Tacoma. Seattle Day 1

Arriving

We had a fantastic flight over to Seattle. The kids slept stretched out on two seats each, and so we managed to watch some films and relax!

The arrival procedure in the US was quite protracted - we had many queues to get through. It took us three hours from landing to get to the house we are staying at. Brian and Abbey Riehs collected us from the airport in a borrowed 8-seater. They are such a lovely, gracious young couple. They have been leaders of Children's Church for years and Abbey is a primary school teacher. They are pregnant with their first baby too. So they are a perfect place to stay for us - the kids adore them and they are so patient and good with them. They don't mind the constant noise and excitement! They have a beautiful home, newly built but in the older American style with wooden floors, coffee coloured walls, and immaculate right through. We have a bedroom each and our own bathroom, in one wing of the house.

First Night

The children did not know how to cope with the time difference, so they woke up at 3.30 am wide awake. We got them to lie quietly for an hour or so, and then Nicholas put Mary Poppins on the computer to keep them going for a little longer. So the first morning was an early one for us!

Abbey kindly took me to the grocery stores to get things the children like to eat and drink. It was a fascinating trip for me to see the enormous range of everything they have. I could have spent hours browsing.

In the meantime Brian took Nicholas and the kids down to the local park which has a "spray park" which was a fantastic idea - it was hot and sunny and the kids had a ball.