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Piano Boy

A few weeks ago Toby and Harry started piano lessons on Wednesday mornings before school. They like their music in America with school bands, marching bands and all sorts so the boys have clearly caught the bug.

After a couple of lessons they decided to invest some of their birthday money, money fron Aunts and Uncles, winnings from tomato competitions and pocket money, in a keyboard so they could practice at home. Luckily Tracy found a keyboard that was a bargain and, more importantly, came with headphones!

They have both been practicing the songs they learn in the lessons as well as trying to do the national anthem. They have no music sheet for the national anthem, they are just guessing. It’s not going too well! What is going well though are the following:

Mary had a little lamb:

httpv://youtu.be/5es7mqvAQ2M

Twinkle, twinkle little star:

httpv://youtu.be/Gauned8_7No

The good news is that they are under instruction to create a Christmas day show. Can’t wait for that!

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Soccer!

It had been a weekend full of soccer. Friday night was training up at the highlands for Toby which wears me out as I walk round and round the pitch for an hour and a half while he plays! Then on Saturday morning it was an hour and a half north up the I-5 for a Gunners match in Burlington. Unfortunately it was another defeat but as the coaches keep stressing, it is a development year for the boys, playing against older, bigger, stronger boys and we will hopefully see the benefits next season. Hopefully!

Sunday morning we had to set the alarm and be back up at the highlands at 8am for the Gunners second match of the weekend. This time it was against another Gunners team in the same division but under 11’s rather than 10’s. In the most miserable rain and high winds the younger Gunners roared into a 2-0 lead against the older Gunners. It stayed that way until half time but, unfortunately, it was a game of two halves because the younger Gunners tired again and let 3 goals in in the second half. A very close game but unfortunately another loss.

The excitement will come in the last game of the season when Gunners take on arch enemies Cascade FC. These two teams are tied on points in second and third from bottom of the table. The Gunners are currently third from bottom and outside the relegation places so it is a winner takes all game on the 1st December – will Tracy be able to take the stress?

With that game over there was just time to take a break before Toby had to go to Arena Sports in Redmond for his inside soccer. For the first 2 weeks Toby had seemed to struggle a little with the whole concept of indoor soccer and the ball bouncing off the walls. This week though it obviously started to click. The Scorpions won 8-2 and Toby scored 4 – so finally we got a win in our weekend soccer bonanza!

After all that we only had one more game to go and this time all we had to do was watch. Seattle Sounders had their best ever season and qualified for the Western Conference final against LA Galaxy. Unfortunately the Sounders had got thrashed 3-0 in LA last week and so our hopes were not too high. After getting comfortable in our club seats, Tracy went to ogle David Beckham while I sat with the boys and they stuffed their faces with pizza.

httpv://youtu.be/mS35kX4S7_c

With national anthems and ceremonies out the way we waited and hoped for a miracle. For the first hour it looked like we may get it as Sounders were winning 2-0 and definitely the better team. Then the ref got involved and gave LA a penalty and it all petered out into a nothingy sort of game. Sounders lost 2-1 and the season was over – which is probably a good thing as we are over dosing on soccer at the moment – poor old Tracy!

 

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Ferris Wheel

It opened earlier this year but despite a long, sunny summer we still hadn’t made it to the Seattle Wheel – until today! We woke to our first big frost of the winter. It had already started on the Friday evening up at the Highlands where Toby had his soccer training and it clearly continued all night because it almost looked like snow when we woke this morning. Jack Frost had been very busy.

As we lay in bed watching the local news, the news reader told everyone to make the most of today because although cold it was going to be sunny. So we decided to get up and head to Seattle to the wheel.

We got over there just ahead of opening so the queue wasn’t too bad at all. Harry and Toby desperately wanted us to go in the VIP capsule of the wheel but at a cost of $50 per person we decided against that. After a short wait we were sat in our pod ready to go. At this point both boys decided that actually they were scared and weren’t sure if they wanted to go round on the wheel after all. Good job we didn’t go for the VIP pod as that had a glass bottom – that would have really scared them!!

