Summer is coming

People loved to tell us depressing tales about what Seattle weather was like over and over again. One thing we did hear as well was that as soon as the sun was out in Seattle, people run outdoors, jump atop bikes, into kayaks and into runners and soak up the vitamin D. Now that it's coming onto a year of us being here, this is exactly what we've done. I mean, the only thing Callum gets apart from breast-milk is his daily (when his parents remember :P) dose of vitamin D drops.

We've had a few spells of good weather and we've used it to try and see some of what our new home has to offer. Now that I'm no longer limited by morning sickness, reflux or the "don't eat that or your baby will have two heads" diet, our options have certainly expanded. 

Kirkland Waterfront.

When the sun peeked out of the clouds a few weekends ago, Nuwan, Callum and I headed for Kirkland on Lake Washington. Kirkland is a cute, lakeside  town that has plenty of great dining options as well a lovely waterfront complete with a "fake beach". 

Fake Beach: A portion of waterfront land that is covered in imported sand to resemble a real beach. Seattle is rife with them.

We popped Callum in his pram and he prompty fell asleep thanks to the bumpity, bumpity of the stroller on the pebbles. Nuwan and I then hunted down some Banh-Mi (pork rolls) and happened upon a tea shoppe that sold New Vithanakande Tea.

We stopped at my favourite shop, Sur La Table, where I proceeded to break a creme brulee dish (sigh, the shop assistant assured me it was stacked incorrectly), bought a set of insulated glasses for half their value (they were priced wrong) and generally decided that we have an undue fascination with cookware. 

It was a beautiful day and even Callum enjoyed the sun. However, it became pretty clear that our little man hates the sun.

The Skagit Tulip Festival

Every year Skagit county, north of Seattle, hosts a tulip festival. It's a beautiful display of flowers and colour. We decided that we were going to make a day-trip of it. It was a risk, spending the WHOLE day out with Callum and there's always the Seattle weather to contend with. We drove up in pouring rain, it kept raining as we found parking, it continued to rain as we walked around the fair set up in the town. Thankfully, it stopped raining as we got to the tulip fields and gardens themselves. Unfortunately, the rain did leave a muddy mess. 

Nuwan and I love fairs. All those home-made goodies, artisan products and endless oppurtunities to part with money. We all came away with presents. English toffee for me, bbq sauce for Nuwan and a set of hand-made washable dinosaurs for Callum. We also had some "first" all-American experiences, we shared a corn-dog (weirdly sweet) and discovered what root beer was. Well, sort-of. The helpful people at the root-beer stand said 

"It's sweet and is made from some root." hmmmm. 

The flowers were spectacular and even though it got a bit chilly, and the Cal-man got a bit cranky, we thoroughly enjoyed the day. 

Mothers group

Mother's group is turning out to be a lot of fun. We've met some lovely new "moms" and Callum is making friends. Though, I was informed today that occasionally my Australianisms cause confusion during sharing time.

"What's this 'cot' she keeps talking about?" 

Callum looking somewhat forlorn. 

Cinco De Mayo

A "mom" at mother's group asked last week what people on the west coast did for Cinco De Mayo. A picnic was quickly organised at a local park (over facebook of course) and we ventured out to make use of the fabulous weather. Another mom volunteered to bring plates and cups, left over from tail-gating season. "I hope you like purple and gold she said". There was a promise of skinny-girl margaritas and all in all, Nuwan and I had no bloody idea what was going on.

Firstly....we had to ask. What is Cinco-De Mayo. If you haven't already searched it. it's

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a celebration held on May 5. It is celebrated in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla .It originated with Mexican-American communities in the American West as a way to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War, and today the date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

At Newcastle Beach Park 

Our lovely mother's group

Next....what is tail-gating and why does it result in left-over purple and gold plates? Tail-gating is the custom of hanging out and socialising in the stadium car-parks before and after sporting games. Literally, hanging out at the tail-gate of a vehicle. People often bbq food, drink and generally have fun. Now, the purple and gold? I was just getting to that. The University of Washington's football team, the huskies, are coloured gold and purple and this couple are "u-dub" alumni. Make sensus?

In his NYPD shirt from Punchi and Bappi :)

Now the Skinny-girl margaritas are just a normal margaritas, made with "skinny" ingredients that are not as fattening. It was invented (I use the term loosely) by someone called Bethenny Hesse, who everyone agreed was tres annoying, apparently.

Who'd've thought that moving to an English Speaking country would involve picking up a whole new language!