Halloween 2024

It was a rainy Halloween this year, but we still managed to have fun. We went out early in the month for our annual corn maze/pumpkin patch outing and had a gorgeous day for that.

We got ourselves nice and lost in the corn maze

Ryan managed to eat both a large acorn squash half and roasted corn

My mom arrived for a visit the week before Halloween. I neglected her for the first couple days while I wrapped up an insanely busy week of work and then she and Ryan came to my orchestra concert that weekend. We played Saint-Saën's Danse Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah and a piece by Kristina Vasiliauskaite which I loved, Simfonete, among others.

M really wanted to go out trick or treating this year, but was also struggling to come up with a good costume idea that he liked. In the end, he reused last year's costume. We also didn't get around to carving our pumpkins or decorating the house until Halloween day. But we got 30-40 trick-or-treaters despite the rain, so that was exciting! That's about all we ever get, but I was shocked it was that many when it was rainy all evening while last year when it was dry we only got 16. I also appreciate that 3 houses next to us get very into decorating, so there's at least a little draw for kids. 

I went out with M since it was dark already by the time he was ready to go. He thankfully didn't want to stay out long - just long enough to get to a house 3 blocks away that he likes the decorations at, and fill about half of his candy bag. So overall it was a chill evening. After we got home we all finished watching The Birds with Ryan.

All the pumpkins turned out great this year:

Ryan's on the left, M's in front of G's on the right

My mom and I spent a bunch of time making treats: apple hand pies, apple cider caramels, toasted coconut marshmallow covered in chocolate, peanut brittle, and we whipped up some ginger-molasses cookies to sandwich our batch of marshmallow that didn't set quite right.

Ryan and I went to a play, Primary Trust by Eboni Booth the day after Halloween - 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner and we loved it. It's about how we handle change, what makes a meaningful life, and recognizing that even though things will change or may not last they still have value and we can and should enjoy them right now. Highly recommend seeing it if you ever get the chance. We said goodbye to my mom yesterday and now our focus will shift to supporting G as they get all their college applications in and figuring out how to make M's new fencing schedule work as we head into winter.

Fencing

We started a more official allowance for the kids over the summer and M has been enjoying being able to buy all sorts of video games or walk down to the 7-11 for treats. One of the games they bought over the summer was for the VR set and I guess involves swordplay, so after playing a bit of that he told us he wanted to do fencing. This is the first time in ages that he's expressed an interest in an activity, so we immediately looked into options. There were some spots open in a summer camp still, but they were half-day camps and I couldn't figure out how to make that work, so we waited and got him signed up for an intro class in the fall. The ages are nicely split up so he's in a group of 11-15 year olds. The intro class has been once a week, which he has said is not often enough. It's also focused on epee - initially he said he wanted to try sabre, but after a few weeks when given the chance to take another intro class focused on sabre or continue on to beginning epee, he changed his mind and decided to stick with epee for now. When you move to the beginning class you get to have class twice a week and for a little longer, so I think he's happy about that. 

It's been delightful to see him excited about something and having fun with it. Aside from at home, it's probably where he's the most relaxed and willing to engage with others right now. I haven't been able to get any great action shots yet, but here he is getting an actual sword for the first time (in the dark blue shirt) and then connecting to the wire so the scoring system can detect their touches.

So far everyone we've interacted there has been friendly. Of course, at this age you never know how long an interest will last, but it's feeling like a good, positive experience and outlet for him right now - something we've desperately needed - and we'll enjoy it for however long it's something he wants to do.

Rocketry Road Trip

Just before we left for San Diego I got an email from the rocketry club leader about an event in Pasco the weekend after we were getting back from California. It mentioned G by name, so I forwarded to him with a slightly panicked "do you need to go to this and why am I just now hearing about it???" message. Initially the answer was no - he hadn't finished his rocket and wouldn't have time to before the event. Then a couple days later it changed to yes because he was going to be able to squeeze in one last rocket building session.

Then I realized there was no useful information in the initial email aside from the dates of this event, so asked him to get that info. Which led to a second email that contained the broad times and details on when the club adult was going to be at the launch site, but no specifics about when the kids were expected to arrive. I eventually decided that none of us would want to be up at 3 or 4 am on a Saturday to drive out to Pasco, so would be best to just book a hotel and head out Friday evening.

Ryan had done all our driving in California and understandably wasn't eager to do another road trip, so this trip ended up being me and G. We forgot it was Labor Day weekend and that would mean more traffic headed east than usual, especially since it was nice weather and not smoky, so what maps had previously told me would be a 3.5 hour drive was now going to be more like 4-4.5 hours. And of course I'd come home from work late in my effort to get things taken care of before the holiday weekend/before everyone's schools start and we both left our packing to the last minute, so my plan of leaving Seattle right after G finished up an appointment at 6pm didn't pan out. And we still had to eat dinner sometime as well. We did find somewhere to stop for dinner and aside from some overly aggressive drivers wanting to go 90+ in 70 zones and everyone's headlights being so bright they blind you these days, it was an uneventful drive. We got to our hotel about 11:30, watched some Derry Girls, then slept. Not my best sleep ever as the hotel didn't do a great job at preventing a pervasive manure odor from leaking into the building.

I half-heartedly tried to get us going at a reasonable time the next morning, thinking we should get to the launch site about 9-9:30. But G wasn't as eager to wake up and it was their event so I let him dictate the pace a bit. We got checked out and then remembered that we needed $5 in cash for this event. I almost never have cash on me! So we made a last-minute run to a bank, got some cash, then headed back out to the launch site. All this meant it was closer to 10:30 before we got there and G was the last student in their group to arrive. Launches are really boring if you're not actively involved. It was hot and sunny, so I spent the day trying not to burn. Most of the rockets are loud as well, so the rest of my energies were spent attempting to protect my hearing. The whole point of this trip was to attempt to get some certification to be able to do high powered rockets. G had his built and finally got the motor and such attached and shot it off. Unfortunately, the motor wasn't attached quite well enough so while the rocket went quite high it lost the motor coming down and I guess that means you fail your certification. They had some extra motors so he could attempt again, but had to wait around for another student (whose rocket just failed to launch several times) to finish so they could use their motor casing. This meant that we were there much later than I'd planned and there was much drama as it was doubtful for a bit if he'd even get to attempt a second launch - they only had permits to do the high powered launches until 5pm. There was a mad rush as maybe he could do it still but with a different type of motor, so they were all working together to change that out, then they were told they could actually keep the original motor so it was a frenzy to get that back in and attached securely. 

Rockets set up to launch

After all that drama, it was a big letdown when the motor failed completely - his rocket barely made it off the launchpad. Nothing he could have done about it, just a faulty motor and no way to know that until you try to launch it I guess. So he was pretty down about that because without the certification there isn't as much of interest for him to work on in rocketry this year once they've built their team rocket. And this location is the only one he's aware of that holds events where you can get this certification (you need a big open field away from major air traffic and of course all the special permits to launch these off). Overall very frustrating that achieving the certification can come down to something that's completely out of your control.

Once G helped to clean up their club area at the field, we found some dinner - neither of us had eaten since breakfast! - and then got back on the road to head home. G did slightly overestimate their appetite, but managed to get through about 2/3 of this burger.

About 45 minutes into our drive home we suddenly heard a splat on the windshield - no big deal, just a bug. Then there were a few more - is it raining? We didn't remember rain being in the forecast. Followed by rapidly increasing splats and a pass of the windshield wipers made it clear these were bugs, not rain. Thousands and thousands of bugs. Before long I could barely see because there were so many dead bugs on the windshield. We managed to find a quiet side road and were able to clear some with the wiper fluid and G found a nearby gas station about 10 minutes away, which felt like a very long time when you're worried about dead bugs limiting your visibility. So we cautiously made our way to the gas station, wincing with every new splat. Thankfully it was almost dark at this point and we were getting further and further away from the body of water where this had all started, which we were hopeful would resolve the bug issue. Several others were also stopped at this station, scrubbing bugs off their cars. The entire front bumper was a horror scene, but we left that for later, scrubbed the windshield as best we could, and got back on our way.

Thankfully that was the worst part of the drive home. We were both exhausted, but it was so much fun to get to spend hours with G, chatting about anything and everything and introducing them to Carole King's Tapestry album in our efforts to build a good road trip playlist. And, in good news, one of the other rocketry parents was kind enough to offer to drive him (and their kid) back out there last weekend, where G successfully passed their certification - using a different brand of motors this time. 

