Playing Tourist in Seattle

On Wednesday, my sister arrived from San Diego. And it was good.
On Thursday, my sister's daughters arrived from San Diego. And it was even better!

Wednesday was loads of fun because Suzanne and I got to have some much-needed sister time. We went out to dinner at a fun local French-ish restaurant called Gainsbourg. We shared a to-die-for burger and plate of amazing Brussels sprouts. We also tried some fun cocktails that were very lovely and things we'd never make at home because of the rather uncommon ingredients (namely things like celery shrub!) After dinner, we really cut lose and went grocery shopping together. I know, we party HARD when we're in the same area code.

My sister's girls arrived bright and early yesterday morning. The poor things were bleary eyed, to say the least, from having to be up at 4:30 to make their flight. Once we picked them up at the airport and showered Emily with lots of happy birthday wishes, we made our way to Starbucks so everyone could fuel up a bit.

Our main attraction of the day was the Chihuly Garden and Glass display in the Seattle Center. Oh... my... goodness!! I've heard about this place, seen pictures and TV footage of this place, and read articles about its construction (safest place to be during a Seattle earthquake), but none of that prepared me for the eye-popping nature of the art. Just wow. The shapes, colors, and artistry all hit your vision in waves. Even now as I think back, it stuns me that this form of artistry is even possible. Beyond the glass, we got to see some of Dale Chihuly's paintings that served as "rough sketches" for the glass pieces. If given the option, I think I'd almost prefer having one or more of the paintings in our home instead of the glass pieces, just to avoid the breakage issue. All of it was just absolutely incredible!!

This looks like a row boat full of candy!

Reflection

Under the sea

This is actually a ceiling

In the event/banquet area

A very tired birthday girl getting a hug from her mama

Space Needle

And .... INSTAGRAM!

Anna, stop being so darned serious all of the time!

Reflections of thistle-y flowers and the Space Needle

This "tree" looks like it was plucked from the world of Dr. Seuss

I call this "seals and Advent candles" ... no clue what Chihuly calls it

Reflections of a tree

It amazes me how the foliage so perfectly
coordinates with the colors in the glass art throughout
the entire garden

After our eye-popping time at the Chihuly exhibit, we made our way to Ballard for a quick lunch (Scooter's Burgers ... wonderful onion rings, who knew??) and for a little wine tasting/shopping. We wound up at Portalis, which is a lovely wine shop with a very knowledgeable shop keeper. She was very welcoming and definitely is in the right profession! That lady knows her stuff. She was able to not only talk about various wines and regions, but also some of the science behind wine making. Cool stuff! We brought a couple of bottles home, as well as some port for Eric (happy Father's Day, Sweetie!) and a bottle of a Belgian beer that Emily pointed out. (She has become so worldly since her recent 3-month stint in Brussels!)

Ruby port for a very deserving father

We made it home around 2:30 and the girls were practically falling over with fatigue by that point. The three of them curled up on the couch, watched a movie, and basically sat comatose for a bit. Our kids briefly disturbed the peace and quiet when they got home from the park and very eagerly greeted their cousins and showed them their latest skills and abilities. (not to mention, Annika did a little "I have new glasses" fashion show.) ;)

Later that evening, we had a lovely "it's Emily's birthday!" dinner of Uncle E's famous chicken, pasta salad, cheesy bread, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Basically, we were all stuffed ... but in a good way.

Happy birthday, Emily!!!

Happy birthday, sweet Mimi! We love you so much and hope your birthday was as fun for you as it was for the rest of us. You're cherished and we are so grateful to have had the chance to celebrate your day with you!!

Last day of school 2015 photos

Last Friday, Annika had her last day of 1st grade and Conor had his last day of preschool. (Excuse me while I take a moment to wipe away a few tears...)

The day started out a bit more relaxed than more mornings because Eric and I both took the day off of work. So, the kids were able to sleep in a bit and we didn't have to rush out of the door quite as hectically as we do on most other school days. Both kids had the opportunity to sleep in a bit, which was good practice for the upcoming summer break! With the kids getting out of school quite early, Eric and I had a more leisurely morning, too... no lunches/snacks to pack, homework to track down, etc. No complaints!

Naturally, the kids were very excited about their last days of school, but Annika was also a bit down because she was going to miss her first grade teacher (Mrs. Portolese). I tried to comfort her by pointing out that the 2nd grade classroom is next door to the 1st grade room, so they'll very likely still see each other at school.

Before we left for school, I took a some photos of the kids so we could compare the first day and last day of school photos. It astounds me to see how much the kids have changed and grown over the school year. Academically, they have soared, but also as maturing little people. What a wonderful journey!

