Family Carrot Cake

Virginia and I recently tried carrot cake for the first time, and we decided we are into it! I knew that Grandma Jeri’s mom Josie had a recipe that our family loved. My mom actually had her written out recipe and sent me a photo of it.

This recipe is a little loosie goosey. I made a few tweaks, and it turned out delicious! I’m going to try and remember all my changes so that I can make it again soon! This is what I did-

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup applesauce

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla paste or extract

2 full cups of shredded carrot (about 4 large carrots)

8 oz crushed pineapple

I preheated the oven to 350. I decided to do three 8 inch layers, but you could also do two 9 inch layers. In a medium/large bowl sift the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. I used my stand mixer to mix the sugars with the vegetable oil and applesauce. Pause to mix the bottom, and then add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl between each egg. Add the vanilla and mix again. Add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Add the carrots and pineapple, mixing again just to combine. Divide the batter between your greased pans. I baked my cakes for about 23 minutes.

The kids don’t really like cream cheese icing, so I did a modified cream cheese icing. I used 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1 cup of salted butter (2 sticks). I made sure the cream cheese and butter were at room temperature before whipping them together in the stand mixer. I added between 3-4 cups of powdered sugar and about a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Once mixed up, I added a tablespoon or two of milk to get the consistency right. It was the perfect vanilla buttercream with a slight tang from the cream cheese. This cake was so dang good.

Playing catch up again

I came on to add a cake recipe I want written down, and honestly thought I’d updated this somewhat recently. I was mistaken! So to get up to date quickly- Halloween was great. We lucked out again with no rain. Luke wanted to go to Dave and Buster’s with Jack for his birthday, so we did that. We spent Thanksgiving as our little family unit. We had our whole feast and it was a very chill day. I met up with Meghan in Vegas for a weekend before Christmas to celebrate her birthday. We saw some shows and had a great time! Christmas was super fun. Everyone was healthy, which is all we could ask for! We did all our usual Christmas activities. The weather was warmer than usual, the kids were bummed we didn’t get any snow. Everyone was happy with their Christmas gifts. We facetimed with family and spent the day eating and hanging out. We baked a lot over break.

In January Cirque du Soleil came to Seattle, so we took the kids. Joe and I love their shows and were glad the kids got to see one. My dad flew out the week before Joe’s birthday. We did some touristy things and had fun hanging out. Joe and I spent a night at the Salish Lodge for his birthday. We went to the spa and had massages before checking in to our fancy spa level room. We had dinner at the hotel, and even though the service wasn’t great, we had a great time. We had breakfast at the hotel before heading back to town. The kids and I took dad up to the top of the space needle, it was a beautiful day and we had great views.

For our 12th anniversary, the whole family took a trip to San Francisco for a week. Our anniversary lined up with the kids mid-winter break. We stayed at an Airbnb in the cutest town, Mill Valley. It was just north of Sausalito. We had a snafu with our rental car and ended up with a ridiculously massive truck that we were stuck with the whole week. I wasn’t able to drive it, Joe handled it like a champ. We drove an hour out past Berkeley one night to have dinner at Flemings. The kids were excited to go to a fancy dinner, and they were great. It was a long dinner, but we had a great time. The food met all our expectations and more. It was very rainy the first few days. We went on a ferry to Alcatraz, it was basically monsooning. We wore ponchos and made the best of it. Touring the prison was pretty cool, the kids weren’t freaked out by it at all.

We hung out in Sausalito and the surrounding areas mostly. We really loved our little town. We could walk from our Airbnb to a ton of shops and restaurants. We went to Muir woods on a really pretty day, and there were barely any other people there. We did a two mile loop through the woods, the redwoods were very impressive. We really liked our Airbnb, we would definitely go back again. When we left SF, Joe flew to LA. He left Bungie and is starting a new job. He was able to start in person, he’s going to be there until next week. I’m very excited for him, I think this new job is going to be so great for him.

So now we’re caught up again! I left out a ton I’m sure, but mainly I wanted to catch up so I could get to the important stuff, like the carrot cake recipe I need to save! Ha. Other updates….the kids have been taking guitar lessons since January, and they both really like it. Joe plays on his guitar with them, and it’s adorable. We’ve been working with a contractor for what feels like ages, and we’ve finally signed the contract to start our remodel of the playroom into a master bedroom! It’s going to be a huge process. Our house is going to be a wreck for the next three to five months, but it will be so worth it when it is done!

Recent recipe finds!

These banana oatmeal cookies are delicious- I didn’t change a single thing!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (195g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup (225g) packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (104g) sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed over ripe bananas
• 3 cups (240g) quick 1-minute oats

Instructions

1. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, salt and cornstarch to a medium sized bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
2. Add the melted butter and sugars to a large bowl and whisk to combine. 
3. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk together until well combined.
4. Add the mashed bananas and whisk together until well combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients and fold together just until well combined.
6. Add the oats and fold together until well combined. 
7. Create cookie dough balls that are 1 ½ tablespoons in size. You can refrigerate the cookie dough before baking, if you’d like, but you don’t have to. I think the flavors get even better if you refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 2-3 hours, or overnight. 
8. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper. (No need to bring the cookies to room temperature. You can bake them immediately after pulling them from the fridge.)
9. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes or until golden around the edges and lightly golden on top.
10. Allow the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack lined with parchment paper to cool completely. The cookies can stick to the parchment paper a little bit. I find that it helps them to release if you give them a little twist on the paper before lifting them up. 
11. Store cookies in an air-tight container with parchment paper between the stacks of cookies so they don’t stick to each other. Cookies are best if eaten within 4-5 days.

Found from Life, Love and Sugar

Virginia and I wanted a Black Forest Cake and this is the recipe we mostly followed! The chocolate cake was amazing.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (65g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder*
• 1 and 3/4 cups (350g) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons espresso powder (optional)*
• 1/2 cup (120ml) canola or vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup (180g) full fat sour cream, at room temperature*
• 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk, at room temperature*
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (120ml) hot water or coffee*
• 2 (15 ounce) cans dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup

Whipped Cream

• 2 cups (480ml) cold heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup (30g) confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

