Seattle Tourist Day(s) with John, Hilary and Violet

When some of your favorite people come to town to spend a week hanging out, it's awesome.  When that week happens to coincide with our planned family staycation, it's perfection.

We have had such a fun couple of days!  On Sunday, we left the toddlers at home with their Grandmas (correction, 1 Grandma, 1 "Yaya"), while the 4 of us headed to Seattle to spend the day!  We stopped for a quick mimosa (mine, Lemon-Rosemary, Hil's, strawberry) before going to see THE BOOK OF MORMON!

Words can't really describe how hilarious and amazing this show was.  If you've seen it, you will understand how I could barely hold it together during "Turn it Off".  Tears were streaming down my face and I literally had to stop thinking about it (TURN IT OFF!) or else I would start laughing again and miss out on what else was happening during the show.

After the show, we went with Hil and John to check into their hotel (The Alexis) and grabbed a snack and free wine (YES!) at the bar.

We had a nice, fancy dinner at Capital Grill and then left them to enjoy the rest of their evening away and headed home to get Ben in bed.  

On Monday morning, we picked Violet up from Debbie's house and drove down to meet them at the Pike Place Market!  It was really funny to see 2 kids in my back seat.  They were so adorable singing along to the Disney station on Pandora together!

We grabbed coffee, walked around the market, visited the pig, watched the flying fish, and then put together a picnic lunch (Beecher's!) for later.

Our ride to catch the sailboat for our sailing adventure was a tad bit tight...

...but it was short and sweet.

Walking down the dock to get on the boat:

We got to spend an hour and a half or so out on the water - and it was perfect.  The weather was blazing hot, but there is something about being on a boat that makes it not matter as much :)  

We then drove over to Seattle Center to play in the fountain some more before enjoying our picnic.  The kids ran around in the grass for awhile and then we finally decided to head home.  Ben passed out the SECOND we got in the car.  Such a fun day enjoying so much of what Seattle has to offer!

Mr. and Mrs. Escamilla

On Saturday, August 9th, our dear friends Lisa and Evan got married!!  This was such a special, beautiful day and we felt so lucky we all got to share it with them!  

We got up early Saturday morning and managed to get on the ferry as planned (always a question mark, especially in the summer on a weekend).  We grabbed coffee and pastries on the ferry and enjoyed the ride over.

"Sit still and take a picture with your mama"!!!

The drive from Kingston to Lake Crescent Lodge went much quicker than I had anticipated.  Ben is seriously such a trooper during car rides.  We stopped once to stretch our legs and get more coffee and arrived at this BEAUTIFUL destination around noon:

It was beyond stunning.  I went to find Lisa while Greg and Ben enjoyed all that this location had to offer :)

I should have been taking more pictures before the wedding, but instead I enjoyed spending time with Lisa, her parents (Shirley and Fred, who I feel are a second set of parents to me), Lisa and Evan's friends, checking out the location site, watching Crystal put the cake together), hanging out with Lisa and Evan in their last moment before becoming husband and wife (seriously, such a third wheel, LOL), drinking champagne, and watching Lisa get ready. :)

Before the ceremony started, I met back up with my 2 handsome dates and helped get Ben ready.  I still cannot get over how adorable he looked.

Lisa arrived at the ceremony by BOAT!  So fun.  Fred met her on shore :)

After the ceremony, pictures and cocktail hour, we moved into the tent!  Ben opted out of his nap ALL day.  (We knew it might not happen but hoped he would get a quick snooze in if Greg drove him around in the car).  He and Vinnie enjoyed a little Monsters on the iPad....

...but then it was time to DANCE!  After being a little shy earlier in the evening, Natalie, Crystal's adorable little 3 year old warmed up to him and the two of them danced the night away!  

I'm hoping to get my hands on some of the other photos taking throughout the night from some of the other camera's floating around!  It was such a beautiful day and night - and we know just how happy Lisa and Evan are going to be sharing their life together!!

Meal Planning: Week of August 11th

Review from last week:

I had Friday off from work, so Ben and I had a really fun morning at the Children's Museum followed by him taking a LONNNNNNNNNNNNNG nap!  I took that time to clean and bake a peach/raspberry crisp.  Yum.

Friday night I made chicken Parmesan. 

 

I made a Blue Apron recipe we had had awhile ago, salmon roll sandwiches - and Greg liked them even more this time because I left out the celery.  We actually had this twice last week because the salmon filet I pulled from the freezer was ENORMOUS.  I had mine over cabbage instead of on a bun because, CRISP.

