On the Waterfront with Uncle Jeff

SO for two two days in a row, Lon played hookey from school.  It was a short day at school today, and we could not have gotten in all the things we wanted to do if we had to be back at school by 2.  He will go to school tomorrow. Promise. Then all next week is spring break.

Watching cheese being made at Beechers. We went in and got a piece of Flagship. We also went to DeLaurentis, the Pike Place Market Tea Shop.  After the cheese stop, we went to Piroshky Piroshky.  Love that tiny place.  Walked up to Penzey's too and got some cocoa powder. (we were almost out! horrors) Lon was good with all the shopping.

Lon's drawing at Penzey's.  His is the one on the crow's nest.  He says the store smells good and he can color, so it is a good place to go

Back to the market, flowers are always so pretty

On the Waterfront. Yes, the weather really was as icky as it looks

A fun art installation.

I have no idea why there is a giant otter there. This is not at the aquarium, it is in front of a t shirt shop.

At Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.  Lon thought the origami dollar bills were really cool. I wanted to buy him Mexican Jumping Beans, but he was not interested. I LOVED those things.

Then we went to Ivar's for lunch.  The food is just okay now. sad to say.

The weather changed again.  We had just fed the seagulls our leftover fries.  We did not get any good pictures of that. I was busy tossing fries!

We got home about 4. I made Bucatini for dinner and the boys played mousetrap.
It was a very fun day.
It is good to see Jeff!

Bunny Bunny!!

Today was Bunny Pictures Day!

Okay, I am dressed, ready to go, but can we measure me? I think I grew. He did. Half an inch.  I think we will need new pants, again, soon!

Looking goofy before we left home!

We love the bunny!  We get our photos taken, twice a year, with the same company. They remember us. I even got a hug from the bunny this year!

Lon got his bunny ears and a stuffed rabbit. Which he calls fuzzy pants now.  We went to the Lego store and filled up the boxes we got at Christmas time.  There was so much new to see! Lon wanted three of anything! But we did not get anything, except those boxes! (maybe the bunny will bring him something!)
It was a very fun day. I love hanging out with Lon!

Brasil Fest! AND the 1000th Post!

Yes, this is the 1000th post in this blog! 6 years of blog!  WOW!  I will let you know if there is a give away for comments or not coming soon. I rarely get comments, so .....
Today we had our Brasilian Dinner. Mark had no idea what Brasilian food was like, except for Churrasco, Brasilian barbeque. Since it is spring, and the weather is changeable, I decided against that option.  We had Coxinho, Feijoada, Arroz com Feijoa, Pao de Quejo, oranges, vinegrette and farofa. There is a brasilian market near my house, Kitanda, and they had the few specialty items I needed.

Our table, we had it set up as a buffet in the dining room. Our table was moved to the living room. I moved the Feijao and the Feijoada to crockpots to keep them warm. Michelle was so wonderful and brought her big rice cooker. That made it so much easier.  The farofa was in two sections, vegetarian and with bacon!

Coffee and dessert station. I just had Brasilian candy and the Brigederos. Those did not last long.

The kids did not eat much, some orange slices and candy.  They are busy working on their play.

Kayla, Brian and Ben playing vintage Mousetrap.

The plays, yes there were several, endings. They had a great time putting them on. Some of them sounded very beatnik.  Interpretive movements, and sound poems. Not that they had any clue, they just thought it was very cool.

Crayola window markers are used by the older kids and the younger kids.  Fun for everyone.
It was a very fun afternoon, not many leftovers.

A School Visit from Our Favorite Author!

This morning Samantha Vamos, author of two wonderful books for children, came to our school! Her first published book is called "Before You Were Here, Mi Amor" and the book that was read to us today is called  "The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred".  (illustrated by Rafael Lopez) Both are bi-lingual, Spanish and English.  There is a glossary in the back to help with the words.  They both have a wonderful cadence to their reading.

The assembly was only for kindergarten, first, second  and third grades. It was a packed house of attentive kids. The presentation moved quickly enough to not let the kids lose interest. It also provided alot of good information with humor so the kids would remember it!

Answering questions after the presentation.  There not alot of wacky questions. Surprisingly the kids paid enough attention to the questions not to ask the same questions twice.

Lon and Mrs. Vamos.  He was, as always, in the middle of a long run on sentence.

