Summer Vacation

We couldn't resist visiting our state's capital in Olympia.

Once we arrived in Portland, we grabbed a bite to eat at Old Town Pizza

After pizza, Sammy lost another tooth while eating a red vine. She had just lost one the day before.

We finally arrived at the beach where the explorers went to work on finding all sorts of sea creatures.

I love this picture. It was my favorite day on the beach.

The Newport Aquarium is magnificent!! The indoor/outdoor exhibits are amazing. The Northwest Modern architecture is stunning.

The delicate blown glass is in every tank. It was hard for me to focus on the sea life with so many glass sculptures on display.

And of course there was salt water taffy. Sammy used her Tooth Fairy money to buy a bag of candy that she shared with her little sister. How sweet.

Surf shops are everywhere along the coast so we visited as many of them as possible.

In Portland there is a skateboard shop called, Daddies Superior Snow and Skate. My husband loves this place so we visited there on the way in to Portland and on the way out.

I have so many photos to share with you but I think these give you a nice glimpse into how we spent our vacation. I can't wait until next summer.

Crafty Weekend

I have been stressed to the max since Thursday. My laptop computer has been giving me all kinds of grief. And of course this grief comes right smack dab in the middle of an insane amount of work that needs to get done. I'm heading out for vacation on Friday and hope to have it all resolved before I leave. Cross your fingers for me.

To take my mind off of my computer woes, on Saturday I spent time with my girls and their next door neighbor friend making a poster for our block party which is happening tomorrow night. Yeah. I swear the block party might as well be another holiday because the girls get really worked up about it. We really do have fantastic neighbors so I can see why they're thrilled to spend time with them.

Then on Sunday, we went to grandma's house where more crafting took place.

Here you see grandma showing Sammy how to sew a button on an elephant. Yes, elephants have buttons if you didn't know that already.

There's a pink elephant in the room and if I'm not mistaken, he's got a purple button eye. Honest to goodness we weren't drinking. My mom has so much patience with children, a trait that I apparently did not inherit. I don't think Sammy and I could have finished this project without her. Good job Sammy. Your sewing is coming along so nicely.

I can't possibly begin to explain what this type of craft this is so I went to Wikipedia and found this explanation.

Mizuhiki is an ancient Japanese artform that uses a special cord. The cord is created from rice paper, that is tightly wound, starched to give it stiffness, and then colored. The ways of coloring include brightly colored mylar (a very thin plastic), thin strands of silk, or simply painted. The artform was used to tie up the hair of the samurai.

Currently there are several forms. The traditional decoration, given away at Japanese occasions, such as weddings, births, and funerals take the forms of animals or boats. Different animals are created for different meanings, including Cranes, Frogs, Fish, Dragons, and Turtles are among the most popular. The other traditional way the art is done is in decorating cards with little colored knots, similarly to how people in western cultures use a ribbon and bow. A third way is being developed that uses the ancient art for a more modern purpose, jewelry.

The piece that my mother and daughter are holding were both made by my grandmother many years ago. It really is special to have these items. My grandmother now well into her 80's is quite the artist. I still find her arranging flowers whenever she gets a chance.

Sammy also had many questions about Japanese craft called Bunka. It's something my mom used to do often when I was girl.

Bunka is a knitted rayon cord that is similar to the material used to make decorative tassles and graduation tassels. It is shiney, and has a nice drape.The word 'bunka' comes from a Japanese form of punch embroidery. The needle art is called 'bunka', and the thread that is used is actually called 'kayo'.

Like Mizuhiki, in Bunka different animals represent different meanings. In Japan, the tiger represents bravery and is also associated with strength and prosperity.

It was a crafty weekend all right as well as a nice trip down memory lane. I hope my daughters really begin to appreciate the importance of these precious handmade items. I want them to know that the craft itself should be treasured but that the true treasure is the time well spent with friends and family.

Hike at Discovery Park

Yesterday we went on a nice hike through Discovery Park. After hiking a little more than half way through the winding trail we stopped for lunch. I made this sandwich which travels so well. It's French bread with a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar and a layer of goat cheese. To that I added smoked turkey, fresh arugula and tomato. I wrapped the sandwich tightly in plastic wrap and placed it at the bottom of the picnic basket/tote. I then piled everything else on top of it so while we were hiking the sandwich got mushed together and all the flavors really had time to soak into the bread. It really was tasty and not too filling.

Here are the brownies I made the night before. They came out great. I wish I had cut the pieces much larger. The girls used the brownie power to get them through the rest of the hike. It really did make them go faster.

Jon took the girls past the barrier to get a better look at the view. Then I noticed the sign. . .

We had a blast. Oh, and nobody fell over the cliff thank goodness.