Summer 2024, Campus Tour Edition

We spent our summer on college visits, which are much more daunting to plan on the west coast than they were on the east coast where you've got lots of great schools all within easy reach. I'm pleased to say that I've been proven right in my thinking that G would be more excited about the whole process once we actually got them onto some campuses and in my assertions that visiting campuses is actually essential to knowing if the school is a good fit for you or not. Ryan didn't do any college visits as a high schooler, so we've been operating off just my experience, but it means I've been discussing it all with two people who have no experience doing this. And my experience isn't always the best guide - I told G there was no need to study for the PSAT/SAT, but then had to walk that back when I realized I had been taking the SAT every year since at least 7th grade, which is not a thing our schools here offer, so maybe he shouldn't listen to me on that one. But for this, I just kept coming back to the fact that if I'd visited Cleveland Institute before auditioning, I never would have wasted time applying there, so yes it actually is important that we visit as many schools as we can from their list.

We've now had schools that went from "hey, it's pretty close by and seems to have good programs, so I could go there" or "hey, may as well throw it on the list" to "omg, this is awesome and I could totally see myself here!" and one that went from "I'm so excited about this school, it's the only website that really stood out to me/drew me in!" to "meh, I'm actually not sure this one is the best fit for me". Which has made the time and effort spent on these trips worth it.

Our first trip was up to Vancouver. Large campus, very much a city campus feel, and with some beautiful views out to the water. One of our tour guides here was actually from WA and a forestry major - which apparently happened accidentally when they clicked the wrong button at some point, but which they now view as a happy accident. It would definitely be interesting to have to figure out all the nuances of being an international student - which feels extra weird when the campus is just a short train ride away! Bonus is that cost for this lands mid-way between our in-state universities and the out-of-state costs we'd pay for any other schools in the US.

Along the way, we've tried to include some fun activities as well since M is getting dragged along on all these trips. For my birthday, we spent time at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I seem to have a knack for running into coworkers at unexpected places - I saw one the cultural navigators from the hospital in line to cross the bridge! (Our clinic team shares office space with their team; they help families who may have cultural, language, or health literacy needs learn to navigate the complexities of the healthcare system. So, so helpful and we adore them. Most hospitals don't have a team like this and they really should.)

M contemplated if he wanted to lick the banana slug or not; in the end he opted not to. 

We also spent some time in downtown Vancouver, not realizing there was a Rolling Stones concert that day so traffic was a nightmare. Our hotel just happened to be near a Chinese restaurant that was highly recommended by a friend. We ended up eating there for dinner one night and returned the next morning for dim sum. We told G that if he goes to school up there, we'll be visiting regularly just for the food. Also, we had to buy M a baseball cap at the college bookstore because it was too sunny, so we already have some college merch if G goes there!

Santa Cruz was an interesting small city. Rather sprawly but with a very cute main street area. The campus doesn't feel very connected to the city - when you first enter campus it's more like you're in the middle of farmland than a campus or a city. The buildings (when you finally get to them) are an odd mix of brutalist concrete structures and wooden structures that seem to be going for a dilapidated barn style. More than half of the campus has been left undeveloped, which is really cool, especially if what you want is a lot of woods and fields. There are gorgeous views over the city and the beach/ocean. We saw a wild turkey on our way out, so that was exciting.

For our fun activities here, we went to the boardwalk and the beach. I was the designated bag holder while everyone else went on rides - rides aren't really my thing so I was just fine with this. M rode on his first-ever roller coasters. The next day we went back but headed to the beach beyond the boardwalk this time. It was nice to spend a couple hours just sitting at the beach and enjoying the ocean sounds. 

We ate dinner at a restaurant on the wharf our first night, which had a lovely view out to a lighthouse. And they had public music/dancing below the restaurant, which was a lot of fun to watch.

In between all the campus visits, I was very excited one day to discover gooseberries at Met Market. I've never seen them at a store here before that I can remember. And definitely never in this quantity. I was very tempted to buy all they had, but decided I should be nice and leave some for others, so only bought 3 boxes. After allowing some to be eaten fresh, I froze the rest and have enough for 10 apple gooseberry pies! It's been way too long since I got to have one of those, so I'm excited for the weather to cool so I can bake a pie. Our freezer looks like it's been taken over by gooseberries, even though it's just 10 quart bags of them.

G also participated in pole vault camp again, but this year it was much more conveniently located at UW campus and so they could light rail there! No more nightmare trips like last year when all the roads and the light rail were shut down for repairs! I didn't get any pictures of G at camp, but my work shuttle drives right past the UW track, so I snapped a not great picture the week before his session. So many vaulters!

