July (Part 2)

After raving to my parents about how perfect July was last year, my parents timed their visit here for mid July. They were escaping a cold winter on NSW's south coast, and it was to be their first time in Seattle. It was my mum's second only trip ever to the US (she visited us once in L.A.), and my dad's first time ever overseas. Exciting stuff, right?

It took a lot to get them here. In the almost-five years that J and I lived in England, my parents never visited - but to be fair, I had much younger siblings then and it would have been far more expensive. I'm not completely delusional though. Having their two eldest grandchildren now living the US is a huge drawcard... but whatever the reason, I'm glad they came.

After me talking up Seattle at this time of year, the city decided to make a liar out of me. For a good chunk of my parents' first week with us, it was grey and mostly rained. Temperatures were not that much warmer than the part of Australia they'd just come from. They'd also had a two-day stopover in Hawaii, which didn't help matters, so I don't think their first impressions of Seattle were particularly favourable.

A couple of days after their jet lag hd worn off, we had a sunny afternoon so I took them to a nearby state park for a walk. They've both seen little but eucalyptus trees over the last fifty-odd years, so it was great for them to experience some classic Pacific Northwestern forest. This park is full of cedars and firs - incredibly majestic, and I still remember how those tall trees took my breath away the first time I encountered them in Vancouver more than fourteen years ago.

Later that week, after giving up on the wait for blue skies, we drove out to Snoqualmie. It's a town that J and I have taken the girls to several times, and we love it there. It's only a forty-five minute drive so it's an easy, short road trip to do but gives a sense of being well away from the city. It's also where much of Twin Peaks was filmed, so - geeks that J and I are - we always get a little kick out of seeing Snoqualmie Falls. In Snoqualmie, there's also a historical old railway museum, which the girls love, so we thought my dad might also enjoy seeing some of those old rattling trains because, let's face it, there's far less of that sort of thing in Australia.

Thankfully, the weather gods decided to smile upon us and make that the last grey, drizzly day for the remainder of my parents' visit. The next day we went on a lake cruise, where the sun gently eased out from behind the clouds, then gradually turned up the dial for heat and brightness over the next eight days. We spent much of it sightseeing: the city skyline and Lake Union from Gas Works Park, had dinner at the same seafood restaurant where J and I had celebrated our anniversary in May, checked out a classic car show that happened to be in our neighbourhood (because what fifty-something-Australians who love older American cars but have seen very few in real life wouldn't pass up the chance?), visited a fabulous hipster coffee joint downtown, took in Pike Place Market, and enjoyed sunsets at our local beach at Lake Washington.

A couple of days before my parents were due to leave, we celebrated the Faery's eighth birthday. EIGHT! Having two doting grandparents in town to help with the spoiling, she was in her element. We let her pick somewhere fun to go and - because we hadn't been on it yet - she chose the Seattle Great Wheel, down by Seattle's waterfront. The weather was amazing, the views were amazing, and I'd recommend it to anyone who might be considering it. The pier also had an arcade with old games, so a birthday carousel ride, along with air hockey, was a must. The day was topped off with dinner of her choice (pizza within walking distance of home) and chocolate cake. I felt bad because this was her first birthday that I hadn't baked her a special cake myself, but the days leading up had been a busy blur. Hopefully next year I can make it up to her... but I think she had a lovely day regardless. She is a darling, and I love the age she is. I have clear memories of my own eighth birthday, so it feels easy to get into her headspace and remember what it was like to be an eight-year-old girl. We promised her a low-key bowling party too, but that had to wait until August, when her best friend from L.A. was due to visit. Stay tuned...

Evening escapes

Ten years ago, when J and I were living in Melbourne, I got my hands on a CD by a Scottish band that happened to be on tour in town. I immediately fell in love with the album, but sadly missed out on the chance to see that band live. As the years went by, that album - along with subsequent ones - have been on high rotation in our home and for road trips. This band is Franz Ferdinand, and they make music that is the perfect blend of pop, new-wave and rock, and guaranteed to get me dancing.

A couple of months ago, J heard that Franz Ferdinand would be doing a gig in Seattle, so on a whim, he booked tickets and I booked a babysitter. To be honest, I was a little blasé about the date circled on our calendar. I thought it'd be a nice enough night out, and knew the music would be great, but I had little expectations. I hadn't listened to Franz Ferdinand for a while, and wasn't particularly hyped.

Well.

Ever since that night in April, I've been meaning to write a post here about the awesomeness of seeing Franz Ferdinand, but every time I start thinking about it, I simply don't have the words. My mind? Was blown.

Everything about the night's performance was so tight, so perfect, so spot-on, that I knew halfway into the first song that I was experiencing the best live gig I'd ever been to... and not to brag, but I've seen some pretty amazing live performances over the years. I have nothing but superlatives for Franz Ferdinand. When I need to go to a happy place now, all I have to do is close my eyes, recall one of their songs, and I'm back in that darkened venue. Catchy guitar riffs, beats that groove down to your tippy toes and bounce into your heart, and a captivated crowd (at one point during a split-second pause in one of the songs, a guy yelled out "I LOVE YOU, MAN!", and without missing a beat, Alex Kapranos pointed back to him "And I love YOU!" with perfect showmanship and utter sincerity... maybe you had to be there).

