Happy Birthday Kristina!!

Kristina's birthday was earlier in the week, we decided to do a celebratory dinner tonight instead of the actual day.  Our weeknight evenings are pretty full anyway, and it just makes for a more relaxing dinner and evening when we have more time.

Ethan Stowell is a popular chef in the Seattle area and all of his restaurants come highly rated by most folks.  We were anxious to try one out.  Since we aren't pasta lovers (don't get us wrong, we love pasta, we just shouldn't be eating a lot of it), Staple and Fancy Mercantile was the most obvious choice.  It had a very energetic and industrial vibe.  The food was good; however, they have an option to not choose off the menu, just let them bring you whatever the chef feels like (family-style dinner).  We had not been here before, so we opted for ordered our own meals -- in the future, we would go this route.  For our dinner, Jared had the striped bass and Kristina had the New York.  The meals were simply prepared with quality local ingredients and it was obvious that there was a lot of care taken in preparing everything.  We finished off the meal with a ricotta cheesecake.  It was very good and not overly sweet at all.  All in all it was a good evening!

Happy Birthday Kristina!

Mary's Visit -- Day 3

Mary had to be at the airport around noon on Sunday, so we didn't "do" a whole lot.  It was sad to see her go back to Phoenix, but Kristina was glad to have the time to spend with her and be able to catch up with her in person.  Thanks again Mary for making the trip!  Until next time...

Mary's Visit -- Day 2

Saturday started off leisurely.  Indy of course was restless, so Kristina bit the bullet and just got up early with her and headed downstairs before she could wake Mary up.  After everyone had woke up, Kristina made some sourdough waffles and sausage for breakfast.  Kristina has made these many times, but never for Mary and Kristina was anxious for her to try them.  Mary seemed to like them; Kristina and Jared love them and are always looking for an "excuse" to have them.

After breakfast we headed out to the Redmond's Farmer's Market.  Kristina and Jared picked up a few items before we headed back home.  Next on the list was a hike up to the Lower Wallace Fall.  Kristina and Jared have hiked this trail a couple of times before, and it is very scenic.  Before we started though, we hit the Sultan Bakery and had some diner food for lunch.  It was fairly typical diner food and probably good that we were heading out to go hiking.

The hike to the lower falls in 1.8miles each way with a decent incline because you are hiking UP to a waterfall.  However, it isn't too bad of a hike.  Unfortunately, we didn't know the hike well enough to give Mary expectations, so it might have been more than she wanted to do while wearing jeans.  But, she hiked like a champion and we all had a great time.  Here are some shot from the hike...as usual, thanks to Jared for being the photographer.

This is the beginning of the hike when it is still flat...

Don't you just love all of the lush vegetation?

And here are the falls...lower falls that is!  One of these days we'll have to make it up to the other falls!

What a great way for Kristina to celebrate her birthday!

After we returned for the hike, we headed back home to get ready for dinner.  We were all going to Cafe Juanita in Kirkland for dinner.  It was an exquisite meal -- definitely one of the top meals we have all had in our lives.  Not everyone would appreciate the menu and restaurant, but Kristina and Jared knew that Mary would.  We are so glad that we all got to go have dinner there together!  Double Yum-O!

Mary's Visit - Day 1

Kristina's friend, Mary, came into town to visit and help celebrate Kristina's birthday early.  Believe it or not, Kristina and Mary have been friends since they were 16 years old.  Both of them marvel at how they have stayed good friends for so long and in such good contact over the years.  They miss the days of both of them living in the Phoenix Metro area, but even with them geographically apart, they are still "close".  Wow!

Mary arrived on Friday around 10:30am, so Kristina took the day off.  After picking Mary up from the airport we headed to one of Kristina's favorite spots in Seattle -- Serious Pie!  Yum-O!  The kale salad is awesome and the pizza crust is out of this world.  Of course, we had to stop at the Dahlia Bakery for some sweets to eat as well.  We each had a coconut cream pie bite, and Mary had a fig bar that must have had 2 or 3 figs in it alone!  Next up we headed down to Pioneer Square to go on the Seattle Underground Tour.

The Seattle Underground Tour is a very touristy thing to do, but it came highly recommended to Mary by someone she knew and Kristina had read that is was a good thing to go check out in Seattle Met Magazine. The tour is approximately an hour and takes you through some of Seattle's first history as a city, and you find out that if it wasn't for Bill Spiedel and his efforts that Seattle would have lost all of this history.  Definitely something to check out when you are in Seattle.  Just know that you should probably buy tickets in advance because the day we went, the tour was very full and Kristina was very glad she bought tickets in advance.

After the tour, we headed back to where we parked the Juke, and that's when a bit of trouble began.  For anyone who has experienced Seattle, parking in Seattle is an entirely new adventure.  Kristina had found an open parking area to park in and paid to park the entire day.  When we started out the day, that seemed like a good deal, but when we got back to the car, we began to wonder.  It was ALMOST impossible to get out of the parking spot.  The car that was in front of the car too far forward and taking up a bit of the spot, but there was no one parked on the right side of the car at the time and we figured we would be ok.  But, the numskull that parked on the right side of us was WAY too close and hadn't pulled up far enough in the spot so we were pretty wedged in the parking spot.  Mary thought we might have to get a tow truck, and Kristina wasn't sure how she was going to pull this one off.  That being said, Kristina successfully pulled out after a few minor readjustments.  Let's just say, thank goodness the Juke is small and has a back-up camera.  Whew!  After we got out of the parking spot, we headed out to Golden Gardens Park in Ballard.

