Gainful employment!

I have a new job - yeah! I am officially a Teacher once again - at a Special School on Mercer Island in Seattle. It really is on an island - albeit a big one - in the middle of Lake Washington.
The Children's Institute for Learning Differences (CHILD for short) is a private school which accepts students from 4-17 from all over the Seattle area - and for whom their own school district cannot provide adequate services.
I came across the school by chance when I applied to do some supply work there. I walked in for my interview and felt as if I had been transported back across the ocean to Ridgeway! It has a very similar feel to it - high student/staff ratio, great atmosphere, wonderfully supportive staff, and a real sense of humour (born out of realistic expectations in an extremely challenging environment!) Needless to say - I supplied for 2 weeks and then somehow convinced them to offer me a job - still not sure how I managed that - but I'm here now - and I love it. I have 3 fantastic members of staff as my class team and we have a grand total of 4 students! Even with my dodgy maths skills that comes out at a 1:1 ratio! I'm not ashamed to say that even at that we struggle sometimes - not least because the students exhibit some fairly extreme behaviours - the most challenging I have ever experienced. That is good for me though - it is keeping my mind busy with all the strategizing and problem solving - which has to be good for staving off the Alzheimers!
I'm getting used to the early starts (slowly!) - although I'm not sure Fergus is too enamoured with the 6am walk in the dark so Mum can leave by 7. The 30 minute commute means I get to listen to KMPS (country radio for the uninitiated!) in the morning which always puts me in a good mood - so you see every cloud has a silver lining!!!

Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving went mobile this year when we decided to load up the vehicles with all the fixings and head up to a cabin in them there hills. 'Them there' was just outside Leavenworth - a very cute German style town (when I say German style I mean all the buildings look like Bavarian chalets and even the MacDonalds in a wooden shack with a funky Olde Germane 'M').
There was nothing shack-like about the cabin however; hot-tub, woodburning stove, fully fitted kitchen, fire-pit, games room, entertainment centre - you name it, it had it!
The muts came with and had their own personal doggy annex (otherwise known as the garage) as well as a tree-filled Chuckit arena at the back of the house.
Sadly we were not blessed with snow this year - although it was pretty chilly at that elevation. Consequently - apart from a few brisk walks with the dawgs and some pretty hardcore Chuckit sessions (Sydney's split pads will attest!) - the most activity the majority of us got was raising a glass from the counter to our lips and wielding a controller for the very intensely competitive MarioKart tournaments which provided the signature entertainment. There were a couple of other notable highlights; the food certainly - we all did a little bit and the sum of the parts turned into a feast fit for some Yanks and a Lime; the boys doing simultaneous chin-ups on the internal chalet beams (sadly I have no photos) and the double lunar eclipse provided by my husband and Cortez for the pleasure of Mr Leigh. Boys will be boys I guess!

Halloween Houseful.....

Sarah and co arrived just in time to experience a no-holds-barred American Halloween - and they were determined to make the most of it! After sourcing 2 very cute costumes and a lorry load of very scary temporary tattoos we set off with a witch and a Skelzor towards North Admiral for their annual Trick or Treat Treasure Hunt. I think Mike was the only one not phased by the whole spectacle (born and raised on extravagant US holiday traditions!). There were dogs in costumes, tiny babies in costumes, grown-ups (I use the term loosely!) in costumes and even a couple of transvestites (unfortunately I didn't manage to secure any photographic evidence of this so you'll just have to take my word for it!) Outstanding were the Wiener dog dressed as a hot-dog, the Elvis and Hound-dog combo, and the teeny tiny Scoobie Doo! It took Livvy and Josh about 5 minutes to get the hang of marching into the stores and simply having to say Trick or Treat to be rewarded with a bag full of sweeties! They got a little carried away and came away thinking that they will most definitely be crowned the winners of the best costume contest as well as winning the enormous Treasure Hunt Prize Basket! Well - in their Auntie kate's eyes - they deserve both anyway!!
We even managed to squeeze in some pumpkin carving although I think Mark and Mike enjoyed that just a touch more than the kids!
The candy bags and kiddiwinks have now made their way safely across the pond just in time for Show and Tell at school on Monday!

Red Rocks and Bright Lights

I had been beside myself with excitement since Sarah had told me that she and Mark had booked a holiday in Sedona (the closest their timeshare would bring them to the PNW). Even better, they were going to fly home via Seattle and spend a few days here with us :-)
So Mike and I headed off to spend a long weekend with the Twigges and Twiglets in Arizona with no higher expectations than being able to spend good quality time with my sis and Mark and the two sweetest munchkins in the world!
As it turned out we managed to squeeze quite a bit into the weekend; at least 30 games of Uno in the back of the minivan (with some pretty nifty tactical playing by both Josh and Livvy!), a visit to the Grand Canyon, some acrobatic sessions in the pool, a drive over the Hoover Dam, and a very exciting visit to Vegas. Sadly, the kids were not allowed to hover too close to the blackjack tables or slots, although with their card playing skills that probably turned out well in Vegas's favour! We managed to find a room at the Treasure Island which Josh and Livvy thought was 'way cool' - although I'm not sure whether the pirate show or sleeping in a bed with Auntie Kate and Mike held the most appeal! As Aunt and Uncle we were spoiled rotten with constant attention, ensuring permagrins on our faces for the entire trip.
It was very hard to leave on Monday - but we managed to drag ourselves away knowing that it would only be a few days before we could resume the wrestling and hairdressing sessions back in Seattle!

