Things we've liked this summer

Rachael Ray's Yum-O! Family cookbook. I love it because there are 3 in 1 recipes. For example, we baked a bunch of jerk chicken and roasted a ton of Caribbean veggies the first night. We used the chicken and veggies in Thai-style noodles the second night, and in quesadillas the third night. Jia said the quesadillas were the best meal she'd ever had! We often eat our colors. At dinner we take turns shouting out a color and then we all find something of that color to eat. The quesadillas had red, orange, yellow, green, purple, white, brown and black (I added beans)! Fun!

I love our city for things like this:

This is a traveling art installation. It moves from lake to lake and is currently in our local one. It is very large and quite realistic. The girls were VERY excited by the "lake monster."

Two books I LOVED reading this summer:
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard.
It is a true story of the journey of Teddy Roosevelt through the Amazon. The Amazon will never cease to amaze me and Roosevelt's story is absolutely astounding. It's got murder, intrigue and survival all wrapped together. Utterly fascinating.

The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell. It is about a man who raises his family in Shanghai around the time of the second world war. It spans a great deal of time and helped me understand some of the history between China and Taiwan. It reads like non-fiction and provides incredible sense of place. A great read.

We enjoyed riding the trolley that runs by our local lake. I was concerned that Willa might elude my grasp and fling herself from the window, but so far so good.

The girls have been enjoying doing Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred work out video with me. Jia tries hard to do the moves and Willa just likes to tackle me when I'm doing the ab work.

Our local Farmer's Market. From sugar snap peas in the beginning of summer to cucumbers now. Joe likes sweet pickles and I like dill but we recently found a recipe for homemade pickles that we all like!

Hope you enjoyed your summer too!

Pirate Princess Jia!

To celebrate Jia's birthday, we gathered her playgroups and other buddies for a Pirate Princess Party!

The kids arrived and we gave them each a spyglass, eyepatch and necklace for their pirate costume. Then they crafted pirate hats and parrots. We then found a treasure map and went hunting for loot! There were all sorts of exciting tasks to complete (including visiting a "tattoo parlour," capturing an alligator and walking the plank!), and at the end was real treasure!

I'm disappointed that I didn't get many pictures of the kids because Joe and I were running the activities, but they did have fun! And I have to say (as their mother), Jia and Willa were adorable in their costumes and totally got into character!

You can click to enlarge for details.









I LOVE planning theme parties and can't wait for future birthdays for the girls!

Our Trip to the Cabin! (Part V: Indoor Activities, Family and Food)

I promise this is the last trip post. I know it's a lot of photos.

Here are the family and food ones.

Home made ice cream. Grandma and Willa. (Notice how Willa is eating it?)

Willa getting Grandpa with a bag.

Marshmallow delight!

Pudding happiness.

Spicy goodness.

Each year the kids get ribbons. Willa was indeed the "Singing Star" of the week. She entertained us with about 30 nonstop renditions of the "clean-up song" at dinner one night. Jia picked out her ribbon this year. I suspect it was because of the turtle. But isn't the message great too?


Indoor activities.

Working out!

At one point, they all decided to be kitties.

Rides with Grandpa.
What a week!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Seven years! Woo hoo! We've been together for twelve. Our wedding was outside in the prettiest setting. It was in the woods by a pond. Lots of wildflowers, a lovely bridge and a quaint little church nearby. We brought our own clergy and our wedding was exactly what we wanted. We were surrounded by people we loved. We had a terrible storm the night before. But the day of the wedding was breezy and beautiful. The pond had a fountain in it and the breeze made the spray just right for lots of rainbows. What we both remember most was that the day was so pleasant. It wasn't stressful in the least. It was just the perfect day.

Our trip to the cabin! (Part IV: Outdoor Activities)

My parents brought along a rocket launcher. It always elicited squeals.

It was especially exciting when the wind was blowing and threatened to place the rockets on top of the cabin. I think this is my favorite trip photo.

Jia and Han LOVED fishing and being on the boat. If you recall, Jia hated being on boats last year. This year she couldn't get enough!

She fished for hours, and when not on the boat, she and Han practiced casting for hours as well!





Willa liked being on the boat, sometimes. Uncle Pat, Joe and my dad graciously let the kids drive the boat most of the time. Jia and Han enjoyed it. In this photo, it appears that Willa found it very stressful. She looks quite harried, doesn't she? This picture makes me laugh!

Our trip to tbe cabin! (Part III: The Beach!)

It was quite chilly and not really warm enough for swimming when we were there.

Jia and Han plunged in anyway.

And then warmed up on the chair lift swing.

Willa chose to stay on the beach.


Preferably wrapped up.

We spent a day visiting our neighbors at their cabin. They have three sweet kids who enjoy the water like Jia, regardless of the temperature.

Getting ready:


Noodle fight!


Jia and her good friend Katarina.


They're not really in deep water. But it looks like it doesn't it?


Fun times!

Jia is FOUR!

I can't believe our baby is four! For some reason, four seems so much older than three. Four is a solid preschooler age. More comprehension, more responsibilities, more privileges. One of Jia's new responsibilities is setting the table. One of her new privileges is gum. I can't even express how excited she is about that!

Jia woke up this morning and bounded into our room saying, "I'm FOUR! Actually I'm bigger already!!"

We went to the zoo today and did some special activities there. We rode the monorail, fed a giraffe, and played in the splash pad! Jia also had the largest popsicle I've ever seen. When we left we recalled everything we'd done and Jia said, "Big things for little girls!" Yes, they were!

(click to enlarge)





Jia asked for Mongolian chicken for dinner tonight. And she chose this for dessert:


It's actually honeydew melon, raspberry sorbet and chocolate chips. Hopefully mine will look this good!

A few adjectives to describe Jia: always enthusiastic, eager to learn, eager to please, squirrely, goofy, witty, sweet, thoughtful and kind. We adore her (of course)!