded. Last weekend started with Toby’s Coyote Team winning their soccer game on the Friday night. Toby was awarded man of the match by his coach thanks to his non-stop running, action packed goal scoring performance. The fact that his dad is the coach is completely and utterly irrelevant.
On Saturday morning we went to Redmond for the first time. Not sure why we haven’t been here before but we finally made the trip after learning there was a British pantry there. After about 15 minutes and $130 later we left with supplies that would probably have cost £15 in the UK! $10 for branston pickle! Really? Who would pay that!? Although when I ate some later with a $6 pork pie the cost felt justified! The haggis was rung through the till at $200! Fortunately this was an oversight on the cashiers behalf – it was only $20 (or 2 pots of Branston in British Pantry money).
Located next to the pantry is a British pub. We didn’t go in this time but maybe next time we should go in for an afternoon drink and then buy a pork pie and go home! Sounds like a very British weekend afternoon.
Sunday is now officially football day much to Tracy’s delight! It starts with the English variety in the morning, the American version in the afternoon and evening and somewhere in the middle we squeeze in Harry and the Issaquah Gunners. On Sunday it was a 3:15pm kick-off, so Toby and I took our seats on the side with our umbrellas and enjoyed the rain, sun and football. The stress was a bit too much for Tracy so she stayed at home for this fixture. This week the Gunners were playing Crossfire Premier Shull. Both teams had won their opening game of the season so it was being billed (mainly by Harry, Toby and I) as the clash of the giants. Fortunately the Gunners class shone through and they won 4-0, with Harry “Stickman” Stickells scoring another. The results all went the Gunners way and after two rounds of the league the Gunners are 6 points clear at the top of the table. Come on Gunners!
On Tuesday night we went to the Sounders CONCACAF Champions League game and we all know what that means! Soundwave!! So here’s the obligatory video:
httpv://youtu.be/u85TAl4kcAQ
The attendance was low compared to normal but at least that meant we got to sit in some nice padded seats, with beer bought to us, all for a very reasonable price! The match itself was not great. Sounders lost to the Costa Rican team Herediano. They were cheating, diving Costa Ricans but we still should have beaten them. The main thing is though that the boys enjoyed themselves although you wouldn’t think so to look at their faces in this picture!
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This week also saw the start of the fall TV schedule. I think we can safely say that the summer schedule is not great but that apparently is because Americans are out in the evenings across the summer so they put reality TV programmes on, try new programmes and generally have rubbish on. This week though it all changed because …. X-factor USA started!! So we’ve had two episodes of that plus the season premier of Revenge which looks quite good. Dancing with the Stars has also started and we still have the great programmes like Man vs. Food and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives! Factor into all this that we are watching Celebrity Masterchef and X-factor UK and we’re actually having a busy time of it!
On Thursday Harry and Toby had “earthquake practice” at school. They apparently learnt all about what to do if there was a big one although the fact that we are having lots of little ones at the moment is apparently a good thing as it means that pressure is being released rather than building up. Not sure if that is actually true but the logic seems sensible. The people at the school bus stop have also told Tracy that we need to have an earthquake plan at home because apparently there is a small fault line that runs along the I-90 just over the back of our house. So when you’re packing to come visit us make sure you bring earthquake survival stuff!
Friday was the first day of fall and another lovely day. It was super hot during Toby’s football training in the afternoon. This week, after practicing their passing, the Coyotes played the Ocelots. With time running out and the scores tied at 3-3 young Toby Stickells seized the moment, dribbled past a couple of players and calmly slotted the ball into the goal. It finished 4-3 and the Coyotes won again. Toby once again received the man of the match award from the coach!
Friday evening was spent in Red Robin and then watching the UARS satellite taking its crash course to earth – it did at one point go right over Seattle, fortunately it kept going and disaster in Washington was averted!
And so, that was the quiet week that was!