Hunting Rookie

So this year made our annual trip over to Colfax for the fun and frolics which is Opening Weekend of Pheasant Hunting Season - but this time we had the added excitement of bringing our own rookie bird dog, Fergus! As Cortez always says, 'It's all about the dogs' - and giving them the opportunity to do what they were born to do. I think it's a great sacrifice those boys make for their dogs - after all it's a pretty grueling weekend of firing guns, drinking beer, eating good food and tromping about the countryside - selflessness, pure selflessness ;-)
It was almost a full complement this year, (absence of the newlywed Leighs notwithstanding - honeymooning in Fiji is a pretty good excuse in my book!) with 8 hunters and 5 dogs (plus Sydney who was representing the Leigh household!). In addition, Heidi took advantage of her post-Masters free time and made it over this year, as well as Wendy and the boys (Blake wins the youngest participant prize yet again!) and Jenni and Baby Bump Lothbright (future hunter I'm sure!). Jenni and I joined the boys on Sunday morning to check out the progress of Gunther and Fergus and get some of the fresh Whitman County air. As it turns out the air was more muggy than fresh and by the end of the morning we had halved our number of layers and doubled our thirst!
In the end the rookie had a good first outing; he flushed a bird on the first morning (nobody mention beginners luck!) and did a good job of staying close to his Dad. His stamina needs a little work (but then again so does his mum's!) but it made for a very docile hound for the remainder of the week!

When two become one....Burleighs drop the 'Bur'..!

It was certainly a long time in the making - 7 and a bit years to be exact - but the long awaited union of Tiffany and Ryan was well worth it!!
The wedding was a wonderful combination of family, friends, humour and love. The PNW weather cooperated for a change and the ceremony took place under a vivid blue sky!
The chocolate and Granny Smith green wedding colours worked wonderfully with the country setting of Tesa Valley Farm and even though it got a little chilly later on - I dont think anyone really noticed.
Blake Stauff - Wendy and Frank's son - took the prize for the youngest wedding guest - at a mere 11 days old - whilst Tiffany's Grandma evened the score at the other end of the age spectrum! Megan was definitely the most beautiful pregnant bridesmaid I've ever seen - and showed no signs of the stress caused by having to find a seamstress to enlarge her dress by about 4 sizes!
Ryan wowed everyone with his dancing skills (way to go North Seattle Community College Swing Class ;-) )and his chocolate brown pumps, whilst Tiff just smoldered as a very serene and elegant bride.
My nomination for new favourite person has to go to Michael, the officiating priest. What a dude! As I said to him on the day - if there was ever anyone who could inspire me to set foot back in church - he would be the one. I wont go into the reasons here - for fear of embarrassing myself (and him probably) - but great job Michael!

Road Trip 08

14 days, 6789 miles, 22 States, 0 speeding tickets! Phew!! It was a challenge keeping ahead of the changing speed limits though - especially in the construction zones, where it's apparently instant castration if you are caught speeding.
For those who don't know - we had decided to head East to Mike's hometown of Greene which is in upstate New York. In a rash moment whilst walking Fergus one morning we decided it would be fun to drive and take him with us. For once, my naiveity served me well and I was totally gung ho about the prospect of driving coast to coast and seeing the full range of scenery this mammouth country has to offer. I can honestly say that apart from one fleeting instant in South Dakota - which is like driving in a scene from Groundhog Day - long and flat, and more long and flat - and yet more long and flat - when I did question our sanity briefly - I did not regret our decision once. Fergus was not surprisingly, an angel. He valiantly responded to the 'load up' request every time - even though I'm sure he was muttering doggy obscenities under his breath - and made the most of every second of freedom he was afforded in Greene with his Uncle Jake - and Joe, Mike's Dad!
It was a trip of extremes; we experienced temperatures ranging from 28 degr in New York state and 32 in Utah, to 84 in Nashville (note to self - check weather forecast before dressing in the morning to avoid looking like a twerp in long sleeves and boots in 84 degree heat); we traveled through the flattest of flatness in Kansas (plus tumbleweed the size of a house and winds so strong they removed a chunk of our roof rails!), to the dramatic steep crags of the Rockies in Colorado, and on to the eerie pink canyons of Utah.
The highlights were Mount Rushmore - a monument so symbolically moving it touches even a non-Yank's heart, Nashville, Tennessee - a veritable pilgrimage site for a Country Music disciple like myself, and New York City. Oh my gosh - that place is like no other. We did everything it was possible to do in 12 hours - food, sights, Broadway show - and came away totally invigorated by it's energy, and mish mash of cultures, styles, and people.
By far and away the most beautiful, however, was Greene and its environs. It was very strange being surrounded by towns with English names; Norwich, Oxford, Rochester, Newark and even stranger seeing small settlement towns which could so easily have been transplanted straight from the other side of the pond; Victorian looking houses, village greens, taverns and village shops. I had always hoped that I would experience Autumn in the north east as it is supposed to be a thing of legend. It is. Just in the 5 days we spent there the trees went through a multitude of colour changes - from pale greens and yellows to rich reds, ambers and golds. We spent several happy hours walking snowmobile trails and hunting grounds above Cincinnatus Lake and just marvelling at the views.
It was a wonderful experience, and made for some lifelong memories.