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The leaves are falling down

The leaves are falling down

Red, yellow, green and brown

The leaves are falling down

httpv://youtu.be/2LNF__4jm1Y

As seems the norm these days our weekend got off to an eventful start. You wouldn’t think anything could go wrong when all we had to do was get up, get dressed and go out but it did. As I came down the stairs Harry was standing by the dining table shaking his hand and pulling a face. When asked what the matter was he said he’d done something to his finger and it hurt. He was adamant he didn’t know what he’d done though. He’d been playing around with Match Attacks cards so I asked if he had a paper cut. He didn’t. I told him hurting fingers were a sign of naughty fingers and left him too it.

A few minutes later the house was full of Harry having one of his dramatic crying escapades. His fingers really hurt and he couldn’t be consoled. Big tears, big huffs and puffs and hyper-ventilating but still no idea what had made this happen. I thought he was having one of his attention seeking tantrums so carried on loading the car. Tracy was a bit more patient and eventually Harry revealed that he’d put his fingers on Tracy’s hair straighteners. This wouldn’t normally be a problem but unfortunately for Harry they had been turned on in preparation for some hair straightening action! After some cold water, savlon and three Spongebob Squarepants plasters Harry was finally able to leave the house.

Later at the Pumpkin Patch Harry revealed that he hadn’t just touched the straighteners – he’d put his fingers between the tongs and closed them on his fingers. Donut!

I don’t know how I’d found it but I had – a glass blown pumpkin patch show in Issaquah. I thought it sounded interesting so on a beautiful autumnal Saturday morning we went to the farmers market in Issaquah. The patch was in the hay barn and very impressive it was too! At least I thought it was anyway! The glass pumpkins are blown by a company in Tacoma, which is a city famous for its glass blowing, so we may take a trip down there to see the glass museum and blow our own pumpkin.

After much umming and aaahhhing (and me announcing that I wasn’t leaving until we bought one) we chose a single, flat pumpkin. It’s the most expensive pumpkin I’ve ever bought but I think it was worth it. We just need to keep the boys, balloons and balls away from it!

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We’ll be back at the farmers market soon – they sell British bacon and bangers! It was all we could do to drag Tracy away!

 

 

 

As you might expect the birthday day started early but not necessarily for the reasons you might expect. At about 6am Tracy and I woke suddenly to see a dark shape looming over us. It was Harry. It wasn’t an excited, happy, eager to open his presents Harry but a Harry whose throat and neck really hurt. It was all dry and he was starting to cry so emergency medical help in the shape of a bottle of water was required. He had a few gluggs, was wished a happy birthday and told to go back to bed!

Just after 7am the birthday started again! Harry arrived in our room and got a round of birthday songs. Toby arrived soon after with a present and some more songs. Harry opened this first present and was possibly slightly underwhelmed. Toby had been given the option of a number of presents to give to his big brother however none of them had really appealed. They didn’t quite have the feel of that certain something he wanted to give his brother. So a couple of days earlier Toby had gone into the playroom and picked out something to give to Harry as a present! So, the first present of Harry’s 9th birthday was a toy lorry that Toby had found in the playroom!

Once Toby had stopped laughing we went downstairs so Harry got to open some proper presents:

httpv://youtu.be/CQ09epvyqCc

As each present was opened by Harry it was accompanied by “ooh, I wanted one of those” from Toby. Harry didn’t manage to have the same (slightly forced) patience Toby had with presents on his birthday. He knew the school bus would wait for no-one so he ripped through them!

There was then a lull in the birthday celebrations due to the interruptions of school, although his birthday was announced over the school tannoy, his school dinner pin machine wished him a happy birthday and they got a longer recess because everyone was singing happy birthday to him.

In the afternoon Toby had his Coyotes soccer practice before we could go out to the restaurant of Harry’s choice. This week the Coyotes were playing the Panthers in what turned out to be a tough old battle. Toby had gone to the match intending to score one goal for his brother but as it turned out Toby put in (another) man of the match performance and scored a hat-trick. Coyotes won 5-3, with Toby dedicating one goal to his brother, one to his mum and one to his dad.

Once we got home and gave Harry his birthday cake, we jumped in the car and went to Zeeks Pizza in Kirkland. After throwing lots of dough at each other and eating yummy pizza we went home for chocolate cake. When we got home Tracy went upstairs with Toby while Harry and I put the TV on. A little while later we went upstairs and found both of them asleep in bed! And with that birthday month in Bellevue was over!

httpv://youtu.be/MJgBRoG2sm0

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Harry and Toby playing football manager on his new laptop:

 

I’m not sure if Toby is just concerned about getting a belly the size of his Dad’s or if he is getting carried away with his training regime for Friday night soccer. Either way he is determined to keep himself trim. His Aunty Sally would be pleased!

httpv://youtu.be/JRp6kzq8VRc

He was on it for just over 7 minutes and burnt 26 calories, that should keep the belly away for a little bit longer!

My parents will be pleased to know that I have made two two excellent purchases with my birthday money.