A Recap of My Day

It's approximately 10:46 p.m. and I'm not at all tired and there's nothing to watch on TV and so I've spent the past 2 hours completely engrossed in a new book I'm reading. It's been so dang hot these past few days that I've been hibernating in the basement to keep cool and tonight felt a need to live above ground for a change. It's still hot, but not crazy, make the front page of every paper in the nation freakishly newsworthy hot.

Today my day started off fine, which is a good thing. I'm not a morning person just so you know. In fact, most mornings I'm down right miserable which makes me a Goonie when compared to the normal bright-eyed and bushy tailed bunch that is my family. They get up all "good morning" and smiley faced while I wake up with snake venom in my larynx. Don't even look at me or you're sure to get the skunk eye. Just let me have my double iced mocha in peace.

I offered the girls breakfast as usual but this time gave them the option of eating it downstairs while I attempted a bit of yoga to charge my batteries as if 8 hours of sleep wasn't enough to do the job.

After breakfast I showered, dressed, dressed the kids, slathered them with sunscreen, did their do's and we all went off to U-Village to buy a birthday gift for a young man turning 6.

I had no idea what I would get for this child. I knew he was totally and completely nuts over Star Wars so the natural thing to do would have been to buy him something well, Star Wars right? Wrong. Everybody and their mother (literally their mothers) would have come to this party with Star Wars toys all neatly wrapped in Star Wars wrapping paper so I had to go against the grain so to speak. I had to zig while they zagged. I couldn't show up with a duplicate gift. No way man. So instead I got him this super cool, insanely awesome rocket launcher. What 6 year old boy wouldn't like that? Cristin, you'll have to tell me how this gift went over. I fear I may have zigged a little too far off into the galaxy with this one.

The birthday party was held at a local beach where we all waded in the 3 feet of surf. It felt good to be in the water as the sun beat down on us like we were tar on the rooftops. Did I mention that it's been dang hot these days?

After the party, I decided to head back down to the basement to organize the kids toys. Littlest Pets go in this bin, Polly Pockets in that bin. As I'm cleaning, purging and generally organizing guess who comes tromping down the stairs? The girls. "Oh mommy, what are you doing?" They then proceeded to play with the piles of toys I had neatly arranged. I didn't want to interrupt their play since they very rarely play with their over abundant multiplying by the minute toys so I designated areas for them to play in so as not to upset the neat groupings I had managed to amass.

After organizing and cleaning up, I skulked up to the kitchen and pulled out a few cookbooks hoping to be inspired by something. I had no idea what to cook for dinner and it was 5:30 p.m. Oi. I didn't know what to do. Roasted Corn Chowder with Lobster sounded delightful and the glossy picture of the Peach Galette made me salivate. I proceeded to write out a grocery list minus the corn chowder ingredients but did include 6 ripe peaches. A girl has her priorities. When all of a sudden my husband declares, "Let's go to Burgermaster for dinner." Huh, what the . . . ? Burgermaster? Seriously? That's a first. So let it be written, in front of God and everybody, we went to Burgermaster.

I've never been in a Burgermaster which isn't me being snooty so much as it is me being against eating beef and pork. Well, I'm not against it, anybody can eat it as far as I'm concerned, it's just that we don't eat it. My family and I that is. Lucky for us they had chicken on the menu and a bunch of other stuff. Who would've thunk? We sat down to our chicken burgers or our Chickenmasters? Oh I don't remember what it was called but it was digestible. The girls ate chicken fingers and fries.

Right next door to the Burgermaster is Safeway, so after dinner we walked over to do a little grocery shopping. I got all the necessary household staples to fill the fridge and pantry (including the peaches for the Galette). I also bought a brownie mix, Duncan Hines, no Pillsbury, no it was something else, Devil's Food. Yes, that's it. I think. Anyway, we got home from the grocery store and I watered my newly planted flower garden and then set off to make brownies -- out of a box. All I needed to add was the 3 tablespoons of water, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and 2 eggs.

Sounded easy enough to me until I discovered that I barely had 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. I filled the rest of the measuring cup with Olive Oil. I know the flavor will be compromised but I wasn't about to head back to the grocery store so it had to do. Fiddlesticks!

Again, I'm not being snooty, but I've only made brownies out of a box one other time in my life. I don't know why, it seems like a descent enough product it's just that the thought never occurred to me to try it again. Tomorrow we will dig into it and hopefully it will be good. If it isn't, then I'm giving up the box mix for good.

I put the girls down for bed after singing a few lullaby's and then went to reading my book. I took a brief pause to make, and then eat, a Root Beer Float. The Root Beer was flat as a pancake and the ice-cream wasn't all that. But together they satisfied by desire for sweet cream and fizz.

That now puts the timeline here to me writing this blog post. In conclusion, this was a nice Saturday. I spent time with friends and family, went out to dinner at a new restaurant (and I'm using the word restaurant loosely) and made dessert -- out of a box no less, for tomorrow and now Nirvana is playing on the radio. . . in the sun, in the sun. . .