 

The pod was heated to a lovely temperature inside and the weather outside was beautiful and with that three circuits of the wheel began. The views were fantastic. There were ferries, mountains, stadiums, containers, the aquarium, the Space Needle, seals in the water – everything!

Having overcome their fear of the wheel they didn’t really want to get off. Particularly Toby who “loved it”. After leaving the wheel we decided to take a walk up to the market – although we did stop briefly for a picture or two. Can you spot Toby in the first one? The sun was too bright for him apparently!

After a tour of the market and local map shop we set off to the cool part of Seattle – Capitol Hill. It may be the hip hop happening part of town but it was a bit grubby for us and full of weirdos! On the plus side it did have a frame shop so I can now hang my birthday presents up once I have framed them up correctly.

With Harry having a soccer match in the afternoon it was soon time to head back home. As we drove through the back streets of Seattle Toby announced, “you probably won’t believe me, but I think I just saw Barack Obama’s mum”.

It’s amazing what you get to see when you spend a morning in Seattle!

More pictures here…

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Halloween!

Tonight was our second Halloween in the US and the boys were excited! Throughout dinner Toby kept asking if we could go trick or treating yet. Over and over again! Come 6:30pm and the witching hour was upon us. Fortunately, after raining for most of the day, the weather brightened, the clouds went and the moon and stars came out.

Armed with pumpkin candy collecting buckets it was time for Pikachu, Ninja Boy, Pretty Pumpkin and a Whoopee Cushion to hit the streets:

I have to admit that the pretty posing pumpkin was my favorite:

Just like last year the boys were soon into it – dashing up and down driveways, knocking on everyones door. We think that you’re only meant to knock on doors that have some sort of pumpkin outside but Toby and Harry ignored that and knocked on every door that had a light on!

An hour and a half later, with buckets of candy and so full and heavy that they could barely walk we left their school friends and went back home. Pleased with their collections, they soon set about ripping into them.

What are the odds on some cries of “I feel sick” before the night it out!?

 

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Let it Snow!

And so the sunshine has gone and we’re getting set for winter. The rain has been falling, the winds blowing and the leaves falling. This weekend the hard stuff has started – snow! Typically the first fall of snow for the year coincided with us having to take a trip over the pass to the other side of the mountains for Harry’s latest soccer match.

With plenty of snow falling we set off at just before 9am for the 2 hour journey to the soccer match. This in a UK context was like us getting up, driving across to Grandads, playing a soccer match and then driving home again! You just wouldn’t do it in the UK but they think nothing of it here!

Anyway, we set off at 9 and within a half hour we were up at the snow line. There was slush on the road and snow by the road. The ski slopes were covered and there was a good few inches on the trees so we decided that we would stop on the way back and throw a snowball or two.

After the game and a brief stop at Roslyn we got back to Hyak Sno Park and came off the freeway for a play. Trouble was the sun had been out and as this was the first snow of the year it had melted away pretty quickly. Still we did manage to take a couple of pictures and throw a couple of snow balls.

Roll on more snow and lots of fun ski-ing and tubing!

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Northern Exposure

When I was very, very young I used to love the Channel 4 series Northern Exposure and now all these years later we live just down the road from where it was filmed. Lots of it was shot inside a studio/warehouse in Redmond which is at the top of the lake we live by but the outside shots were all filmed in Roslyn – a small town just over the mountains to the east.

Today Harry had a soccer match over the cascades in Ellensburg and on the way back from the match, which the Gunners were very unlucky to lose 1-0, we stopped off in Roslyn. I probably should have watched a couple of episodes before I went there to refresh my memory as I haven’t seen it for about 17 years but I did recognize 2 or 3 places.

The most obvious was the cafe:

This was the radio studio where Chris used to broadcast the “Chris in the morning show” each morning:

And this was the tavern, which I think is one of, if not the oldest, continuously operating bars in the US at just over 100 years old – that’s ancient American history for you!

