Kind Of Fantastic

Memorial Day weekend was a fun one. Mostly stress free and no bad attitudes. Not bad at all given that the kids had a five day weekend, Tuesday and Wednesday were bad weather days but since they didn't need to use them it accounted for a mini vacation. Jacob also took Tuesday off which we spent at an awesome park {will post in a few days}.

I am so glad that Riley no longer wakes up around 6:00 am like he used to. He can most definitely sleep in until 8:00 am sometimes ... definitely my child. Also, given that he no longer wakes up in the middle of the night I wake up feeling rested, in a better mood and ready to start my day ... at least on most days.


Just before taking a shower on Friday morning I glanced back at Riley and caught this little snot picking his snots. Ew! I just don't want to know what he did with them.

Did I mention that he recently {well, like two weeks ago or so} began eating string cheese? That was such a pleasant surprise. I am THRILLED that he likes it ... more calcium for his growing little bones. The other day I was eating crackers with string cheese but see, I don't like to string it apart like everyone else does. I like to take small bites. Well, apparently that's the wrong way of eating it. Riley said, "don't bite it, eat like this" {he shows me how by pulling it apart}. So in order to please him I did just that ... but I didn't enjoy it as much.

I cannot begin to tell you how awesome it is that my husband knows how to cook. So so thankful that he can do more than just grill burgers, dogs, and steaks. This is really a blessing because I get to have a day off from cooking! But not only that, we get to have a wide variety of dishes at home and not just stick with the same menu week after week.
I know I've mentioned that he's made Filipino food before but that's a dish we don't eat often at home and that's one of Sydna's favorite. So, since we hadn't had it in months that's what Jacob made for dinner on Friday.
While Jacob was cooking the chicken to add to the pancit Riley tried the siopao. He ate some of the bread but once he got to the chicken he decided he no longer wanted it, lol. Geez! This child of mine still wont eat any chicken or red meat. But I'm not going to give up.

Whenever Jacob cooks I sometimes help him prepare certain things. I'm the sous chef. I helped with cutting up some carrots and cabbage. I cooked the pork and ground beef for the lumpia. Some people add shrimp on their pancit. I've had it like that before and it was good too but we didn't buy any shrimp this time.

I decided to separate the spring roll wrappers after Jacob had made a couple of the lumpia. He was just taking too long. Those wrappers are a bit challenging to separate without tearing any part of it as you're pulling them apart. I only messed up two so I guess I did pretty good.

The entire meal was delicious. We all had two lumpia and that was more than enough, we were stuffed. We don't use soy sauce for dipping, we use Mae Ploy sweet chilli sauce. So good!

We had a lot of lumpia and pancit left over. Good, that way we didn't have to make anything for lunch the next day.

It had been a bit cloudy on Friday and when the sun was finally shining in the late afternoon I let Riley play in the front porch. I wish I had a gate up just before the steps. I guess that's something I would need to ask our HOA about.

On Saturday we dropped Sydna and Nathan off at the movies. They watched Godzilla. The previews look good. I remember watching the original Godzilla as a child along with my dad. My dad has always been into Sci-Fi movies and I also have a love for them.
While they were at the movie Jacob, Riley and I drove around the area to a park and then to a book store.
My boy looking dashingly handsome as ever! He makes sure to bring his sunglasses with him whenever we leave the house. He's so funny!!!

We also made a stop at a grocery store and bought a baguette and some black forest ham. I felt like making baguette sandwiches for dinner. Oh, and some sweet white corn. I love to eat good sweet corn on the cob.


After we got the kids from the movies we went back home. They wanted to so badly tell us about the movie but before they even started I told them not to because we also want to see it and I don't want them to spoil the fun for us. They hated that they couldn't share the details, lol.
We had lunch and rested for a bit. I wanted to go back to the water for the evening so, I packed us our baguette sandwiches, chips and drinks and we left. Oh, I sure wished I could have drank some sweet Riesling while enjoying my food by the water. Darn!

The kids enjoyed our outing a lot. I kept noticing that Sydna's attention would drift to the water and the islands across the Puget and then she would gaze to her right and admire the houses along the shore. I can't wait to see what the future holds for her. Nathan is pretty much a kid still. He was just looking at people walking by and looking after his baby brother playing with his truck on the rocky sandy beach.

