Big Pond Trail...

This morning the sun was peeking through the clouds so I decided to seize the moment and take Daniel outside. There are some trails I have been wanting to check out in McCormick Woods near our house so that is where we went. We checked out the Big Pond Trail. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to get out of the house even though it was cold and threatening rain. The woods were so serene and the ponds had ducks and geese floating in them. Not to mention I had the cutest little hiking buddy. His sweet little voice would break the quiet with excitement over a cool stick he just found or a cool tree he liked or some great sticks he wanted to throw in the water. And then of course he wanted to hold Momma's hand.



Daniel and his walking stick.
For some reason he really liked this tree. He climbed through bushes and over a log to get to it. He banged on it a little bit. It reminded me of hiking with my husband and his brothers. They like to find dead trees and work as hard as they can to push them over. Don't worry Daniel, I am sure they will teach you when the time is right. :) Here is a video from 2008 when my husband, my brother-in-law Taraz and I went on a little hike when we were camping at Lake Wenatchee. In this video you will see their tree crashing in all it's glory. The last tree is the most epic. :)


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


After our little hike today Daniel and I stopped by my parents' to say hi to everyone and warm up by the wood stove. Uncle Ben made waffles for the boys.

Yummy food...

I was over at my parents' the other day and my sister-in-law Mai was making a packing my brother's lunch for work. They bought these nifty little food containers in Vietnam. Each layer is a separate compartment. She was packing him steamed veggies,
chicken and rice. I would love to have some of these for Rue and for family outings.











On Sunday Ben, Mai and Charlie came over for Sunday lunch. I cooked a pot roast and Mai made Korean soup and rice. We ate it all Vietnamese style. Each person had a bowl of rice in front of them and everyone used their chopsticks, or spoon in my case (I need more chopstick practice) and took from whatever they wanted little bits at a time. In America we would think that is rude and call it "double dipping" but it is very appropriate in Vietnam. The soup had beef, shrimp, tofu, zucchini, two different kinds of mushrooms, scallions, red pepper flakes, and a soy paste seasoning. It really is a fun way to eat a meal with family. Ben said that in Vietnam they take about 2 hours to eat a meal together. I think Americans should do more of that. :)


Charlie sure liked it. :) Sadly, last night, my back took a turn for the worse. On Friday my lower back started feeling sore and each day it got a little worse. Last night lightening pain went down the left side of my lower back down in to my leg. Now I am having a hard time walking and basically no position is comfortable. I had to call in to work this morning. I am calling the doctor this morning. I have feeling she is going to tell me to just rest and ice and heat my back. I don't work again until Friday so that gives me a good chunk of time to nurse my back. I am going to take this time to get some sewing done and probably some scrapbooking too. Hopefully I can find a comfortable sitting position to do those things. I am pretty sure it is my sciatic nerve. I had sciatic nerve pain when I was pregnant with Daniel and something has aggravated it now. I will see what the doctor says.

Hi there Charlie!

Daniel and I headed over to my parents' this morning to visit with my brother, sister-in-law and little Charlie. I promised my mom I would take some video and pictures since she hasn't gotten to see them since they have been back from Vietnam. She will be returning on Wednesday from LA.


Grampa kisses. :)
I tried to get a picture of Daniel and Charlie together and this was the best one. It's hard to get a good picture of two very squirmy little boys. :)


Charlie and Momma. Here is the video. Charlie's little Vietnamese baby babble is too cute! :)

My newest favorite afternoon treat...

I have worked at Starbucks for almost five years now and I have just recently "discovered" the Tazo Vanilla Rooibos Tea. I love brewing up a cup in the afternoon and adding a splash of plain soy milk. Rooibos is a plant of the legume family and it grows in South Africa. It is used to make rooibos tea, bush tea, red bush tea, south african red tea and red tea. The Tazo Vanilla Rooibos adds Tahitian vanilla, cinnamon, apples and peaches. Talk about delicious! It has somewhat of an earthy taste that I just love.

Little walk in the harbor...

Amazingly the weather this morning cooperated for Daniel and I to go on a little walk. It was pretty chilly though so I made sure to bundle Daniel up nice and cozy warm. We went down to the Gig Harbor waterfront and walked from the museum down to the old ferry dock and back, about 2 1/2 miles round trip. Daniel loved seeing the boats and all the birds. After we reached the ferry dock he got out and walked for a little bit.



I took this picture for Daniel. He kept asking me to take a picture of the water fall. :)


You can see the old ferry dock in the lower right corner of this picture. About right in the center of the picture you can just see the shoulder of Mt. Rainier peeking through the clouds with the sun shining on it. Can't wait to get up there and do some hiking!

Oh spring, we can't wait for you to finally arrive!

Tonight my brother Ben, my sis-in-law Mai and little nephew Charlie are coming over for dinner. Mai will be cooking Vietnamese Hot Pot. You can bet I will be putting up a post about that tomorrow. :)

Poor little bird...

