SEATTLE....MY MY WHERE DOES A GIRL START :-) He He I've absolutely loved this place...this haven of relaxation and laughter... HaHaHa OK....I'll stop being a geek now... Anyway...Seattle has been just GREAT!!! Being here for the long weekend has been the highlight of my trip...no matter how 'out of this world' some of the places I have been... nothing can ever compare to seeing your family after so long....its just on another level. It's weird though... because for the first time in 5weeks I've felt like am not actually in America :-( felt like am back in Derby, like old time...just visiting... strange feeling!!! So, I arrived in Seattle early Thursday morning but wasn't meeting Uncle Lloyd till he finished work at 5, so I had the whole afternoon to just explore...and Seattle (WOW) it's just a completely great city. There were parts that reminded me of back home but it was just so nice and clean and yummy :-) I could see why they love it so much straight away... I went to the movies... which as silly as it sounds, I felt quite weird doing on my own for the first time...but I was like RIA for crying out loud if you can travel the whole of America by yourself am sure you can watch a movie by yourself HeHe - Girlies watch 'Step up'...its BRILL Anyway after plenty of searching, looking around and hot drinks, 5 o'clock finally came round and seeing Uncle Lloyd after all this time was SO nice...he gave me the biggest cuddle!!! It was so nice to see him...after all this time, looking all cool with his shade on :-) HeHe He gave me a brilliant tour of Seattle and where he works...in the labs and stuff that was kewl, then a tour of Tacoma that was nice to see as well... I smelt the famous 'Tacoma Aroma' YUM...NOT :-) Back at the house it was so nice to see everyone...everyone's all grown up, the girls are all stunning young women and Daniels so handsome and tall, it was so strange to see them after all this time. And can I just say am not happy that they all have the height gene and am still 5'5 :-( HeHe. But it was just so surreal being there with them...seeing them again... We just chilled out with pizza and a few of us stayed up chatting and having a good laugh... reminiscing!!! That was kewl...even Rachel came home from work which made me feel very special :-) Oh and Aunty Di they gave me the pleasure of watching Napoleon Dynamite (You'll know what I mean) The weekend was just jam packed...we - Went shopping on the Friday afternoon that was kewl...everyone had their allowance :-) so we all just went crazy and got lots of new stuff. I even treated myself to a new CD, 1st one in about 2 years. The only ones I own are the ones Karl have brought me :-) - In the evening we had a lovely home cooked meal...it was just scrummy yummy. First one since being here. I never thought McDonalds could ever get boring!!! How wrong!!! - We went to the beach just as the sun was setting and it was absolutely beautiful. Uncle Lloyd told me I was standing in the exact place Nana and grandad stood when they went over...that was a nice feeling...I miss them :-( - We spent the next day at another beach...it was so nice because we walked up the bay front and you could see the whole of the Seattle skyline...some good shots of that!!! And we had fish and chips!!! Yummy yummy in my tummy :-) and it was just such a lovely day...I was very lucky to miss the well known bad weather... - We went and watched Superman Returns at the Imax theatre, that was good seeing bits in 3D, a kind of movie for Natz and Jordan though.... 2 much action for me :-) - On Sunday we drove about 2 hours to Mount St Helens...that was just amazing. It's an active volcano which erupted only a few years back!!!! And when we where there it was STEAMING!!!!!!! Me and Stacey were like WHOOO we need to get out of here :-) really good to see though, I hope it comes up on the pics - Sunday afternoon I went along to the kingdom hall. I remember going when I was little but I didn't understand much of what was going on, it was nice to go and have a small insight, this journey I've learnt a lot more about religions and what people believe it...it's been a nice experience - Then to round off the night we all chilled out with GIANT portions of Chinese food, I couldn't ask for anything else. BRILLIANT!!!! Sunday was really sad though... finally when it came down to it...it was so sad to say goodbye. Made me realise how much I miss them back home and can not WAIT for them to come home....it'll be brill. 'WHY DID WE EVER LET THEM GO!!!!' :-) HeHe I didn't get to spend much time seeing Seattle, but what I did see it was lovely, I would defiantly love to come back here soon, especially if everyone's still here... But good news for back home, the plan is next year and they'll be back...so prepare yourself ...there CRAZY :-) HeHe Well that's me... Been nice talking to ya :-) Speak soon MWAH xxxxxxxxxx