---

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease three 9-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)
2. Make the chocolate cake: Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder (if using) together in a large bowl. Set aside. Using a KitchenAid stand mixer fitted with a flat beater, beat the oil, eggs, sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla together until combined. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, add the hot water or coffee, and beat it all until the batter is completely combined.
3. Divide batter evenly between 3 pans. Bake for 21-25 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool for 30 minutes in the pans, then remove cakes from pans and set on a cooling rack. Be careful and use two hands when handling the cakes.
4. After the cakes have cooled, use a large serrated knife or cake leveler to slice a thin layer off the tops of the cakes to create a flat surface. Discard (or crumble over ice cream!).
5. Slice the cherries in half, leaving a few whole cherries for garnish. Set aside.
6. Make the whipped cream: Using a KitchenAid stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes.
7. Assemble the cake: Place 1 cake layer on your cake stand, cake turntable, or serving plate. Spread 1 heaping cup of whipped cream evenly on top. Dot with half of the halved cherries and drizzle with a spoonful of reduced syrup. Top with 2nd cake layer and evenly cover the top with 1 heaping cup whipped cream, the remaining halved cherries, and another drizzle of reduced syrup. Top with the 3rd cake layer. Spread the remaining whipped cream on top and all around the sides in a thin layer using an icing spatula. Use a bench scraper to smooth out the whipped cream on the sides of the cake.
8. Cover and store leftover cake at room temperature for 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Found at Sally’s Baking Addiction

Catching up

Woops! It’s been a while! We’ve been busy as usual, so I’ll attempt to update this quickly!

April- I flew to Little Rock and visited Meghan, I hadn’t been out there in 9 years! It was a quick weekend trip but we had a blast! We finally got matching tattoos! Joe and I took the kids to Disneyland for Spring Break! We stayed at a hotel down the road from the parks. We started out at Disneyland on Easter, it wasn’t awfully crowded and we used the app to maximize our rides! The kids loved the Star Wars area, and the new Rise of the Resistance ride was our favorite! We checked out California Adventure, I managed to traumatize Luke on the Guardians of the Galaxy free fall. We had great weather and it was so fun! The kids rode so many rides! It was a really fun trip. Emily came and visited the last weekend of April, we did lots of antiquing!

May- Mom came to visit! She renewed her passport, so we all went to Vancouver for a few days. Mom and I did a lot of shopping and did a few little projects around the house.

June- Second annual Ramstein reunion, this year we did Seattle! Emily and Rachael stayed here with us, Chelsea drove up and spent most days with us. We did lots of fun touristy stuff, had lots of good food! Reconnecting with them has been so special! The kids finished the school year, both did so well!

July- We headed to TN on the 7th for our big summer trip. The Corley side went to Gatlinburg, we rented a big fun cabin! It was 3 floors and was perfect for the 12 of us! We spent a day hanging out around Gatlinburg and a day at Dollywood. We had fun out and about, but we also had a great time being at the cabin! The four of us borrowed Molly’s truck and stopped in Maryville on the way back to see Nana. We made a stop in Tollgate to see Rick and Cindy and drop off the kids, and then Joe and I were off on our European adventure! We flew to Newark and met up with Joto and a few other groomsmen. There was bad weather and then a plane issue and we were delayed 5 hours. We were all starting to get nervous, if our flight got cancelled the next flight was a day away and we would barely make the wedding! Luckily at literally the last possible minute we were cleared for take off. Joe, myself, and Joto were very comfy up in first class! We tried to sleep most of the way to Porto.

We got to the hotel after a cool ride through town. The hotel was set away from town along a beautiful river. We got settled in our room and cleaned up, and it was time to go to the rehearsal dinner! We rode with a few people to the restaurant. We were in a big private room overlooking the ocean, it was a very cool set up! We were with the bridal party and Cat and Jared’s families. There was a lot of wine and so much food! We were exhausted, but it was a fun night! We didn’t get back to the hotel until midnight!

On the day of the wedding, we overslept and almost missed breakfast! We had to run down and eat quickly before the food was gone, but it was a great spread of food! The groomsmen didn’t have to be together until 2, so we quickly showered and Joe and I got a Uber into Porto to explore. We wandered around and had lunch. The town was beautiful and the weather was so perfect! I would love to go back someday when we have more time! We had to get back to the hotel so Joe could get ready with the guys. I put on my dress and found Blake’s gf Celaine to hang out with. She ended up doing my hair and make up, she made me look amazing! The wedding over an hour late to start, but I was having fun with Celaine. The ceremony was beautiful, it was done in both English and Portuguese. After the ceremony we hung out for cocktail hour before going in to the reception. We were sitting at the head table with the rest of bridal party, which felt very cool! There were so many courses of food, and so much wine! Joe and I were still behind on sleep, but we were trying to keep up with everyone else. They served espresso at 10:30, I was shocked when Joe drank it! We made it to midnight and went back to our room. The party went on until 4 am! I don’t know how they managed it! The whole wedding was so gorgeous, I’m so glad we were able to be there!

We dragged ourselves out of bed Sunday morning in time to get breakfast before heading to the airport. I was sad to leave Portugal but so excited for Rome! We had a layover in Madrid and were in Rome by 5 pm. We had a driver waiting for us, which was a nice way to get to the hotel. We checked in to our room and were able to get dinner at the hotels restaurant. It was our first meal in Rome, and I had a delicious truffle pasta. After dinner we decided to walk a bit, and we literally stumbled onto the Trevi fountain. It was so close to our hotel! It was about 9 pm and insanely crowded, but still so amazing to see in person!

On Monday we had breakfast at our hotel before our Colliseum tour. I had booked the tour in advance through the hotel’s concierge, and was very surprised to find out Joe and I had our own tour guide! She was super cute and was the perfect guide. There was a legitimate heat wave going on, it was 100 degrees out! Our guide did a great job of keeping us in the shade as much as possible. After our tour we went to find lunch, we had sandwiches in a tiny shop. We were dripping in sweat by the time we found lunch, so afterwards we had gelato. We found a taxi and got back to our hotel to shower and relax. We took another taxi out to a pizza place on the outskirts of the city for dinner.

We were supposed to do a tour of the Vatican on Tuesday (my birthday) but it was over 100 degrees out. I was afraid we’d have a heat stroke at the Vatican, because there had been a lot of videos online posted recently about how they were cramming tours in and people were miserable. Our tour guide had told us about one of her fav museums, the Musei Capitolini, so we decided to check that out instead. It was a huge building and it wasn’t crowded at all, so that was nice. On the walk back we did some shopping and grabbed McDonalds for lunch. After showering (again) we decided we needed an indoor, air conditioned activity. We went to a movie theatre and saw the new Mission Impossible. The theater was in a cool square, the popcorn was great, seats were comfy, and it was nice and cold! We walked to dinner at a place that I’d made reservations for months in advance. I was so excited to try the place, and we were kind of unimpressed by it! The restaurant was tiny and the food was good, but nothing special. We did get to walk right past the Pantheon though.

