Mimi's Arrival

Yesterday morning, Mimi flew from Arizona (where she was vacationing a few days) to Seattle! I packed our bags the night before and managed to get out of the house around 8, right around Kai's first nap time. (Despite his attempts to foil my timing plan by waking at 4:30am...) Let me tell you. It was not easy getting out that early, making sure I had both boys packed for the entire day. Huge props to my working momma friends who have to do this every day. 

Anyway, we made the long 2 hr+ trek down to Sea-Tac and both boys were great. Kai dozed most of the way (thank God) while Fin snacked, counted trucks, watched a few shows and ran his mouth. :)

A little Ipad time.

Kai's other favorite car activity is screaming, so if he was out, I was NOT stopping. Even when all my coffee had gone through me and my bladder was nearing painfully full, I was not waking up Kai to stop and find a bathroom. (I later regretted this decision when I made a wrong turn near the airport, adding 10 more minutes to our trip!!! Ouch.) Anyway, Kai snoozed, so I was NOT stopping... not, of course, until my potty training two-year old said his pee pee hurt. I whipped off the highway like Jeff Gordon pulling in for one of those crazy two-minute tire changes. After Fin watered the grass in someone's front yard, Kai's lids were still down, so no relief for me. Back on the road.  (A woman walking by with her two dogs did a sly double take of Fin with his little pants around his ankles, smiled and mumbled something like "you gotta do what you gotta do..." I have a feeling she would not have had the same response had it been my pants down.) 

We finally made it to the airport, used el servicío, changed and fed Kai and was still able to go for a stroll before finding the perfect spot to wait for Mimi.

Checking out the lights.

Finally... Mimi!!!!

We couldn't just load the kids back into the car and drive home. They both had been soooo good and I wanted them to have some out of seat time.

And so, because it was the sunniest, WARMEST day of the year in Seattle so far, we went to the zoo!!! Apparently we weren't the only ones with this idea since it was packed. On a monday?! 

Checking out the penguins. 

Fin INSISTED he hold the map and navigate. 

It was a great afternoon! A bit of a long ride back, but Fin crashed, and Kai slept SOME of the way so I still can't complain.

Mimi is here! More adventures to come...

Pajamas on the Playa

On Friday I awoke to clear skies and no wind, so without even bothering to change the boys out if their jammies, we threw some warm clothes on, packed a few necessities (ie: diaper, snacks, milk) and went for a morning walk!

Sunshine!!!

Fin asked if we could go to the beach, and knowing Dad was headed golfing anyway... I figured... Why not? No need to rush back to the house. 

The beach was beautiful: quiet (as always), calm and relaxing. Thanks to Kai taking a pacifier, I am now able to plunk him down and not worry about him putting anything and everything into his mouth. Fin would have been shoving rocks, sand, bugs... you name it into his face. Kai loved picking up and playing with the cool, smooth stones. And Fin, of course, partook in his usual activity: throwing said stones into the waves. 

It was a nice morning. If only everyday was like this!!! 

POTD "Child Labor"

We are very excited for Mimi to arrive on Monday, and preparations are in full swing. There's a lot to be done before she gets here, so I've taken it upon myself to delegate a few tasks. Don't worry Mimi. Your shower will be clean. 

*Smiles. Checks it off list.*

(No children were harmed during the photographing of this event.)

POTD "Mimi Clow"

Mimi Clow comes to visit tomorrow! She hasn't been here since just after Kai was born, so for this trip, we are excited to get out and about and do a few things!

In honor of her visit I figured I would post the picture I took of a fire hydrant here in Oak Harbor. This is not the first fire hydrant I've seen with our name on it! Why do they say Clow? Not sure. Time to google it! ;) 

History on the Clow fire hydrant! Not a common name. We must be related... somehow.

http://www.clowvalve.com/about-us/company-history/

POTD "Green Schtuff"

That's right. You read correctly. I titled it POTD rather than POD. I realize that there is a 'the' in there, but can't you just leave "of"s  and "the"s out of acronyms when they don't work? POD just sounded like a much cooler acronym when I first started blogging, but tonight I was just thinking... perhaps I should give that little 't' a chance. Perhaps "POTD" is better than POD? What do you think?  

