Tulip Beauty Shots

This is similar to the Oregon Coast Beauty Shot post. This one is all about the tulips. No family, nothing that really requires comments by me. Please enjoy the photos

these photos were taken by me. Please enjoy them but if you are going to use them, please ask permission. Thank you!

Our International Adventures Continue

We read in the paper that Uwajimaya is opening a new store where the old Bellevue Larry's used to be.  We thought we would go check it out!

In front of the sushi counter. TWO sushi chefs were working today.  Yes, we did get another shopping bag with the kites on it. And lunch.

In front of the live Tilipia tank.  They were very interested in looking at us.

The giant sole. It is only 1/2 the fish, the side you can not see has already been filleted and sold yesterday. 700 pounds of fish! We bought lots of stuff we did not need, it all looked good. Theresa was telling me all about how good Milk Tea is and we found some to try.  Lon got a piece of sugar cane! I got some origami paper and instructions on how to make my own Bento Box out of paper. This should be a fun thing to try. I used to love doing origami but I am very much out of practice.

On the way home we passes this cloud formation. I thought it looked interesting. Yes, that is blue sky Blue Sky! It is something celebrate!

I talked Lon into trying Rice candy. This is the kind that Mrs. Ohashi used to have in her shop. I loved it as a kid. Not surprisingly I still do. Lon ate most of the box though. There are only 5 in a box.

Daddy's lunch! Seaweed salad, kimchee, pickled eggplant, octopus, and radishes.
Daddy loved it.
I had noodles with chicken.
It was really a fun way to spend the morning.

International Saturday

Today was the spring bazaar at the Polish Home.  Last year, I bought the shredded beets to try them. They were the best beets EVER. I had to go back and get another jar for this Easter. It was important!  Lon wanted to come with me, so after lunch we went!  I wanted to make sure I ate before I left. All I had was 20 dollars in cash and wanted to make it go as far as possible.  We found great parking, about two blocks away. Which for a Polish Home event is spectacular. Lon had a great time, walking along with me, pointing out the flowers and cracks in the side walks.

Lon at the Polish Home in front of the flags.  The smells were amazing coming from the kitchen. They had a peirogi sale, but they were flown in from Chicago. I have one package of my homemade ones in the freezer. Perhaps I will eat them on Good Friday. mmmm. Found out they are having a Perogi, All You Can Eat, Festival on May 7.  That might be a fun way to celebrate Mother's Day! At least for me it would be fun.
We went upstairs to the bazaar. Looked at the amber and the pottery. It was all lovely. I got the beets, and a Wedel chocolate bar. Then I looked around to see if there was anything else. I had to get a red t-shirt that in white letters said: Got Peirogi? Really, how could I pass that up?

I like the little crepe paper flower sticks. Maybe Lon and I can learn to make them.
Also, up stairs, we talked to the Polish Language School instructors. They had some rummage sale items too. Lon was drawn to them because they had a box of legos. Yes, we got those. I went to talk to them because my next big life goal is to learn to speak Polish. I would love to be able to do that, it would also help with my family history research. The classes are on Monday nights, from 6 pm to 8:30pm. It would not be fun to get there for us. The commute is still going on at 6pm and they will have a big toll on the bridge.  Perhaps we will look into Rosetta Stone or find a class we can take on this side of the lake.  A class has advantages as it is social and has some pressure to study. Rosetta stone has no pressure, but the whole family can use it as much as they want. It is something to think about

Being silly in front of the egg tree (we are putting ours up tomorrow--yes, I am really really late this year)
Yes, there were lots of ladies and gentlemen in traditional Polish costumes. Which was SO cool to see
We could have gone straight home after this or...

We could go down to the waterfront and to Penzey's spices.  I thought, really, it is still not tourist season, it is kinda cold. How bad can this be? If I EVER decide to go to Seattle on a Saturday, please slap me till I come to my senses.  The closer we got to the market/waterfront area, the more congested traffic became. It was not really all that fun. To help make it fun for Lon I let him use my little camera and take photos of  things he saw out the window. He thought Hammering Man was really nifty. He wanted me to go around the block to see it again. Um, no, son, that is just not going to happen.

Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. We will go back there someday, probably in the fall. On a weekday. NEVER again on a weekend. Really. (I know deep down I am going to break that *rule*, but not any time soon)

He liked the boat on top of the shop.  I am getting photo software this week.
We parked at the waterfront/market garage, the one with the elevator. There is no longer any attendant, and you no longer get a ticket. You put your credit card in the machine, it spits it back out at you. You park. Then on the way out, up at the top of the elevators, you put that same credit card in again, it tells you how much it is charging you for parking. Then you go directly to your car, and to open the parking gate you have to put that same credit card in again and it opens the gate and lets you out. You can not pay cash, you can not use a debit card. You have to use credit. It is really odd.
Lon forgot to get the camera out of the car when we ran through the market to Penzey's. I thought that going the best spice store ever would be good, since I was almost out of vanilla and almond extracts.  Shipping those 16 ounce bottles is not an inexpensive thing.  I did get two vanilla and 1 almond. That is about the rate I use them at. I got a little bit more curry powder, we have been using that alot lately.  We had a tiny bit more time till we had to be home, and I wanted to stop at Delaurenti's Italian Market. The smells in there were amazing. I could have spent hours in there. The store was crowded, the whole market was crowded. Lon did great! He held my hand the entire time. He did not try to pull away like he used to. He kept very close to me. I did tell him how proud I was of him for following directions and being such a good boy.  We  got some Lemonta to drink on the way home and an imported Italian Easter Egg, wrapped in shiney paper. I loved those when we were in Rome.  I told Lon we had to save that for Easter and he said, I know Mommy. No fuss. And it was CHOCOLATE!  I also found raw, shelled pistachios! Yay!  I have some cookies to make with those!

More photos from the way home. We got back to our car, and I was thinking no problems we will be home well before 5. We might just make it before 4. Well, that was not to be.I headed to I-90, and we got stopped by a train. Sitting on the tracks. Sitting and sitting and sitting.  We waited. Lon liked looking at the train for a bit, but soon he got antsy about when it was going to move. The baseball game was either just going to start or about to let out (not sure which) and I knew I did not want to get caught in that traffic rounding Safeco Field on the way to the freeway. We did finally make it, just as the first policemen were starting to direct traffic. We got home at 4:35.  Ruhul, Prachi and Reyansh were coming over at 5! I had just enough time to get our treasures put away and the floor swept.  It was good to see them even if it was a short visit. Reyansh wanted nothing to do with being away from his own house. Not having it, not wanting it and he wanted to go home NOW.  He made it very clear as only a one year old can that it has to happen NOW NOW NOW
 Mark worked hard while we were out playing. The guest room got caulked and his tools got sorted. We have more than we think we had.  He suggested we go out! I, of course, said YES!  We went up the hill to La Corona Mexican Restaurant Lon did not want rice or beans. I actually remembered, and asked the waitress to leave them off his plate. He was so happy with his bean less quesidilla and Roy Rogers.

Lon was a very good boy all day today. He did everything we asked of him, he did it nicely.  There was only on whine this morning. But that was before breakfast.  He ate his food well, he was super fun today! 
It was a great day!

Grade School Carnival!

Friday night was Lon's first school carnival. He had a grand time! He saw alot of his friends and did every activity they offered. We were there about two hours.  I did not volunteer to run an activity this year, maybe next year.  I did, however, bake cake!

A spring lamb! Complete with spring flower garland. It was really fun to make. Lon wants me to make one for him for Easter. It was a lemon cake, not a red velvet as some people suggested.

German Chocolate Cupcakes! These were divided into 4 trays. One of each sprinkle topping per tray.
The cake and cupcakes I made went fast. This makes me happy

BOUNCEY HOUSE. Those rule!  Lon would have stayed there all night and not bothered with the rest of the carnival. I knew he would be disappointed if he missed it, so we pulled him out of there and went into the school to see what else there was.

Nerf gun target shooting. Very fun. Lon hit the target, a little high and to the right. Just like his momma.

Ring toss. We need to teach him how to throw a little better. He needs LOTS more practice.

Cake walk. Lon did this about 4 times.  He only won once, mainly due to his teacher. She was the one pulling out the numbers. 
There were lots of fun things, every game won a prize every time. Except cake walk. There was popcorn, cotton candy and this really cool balloon twist. Two long balloons twisted  around each other, but one has a little ball in it you can see rolling around.  The family had a great time. I think I will volunteer for an early shift next year. And make another cake or two.

