Hanging with the Paynes

Monday we spent relaxing and getting caught up on the important things in life.  For the kids that meant building Legos, for me that meant doing laundry.  But seriously, it was really nice to have a morning to drink my coffee while enjoying Kelly's AMAZING view of the water and islands, and to get some business done.

The afternoon we ventured out to downtown Anacortes which is a great little old town with a main street full of quaint shops, restaurants, art work and flowers.  After our stroll through town we dropped Dave (Kelly's son) at the skate park and then we went for a walk on the Tommy Thompson trail which winds along the boat yards and water.  Believe it or not, it was hot so Ty (the dog) and Emmy didn't last too long, but long enough for an enjoyable walk.

I can't decide which family looks happier, mine or the artists?

Back at Kelly's house, we enjoyed dinner and a gorgeous sunset on her balcony.

And the kids tried desperately to reaquaint themselves with the cats (who still didn't want anything to do with them).

Anacortes

With five more days to go before we can get into our house, the kids and I moved to yet another location to pass the time.  This time, we drove about 2 hours north to our good friends and former Oki neighbors, the Paynes.  Kelly, Mike and Dave had already entertained Stevie for a while during the time we were in Hilton Head, but now we got to visit.

We arrived around dinner time, but still managed to get in a little fun before bedtime.  Kelly and Mike just bought a camper trailer at a lake side resort just 10 minutes from their house so we drove over there for a little swimming (the kids, not me).

Now swimming doesn't sound out of the ordinary for an activity in mid-July, but this is northern Washington and it's cool.  Note Kelly's attire in the picture...

But that didn't stop the kids who stripped down, ran down the pier and jumped in! Crazy, crazy kids. I think they lost their breath for a second or two, but decided to stay in. Well, London quickly came to his senses and dried off, but the other three kept going.



Brave souls before they jumped in.

Emmy

Cannon

London

I finally had to drag the others out when their lips were blue and their whole bodies were shaking.  Again I say, crazy kids!  When we got back in the car, the temperature gauge read 57 degrees.  Crazy, crazy kids.

Mt. Rainier

One of my first sights when flying into Washington in March was Mt. Rainier.  And one of the things that sold us on our new house was the view of Mt. Rainier.  And the thing that seems to loom on the horizon on every clear day is Mt. Rainier.  So what more appropriate place should we go on our first family adventure in Washington but Mt. Rainier!

Yes, we piled in the van on Saturday morning under cloudy skies and started the drive to the National Park.  It's technically only 50 miles from our hotel, but the only way to get there is on two lane roads so it took 1 1/2 hours.  But that was ok since the drive there is just as beautiful.

Welcome to Mt. Rainier National Park!

Once inside the park, the skies cleared and we drove to the first pull off for a look at the panoramic shot of the mountain and our first family photo. 

But this was not where we were going to go for a hike so we headed on down the road a little more to the Longmire area.

After a little picnic, we headed off to find the Rampart Ridge trail, which was described as being a 4.5 mile, moderately strenuous hike.  I think my kids might disagree with that description as the first part of the hike was 2 miles of up hill climbing, serious uphill climbing!  It took us almost 1 1/2 hours to hike that 2 miles, but it was beautiful!!!

On the flat at the beginning of the trail

Going up...

When we reached the top we had a couple of amazing views of the other mountains around, including Rainier. Very awe-inspiring.

Mt. Rainier

The next part of the trail was along the ridge line, which was great, except the kids were scared that a bear was going to attack.  And in all fairness, it was very bear-friendly looking land.  The thing that really freaked them out was when Stevie pointed out a tree that looked like it had been freshly clawed up by a bear.  And then he told Emmy and London to get in the middle of our hiking line so the littlest one couldn't get picked off from the rear!!!

After only a short mile of easy hiking, we were ready to start our descent through trees so big around we couldn't wrap around them as a family if we all held hands.  Amazing.

Back at the bottom, it was like being in an episode of Man vs. Wild when Bear Grilles finally finds civilization.  We ran to the road, hands raised high, yelling "We made it!"  No, seriously, I think we all enjoyed the hike, but I know we all will be very sore tomorrow!

On our drive home, we stopped for dinner at a local establishment along the road that was advertising elk burgers and wild board burgers.  That just seemed like something we needed to try, especially after our grueling hike.  I can say that elk burgers are really good, and so are deep fried green beans and pickles, another house specialty.

After filling our tummies, we returned to the hotel exhausted but happy about a great family day at Mt. Rainier.

First week in Washington

We're back!  In Washington that is, and here to stay for a while I hope.  We flew in late on the night of the 10th to a joyous reunion with Stevie, but were then left to fend for ourselves on Wednesday since Stevie had to leave early for work.