Fortunately we didn’t plan a day trip here as there was not much to see or do but I did see the odd fan about gazing at the buildings (the radio building).

Now I need to watch the series again just to get back into the swing of it and see what else (if anything) I recognize. Still, that’s another thing to cross of my list of places to go!

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Pumpkin Patch

On the weather forecast this morning they were also giving pumpkin patch updates, so we decided we needed to investigate this further! After a quick Google we found a patch just the other side of Issaquah at Trinity Tree Farm.

After a quick visit to the Vasa Park fall craft show and making a few purchases we set off to our first pumpkin patch! When we arrived it was surprising how many people were there although they are apparently quite a tradition here in the US – which makes sense with the amount of fuss they make about Halloween.

We parked the car and walked down to the pumpkin field, where by Harry’s and Toby’s estimates there were about 100-300 pumpkins. I think there were a lot more. You could take a wheel barrow with you to load with pumpkins but we decided not to as Tracy had already bought a couple of whoppers from the supermarket.

After having a good look round we finally selected one small, long pumpkin and 5 mini ones (plus a couple of cookies!).

I like pumpkin patches! I might start a pumpkin patch website soon but I’m not quite sure what will go on it.

More pictures here!

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Walkathon

A bit late but here are the pictures from the Spiritridge walkathon. Fund raising in the US is very different to the UK. If Harrold Primary School held an event they were pleased if they raised $600. In the US they try to raise $60,000 and they typically get it! Not quite sure how they do it but they do.

To raise the money this year was a walkathon and to encourage the kids to walk they placed hot dogs, pop corn and all sorts around the course. Each time they completed a lap they got their card stamped and while Harry and Toby were very well behaved and only got one stamp per lap there were lots of naughty children who tricked the parents into getting two stamps per lap.

By the end Harry had completed 9 laps and Toby 8 which would have put them pretty close to the front when the double counting kids were chopped in half. Still it’s not the winning that is important – it’s eating the hot dogs!

There are more pictures here.

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Tooth Pixie

At about 5:30pm this evening I pulled on to the drive. I got out the car and locked the door. As I started to walk up the path the door open and Toby shot down the the path to meet me. What was so exciting that Toby moved at the speed of light? Well let me tell you, he’d lost his first tooth!

It had been wobbling around in his mouth for a good 2 or 3 weeks and today in PE it had finally fallen out. Here’s the gap:

When a tooth falls out at Harrold Lower school the teacher puts it in a tissue and sends you home with it. At Spiritridge you get given a plastic tooth holder in the shape of a tooth which you hang round your neck and keep it safe:

Now all that needs to happen is for Toby to discover if he gets an American or English tooth pixie. Who knows which it will be? His preference is American so that he can get some money this evening rather than wait for the English one to come across on the next BA flight! We shall see…

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Football Crazy

Much to the delight of Tracy we were all set for a weekend of football! First stop was Friday night micro soccer for Toby at Issaquah Highlands. It was his third week and this weeks match was against Fusion. The game started badly with Toto forgetting which way the Dragons were shooting as he scored an own goal with 15 seconds of the game starting! A 1-0 deficit was, by the end of the game, turned into a 7-2 victory. Toby scored 4 goals and the Dragons played very well against a team that were very aggressive – they seemed more intent on kicking, grabbing and pulling but the Dragons showed that skill wins over dirty hooligans!

Saturday football was limited to the back yard and Harry and Toby throwing an American football at Waverley Beach park. As the weather continued to insist upon being so lovely we went to the Kirkland beach park.

Tracy and I relaxed in our Tommy Bahamas chairs while the boys played football, made friends with a little girl (sociable little things), climbed (and fell off) the monkey bars and, inevitably, got soaked in the water. After relaxing in the sunshine it was back to Kirkland for a spot of lunch at Rikki Rikki – the Japanese restaurant. Full of yumptious food we did a spot of shopping in the kitchen store and then went back home to play some football in the yard.