Annika's first day of 1st grade

Annika's last day of 1st grade

Conor's 1st day of preschool

Conor and Stop 1's last day of preschool

Eric picked up the kids from school at 10 (I was helping clean out my Aunt June's house, so I had to live the day vicariously through texted photos!) and that afternoon, he took the kids to pick up Annika's first pair of (reading) glasses. She had been anxiously awaiting them for days and was thrilled when the big day finally arrived. Doesn't she look adorable???

Pretty girl who can see better!

End-of-the-Year Teacher Appreciation Cookies

It is impossible to believe that another school year is in the record books!

In addition to participating in the school's teacher appreciation SCRIP program (brilliant!), I wanted to give the kids' teachers a token of our appreciation. That said, I didn't want to clutter up their houses/desks with more teacher "stuff" that they probably didn't need/want.

So, I opted to make cookies for the teachers. To make them more personal, I asked the kids to give me one-word descriptions of their teachers and then I used edible ink markers to write "My teachers are..." on some of the cookies. I also wrote some summer phrases "think sun", "enjoy the summer", etc. as well as plain ol' "Thank you" on the rest of the cookies. To top off the gifts, I had the kids write their names on a few cookies, which acted as the gift tags (in addition to the thank you notes I wrote on behalf of our family).

Channeling Aunt June ... the straw makes me more efficient while decorating cookies

Batch #1

Batch #2

Batch #3

All ready for Annika's extended care teachers: Mrs. Bandares and Mrs. Hellerman

All ready for Annika's 1st grade teachers: Mrs. Portolese and Mrs. Higgins

All ready for Conor's Caritas (pre-school) teachers

We delivered the cookies to the teachers on the kids' last day of school. They were a huge hit with the teachers and office staff (there was a plate of "Thank you" cookies for them). So glad this gift idea gave me the opportunity to walk around to the various teachers and thank them in person for all they've done for our kiddos. 

Hot Sun, Almost Summer in the City

We've hit a bit of a heat wave here in Seattle. For those of you familiar with Seattle's typical June weather, hitting 85 degrees on June 7th is practically unheard of. It is bloomin' hot here!

To combat the heat a bit, we pulled out the sprinkler that Eric made last summer (impressed that he MADE a sprinkler? Yeah... so am I!) and let the kids continue their water time after their swim lessons this afternoon.

They had a marvelous time and beat the heat a bit... talk about a win!

A Sunny, Beachy, and Puppy-ful Whidbey Weekend

Oh, what a weekend we had and we are so grateful for Eric's mom (aka the birthday girl) and dad hosting our crazy clan for another sleepover.

When we go to Whidbey, we usually head up early Saturday morning to avoid sitting in a long ferry line. Unfortunately, Annika had an event at school Saturday night that precluded us from following our normal schedule, so we opted to head up as soon as the kids got out of school Friday afternoon and prayed that the freeway traffic and ferry line were kind to us. Oh boy, were they ever kind!! We made it up to the ferry terminal in pretty darned good time, especially considering it was a sunny Friday afternoon. We did miss the first ferry that we were aiming for, but considering we were able to pull right into the parking lot instead of waiting in the ferry line waaaay up the hill, we were feeling mighty great.

To celebrate the sunny weather and to bide our time as we waited for the next ferry, the kids and I popped over to Ivars for some ice cream. Yum! I was too full to finish mine, so Buca even got a bit of a treat.

Buca says, "Nom, nom, nom"

Before long (and after a few ice cream drips down the kids' hands), we were on the ferry and taking in the gorgeous views from the ship deck.The kids "helped" the ferry make the crossing by pretending to be a couple of ferry captains. Thank goodness they accept payment in the form of ice cream!

Keeping their eyes peeled for signs of the Whdbey ferry terminal

"Driving" the ferry

Once the kids safely docked the ferry, we made a quick drive to Eric's parents' house. The kids are always excited to visit Bestefar and Bestemor, but this visit was even more exciting than the rest because this was the first time they got to meet Eric's parents' new puppy. Needless to say, Kodi was the star of the weekend and captured our hearts immediately. I'm pretty sure he had a magnetic impact on our kids; whenever they were out of sight, we knew they were playing with Kodi.

While the kids LOVED the newness of Kodi, it became pretty evident after a little bit that Buca was absolutely worn out by all of the puppy's energy. Poor Buca is becoming an old man and even hung out in the bushes for a little peace and quiet... that and he LOVES to spend time in the mud!

At some point during the weekend, I mentioned that we have a neat book of "Dad and Me" projects and Annika really liked the idea of making stilts and a teeter-totter. Naturally, almost as soon as the breakfast dishes were cleared, Eric and his dad were out on the woodshop putting together a set of stilts for the kids. Annika's current professional dream is to be a trapeze artist, so it is good for her to get some circus skills down now. She took to stilt walking quite quickly and was happy to wobble around the driveway for all to see.

