Blog from Seattle

Thursday: Mustang in the Mountains

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:40:22 +0000

Finally, there was success. Cat had managed to get a Mustang arranged for Pete to rent through Hertz, for Thursday. They arrived to pick him up about 9.30, and he got back an hour later with a shiny blue ’07 Ford Mustang. A route was plotted, and then Pete and Cat set out for their day’s roadtrip - in the pouring rain.

Out East along I-90, and the rain turned to snow through the mountain pass. Down the other side to Cle Elum, and the rain stopped as we stopped for Burger King lunch, and a trip to the drive-thru ATM (!). Onwards we went, this time north on US-97, heading for Leavensworth, “the Bavarian town”. We just had to stop and have a look around this unexpected and somewhat over-done European Alpine village in the middle of Washington State. Supplied with Coldstone and giggling somewhat, we wandered through the village, down the Edelweiss Weg, and down to the Waterfront Park where we stopped for a quick look around before heading back to the car and onwards along US-2. We stopped again for a couple of sets of photos of some very pretty rivers along the way, and then it got wetter - rain, then sleet, then snow, then back to rain, and then night set in, and we set our car firmly in the direction of Seattle. A quick stop at KFC for dinner in Monroe, and some last-minute road-sign directions, and we finally made it back to I-405 and down to Bellevue and home. 250 miles or so, 8 hours, and some fun sights, not to mention the shiny blue Mustang... good day.

We rounded it off with takeaway Starbucks special salt caramel hot chocolate (for Cat) and normal coffee (for Pete), and then early nights all round followed the packing, ready for a very early start tomorrow for the 0740 train back to Vancouver.

Wednesday: Pizza

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:40:21 +0000

Wednesday was quiet - Loralei had a chance to sort the house out before the boys came back at lunchtime, Pete bought more Coldstone, and then the babies returned. They weren’t very happy, so the rest of the afternoon was spent baby-watching until Joel got back, at which point Loralei and Cat disappeared for Pizza Hut, in a long standing tradition, leaving Joel and Pete to look after the boys. A couple of hours later, the ladies returned, and it was time for everyone to crash.

Tuesday: Space Needle

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:40:17 +0000

Tuesday started out very badly with two trips to SeaTac airport to attempt to pick up the prereserved Mustang from Hertz, ending in failure when one of the credit cards was a stupidly small amount over the limit for what they were requesting on the system and they were so inflexible they said there was no way it could be sorted. Tears, no car. Sigh.

It got better, however. Chandra appeared soon after we got back, with Colvin, and she did Loralei and Cat’s nails, and gave Loralei a pedicure. Nicely relaxed from that, we then waved all three babies off with Cherilyn and Chandra for the night and heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Once Joel was home from work, we set off for our baby-free evening. First stop was the Keg, for a proper steakhouse dinner (yum!). Suitably satisfied by the steak and dessert, we headed into Seattle about 8.30, and made our way to the Space Needle. We wandered round the observation gallery at the top, despite the cold wind, and then had a look inside at the photos and gadgets they have. Much silliness, and a potter round the shop, and then we headed home to a quiet house. Bliss. It was a good night.

Monday: Coldstone

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:25:09 +0000

Monday was planned as a much quieter day after the kids kept their parents awake a lot of Sunday night. Cherilynn and her mum popped in around lunchtime and we drove out to fill the car up and get Coldstone... quite a mission, Coldstone for 6, when everyone has to choose what to have. We remembered to tip this time, so we got a little song, and then we headed back home with our icecreams to attempt to veg out with the still fussing babies. Much TV and feeding of babies later, and everyone rolled off to bed... one somewhat quiet day (well, except for the screaming babies) complete.

Sunday: Foooooooood

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:17:49 +0000

On Sunday we again got going late. However, since breakfast was expected to be big, we figured it might as well be brunch... we went up to Redmond to the Black Bear Diner. They do good solid American breakfasts at affordable prices... Pete went for a Grizz. He got two full giant plates, one with the hash browns, sausage patties and ham steak (and Cat’s sausages), and one with two enormous American style pancakes. The rest of us watched extremely impressed as he got through the full plate and one of the pancakes before finally admitting defeat. Cat didn’t even manage more than one of her much smaller pancakes after the bacon and eggs...

After lunch we headed up to Safeway for some groceries, and a little wander round Tuesday Morning, a ‘bitsa’ shop, before we headed on home. Again leaving Joel & Lora at home, we went out for dinner for the evening with Justin & Doll, friends of Pete’s, in Redmond. They cooked us some yummy Japanese thing and introduced us to New York Cupcakes, and then we youtubed the evening away with breakdancers, Avenue Q, and adverts.