The kids went off to sleepaway camp in mid-August - G's final year as a camper and M's 5th year! G is saying they plan to return next year as a counselor. We decided to mix things up a bit instead of going to the same place on Whidbey that we went the past couple years. Initially we were planning a couple days on Orcas Island but the ferry system is struggling and it was impossible to get reservations so we ended up having to cancel our Orcas hotel stay since the only way to get to the island is the ferry. Instead, we headed up to Bellingham for a couple nights and stayed in a historic hotel right downtown. We'd only ever driven through on our way up to Vancouver, so it was great to stay and explore a bit. Really great downtown area with tons of shops and eateries and way more brewpubs than expected, all very walkable. Not that I really have set expectations about numbers of brewpubs, but everywhere I looked there was another one! I'm honestly not sure how there's enough business for all of them. We found a nice cocktail bar our first night and the bartender was so great - digging in the back to find that they did have a bottle of green chartreuse and making me a bijou, which is my favorite drink but because it's gotten so difficult to get chartreuse I haven't had it in forever. And they had never made a bijou before, so we gave them a new drink to learn about and play with recipes for. It was nice to just sit and chat while enjoying our drinks.

My clover club and Ryan's bijou

The next day we hiked up to Fragrance Lake, which was gorgeous. It was maybe 65 degrees, which turned out to be perfect weather for this hike. Lots of uphill heading to the lake, but then you get nice and rested hanging out at the lake and walking around it. There were a few others on the trail, but most of the time no one else in our sight. On the way back we took a short detour to a viewpoint that looks out over the islands. The only bad part was that the uphills on the way to the lake meant a lot of downhill coming back. My knees really struggle with lots of downhill these days, unclear why, so I was in quite a bit of pain by the time we finished and honestly am not sure I've fully recovered yet. But glad we did the hike anyway.

Once the kids were back from camp it was time to head off to San Diego/LA for our final college trip of the summer. This one was a little more stressful than the others because we were trying to visit three school - Caltech, Cal Poly Pomona (I'm pushing the Cal Poly schools a bit since they're part of the WUE system so there's a chance he could get tuition at these equivalent to our in-state tuition), and UC San Diego. We opted to fly into and stay in the San Diego area because everyone we talked to indicated there would be more of interest there during our free time. This did mean a long drive for our day spent seeing the two schools up near LA. We managed to find an airbnb not far from the beach.

You can just see the ocean past the ridiculously expensive houses

For our first free day we slept in, then headed to the beach in the afternoon. I waded in a bit, but stopped enjoying going fully in oceans/lakes around age 9 or so. Everyone else enjoyed letting the waves crash over them.

The next day we had to be up early for our drive up to LA area. Traffic at the time we left wasn't as bad as we were expecting. Unfortunately, Cal Poly told me there would definitely be tours this day, but then they ended up not having any. I would've tried to set up a meeting with a student or professor if I'd known this would be the case, so it was frustrating. We couldn't even find where to go on campus to see if they had any materials for a self-guided tour (and I couldn't find any online), so just wandered on our own. Classes had already started here as well, so parking was a nightmare and the heat didn't help how any of us were feeling either. Overall, an unfortunately underwhelming experience but I think we were glad we got a chance to at least see the campus. Then it was off to Caltech. Nice looking buildings. This was another surprise - G expected to not like it because of the small number of students (fewer undergrads than students at his high school!), but came away quite excited about it. While of course keeping in mind that their acceptance rate is insanely low and the annual cost to attend is insanely high.

The next day was UC San Diego. This tour went really well also, weather here is more tolerable for all of us than it was up near LA. Much larger than Caltech, obviously, but another place that G felt like he could do well at. Because of the size of this one there's a lot to do on and around campus and it feels more like a campus in a city, similar to UW or UBC. We had some free time after this tour and considered going to the zoo, but in the end M decided they just wanted to go to the beach again. Honestly, the zoo sounds like it's a full day trip and we were all pretty tired from all the tours/walking, so the beach was a nice way to end our trip. The next day we headed back home. I think the strangest thing to me about all our CA trips is discovering just how car-centric most of CA is. Aside from San Francisco, there doesn't seem to be nearly as significant of a transit presence as one would expect, even in the larger cities.

