"You Ought to Know"

Last night Mike and I went to see Brandi Carlile in concert, and WOW. She's touring as part of the VH1 "You Ought to Know" Concert series, and they're right. She was amazing. We had to drop kids off with our neighbor for 9 hours on a school night (4pm to 1am: we really, really owe her) and drive for nearly 2 hours on the way up (traffic) and an hour and a half on the way back, but it was totally worth it.

If you are like every other person we have talked to, right now you're saying, "who?" Brandi Carlile. She's got a kind of folk-rock sound with a little bit of country behind it. It should come as no surprise that I like her so much: she grew up listening to classic country music but then discovered rock music in high school. (Sound like someone?) She and her guitarist write almost everything she sings, which is huge to me. I really admire people who write their own music, and I think you can hear it in their voices.
So back to the concert. The Mt Baker theatre is a small, 1940's concert hall with amazing acoustics. Our seats were in the 9th row, on the floor, on the isle. I felt like I was in one of those VH1 storyteller specials. Brandi and "the twins," the brothers who are her guitarist and bassist, put on a great show and put way more rock behind their songs on stage than they do on their albums. And to really make it a great live music experience, they debuted a song recently written by Tim, the guitarist, AND they sang one song completely unplugged (which, because of the size of the theatre, we could easily hear.)
Now I have to tell a story about Sydney. She was conflicted about us going, because while she got to have a playdate with 2 of her favorite neighbors while we were gone, she really likes Brandi Carlile and was jealous that we went without her. When we got home at almost 1am, we found her awake in bed. She said she couldn't sleep. (I'm sure she had slept some, since she went to bed at 10 minutes to 8.) But she was wide awake at 1, and when I asked her if she was thinking about something, she said, "Yes, Brandi Carlile. What did she sing, mom?" I told her a little about the concert, and then sang part of her final song, which was a beautiful rendition of Hallelujah. At that, she went back to sleep.

A couple of days later, I searched online trying to find a couple of pictures of the concert to show her. I didn't have much luck. Then someone told me to check flickr (www.flickr.com). OK, I feel really old admitting this, but I had never even heard of this site. I easily found a ton of pictures of her concerts, including the one last week in Bellingham. That's where these pictures came from.

Do I admit the next part? I next cranked up my computer savvy by checking out youtube for the first time. (I know, I know... I HAD actually been to this site before, but only a couple of times to check out links that someone sent in an email. I've never actually gone there on my own.) At any rate, I was able to hear the new song (A Promise to Keep), the unplugged song (How These Days Grow Long), a heart-wrenching song she wrote about a friend of hers who committed suicide in high school (That Year), and Hallelujah--none of which are currently available on any album or iTunes. I played Hallelujah for Sydney, BTW, and she loved it.

Here's a couple of clips to listen to if you've never heard her music... you'll have to try to ignore the people singing along!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LcaacdBfIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMmQp53HAT0

This is definitely going to feed my growing interest in live music...

Rain, rain

It rains a lot in Seattle.

What? You were looking for something more profound? Robert Fulghum I am not-- for his blog, go here: www.robertfulghum.com

My point is, it rains quite a bit in Portland. It rains a LOT in Seattle. Anyone who is familiar with the Pacific Northwest might be feeling a little concerned for me right now, because if I'm complaining about the rain in October, I am in big trouble. But I'm not really complaining-- just taking it all in. In Portland, it is overcast and wet on average 4 days per week from the second week of October to the first week of June. (That's my observational average, and has absolutely no hard research behind it.) Based on my observations since April, I'd say it rains a little more often in Seattle. The big difference, though, is not the frequency, but the amount of rain. Where you might get mist and off-and-on "spitting" in Portland, here we really get rain.

Which brings me to my point-- the point in my blog frequently being to discuss pictures that I've taken-- despite the fact that we lived in Portland, we never bought true raincoats for the kids before now. They had water-resistant jackets that were very good, but we decided that wasn't going to hack it here. Especially not when Sydney has to stand outside and wait for the bus. So I bought them raincoats. And they are so cute in them!

Today it rained pretty hard. In fact, as Sydney and I arrived to pick up Sam, we even got a little thunder and lightning (I have no idea how common thunderstorms are here, but in Portland, we only got them about once a year. I personally love thunderstorms, so the moment I hear the first crack of a distant thunder, my whole mood improves.) On the way home, the clouds parted, the sun shone, and we all took turns finding the rainbow as I drove and turned.

Back at home, with the sun out again, but the kids still in their raincoats, I couldn't resist grabbing my camera. Aren't they adorable?

Our baby is in Kindergarten

I guess I'm a couple of weeks behind in posting this, but Sydney started Kindergarten! She's been so excited for school to start that I don't think she cares it means that summer is over. (Or maybe she can't tell the difference, given the summer we've had here in Seattle-- rrrrggggh.)