We decided to go on an adventure on Wednesday, after finding out that Florence was only 90 min away by train. We managed to get our train tickets and get on the correct train without any problems. The train went 198 km an hour, it was such a fun ride! It was very cool to see the countryside and little towns along the way. We walked from the train station to the cathedral of Santa Maria. It was so massive, it was hard to believe! We got panini’s for lunch and walked around. We found more gelato before going to the Uffizi Gallery. It was another huge museum, with so many famous pieces! Joe was excited to see the Medussa, and I loved the Birth of Venus. We were worn out after the museum so we caught a taxi back to the train station. The ride home was relaxing. We showered (again) and walked to a restaurant to grab dinner. Afterwards, we went back to the Trevi fountain so I could push my way in to make a wish.

We had a straight flight from Rome to Atlanta, it was 12 hours. We had some good food, napped a little, read some, and watched a lot of tv. We got through our layover in Atlanta and were back in Nashville by Thursday evening! Cindy picked us up with the kids and drove us to the farm. Joe had another day in TN with us before heading back to WA. The kids and I stayed another week. We just hung out, swam at Jeri’s, went to the trampoline park. It was very relaxing! The jet lag wasn’t as bad as it was coming back from our other Europe trip, which was nice.

August- Meghan came to visit a few days after we got home to WA. We went on a ferry ride, hung out in Seattle, and went to Mt. Rainier. It was great having her visit! For Virginia’s 10th birthday, she didn’t have any wishes for a big party. The two of us went to high tea and had a nice time. On her birthday, her best friend came with us and we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner before coming home for ice cream cake and presents. The next weekend, V and I went to the Ed Sheeran concert in Seattle. She was so excited for her first concert! I think she was a little nervous about how loud it was at first, but we had earplugs for her so it wasn’t too bad.

September- The kids went back to school. We had a great summer, but it was nice to get back to our school routine! I’m helping out in the library again, which is fun. Rick had a heart attack right after his birthday, which was shocking. He had to have a stent put in, but it seems like he’ll be able to go back to normal pretty soon. Callie came to visit at the end of the month. We did touristy things, lots of shopping, and just hung out at home. I’m so glad she was able to come!

I think I hit all the important things!

Almost spring.

Staying busy! Virginia had a cheer performance at a men’s Huskie’s basketball game at UW at the end of January. For Joe’s birthday we went out to How to Cook a Wolf. It was a very small restaurant, but we liked how it felt inside. Our drinks and food were all good. Rick and Cindy came to visit the first week of February. They hadn’t been out to our house since April, so we got to show off the work we had done on the fireplace and the driveway. I took Rick and Cindy to Pike Place Market because they hadn’t been in many years. The kids loved having them visit for a few days.

I finally made an appointment and had my hair dyed red on the 10th. My hair was lighter, but not as red as I’d hoped. Cat and Jared were in town for the weekend, and it was the super bowl, so we had them over to watch the game and eat a bunch of food. Blake heard they were coming and joined us as well. It was great to see them and hear about wedding plans for this summer. My dad flew in on Monday. We went to Snohomish to check out the antique shops. We went into Lamb and Co just to look around, and ran into Lindsay and Leslie. We had to take a picture to show mom, and the ladies were so nice again! I went back to the salon on Wednesday to have another round at getting my hair more red. It worked, but she did a balayge so it was more of a red highlight than red all over. It was fun, but still not exactly what I’m going for.

I took dad to the airplane museum on Thursday. We arrived as soon as it opened, took a quick break to eat lunch in the museum cafe, and I still had to drag dad out of the museum at 2:30 so we could pick the kids up from school on time. I think he could spend 8 hours in that museum if you let him! I learned a lot too though, it was a good time. Joe and I left Friday evening for our anniversary trip to Vegas. We got to Vegas at 9 pm and headed to the Bellagio.

Our room had a great view of the fountains and the strip. We got up on Saturday and went to Sadelle’s in the Bellagio for breakfast. I had made reservations weeks ahead of time, which was lucky because there was a line for walk ins around the building. I was worried it would be over hyped, but our food was really good. We walked around, played blackjack, played slots, and walked around the shops. I had seen online that there was a Dirt Dogs on the strip, it was right across from our hotel. We were so excited to get our hot dogs and fries that we loved in LA. We went back to our room for a bit to hang out. We had dinner at Bobby Flay’s Italian place Amalfi. It was a nice place. We saw Cirque du Soliel’s Love after dinner. It was so fun! They’d changed the show since mom and I saw it way back when.

Sunday morning we had massage appointments at the Bellagio spa. We had a 50 minute couples massage. Joe had never had a massage before, and I’d only had two prenatal massages from Massage Envy. It was amazing! After the massage we had a private pool, and they’d put out champagne and chocolate covered strawberries for us. It was so great. We felt so spoiled! I’m definitely going to try and get us massages every now and then. We had lunch at a mexican place in Ceaser’s Palace before getting a lyft to Area 51 to do Meowolf. We had timed ticket entry, so we thought it would be a fun chill experience. We were really surprised to find that even with the staff being strict about entry, the place was totally packed. The experience must have been sold out and the place was crowded. It was a neat idea, but there were too many people to really spend any time checking the rooms out. At least now we know.

We had reservations at Delilah’s for our anniversary dinner. Getting reservations was way harder than it should be! I called the hotel’s concierge months in advance to figure out how to get them. Even following instructions, the best I could get was a table at 5:30. We felt kind of lame going so early, but it was totally fine! The restaurant was beautiful, it was a massive room with art deco designs. I was impressed with all the details, the napkins had pretty flowers on them, the water glasses were very pretty. I had a French 75 cocktail, which I’d never tried before, but Joe and I both loved it. Joe had a fancy old fashioned. All of the food we had was amazing. The bread was some of the best bread we’ve ever had. We had pigs in a blanket, pot roast, pasta, and carrot soufflé. I was worried the place would be overhyped, but we were blown away by the whole experience. We will definitely go back next time we’re in Vegas.

We took a Lyft out to Fremont Street and walked around. Joe played blackjack at a cheap table for a while. He was able to keep going for a while, sometimes being up and sometimes losing, but we had fun. We always had fun people around us while we were playing. On Monday we grabbed breakfast in the Bellagio and walked around and played some more slots before it was time to check out. We had a smooth trip home and were happy to see my dad and the kids all in one piece. My dad flew home the next day. The kids were on midwinter break so we got to be lazy and hang out. We went to Chuck E Cheese one day, and Cougar Mountain Zoo. It was cold but we didn’t get any snow. The kids were bummed because they wanted to go sledding.