Samantha Vamos in front of the bulletin board that the wonderful Librarian, Mrs. Joseph, put together.
It was a great morning presentation and it was good to see Samantha again!  We really should do that more often!

Another Day, Another Birthday Party!

Today was a birthday party for one of Lon's classmates. It was very fun!

A wall mounted Lego track, the cars FLEW through part of it. VERY cool, and a big hit with the boys

A lego table,  another big hit with everyone. I even played a little bit. The boys could build whatever they wanted and take home their creations.  We talked to Lon about maybe doing this at his party. He thought about it a minute and said, no, he would rather not give away his legos, thank you very much.

Lon got a turn, several really, at the hot wheels wall.  He loved it!

Playing in the pretend kitchen is still a big draw too. And not just for Lon. 3 of the boys were playing kitchen with Lon. All the Moms were getting pretend food. Sushi, eggs, shrimp cocktails. Pretty fancy things they were giving to us.

The hammock was lots of fun outside too.

How cool is this? A Boba Fett Helmet! Lon did not really want to share, but when asked he did. Nicely too. He wanted to see if the helmet fit my head, but it did not. Maybe if we adjusted the inside straps it would.
Lon had a great time at the party.  All the boys played well with each other.  It was a good party.

Happy Birthday, Reyansh!

Today was a wonderful day for a party. The little guy is TWO! I still have the sticker on my dresser that says I was flu checked! We got those when we went to visit him in the hospital the day he was born.  Time does fly by the older you get.

Hey! Auntie Bubbles, thanks for the gift!

Mickey Mouse blow outs are the coolest thing in the world

Reyansh likes it up there!  He has the greatest Papa.

Lon was doing alot of running. There was an older boy, and Brian to run with and play. They were having a great time. The older boy was not letting it get too out of hand. (I would write his name, but I do not know how to spell it properly)

And then, he went like this, and I went like this and we are having lots of fun!

CAKE!  Reyansh is showing Kayla the toys on his cake. Mickey Mouse in an airplane. It really does not get better than that!  It was a little too early to be taking toys off the cake, we had to put it back.

Look what I did, Mom!

Cutting the cake as a family. I like this. I think we will start doing this too!  Only the first piece.
After Cake, we had a great meal.  I can not spell all the names, Paneer, Biryani, those I can spell and they were good. There was a cauliflower dish that was really good too. And some things that looked like meatballs, but it was vegetarian. I liked those alot.    It was not too spicy, but I still used lots of plain yogurt.  There was the Carrot dessert. That was wonderful. I want to learn to make that. But maybe I shouldn't, I would eat it all the time!

Cake, whatever, I can play with the toy now! This is the best ever!

A little break with Daddy and Uncle Chong

Brian showing Lon his Daddy's i-phone.  WOW! This is cool. Mommy, you should get one and I can play games.

It was time for Bingo. Lon loves Bingo.  The best thing is we won a blackout!  Which means we got a prize! That was fun.
Then it was time to go home and get some sleep.

In Like a Lion

We woke up to a very light dusting of snow. Lon was very excited about it! He bounded out of bed, got his gear on and went out to play!

Well, it is snow!  Not much, but it is snow!!

Let's see what I can do with this

Throwing a snowball at Mom may not have been my best idea this morning

I will make another one and just throw it.  It was fun to play in, but Lon had to go to school. He had a math test.  It is now a sunny afternoon. I hope this is the last of the snow before spring comes roaring in!

Lumpia!

I have been wanting Lumpia for a long long time. I have no source for good lumpia anymore having left Ketchikan.  BUT I did have a recipe.  A good recipe from a master.  It sort of scares me a little to make something I really really like and have never made before.  I bit the bullet. Invited some friends over to help me roll them.  I made the filling last night. A big batch. I tried to roll about 10, so we would have something to eat tonight. Along with sesame noodles, with shrimp and chicken. 

Daddy and Uncle Chong playing with the kids. 

Michelle was using her considerable skills to separate the lumpia wrappers before we started rolling. Glad we got extra wrappers, some of them Just would not come apart!

Michelle teaching us the proper way to roll. Megan made an asparagus, broccoli and cheese one.

Stacking up the finished product!  MMMM. I have lumpia in my freezer!!

They look right!

And they tasted good too! 

Lon was having a great time with all the kids over. He and Grace were doing some crafts. Brian, Kayla, Lon and Grace played all sorts of fun games. Everyone had a great Sunday.