It's funny how Sydna and Nathan enjoy each others company whenever we're out and about. They are pretty good with each other at home too but they tend to get on each others nerves a bit more. But when we're out they treat each other like best friends. That is awesome! If you ask Sydna if she's overprotective towards her brothers she will make a silly face and say no but her behavior towards them proves different. It just comes naturally to her I suppose, given she's the oldest.

And this little guy was in his own little world. Having fun sprinkling grains of sand on his sweat pants.

There's quite a bit of baby crab carcasses all over the shore and that is what these two were looking for.

It was such a pleasant evening by the water. Nice way to end our Saturday. 

Completely content.

We went to church .. and the one thing our pastor said that stood out to me was; "Have joy in the midst of a broken world". I will strive to be joyful ... always! Even with my quiet personality. I already live in a state that has the perfect weather balance to what my soul needs to make me happy in that respect. I have more than I could have ever imagined in life. Truly truly grateful!

It was a bit of a bummer that our grocery shopping day happen to fall on Memorial Day weekend. The last place I wanted to be and the last thing I wanted to do was to go grocery shopping. Like I was telling my sister: it is not fun going to the grocery store with kids, no matter what age. At least not for me. I don't want to have to stress about anything while I'm out shopping. That's one thing Jacob and I are looking forward to once the kids stop going to the grocery store with us. We're gonna shop at those fine foods grocery stores and take our time walking up and down isles and treat ourselves to whatever we fancy.

Once we got home from spending almost two hours at the store and after stopping by The Rock to pick up some pizza dough and sauce, I had Jacob start on the pizzas. Throughout the years I've found myself liking more and more vegetables. I used to be an even worse eater than I am now. Before, I would only eat a pepperoni pizza but now I like bell pepper, pineapple, jalapenos, olives, mushrooms, pepperoni, and one or two strips of onion on each slice. 

This time I did have a glass and a half of sweet Riesling. Totally hit the spot!

And to my surprise Riley had one and a half slices of pizza. I was beside myself. So happy he's eating more and adding new foods/snacks to his very limited menu. You would only understand my excitement if you also happen to be a mother of a child that's extremely picky when it comes to food.

It hadn't rained for a few days but it began raining Sunday afternoon. Hard at times too. We left the house around 5:30 pm and we made our way to West Seattle.

We stopped at Starbucks. We all got out because I wanted Riley to drink his hot chocolate here rather than in the car where he could have spilled it. It seems like he always does and ends up staining his shirt in the process. That's not cool. So to avoid him staining his shirt or jacket we waited patiently for him to finish his drink.

This time we didn't go to our usual spot in W Seattle. One time, when we were driving through here I noticed this long open scenic area. There's hardly any people around since it's not near any tourist attractions. One only sees locals on their afternoon walks. It is definitely a great place where one can admire the scenery while taking a walk.
It had stopped raining once we got out of the car. That was a nice thing for God to do for us. So we could spend a little time out here enjoying one of His many wonders.

Riley has been trying to learn how to whistle. That's why his tongue is rolled up like that, lol.

A lonely sailboat.
I imagined that it was a man, a writer, spending an entire day in his sailboat alone writing a book. Listening to jazzy music while drinking a glass of wine. Looking out the small window into the low clouds over Vashon Island. Ah!! That's grand!

We kept seeing these small fish jumping out of the water. Lots and lots of them. I don't know what they're called but it looked neat seeing them all jump out of the water at once. We also spotted otters. At first we thought it was a seal but we noticed that it wasn't moving, just floating in the same area and seals don't really do that. It wasn't until it moved a bit closer that Sydna realized it was an otter. It was laying on its back, probably eating a clam or a crab. Then several minutes later we spotted two more.

If you've ever been to the grand canyon you know that pictures don't do it justice. Sometimes, some places you just have to see for yourself in order to appreciate the beauty. Well, this place, the Pacific Northwest is no different. You actually have to be here to see how beautiful this all is. It is gorgeous out here!!!

It began raining right at the same time I was thinking it was time to leave. Good thing we came prepared this time. We all had our jackets on and we put on our hoods.

We saw a rainbow. Riley noticed it. He said, "wook, a rainbow". I acknowledged him and told him that God made it. Then he began to name all the colors. Always learning.

Our weekend was a pretty cool one. A fantastic one at that. 

Isn't nature the best?!

Simple pleasures are usually the most memorable ones.