What Shall We Do?

The challenge of writing up three weeks with Sally in town is not an easy one! Parts of it are captured in other posts about Vancouver, Grouse Mountain and Hawaii but the rest of the time would take some explaining. So rather than try and write about everything I’m going to go with a list and pictures approach.

First off is a list of places we visted, things we did and restaurants we ate at (I’ve probably missed a few):

1. Space Needle
2. Macy’s
3. Bellevue Mall
4. Red Robin
5. Macy’s
6. Lola’s
7. Vasa Park
8. Bellevue Mall
9. Whidbey Island
10. Columbia Winery
11. Vancouver
12. Roots
13. Hawaii
14. Macy’s @ Hawaii
15. Snoqualmie Falls
16. Bellevue Mall
17. The Crab Pot
18. Kirkland
19. Zeeks Pizza
20. Duck Tours
21. PF Changs
22. Macy’s
23. Pike Place Market
24. Seattle Underground Tour
25. Bellevue Mall
26. Chittenden Locks
27. Ray’s Boathouse
28. Kerry Park
29. Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
30. Seatac International Airport

And secondly, if a picture speaks a thousand words then how about 126 of them!? Enjoy, we did!

[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”72157627520402544″]

Dirty Mancs!

Wednesday night was soccer night and the dirty Mancs were in town! It was the second game of our three match bundle and after a grey few days we had an evening of sunshine for the game. The local news was advising getting to the ground early as it was likely to be a chaotic evening in Seattle, with 67,502 (another record crowd) going to the soccer and 30,000 or so going to the Key Arena to see a Katy Perry concert.

They were right, it was pretty bad traffic going across the bridge even though we had left at 4:30pm. Mysteriously though as we went through the tunnel on the Seattle side of the bridge the traffic completely disappeared and we were left with an empty freeway which was nice! We’re not sure where it all went it was most peculiar!

Once we got to the stadium, we mooched about for a bit, listened to the band, saw the Premier League trophy which was rather shiny and then went up to the top of the stadium for something to eat before the match.

If you didn’t enjoy the Sound Wave video in the previous Sounders post then you can probably skip these two videos. I however, rather like the band, hence two more videos!

httpv://youtu.be/e0sMCOQAzaE

httpv://youtu.be/IBVKHp-7D2Y

Then we had some pre-match build up followed by the national anthem and fireworks – they take their sporting events very seriously over here:

httpv://youtu.be/we9aWZ2J8Ko

httpv://youtu.be/SYj5TxXzE-8

And, despite the fact that the Sounders lost 7-0, a good time was had by all. Even though I’m sure Tracy would rather have been at the Katy Perry concert!

[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”72157627148434535″]

July 4th

FYI, if you don’t like fireworks then this probably isn’t the post for you!

Our first July 4th, 4th of July or Independence Day depending on your preference was spent relaxing in the sunshine. We’ve had a good few days of sun now and long may it continue. After some soccer at Lake Hills Park in the morning the afternoon was spent lazing around in the garden – I think this is a definite requirement of the resolution of independence as proposed by Richard Henry Lee.

Just after 6pm we headed over to Bellevue Park where the Eastside spectacular had been going since early in the afternoon. Harry and Toby launched themselves into a variety of bouncey slides and obstacle courses without any of their normal hesitation. Maybe their confidence is growing? They would normally require some persuading.

After dinner at the Cheesecake Factory it was back to the park for the fireworks. Apologies in advance for the shaky camera (occasional altering of sound quality and lack of focus!) but if I’d known the display was going to last for seventeen and a half minutes I would have gone to the gym to train for the holding steady of a camera. Pins and needles in my right leg didn’t help either but hey, it was July 4th and I was going to record every last second of it!

Part 1 is as follows:

httpv://youtu.be/Rms0YWD9_bQ

Part 2 is here:

httpv://youtu.be/xGgFAWIgM_s

I would say I split the video up in order to give you a break however it was just because Youtube wouldn’t let me upload a video that is longer than 15 minutes. You’d have thought the fireworks team would have taken this into consideration and shortened their display accordingly. All in all the display was very good (a bit better than Northampton but it was close!) and best of all was the fact that Toby watched it all and didn’t cover his ears at any point. Confidence and bravery was clearly flowing through him tonight!

If having watched that display you think it lasted quite a while then you will be pleased to know that for about every minute the display lasted we spent 3 sat in the car park trying to get out! Their organization at big sporting events and the like is normally pretty good but I guess most of the police had taken the day off to celebrate Independence Day! Never mind, it’s all part of the fun!