I also made a recipe that I had seen online for High Protein Quiona Almond Berry Salad.  Had it for lunches and a few snacks this week.

Since my Blue Apron delivery didn't arrive until 6pm on Tuesday, we had frozen pizza instead with the zoodle dish.

The beef and rice-stuffed pepper was good, but the lime crema sauce was AMAZING.  Definitely a sauce we will be making with several dishes in the future.  Yum.

Finally, we had the chicken skewers (Blue Apron) and I thought they were really good.  I'm mostly a fan of the peanut sauce they have featured on many of their dishes in the past.

We have a super busy and fun weekend and week ahead of us!  Lisa and Evan are getting married on Saturday at Lake Crescent Lodge, so we will be boarding a ferry bright and early on Saturday morning to travel there and we cannot WAIT to celebrate with them!

On Sunday we are spending the day in Seattle with Hilary and John who are in town visiting!  Wahoo!

ANDDDDD Greg and I are on vacation all next week!  Very much looking forward to having some time off all together!

This is how our week is shaping up:

Friday: Blue Apron Meal from last week - Pan-Seared Salmon with Fennel and Heirloom Potato Salad.

Saturday: Lisa and Evan's Wedding!!

Sunday:  Out with Hilary and John while Ben is at home with Grandma.  I'll make some tomato basil soup in the crockpot for them to have for dinner.

Monday: Family day in Seattle with Hil, John and Violet.  Planning to throw together a picnic lunch at Pike Place and then spending some time on a sailboat in the afternoon.  Perfect.  If the kids aren't passed out yet, I would imagine we will have dinner out.  If they are dunzo, we will grab take out on the way home. (Read: Quesaritos).

Tuesday: Summer Gazpacho with Shrimp - my friend Shauna posted this recipe somewhere and it looked like the perfect thing for a hot summer night.

Wednesday: Hilary, John and Violet are coming to hang out and spend the night.  We are thinking of mahi mahi fish tacos with chipolte cream and I am going to make Lemon Bar Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches for dessert.

Thursday: Crave crave CRAVING this chili.  Oh how I wish I could enjoy it on a cold, Fall evening with a glass bottle of red.  But instead I'll have it with a cold beer, I guess.  And made with ground sirloin, not turkey.

Layered Chili (from the cookbook, Kitchen Revelry)

3T chili powder
2T ground cumin
1/2t dried red chili flakes
1/4 cup EVOO
3 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped seeded green bell peppers
6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced - (or if you are like me, buy an enormous jar of minced garlic from Costco and forget about mincing your own.  1t = 1 garlic clove)
2 lbs ground turkey meat (or ground beef)
1T dried oregano
1T cocoa powder or 1 ounce dark chocolate, chopped
1 12 ounce bottle lager beer
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
2 15.5 ounce cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Mix the chili powder, cumin and chili flakes in a small bowl.  Heat a heavy large nonstick pot over med-high heat.  Add the chili powder mixture to the pot and stir for 30 seconds to 1 minute until fragrant.

Add the oil to the pot, then the onions, bell peppers, and garlic and saute until beginning to soften (about 5 min).  Add the meat and saute until no longer pink (about 5 min).  Add the oregano, then the tomato paste, salt and cocoa powder; stir 1 min.  Add the beer and simmer 5 min.  Add the diced tomatoes and the beans.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to med-low and simmer slightly covered until the flavors develop, (about 30 min).

Friday: Leftover chili

Saturday: Another wedding!

Sunday: Grilled Flank steak with corn, tomato and asparagus salad.

Photos

Another photo roundup before our STAYCATION week :)

We have had some BLAZING hot days lately, so we cooled off in the back yard on a blanket for awhile and took some selfies.

The 7th Annual SeaFair party was so much fun!  Ben was not quite as scared by the Blue Angels as he was 2 years ago, but he still buried his face in my legs when it was too loud for him.

Otherwise, he was distracted by little miss Olivia who was also in attendance - she kept reaching for his hand, and being that he has a thing for little blonde girls, he had no problem with this at all.  <3



On the same street corner as we stood 2 years ago (best view of the air show in their 'hood).



A few recent pictures Callie sent me: Ben and Maylee enjoying a snack:



Ben at the park:

A few outtakes from his big boy bed photo shoot ;)

And on the subject of Ben's room, I picked up some art that I thought would go with the new bright colors of his room.  I really love it - I feel like we spend so much more time in there playing lately.  Ben is a big fan of driving trucks all over his bed :)

Playing outside in the front yard while I worked on my laptop on the porch.  Pretty sure he was falling backwards as I snapped this pic: