Up in the PNW....representing the 206 :)

 Because, Seattle is so, gangsta, ya know. If I had a sarcasm font I would totally be using it right now :)

Check out our sweet ride while cruisin' around the city.

 The Princess and Daddy ridin' in the red cherry. Daddy with a Starbucks of course ;)

 Trinity demanded MORE COWBELL when she was jammin' on Uncle Chris's drums!

 Yeah....there's a very high concentration of spiders in Seattle. These suckers are EVERYWHERE.

 We had awesome weather on the day we headed to Golden Gardens Park. Great view of the Olympic Mts., also.

 The fam.

 Of COURSE we visited the troll under the bridge! The Princess is on his left shoulder. The Princess also overestimated her superhero skillz and decided that jumping off his right knuckles would be fun.

Not so much. There was concern she may have broken her foot, but she recovered nicely.

 We made our way to the waterfront and visited some marine life. Super cool octopus inside, but so many people were up in the way with bright flashes that I just couldn't get a good shot.

 We did get to touch an anemone and some starfish.

 Love these guys! So smiley :)

 The Princess and her cousin watching the fish being thrown at the world famous Pikes Market.

It was a 77 degree, rain free Saturday, so yeah, it was crowded.

The VERY FIRST Starbucks store is not far from here either. We didn't go in, because it was PACKED!

 The football and baseball stadiums are next to each other and Mt.Rainier is behind the left stadium.

 The space needle. Driving by was fine for us....going up the elevator was not in the budget.

Mt.Rainier from the plane on our way back to Wisco. See it pokin' up through the clouds in the distance?

Yeah, getting up at 4am will tire ya.....we weren't even airborn yet.

We also went to GameWorks (a Dave and Busters kind of multi-level video game arcade), as well as many Starbucks runs, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, a super cool kids park with a mini-zipline, and a visit to BlueCSushi. Can you believe I am the only one who didn't get anything to eat there? Even Bruce had sushi!

I just wasn't hungry :(  It's such a cool atmosphere and if you've never had conveyor belt style sushi, this is the place to do it!

I WAS hungry when we went to AguaVerde down on the waterfront in the U district. (See how I've got the lingo down, like I'm all local?) The U district is the University area, where Bruce's brother teaches.

So, while I really enjoyed Seattle, it's vibe, and our hosts, the visit confirmed I'm just not a big city kind of chica. We're gonna look into the slower paced suburbs with closer access to the mountains and hiking.

Peace!

Playing with food

I've known about a fun little party trick for about 15 years now. It involves marshmallows and a microwave. Now that I'm a mom and a nanny, it also involves kids :)

They LOVE this trick!

STEP 1: find a marshmallow. preferably the newfound ginormous ones, the size of 4 regular sized marshmallows.

STEP 2: place in microwave for 20 seconds. Less if you use the regular sized, or have a stronger microwave wattage.

STEP 3: watch marshmallow inflate to epic proportions.

STEP 4: eat (or have the kids eat) as soon as it cools down a bit and as soon as possible. They deflate and get hard very quickly.

Look how big that sucker is! I wish the phone camera did it justice...

It's also fun to do this with Peeps :)

The Motherload!

 I came home on my lunchbreak today and what was awaiting me on the porch?

Not one, but TWO packages!! Yee-haw!

EXCITEMENT!

While I was expecting them both, I didn't expect them today or on the same day.

Anyway....the first package was from Katie at Making Food and Other Stuff. Katie's an ex-Wisconsinite turned Arizonan, who has a food blog. She had a giveaway and I WON!!

What did I win? I won homemade "Heather-ized" Oreo cookies.

She made them from the Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook.

She also included a homemade coffee cozy. Awww....LOVE it :)

Ok, Katie, I completely understand your lack of willpower when eating these cookies! They are SO GOOD!

Check out the coffee cozy, which was put to immediate use :)

Second package was from the hubbs in Seattle. I guess he's trying to indoctrinate us into the Seattle way before we even get there!

In the bag is a Seattle blanket. He also got Trinity and me matching Seattle hats and shirts. You can be assured there will be a picture coming with us in our new threads. She's at school right now, so when I pick her up I'll surprise her with her new stuff, including the sucker and a bracelet I forgot to add in the picture.