The kids are so grown up all of a sudden! They are helping me unload the dishwasher, they put their laundry away without me asking, they like to make their own breakfasts. It’s so fun! They can get on each others nerves, but are generally so nice to each other. They are both considerate, kind people. We found out that Luke tested into high capabilities for math, which means he’s above grade level. His reading has really taken off in the last few weeks. We have a lot of fun things planned for the spring, hopefully I manage to get back and update this before too long!

New year!

It’s 2023! Joe will be 34 this month! Which is impossible, because in my mind we’re still in our early twenties. We had a great Christmas this year. The kids went on winter break and we took advantage of all the down time. Virginia and I went to a production of the Nutcracker in Bellevue, it was so well done! It was much better than the train wreck of a show we saw last year in Seattle at the ballet school. The first week of break, Joe was still working. We were lucky that we didn’t have anywhere we had to be, because a big snow/ice storm hit us on Tuesday. I’d seen the forecast, so the kids and I ran to the grocery store on Monday and bought literally everything we would need for the week, all the way through Christmas dinner. I’m so glad we did, because the roads got really bad! On Wednesday I thought that the snow plows had been through the area, so the kids and I thought we would go to Redmond and paint pottery. We made it down a few hills, sliding the whole way, when I realized it was not at all safe to be on the roads. We turned around and came home. We didn’t go back out until Saturday!

Luckily Joe and I were done with the majority of our shopping, so we weren’t too stressed about being stuck. We watched a lot of movies, read, and hung out! The kids played outside with Freya. It’s nice that they are old enough to get into their snow gear mostly on their own! It was nice to be at home, without having to worry about traveling or the threat of illness! The bad weather that hit us was all over the US, basically anyone that flew anywhere had a lot of trouble! Rick was stuck in some of the chaos, he got stuck flying even on Christmas.

We had a very chill Christmas Eve. We decorated our Christmas cookies and I made Joe’s favorite Christmas tree pizza for dinner. We watched The Santa Claus and the kids were so ready to go to bed at 8! Joe and I had a few santa related jobs to finish. I made the mistake of putting our plate of cookies for Santa out on the coffee table before putting Freya up our in room. I realized my mistake too late, and Freya had eaten 4 of the 6 cookies! Joe and I had a good laugh. It saved us from having to nibble on any!

We told the kids they could wake us up at 7, so of course they came barreling into our room at about 6:50. They just couldn’t wait any longer. I got my cup of coffee and turned the oven on for breakfast, and we got ready to start our morning! The kids loved seeing their full stockings. They tore into them while Joe and I slowly woke up. After the stockings were open, I put our breakfast in the oven. I’d made sausage rolls and chocolate chip scones the night before, so it was easy! We opened our Santa gifts first. Virginia was excited to see a huge Lego Friends set, and Luke was so glad he’d gotten a drone like he asked for. Joe got me a Theragun, and I got him a bidet attachment for our toilet. We are really settling into our old age. Haha.

We took a break to eat breakfast and got right into all of our gifts. The kids are so good at waiting for their turns, they know how we do it! Freya was a little freaked out by the amount of noise, and all the chaos in the living room, but she handled it well. It was a really nice cozy morning! We ate, Joe and I had mimosas, and we took our time opening everything up. We spent the rest of the day enjoying our new things! We had toys charging, being assembled. We had ham with brown sugar pineapples, mashed potatoes, roast veggies and rolls for dinner. The kids loved it!

Joe took the following week off from work, we loved having him free to hang out with us! The kids and I made our favorite rugelach cookies. We were still opening a lot of new gifts to play with. On Tuesday we had the sitter come, Joe and I went to dinner at The Butcher’s Table. It was one of the best meals we’d had in a while! We followed it up with blizzards from Dairy Queen for dessert. It was a great date night. On Wednesday we finally got to go paint pottery, which was more fun with Joe! On Thursday we went to the trampoline park and then went to Burgermaster for dinner. On Friday afternoon we saw the new Avatar movie. It was the kids first 3D movie, and it was 3 hours and 10 minutes long. Plus previews, we were in the theatre for almost four hours! Luckily the reclining seats are very comfy. The kids did great with how long it was, and the 3D didn’t scare them too much! On Sunday night we went out to Renton to Top Golf. Joe was so excited! We were in a bay on the third floor, which was cool but also a little nerve wracking with the kids! I was a little nervous they’d chase a golf ball and fall off the edge! Luckily they were very well behaved and they had fun hitting balls with Joe!

It was a great week, I think Joe was really able to relax and recharge! We did a lot of fun activities, but Joe was able to play a lot of Destiny and take naps when he wanted! It was a nice easy vacation. I was just so glad we all stayed healthy! It was a nice change after having an under the weather Thanksgiving. We did a lot of facetiming with family back home, which was nice! The kids went back to school and I immediately ran to wander the aisles of Target on my own. I’ve been finding things to put on our new built in shelves. I don’t want to just cram them full, I want to be kind of picky about how we fill them. After the Christmas tree was taken down, we could really appreciate how nice the shelves look. I’m so glad we had it done finally!

The kids are back in the swing of things with school, and Joe is back working. We went to Olive Garden on Saturday and had a good lunch, but Joe was sad because they took the lemon cake off the menu that he used to love. I found a knock off recipe online and made it on Sunday. It’s all I can think about! It turned out amazing! I’ll definitely be making it again and again! I made the crumb called for in the recipe, but would definitely leave it out next time. It didn’t add much to the cake, but added extra time and dishes that weren’t worth it. I found the recipe on Pinterest- https://foodfolksandfun.net/copycat-olive-garden-lemon-cream-cake/?fbclid=IwAR0evwkqRSsM34VNqt3A0Z4hVZrC-sw6MbOdWMoKku_aC2NQZYEzF1WWi9o

Knock Off Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake

FOR WHITE CAKE:

• 1 cup whole milk room temperature
• 6 large egg whites room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cups cake flour
• 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 24 pieces, softened but still cool

FOR FILLING:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 oz container mascarpone cheese softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ Tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

MAKE WHITE CAKE:

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Line with parchment round, and lightly spray entire pan; set aside.
• In a large measuring cup whisk together milk, egg whites, and vanilla; set aside.
• In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until combined. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, and mix with an electric mixer until only pea-sized pieces of butter remain about 1 minute.
• Pour in half of the milk mixture, and mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to medium-low, and add remaining milk mixture, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
• Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula. Bake until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes, rotating halfway through baking.
• Cool cake cool on a wire rack in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove cake from pan, discarding parchment, and let cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours.

MAKE FILLING:

• Whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form; set aside. Beat mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest on medium speed until smooth. Fold in whipped cream until combined.

