Aproval Rating: High

Just got the word that our visas have been approved. Now waiting for the official paperwork to arrive... and I haven't even completed my expenses claim for the last time over!

The Boy clocked 15 hours...

... of sleep last night, which is pretty good going for a 3 year-old straight off a transcontinental flight - parents are of course still frazzled and jet-lagged. Here's a summary of our Seattle preview trip:

• impromptu tour of North Seattle in the dark after the sat nav (GPS nav in US-speak) tricked us into missing the exit off I-5
  
• planned lightning tours of Mercer Island, Bellvue, Green Lake, Greenwood, Phinney Ridge, Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia and West Seattle
  
• mucho sleeplessness, hacking coughs and record vomiting from The Boy
  
• The Boy managing to lock both bathroom doors with all of us on the outside and the bath running (panic!)
• a new obsession with elevators and escalators
• bun-based food galore
• really bad network TV
• Pike Place Market (of course)
  
• Monorail, Space Needle and Children's Museum
• Mexican food in West Seattle
  
• rain and fog, then more rain (we missed the snow)

Despite all that we managed not to be put off going back! Many thanks to all those who provided info or support one way or another during the trip. Now, I got an expenses report to file...

Relocation is in motion!

After a long game of hurry-up-and-wait, things are finally happening. My visa application process has started and I'm meeting with the move organizer this afternoon to go over the logistics of the move. The visa application starts with a serious amount of informational reaming, and I kinda doubt that is over yet... lets hope the moving agency is gentler!

It all still seems very surreal and dissociated and I'm mostly sharing my preoccupational energies between researching Seattle's residential areas and getting rid of as much stuff as possible on eBay...