Yesterday after I arrived home from work, I was putting Rue's work dinner together when all of a sudden there was a thud against the sliding glass window. I knew right away a bird had just flown into it and when I looked out there were feathers floating around and a little brown bird twitching on the porch. This has happened several times before and the little birds have always died immediately. But this poor little guy was very much still alive and very very broken. My husband went out and picked the bird up by the tail and threw it out to the backyard for the dog to play with and eventually destroy. I was horrified. That poor little bird was suffering and now on top of that suffering he was going to be tormented and devoured by the dog. I couldn't stand the thought. So I set my jaw, marched out to the shed, grabbed the shovel, walked up to the little bird, said "I'm sorry!" and swiftly ended his suffering. I marched back to the shed, put the shovel away, marched back into the house and continued to get Rue's dinner together. Rue came up to me and said, "That was some tough stuff."

I have never killed an animal before. I did not like doing it. I guess I know now I am able to do it when it's necessary though. I did not like doing it. Poor little bird.

March snow...

Yesterday the weather was quite indecisive. One minute it would be dumping snow and the next minute it would be sunny and beautiful but would quickly turn to wind and hail. Then back to snow and on and on this went. The snow was very lovely but it did feel a little out of place almost like when you leave your Christmas decorations up for too long. They may still be pretty but there is a time when it's time to say goodbye and move on to a new season. I am very ready for spring to arrive.


In the above picture is my rhododendron and my little columbine.

In this picture you can see one of my little crocuses. It was probably feeling very confused. :)



Yesterday morning Daniel and I woke up before the sun to go with my dad to take my mom to the airport. She flew down to LA to help my Aunt Karin take of my Gramma who just had major abdominal surgery. This picture was posted to Facebook shortly after my mom arrived yesterday. It's good to see Gramma smiling. Mom is holding my cousin's little boy Ethan. Hopefully Ethan and Daniel will get a chance to romp around together this summer if we are able to make a trip down there.

Detoxing...

I have been gluten, dairy and egg free since last spring. My migraines have all but disappeared and my daily nagging headaches are gone. I was always exhausted and my head foggy. Now my energy has evened out and my head no longer foggy. I cannot say enough how wonderful it has been to be rid of my headaches and migraines. I don't have to carry Imitrex around in my purse and make sure I have it with me on vacations. I let my prescription expire. My cholesterol is steadily dropping and my naturopath says I am very healthy.

I still have some extra weight on me though and it's being nice and stubborn about coming off. My naturopath said they are finding that some people extract more calories out of their food than others. Apparently I am one of those people. She said it's great if you have to live off the land, but not so great when you live where you can get any kind of food any time you want. Maybe I should audition for Out of the Wild, I'd probably do pretty good! She said basically for me to lose weight and keep it off I am going to have to work my rear off, literally. Lots and lots and lots of exercise. She gave me a three week detox to give my system a little jump start.

I am now finished with week one! This week started out pretty miserable. On the second day I came down with a severe migraine, I was throwing up and in bed all day. I was really second guessing my choice to do the detox, why in the world would I put myself through this on purpose! But my hubby reminded me that I spent quite a bit of money on supplements and a special protein shake mix and I would basically be throwing that money away if I quit. I had the migraine for about 18 hours and then it went away and I have felt great ever since! I am so glad to be over the hardest part. Now it's just plow through to the end.

I realize that I must come up with a course of action for when the detox is over. If I just "fall off" the detox it's not going to do me any good and probably cause harm. My plan includes lots and lots of exercise, small, nutritious meals through out the day and very little sugar. Dessert will only be for special occasions. If I want to lose the weight bad enough then I am going to have to work for it hard enough, no short cuts or compromises.

Simply yummy...

I love when Rue brings home some ingredients from work (he works at a grocery store) and asks me to cook them up. I always make a grocery list and menu each week but it's fun to have him throw something in there that he is craving. I know the meal will be a hit because he is the one who picked the ingredients. He was even sweet enough to check the ingredients of the sausage to make sure there was nothing in there I am allergic to. I sure love that guy! :) So we had roasted sausage, roasted asparagus and baked potatoes. Nothing fancy, just simply yummy. :)

Discovering Discovery Village...

My friend Hannah asked if I wanted to meet her at Discovery Village with Daniel. I had never heard of it so I looked up their website. We met Hannah and her boys Billy and Bo, her sister Ruth and her son Leo and 5 week old Jacelyn, and our other friend Hannah and two of her girls Kyra and Jerusha. There is a central area with tables and a little cafe so moms can get coffee and visit with each other and easily keep an eye on their kiddos at the same time. There is a big play area, an area to play in moon sand, a little grocery store, a pizzeria, a train area and a water area with pretty rocks and a little fountain. The kids had a great time and us moms enjoyed catching up. I took my camera along and totally forgot to take pictures until the very end! Daniel, Billy and Leo really liked the rock and water area. They probably would have stayed there for hours if it hadn't been time to go home. :) Looking forward to going back and playing some more!