FINISH CAKE:

• Split cake horizontally, and place 1 layer on cardboard round. Reserve ½ cup of filling, and use the rest to fill the cake. Place the second layer on top of the filling. Use reserved ½ cup filling to frost just the sides of the cake. Press crumb topping into sides of the cake, and chill at least 1 hour. Dust top of the cake with powdered sugar. Slice and serve.

Thanksgiving and germs!

I’m taking the time to update before Christmas, which future me will appreciate! Molly and Anya flew in on the Monday before Thanksgiving, which was Luke’s birthday! I made Luke cherry turnovers for his birthday breakfast, which he was very excited about. I picked Molly and Anya up at 11 and we got the kids out of school a little early and came to the house. We had lunch and the kids showed Anya around. She was so great with the kids! It was like they’d always known her! Luke decided to have his birthday at Pump It Up, I rented a party room and we had the place to ourselves! We invited his class, I was surprised when most showed up! Luke had a great time, and us adults got to go on the slides too! It was definitely a win, I couldn’t have had all those kids at our house and entertained them! It was so nice to just show up for the party with some decorations and not have to do any prep! At Luke’s request, we went to a hibachi grill in Bellevue for dinner. Everyone had a good time, even though we were a little worn out from the party!

On Tuesday Molly, Anya and I went to Pike Place Market after dropping the kids off at school. The market was so empty, I’d never seen it so calm! We wandered around and found a few things to eat and buy. I never get tired of going to the market! It’s usually so crowded, but we were able to go inside some of the little restaurants that usually have lines out the door. We headed home and hung out for the afternoon. Joe, Anya, Molly, and I went out to Bellevue and the kids stayed home with the babysitter. We had dinner at Castilla, which was just as good as the first time Joe and I went! It was a perfect place for Anya, with a lot of gluten free and vegetarian options. We went across the street afterwards and saw The Menu. It was such a fun movie, Joe and I were so glad we were able to see it in theaters!

After taking the kids to school on Wednesday I took Molly and Anya out to Snohomish. We had so much fun going in to all the boutiques and antique shops! We found a lot of things to buy! I had heard about a restaurant on the strip that had a lot of gluten free options so we checked it out for lunch. We all had low expectations and the food turned out to be really good! We were very happy with our choice. We had Zeeks for dinner and hung out. Brittany and Cole didn’t leave Spokane until after 5, so we knew they wouldn’t be getting in until late. We stayed up until they got in at 10, and then all went to bed.

The kids woke up feeling really puny on Thursday. So many kids had been out sick earlier in the week with all sorts of illnesses, and I was really bummed it hit our house! We set the kids up on the couch to watch the parade and tried to keep our distance. I made sausage pinwheels and muffins for breakfast. Anya hadn’t met Brittany or Cole in person yet, so we were all just hanging out. Joe was in charge of the turkey, so I didn’t have to do much until dinner time. Molly, Anya, Cole, Brittany, and I took Freya on a walk through St. Ed’s, it was so nice out! The kids were feeling so wimpy they barely ate any dinner, but the adults had a great time! I bought real champagne and we had a champagne toast (everyone decided we couldn’t tell a difference between the real stuff and the cheap stuff). The food turned out really good, everyone was happy! The kids fell asleep early and the adults got to hang out.

We were supposed to leave early Friday morning to go to the Hoh Rainforest and then to Forks for the night, but Anya got the cold the kids had and felt awful. We couldn’t leave her behind, so we cancelled the overnight trip. Molly, Brittany, Cole, and I went shopping in Totem Lake and had lunch at Grandma’s Kitchen. We tried to avoid the sick people at home, we were all stocking up on vitamins and staying hydrated. Joe was trying to hide in his office as much as possible to avoid the germs. The kids were still feeling puny but not awful.

On Saturday I woke up and felt pretty gross. I loaded up on medicine and napped for a few hours. Molly, Brittany, and Cole were still feeling good so they took a ferry out to Whidbey Island and wandered around for most of the day. Anya was feeling better but not great. Brittany and Cole left early on Sunday to get back to Spokane. The trip obviously didn’t go as planned, but I was glad they made it out here and that we all got to hang out. Molly and Anya left on Monday afternoon. Molly was still feeling good, Anya was on the mend. The kids and I had a cough but were feeling mostly better. The kids stayed home from school Monday and Tuesday, and then in a weird turn of events we woke up to snow on Wednesday. School was cancelled, so the kids had a free day to continue resting. Luke had his seven year old well child check up on Wednesday afternoon, the doctor told us we all had RSV! I was surprised, I assumed we’d just had a cold. But the doctor said that we’d passed the point of contagiousness and the kids were fine to go to school.

Joe managed to stay healthy, which we were all thrilled about. Bungie was nominated for two awards at the Game Awards in LA. Joe was pretty sure they weren’t going to win, but Bungie was sending him and a few others out to LA to attend the awards show. Joe flew out on the 7th, the kids were sad he was leaving but I was happy for him to get a chance to get away! He stayed at a hotel right next to the theatre the awards were held at. The award show was on the 8th, it started at 4:30 and didn’t end until 7:30. He got to go to dinner and schmooze at a bar afterwards, he was out super late! On Friday he got to have lunch at Riot and see a bunch of his friends. He met up with Cat and Jarod for dinner at Felix, an Italian place in Venice that we loved. I would have loved to go with him on the trip, but we didn’t want to have to fly any of our parents out to watch the kids when they kept getting sick. Joe came home on Saturday, it was a quick trip.

Cindy and Rick were supposed to fly in on Sunday, but Rick came home from a work trip on Friday feeling sick. He took a Covid test on Saturday and it was positive. Cindy tested negative, but it was too risky that she’d been exposed. We were all so bummed that they wouldn’t be able to visit. Between colds, RSV, the flu, and Covid, the past few weeks have been rough on everyone! This time last year everyone was still wearing masks in public, so we didn’t have to deal with all the illnesses. Our immune systems are totally out of whack and we’re paying the price this winter! Rick has to work on Christmas, but hopefully they’ll be able to come visit next month.

Virginia has really enjoyed cheerleading. They had their first performance on Friday night while Joe was out of town. They performed at the half time of a HS girls varsity basketball game in Bellevue. Virginia was nervous beforehand, but she did so good! I was so proud of her. I hope she sticks with cheerleading.

We finished another big house project! It feels so good to have our driveway finished, it’s hard to believe it wasn’t always as it is now. The fireplace remodel and built ins are done and it is so nice to be done with construction for a while! The demo started the Monday after Thanksgiving, and it was completely finished this Friday. We were pretty impressed that the whole thing was finished within two weeks! It looks so good, especially with our stockings hung on our new mantle! The shelves are a little bare, hopefully after Christmas I’ll have more books to put up! The kids last day of school is Friday and then they have two weeks off for break! I’m really hoping we stay healthy for Christmas!!

