What's going on

So, we've been in the Pacific NW for over a week now.  The movers came on Wednesday and Thursday, then we moved in to our new house on Saturday after a final breakfast in Seattle at the Portage Bay Cafe.  Man, that place is the bomb.  I had bananas foster french toast, smothered in caramelized bananas, sauce, fresh strawberries and coconut.  I could eat it every day and never get bored.  Perhaps that's why when I weighed myself this morning for the first time since all this moving house business began, I saw that I've gained a massive 10lbs!!!  Eeeek!  My excuse is that we've been eating out for every meal, every day, over the last 2+ weeks, but I don't have an excuse any more, so it's time to get back on the healthy train.

The kids started school on Friday, just to get a feel for it before Spring Break.  I'm happy to say that they loved it and are really excited to go back!  Middle son is doing a UK Elite Soccer Camp all this week, and it's rained quite a bit.  If we were still in Tennessee, the camp would for sure have been cancelled, but here, it's business as usual!  It's the same at their school.  If it rains, the kids still have outside recess.  The only time they don't, is if there is thunder and lightning. Just like back home in Scotland really.  Monday marked the husband's first day of commuting.  He left pretty early and his drive was only 30 minutes, which is pretty good for driving into Seattle. 

The funny thing is, although we've downsized quite substantially from our Tennessee McMansion, we still have to buy new furniture for our rental house.  I thought we'd have way too much stuff, but turns out not so.  Our house is lovely and has amazing views.  There is a golf course out back, we can see Mount Si from the front, and beautiful tree covered hills to the side.  Like the bananas foster french toast, I don't think I'll ever tire of such spectacular views!  Another difference from Tennessee is that there is no air conditioning in most houses here and our rental doesn't even have ceiling fans.  I can't complain yet because it's not summer, but we'll see how that goes...

I'm loving being able to buy beer AND wine in the grocery store, and even better, you don't get asked for your ID every time you do so!  It's the small things!   My freak magnet is still drawing them in though and I did have an encounter in the Safeway bathroom yesterday.  I was waiting for my son and trying to avoid eye contact with some lady who was literally just staring at herself in the mirror and poking her forehead.  She then asked me if I shopped at Safeway or QFC the most.  I said Safeway to be polite, she then launched into an angry tirade about how people at the other grocery store are so much nicer.  As soon as my son was done, we were out of there at top speed.  I guess being approached by strange people isn't just a Tennessee phenomenon. Otherwise though, I'm happy to say that everybody I've met so far has been really friendly! 

Anyway, sorry this was very mixed up and random, but I've been too busy to sit down and think about writing a proper blog post!  Hopefully normal service will be resumed once the kiddos are back at school next week.  Till then! 

So Far In Seattle

It's been a busy week!  We drove 2400 miles, settled into our temporary apartment downtown, applied for driver licenses and WA vehicle registration, set up our utilities and registered the kids in their new school.   When we registered for school in Tennessee there was a permission form regarding your children being paddled.  Although I myself was hit with a ruler and a belt on my hand at school, it's not the practice to hit a child nowadays right?!  I was shocked to read the form and I thought it was a joke, but as I looked around the classroom filled with other parents scribbling away, I realized that it was for real!  Needless to say, I declined to sign my kids up for paddling in Tennessee.  It was nice to see, when doing the paperwork here,  that paddling is not an option and in fact, isn't even mentioned.

This place is pretty similar to back home in the UK in many ways.  You can buy wine in grocery stores for starters - yippee!!!  No more dragging the kids into the liquor store if I'm picking up a bottle of vino for dinner, and getting frowned at for doing so.  This is life changing, people!  When you're grocery shopping, if you don't bring your own bags with you, you are charged 5c per bag, which isn't a bad thing at all and will encourage me to try and remember my own bags next time.  It definitely costs more for groceries here though.  It also doesn't rain here all the time contrary to popular belief.  The weather has been lovely, t-shirt weather in fact, and it's only rained once so far.  

Gas is 70c per gallon more expensive than it was in Tennessee.  That's going to be a shock to the system.  We've already experienced Seattle traffic at its worst, but because it's still new to us, we were quite content to sit in the van, and admire the scenery.  I'm sure that'll get old soon enough though.  The husband will be the one dealing with city traffic while the kids and I spend our days in and around our new abode close to the mountains. 

We now live 25 minutes from a ski resort!  Granted, the snow season hasn't been great, but we're that close to stunning, craggy mountains that we can enjoy year round which is pretty cool!  The view from the kids' new school is Mount Si, which is pretty spectacular.  They can also see  Mount Si from their bedrooms.  I don't think we've ever lived anywhere with such amazing views.

Recycling wasn't really a big thing in Tennessee.  Here, however, it's highly encouraged and even compulsory, which is great.  I'm still learning though, it took me an embarrassingly long time to sort out our lunch trays at Panera after we'd eaten.   Hopefully I'll get used to that quickly!

So that's it for now, just a quick blog until I have more time.  Our stuff arrives tomorrow so chaos will ensue for a few days, but it's one step closer to being settled.  We're really looking forward to our new life here and so far, so good.  Molly has had a few walks around the city and has even visited her first Starbucks.  She did so well traveling in the van for 4 days to get here, and now has yet another trip under her collar, making her a very well traveled dog indeed.  I'll blog about our mega road trip soon!