As soon as we unpacked our gear on Friday, Annika started hounding Eric's dad to take her for a ride on his ATV. Unfortunately for her, Bestefar was completely exhausted because (a) they returned from Montana rather late the night before and before we arrived on Friday afternoon, he had already played 18 holes of golf and mowed their massive lawns. Soon after the stilts were built and the kids were out of their PJs, out came the helmets and ATV for some fun around the property. The kids even got to take turns driving! Naturally, the ride-on mower also came out so both kids could have rides at the same time. No child left behind!

May 2015 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Lamingtons

I'd just like to start out this blog post with an apology to all Australians everywhere ... of all time. When I set forth on this baking challenge, I promise that it was not my goal to completely destroy what is a fan favorite for you Down Under. It was just one of those days... :)

This month, we were challenged to make Lamingtons, which are basically single-servings of sponge cake that are dipped in chocolate and then rolled in dried coconut. One problem... I don't like dried coconut. To me, eating it provides the same experience as chewing on styrofoam offers. It just give me a bad chill down my spine. Fortunately, the challenge's host said we could be creative and weren't required to use the traditional coconut. Woo hoo!!

Without any issues, I whipped up my beautiful sponge batter. It was airy. It was frothy. It was the perfect color. I carefully poured it into my prepared baking pan and ushered it into the hot oven. So far, so good!

The recipe said to immediately invert the cake (once completely baked, of course) onto a wire rack, remove the pan, and then re-invert the cake so it is right-side-up on a cooling rack. "NO PROBLEM," said I. "HAHAHA! That's what YOU think," said the baking gods. As I inverted the cake (using pot holders because the pan just came out of a 350 degree oven), all hell broke lose. Actually, hell didn't break lose, but the pan sure did. The entire thing went flying out of my hand and landed on the stove ... the cast iron pan ... and the Dutch oven. Lovely. Ruined. I risked my fingers and plunged in to upright the cake and find out how much damage had been done. How much? This much:

Knowing the cake was going to be cut into bite-size pieces, I decided to carry on and make the best of a less-than-ideal situation. After the cake cooled, I whipped up the chocolate dipping sauce (yum) and then opted to roll my ugly cake pieces in brightly colored sprinkles for two reasons: (1) they aren't coconut and (2) the bright colors will (hopefully) keep people from noticing the fact that the cake went on a bit of a joy ride and got mangled in the process.

All in all, it could have been worse, but could have been MUCH better. Fortunately, the cake's taste wasn't impacted by its flight and is quite yummy!


For the May challenge Marcellina from Marcellina in Cucina dared us to make Lamingtons. An Australian delicacy that is as tasty as it is elegant

Mother's Day Hike 2015: Llandover Woods

We had an absolutely gorgeous Mother's Day this year. The sky was blue, the sun was out, and not a drop of rain fell.

To celebrate the day, we opted to lace up our hiking shoes and explore Llandover Woods, which is a hop, skip, and a jump from our house. Embarrassingly, we'd never taken the time to go there before now; in fact, I didn't even realize it was a good place to tromp around with kids until I read a "secret places to hike with kids in/near Seattle" article online.

The loop that we hiked was just over a half mile long and provided plenty of lush landscape to look at along the way. Even with the ups and downs of the trail, our kids did great!! No one complained about tired feet nor asked to be carried. Woo hoo!!

Along the way, Eric and I pointed out things we noticed, like sprouting ferns, woodpecker holes in trees, thorny plants to avoid touching, etc. The kids soaked it up and created their own backstory for much of what we saw, including a fairy family lived below a large tree with partially exposed roots.

Our hike didn't take too, too long, which was good because the kids had swim lessons later on in the day and we didn't want exhaust them. That said, it was a perfect first-of-the-season hike and an ideal way to spend Mother's Day.

Let's hike!!

Annika and Eric heading off into the woods

Annika just hanging around

Mama and her munchkins

Annika, queen of the woods

Conon, king of silly log standers

Conor found a flower and gave it to me as a Mother's Day gift...

So, Annika found a flower, too!

My little sweeties 

Eric and the kids blazing a trail

Wuv.... twue wuv!

The kids loved the natural benches we found along the way
and had to try out each and every one of them

Conor securing his role as hike leader

We found a few rock/shel piles in a certain area of the woods; it took us a couple of minutes to realize it was probably someone's pet cemetery. Of course, the kids wanted to bring the cool rocks home (especially the heart-shaped stone). After much convincing (without going into too much details about exactly why it was important not to take the pretty items), they agreed to leave the shrines intact. Rest in peace, little fishies and birds who may (or many not) have been buried there

The Olson Four in Llandover Woods