Fall

I was so sure I’d written here since school started, but I was wrong! Life has gone back to normal for the most part, which means we stay busy! The kids have great teachers and are happy to be back in the swing of things. I’ve been volunteering in the library on Wednesdays and Fridays for both of the kids classes. I got to help on school picture day which I really enjoyed. Both of the kids got to go on field trips to a pumpkin patch in October. Luke’s class went first on the 17th, we had sunshine and perfect fall weather. The first graders got to play on the hay slides and ride a wagon to pick out a pumpkin. One week later I went back with Virginia’s class and it had dropped twenty degrees and had been raining over the weekend, so there was a good deal of mud. We got very lucky and it didn’t rain while we were at the pumpkin patch. The fourth graders were split into groups and we had to do a scavenger hunt inside the corn maze. Our group did really well and we made it out pretty quickly.

I went on another field trip with Luke on November 3rd to the Hibulb Cultural Center, a museum about the Tulalip people. I had a group of boys that I chased all over the museum to get our scavenger hunt done. The museum was all the way out by the Maryville outlet mall, so when the kids got back on the bus at 12:20 I was free to go do some shopping! It’s pretty nice to be able to drive myself to the field trips and be free once they are done.

At the beginning of September, Emily was able to take the train up for the weekend. We walked around Pike Place Market before picking the kids up from school. On Saturday we went out to Snohomish to have lunch and do some shopping. We spent so much time at the vintage shops that we had to speed home. We had a sitter coming at 6 to watch the kids so that the adults could go out to dinner in Seattle. We went to Red Cow for dinner and had a great time hanging out. Joe went golfing with his friends on Sunday, so Emily and I took the kids with us to the Fremont Sunday Market. We saw a lot of neat things and found a few things to buy. We had brunch at Toulouse Petit, which I’d been wanting to try for ages. It was very busy and had slow service, but the food was great and the kids loved the beignets. We took Emily to the train station so she could get back home. It was a great quick visit!

We finally did our big project of moving the electrical box in our driveway so that we could pave the whole driveway. It took most of October, many phone calls and texts with two electrical companies and our neighbor Patrick, who did the landscaping, trenching, and then pouring the new cement. There were a few hurdles along the way, and it cost more than twice what we’d originally estimated, but it was done right before Halloween. It looks amazing, and makes the whole house look bigger! It means we can drive straight in and out of both garage bays, which has made a huge difference.

We had a great time gearing up for Halloween. On October 8th I made the family get up at the crack of dawn and drive to Oregon. The kids and I love the Halloweentown movie, and for years I’d been wanting to check out St. Helens, Oregon, which puts on a Halloweentown festival every October. It was almost a three hour drive, but it was a beautiful day. Joe wasn’t thrilled with the idea of going to the festival, but the kids and I were excited! It turned out to be a kind of wimpy set up, but we spent a few hours walking around before coming back home. We definitely won’t need to go back again, but I’m glad we took the chance and had a little adventure on a nice day.

Emily asked me to come to Portland for a 90’s Halloween party on the Friday before Halloween, so I drove down that Friday afternoon. We did some thrift shopping and had dinner before going to the party. It was at a McMenamin’s in Portland and was such a cool event! It was sold out, and everyone had really great costumes. Emily and I went as witches, but if we go back next year we’ll have to up our game. We had a few drinks and danced to lots of 90’s hits (by dance, I mean I swayed to the music). We went back to the Hazel Room for brunch on Saturday. I had my biscuits and gravy again, I loved it so much last time I was there! We popped into a few vintage shops before going to Emily’s new location. We went home to change and went out to dinner with Leif at a German pub. I had a great Jagerschnitzel and a German beer. We left Leif and went to the Portland Symphony, they had the orchestra play along to Hocus Pocus. It was such a fun thing to do! Afterwards we went to a very quirky haunted house restaurant and had a little dessert. I left early Sunday morning, I had to get back to get ready for our Halloween party!

Joe and I made our costumes this year, we were Poison Ivy and Kite Man from the Harley Quinn adult cartoon. My costume was pretty easy to put together, but for Joe we had to build a five foot tall kite. It took a few trips to craft stores, but the final product was pretty impressive! We hosted a Halloween party at our house, we invited Adam and Nora, Katie and Chris, and Matthea and David with all the kids. It was a great group of adults, but the kids went bonkers and tried to tear the house apart! Everyone had a good time though.

Halloween fell on a Monday and it rained most of the day. We were all pretty nervous about trick or treating. I packed up some umbrellas and we all crossed our fingers. Luckily the rain stopped before we headed to Katie’s house. We went with a few families and walked all around Katie’s neighborhood again. We didn’t see as many other groups of kids out this year, but there were a lot of houses giving out candy, so the kids had a blast. We didn’t get any fireball or wine, but the jello shot house was still giving the shots out! We were all so happy that it hadn’t rained and the kids had very full buckets of candy.

Some other highlights of the past few month include Luke losing both of his front teeth. He looks adorable. Joe and I got to see Florence and the Machine live, which was amazing. Virginia has been having sleepovers with her best friend Charlotte every weekend. We trade houses each weekend, which keeps us on our toes. We got really lucky a few weeks ago, Luke was invited to his friend Jack’s house and Virginia was at Charlotte’s. We snuck out and had a date without having to pay a sitter! We got to sleep in in the morning and be lazy. We’ve really made it to the easy stage of parenting! Haha. Virginia started cheerleading practice last week and really liked it, I’m hopeful she’ll want to stick with it! Luke said he wanted to try Taikwondo so I signed him up and bought the $80 uniform. He made it through five minutes of class and bolted, he hated how loud it was in the classroom. We’re still looking for something he can do outside of school. I’m out of time, I have to go pick the kids up from school. Hopefully I get a chance to update this again before the end of the year!

Summer catch up

I feel like we were just counting down the days until summer, and now it’s August! To go catch up, I have to go back to May. Jeri and Carol flew in on the 18th and spent a week with us. We had a great time sight seeing, eating lots of good food, and shopping! I took them to Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Chihuly, shopping in Snohomish. We had a great brunch at Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls. I was so glad they were able to come out and see where we live. The weather was a little chilly but not rainy! I think they both had a great time.

The weather was still pretty chilly through the end of school, I was kind of bummed for the kids to have a cold send off. We went to the end of year carnival, which was a little cold and rainy, but I was impressed with what the school put on. I missed the last week of school, I took a trip to Portland. I had a Germany high school reunion with Emily, Rachael, and Chelsea. We stayed at Emily’s sisters house in Portland for a few nights and explored Portland. Emily knew all sorts of fun places to show us and we had a great time catching up! Emily’s parents have a beach house on the coast of Oregon, so we drove out on Monday. Chelsea was supposed to go with us, but she has a baby at home and couldn’t leave him for that long.