On Sunday more football was on the menu again. First of all watching it on the TV and then down to Issaquah for Harry and the Gunners to play their next league game of the season.

It has been a tough season so far with the Gunners playing in the u11’s league. Most weekends they are playing against some pretty big lumps but this weekend took the biscuit! They were playing Emerald City from Seattle and they were huge! I think some of them were pretty much as tall as me! Harry got stuck in though and was very pleased with himself for tackling one particularly large player. Eventually the Gunners lost 4-0 but they played very well and 3 of the goals were very lucky (keeper mistakes and the other team playing to their height advantage). Some time soon they are going to give someone a spanking though!

After the game, Harry had a cool refreshing shower and we got ready for the final part of the football weekend – watching Sounders play local rivals the Portland Timbers. It was a huge crowd for the game – over 66,000 people, which was a record for a league game in Seattle. As we were there a little early we watched the Soundwave arrive and, just because I know you’ve missed them, here is a Soundwave video:

httpv://youtu.be/Af008OSH08Y

After watching the Wave we went up to our seats and made ourselves comfortable with garlic fries and beer – yum! Then the teams came out an the anthem was sung:

httpv://youtu.be/9pR1De6Cgrc

The game was a good one and the Sounders smashed the Timbers 3-0 which meant 1) free haircuts for everyone, and 2) free Tacos! I think that is what could only be described as the perfect result!

And with that a tiring weekend of football was complete – roll on next weekend when we can do it all again!

 

 

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Morph

Now that we have reached October thoughts are starting to turn to Halloween and more importantly, to our Halloween trick or treat costumes!

My costume is easy – I’ll be brushing off the whoopee cushion and parading the streets in that again. Tracy will not be using the Hula girl with the big butt but has opted for a pretty cool new outfit. I’ll say no more for the time-being but we saw a dress rehearsal on Saturday and she looks pretty awesome!

Toby has got his suit sorted and the dress rehearsal went well – again, no more details until Halloween. Harry’s rehearsal was tonight and it didn’t go so well! He was clear in the shop about what he wanted but when he put it on it sent him into a bit of a pickle!

His choice of outfit was a morph suit. I’ll let the pictures tell the story. Here’s the front story:

And here’s the rear story:

It’s going back to the shop this week! We’ll try and find something else, slightly more suitable and comfortable!

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Harvest Moon

We have had a fabulous moon over this weekend and after a little digging it turns out that it is so fabulous because it is the Harvest Moon. Or the Wine Moon. Or Singing Moon, or the Blue Corn Moon and occasionally the Elk Call Moon.

And what exactly is the Harvest, Wine, Singing, Blue Corn or Elk Call Moon all about I hear you ask? Well let me tell you. The full Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox.

All full moons rise around the time of sunset. Because the moon orbits the earth in the same direction the earth is rotating, the moon rises later each day – on average about 50 minutes later each day (24/29.5 hours, or the number of hours in a solar day divided by the number of solar hours it takes for the moon to orbit the earth). The Harvest Moon and Hunter’s Moon are unique because the time difference between moonrises on successive evenings is much shorter than average. The moon rises approximately 30 minutes later from one night to the next, as seen from about 40 degrees N. or S. latitude. Thus, there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise for several days following the actual date of the full moon. In times past this feature of these autumn moons was said to help farmers working to bring in their crops, or in the case of the Hunter’s Moon, hunters tracking their prey. They could continue being productive by moonlight even after the sun had set. Hence the name Harvest Moon.

The reason for the shorter-than-usual rising time between successive moonrises around the time of the Harvest- and Hunter’s-Moon is that the plane of moon’s orbit around the earth makes a narrow angle with respect to the horizon in the evening in autumn.

So there we go – that’s all you need to know about the Harvest Moon, and this is what it looked like this evening. Very lovely I’m sure you will agree!