And that's all I can write here about the joy of Franz Ferdinand live, because no words of mine will do justice. If you get the chance to see them perform? Just do it.

We finished the show with a couple of drinks in a dive bar across the road from the venue. It turns out that bars with floors that are covered in peanut shells don't exist solely in American movies and TV shows. We were given a fresh bowl of peanuts and I was more than a little perplexed with where to dispose of the shells, until J pointed out the floor. Um, ok then. It felt wrong, and I realised I might be a little too old for those places now. Anyhow, I chalked it up to one more 'uniquely' American experience to add to my notched belt.

As if that night out wasn't enough to keep me happy, we celebrated our wedding anniversary one week later. May Day also happened to be the warmest day in Seattle so far this year, so it was with happiness that we waved goodbye to the girls and their babysitter, I tottered into the car - dresses and heels are not my thing except for the rarest occasions - and we made our way to a waterside restaurant on the southern end of Lake Union. I had sterling company (of course), views of a busy waterway that everybody appeared to making the most of, and I devoured salmon, salmon, and more salmon.

If I haven't mentioned it before, I love salmon and will eat it in any and all of the ways it can be eaten.  Sushi, poké, smoked, grilled... I'll eat it all. So, if you love salmon as much as I do, and find yourself in Seattle one day, with a need for water views and city skylines, then I suggest Ivar's Salmon House. I'm already trying to think of an excuse for us all to have brunch there this summer. My parents will be visiting, so I think that's a good enough reason, right?

A bang

With only one day of January to go, and zero posts here from me so far, it's safe to say that 2014 has started with somewhat of a bang.

Not only have I been trying to settle into some kind of groove with my new working hours (about to change, but that's a story for another time), we've also played host to family and friends visiting from both Australia and Los Angeles.

The first celebration, though, was Miss Pie turning the big FOUR. It was a fairly low-key event, but one that kept repeating with various visitors bearing gifts. Lucky kid. The thing that made her feel most special on the day, however, was when the candle-lit cake (lemon-cream cheese with butter icing) came out. Hell, I wished I was four again.

That same evening, my brother and sister-in-law arrived for a stay. We spent the next few days cramming in some sightseeing - mainly places I hadn't been to before.

We hung out at the EMP Museum, where they had a Nirvana exhibit. My brother, J, and myself, were (were?... still!) all massive fans of Nirvana so it was a pretty special afternoon. Bonus sightings were the Fantasy exhibit, complete with Jim Henson's hand-scribbled notes, one of David Bowie's costumes from The Labyrinth (I was obsessed with that movie as a kid), and the Lion's costume from The Wizard of Oz. As if that wasn't enough, we discovered the Sci-fi exhibit - Christopher Reeve's Superman costume, Star Trek memorabilia, and more from Dr Who. Knowing what science fiction buffs our soon-to-be-visiting friends from L.A. are, we knew we'd be back the following week.

Another new experience for me was the (downtown) Underground Tour at Pioneer Square. I'd had no idea about the history of the pioneers in Seattle, and it was interesting to learn about how the underground passages came to be, when they'd been the original open streets. There is some bizarre history behind Seattle's early days.

After my brother's visit was done and dusted, we welcomed our friends from L.A. Their daughter is the Faery's 'BFF', and they have another child the same age as Miss Pie. Get-togethers with these guys is pretty much as good as it gets, as we share a lot of the same interests but also get introduced to new things to love - through them - whether it's food, movies, TV shows, or books.

After six months of feeling a little (socially) isolated in Seattle, it was wonderful to spend time with our friends again. Their entire visit was a blur of chasing four-year-olds, eating, story-telling, more sightseeing, more eating, and late nights with four kids doing their best to evade us at bed time. What made me happiest, though, was witnessing the joy that the Faery felt to be with her little soul mate. The two of them giggled about nonsensical things, late into the nights, and it was incredibly sweet. Understandably, there were many tears when it was time for our friends to leave.

Of course - in that entire period of sightseeing with family and friends - do you think we saw the blue sky just once? Nope. Seattle did what Seattle typically does at this time of year, but I was pretty mad when the sun came out in full force the very day our friends flew back to L.A. A day earlier - when we'd been up the top of the Space Needle - would have been nice. Ah well.

After a run of dreary grey - but busy - weekends, we finally had a full three days of sunshine. We soaked it up by discovering another local beach and park (including views of Mt Rainier that guarantee I'll be frequenting the place in warmer weather and Instagramming my little heart out), and a trip to the zoo.

 I looked at our calendar the other day, and was in genuine shock when I asked J where January had gone. I'm hoping February will be gentler, but I wouldn't redo January for the world. The time we spent with loved ones was more than worth it, and my soul was a thousand times happier for a week or so. In the mean time, I need to start putting those pennies aside for a trip down to California...