Since our hotel room is a wee bit on the small side, we got out of there as soon as possible and headed out to find something fun to do.  The kids asked to go to the library so I Googled library, punched it into my navigation app and headed on down the road.  We're staying in a town called Puyallup which has a sweet little downtown area, and also happens to be where the library is.  It was a stunningly beautiful day - high 70s and blue, blue sky - just beautiful.  After the library, we headed on down the road to the shopping area and spent the rest of the day shopping.  We've got a lot of things to buy for the new house and I figured I might as well get started.

Shopping is how we've spent a lot of this week, but we've also made time for some fun like going to a couple of different parks for a walk with Stevie when he returns from work.

And we found a delicious donut place called Happy Donuts (and yes, they are owned by an oriental family as the name suggests).  It was a great place for sugar-laden, highly caloric and highly scrumptious treats.  It was so good, we went back the following day as well!

I also got some business taken care of, like getting my driver's license, so now I'm an official Washington resident!  But the best piece of business we got taken care of was signing the papers on the new house on Wednesday afternoon and getting the call on Thursday that it was officially ours!!!!  Yay!!!

Yes, those are real flowers!

In Gig Harbor after signing our closing paperwork.

Downtown Gig Harbor

Now we need to wait until the 19th until we can get the keys and move in.  This has been an arduous process that has seemed to never end but as I write this we have less than a week to go.  Almost there...

Our last week in Hilton Head

As all good things must come to an end, so did our time visiting Grammie and Grandpa.  But the bonus for the last week there is that Hannah and Sydney stayed!

We spent our last week doing lots more fun things, like going fishing for shark on Grandpa's boat...

And recreating an episode of Chopped (see the other post).  And going for an evening stroll on the beach.

And playing board games with Grammie (I think the Monopoly board might qualify as an antique!)

And the girls and Grammie went to a musical on Saturday night.

All dressed up for going out.

And we went to Harbor Town to look around and eat ice cream.

We all had such a great time with the girls, it was sad when we had to pack everyone up into the van and head to Atlanta to put us on a plane and drop the girls off with Nicole.

Chopped

One of the things we've been doing since being in Hilton Head is watching the show "Chopped" on Food Network.  Grandpa and Cannon are adicted to this show.  Well we come to find out when the Cunninghams came that the girls also like that show.  I had jokingly said before the girls came that Cannon and Grandpa should have their own "Chopped", but it was game on when the girls found out about this idea!

After much discussion, it was decided that Grandpa and I should be the chefs while Hannah, Sydney and London would be judges and Cannon was the host.  Grammie and Emmy were the studio audience. In case you don't know this show, the premise is that 4 chefs start the competition, they are given a mystery basket with four obscure ingredients and they have a set time to come up with a dish that is creative and palatable.  In the real show they have to do an appetizer, main course and dessert.  One chef is "chopped" after each round.  In our modified version, we had 40 minutes for an entree and 30 minutes for a dessert.  We only found out who was chopped after both rounds were complete.

Hannah, Sydney, London and Cannon really got into this game!  They took a lot of time coming up with lists of adjectives to describe food, deciding what the mystery ingredients should be, shopping with Grammie for the ingredients and setting up the kitchen.  They were bubbling with excitement!

So at 2:30 on Tuesday, Grandpa and I were summoned to the kitchen to begin the game.  We were given an apron, a clean towel, half of the sink, half of the stove, one oven and a mandate to share the other things in the kitchen. 

With the judges lined up at the counter and a giant counter clock ready to go, we were given the command to "Open the basket!"

Inside for the main course we found fresh shrimp, lasagna noodles, Sprite and a horned melon!

The timer started and we set off in motion, not sure quite what to make, but pulling our ideas together quickly.  The forty minutes we had to make our meal went so fast, but we both finished with 30 seconds to spare. 

The peanut gallery

Time's up!

The results?

Grandpa made a chopped shrimp, horned melon and panko crumb hash with pureed lasagna noodles boiled in Sprite risotto. 

I made pumpkin seed encrusted shrimp drizzled with a Sprite and horned melon sauce with rolled lasagna noodles served with a Parmesan/Sprite cheese sauce.

Yes, believe it or not, the judges did taste the dishes...and enjoyed them! (Cleaned the plates, really)

We were again sent out of the kitchen while they set up for the second round.  After 20 minutes we were called back in and again given the command to "Open the basket!"  This time we found marshmallow cream, Fruity Pebbles, veggie chips and won ton wrappers.  This time we only had 30 minutes which seemed too much, but again flew by.

Grandpa made a tower which started with crushed veggie chips, then a "cookie" of Fruity Pebbles and marshmallow cream, then a fried fig tart (with fresh figs from his tree and won ton wrappers) topped with a fancy cut strawberry.  The fried fig tarts were really yummy!

I made a duo of won tons: one stuffed with Fruity Pebble marshmallow cream and one stuffed with ice cream (I made it the day before).  On the side I served a ball of fried ice cream crusted in crushed veggie chips.

After much deliberation we found out the results.  I won the entree course, Grandpa won the dessert and we both won overall champion!  What a fun way to spend the afternoon!