Seattle Gracefully.

We are on the second part of our big trip now, we’ve just hopped on a train and left Seattle and are spending one night in Vancouver before boarding for our Disney cruise tomorrow. Going from east to west coast I was wondering how the boys would go adjusting as there’s a three hour time difference and although it makes for an extra long first day, Hamish has a nap on the 5 hour flight and so he’s pretty good in the afternoon and night. I had bought these activity cards for the kids and it has dry erase pens and all these cards they can scribble on. They worked great and between those, the ipad and books they were great. Hamish loves traveling, he tells us all the time how much he enjoys staying in “howtels”. They love eating out and whine when I decide to have an impromptu room meal after stumbling across a grocery store. A plain simple meal in our room of steamed microwave veggies and chicken and fresh fruit. Being on the run for 2 weeks, I want to maintain some kind of nutrients in them.

Upon coming here there were two things that I really wanted to see. Being a huge Grey’s Anatomy fan I wanted to see Seattle Grace Hospital. So I did my research to find where it was located. It’s actually just a fictional location! It’s filmed on a set in LA. They do use some external shots of a television station building which is used for exterior shots to make it look like it’s located right next to the space needle. So we walk around the building a bit, we thought that the inside where they film all those foyer shots and sip coffee might be there. No. A McDreamy or McSteamy? No. But I did find a shirt which has ‘Seattle Grace Hospital Intern’ on it, which I wear around just in case.

The other thing I wanted to see was the iron throne prop from the Game of Thrones series. When I read about this online I was soooooo excited. It leaves for Winterfell (back to the studio for filming) the day we leave Seattle so I know we are extremely lucky to see it. I fell into this series by accident. The first episode I watched with disgust. I thought it was a bit of trash aimed at a certain male archetype, with touches of soft porn thrown in to grab an audience. What more could you want if you were a guy? But turns out the storyline was actually quite clever and because I don’t have time to invest in the books I’ve gone for the graphic novel version. The museum where this is exhibiting is absolutely brilliant. It has lots of props and costumes from movies, books and music and set out in the genres of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, music. It is definitely the highlight for me.

The boys drag me into one of those make believe recording studios where you pretend you are a band. They choose the name “Cave of the Monkeys” and we rock out to “Wild Thing”. I cringe just thinking about it. Hamish grooves on the guitar which was so heavy I thought he might not be able to lift it. But he does and he has this whole body swagger as he strums away. Dylan is our subdued drummer. I don’t think he realizes you can go to town as a drummer. No Dave Grohl there. I decide to hide in the corner on the keyboard, but I did get into character and play and scream and sing vocals Very badly. Lucky Fletch gets to be the main singer and belts it out complete with tambourine.

We take a cruise and see the harbour and Seattle shoreline. Sip coffee from the original starbucks and eat ecclairs in a french bakery in the markets. We go to a brilliant science centre and aquarium. We build lego at the kids museum. We see some exquisite glass sculptures at the Chihuly museum. We go up in the Space Needle and look at some spectacular views including mountain ranges with snow on the peaks. Also one of the great things about coming here in summer, Seattle has a reputation for being cloudy and rainy so the advantage of beautiful weather and no humidity is brilliant. Similar to Canberra in springtime – but with that lovely ocean smell!

In the aquarium Hamish sees sea otters. They are huge dog size ones, nothing like the tiny ones we’ve seen in Canberra zoo. He runs over and tells us, “hey, I just saw a prairie dog.” I correct him, “it’s actually an otter”. He very indignantly declares, hands flailing to emphasize the point, “No. Guys. Seriously!”

Today brings no words and no telling the four year old that there’s no prairie dogs at the aquarium.

Packing for a Holiday.

Tomorrow we are off on our big holiday. Flying across to Seattle, then making our way to Vancouver and off to Alaska on a Disney Cruise Liner. Everyone is very excited. Our mickey shirts are packed and we are ready to go!
But first I wanted to show you a picture of what it might look like to travel with a car load of 3 and 4 year olds. This is what Hamish and his class were working on in group time.

Today brings no words and no powers rangers and giraffes. They make terrible travel companions fighting and squabbling in the back!

Home School.

Because it’s a long summer break over here, everyday I give Dylan a bit of homework just to keep on top of his writing, reading and math skills. He is quite the little academic which I would never have guessed. When he was at pre-preschool age, he was one of those kids that never sat still for more than 2 minutes. Hamish is exactly the same now, so I am hoping that by the time he hits kindergarten, he too will be a little more school capable.

Yesterday Dylan decided he wanted to do a report. I wondered where he got this idea from. Had he been watching something on TV? He later told me that he’d done one in group time at school. I can remember working on “projects” where you’d cut and paste everything on cardboard and he enjoys piecing it all together. I find a plethora of activity and printout sheets. He has chosen great white sharks for his topic. I find not only colouring in sheets but also fact sheets that I get him to read and summarize. There is a little comic I find where he has to write in captions so it also taps into a bit of creative writing.

Working away.

The end result.

He is so proud of it when he’s finished and decides it needs to be stuck in the lounge room because he wants everyone to see it. I suggest his bedroom, hanging off hooks so that if he wants to do more then he can swap them around without too much hassle.

