Little Stories

For my birthday last month Susan gave me Project Life, which I've been working on ever since. It's a scrapbooking project where you take a picture every day and do a little journaling about each picture. You make a 2-page spread for each week, and at the end of the year you end up with a scrapbook filled with all kinds of little stories.

I started mine on my birthday, so my weeks run from Wednesday to Tuesday. That means that today marked the end of my 7th week. So here's a look at the pictures I'll be using for the week and the stories that go along with them.

Wednesday - 9/22/10

I was at Costco today to pick up some essentials....milk and laundry detergent. On a whim, I grabbed a bag of Trick-or-Treat sized containers of Play-Doh, which I thought would be fun to give out instead of candy. But the more I think about it, I should probably still get some candy....for the older kids, at least.

Thursday - 9/23/10

Today was the first day of fall and we were greeted with rain showers and highs in the uppers 60's.

Friday - 9/24/10

With all the rain from yesterday and the fact that the sprinklers were still running, I wasn't all that surprised to find so many slugs in the backyard as well as this frog. I think the cute little guy mistook our yard for some sort of marsh!

Saturday - 9/25/10

On Saturday we watched the Sunfair Parade, but when it was over, I was surprised at how fast the street sweepers came in. They didn't even wait for the crowd to get out of the street, they just plowed right on through. You see the guy in the truck? He's yelling....Hey you, get out of my way.....MOVE!

Sunday - 9/26/10

We spent the entire day at the fair and I'm a little ashamed to say it, but this is the only food we bought. Tamales. They were filled with chicken and were actually pretty good, but they just weren't what I think of as 'fair food'. I almost feel like I should go back and buy a slice of deep fried cheesecake or something.

Monday - 9/27/10

Today I'm on disk 22 of STS....Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps. I set up my equipment ahead of time because it usually takes a while. So I turn around and find Coco Bear laying on my towel, as if I had set it up for her. I hate to disappoint the lady, but the towel is to keep my back from digging into the bench while I do bench presses.......um, it's not a bed!

This one is also in contention for Monday's photo. Over the weekend, with the help of a $4 off coupon from the Sunday paper, Tyler bought U-Build Sorry. We played it for the first time tonight and I wasn't all that impressed. There are only eight spaces between the home and the sorry square, which makes for a very short game. I think it might take longer to set the game up than to play it! And the claw thing is the worst! It's almost impossible to pick up the pawns with it....or is it just me?

Tuesday - 9/28/10

Found it! Geez, who knew Turkey Italian Sausage was so hard to come by. After looking in four different stores, I finally found it. Dear Safeway, thank you for being the only store in town that has turkey sausage in stock at the moment....I guess that explains why you charge an arm and a leg for it.

Get Happy

That was the theme of the fair this year and Tyler had no problem getting into his happy zone. That's probably because he was the one with a wristband for unlimited rides, while Rick and I were nothing more than mere chaperones. We got to the fair around noon on Sunday and the crowds weren't that bad, but as the day progressed.....yikes!

This was his first ride of the day.

Then he rode the swings a few times.

But his most favorite thing was not really a ride, but a funhouse. There was this one and a similar Shrek funhouse. I lost count of how many times he went through those things.

He begged and begged to play some of the carnival games, but since they're all around $5 each, we limited it to just 2 games. He played this one where you shoot the water gun at the target, but he was so distracted by the other players that his aim absolutely cost him the game. Then he played a game where you try to toss ping pong balls into little fish bowls to win prizes. Only one of his balls made it into a fish bowl, but it was enough to win a goldfish.

The big exhibit this year was about animation. I saw a little bit of it, while we were passing through looking for a water fountain, but since it wasn't a ride, Tyler wasn't interested in stopping to take a look.

Later in the afternoon when the lines got too long, Tyler had no choice but to ditch the rides and come look at some of the exhibits. We stopped in the ag building to look at the super oversized fruits and veggies and the FFA displays.

We also went through the barns and looked at the bunnies, chickens, horses, and sheep.

We also caught a glimpse of the draft horses in action. Those guys are huge! Enormous!

At 5:00, Tyler participated in the kids tractor-pull race. He made it to the second round, but the weight he was pulling was too heavy and he stopped just short of the 20 ft mark. So close! Maybe he can try again next year.

And to end our day, we stood in the longest line ever....or maybe I should say the slowest, for Tyler's chance to walk on water. They had a big pool with giant beach balls that you could get inside of and use to roll, bounce, jump, and crawl on the surface of the water. Tyler had an absolute blast....too bad they only let you have 5 minutes.

Sunfair Parade

The fair started yesterday, which means today is the annual Sunfair parade. It's the biggest and best parade here in Yakima and we made sure to get there right on time so we could get some good seats. I decided that we should sit on the sunny side of the street since it was still kind of chilly at 10:00 this morning, but after 2-1/2 hours of sitting in the sun, I started to regret that decision.

The parade started out with a police motorcycle drill team from Seattle and Blue Thunder, which is the drumline of the Seattle Seahawks. Rick and I were impressed that the parade had entries all the way from Seattle, but Tyler was more concerned with the lack of candy handouts. For whatever reason, lone children get way less candy than groups of children.

Here is the Eisenhower High School Marching Band.

And Whyatt, of the PBS show Super Why!

Here is an old fire truck. Cool, but not as cool as the 1910 fire truck that came later in the parade.

The grocery cart go kart was neat, but I could have done without all the political advertising during the parade.

This is the West Valley High School Marching Band. They were huge! Hands down the largest marching band of the day.