Anyway, my POTD or POD for today is a photo of the side of the road. It is sooooo green here, especially this time of year! Lots of misty, cool weather and not a lot of sunshine gives us an over abundance of green schtuff growing everywhere. All over trees, rocks, fences, roads, roofs, heck... it will grow on just about anything if you leave it outside for long enough. 

Beautiful isn't it? 

POD "Why Did the Chick... Ok, seriously?"

 

Yes, seriously. Dead serious. That is a peacock just strolling across the road not 100 yards from where my buddy crossed yesterday. Totally different house. WHAT is the DEAL? Why are we all crossing this road??? And who owns a peacock?

 

PS. The peacock wasn't the only one out today. Had to stop my car for my new friends again.



 

 

Chickens wandering freely all over yards (and into neighbors) is pretty commonplace here, but I think this is getting a little ballsy. And WHO owns a PEACOCK?

POD "Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road"

Why did the chicken cross the road? No, but seriously, why? This is a busy road with cars whipping by at 50mph and this guy and his two buddies decided to cross the road regardless. 

Reckless fowl. Bad birdies. Stay on your side of the road. 

POD "Blew Your Cover"

Now that the weather is improving and Kai is a little bigger, we are spending more time outside. JUST how I like it. Now if only my house could clean itself...

 

Anyway, I plunked Kai in his walker in our driveway and Fin and I did a little Spring gardening. Just a little cleaning up of some dead leaves and pine cones. I ripped off a handful of dead leaves and discovered this little guy attempting to hide underneath.

 

Sorry bud. I totally just blew your cover. Literally and figuratively.

 

A Sunny Stroll

This morning I had totally made mental plans to take care of the mountain of recyclables in our garage. But then, for the THIRD day in a row, the SUN came out! So I basically said screw the errands! We need a relaxing day at home to enjoy the weather!

 

With the amaaazing additional hour of sunlight at night, Matt and I are making an effort to get out and exercise a few times a week. Usually I bring Fin in our single Bob stroller, so I know he's pretty good at just chillaxing, loudly pointing out cars, talking to himself, and randomly insisting that I go faster. :) Kai, on the other hand, is relatively unpredictable. The last time I tried to bring both of them on a long walk I ended up pushing an empty double stroller with Fin running next to me and an angry Kai strapped to my chest. Thank Goodness my favorite neighbor Dick happened to be driving by and saw the disheveled mess that I was, stopped, threw the stroller in the back of his pickup and brought us home. :) Yay Dick! Photos from that adventure back in October:

Dick the superhero loading the stroller and Mumma very happy to be hitching a ride home.

 

So back to today. With Kai's newfound love for pacifiers... oh my goodness... he is even more easygoing. So, I decided to take a chance and bring them both on a walk.  

 

 

I told Fin we were going down a really steep hill and he shouts "UH OH! Hold tight Kai!"

And then he grabbed his leg. Heart =puddle of mush.

 

 

Great views of the ocean are about a five minute walk away.

 

The bad news is... it's all downhill leaving our house, so at some point, you have to go back up this beast of a hill. (Trust me, the photo does it no justice.) Oh, and don't forget, I'm pushing 60+ pounds in a double stroller.

 

Sunshine Selfie

 

Once we get back to our little dead end road, I let Fin get out and "jog" too.

 

He loves running

 

... and pretending to fall.

Thank God for quiet dead end streets, exercise, fresh air, happy boys and SUNSHINE!

A Whidbey Island Shellfish ADVENTURE

Matt and I have been talking about getting a shellfish license for a while now. We've been watching the tides, watching the weather, and just waiting for the right weekend. This weekend was IT!

So after much research regarding the safe beaches to collect nontoxic, non polluted, non mc nasty mussels, we stopped by our local Ace Hardware to pick up a 5-gallon bucket and a license. That part of the shellfish adventure went fairly smoothly, other than the fact that the current shellfish season CLOSED in less than 20 days so Matt was forced to purchase a DAY license as well as a license for next season. DOH!

