Knick knacks

Truly a post about knick knacks:

New discovery: Dark chocolate mint Kit Kat. They are so good. Tastes like an Andes mint with the Kit Kat cracker in it.

Kumihimo: a form of rope making using 8-16 strands (or more?). Both kids learned it last week and were really excited to do it. This is Olin's first finished kumihimo.

New juicer that Ev couldn't stop talking about. The price was right at $25 and it does squeeze quite a bit of juice out of those citrus fruits. Kids enjoy making orange juice!

Norway rat at the Pacific Science center. It was very thirsty.

Old Navy sitters

Seattle life

Fun Cousin time, Valentine's Day, lots of projects and reports at school

Dae's Valentines gift to me. Black licorice and compression socks! A great gift. He wanted to leave the room any time I started eating the black licorice since he strongly dislikes the taste or smell.

Christian took this panoramic pic of Badger Mountain on our V-Day family hike. 

Christian and Brock, Science fair: Pulleys! They used 7 pulleys to pull up 500 g with a 60 g weight (I think)

Poring over a book

Olin's European Hedgehog report

Script

A big day: he followed up his big hedgehog presentation with a violin recital immediately afterward. He said he liked violin and I said I think that's because you are not forced to practice....at all.

Shooting hoops at Mal's bball game

Yummy.

Por Que No after trying for Apizza Scholls. Was still delicious.

Starbucks stop at Sandy, OR on the way to ski Mt. Hood Meadows!

Another picturesque ski day. No wind and so sunny!

I fully copied Ev's outfit after seeing it last year. I needed an upgrade.

This vase of flowers is so funny. A (male) rep took Dae and another surgeon out for dinner yesterday and came over to the house bearing a bottle of something and this vase of flowers. I found it hilarious because I was watching our Ring camera from Hood River, Oregon and saw the guy come up and Dae opens the door....like it was a date! ha!

Ski Daze

I met Megan for a midweek ski at Snoqualmie (Alpental) today and it was fun!

Snowy conditions but definitely fun to have a challenging ski day. We met up with two of Megan's friends and they are all three very strong skiers. My legs are tired!

White Pass

These alpine birds are very friendly.

It was perfect conditions. It had just snowed the day prior, it was sunny the entire day, good snow, no wind, and not too cold. There's Mt. Rainier in the background.

Happy 12 Years!

In celebration of 12 years, here is noncomprehensive list of things that I like about Dae:

• Good whistler
• Knows where the router is. Also knows what a router and modem do, and how to turn them off and on
• Bilingual
• Brings in the pellets for our pellet stove, vacuums out pellet stove, teaches me how to work the pellet stove every year as if I have not learned it the prior year
• Stacks dishes very neatly in the dishwasher
• Athletic
• Enjoys singing loudly in shower
• Very good T-shirt folder
• Doesn't get cavities
• Likes music a lot
• Doesn't make a peep about my various knick knack purchases
• Watches and enjoys the Bachelor and Bachelorette 
• Good driver except when trying to do anything while driving
• Good surgeon
• Knows how everything works
• Seemingly knows how to fix anything even if he doesn't actually fix it
• Low levels of worry, anxiety
• Follows news closely
• Very generous
• Wears Costco clothes I buy
• Affectionate with kids
• Knows how to work and troubleshoot all TV and audiovisual equipment
• Eats everything I make for dinner and says it's good
• Supports the Huskies (a non negotiable!)
• Only a picky eater when food is presented as "health food"
• Willing to always drive on trips while front seat passenger is generally napping
• Good chess player
• Has strange talents in which he is above average: volleyball, euphonium, Connect 4
• Extremely confident
• Can fall asleep in 1 minute
• Generally an early waker (even if waking does not equal getting out of bed)
• Does not startle or scare easily
• Good golfer
• Enjoys worldwide travel
• Good sense of direction

Welp, I know there's more, but that's about all I can think of for now. hahahaha! We're heading to 1) a chess tournament and 2) Wine O' Clock for our family date night with the kids.

Update, with photos:

Open section again (above 800). This time they did considerably better. Christian got 2.5 points and Olin got 2!

Babv

Making a 'cast'

some vintage Veuve

Mom, Don't Eat Them

I bought 3 bags of York Peppermint Patties for the kids' classroom Valentine's. We have some extra, so naturally I've been eating some here and there and not keeping count. Christian got concerned last night, so he, Olin and I sat down and counted how many we needed and them placed them all in a bag, throwing in a few extras just in case. We then stored the ones we were legitimately allowed to eat behind the laptop computer (see photo). When we were all done Christian came over to our room and gave me a lecture: "Mom, don't eat the ones in the bag. I know you might, because we put a few extras in there, but don't eat them, just in case we need them!"......

Falconry, 40th celebration + Dae and I joined TKD

AJ invited the kids to a falconry in Burbank where they got to learn about falcons as well as hold them on a perch and feed them (quail meat). They said it was an awesome experience. 

Matt's 40th bday celebration at Bookwalter

Dae and I joined the kids for our first TKD class last night! Tiring and fun. I'll get a photo of our family in uniform soon. Dae said he used to be a green belt but I told him I am confident I will be better than him because I am 1) stronger and 2) more flexible. hahaha.