Thankful List 2015

Working cars (that I don't care if I get dirty), Beauty Blender, good kids, friends, hard working husband who goes on date nights and shops without complaint, sister, mom, dad, working part-time, relaxed living in eastern washington, running, Keurigs, heat, warm clothes, sunshine, remote controlled blinds, walking, nail polishing at home, heated bathroom floors, octonauts, doc mcstuffins, Oso, sushi, yoga (with Chastity), no chronic pain, coffee, no chronic medical issues, de-cluttering, a home, a basement, online bill pay, Netflix and Hulu, skiing, swimming lessons, tae kwon do, family time, snacks at bedtime after the kids go to sleep, school community, Sonicare Toothbrushes, haraboji's dental implants, CBRC, Christmas lights, YMCA soccer, trivia, home haircuts, new lotions and potions, Lao kitchen, Puop's Disney Cruise, eggo waffles, flowers, Pike Place Market, Legos, cheap gas, active kids, nice strangers, iPhones, date weekends, cooking, quinoa + fried egg, GUPs, smell of Christmas trees, Trader Joe's, neighbors, self-tanner, Amazing Race, Top Chef, Flip or Flop, Mindy Project, rental property managers, no financial concerns, dental floss, visiting Portland cousins, shared bedrooms, a king-sized bed, Bodycombat, dancing, board games, laughing, a bed frame, working dishwasher, working laundry, bleach, HMart dishwashing gloves, workout friends, discounts, Target, Costco, Walgreen's, online shopping, Nordstrom Rack, refrigerators & freezers, garages, windshield scrapers, touchscreen gloves, heated seats, Din Tai Fung, Mexican food, Cho Dang Tofu, Clarisonic, wine, dry brushing, hair, vision, hearing, smell, touch, taste, teeth, Beco baby (full grown child) carrier, steam showers, Kids Sonicares, more than one bathroom in our home, VRBO, airplanes, housecleaners, post-it notes, Wi-Fi, nice people.....

Whew there are lots. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

HAPPY New Year!!!!!

STP

Did our own little STP (Seattle to Portland) this past weekend.

First up:

Date weekend in Seattle with Dae. We Hotwire'd a hotel and got hooked up with the Grand Hyatt, which was fantastic! Halmoni and Haraboji kindly watched our kids for the two days.

Although the Pass had been on/off closed for weeks, we passed through with no problems. It was quite pretty.

Speaking of pretty. The reflection on the lake was clear as glass.

Very high snow pile accumulations.

Piroshky Piroshky every morning

Selfie #1 at Seatown having a drink

Selfie #2 at Revel in Fremont. Korean Fusion. Dae was not impressed, but I was.

Came out of the fitting room to see Dae in this chair. I laughed out loud!

The Rams were staying at our hotel and this little 4-squad police escort was waiting there all morning to take the caravan of buses to the stadium.

I do NOT understand anybody who had minimal clothing on this gameday. I had about a hundred layers on and I was still cold by the end of the day. I don't understand how anyone could have worn less! (and trust me, lots of girls did)

Great Seahawks tickets! Craigslist. It was so much fun, even though we lost and did not play well, and Marshawn Lynch and Thomas Rawls were both out injured....

Bumma...

Yumminess at Sushi Kashiba. Dae was saying he could have ordered two of the Omakase tasting menus, just for himself. That sushi sure does go down easy! Naturally, since neither of us were full afterward, we walked downstairs to Campagne where we ordered 3 desserts and the waiter, after we finished them all, said "Wow...impressive"

Starbucks Reserve store!

Cute little place. we ordered some eats and some special coffee concoctions that they don't offer at the regular Starbucks stores.

This was from Christmas Day. Christian was excited about a movie date with Baba to see Star Wars. They lasted 45 minutes before Christian was ready to go home. hehehe.

Also Christmas Day. Olin went from chatting to asleep in about 10 seconds. This was at approximately 4:50pm.

