The rest of our Staycation

On Wednesday, aka "Grandma Wednesday", Greg and I took full advantage and spent the entire day out and about.  We started with mani/pedi's at the nearby nail salon.  They were all so happy I brought my husband with me and did their best to convince Greg he should join me every time ;)

Next up was massages (which lucky for us, kind of, are covered by our insurance since we both have messed up backs).  

Then we came home to get ready for an afternoon/evening out!  We went straight down to Ballard and stopped at a few places for drinks before having dinner at Staple & Fancy.

 

Thursday ended up being a day of running errands, washing the cars, and cooking at home.  I took Ben over to play at the neighbors in the afternoon followed by his soccer practice. 

Friday Greg took Ben golfing while I had my hair done.  I literally cannot remember how we spent the rest of the day.

Saturday, however, was busy enough to make up for two low-key days.  Greg's day started at 7 am.  He had volunteered to be a part of the jamboree set up crew, and they took him up on that offer!  Ben and I met him at the field at 8:30 to begin our long day of soccer jamboree!

But first, coffee (and a bagel for Ben): 

 

Feeling so legit sitting in our new "soccer" (camping) chairs watching and screaming helpful tips to the players (yikes) from the sidelines.

In their jamboree dresses ;)

After the jamboree, we rushed off to Pepper's first birthday party!  Rachel executed a FLAWLESS farmer's market themed party and it was absolutely adorable (just like PEPPER)!

After Pepper's party, we went to Dan and Jeannette's for dinner and to watch the fight.  

On Sunday, aside from our regular weekend errands and prep for the upcoming week, my mom and I went to see The Big Sick which I cannot recommend enough!  Great movie :)

Sad to see that Staycation is over, but looking forward to a 3 day weekend ahead followed by KINDERGARTEN!!!

Meal Planning: August 27 - September 1

Review from last week:

We had all of the ingredients to make another batch of the zucchini noodles with basil pesto so we made some grilled chicken to go with it.

Grilled cod with a big green salad.

Blue Apron seared steaks with mashed potatoes, green beans and crispy shallots.  Delicious.

These sweet and sour pork bowls were amazing as well.  So simple and easy to cook.

Plan for next week:

Sunday: Blue Apron Meal that I didn't get a chance to cook last week! Fresh Rigatoni & Sundried Tomato Pesto with Green Beans and Summer Squash

Monday: Lagered Turkey Chili

Tuesday: Leftover chili

Wednesday:  Zucchini Rollatini and meatballs  

Thursday: Skillet Chicken in Tomato-Chipolte Sauce with Avocado Crema

Friday: Grilled Burgers at home followed by a Bothell High School Football Game after!

Staycation Days 1-4

We all took the week off this week from summer camp and work to spend some quality time together :)  We kicked off the staycation on Saturday with back to back birthday parties.

First up was Laryd's 9th birthday at the skate park!  Ben did his best to keep up with the boys as most of them were a few years older, but they did such a great job of including him.  They skated non-stop for 3 hours in the hot sun, only taking a break for lunch, a pinata and cupcakes.  With blue frosting.  That we are still seeing the effects of (if you know what I mean).

Next up was Bronson's 6th birthday party, where I got to reunite with a few friends that I seem to only see at Shauna's gatherings and always enjoy :)

Ben actually fell asleep much earlier than this on the couch but we didn't want to disturb him while we stayed up later watching TV.

Sunday was a day of errands plus a trip to Bellevue Downtown City Park, a really fun park that was recently renovated.

On Monday we drove down to Seattle (with zero traffic - thanks eclipse!) to kick off our "true" vacation.  We made it to the waterfront in time to enjoy the eclipse for 30 minutes.  It was SO much cooler than I had expected and so fun that we could all experience it together (and collectively with so many people in Seattle)!

We purchased Seattle's "City Pass" which saved us a ton of money on visiting so many of the attractions we wanted to take Ben to.  Living here we rarely check out some of these sites and a few Ben had never been to, so this was the way to do it.

We started at the Aquarium.  Ben has never been much into the zoo or the aquarium, but recently his summer camp took a field trip there and he was REALLY excited to go back with us.

Next we grabbed an early lunch and then hopped on an Argosy Harbor Tour - 60 minutes around the Harbor.  We had the most perfect weather for it, too.

Then we walked up to Pike Place to wander around.  I had wanted to see the newly renovated waterfront side, and we were happy to discover a new brewery there to sit and relax for a few.

We also stopped for gelato:

We were wiped out after that, and our meter was up, so we went home to grill and relax.

