Another birthday weekend

The weather has been amazing this past week, so we wrapped up Spring Break/Gareth's birthday week by letting the kids set up the tent in the backyard. It's just cool enough overnight still that you end up being grateful for the sleeping bag. Also, the birds in our yard are really loud in the early morning hours. 

We started Gareth's birthday mid-morning since his big ask was a skateboard. Uncle Daniel came over and they went out to a skate shop and got the helmet/padding needed to prevent a PICU admission. Then we were ready to head to the school blacktop to start practicing.

Dinner was smoked gouda mac 'n cheese with roasted broccoli followed up by chocolate cheesecake. A few very simple alterations to make everything gluten free. I'm 0/2 on getting the chocolate cheesecake to not crack. And I think I might be burning the Oreo cookie base ever so slightly as well. But it all tastes good anyway!

We let the kids sleep in the tent again since we hadn't got around to taking it down. Mal was wanting to move out there permanently, but we said no - such mean parents. Gareth described it as the best weekend ever.

Gareth spent most of the weekend skateboarding, but I got out for a bike ride on Sunday afternoon. It was definitely a sunscreen-worthy afternoon, hitting almost 80 degrees. Lovely day for a half lake loop - 26 miles. We'll gradually work back up to the full lake loop again. We're planning to hit the Iron Horse trail with Ryan in the next few weeks - will have the kids meet us at the top of the trail/Snoqualmie tunnel with a picnic!

Rattlesnake Lake

The weather has been gorgeous here the past few days, so naturally I had to get outside with the kids while off work today. We all decided for another hike, though stuck to an easy one. We had two options at this location - hike up to a ledge for a view or hike a shorter, flat trail along the lake. I want to hike to the ledge at some point, but I'm nervous enough around heights when it's just me. Adding my kids to the picture just amps up the anxiety (even though they are not little anymore I still get nervous), so I was happy to wait on that until I have more adults with me. 

The kids spent some time playing on the rocky beach of the lake, skipping/throwing rocks in the water.

Then we headed to the trail and meandered along, enjoying the various lake views, watching those who were out canoeing/kayaking/paddle boarding. We also found the signage around the lake interesting, especially when we got to learn about how the lake was made (and the town of Moncton that was flooded in the process) and about the old railroad that used to go through the area.

Weekend Adventures

With spring here, I've been itching to get out of the house more on weekends. Getting tired of feeling like we're just sitting inside in front of screens all the time.

Started off with a bike ride with friends last weekend. Weather was gorgeous, but we stuck to a 16 mile ride from Log Boom Park to Lizzy Kate Tea and back. It's been a while since any of us went for a ride, so needed to ease into things.

The next day was rainy, but we got the kids out anyway and went to Kubota Garden. Ryan had never been before, even though it's one of our favorites, so I was eager to get him there. The rain wasn't so bad at first, but definitely picked up as the day went on and we were all quite cold and wet on the way home. There were signs of spring and it was quite lovely despite the rain.

This weekend we met up with Emily and Daniel and went to Twin Falls for a hike, which is inside of Olallie State Park. It's only about 3 miles round trip, but has some good uphill climbs and stairs, so we got a good workout. It's easy enough that it's usually quite crowded. There were a lot of people there this weekend, especially as it's early in the season and the weather was nice. But overall we were able to keep out of the way of others and most people were really good about wearing their masks.

We also had an impromptu barbecue with them in the evening - it was threatening rain by then, but we stuck it out around the firepit and the rain mostly held off until later in the evening. The boys got to enjoy roasting Starbursts - a new favorite introduced to them by Uncle Daniel.

My body isn't quite sure what to make of the sudden increase in activity and was definitely complaining a bit yesterday afternoon. But we've all been enjoying getting out more - hopefully my body will adjust and not feel so tired if we're able to regularly get out and explore.

Elementary schools are starting back with a few hours in-person this week, and secondary schools will get half days a couple days a week starting mid-April, but our kids will be staying remote. Ryan should be eligible for the vaccine in a couple weeks, along with everyone over 16. I'm guessing it'll be a while before we are able to find him an appointment. But I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get him (and Gareth, maybe?) vaccinated before the fall, so cautiously optimistic about the kids going back to school next year.

Birthday

On Mal's birthday I took the kids to Meadowbrook Pond. We saw a couple herons, lots of ducks, and heard a lot of birds.

We made a minecraft cake again.

And got a whole slew of new stuffies - hedgehog, fennec fox, and niffler. They join Hobbes and the teddy bears to form what has been named the "Boopy Union". From what I can tell, the primary purpose of the union is to attack Gareth and smother him in stuffy love.

St. David's Day

When I realized I was working the first weekend in March and therefore needed to take a couple weekdays off, I immediately decided I should get off for St. David's Day, if possible. It's been a few years since we've been able to do much of anything for the day, so I've been excited to try several Welsh recipes out.

I discovered this past weekend that no grocery stores in our vicinity carry ground mace! I can find multiple brands of juniper berries and a million types of mustard seed, but no mace. Thankfully one of our friends keeps a well-stocked spice cupboard and we were able to get some from them. And I know that Penzey's carries it, so I'll have to plan ahead and make a trip to Lynnwood to get some the next time I need it.

