Indian Buffet

Ollie tucks into some butter chicken, rice, naan, and
sliced cucumbers.

Dawn and Merrit are two peas in a pod when it comes to eating. Both of them
love food, are masters of food math ("If there are eight slices of pizza, that means
we each get two."), and are usually thinking about their next meal even as
they eat their current meal. 

Guess whose plate? Dunno...could be Merrit's, could be Dawn's...they
pretty much both looked the same!

Neighborhood Market

Two blocks from home is this cute produce and flower stand, which is open
daily all summer. 

We bought a big bunch of chard and some mint, apricots and cherries.

Merrit, our budding foodie, selecting just the right apricots.

He paid for his items with his own allowance money.

A peek inside Merrit's bag. 

These eggs aren't from the neighborhood market, but
came from our two-doors-down neighbor, Joe, who
has three chickens: Veloce, Stellata, and PastaPrimavera.
Merrit has been helping him in his garden. For an hour's work,
he gets paid with a crisp $5 bill plus fresh raspberries and eggs. :)

Friday Mashup

Today was a really weird day. Well, it was Friday the 13th.

It started off with Mike dressing up for work in "70s corporate" as a gag. They had to do some kind of HR training thing and everyone was asked to dress up "corporate," whatever that meant to them. Mike had me hit the Goodwill on the hunt for polyester items. Here's what we came up with:

I bust out laughing every time I see this picture!

Next up, Dawn and I dropped the kids off at VBS and went indoor rock climbing. This was great! We started off with a 5.5 climb (medium-level) and then climbed 5.7 and 5.9 climbs. After our hour of climbing time, we went out to What the Pho? (prounounced "fuh"), a Vietnamese pho (noodle soup) shop in downtown Bellevue. Yum.

Game over, Donger in the houuuuuse.

Reeaaaach!

Almost to the top! 

Dawn got the Pho Ga, noodle soup with shredded chicken.

I got the Pho Thai, noodle soup with beef.

We picked up the boys at noon, headed home, and did Insanity. Woo hoo. We were literally SPENT after that hour-long beating at the hands of Shaun T after our morning of rock climbing. Gotta work off last night's beers!

The boys are both fighting off little colds. We entertained the idea of having a campfire at night, but decided we'd rather not be out in the dark woods on Friday the 13th. No, not really, we were all just too tired. We need to rest up for a day of fun tomorrow. :)

T.G.I.T.

Thank God it's...Thursday? Hey, when the mood strikes, you party. Yesterday was just a gorgeous day...it started out innocently enough..."Let's just have a beer and sit in the Adirondack chairs on the front porch." Five hours later, Mike, Dawn, and I were still "having a beer." Ah well, it was fun!

Cheerrs!

Donger gets me laughing like no one else.

Dinnertime. BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, and salad. Mmm.

We're making Dawn earn her keep!

Later that night....
The Munchies Hit. Uh oh. So much for all those Insanity workouts.

Candy was had, too. Not sure if we were more hungover
the next day from the beer or all that sugar and salt!

VBS and Vasa Park

This week, the boys are in VBS from 9 to 12 every morning. Today, after VBS, we packed a picnic lunch and hit Vasa Park on Lake Sammamish. This is a great park only 1.8 miles from our house. We hung out from about 12:30 til almost 4:00. Awesome! Here are the highlights in pictures...

The park has a cool swim platform about 20 feet out with tube slices
and diving boards. A U-shaped dock makes a kiddie enclosure for the
little guys, too. A great beach!

Merrit received this pool float from our friends, the
McGanns, for his birthday. We tried it out today for
the first time.

Ollie gave it a whirl too.

The temps here are about 79 to 81 degrees. Really nice!

The boys hit the merry-go-round and dried off for a bit.

What fun!

A great park to know about--and so close to home!

Birthday Party at Luther Burbank Park, Mercer Island

Earlier this evening, Merrit was invited out on a big boat for a ride around Lake Washington with his friend Aidan and five other kids. Today is Aidan's birthday! The boat ride on the grandparents' Bayliner was followed by a surprise birthday party on shore with food, a pinata, and cupcakes. When the kids all got off the boat at 5:00ish, the party guests were waiting on the dock to wish Aidan a happy birthday!

The birthday boy and his friends disembark.

We all squated down behind the wall to surprise Aidan.

Aidan went around giving everyone hugs. Here's mine.

The decorations for the party were perfect for Aidan, who loves all kinds of
African animals. His collection of realistic-looking stuffed animals were all
perched in various trees. I spotted lions, leopards, snakes, and a giraffe.

Cupcakes!!!

Aidan and Merrit are great friends. Two peas in a pod, really.

The nearby park was a big hit with all the kids.

Dinner is served. Burgers, dogs, green salad, all kinds of fruit, and chips.

Balloons. Love these!

The kids took whacks at a pinata. Here's Merrit's turn.

When the pinata finally cracked open, there was a mad dash for candy!

Kirkland's Marina Park

Yesterday, Dawn and I had paddleboard lessons scheduled for 2pm but when we got to Kirkland's Marina Park the water was so rough that we took a rain check for another day (and earlier in the day, when it'll be less choppy). We ended up spending the next five hours sunbathing, chomping shaved ice, people watching, window shopping, and eating Mexican food. What a great day!

We had high hopes...oh well...

Watermelon shaved ice! Ahhh.

Giggling about our paddle board misadventures. We're such a couple of wusses.

Plan B: Tacos!

We ate at Milagros Mexican Restaurant in Kirkland. Love these light fixtures
almost as much as the handmade tortillas.

The taco trio. L to R: mahi mahi, Baja shrimp, and beef barbacoa. Dawn also
tried the butternut squash taco....had a bite of that and it was AMAZING!

The margaritas weren't bad either.