June 19, 2011- Father's Day

Looking back on this Father's Day, I want Ben to remember the really good things and forget the really bad things.  I want him to remember that we went out for breakfast.  I don't want him to remember that Bakery Nouveau was too crowded to go into.  I want him to remember that the coffee he got at Uptown Espresso was delicious.  I don't want him to remember that Katie would only eat the glaze off of her cinnamon roll or that the coffee cake he ordered was dry.  

I want him to remember that we had tasty bbq chicken sandwiches for lunch.  I don't want him to remember that Katie had a frantic fit of kicking on her changing table that left me yelling "STOP IT" for all of the neighborhood to hear.  I want him to remember how excited Katie was to go to the Museum of Flight with him.  I don't want him to remember her flopping on the floor of the museum when she didn't want to follow him.  I want him to remember how sweet she was to whisper in his ear and give him kisses.  I don't want him to remember how she didn't want to sit in the plane with him and instead wanted to touch every piece of trash and dirty thing she found on the ground.  I want him to remember how cute she was playing with her new airplane.  I don't want him to remember how she hooked it into my arm to reduce how quickly I was putting her down.  (Yes, it hurt.)  

I want him to remember how good his Diablo burger from Pyramid Alehouse was.  I don't want him to remember how Katie wouldn't eat much of her dinner at the restaurant and started saying she was hungry as soon as we walked out the door. (And, here's where the don'ts outweigh the do's.) I don't want him to remember how she wouldn't stop talking over us while we were trying to Skype with his mom.  I don't want him to remember how she angrily chanted "MILK" during her entire second dinner at home.  I don't want him to remember how she pulled her place mat off of the table and dumped the crumbs on the carpet.  I don't want him to remember how she went spastic on us when it was time to brush her teeth.  I don't want him to remember how she got soo worked up about wanting to brush her teeth, eating more food, and not going to bed that she puked on her changing table.  

I want Ben to remember how funny it was that the Father's Day card Katie gave him at the end of the night said "Dad, I was put on this earth to bring joy and sunshine into your life.  How am I doing so far?"  Ah, the joys of being a dad.  Ben, I love you and am so thankful Katie has you for her daddy. And now for pictures from the good parts of the day:

Check out all of the photos here: http://www.ackersphotography.com/Family/Fathers-Day-at-the-Museum-of/17648045_Vv9nCL#1345389577_HTPnw93-A-LB

Monday, 5/2/2011

Katie and I did our weekly grocery shopping this morning, including a trip to Costco.  Later in the month we will be hosting a potluck at our house, and are going to be grilling hotdogs and hamburgers.  I don't want to have to make the hamburger patties myself, so I bought a package of pre-made, frozen burgers.  Knowing that we won't need 25 for the potluck, I decided to grill up a couple for our dinner tonight.  Well, they are not as good as our burgers.  They were pretty bland in fact.  Next time, we will definitely have to add some salt and pepper to the burgers while they cook.  I'm sure they can taste better than they did tonight.  We had a caesar salad on the side. 

Saturday, 3/12/2011

Our good friend David plays the Horn in the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra.  He always lets us know when his concerts are, and tonight was the first time we decided to go.  It helped that the first half of the concert was targeted at children.  David sent us a personal invitation, encouraging us to bring Katie to the concert.  Boy, are we glad we did!  She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!  The concert was in Seattle Town Hall, which has pew-like seating.  We chose to sit in a place with a column directly behind us.  That allowed Katie to stand on the pew to watch the action.  She was waving her arms frantically like she was playing the violin and conducting.  What joy she exuded!  Here she is, looking cool before the concert started:)

We met up with David and his wife Laura before the concert to have dinner.  But, before I talk about dinner, I have to share a funny story about the concert.  David decided to change into his tux between dinner and the performance.  He had grabbed his tux out of the dry cleaning pile before heading out the door.  It was only after he got on stage that he realized he was wearing Laura's dress slacks, not his tux pants.  HA!  He said he was surprised at how long they were.  She always wears them with heals.  Oh, sooo funny!

