wildlife and mountains !

We went for a day to Mt Rainier and it was awesome (as they say around here).  In the spring the meadows at the Paradise visitor centre are full of flowers, so I was not expecting them to be colourful at this time of the year, but what I hadn't realised was that they were also full of lots of small bushes which had amazing Autumn coloured leaves.

We also hit the jackpot with wildlife spotting. Hannah and I went for a walk up to a viewpoint and saw a mother deer and fawn, two chipmunks and a marmot, and then later about 20m from the visitor centre, right next to the path, there was a bear happily munching away at the bushes !

out and about Thursdays

Last week we had a touristy day in Seattle. We went on a Duck tour - the lorries that turn into boats. We've seen them in London but never been on them (sometimes it's harder to do the fun tourist things when it's closer to home!) We had a very entertaining tour guide who told us lots of fun and slightly quirky facts. The views of the Seattle skyline from Lake Union were very cool. Also on the lake were lots of houseboats, which were originally the cheap housing option and now cost a gazillion dollars. They were all sorts of different styles including faux stately home. Apparently some of them have underwater basements with glass walls ! there is a lot of money in Seattle........
After the duck tour we went up the sky observatory in the Columbia tower. This is the highest building in Seattle and looks down upon the space needle. The views were awesome and it wasn't even a particularly clear day. We are planning another trip on a clear winter's day when all the mountains are out, and we can stay up there and watch the lights come on in the evening.

USA summer

Since the end of July we have been living in Redmond in the USA. We will be here for 6 months until January 2019, at which point we will be heading to Christchurch in New Zealand for another 6 months. 

It's big here ! the distances, the cars, the charity shops, (some of the) people.....

Since being here we have: swum in lakes as much as possible

visited a volcano

dyed our hair blue (one of us)

explored Seattle

We are currently deciding whether the kids will go to school while we are here. They are trying out this week at the Clearwater school, a democratic 'unschooling' school in Bothell. Not sure yet if they will stay. I think it's been a bit of a culture shock for them. It's been interesting to see how un-self-directed they are. I'm trying to encourage them to take control of their daily activities, and trying to restrain myself from being over-organising !