Golden Gardens Park is a beautiful park right on Puget Sound.  It was a beautiful day, and we had some time to spare before dinner, so we found a bench and caught up for a bit longer.  Kristina had a great time talking with Mary and catching up.  Mary enjoyed the view and all of the surrounding water.  She was amazed though at how many kids were in that COLD water.  For Seattle-ites, it was a warm day and a perfect day to be in the water.  hahaha!

After hanging out there a while, we headed to Ray's Boathouse for an excellent dinner and an even better view.  Ray's never fails to impress in either department.  After a nice dinner we headed back to the eastside and to Woodinville.  However, when we came out of Ray's we had another slight parking problem...Ray's was so busy that the valet had blocked our car in its spot.  Another family was blocked in as well.  So we had to flag down one of the valets, he moved the cars and we were able to narrowly escape again.  Once again, Kristina was glad she was driving the Juke!

We finished off the evening with a fire in the fire pit and more chit chat of course!

What a great day!

June Blooms Update

Check out how much the romaine lettuce and tomato plants have grown!  It is insane!  We'll be eating salads galore in no time!

If you want a comparison, just look at the original June Blooms blog post!

Happy Father's Day 2013

Happy Father's Day to all of those Fathers out there!

Hopefully you are as spoiled as Jared is for Father's Day.  Jared started out they day by receiving a lovely card and gift from Indy.  She got him a machete and tomahawk for Father's Day.  He had been wanting a machete for quite some time (the main purpose being beating back the brush on trails that aren't used frequently), and when Kristina saw a set in a catalog, Indy knew it was the gift for Jared.

After opening his gift, Jared and Kristina decided to head to the Edmonds Art Festival.  It was a nice day, so this was a way to enjoy the outdoors and relax a bit.  Of course, before we made it to the festival though, we had to stop and get Jared an apple fritter the size of his head!  That was what he wanted!  The next time we get one, I will have to take a picture of it.  It is HUGE and it costs less than $1.50.  What a score!

For lunch, all Jared wanted was hot dogs!  So we grilled some up and sat out on the back deck and enjoyed the weather.  Around 3pm, we headed to the Tolt River for a hike.  It was a perfectly beautiful hike until a big black cloud came over our heads.  Luckily we were smart enough to head back to the car (we were at the half way point of our hike)...once we arrived back at the car, the clouds opened up and the thunder and lightening arrived too!  It was a nice little downpour.

Once we arrive back home, we had filet mignons for dinner and Jared ate an entire pint of ice cream!  Let's just say Jared had a good day!

Maisie and Dulee -- and the walk!

Let us tell you that this is hilarious!  Most nights Maisie "walks" Dulee and she does this while riding her ripstick and Dulee trotting along with her.  What amazed us is that for the first 5 minutes or so, Dulee dorks around by biting the leash and the fact that Maisie doesn't fall off the ripstick is AMAZING!  She could be a pro surfer with that kind of balance!  Anyway, here are some shots of her walking him one evening.  By this time he is worn off that top layer of energy so he is walking "normal", but it is still fun to watch.

Dulee, you're lucky to have Maisie!

Land of Ahhhhs -- Kansas! Day 3

Our final day of our Kansas Visit was spent doing more family things and just relaxing.  On Saturday night we had our family pictures taken (albeit an hour early due to severe thunderstorms rolling through the area) and just hung out inside because it was so gusty.  Sunday morning we woke up and the weather was beautiful -- although it did hit 90 degrees later in the day.  It was time for Game 2 of the Annual Edmonson Grudge Match.  Same teams as on Saturday, and with similar results.  The girls won!!

Here Rhett is stretching out for Edmonson Grudge Match Game 2.  It is funny how kids can not stretch at all and then just go full throttle!  Enjoy it while you can Rhett!

Here he is in action...serve motion looks good, he just needs to get a little more clearance over the net. 

Da-Da returning a serve.  You'll notice that Da-Da never keeps his feet on the ground.  Hmm, I wonder where Rhett got this habit.  :)

Rhett in on some net action.

Maisie whacking a serve!  Look at that LEFTY! 

Kristina smacking a return.  Boy, she loves her forehand!

Kristina looked like she had a good time!

After we got back from tennis, Grandma Louise and Grandpa George had arrived.  Next up on the agenda was fence golf.  And again, the competitiveness comes out!

Da-Da, Stephanie, Maisie, and Rhett were familiar with fence golf, but the rest of us had to get caught up.  It was pretty easy though -- however, the scoring was a little more involved than I would have guessed.  But never fear, it was all good.  We had a great time playing.

Grandma Louise getting in the action.  She was on a team with Grandpa Flipe.

Look at Grandma Louise's face in this picture.

Now look at Rhett's face in this picture...notice any similarities!

It is all serious over here with Grandpa Flipe...look at that concentration.

And that expression!

And now let the expert show you how it is done!

Rhett and Da-Da won that match up, but Grandma and Grandpa didn't do too badly.

Next round was Maisie and Aunt Kristina against Da-Da and Rhett.

Rhett must be in trouble in this one...he looks like Grandpa Flipe!

Aunt Kristina getting serious...note that she is still in her tennis attire minus her tennis shoes!

Maisie kicked some serious you know what in this game.  She and Kristina ended up winning this round!

Of course Uncle Jared had to get in the mix...look at that concentration!

Of course the dogs had to get their pictures added to the blog...

Riley hanging out in the shade.

Mesa and Dulee catching a cool breeze or the scent of something...you make the call!

And of course, fence golf was follow-ed up with some badminton!  Same cast of characters, just different "weapons".  :)

And of course, how could we resist more dog pictures!

Wow, that was a full day!  And don't we look like we had a good time...