The beach house was super fun and it was great to be on the coast. Rachael, Emily, and I did a lot of shopping, eating, and drinking! I brought photo albums and our old home videos, which was fun to watch together. The beach in Oregon is a lot like a Washington or California beach- cold, windy, and lots of big waves. It was fun to walk on and we found a lot of fun rocks and shells. We went back to Portland on Friday and met up with Chelsea again. I really loved exploring Portland, it felt like a smaller Seattle and was really neat. I’d seen Emily once about five years ago when Joe and I went to Portland, and I’d seen Chelsea in Olympia when we moved here seven years ago, but I hadn’t seen Rachael since I left Germany. It felt like no time had passed and it was so easy and fun to be together. We already have plans for the girls to come here next June!

Joe did a great job with the kids and I was so thankful that they were all okay while I was gone! I made it back home and was excited for the kids to be on summer vacation! We had a bit of a rough Father’s Day. I had some great gifts for Joe, and we went out to lunch. Luke had a bit of a meltdown and we had to have some big talks about how to be happy and thankful for all that we have. The kids did a week of golf camp, it was pretty basic but they liked it. We had two weeks here to hang out before our trip to Tennessee. Katie invited us to a Fourth of July party, but I was nervous about Covid and getting sick before our trip so we stayed home. We were pretty lazy but it was nice to relax!

We flew to Tennessee on July 9th. I was nervous about the airport being crazy or having flight issues, but we got really lucky. Because of Covid all the airlines are still understaffed and almost every day on the news there were reports of hundreds of flight delays and cancellations, but we avoided that. We made it to the farm and the kids were so excited to see Lillian and Christian! We left for Chattanooga Sunday after lunch and went to Ruby Falls. I’d never been, it was really fun! The ten of us (mom, dad, me, Joe, Virginia, Luke, Callie, Carlin, Christian, and Lillian) ended up in the front of the tour group. The kids were asking our tour guide lots of good questions and they were really into it. After Ruby Falls we headed to our Airbnb. Callie picked up Mellow Mushroom for us, so we had a great dinner! Our Airbnb was an old log house and it was great. There was a good porch with rocking chairs and plenty of room to spread out. After dinner the kids got in the hot tub. On Monday we had breakfast at the house and hung out. We had lunch in town and went to the aquarium. Since it was a weekday we had the place mostly to ourselves.

We got barbeque for dinner and tried to do some fishing on our man made lake behind the airbnb. Christian and dad caught a fish, the rest of us had fun trying. There were some rogue neighborhood goats that came out and sort of got too friendly with dad. He had to shield Christian from a ram and when the goats followed them home we had to form a blockade on the deck to keep the goats from swarming us! The kids got a kick out of it. On Tuesday we borrowed moms car and headed from Chattanooga to Knoxville. We stopped at a Chuy’s for lunch and shopped at McKays before heading to Nana’s house in Maryville. Nana had really outdone herself and had snacks for us, and toys for the kids to play with. Audrey and Jordis came over for dinner and we had so much fun hanging out! They stayed over until 9 and it was great to catch up with them. We had breakfast in the morning and hung out for a while before heading back to Lebanon. We stopped in Cookeville at Cracker Barrel and it was so good! They already had Halloween decor out in the shop and it made me sad that I couldn’t buy anything!

On Thursday Joe and I went out to Nashville for an early birthday dinner. We did an escape room, just the two of us, and barely made it out! It was really fun to do just the two of us, we worked really well together! I think it helped that we had done so many rooms before so we kind of knew how to work things out. We had dinner at a place within walking distance, but we had to walk down Broadway to get there, and we were surprised at how chaotic downtown was on a Thursday night. It felt like Vegas! There were so many people, it was honestly kind of gross feeling! I don’t like the new vibe that Nashville has as a vacation party town. Our food was really good at the restaurant though, so it was worth the crowds!

On Saturday we had a little combined birthday party for the grandkids. Jeri and Carol wanted to be able to give all the kids gifts at once, which was nice. Callie, mom, and I stopped at Publix to get a cake and supplies and we had pizza delivered for lunch. Jeri seems to be doing as well as can be expected since Jack passed away, she stays really busy which has to be a blessing. The kids loved being in the pool together. We had some fun floaties and the kids all swam like fishes! Rick came by around 2 to pick us up. He visited for a minute and then we headed to the lake house in Tullahoma. The kids were excited to see Missy and Moses.

On Sunday we went down to the lake and went out on the boat. Getting down to the dock is a little scary, but we figured it out and once we’re at the dock it’s great! Joe got up on the wakeboard and also got up on the surf board. I was pretty impressed, he hadn’t done either in years! The kids loved swimming in the water by the dock. Rick and Cindy were really sweet and invited my family over for my birthday to hang out. Callie, Lillian, mom, and dad showed up around 11 and we had burgers for lunch. After lunch we headed down to the water. We swam and went for a boat ride. Rick pulled Callie and I on a tube. We hadn’t tubed together in so long! It was going great, and then Rick turned at one point and the rope completely fell off the boat and we went off the tube. It was pretty funny. Callie and Lillian also got to tube together. We had cake and I opened some gifts. Gracie and the girls showed up right before cake which was nice.

The kids really loved being down at the water. We would go down most days before lunch and then come up for lunch and a break and go back down. We worked on some puzzles at the house, the screened in porch was such a nice place to hang out! It was really nice to see how much Ella and Cordelia have grown. Ella talks and loved being with Virginia and Luke. Cordelia finally likes me and would let me hang out with her! Matt drove in on Thursday and we had a full house! Joe and I went out Thursday night to dinner and to see Nope. The movie theatre in Tullahoma was so old, it was like going back in time! It was great to have a date with Joe though. On Saturday we went down to the lake one last time before packing up. Joe went with Rick back to Tollgate to then go on to the airport. Cindy drove the kids and I to the farm.

It was nice to have some calm time at the farm. Joe made it back to Washington okay and picked Freya up from our friends house. He had test driven a Mazda convertible on Friday and loved it, so he went back on Saturday and bought it. He traded in our red Scion for a good deal. He’d been hoping to get a convertible for a while, now that the kids are old enough that they can safely sit in the front seat (with a booster) it was time! On Sunday Joe took each of the kids for a ride and they loved it. We went to Katie’s house on Tuesday and the kids got to swim. It was nice to be home and see our friends!

