Saturday, 4/30/2011

My parents and I got so much accomplished today!  It rained this morning, so we couldn't do much outside.  While mom and I played with Katie, my dad started to organize and clean out the garage.  He took a trip to the local building materials donation shop to get rid of light fixtures we no longer needed.  When he was done organizing, he had given us back three feet of space from side to side in our garage.  Whoo hoo!  When the rain stopped, my mom and I set out to weed the terrace to make room for the raised beds.  Katie spent her time watching Toy Story on my iPod in her stroller.  It's the only movie I have in a digital format, and she loves it.  The iPod gave my mom and I enough time to fill our yard waste bin with extra debris ready to go in next week's bin.  Dad got the structure for the two beds built today.  We'll mix the soil and fill them tomorrow.  

Katie and I picked Ben up at the airport this afternoon.  Katie ran to him, hugged and kissed him, and told him she loved him.  What a happy reunion!  We then met my parents at Anthony's Home Port in Des Moines for dinner.  Katie and my dad had fish and chips.  Ben had steak and coconut prawns.  He was really disappointed in the steak.  While cooked perfectly, it was lacking flavor.  The prawns and his caesar salad were excellent.  My mom and I started with spinach and bacon salads, topped with dill vinaigrette.  The salad was delicious!  I really wish I knew how to make that dressing.  Yum!  We also each had halibut for our main dish.  Mine was pan fried and her's was oven baked.  Both were perfectly tasty.  Dinner with my family-- what a wonderful way to finish a day.  

Tuesday, 1/4/2011

At 3:30pm I got a call from my Aunt Mary.  She and my Uncle Greg were in town to see the Picasso exhibit at the SAM.  They wanted to know if we were free for dinner.  YES!!!  What a treat to get to see them:)  Katie and I stopped getting the ingredients together for the cookies we were about to make and got ready to go.  Thankfully, we had only measured out flour when we got Mary's call.  They wanted to meet at Ivar's on the waterfront.  What an easy place to meet them!  It is just a couple blocks away from Ben's office and the company parking spot was open for us to use:)  Our PEPS gathering was tonight too, so we only got an hour with them before we had to head back to West Seattle.  

For dinner, Ben had fried plump tiger prawns and a salad.  Katie ate french fries, oyster crackers, and a bite of cod.  She really only wanted to color on her menu.  I had a bowl of wild Alaskan smoked salmon chowder, which was fantastic, and some of Katie's uneaten fish.  Greg had a bowl of clam chowder and helped Mary finish off her fish and chips.  

At PEPS Ben and I limited ourselves to just a couple bits of baked macaroni and cheese each.  Oh...it was SOOO good.  Naomi said it was from a gourmet cook book which doesn't cut corners on getting the recipe right.  

It was a really great night!!!