Another busy week has flown by but it feels like it has been a productive week.
Firstly, and possibly most importantly, after the stresses of dealing with grumpy women at the Social Security Office in Bellevue (where there are some very “special” people) I finally got a social security number. No longer am I an illegal alien! Tracy still is but then she will be for the duration of the tour – poor Tracy!
Armed with this number we can now get on with life in the US of A, including, getting health insurance (although we have some temporary cover now after I moaned a lot at work!), order cable TV for the new house and collect the car we are leasing. On the subject of the house, we paid the deposit and signed the forms for that on Tuesday (or maybe it was Monday – I can’t remember!) so it is officially ours. Can’t wait for our stuff to arrive and move in.
Once we had the lease on a house sorted, it meant that Harry could start school – much to his disgust. The first two days went well though and he is enjoying himself, so I think it worked out for the best. It also helps to separate Harry and Toby for a few hours each day – they seem to have lost the ability to play nicely at the moment. It is non-stop fighting, arguing and being little sod-pots at the moment! I think it may be cabin fever induced by living in an apartment.
As a “well done” for being so good at going to school this week, Harry got to decide where we went for dinner on Friday night. Being a creature of habit he chose the Mexican in Kirkland again. He and Toby wolfed down their tacos, Tracy ate a brick sized burrito and I had steak fajitas. All very yummy – especially the pints of Mac & Jacks. It’s a shame it is draft only, I’d happily drink it at home. The only other thing of note from the night was that Toby used a urinal for the first time! Clever boy!
The productivity continued into the Memorial bank holiday weekend when we went car shopping on Saturday morning. After viewing lots of cars online we went and bought my “drive to work car” in the morning. Tracy found it at Brooke Biddle (“if you want to buy better, you better buy at biddle”). It is a silver Chrysler PT Cruiser or a Batman car as I prefer to think of it. I think we got a pretty good deal. It’s 7 years old and has just over 70,000 miles on the clock from one previous owner but it scores well on the US used car system that they have over here. The interior is pretty clean and I think it would have been on for a higher price but it’s a manual and Americans don’t like them.
After much confusion with the cheque and lack of credit history, we signed lots of forms and have to return with a bankers draft for $7,088 on Tuesday. We can then pick it up next Saturday – assuming we’ve got some insurance sorted. Here’s the beauty:
On the way home from Biddles we stopped at Houghton Park in Kirkland which is another lovely beach park – there are a lot round here (Waverley is still my favourite). It has a nice area in the lake for swimming in and a nice new play area being built which should be ready at the end of June. After a quick walk around and paddle by the boys we headed home to the apartment for lunch and to watch the Champions League final. Thankfully Barcelona won, beating those Dirty Mancs!
I missed the final 20 minutes of the game as I stood on the balcony looking down a camera lense at an eagle sat in a tree. He was well camouflaged though and an alternative tactic had to be employed. I went down and stood at the bottom of the tree with camera trained upon the eagle which was still hiding in the tree. Eventually he flew off and I got a couple more pictures but none quite to the standard I am looking for. I won’t give up though!
After Tracy had finished being “floopy” we decided to head out again. The sun was shining so we thought we better make the most of it. We headed along the I-520 towards Redmond and then headed on down West Sammamish Parkway before stopping at Idylwood beach park. It gave the boys a chance to play some soccer and run off some of that energy. After leaving here and driving past our house to be, we headed on down to Sammamish State Park (at the bottom of the lake) and then moved on to Issaquah Soccer fields. There were lots of goals setup and the boys had a real good run around. The pitches are only about 10 minutes from where we will be living so I think we will be spending quite a few evenings and weekends there. Although we have signed Harry up for Lake Hills football district so we may not be allowed to play on the rivals pitches.
With good weather expected again tomorrow, we are planning a trip to Seattle Aquarium first thing in the morning as members have early access ahead of the public and assuming it stays nice we will head on over to Snoqualmie Falls which are about 40 minutes east of Seattle. The waterfall is meant to be 100 foot taller than the Niagara Falls but I’m assuming not so impressive but we will find out tomorrow. On Monday it is a bank holiday and we will be heading to Safeco Fields to watch Seattle Mariners take on the Baltimore Orioles. This will be a first taste of baseball for Tracy, Harry and Toby. The game lasts about 3 hours so Tracy is taking her kindle to read. I think it may be worth taking the DS’s as well. It will probably only be me watching the game in the end. Lucky I only bought the cheap seats!
Oh, and I bought a MacBook Air. It’s lovely.