A few more from Seattle . . .

Anja and "Uncle Mark" chat it up on the way back from the hot dog joint. Green Lake is in the background.

We had a great time visiting with many friends in Seattle and the surrounding areas. A BIG THANKS to everyone for being such wonderful hosts throughout our stay. We continue to appreciate the many wonderful characteristics of the Pacific Northwest . . . ocean to mountains within just a few miles, tasty fruits and vegetables, and the warmth of the people. Some say there's lots of rain there but we don't believe them . . . we'll have to visit in a month other than August to catch a glimpse of that! Enjoy a few more photos!

Here I am with Eric Meyer, Tacoma's City Manager (ha ha--well third in command in Tacoma's city offices). He's one of our friends from the Peace Corps. Doesn't he look good in a suit? A far cry from wearing the same clothes day in and day out in Kyrgyzstan!

The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium--a must visit! I'd never been to a zoo and aquarium with such a varied landscape and great view! They had Lemurs too!

Anja loved running with the Beluga whales as they swam by.

BRAVE mama came this close to take a picture, and almost touched it to show Anja how courageous she was. The zoo keeper said that I couldn't touch it---I was sooo disappointed!

The Minnesotans (Mark, his sister Jamie, Erik, Anja and I) went to Zayda Buddy's, a fun restaurant in Seattle that boasts tator tot hot dish! We introduced Adam to it a few days later. As you can see, they even serve Premium Grain Belt beer, a Minnesota favorite.

Another, and another . . .

Anja was fascinated by all of the butterflies . . . she didn't touch any of them either, although it was oh-so-tempting!

We spent another beautiful morning at the Como Zoo on Tuesday. Highlights included cranes (working on the polar bear exhibit), swimming penguins and a trip to the butterfly house. We look forward to a few more of these mornings before it gets too cold to venture from building to building!

Anja found this one right before we exited. Can anyone identify this guy?

I can't resist sharing (another) killer brownie recipe. In the last couple of months, we've made a conscious effort to start using what we have in our cupboards. I came across quite a few bars of unsweetened chocolate that desperately needed to be eaten a few weeks back and tried out this recipe. How did I find it? I typed in "unsweetened chocolate" on Martha Stewart's website and voila! I was presented with yet another great recipe. Enjoy more Rocky Road Brownies, once again, sans topping! I made another batch tonight and they are just as good as the first time . . . yum-my!

Our stack of white chocolate bars are next. This is an easy one though . . . we've already perfected the art of making Martha's Dark-Chocolate Pudding Cakes. Rich and de-li-cious!

Grand Coulee Dam Pancakes and Syrup

We spent the last few days on our Seattle trip with our good friends Adam and Laura whom we met in the Peace Corps. Laura is a fantastic cook and I can't remember the last time we ate so well. This included the best pancakes we have ever eaten. There is also a good story behind the pancakes. The recipe came from Adam's grandma. We're not exactly sure how she got it, but these pancakes were served to the workers who built the Grand Coulee Dam, which according to their website is the 8th wonder of the world! The Dam was built from 1933 to 1975 and is almost 1 mile long and is 550 feet tall. One can only imagine building this in the early 30s and 40s and the hard work it must have taken. I have to imagine that this hearty pancake and syrup combo must have helped! A quick google search found these photos of workers on the dam in the 1930s.

With permission, here's the recipe in it's original. A warning from the cook: be careful when you make the syrup as the soda will react with the buttermilk!

Pancakes:
1 cup oatmeal (real stuff/not quick oats)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ (or oat bran)
1/4 cup powdered milk (optional as Adam and Laura don't use it)
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs brown sugar
2 slightly beaten eggs
1/4 cup oil
2 cups buttermilk

1. mix dry ingredients and add wet ingredients
2. cook at medium-low temperature

Syrup:
1 tsp karo
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter

1.boil for 5 (to 10) minutes. Use a big pan and watch because it will foam up and boil over!

Seattle!

We decided to cash in our frequent flyer miles with Northwest and take a trip out to Seattle. We got to see a lot of good friends and had a wonderful time. We also visited a number of zoos and got to explore the ocean during low tide. Thanks to everyone for their wonderful hospitality. We can't wait to see you all again soon! Here's a few pictures I took in a slideshow format. Shana hopes to post some more photos soon.

Goal of the week

Before we left for Seattle, the Thunder played the sounders here at the NSC. It was by far the best game I've seen them play and they ended up winning 3 - 1. One of their goals was absolutely spectacular and it ended up being the "goal of the week." I found a video of it and had to share it. USL 1 soccer, while not the best, is definitely getting better and it's not all that often you get a goal like this. This is a from a free kick taken by Ricardo Sanchez from around 35-40 yards out.

embedded video removed because couldn't figure out how to turn the volume off and it got annoying to hear it every time you opened the blog (9-1-08)

Launch in external player

Phelps is "Swimming Fastest"

Last night was a big night for Anja . . . it was probably the first time we've given her the go ahead to sit and watch TV. We figure the Olympics are an exception to our "no TV under 2" rule. She wasn't too wrapped up in it, so I think that's a good sign! (I think she's too busy figuring out everything else around her to really care.)

Tonight I said that we were going to watch fast swimmers on TV. She eagerly went downstairs, hung a right passing by the TV, and headed straight towards the book with the fast swimmer (smart kid) on the cover. She managed to grab the 744 page, hardcover book off the table to show us. I grabbed the camera as this was too sweet to not capture the moment.

We pointed out the TV and then explained that Michael Phelps was the fastest swimmer in the world. (Or something like that.) In the middle of the 400 IM, she shouts, "He's bobbing!!!" Something tells me that she's going to be bobbing a little more when we swim now.

Phelps is truly amazing--you don't have to know anything about swimming to get that. We look forward to watching him swim to a few more golds in the coming week!

Gooseberry Falls . . .

We bought our little explorer her first backpack for the trip.
Now she can carry her own snacks!

A week and a half ago, we ventured north of Duluth to Gooseberry Falls with Anja's Godfather, Mark. Half way through the trip we decided that Uncle Mark was a name more suited to him as he's like family to us. We wanted to camp with him at least once before he heads off to Colorado for graduate school at DU. He was nice enough to car camp with us. We're coming around to the fact that we're going to be car camping a lot for the next few years, which has both perks and drawbacks!

Our site was great (site #62---reserve it well in advance), fully surrounded by trees (which helped keep Anja from running in and out of the road like last time), and was quite spacious. We did a lot of reading, kicking the soccer ball around, took a short hike, told stories around the fire, and in general, did a lot of relaxing. It was nice to get away from the buzz of continuous technology for a few days.

The chipmunks at our site were pretty friendly (come on people, don't feed them!). We were shooing them one afternoon telling them to "get out of here" and Anja picked up on it. Pretty soon she was shouting, "Get outta here, chipmunks!" over and over. She's been our little echo lately. I guess it's time to really watch what we're saying! We've started to spell words because she doesn't seem to miss anything!

Thanks for a great trip, Mark! Looking forward to more in the future!

Anja with Mark on the "shores" of Lake Superior.

Skipping (and throwing) rocks with Erik.

At the end of our hike we found a cave and practiced blowing the whistle on her backpack.