Alki Beach

After a glorious day yesterday, we woke this morning to what promised to be another scorcher. After a round of conversations on skype we got our stuff together and set off for the beach. The initial plan had been to go north and take a ferry to Whidbey Island however a check on the weather suggested that Alki Beach may be a better bet. So we hit the road,  got lost round the dock area of Seattle – not the nicest place – and eventually made it across to Alki. Clearly on a sunny day you need to get there early because it was packed. People had sent up camp with their tents, BBQs and everything else you could possibly need for a day on the beach.

Harry and Toby were so convinced that they were going to swim in the Sound that they both bet me $10 that they would. Easy money! They were never going to swim in that cold water, although to be fair they went in a lot further than I expected, or than I would have gone. I didn’t even put my toes in! Harry did make a claim that he swam – see the “splash” photo below (look closely he is in there!) – but I didn’t accept it, so it is now double or quits on the next visit to the beach.

[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”72157626895747004″]

Lunch was fish and chips on the beach and then after another play in the water we packed up and headed back to the apartment. Back home we played some tennis, Harry and Toby shot some hoops – Harry is pretty impressive at basketball I must say – and then we went to the pool and the boys had a nice cooling swim. Cooling being the key here – the pool is not heated!

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet as we all got ready for school and work tomorrow. Two things of note though, firstly I did manage to capture my first picture of a Bald Eagle which is rather exciting! Check it out here!

And secondly, Harry had his finger nails cut! He hasn’t bitten them for at least a couple of weeks. Well done Harry!

 

Nanny’s Birthday

As it was Nanny’s birthday we thought we’d better honour the day by doing something fun!

Fun thing number one was singing happy birthday to Nanny. Skype was playing up a bit so Nanny couldn’t see us but we saw  a glimpse back to England! Harry and Toby were their usual sociable selfs – standing there, saying nothing and looking completely gormless – probably a good job Nanny couldn’t see! To be fair though, they did sing happy birthday so I suppose we can’t expect too much in one call.

Straight after this, we set off for fun thing number two – picking up my new car! Harry and Toby joined me in the PT Cruiser for the drive home while Tracy headed off to do her driving theory test in Bellevue. I’d been and done mine yesterday and passed with 91%. I have my driving test in 2 weeks – ooooo! Unfortunately, after sitting there for a couple of hours, they informed Tracy that she couldn’t do the test as she didn’t have a social security number. You’d think they would tell you that on the website, or the relocation assistant might think it was worth sharing with us. Either way, nether of them did so 2 hours were wasted. Tracy needs to schedule an appointment to have an interview and prove that she does live in the state of Washington. What nonsense. Anyway, that was the only non-fun part of the day!

Next stop on our fun filled spectacular was the Space Needle. We got an annual family pass so we can go up everyday until Nanny’s next birthday. We also get 50% off two other peoples ticket each day, so if anyone wants to come over we can take you up the Space Needle! Toby was (and still is) very excited about the Space Needle. Wherever we are, if he catches a glimpse of it the cry of “oooh, space needle” goes up. He never tires of this!

It was with much excitement that we travelled up to the top of the needle – all 590 feet up in the air. It was also somewhat predictable that for the second time that Toby has been up the Space Needle he wanted to stay inside the Needle and not go out onto the observatory deck. Just to be clear, it’s not because he was scared. Oh no, it was because it was a bit cold. Which I suppose is a valid point however it wasn’t that cold! I may even go as far as saying it wasn’t cold at all. Anyway, cold or not – I’d like to make it clear that it wasn’t because he was scared.

The views from the observatory deck were amazing. Probably the best I have ever seen from up there. Hopefully the pictures below (and the others on Flickr) do it justice. Beautiful views on an absolutely beautiful day. Let’s hope we have a summer like this!

[flickr-gallery mode=”tag” tags=”june-4″ tag_mode=”all”]

Most of the photo’s are above but check out the full set on Flickr.

After the boys scoffed a kobi beef hotdog each we took the lift back down and headed to the international fountain. Not sure why it is called that – in fact I’m not 100% sure that it is actually called that, but I think I saw a sign calling it that. The fountain was spraying water far and wide and was surrounded by screaming children running in and out of the spray (and a few over enthusiastic parents). Harry and Toby joined in and thoroughly enjoyed themselves with Harry being a bit braver than Toby and managing to reach/touch the middle.

httpv://youtu.be/Z8v0AzibHV0

After sitting at the side and drying off, we took the monorail back into Seattle and did a spot of shopping – snapping up a few bargains in Gap. We drove back to the Eastside and and stopped at Safeway to get some food, including this amazing $5 cake. Grampy would love it in the supermarket cake sections!

After dinner and some Top Gear, two tired little boys went to bed (in separate beds these days). Another day of sunshine is forecast for tomorrow, so we’re heading to Alki Beach.

This is the life!