A new blog

I got a challenge today, so I had to do this! Every week we bake cookies and now I am writing a once a week blog about the cookies we make!
Httt://www.cookieswithlon.blogspot.com!
Fun!

Easter Preview

Yesterday after school Lon and I went to the mall and got BUNNY PICTURES! whooohooo! I had his Easter shirt with me, and we put it on in the car at the mall, and took it off right after pictures. (he put on another shirt, I did not make him run around half naked)

Before bunny pictures! The people who run the pictures remembered Lon and called him by name!  We go twice a year, once for the Bunny and once for Santa.  I was surprised they remembered his name!

The bunny picture I chose for this year. They took 5 of them, but this one I thought was the best!  After we take our photos we go to Harry and David, then Williams Sonoma and we leave. Well this year, since we found out there was a Lego store in the mall we had one more stop to make before we left the mall, went to See's and headed home! It was a very fun afternoon! 

We have a Guest Room!

This weekend, we got the guest room done! Janet came over and did the floor (I helped, really, I did) and Uncle Chong and Mark did the molding on Sunday!  As an added bonus Uncle Chong put up the new light fixture. I can now say, every room (except Lon's bathroom) has been painted, by me!,(sorry, Jeff, I do know you painted Lon's room when I was pregnant with Lon, Thank you!)  and every light fixture has been replaced. We are almost at the end of the renovation! We have our room, guest bath, and the kitchen and we have completely redone this house. We have a new roof, new furnace, new water heater and this upcoming week we are adding more insulation. whew!
Now it is time for a couple photos

New light fixture. I really like this one. The new floor vent cover is the same color as the metal on the fixture!

..

In this photo you can see the painting chair. This chair has been used by three generations! Grandmother Presken had the chair, I think she got it from her mother, but I am not sure. It has layers and layers of paint on it. and I used it to paint this room too.

Painting

Today Lon and I tackled painting the walls in the guest room. The flooring has already been ripped up. We are almost ready to get a new floor then move everything (almost) back to the guest room.  We have to get a closet organizer in there fairly quickly as I have clothes and shoes that hang up in there! 
The most amazing thing for me is that the house smells better. That carpet was very dirty and unimaginably stinky when we ripped it up. Strangely, I found some poop under the carpet. That was really weird.

Lon is really helping me paint. He is slow but he tries his best. He really enjoyed helping.  The new paint color is Sanctuary from Behr (Home Depot). I think it looks good.  Much better than the dirty yellow in the closet and light blue everywhere else. Even the ceiling was light blue. I painted the ceiling bright white.  The inside of the closet is bright white too.
I think this project is going very well.

Molbaks

Today Aunt Janet and Drew came up for a visit! Very fun!
First stop was Big Daddy's for lunch. It was wonderful as always. The boys played at the candy machine till it broke. Then, Mr. Summerfield turned on the dance floor lights (the colored lights that flash) the boys ran around with those and had a great time.
After lunch we went to Molbaks. Love that store. It is wonderful. There are some good ideas there. 

There were alot of people who brought their dogs to the store. This lady brought two. I find that sort of weird. But the boys liked petting the dogs. They were very nice and asked first. The lady was nice enough to let two boys pet her dogs

Fountains! I am thinking of a big fountain in the front yard. Not sure how I would make that work exactly, but I think it would be fun!  There was a sign that said, Parents please do not let your children play in the fountains. The boys were good about not playing with the water. I know that was tough! It was water, it was moving! It was SO cool!

They found these great chairs, made of recycled materials. They came in great colors and looked wonderful.  however, the price tag that comes with them is a bit out of control. (400 for the chair they are sitting in. We did not know this when they sat down)
Lon was a bit disappointed that they did not have the Christmas villages out. He would like to get another piece for our village. He likes that almost as much as our train

We bought some seeds to plant for our garden. I kept thinking about this little tree all through the store. I thought about what I would plant it in, where in the house it would go. I kept thinking about it. That was enough. I bought the little meyer lemon tree. I am hoping that there will be lemons on it from the blooms this summer.  I am going to put it in a big blue pot.

In 10 days Auntie Janet and Drew will come back to help me put in a floor. That will be FUN!