I liked the Tree Top float, plus they gave out fruit gummy snacks, which Tyler especially appreciated.

Here are some beauty pageant winners from Grandview.....they had a nice looking float.

This was only our second time attending the sunfair parade, so maybe that's why I forgot just how long it was going to be. Phew! After 2 hours we had to take a break and visit Essencia bakery for some drinks and pastries. Iced coffee and a beehive for me and blueberry lemonade and an almond peach croissant for the boys. Yum! Just the fuel we needed to make it through the last 40 minutes.

Recipe Review

For the most part, the new recipes I tried this week were real crowd pleasers. I might have tried to sneak in a little too much spinach for Tyler's taste, but you can't blame me for trying.

First we had Pasta with Spinach, Beans, and Asiago Cheese.

I really liked this one; it's a quick and easy meal using pantry staples. I used frozen spinach instead of fresh and parmesan cheese instead of asiago because that's what I had on hand. I also saw a similar recipe with garbanzo beans and feta cheese, so it's easy to change up and it makes an excellent vegetarian meal.

Next we had Italian Style Meatloaf.

This is the 4th meatloaf recipe I've tried from Cooking Light and it was just as delicious as all the others. I've tried the traditional meatloaf, meatloaf muffins, and the barbecue meatloaf and found them all to be outstanding. I'll definitely be making this one again, but first I need to try the Santa Fe and Asian variations.

From Rachael Ray, we tried Honey Mustard Chicken with Potato Wedges.

The chicken came out nice and juicy, but I didn't think it had a very strong flavor. Maybe I should have marinated the meat overnight? All I know is that it didn't compare to the Greek Pork Chops we had the night before, which were awesome by the way. My only problem with the recipe is that you're supposed to grill the chicken and potatoes at the same time, so that everything finishes cooking together, but due to the smaller size of our grill, I had to cook the chicken first and then the potatoes. It wasn't as fast, but it worked and everyone enjoyed the meal.

Finally, we had Chicken Orzo Skillet.

There was no picture in the cookbook of this one, so it one came out a little uglier than I expected, but Rick and I still enjoyed it. Tyler, on the other hand, just picked out the chicken and then asked if he could be done. I probably won't make it again for that reason, I hate to see him just throw away half of his food.

Fun In Wilsonville

Before heading back to Yakima on Sunday, we decided to have some fun. Tyler had survived a day full of shopping and his first wedding, neither of which are very child friendly, so we rewarded him with a day at a family fun center. While browsing around on the internet looking for things to do in Portland, we came across a place called Bullwinkle's, located in Wilsonville, OR.

I couldn't believe it, it was such a cute little town. If I were to imagine a Sim City that Anni created....this would be it!

Every single business in the town seemed to be prefaced by the word Wilsonville; it was kind of funny.

At the fun center, we bought Tyler an all day pass so he could have unlimited access to the attractions. The place was really nice. They had two different miniature golf courses, bumper boats, go karts, a sky walk, rock climbing, and a huge indoor arcade with laser tag and other fun stuff.

First we played a round of golf on the blue course and then the boys headed off for a ride on the go karts. That's when I noticed the little black rain clouds. Just as the race was starting, it began to sprinkle a little bit, but within minutes it was absolutely dumping down rain. So much so, that they had to close down the track and bring in all the racers.

Let's just say that the boys got SOAKED! It's a good thing we had the luggage in the trunk with extra clothes, because they needed them.

After they changed into some dry clothes, we spent some time indoors playing the arcade games.

Tyler went on the Frog Hopper. It's a ride that pulls you up really high and then bounces you back down to the bottom.

In between downpours of rain, we managed to play a second round of golf and Tyler went on the bumper boats a few times.

Then they tried again on the go karts. The second time around was rain-free and much more enjoyable.

After that, we headed back indoors so that Tyler could use up the last of his energy playing around in the gym.

And use up the last of our game tokens. Tyler and I battled each other at skee ball....he's pretty good, you know.

Before we knew it, the day was over and it was time to make our way back home. So long Wilsonville. So long Portland. See you next time.

Weekend Wedding

This past Saturday, one of Rick's coworkers got married and we were in attendance to celebrate the occasion. The wedding was in Portland, so we traveled down on Friday night and stayed in the area for the whole weekend. As we were leaving Yakima it started to sprinkle and the closer we got to Portland, the harder it rained......and rained.....and rained. We probably should have packed some umbrellas.

The wedding was at night, so we spent most of Saturday just browsing through the mall. Then later in the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel to put on 'our dress up clothes', as Tyler likes to say. It was his first time going to a wedding, or any dressy occasion for that matter, so it was also his first time wearing a suit.

I had to stop myself from gobbling him up whole, I just couldn't get over how handsome he looked.

The wedding ceremony itself, was unlike anything Rick or I have ever experienced before. The bride was of Romanian heritage, so everything was spoken in Romanian.....we couldn't understand a single word. And it was long! It took at least an hour and a half before they exchanged rings.

And the reception was extremely conservative, without any of the frills you usually see in American weddings. There were no toasts, no throwing of the bouquet, no dancing, no garters.....just lots and lots of food.

That's the bride and groom....Ana and Danny.

I don't know how it happened, but I think Tyler and I were first in line for cake.

You probably would have been first in line too, if you saw how good they looked. They had three different flavors.....chocolate, a vanilla/strawberry combo, and rum soaked.

As a parting gift, all of the guests were given a package of pastries to take home.

Tyler really wondered what they tasted like.

Sometime after 10:00, it was time to go home....or back to the hotel, I guess I should say. All in all, we had a great night.