The first is a nice giraffe for the house – the same as the one Sally bought when she was out here. I have become very attached to that giraffe and I wasn’t going to give it back to Sally when we returned to the UK. As this probably wasn’t the friendliest thing to do I thought I should get my own. I adopted the same approach to the purchase as Sally, find a minor scratch on the giraffe and get a discount! It worked a treat and the shop assistant asked if a 10% discount was acceptable. I thought it was and made the purchase:

The second investment is a future family heirloom! I’m very pleased with it as are the boys. It is …. drumroll please …a Barcelona shirt signed by Lionel Messi! I’m very excited about this purchase! It is currently being framed so that I can hang it on a wall. I’m not sure Tracy will allow it in the master bedroom so it may go into the boys room. Lucky them!

What an excellent pair of birthday presents!!

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!

Friday night. Toby won at football. A nice tea washed down with ice-cream cake. What next? Dancing of course!! Never mind America’s Got Talent – Bellevue is where it is at!

httpv://youtu.be/Cc6KWees7cM

 

September is the birthday month in this house and today was Toby’s turn. Five years ago today out he popped – just like that – and he’s been trouble ever since! So here we go in honor of the birthday boy, here is Aunty Sally singing happy birthday:

httpv://youtu.be/wFh-rX_Sfhs

The day had a very busy start. Toby woke up, had a tickle fight with Tracy as it is the only day in the year when you can have one with her without being punched in the face, had a birthday cup of tea, opened a couple of presents, had breakfast, got dressed and set off for his early entry test for school. This possibly wasn’t the main present Toby had hoped for, however, he did it and was a little superstar irrespective of the outcome.

httpv://youtu.be/m-5QZwtilXY

httpv://youtu.be/8HFQr_B4bCs

He got back home  he wanted to, understandably, open the rest of the presents but he managed to control the excitement and wait a bit longer – until everyone was back from work and school. Next stop was Bellevue Mall where he spent his vouchers and money on Cars lego and a Build-a-Bear kitten, called George. He is a soft toy monster – his bedroom is slowly disappearing under them!

After collecting Harry from school it was off for a couple of hours fun at Chuck E. Cheese’s. They used tokens up playing all sorts of games and then used all the tickets they had won to buy some tat. You just can’t beat plastic tat – these two love it. Finally it was back home to open the rest of his presents and start playing!

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httpv://youtu.be/6eyTf4TX6JI

So that’s two down, one more to go, and a certain Master Harry Stickells cannot wait!

Sunrise and Pike sounds like a street address in Seattle but in fact it is just a very short post to include some pictures from the last week.

Firstly, there have been some fabulous sun rises:

Secondly, on Saturday morning we went to Pike Place market and stocked up with food, things for the kitchen and flowers:

And that’s it! Something and nothing or Sunrise and Pike.

 

Although there have been a few quakes around since we have been out in Washington, Friday was the first quake that I felt. At 12:41pm a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Vancouver Island.

I was sat sitting in my office and to be honest I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it if it hadn’t been for the blinds in my office. They started swaying and banging against the side of the wall. At first I couldn’t work out what it was – other than my office being haunted my best guess was that maybe some work was being done in an office above or to the side – it was only when Tevin said that “I think we’re having an earthquake” that it even dawned on me!

I stood up as it was then that I felt the building moving a bit. Not lots but enough to make my legs go funny! The blinds probably kept swaying and banging into the wall for a couple of minutes before they stopped. In the meantime  lots of people who I’ve not seen before appeared out of offices and announced that “we’re having an earthquake”!

Anyway, the detail of the earthquake can be found on the US Government earthquake site. It was just a tiny one in the grand scheme of things but it was quite exciting for a few minutes!

Now moving onto a more scientific review. Apparently this part of the earths crust (Pacific NorthWest) has the smallest tectonic plate – the Juan de Fuca plate. It is named after the explorer of the same name, a 16th Century Greek explorer from Kefalonia.

This tectonic plate was generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and sub-ducting under the northerly portion of the western side of the North American Plate at the Cascadia sub-duction zone. It is bound on the south by the Blanco Fracture Zone (running northeast off the coast of Oregon, USA), on the north by the Nootka Fault (running southwest off Nootka Island, near Vancouver Island, Canada), and along the west by the Pacific Plate (which covers most of the Pacific Ocean and is the largest of Earth’s tectonic plates).

The smallest of Earth’s tectonic plates, the Juan de Fuca Plate is a remnant part of the once-vast Farallon Plate, which is now largely subducted under the North American Plate. The Juan de Fuca plate itself has since fractured into three pieces, and the name is applied to the entire plate in some references, but in others only to the central portion. When the three fragments are so distinguished, the piece to the south is known as the Gorda Plate and the piece to the north is known as the Explorer Plate. The separate pieces are demarcated by the large offsets of the undersea spreading zone.

This subducting plate system has formed the Cascade Range, the Cascade Volcanic Arc, and the Pacific Ranges, along the west coast of North America from southern British Columbia to northern California. These in turn are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a much larger-scale volcanic feature that extends around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean.

There is speculation that the Ring of Fire is flexing its muscles. It started with the large earthquake in Japan last year (or was it this year? I can’t remember!), followed by a large earthquake in Alaska not so long ago, and now this little quake. Maybe there is going to be a large quake further down the coast – it appears to be moving in a clockwise direction?

As long as it doesn’t hit Bellevue that’s the main thing – I can cope with a 6.4 quake and more importantly so can the buildings, so I think that will do for me!