Next up: A visit to see the cousins and auntie Ev and Uncle jeff in Portland. We did a whole lotta nothing and a whole lotta everything and had a grand time! Note that on Monday I drove with Dae home from Seattle and then turned around and drove with kids to Portland that same day. It was a lot of car time. Thank goodness Dae drove the Seattle - Richland leg.

Tried Pizza Jerk when we arrived Monday evening. The Pizza was quite good. The noodles and fried rice were too spicy and too salty, respectively.

The entire gang rode our bikes in the sopping wet 35 degree morning to Mal's orthodontist appointment at my old stomping grounds, Kaiser Grand Dental Clinic! I saw some old friends, which is always so fun. The kids were immersed in their movie in the waiting area.

Eating breakfast. 

Girls' Night Out. Shift Drinks for a couple of fun drinks (whiskey sour, etc), followed by Luc Lac for Vietnamese dinner. Again, some salt issues with our pho (too salty) but overall an extremely pleasant evening! We did Lyft since I still had a few $10 credits left. Dae and I used Lyft for the first time in Seattle and enjoyed our ride experiences.

The ride home today. The kids do well - they will ask for a show on the iPad but usually they are pretty well behaved and I let them have some shows in the latter half of the car ride.

Merry Christmas 2015

First time we've gotten a 'gift' from Leelee

Kids got tons of stuff. Gup S, Octo-launcher, Avengers spacecraft, Star Wars spacecraft, Science Kit, Pendleton underwater blanket, Field tools, Magnifying glass, Stand-up microphone, Microscope, Sharks board game, Lego set, Marshall paw Patrol truck, and I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff

Microscope with slides

Carefully inserting Pez Candy

New MacAirbook! Our old laptops were slow as molasses

New reading light!

Science kit. Making volcanoes

"Underwater volcanoes"

Pre-Christmas in Black & White

Angels We Have Heard on High

Christian's Holiday Piano Recital, wearing his first tie

Silent Night Duet

Olin & Paige

Our neighbor Sandra asked if she could bring crafts over for the kids to do. It was so nice of her!

Dae told me I had to come look at Olin sleeping

Girls spent the night while Kel and Al were in Spokane. Urban s'mores again. The roast is not quite as nice as a real campfire, but I rarely turn down a marshmallow in any form!

Their submarine/train with newly cut out windows

Fujiyama Christmas Eve

Holidaze Indeed

December has been flooded with Advent activities and holiday performances at the schools and outings. Running a little ragged over here personally :)

First tie for either boy. Target, clip-on, 5 bucks!
 Look at that all lower-teeth smile. Flashback to him at 10 months in Hawaii... 

Flashback. All lowers.

Olin Christmas Program. This is the moose part of "We Fish You A Hairy Kiss-Moose". He's in the middle with the yellow shirt.

Finally, a photo of Halmoni and Haraboji! Olin declined participation, so he missed out on a Hershey's Kiss candy.

Darn - this is the best picture I got of Christian's "Birth of the Universe" play and I don't even think he is in the shot.  I will  try to attach a video of his speaking part. He had his part memorized with seemingly no problem. Teacher had e-mailed a reminder to have us run through the lines with our children and make sure they knew them and Christian kept saying he knew his line and he did.

Large furniture box. Their new bed. I think they call it their rocketship.

Lao dinner with Adrienne and Adrienne's cousin Trey, who is Olin's age.

Tri-City American's game! Advent Activity. We capitalized on the Two-fer Tuesday tickets. The place was definitely not sold out so we had our choice of fine rink-side seats! We went with Kelly's family and Kelly's brother Daniel's family.

I got a Fitbit at my work's white elephant! 

So I immediately got a new band of course. Just like my iPhone case obsession.

Lunch at Graze. Olin took a look at these photos and said he "doesn't want to take any more photos. I don't look cool, like Christian". He has been saying a lot of that lately. He has been saying that he is not beautiful and stuff like that? I am not sure what to make of it. I try to tell him otherwise.