On Tuesday, Greg got up for an early round of golf while Ben and I hit the gym.  Once we were all home and ready, we went down to the Space Needle!  Ben must have asked us 15 times if we were going to the "very top".  We kept replying "yes", until I realized he was asking if we were going to the tip of the needle, which is why he continued to ask - he was terrified!  Happy to have figured that out, we reassured him before we got in the elevator that everything was safe!  I'm also pretty sure that he thought the elevator was going to DROP (like the Tower of Terror did in Disneyland) so he was freaked out on the way up.

After the Space Needle, we of course found ice cream again because that is apparently what we do on vacation.

We went to the Museum of Pop (formerly the Experience Music Project).  It was really fun to wander around for awhile.  Definitely another thing I would never think to go do living here, but very cool.

Our City Pass had tickets to the Chiluly Gallery, but knowing Ben and Greg, I suggested they hit the park in the Seattle Center instead of joining me there.  It was fun to walk through and very impressive and beautiful, but not of much interest to any of us really - especially the boys!

Next up was the fountain:

On the way home, being very hungry, hot, thirsty and tired, we stopped for pizza at The Ridge Pizza in Phinney Ridge (so good)!  

Our day ended with Ben's first soccer practice!  1.5 hours with a coach and team who are NOT messing around.  Ben joined a team that had been practicing for 2 weeks already.  I had asked to have him reassigned because our team still didn't have a couch assigned.  We definitely joined the right team!  This coach makes the kids run laps if any of the kids touch the ball with their hands, only allows water breaks at the scheduled times, and will NOT be giving out trophys at the end of the season unless they actually are WINNERS.  LOL.  Greg and I are kind of loving it!  The kids really love him and I can tell are going to learn so much this season - and we were so proud of Ben for jumping right in there and hustling the entire time.

This kid LOVES sports and it's pretty clear that given the opportunity, he would like to play and try to dominate any and every sport. 

Meal Planning: August 19th - 26th

Review from last week:

I think I've officially gotten to the point where I prefer a home-cooked meal vs. a restaurant.  Particularly when it comes to steak and veggies.  It's both good and bad.  The good news is that I generally don't mind meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking - but sometimes I really don't want to at all.

This was the last Blue Apron meal from the week before.  Freekah and chicken.  REALLY good!

 

When Brad and Charisse were over, Brad did some cooking!  On Saturday night he made Prime Ribeye steak with a red wine reduction sauce that was to DIE for.  I made zucchini and a kale salad.  

 

It was fun cooking with Brad, as he gave me exactly what I was looking for: Tips and tricks to make meals extra delicious.  He even got up on Sunday morning (after Charisse and I stayed up until 4:30 am drinking wine on the couch - like the old days when she lived with us!!) and made us biscuits and bacon gravy from scratch and some super delicious "pudding eggs".

Technique: Heat a little butter in a pan. Crack eggs into the pan over medium heat and do NOT break the yolk.  Start to whisk up the egg whites as they cook (keeping the yolks whole).  Once the egg whites are cooked and scrambled, turn off the heat and start to whisk in the yolks.  The result is some of the best scrambled eggs you've ever had (unless you have had my mother in law's scrambled eggs, in which case these would be second).
I digress.

Grilled Chicken (my new favorite thing Greg makes on the grill) with pesto-basil zucchini noodles with tomatoes and fresh mozzerella.

Lentil Tacos from the Thug Kitchen cookbook.  These were really good!  Greg didn't eat them (he had 4 caveties filled that night) so I haven't gotten him to weigh in on them yet.  I went tortilla-less, but I think these would be an excellent meat substitute in a quesadilla or a taco.  Yum.  And if you use the steamed lentils from Trader Joes, the fastest recipe to make ever.

A green salad with grilled chicken.  I mentioned on Instagram that I think I've perfected the simple green salad:

Red Leaf Lettuce chopped
Cherry tomatoes (yellow AND red to make it pretty)
Thinly sliced shallot
Cucumber or radish slices optional)

Toss all lightly in extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  

Nothing special, but really really delicious.

 
Salmon rolls:

Plan for next week:

Saturday: We have back to back birthday parties on Saturday, and the second one is a BBQ. 

Sunday: Spending the afternoon/evening in Bellingham with the Mills and eating dinner with them!  A non-cooking weekend!

Monday: TBD

Tuesday:  Out for dinner

Wednesday: Out for dinner

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Seared Steaks & Thyme Pan Sauce with Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans & Crispy Shallot


Friday: Blue Apron Meal: Sweet & Sour Pork Bowls with Sauteed Peppers & Miso Roasted Eggplant

Saturday: Blue Apron Meal: Fresh Rigatoni & Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto with Green Beans and Summer Squash