From the naptime phase-out (yes, she was still napping 3 months ago), to biking up to the school just to play on the playground, to back-to-school shopping-- every step has been exciting for Sydney. There are at least 15 kids in the neighborhood who attend her Elementary school, including 3 other little girls in Kindergarten. One of them, Madeleine, is in her class. Our families have started to become friends, which is really great for the girls and for us. They even have a 2 1/2 year-old little boy! Sydney and Madeleine were adorable on the first morning of school, each wearing dresses and toting empty backpacks.

When the bus arrived, they practically ran on; the driver had to ask them to stop and wave to Mom.

Sam and Liam (Madeleine's little brother) were disappointed that they didn't get to climb onto the bus behind them, but they've got the routine down now. Sam opts for the stroller ride to the bustop each morning, not caring that I affectionately call him "The Little Prince" or that the 2 year-old little girl down the street has told us that strollers are for babies. The bustop is a hefty uphill walk, and why should he expend the energy if he doesn't have to? Of course, we don't live in our grandparents' generation, where the bustop is uphill in the snow both ways, so he runs back ("I the leader!") and I am stuck with an empty stroller.

But back to Sydney... some days she comes home a ball of energy, and other days she is so exhausted she melts down and cries half of the way home from the bus stop. Despite the fact that she has been in school or daycare for her entire life, grade school is undeniably exhausting. She loves her teacher, Ms. Beaver, and is horrified by the thought of ever disappointing her. I certainly hope that continues!

In the two weeks since school began, she is already starting to read more, trying out lots of words all the time. Madeleine just turned 6, and can read short chapter books, so Sydney wants to learn to read today. Ms. Beaver has a wonderful outlook about children's differences and really helps them all to see their particular strengths so that they don't focus or worry about what others can do, but let's face it: Sydney is a type A, firstborn girl. She wants to be able to do it, too.

With the increased flexibility in my schedule, I am going to try to volunteer in her class once a week. They need readers, and I love reading to children, so it's perfect. I think her teacher wants us (volunteer parents) to start the 2nd or 3rd week of October. Stay tuned... I will be very interested to see class in action!

Musical (Mis)adventures

As we're living in Seattle now, we have decided to explore the local music scene (OK, this is mostly just me, with the sometimes enthusiastic, sometimes reluctant support of Michael). The internet makes sampling music tremendously easy now; instead of just reading a review, I can download music and listen before deciding what to buy or get tickets for. And I have definitely found some great stuff! Early in the summer I stumbled across a local Seattle band called "Slender Means." We love their music, and listen to it often enough that Sydney can sing along. Check it out:
www.myspace.com/slendermeans
I have no idea why these guys haven't made it big, but I hope they don't before I get a chance to see them on a small stage for $6 at least once. In June, they did not have any information posted as to their upcoming concerts, so I posted a question on their website. I got an email back the next day from the lead singer-- how fun is that?

Along the way, I've also "discovered" a couple of not-so-unknown names that we really like. Brandi Carlile (www.brandicarlile.com) is one of those; I was in for quite a shock when I found out that she was coming to town and tried to get tickets. She is playing at the Paramount Theater, a biggish theater downtown. When I tried to buy tickets, a week after they had gone on sale, I could only get seats in the last row of the 3rd balcony! OK, I guess I can't say I discovered her. But we still really like her music, so on a total whim I bought tickets to her concert in Bellingham, WA, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive north of Redmond. By calling the theater directly, I was able to get seats in the 9th row of the main floor, and they were cheaper than the Seattle tickets. Definitely worth the extra drive. (At least I think so now.)

The problem with my new live music infatuation? I'm not sure we're cool enough for this anymore! Most local bands get playtime on weeknights at downtown clubs, which means that we have to get a weeknight babysitter and stay out 'till past midnight (*gasp*) on a school night! Even Brandi Carlile is playing on a weeknight, since we are going to see her at an off-prime venue. So between now and October 30th, I'm going to have to get in good enough with one of our neighbors to ask them to take care of the kids until past midnight on a Tuesday. (I don't think I can reasonably expect a 16 year-old to get permission to do it.)

One of my recent finds was a UK-based band currently touring the west coast, named Back Door Slam. They have a kind of updated classic rock sound. Does that even make sense? I'm not sure. We were supposed to see them a few weeks ago, but Mike caught Sydney's new school cold and instead we stayed home and went to bed early. We are so not 22 anymore.

All in all, I probably calendar 3 shows for every 1 that we will make. But I've decided that's not bad for a 35 year-old with little kids, right?