 

Upon arriving at the beach area, we realized that just to park in the small gravel lot on the side of the road we DID, in fact, need our Washington State discovery vehicle pass we left on the kitchen counter. Two licenses, and now this. Matt and I both agreed that this could potentially turn into one of those REALLY expensive adventures should the friendly park rangers decide to leave us something not so friendly.

 

I left my phone in the car, so unfortunately I don't have photos of the "harvesting" process, but it was fun. We had to carefully step across this "stream" to get to a sandier, easier digging spot. Matt had ingeniously suggested we bring a small pail and garden shovel for Fin, so he had a lot of fun collecting his own bucket of broken shells, mud and other lovely goodies. He had fun... until he either tripped, or stepped into one of our holes and fell into the water. :) It was sunny, but not exactly a day to take a dip in the Puget sound. By this point, Matt had only dug up about 6 clams, but regardless, I gave him the universal "we gotta wrap this shit up because one of our kids is about to LOSE it" look.

Still, going home with a hungry baby, a wet toddler and 6 clams didn't seem acceptable. So while I headed up to the rocks to start plucking some mussels, Matt started another hole. SNAP. The shovel broke. Classic. Yeah, we were pretty sure that was God telling us it was time to head back home.

Thankfully, we were able to pull off a few small patches of mussels all at once, so it took us a matter of seconds to have MORE than enough for the 3 of us.

 

Once back at the car, I got out my phone and made Matt reluctantly pose for a photo with his broken shovel.

"This is a little embarrassing," he said.

 

Back at the house we started the cleaning process. Unfortunately, the low tide was at 3:44pm, so that meant cleaning started at exactly the WRONG time: dinner time. But that's ok. We fed Fin a simple pasta dinner (just to get food in his belly) and then focused on the mussels. We decided during the process that although clams are a little harder to find and harvest, mussels are much harder later! The mussels required a lot more work than the 6 clams we got. The mussels need to be de-bearded (sounds dirtier than it is), scrubbed with a brush, soaked...etc.

 

Starting the cleaning process:

 

We found a couple little friends along the way. Tick or crab? Don't worry, all the friends we found we threw back in the bucket of bay water and later returned to the ocean.

 

Whoops, pretty sure this mussel is NOT of legal harvesting size.

 

All clean!

 

The sink, and the faucet, and the window... not so clean!

 

Our large clam harvest :)

 

So I'm chopping tomatoes for the broth, and I feel something on my shirt, TWICE. I look down... the damn clam had squirted me! Poor little guy wasn't going down without a fight.

 

All ready to start cooking!

While Matt finished up cleaning the mussels, I ran out and grabbed a fresh loaf of bread and a chilled bottle of chardonnay. Because dinner would not have been complete without bread to sop up the amazing juices and a refreshing white to wash it down.

Matt and I waited until Fin was in bed before we cooked the mussels and ate. It was the first meal we've had just the two of us since August. :) Pretty sure we need to do that more often.

 

Stop taking pictures, woman! I'm ready to eat!

 

It was a lot of work, but it was a fun, eventful, educational and DELICIOUS Northwest adventure here on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound. Can't wait to do it again. PS. We saved Fin some mussels and bread for lunch the next day and he gobbled them up and asked for more. Poor boy! Don't worry Fin, we'll go out and get more soon!

POD "Didn't Give a Hoot"

I've been meaning to post a picture of this guy! This blog post has been written since the FALL of last year and I forgot to post it! Whooooopsies. HOPEFULLY now that our desktop is up and running again (and my babies are sleeping better!) I can get back to some blogging.

Anyway, we were driving down this small tote road on our way to one of Matt's coworkers' family party... (Don't ask about the dirt road. Gotta love reliable GPS directions.) and this guy was sitting right in the middle of the road! It wasn't even dark! Aren't owls nocturnal? Shouldn't you be SLEEPING?!!! Anyway, I was super (borderline excessively) excited! I'd never seen an owl in the wild before! 

As we drove closer he casually swooped up to a branch just on the side of the road. He didn't seem to give a hoot we were right there. (Ok, ok that was cheesy.) Perfect photo op!!! Of course, I made Matt stop and take pics for the blog.

He was so beautiful and even though the "most direct route" was a little sketchy, it was worth it! ... This time.