Anyway, for dinner we went to the Rock Bottom Brewery.  I had chicken parmesan, which was really good!  The chicken wasn't covered in a heavy breading, but instead, seemed to be pan fried with some herbs.  Covered with melted mozzarella and marinara sauce, the chicken was great.  The linguine it was sitting on was not very interesting and didn't add much to the dish in my opinion.  I think it might have had some oil on it, which prevented the sauce from sticking to it.  Ben had the Bourbonzola burger, with Jim Beam® Bourbon glaze, Gorgonzola cheese and crispy onion straws.  He said it was good, but not as good as the similar burger at Red Robin.  

I gave Katie some chicken and pasta from my plate, and she had a few fries from Ben's plate.  Mainly, she just made a mess.  By the time we got home from the concert around 9:30pm, she was hungry again.  She ate two cups of applesauce and had some crackers before she was finally ready to go to bed.  Boy, Daylight Savings Time is going to be a rude awakening for her tomorrow!

Saturday, 3/5/2011

Today I was at the Fauntleroy UCC women's retreat all day at the St. Mary's on the Lake Peace and Spirituality Center.  The guest speaker/facilitator was Jane Kurtz, an award winning childrens' author.  She led the group through several creative writing exercises, which I loved.  The first one of the day was my favorite.  She started by reading us a poem titled "Where I'm From", written by George Ella Lyon.  Jane then invited each of us to take 15 minutes to write our own poem, beginning with "I am from..."  I don't know if I am done with mine yet, but here it is, as it stands at this moment.

Where I'm From

I am from
chocolate, for medicinal purposes only
from keys, sharp & flat, black & white
from songs, solo, duet, & family quartet
from rainbows, dancing, beautiful, and full of promise.


I am from
purple- lavender & lilacs, fragrant & fresh
yellow- sunflowers & gloriosa daisies, bold & bright
red- scarlet runner beans & geraniums, private & poised.

I am from
Pinecrest, the house on the lake
from hours spent floating in the sometimes chilly lake
from talent shows, always fun & silly
from rousing games of pinochle- bid, pass, trump, YES!

I am from
a family- a mother, a father, a brother
grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends
from tickles, hugs, laughter, and love
from Ben & Katie, meant to be.

I'd love to hear what you think of this poem.  I'm sure I haven't written one since high school.  

Oh, and I suppose I should talk about dinner too:)  After the retreat, we were invited to Lyn's house for appetizers and drinks.  I wasn't sure what or how much was going to be served, and thought it might be a while before it was ready.  So, I stopped at McDonald's for a quick burger before going.  I'm glad I did.  There was plenty of food for all, but it wasn't my kind of food.  Lyn served smoked salmon with cream cheese and capers to spread on bread, a toasted mushroom spread on bread, seasoned cashews, and brownies.  The cashews were delicious, but I feel a couple handfuls of cashews is enough for anyone at one sitting:)  Even though the food wasn't my cup of tea, I had the most wonderful time with the women of my church.  What a compassionate group of people.      

Saturday, 2/5/2011

We spent today at Stevens Pass.  Ben, his brother Spencer, and our friends, Karen and Michel, skied most of the day.  Katie and I hung out in the snow-- walking around, throwing snowballs, and watching all the people come and go.  Spencer spent some time with us in the later afternoon since he had a headache and his feet were hurting.  We finished up around 4:30 and drove to Karen and Michel's house to change our clothes.  We tried to eat dinner at the Red Hook Brewery, but ended up at Red Robin when the wait at the brewery was 1.5 hours. 

I had the grilled chicken pesto pasta, which was really tasty.  Ben had three steak sliders.  Katie did a fair job eating her ketchup only burger with fries.  Red Robin is always pretty darn good.

Friday, 12/31/2010

Today concluded the travel portion of our holiday vacation.  Here's how our transportation for the day went.

