Enjoying downtown Seattle

Right now we are staying downtown Seattle in an apartment where Jeff has been living for the past few weeks.  We will likely move to the house soon, although it is completely empty until the truck full of our stuff arrives (hopefully it arrives sooner rather than later).

It is nice to be downtown this weekend, we are located close to everything.  Yesterday we rode the monorail and walked around downtown.  Today we went to South Lake Union park, ate at Blue Moon Burger (YUM!), visited Jeff's office (very cool, lots of neat stuff there), and took the kids to the Pacific Science Center (note the new spelling of center...working on my US spelling).  Thankfully our OSC membership gets us into this science center because we still have another 5 months left.

We explored a bit of the science center but not all of it so I see another trip there happening soon

Hanging out with the Simpson's at Jeff's work

Tomorrow Jeff heads back to work.  It's been great to be together again and enjoy time as a family of five.  I didn't realize how stressed I've been the past few weeks with him gone until we got here and I'm back to having someone else take over with kid duties.  It's a good thing too because I've been napping and not feeling 100%.  Either I'm coming down with something or my body is crashing from the 3 weeks of high stress+little sleep (not a combination I recommend but we do what we have to do!).  The naps have helped and I'm starting to feel rested again.  Tomorrow there is no school so the kids and I will do some back to school shopping to get them ready for Tuesday morning.  I'm quite anxious about the kids starting at new schools, but the kids are all doing great and are excited to start.

The apartment is nice but a tad cramped for the five of us...can't wait until we can get settled into the house.  In Jeff's words "I don't think a family of 5 is meant to live in a 1 bedroom apartment".

The adventure begins!

Jeff left for Seattle a few weeks ago to get started at work, deal with the paperwork for the new house closing, set up bank accounts and a lot of other fun stuff.  Meanwhile the kids and I stayed in Richmond Hill to get things ready for the move.  I really wanted to keep the kids on their usual schedule which meant September was filled with school, gymnastics, tennis and horse riding.  We also packed in a whole lot of fun for the kids with extra time to hang out with friends including a fun farewell gymnastics party for the girls and their friends.  I got to spend a lot of time with my cousin who just moved to Canada from Northern Ireland (such a shame we only lived in the same city for 2 weeks before I moved!).  I was overwhelmed with all the love and positive support sent our way, we were blessed with cards, thoughtful gifts and everyone was willing to work around our crazy schedule.

As the days of September were checked off on the calendar, I was slowly checking things off on my massive to-do list.  And before we knew it the packers were at the house, then the movers were loading up the truck and we were on our way to the airport.  The kids were sad to say goodbye to family and friends, but very excited to see Jeff in Seattle.

The flight went really well, my kids are great travellers, Kyle was happy to watch some new movies, Jillian enjoyed her backpack full of fun stuff (rainbow loom, lego friends and colouring) while Leah napped most of the way from Toronto to Seattle.

For now we are settled into Jeff's temporary housing downtown Seattle.  While Jeff went to work today, the kids and I visited their new schools.  It was a half day which meant we could visit the schools in the afternoon and they were practically empty.  At Kyle's middle school he was able to try out his new locker and check out the locations for each of his classes.  This is a very different environment for Kyle so it was great to be able to walk around and get a feel for the campus.  I still have a few more forms to fill out but the kids are all registered and ready to go for Tuesday morning.  I'm glad the kids will have a long weekend with the PA day on Monday, we are all still adjusting to the time change and getting used to our new surroundings.

After checking out the schools it was time to visit the new house.  The kids and I had a great time exploring and planning out how we will organize the rooms.  I remembered the basics of the house from our trip in August but I didn't remember all the details.  We all agreed it's a great house and we are excited to move in soon!

Now it's time to enjoy the weekend, enjoy some family time and adjust to the new timezone.