Now all that remains is for G to take the SAT and get applications put together and then see what happens. We will likely try to get a trip in to WSU in the early fall, but there is an event at the high school in September where he should be able to get accepted to WSU on the spot, so that one really is the safety school. 

And now the new school year is upon us. Summer felt like it went by way too quickly, but the fall has things to look forward to as well. G has opted not to run cross country this year, saying they're going to prioritize pole vault year-round instead (we'll see if that actually happens or not....) as well as wanting the time to focus on their applications and classes this fall. M has expressed an interest in fencing, so we've signed him up for an introductory class and we're excited to see how that goes. 

Spring

Lots happened this spring - we started off with G getting their braces off! And we did get the bad news from the dentist that M will need braces after all (though this has become obvious since more adult teeth have been growing in recently), so once all his adult teeth are in then we get to start another orthodontic journey. G celebrated by getting to eat popcorn at our next movie night.

We've been doing a family D&D campaign, holding sessions every few weeks when we get the chance on a weekend. This was a Christmas gift from G to M since the middle school D&D club had been a bust. But M did attend Magic the Gathering club a few weeks ago and has enjoyed that.

G was surprised when their sprints placed them among the top sprinters on the track team early in the season. This meant we added to their spike collection so they now have jumping and sprinting spikes. G even got to go to an invitational for both pole vault and the 200m early in the season. Of course, after that pole vault was ramping up so they did a lot less sprinting...so hopefully the sprinting spikes still fit next year!

The jumping spikes have a bigger heel and there's some difference in spike placement

Despite developing shin splints mid-way through the season (a common vaulter injury I'm told), G had a good season - went to metros and placed 12th while also getting a PR of 11', and just missed getting to go to districts. He could've gone as an alternate, but opted not to so that he could let his legs rest and get started on fully healing the shin splints. They are hoping to do a lot more off-season work on strength training (which will help them be able to use a longer pole and help with getting higher) and maybe working with a local pole vault club so they're ready to go for even higher PRs for their final season.

I made the chocolate raspberry mousse cake for M's birthday...and then again for G's birthday. They aren't very creative in their requests, but it's a delicious cake so I can't really blame them either!

And I made a giant batch of brownies for our office March birthdays.

We had a candy hunt on Easter again. I was most proud of this hiding place, which took them a while to notice, but wasn't the one that took the longest.

After being foiled by illness three times in our attempts to go to a baseball game, M and I finally made it to a Mariners game, and on a gorgeous weekend to boot.

Ryan finally got COVID. The kids had very mild cases last summer, I got it at the end of January, and Ryan in April. I am quite proud of us for managing to not spread it to the rest of the household on any of these instances. Ryan had to go on a work trip mid-April, he got back on a Friday and by Sunday (as we were celebrating G's birthday), he noticed he was feeling a little feverish. After dinner and cake we immediately quarantined him to our bedroom and I moved to the couch for the next ten days. I was determined to do everything I could to avoid getting it again, especially because I was due to be on call again the next week and call had been busy so I knew my colleagues wouldn't be okay if they had to pick up my week as well. It all worked out and I didn't get it and by the time the 10 days was up he was testing negative. Pretty pleased with us that we all made it so long before getting it.

G took their AP Computer Science test and is confident they did well. I started planning some college visits for this summer and fall - mainly in-state schools, one up in Canada, and California schools. We'll knock out several visits over the summer and hopefully that will get G a little more excited about the whole thing. Though they were thrilled when they discovered that UC Santa Cruz has a banana slug as their mascot.

After spending the morning at metros this past weekend, I dropped G at home and the rest of us headed to make sausage and have dinner with friends. I made another cardamom rose cake and it turned out so well this time! I may have made the icing a tad too runny, but that was better than too thick. I put ever so slightly less rose in the cake itself and only put 1/4 teaspoon in the icing and it still came through nicely.

Just a few more weeks left in the school year!

Cardamom Rose Cake

I'm the designated baker for the office, so was asked to make a treat for our February birthday celebration. I hemmed and hawed a bit about what to make, but my sister came through with a cardamom rose cake recommendation. It uses rose water, which I'd never worked with before and discovered that it's impossible to not feel like you've overdone the rose because as soon as you pour any amount into the batter the room smells strongly of rose. 