• After saying goodbye, Jennifer left the house before 8am to go to work
• After making sure all of our luggage would fit in the car, I drove Kate and Spencer to the nearest lightrail station.  They took that to the Amtrak station in Portland. 
• I drove back to Jennifer's where Ben and I finished loading the car.
• Ben, Katie and I hit the road for Seattle.
• Kate and Spencer took the train to Seattle.
• I dropped Ben off at home and took Katie to the Seattle train station to pick up Kate and Spencer.
• Back at our house, Spencer and Ben finished unloading the car while Katie and I gave Kate a tour of the house.  
• Kate and Spencer said goodbye and drove up to Spencer's home in Lynnwood.  

As is our standard operating procedure, we went out for dinner.  We tried Endolyne Joe's, but it was too busy.  Our backup, Eats Market Cafe, was open with plenty of tables available.  We had a great dinner. Ben had a cowboy burger with thick-cut buttermilk fried onion rings and bbq sauce on top.  I had a bacon cheese burger.  The burgers were delicious and juicy.  Katie had a grilled cheese sandwich, sliced and stacked into a tower, with apple slices.  What a nice way to end a very busy travel day. 

Friday, 11/26/2010

For the last three years, we have spent Thanksgiving in Portland with Ben's mom, brother and extended family.  Traditionally, we have enjoyed the turkey meal on Thursday and then shopped on NW 23rd Avenue on Friday.  Since Jennifer and Spencer were at our house this year, we decided to substitute University Village for NW 23rd.  We had a great day of shopping....and eating:) 

We started with breakfast sandwiches at Specialty's Cafe and Bakery.  The food was quite tasty, but the accuracy and timeliness of our orders could have been better.  It took us until 1:30pm to get hungry for lunch.  We then enjoyed great burgers and sandwiches at the Ram Restaurant and Brewery.  Sufficiently stuffed, we didn't really need dinner.  After putting Katie down for the night, Jennifer, Spencer, Ben, and I sat down at the table to play Banagrams and eat cheesecake.  What a great way to end the night!

Saturday, 8/21/2010

A couple weeks ago our friend Laura forwarded us an email for a "Groupon" to Zippy's Giant Burgers.  I had never heard of a Groupon before receiving that email.  It is basically a daily email that is sent out, featuring something cool that you can purchase at a really cheap price.  So, for instance, the Zippy's Groupon allowed us to purchase $15 worth of food for $7.  Here, in Seattle, the link for Groupon is: http://www.groupon.com/seattle/.  I'm now signed up for the daily email and look forward to the next unbeatable deal. 

Tonight we used our Groupon for Zippy's Giant Burger.  How nice is it that "Seattle's Best Burger", as crowned by the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, can be found only 3 blocks away from our house?  The answer: really nice!  We loaded Katie into the Ergo Baby backpack and took off on foot.  It looks like a local fast food joint, but it isn't.  Expect a wait for these delicious burgers--the shop is very small with only a few indoor seats. 

Ben had a Zip Burger with bacon and cheddar cheese, no veggies or sauce, but with mustard added.  I had a Zip burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, pickles, and their special sauce.  Katie had her very own Little Zip--a small burger with special sauce and pickles.  I ordered her burger plain, but she didn't seem to mind the special sauce:)  We shared an order of fries, and Ben and I had chocolate milkshakes.  We sat outside at a picnic table, and Katie sat on the bench next to Ben like a big girl.  I was sure she was going to sit in one of our laps.  She reached up for her burger and ate it just like we eat ours.  So fun!  Ben was kind enough to share some of his milkshake with her.  He didn't think she would be able to get enough suction on the straw to get much.  Boy was he wrong.  She really put a dent into his shake.  

Ah, what a super way to end a pleasant Summer Saturday in Seattle:)  

Monday, 7/26/2010

Ben took today off so that he could spend more time with Thad and Shannon. During the afternoon, we visited the Ballard Locks (Hiram M. Chittenden Locks). We got there just in time to join a guided tour group. I am so glad I went. It was my first time there, and I really had no idea what they were. Since we were already in Ballard, we wanted to find a restaurant there to try out. Thankfully, our friend Melissa gave us a great list of recommendations.


