Sleepless in Seattle

Sleepless in Seattle must have been filmed somewhere around here - this is on Lake Union which is very close to the city centre. Really cute.















North Bend - this is part of the mt range we look out to from our house (not take from our house though)













The lock system which allows boats out of Lake Washington & into the Puget Sounds













View from the Space Needle. First major tourist thing I've done in 3mths. I'd say the view would be amazing of all the mountains in summer but it was a bit clouded which meant we could only see the Olympic range - still stunning though.

Snoqualmie - The Summit

Now this is a novel way to spend Boxing Day. In NZ we'd always go with Jacinda to the movies on Boxing Day, but now, I have a feeling that's been replaced with playing in the snow.

We drove up to The Snoqualmie Pass today which is normally a 45min drive from our place, but with all the Boxing day traffic & the mass volume of snow, took 3hrs. It was SO worth the drive because as soon as we got there, Alex threw Ben into waist deep snow where he, with Aunty Jack's help, made snowmen, ate trillions of gallons of snow, slid down banks & had snow fights with Al. Hugh managed a bit of time out in the cold with us, but ended up in the front seat watching from the window (there's always next year Hugh).

MERRY CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS EVE:











Wow, the American's so know how to do a white Christmas. Christmas Eve is a holiday here so Al, Jacinda, Ben, Hugh & I spent the day in the shops at Bellevue & Redmond looking at all the lights & decorations up. Of course there were a few Santa's wondering the streets as well as Santa's train & stunning sights.

We feed & bathed the boys after dinner, wrapped them up all warm (as it's about 3 degrees outside), and drove around the streets looking at the most lavish Christmas lights possible - it was like Franklin Road on steriods. Hard to capture on camera but imagine fake massive snowmen dancing on and flashing rain deer on most people's from lawns & lights for Africa on the houses.

























CHRISTMAS DAY:

Merry Christmas to all our family & friends.
Opened the curtains on Christmas morning & Ben was so upset. He was so confused as to where the snow was. Yip, everyone had predicted a white Christmas (and the weather people are so much more onto it than in NZ), so it was rather a shock that the ground wasn't totally white. But after a yumbo breakfast and many a present opening session & a massive lunch, it decided to snow in the afternoon. How fantastic - an actual white Christmas, even if it was only just white.

We drove up to the Snoqualmie Waterfall (those Twin Peaks fans will recognise the waterfall in the background). It was snowing more up there but still nothing that major.

Snow Snow Snow

Wow, it's been a mad time. We've moved into our rental now & have all our things around us (well, most things anyway). The day after we moved in it snowed which made life very exciting. Waking up in our new home, opening the curtains & seeing snow everywhere - wow! We had the fire going all day as it was so cold, but had a number of snowmen building sessions & numerous snowball fights which was so exciting.

On the count down now till Jacinda arrives – simple can’t wait to show her around this amazing city. People are so friendly & it’s lovely to see many many Christmas lights around the place.

Great big Christmas hugs to you all.

Love Jo, Al Ben & Hugh

Bellevue Beach Park

A wonderful stunning Thanksgiving day today. The boys and I went to a beach park in Bellevue, not a patch on Mission Bay but the view was outstanding. This park looks over Lake Washington to the Seattle city and in the background - which I can't pick up in the photo's is a stunning mountain range sprinkled in snow.

Suncadia

Ahh, now this is a place we'll be taking our visitors. Suncadia is about 1hr East of where we live - up in the mountains (Jacinda, we'll be waist deep in snow when we visit in Jan). Our lovely friends Meg & Shawn & their two boys Josh & Jake showed us this very special part of the world.

It's a massive newly developing resort and for Halloween they'd set up on a neighboring farm with so many fun things for children to do. We arrived via a Hay Barn ride following by a yumbo lunch, bouncy castles, face painting, pumpkin patch picking, dancing pigs, pumpkin carving, a maze (with a real snake in it apparently - yes, I did get freaked out, but since Ben so desperately wanted me to go through it with him, I did). All in all, a wonderful day was had by everyone.

Halloween

Our bigger pumpkin feel in love with Pumpkins over Halloween. In fact so much so that the outfit we'd initially purchased for Hugh, ended up on Ben. The carving of the pumpkin was also a great laugh & oh so messy!!

Lego Land

Lego Land, 1hr south of Disneyland

Leavenworth

On Friday we drove over to a small town called Leavenworth which is about 2 1/2 hrs to the East from Seattle. It's part of the Cascade Loop and as it's fall, the colours are totally stunning. It's a small German Village, tucked under the snow capped mountains.