Noah has a best buddy that is key and someone we really like. He's never really had a good guy kid friend. Jake is similar to a Noah in many ways. He likes animals and building things and lacrosse. He has a similar shaggy hair cut. Jake had Noah over on Monday for a play date and his mom invited me to talk about Seattle and life in general. She was born in Harrisburg, raised in North Jersey and went to Carnegie Mellon. I would say almost everyone here is a transplant.
Another realization is that even though Queen Anne is a seemingly wealthy neighborhood, most kids we have met share bedrooms and that is even cross gender. The houses are just small. Wildly expensive, but still small.
It really does feel like a neighborhood here and not like a city at all. The house next door has four kids, two of whom are Kindergarten and third grade and our kids have been playing non stop. We walk to school (almost everyone does...you have to be 2 miles away to get a bus) and lots of families walk by our house every day. One mom has a wooden box built on the front of her bike and she bikes her two kids in the box to school uphill every day. The school has coffee and cookies out every day for anyone who wants them and playground supervision starts 30 minutes before school so you can drop your kids off early if you want to or need to. I'm very very happy with the school so far and I'm so glad we are here.
Maeve also has a close friend named Astrid who was over here today for a play date. They like to pretend they are cats together which is cute.
I walk to the grocery store (Trader Joe's), to the pizza place, and for ice cream. On the strip of shops are nice restaurants, hair salons, card stores, pharmacies, churches, coffee shops and more. Queen Anne feels smaller than even West Chester as far as businesses go. But within the little community there is an indoor pool, lots of sports fields, a library, many playgrounds and plenty of things going on. Queen Anne has it's own local market every Thursday as well.
Today was also trash day. Everyone has a bin for recycling, compost, and trash. The trash bin is the smallest of the three and there are fines for not using the other two or for putting items in the trash that can be composted or recycled.
We are still quite busy trying to get all of the items from the apartment to the house and trying to find space for it all. The basement is boxes the ceiling and so is the garage and little by little we are trying to sort and get rid of things we don't need or won't use.
The weather has been perfect, sunny skies almost every day. It was in the high 80's this week and everyone was seeking cover, which always amuses me. In the next month or so it is supposed to change over to the more typical Seattle weather which can be dull and dreary. I'm trying to prepare for it and I have my new rain boots ready!
Paul has also begun biking to work. It takes him 10 minutes to get there downhill and 20 minutes to get home uphill. When he gets home he is spent because it is all completely uphill!
Just some info about life on the west coast!
Maeve also has a close friend named Astrid who was over here today for a play date. They like to pretend they are cats together which is cute.
I walk to the grocery store (Trader Joe's), to the pizza place, and for ice cream. On the strip of shops are nice restaurants, hair salons, card stores, pharmacies, churches, coffee shops and more. Queen Anne feels smaller than even West Chester as far as businesses go. But within the little community there is an indoor pool, lots of sports fields, a library, many playgrounds and plenty of things going on. Queen Anne has it's own local market every Thursday as well.
Today was also trash day. Everyone has a bin for recycling, compost, and trash. The trash bin is the smallest of the three and there are fines for not using the other two or for putting items in the trash that can be composted or recycled.
We are still quite busy trying to get all of the items from the apartment to the house and trying to find space for it all. The basement is boxes the ceiling and so is the garage and little by little we are trying to sort and get rid of things we don't need or won't use.
The weather has been perfect, sunny skies almost every day. It was in the high 80's this week and everyone was seeking cover, which always amuses me. In the next month or so it is supposed to change over to the more typical Seattle weather which can be dull and dreary. I'm trying to prepare for it and I have my new rain boots ready!
Paul has also begun biking to work. It takes him 10 minutes to get there downhill and 20 minutes to get home uphill. When he gets home he is spent because it is all completely uphill!
Just some info about life on the west coast!
Thanks for sharing a snapshot! We think of you all the time :)
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