Of course, my cake pan is also a 9 inch, not an 8 inch, so I had to calculate the recipe. And I knew one co-worker wouldn't touch the cake, so also needed to make chocolate chip cookies - which served as a solid backup for everyone else as well just in case I messed the cake up horribly. None of this would've been a big deal since our lunch was on a Tuesday and usually my Mondays are pretty chill. But I'd agreed to play in a concert for another orchestra and that group rehearses on Mondays and our concert was the same week. So I found myself trying to frantically put together the cake and cookies between work and rehearsal. I managed getting the cake baked and cooling as well as making the cookie dough before I had to leave. When I got back I baked the cookies while making the glaze for the cake. Definitely messed up the glaze a bit because it was a little too stiff when I put it on the cake. So mine didn't end up as pretty as the online picture.

But adding the pistachios and rose on top helps to draw attention away from my glaze mistake!

The cake was delicious, definitely floral. I did cut the rose in the glaze down to 1/3 of what was called for and may try playing around with the amount of rose in the cake itself the next time I make it as well as increasing the lemon just a bit. Don't want to lose the rose flavor, but I think where it was at may be overwhelming for some. Overall, a very easy cake to make once you get your flavoring amounts to your taste - since it's just a single layer it only takes 40 minutes to bake and the glaze is not complicated, even though I managed to mess it up. Both this and the cookies got rave reviews from co-workers.

Mid-Winter Break

For the first time ever, I took off during the kids' mid-winter break. It's my least favorite of their breaks but we were planning to try and organize an international trip for the family - maybe to Mexico. We failed at that and then thought what we should really do is go see some colleges in California. But it took a while for G to confirm they were on board with that and then covid finally got me and after recovering from that the airfares were crazy expensive, so that idea got tabled. But since I had the time off we didn't want to waste it, so we booked a last minute stay on San Juan Island.

We headed up to Anacortes Wednesday to catch an afternoon ferry - it's a one hour ride to Friday Harbor and even though it's the off season, reservations are still needed for the ferry. It was funny to hear San Juan locals on the ferry chatting - lots of surprise at how many cars/people were on the ferry when it's not even summer yet. But also "you coming back from the doctor?" conversations and that right there is why you don't retire to/I couldn't live on the islands. A full day just to get to/from appointments is rough and it's probably smart to sign up for their helicopter ambulance service if you do live there.

We checked into our room, decided it was a little too late to fit in a hike so we wandered the town for a bit. Of course, since it was after 4 many of the shops were already closed, and there were several that were closed until spring or summer. But we did find an open bookstore and always enjoy a good bookstore wander. M got the newest Amulet book. The streets were almost completely empty while we wandered, but then we headed to San Juan Brewing for dinner - and there were actually other people there! Enjoyed some good food before walking back to our room.

The next morning we headed out for our first hike - Young Hill. This is located on the north part of the island and where the English were camped at the time of The Pig War - which M actually knew about from school! Not too hard of a hike but with a little climbing. We took a mini-detour to a cemetery part way up the hill.

Some of the land in the distance is Canada.

When we got back down the hill, I very unexpectedly ran into a former coworker - she'd moved to Portland so it was surprising that we both ended up visiting the island the same week! It was fun to catch up before heading back to town to find some lunch. After lunch we headed out for our second hike - a longer one at 4 miles, but mostly flat. Despite being mostly flat, the area was called Mount Finlayson. This hike was on the southern part of the island, closer to the American camp during the Pig War.

The first half of this hike was mostly in the open, with flat grassland, while the second half was more forested with occasional opportunities to detour to the beach. We opted against the beach detours since M was getting tired. We could've detoured to one of the two lighthouses on the island as well, but that would've added more time to the hike than we had. After getting back to town we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner - another instance of being pretty sure the town is completely dead and only as we got to the door of the restaurant did it become clear that there were many people there. 

The next morning we had an early checkout, but our ferry back didn't leave until the afternoon so we had some time to kill. We started off by heading to Bakery San Juan for breakfast - delicious pastries and if we did live there I'm sure we'd go to this place often because their loaves of bread and cakes were so tempting. Then we headed to the Whale Museum. Lots of informative things there, but definitely a little dated in their presentation. After the Whale Museum we headed to the San Juan Island Sculpture Park. 

This is titled "Grumpy Man" and made me laugh

These fishnet sheep were delightful - they're intended to be used as footstools apparently!