First, we went to Carta Oaxaca. We got there at 4:55pm and were told to wait 5 minutes until they opened. Given that it was warmer inside than outside, we opted to not wait. Instead, we went to Hi-Life and had a really nice meal together. Ben had the Firehouse Grill Burger. He said it was good, but lacked flavor. He's not sure he would order that again. I went a completely different route with two small plates. I had summer skewers of grilled peaches and fresh mozzarella wrapped in pancetta, drizzled with some kind of raspberry sauce. YUM! And, I had two little tacos-- roasted pork shoulder & grilled pineapple salsa. Again, YUM! Ben was kind enough to share a few of his french fries with me. They were really good. We ordered simple grilled chicken and green beans for Katie. She ate some of the chicken, but only with ketchup to dip it in.

For dessert, Ben had the bread pudding drizzled with espresso carmel. He said it was the best bread pudding he has ever had. High compliments:) I had the tin roof sundae without peanuts. Very tasty indeed. Needless to say, we ate too much.
Thanks to Thad and Shannon for taking time on their vacation to visit us in Seattle. We hope to visit you on the East Coast some day too.

Sunday, 7/4/2010

We were invited over to Chris & Larry's house for dinner tonight. They told us they would provide hamburgers and brats with condiments. Everyone else was to bring the sides. Ben's mom made a macaroni salad. Ben and I took chips, beer, and wine. Other than having to go back to Fred Meyer for more beer and wine, our contribution was pretty easy.

Spencer made a jalapeno appetizer. He sliced jalapeno peppers in half, scooped out the seeds, filled each half with cream cheese and wrapped them in bacon. They went onto the grill, cheese side down first, just long enough to cook the bacon. There was quite a range of hotness (taste not temperature) to each pepper. My mom had one that had hardly any heat to the pepper. Ben, on the other hand, had one that was soo hot that he frantically grabbed Katie's sippy cup after one bite, expecting it to have whole milk in it. He was sorely disappointed to find it had water in it. He suffered while the rest of us laughed at him:) Despite Ben's reaction, we all found them quite tasty. I think I will try to make this appetizer someday.

My parents took brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. No problem with the ice cream, but the brownies presented a challenge. My dad baked the brownies last night. When he started to cut them up this afternoon, he realized that they were super hard and would not be good to share. Thankfully, he had a 2nd brownie mix. Although our departure was delayed while the brownies baked, we were able to take our annual 4th of July family photo while we waited. A great use of time--if I do say so myself. I must thank Jennifer for suggesting we take a silly photo too. The shots below are priceless!

Saturday, 6/5/2010

Ben grilled hamburgers for us tonight. He started with lean ground beef and mixed in A-1 steak sauce, kosher salt, Lawry's seasoning salt, black pepper, and an egg to hold it together. He said that burgers usually stick to the grill, but tonight they were sliding all over the place. We topped them with bacon and Tillamook Garlic White Cheddar. We got to taste this cheese while at the Tillamook Cheese Factory on our vacation. We have enjoyed it in omelets and scrambles this week too. Other than being a bit too salty, the burgers were really good!

We had a fruit salad on the side. Katie and I shared a dill pickle, much to Ben's disgust:)

Saturday, 5/13/2010

The birthday surprise for Ben's grandma was absolutely perfect! She was blown away that all of her family came to celebrate with her:) After a restful night's sleep listening to the ocean, we gathered for breakfast at the beach house. Then we headed back to the hotel so that Katie could nap around 11am. Turned out Ben and I needed naps too.

After our naps, we had lunch and headed to the beach to play. I should point out that it was Katie's first time playing in sand. Her Grandma Jennifer showed her how to brush her hands together in order to remove some of the sand. We went back to the beach house for dinner.

We had grilled hotdogs and hamburgers for dinner followed up with birthday cake and ice cream. The cake was carrot with raisins and nuts, so Ben passed on it. I am not usually a carrot cake fan, but I am always a butter cream frosting fan...so I had some:) Katie definitely enjoyed the cake!