Not necessarily a Welsh recipe, but very Welsh-inspired: Potato-leek soup! A true cawl was feeling a little too ambitious to attempt while also trying other new recipes. Maybe some future year though. Softening up the leeks before adding the broth and potatoes:

You blend it all up before adding cream and half and half. Tasty, and even Mal liked it! I started the day though by mixing up bara brith. I had forgotten to soak my fruit in tea overnight, but got it going in the morning, so it still got a good 8-9 hours or so. Then made up a stiff batter:

It turned out beautifully and smelled delicious. Mal definitely didn't like it, but Gareth loves it. I always get thrown by the flavor in things like this initially (I think it's the orange-raisin combo?). But really enjoyed it today after it sat overnight and had a lot of fun making it. Will definitely have to make it again and play with the ingredients (fewer raisins, more currants, maybe a little less orange zest?)

And, finally, pice ar y maen. These were very easy and everyone loved them. Mal, after tasting the soup and these, declared that we should find a Welsh store or restaurant to get more Welsh food from - a far superior response than I was expecting. Oddly enough, both these and the bara brith use the same spices and dried currants, so I'm not quite sure why these were much more popular (with Mal particularly). Regardless, there were minimal leftovers of the teacakes, so those we'll definitely make again.

I also planned to make rarebit, but the blending of the soup took me longer than anticipated, so I left that for today. After a few moments of worry that it wouldn't work at all since my cheese sauce started to re-solidify so quickly, I was able to smooth it out again and get them put together. Gareth thinks we should try these with a Welsh cheddar instead of the English cheddar that I was able to find and I agree. The sauce started to split pretty quickly as it started to cool, so trying to make a second batch didn't work as well, though tasted okay still. Because of the addition of Worcestershire and stout, it's not the most beautiful-looking dish, but still very tasty!

Cymru am byth!

Snow!

Apparently mid-February is when we typically get snow, given all the "look back on these memories" notifications Google photos gave me of all our past snowstorms in the week leading up to our snowfall this past week.

We started with a dusting on Friday - at this point I thought we'd maybe get 3-4 inches, which would be a decent snowfall for Seattle. 

It started snowing again Friday evening and we woke up to a surprisingly decent snowfall the next morning. The kids were super excited. We don't own any sleds, so snowmen, snowballs, and snow angels are about all they can do. We did put them to work helping to shovel though (they need to learn how at some point and just don't get a lot of opportunity to practice).

I thought that was going to be it, but it kept snowing on and off through the day and then by the next morning we had accumulated a good foot of snow!

I was quite proud of our sidewalk care (even though we didn't get out to get salt before the storm came - thankfully, once it started snowing we only got warmer and things didn't melt and then freeze). We had, by far, the clearest section of sidewalk on the block. I'm grateful to have the sidewalk and therefore more than happy to take care of it so others can get around more easily in snowy weather.

Even though things were starting to warm up and melt by Monday afternoon, there was still a lot of snow on our street and a woman trying to get back to her home ended up with a stuck car. We were able to dig her car out and, with the help of neighbors, gave the car a push to get her going again. It was a little iffy watching her get down the hill, but she made it.

We realized that (especially now that we have this nice, wide sidewalk) we should get a second full size shovel (can only do so much as an adult with a child-size shovel) so we can get through the job more quickly. Maybe once Gareth gets more practice we'll be able to send him down the block to help clear more of the sidewalk.

It was fun to have the snow this year - coming on the holiday weekend where we didn't need to get anywhere - as noted by this article. Lots of sledders, skiers, snowboarders, and snowshoers seen along our street throughout the weekend. Obviously much less fun for anyone who had to work through the weekend. And, of course, we are quite happy that it's mostly gone now so we can resume getting groceries and so on.

New Year

We often work on a puzzle at New Year's. Sometimes one that we start that evening or sometimes one we started between Christmas and New Year's Eve. This year, Mal received a puzzle from his secret santa, so we started on that just a day or two after Christmas. And actually finished it the day before New Year's Eve!

1000 pieces and proved quite tricky. It also hung over the edge of the table slightly, which provided the added challenge of trying not to knock any sections off inadvertently! Ryan worked on a bit of everything. I started with the lettering, which took me a few days, before lending a hand with some people, and Gareth and Mal focused on faces and wands. Gareth mostly helped the first day, but after that was more focused on his new video games. Mal took over as the face expert. It was so fun to see his puzzling skills blossom this year, though he still has no patience for sorting through and finding all the edge pieces to start with.

Instead of puzzling on New Year's Eve, we spent the early evening virtually with my sister's family. We set up a zoom call and a watch party so we could simultaneously stream The Thin Man and chat about it together. I, of course, had seen it several times before as these older movies were common in my household growing up. But it's been at least a decade. I'm sure I made Ryan watch it once in our early years together, and the kids had never seen it. We all loved it and it was so much fun to laugh together at the antics (well, drunkenness) of Nick and Nora Charles. The younger kids particularly loved the dog (and really, who doesn't love Aster?). 

We munched on cheese and crackers, veggies and hummus, and jerky while we watched. My mom's gooseberry jelly paired with brie is divine. Ryan and I also tried some new cocktails (French 75, boulevardier, and bijou). I only had a few sips of the boulevardier as whisky forward cocktails are less to my taste. Very fun to try some new things though. Even though I set my alarm for the wrong day and woke up late the next morning, this was definitely one of our best New Year's yet!

Also, just for fun. I thought for sure our garden was done for when we got the snow and accompanying freezing nighttime temps for a couple days. But the chard seems to have bounced back quite well! As you can see, the squirrels or rabbits or whatever continue to enjoy it. So we (or the animals) should be able to eat these last few leaves at least.

I'm on furlough this week, but don't have any major plans since Ryan and the boys are both back at school/work. At some point I'll take down the Christmas decorations, I suppose.