Big Sister Sydney

Like every child who has a little brother, Sydney sometimes gets annoyed with Sam. She wants everything in her room to be off-limits to him (oh, except for those times when she doesn't, and she is secretly delighted that he likes to play babies with her, and loves the Barbie Dreamhouse).
Sometimes, though, her maternal instinct is amazing. Last night, I needed to run out so Mike put the kids to bed. As he was laying in Sam's bed, waiting for the two of them to finish brushing teeth and join him for bedtime books, he got annoyed with Sydney for taking so long. After threatening to take a book away if she did not hurry (this is a huge punishment in our house), she came in with tears in her eyes and said, "But daddy, I had to brush Sam's teeth first!" That just warms my heart. I hope 30 years from now, I can picture her helping him brush his teeth as well as I can today. (OK, this might be a good time to point out to Michael that most 2 year-olds do not brush their own teeth, but I think he figured that out all by himself.)
Sydney and Sam have become very good friends, and I am so grateful. They play together all the time, and now that Sydney is learning how to put more complex Thomas train sets together, she is all the more Sam's hero. There are some days that I don't want them to grow up...

Sam the Builder

As you may know, Sam is totally infatuated with construction. Somewhere around 18 months old, his love of construction trucks began. Even before he turned 2, his favorite books were the realistic construction books you find in the children's nonfiction section at the library.

Then we moved into a new development neighborhood. Sam was, and still is, in heaven. Incredibly, on the day after we moved into our house, a giant digger arrived to break ground on the house next door. On that first day, we met the driver of the digger, whose name is John Cotton. After that, Sam began asking us 5-10 times per day, "Where John Cotton? Is John Cotton working? Is John Cotton home now? When John Cotton be back? John Cotton dig new house now?" John Cotton is his hero. Sam's room overlooks the construction next door, and he will spend nearly an hour in the morning sometimes watching.



His favorite activity, though, is building his own houses. He will build with anything he can-- blocks, books, boxes... but especially, the "building materials" he accumulates in the garage. These consist of the leftover pieces to our garage shelving units, pipes, boards, packing styrofoam, and anything else he can talk us out of. God help us if he ever catches us throwing away useful materials!

Our Move to Seattle

Inspired by our close friends, Joe and Stephanie Welsh, who just moved to Shanghai and started a blog (two, actually: www.swelsh73@blogspot.com and www.joewelshohiooregonshanghai.blogspot.com) to document their adventures and keep us all informed, I've decided to start one for the Trzupek family. We're not in China, but we are definitely on an adventure, having lived in Portland for 10 years and now getting accustomed to saying that we live in Seattle. (I still look for Portland on the departure boards at the airport... and on my last flight in, I got confused trying to determine which part of Lake Vancouver we were flying in over. I think Mike was greatly relieved to find that we actually made it to SeaTac.)

To make a long story short, in January, an old friend of Michael's (now working as a private consultant and doing some work for Microsoft) recommended him for a job. Michael was recruited, and we were both convinced that it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up.

Shortly thereafter, I reluctantly told my boss I was leaving. Before the day was out, we had crafted a job where I am working part-time from home. Logistically, it's a dream: I work half-time, over 3 short days.

I spend far more time with the kids than I used to, when our schedules meant dragging kids out of bed at 6:30 in order to get them out the door (with breakfast in hand more often than I'd like to recall...) by 7:15. Now, I am typically propped up in bed reading Dr Suess or Tonka books at 7:15. And the kids beg for homemade cream of wheat or scrambled eggs for breakfast when we finally make it downstairs. Now that's a good trade. Working from home has its challenges, but we'll get to those later.

In May, we moved into our new home in Northwest Redmond, an area we carefully triangulated for its combination of commute time for Mike (it takes him about 8 minutes to get home on a typical evening), great public school district, and relative ease of getting in to downtown. (What we did NOT get was an easy trip to Portland; while a GPS might tell you it will take 3 hours, our friends Chris and Jean or Val and Matt will breathe deeply and recall their 5 1/2 hour drives.) We moved into a brand-new house in a new development, which is proving to be wonderful. We've met lots of neighbors already, many of whom have young children, and all of whom seem to be eager to make friends.

Our house is great-- since it is new, we don't have a long list of maintenance items to work through this time! And we have lots of room, including plenty of guest space in the basement (hint, hint).

Compared with our house in Portland, though, we have a pretty small backyard. I had a hard time accepting the small yards here at first, but this house makes it a lot easier: our backyard is framed by an environmentally protected forest. We love the view from our kitchen and living room, and occasionally we get to watch the deer or rabbits grazing in the mornings.

For anyone interested (bored?) enough to keep reading, look for future posts about Sam's total infatuation with construction, Michael's newfound love of XBox, and Sydney's upcoming first day of Kindergarten!