Cute, no? Thanks, Honey. LOVE YOU!!

It's turning out to be a pretty darn good day. Fun mail always helps-especially when there are no bills, either!

Music Monday

I have new favorite song. I guess it's pretty popular with the kids these days ;) I recently heard it a couple weeks ago, but there's no telling how long it's actually been out.

LOVE the red hair :)

For the most part I've become pretty out of touch with popular secular music. In part I blame relevance, since most music I like has some sort of relevance in my life at the time and most secular music just doesn't.

And in part, I blame this guy

Since he moved away to college I'm no longer able to hear the newest Kanye or Gorillaz blasting from his room. or his car. or his ipod.

What's fun is when I do get to hang out with him and we listen to what's on his ipod, alot of it is "retro"....like

 TY: "Hey Heather have you heard this song before?"

ME: "Yeah Tyler, I've heard that song by PEARL JAM before."

TY: "How about this song?

 ME: "R.E.M.? ummmmm....I think so." ;)

TY: "Ok, here's one."

ME: "Prince....yup, your dad loves Prince."

TY: "Oh this is a good one...."

ME: "Ok, that is a hysterical random song and why do you have it on your ipod!?"

(it was She Drives Me Crazy by the Fine Young Cannibals, by the way)

It's also fun to share music on my ipod....that he actually likes...I think there are like maybe 2 songs!

'Memba this one?

Oh hey-did you know SKA is popular again?? I had no idea. Last I listened to some SKA was like, 1995.

Anyway,

Maybe when I go visit him at college this week I'll introduce him to the likes of Arrested Development,Toad the Wet Sprocket, Primitive Radio gods, or really blow his mind with some Crash Test Dummies;) (click it)

I think this guy needs to make a comeback ASAP :)

Apple Obsession

The frugal girl in me is not usually one for buying things I don't absolutely need. Buuuuuuuuuut, I think this item has recently fallen into the category of something I absolutely need! Ok,"need" is kind of relative, but c'mon! Look how awesomely cute these APPLE SWEATERS are!

I first found them on Katie's blog called Yes, I want Cake. She's a Colorado girl, who's also a teacher with a super cool blog :)

She had a link up to an online store called ETSY, where many more of these super cute sweaters can be found.

Being an apple a day girl, I can actually see the practicality in this. I've been known to just throw an apple in a baggie and go. But, this would make the transport of apples so much safer, cuter, and germ-free.

Also-what an awesome gift for fellow apple lovers and teachers :)
If you're the knitting/crocheting type, then woo hoo-you've got yourself a fun new project! When you're done making it, let me know and I'll email you my address so you can send it to me ;)

To the Bruce-ster :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HUBBY !

Ain't he just so cute? I think so ;)

Trinity got all gussied-up to wish you a happy birthday, too.

I'm sure Tyler wishes you a happy birthday also (I'll call to remind him it's today!)

This is Bruce's first birthday since we've been married (2001) that we've been apart. :( He's off in Seattle getting things secured for our arrival. Quite a significant day for sure.

The first birthday he had while we were a couple was a significant one as well. It snowed in the morning, he proposed, and by the end of the day it was 70 degrees and the snow was gone!

So, yeah, it's also the anniversary of our engagement.

Anyway, happy birthday Hon! Here's to a year of renewal, freshness, and new beginnings!

We're moving WHERE?!

This small-town midwestern conservative girl and her family will SOON be moving to someplace I've NEVER been. We've been talking about moving for quite a while now, but it was always with the idea that it would be COLORADO. Well, that's not happenin'.

So, where are we going?

I'll give you some hints as to where:

Bye bye Packers.

Bye bye Brewers.

Bye bye Badgers.

Bye bye farmland and extreme seasonal temperatures.

Bye bye scraping ice off my windshield and shovelling a half foot of snow.(not gonna miss that!)

As far as family and friends, I'm not even able to bring myself to think about saying goodbye.

 I'm looking upward and onward thinking of the new season in my life. I'm being encouraged by others from Seattle who assure me I'll fit right in.

Mountains on the ocean? Oh yeah....I'll be juuuuust fine :)