My feet were already very wet by this point so I didn't want to walk through the mud to see this cool jellyfish any closer

I forget the name of this one, but it's supposed to be something new breaking through the old

We still had a couple hours left so hung out at San Juan County Park, where my phone got confused an thought I'd entered Canada. There is a little beach area below the main park that you can go to and then we also enjoyed clambering on the rocky bluff. There are several campsites with views of the strait.

We headed to the ferry line and back home. G had stayed home so they could attend a rocketry club event but also completed some fine-tuning of their college list while we were gone, so we actually need to plan our college visit trips now.

Christmas and New Years

While Ryan and the kids were gone, we had some lovely foggy days. It was very atmospheric to walk to get my Thai food in the fog. Have I mentioned how much I love living in a walkable city/neighborhood? We can walk to the doctor, dentist, restaurants, bakeries/cafes, hardware store, library, parks, movie theatre, etc. And of course can walk to the lightrail which takes us even more places. The walkability of our life is a consistent source of joy.

The weekend after they got back, Ryan and I braved the mall because I needed wrapping paper so I could send my niece and nephew their belated birthday gifts as well as Christmas gifts. We managed to score a surface parking spot really close to the stores we needed to go to - even in non-holiday times I don't expect to find one of those - a true Christmas miracle haha! I wished the non-holiday paper options were more varied, but we had a lot of fun picking out what we got, including a couple fancy papers.

Aren't those beautiful? Perhaps another sign of adulthood when you're very excited about fancy wrapping paper. We also did a little shopping for G's Christmas - they love hoodies but don't usually want brand or place names on them, so I was a little worried it would be hard to find. But the first store we tried had several completely plain hoodies in a variety of solid colors! It'll be so exciting for them to be able to rotate their hoodies through the wash more frequently.

Christmas Eve was spent largely in the kitchen. Ryan was inspired by Ted Lasso and wanted to try a mulled wine and finger foods on Christmas day, so we found a recipe for Smoking Bishop and had to get that started. It included roasting oranges and grapefruit that we then poked cloves into before soaking those in wine overnight - the next day we juiced the fruit into the wine and then added ruby port before heating. Then I prepped the filling for stuffed acorn squash and roasted the squash, made a coffee cake since M doesn't like our usual blueberry breakfast bake dish, Ryan made toffee, and by the time all that was done it was about time to start prepping the rest of our dinner. Ryan made a delicious Kung Pao Chicken courtesy of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's wok recipe book and sides were the family favorite Korean lettuce salad, and that stuffed acorn squash I'd prepped earlier in the day (used Canadian bacon instead of sausage in the squash). 

The oranges were as big as grapefruit! But they roasted up nicely and my not thinking to rotate them while roasting didn't seem to negatively impact the end result

With all that going on, dinner was a bit late so then we started A Christmas Carol a bit late, which meant it was midnight before the kids got to bed and 1 am before Ryan and I could get all the gifts set out and get ourselves to bed. I was very grateful that I could anticipate the kids sleeping in late the next day!

And I was right - they didn't wake up until 10, which meant we weren't ready to start our Christmas morning until 11am - a record late start for our family but I was shocked it wasn't later. Our Christmas was quiet. Because we ate breakfast so late I was glad we'd decided on finger foods for dinner. We got our wine heated up and made up some platters with our finger foods that we ate while I tried out the Oregon Trail game Ryan got me. 

Ryan was disturbed by me and G being excited about a book I got (An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good) since it's about an old lady who has no qualms about a little murder. He read it before I got to it and I caught a picture of him looking quite distressed while reading (ignore my finger that got in the way). 

M's D&D club experience at school sadly didn't work out - their entire group was made up of kids who hadn't played D&D before, including the DM, so it was just a mess and he quickly got frustrated. So G's gift to them was a D&D campaign that we'll do as a family with G as the DM! We spent some time the weekend after Christmas creating our characters.

I finally got to some baking after Christmas, including this delicious Pine Nut Rosemary Shortbread, which is an absolutely beautiful dough.

Before we knew it, it was New Year's Eve! We chose How to Steal a Million as our movie to watch with my sister's family this year and the kid's all enjoyed it, so that's a win. So many great lines in that movie. We tried our hand at a New York Sour for the first time ever, which requires you to float red wine on top of the rest of the drink. It was a bit tricky and definitely made a bit of a mess trying to slowly pour the wine over the back of a spoon, but I was really pleased that it actually worked!

We got one more day of relaxing at home before we all headed back to work and school on Tuesday. Here's hoping we all have a great 2024!