He has also discovered a series of books with a little bookish mouse called Geronimo Stilton. His grandmother sent him a couple as a birthday gift and after he read the first one, he was hooked. He goes through one a week and Fletch and I remember with envy when we used to be able to sit immersed in a book for hours on end reading as kids. We let him sit up in bed for an extra half hour after Hamish goes down and occasionally we forget to go tell him to go to sleep and so 45 minutes later we’ll find him up, still reading and he’ll tell us how he wishes he could stay up longer! I think he would too if he had it his way! For anyone interested there is also a girl series available featuring Geronimo’s sister Thea Stilton.

Hamish spies Dylan doing his report and decides to do one too. He colours his printout monster truck sheets and writes “H”. He tells me, “two lines down and one across”. I ask him if he can write any more but true to form, it’s too late, he’s flittered off again.

Today brings no words, and no more letters from Hamish.

I just read that Michelle Bridges is bringing her 12 week body transformation program over here. This is very exciting and I wonder how it will be received by Americans. She is tough but I would say she’s light on compared to Jillian Michaels.

I was watching the US version of Biggest Loser for the first time here and I was surprised at how different the show is. The Aussies work a lot harder in their training sessions and there was no sneaking off to do extra sessions. I wonder if they have restrictions on how much they are allowed to workout off screen.

So how is my transformation going? Well it’s week 10 and I’ve reached my goal weight. I only had 5 Kilos to lose. I just wanted my shorts to feel that little less tight and trim off the winter excess. I have not been aiming to lose mountains of kilos from week to week like you see on Biggest Loser. If I am under the weight that I was from the week before, even if only fractionally, then I’m happy. Especially as I am not giving up the perks of having fun with my food choices.

We’ve been on holidays and I’ve been able to indulge in different cuisines, eat birthday cake and party food and keep up our tradition of going out to our local food restaurant every Friday night. (This is a luxury we would not indulge in Australia but eating out is cheap here so we enjoy this frivolity). I choose a little different and watch portion size. I’ve carefully revised what I put in my trolley and the good gains are coming.

I am also fitter. I have definition in my arms and abs which has not been there since my 20’s. I can run like those people I used to envy in the gym, I can plank and burpee with the best of them and I can squeeze out a few pushups on my toes. I still cannot do an unassisted situp and I am resigned to the fact that my mummy tummy will never be what it was. But I’m okay with that. I guess I should just wear it with pride like a battle scar.

So anyone out there wondering whether to give it a go, well, there’s nothing to lose (except weight). And plenty to gain. The workouts can be done in the home or gym, there are different programs for different goals – pregnant, losing weight or wanting to learn to run, it’s all there.

There’s a brilliant database of meals that are simple to cook and swap. I don’t eat fish so if it’s on the menu I just swap it for something else, also handy seeing as some of the produce here is not easy to come by – no skippy steaks tonight! And it puts all the ingredients in a printable grocery list! So easy. I’ve tried different meals that I never thought I’d enjoy and loved experimenting with new foods.

Will I be able to keep it up when the program finishes. This is the squillion dollar question I guess. I’ve joined a gym which I am hoping to use when Dylan goes back to school but will I be willing to keep working out 6 days a week? We’ll wait and see.

Just before starting.

At goal weight

Today brings no words and no before and after photos, OK I will give you some comparison photos, but not in swimmers – i’m saving us all believe me!

A Slide Back in Time.

Todays post is a little out of order. But I wanted to talk about what we did after July 4 for our long weekend. Americans love their amusement and water parks. There are some that are quite close by to us and we are planning on getting to see some of them, but there are so many that I imagine some will stay on the “bucket list” unchecked.

I had heard about this big waterpark called Great Wolf Lodge and as we are planning a trip to Williamsburg we decide to stay in the waterpark and check it out. Williamsburg is a three hour drive in the state of Virginia. Now when I say a three hour drive, I mean when traffic is good. Unfortunately every other American family is traveling and enjoying the long weekend so it takes much longer to get there. Thank goodness for the DVD player!

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At Wolf Lodge there are several different water slides the kids can go on. Hamish can go on most of them and doubles up with us for the bigger ones. There’s a big climbing frame in the middle of the park with all these water fountains and squirters around and Hamish loves tipping the buckets of water on unsuspecting climbers trying to reach the summit of the water slide.

The next day we took the kids to a town that renenacts a 1700’s colonial english settlement. The old town is huge and you learn all about the revolution and early life in Virginia. There are brilliant little tours of the houses and shops around at that time. The guides reenact a scenario, which helps to piece together how the revolution came to be. There are three villages which are set up and we have only got time to visit one. Even with Williamsburg we had to see it in two visits as Hamish falls asleep in the afternoon.

We go through a tour of the Governors’palace and the tour guide is talking about the Lady of the house at the time. Hamish shouts out “Lady Gaga?!” which brings lots of giggles from the crowd. Even the tour guide finds it hard to stay in character.

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Today brings no words, and no Lady Gaga roaming the town and greens of Colonial Williamsburg!