On Wednesday I woke up and noticed my voice was going in and out. I thought it was a weird symptom from being back in Washington with allergies. Thursday I woke up and my throat was kind of sore. I took a Covid test just to double check and it immediately lit up positive. I texted a picture to Joe and grabbed a mask and ran to my room. As the day went on a felt a little like I had a head cold coming on, but it wasn’t bad. I stayed in my room all weekend, only leaving to get food from the kitchen, and then I wore a mask. Joe and the kids appreciated me trying to keep them healthy by quarantining. Joe did a great job taking care of the kids, and the kids did a good job of entertaining themselves while Joe worked. I finished watching Alias and binged all of Working Moms, and read two books. It was kind of nice to have alone time, but I was pretty bored in our room! Emily was supposed to take the train up from Portland to visit that weekend. I was so bummed to have to tell her we had to reschedule, but she was able to move her tickets to another weekend without a fee.

I felt pretty lucky, all things considered, that Covid was basically just a head cold for me. I never had a fever, aches, or anything scary. Even though it was sad to have to reschedule Emily’s visit, it wasn’t a huge ordeal for her and neither of us lost any money. Joe started to have cold symptoms Sunday, but his Covid tests came back negative. He took tests on Monday and Tuesday, it wasn’t until Wednesday that he got a positive result. By then, his symptoms weren’t bad and he was wearing a mask to help protect the kids. My theory is that the kids and I were exposed at the airport or airplane coming home, but it took a few days for me to have symptoms. I must have infected Joe before I quarantined. The kids have stayed negative, I think the booster they got in June protected them! Joe and I are both wearing masks in the house, but I think tomorrow it will be safe for me to take mine off around the kids. The CDC actually changed its guidelines yesterday, because Covid has evolved mostly into a head cold, they say that quarantining and social distancing isn’t necessary. It will be interesting to see how this affects the kids in school when they go back in a few weeks!

Busy April!

April was so busy, I’m actually a little exhausted just thinking about getting this caught up! But it was a really great month and I don’t want to forget about it! Mom and Callie flew in on March 31st, and Molly came in on April 1st. We drove to Leavenworth and spent two nights at the super cute Bavarian Lodge. We had two full days of walking, shopping, and eating! It was a little cold, but not rainy, which was all we could hope for in early April. Leavenworth was luckily not too busy, so we didn’t have to fight any crowds. Covid had dwindled enough out here that we didn’t even wear masks most of the time. It felt very normal and very nice!

We came back to our part of town on Sunday and took the kids to Pizza Bank for dinner. On Monday we went to Mopop in Seattle, it had some cool exhibits. We went to Pike Place Market and ate at Lowell’s and walked around. Monday night Callie, Molly, and I went to this wizard bar in Ballard called The Splintered Wand. It was very cute, but the drink options were very limited and the service was very slow.

On Tuesday we drove north to see the tulips. It was kind of rainy, very cold, and windy. We saw a few tulip fields, but decided not to pay to go into any of the farms. We had lunch at a very busy restaurant and hit the outlet mall on the way home. On Wednesday we went on the seaplane tour that I took dad on while he was here. We lucked out and it was super sunny. Callie had to fly home Wednesday afternoon, we were so glad she was able to come for part of the time!

On Thursday we went shopping and hung out. On Friday we went to the casino. Molly and I blew through $60 each, but mom came out with $50 extra dollars. On Saturday Joe took the kids to their swim lessons, and Molly, mom, and I went to a garden store and had lunch in Bothell at a cute cafe. I took Molly to the airport early on Sunday. We decorated Easter egg sugar cookies with mom before I had to take her to the airport in the afternoon. I’m so glad they got to come visit, we did a lot and had so much fun!

We had a lazy spring break. Joe wasn’t taking off any time before our Europe trip, so the kids and I just hung out. We took the kids to the theatre to see Sonic 2 for our Friday night movie, they loved it. We had a nice Easter, just the 4 of us. The kids found their Easter baskets in the morning, and were happy to see one for Freya. I made chocolate chip muffins for breakfast and then Joe hid eggs in the front yard for the kids to find. We had a very fancy (not) lunch at Garlic Crush. I made a big ham for Easter, with all our favorite sides. It was all very tasty. Our bunny cake turned out great this year, and I managed to not melt it in the oven.

Cindy flew in on the 21st without any big problems. Joe and I were supposed to fly out to London for our first stop of our big Europe trip on the 22nd at 7 pm. Joe had booked us first class, non-stop tickets through British Air to London. Cindy and I had just finished getting our nails done on Friday afternoon and were heading home when I got an email from British Air saying that “regrettably” our flight had been delayed by 26 hours. I immediately wanted to cry. We rushed home and started scrambling for a new plan. If we lost 26 hours, we would basically lose all of our London leg. We managed to swing new seats, still first class, but on Jet Blue to NYC, and after a 5 hour layover we’d be on first class through American Air to London. Not ideal with a long layover, but it was a better deal than losing all of London! We packed up, said good bye to the kids, and headed to the airport.

The Jet Blue flight was very swanky. Joe and I were like little kids, everything was so exciting to us in first class! We had cute little amenities bags, our own big tvs, and the seats turned into beds! We got drinks as soon as we took off and had very good desserts. Once we’d eaten we got ready to go to sleep. It was so comfy, we had a blanket and a pillow! After we woke up we were given little morning snack bags before landing. We had a long layover at JFK, but we got to hang out in the very fancy first class lounge. There was food and drinks and big seats. Our American Air flight was also very nice. We had lunch once we were in the air, everything was great! We both took a little nap and they offered a light dinner before landing. We made it to London at 10:30 pm. After getting our bags and going through passport control we went out to find a taxi. We were worn out, and it took an hour to get to our hotel because of traffic. London was so busy, even at midnight! We stayed at the Brownswood hotel which was above a pub, it was very cute. We got to our room and were out like lights!

We only had one day in London, so after a quick breakfast at our hotel, we took off. We uber’d to Trafalgar Square and started walking! We walked through St. James Park to Buckingham Palace, and then on to Big Ben. We walked across the bridge, passed the London Eye, went on to Blackfriar’s bridge from my Shadowhunter books, saw the Millenium bridge that was shown in Harry Potter, and ended up by the Globe. It was 11 am and a tour was starting, so we joined it. It was very cool to see the recreation and to learn about it.

We had lunch at a touristy pub along the water, and caught an Uber over to Notting Hill to check out the market at Portobello Road. It reminded me of the Fremont Sunday Market. After wandering around for a while, we were worn out. We went back to our hotel to hang out a while. We had dinner reservations at Park Row, which was a Gotham city inspired restaurant. It was very hip and cool, with a live jazz band.

On Monday we got up and had another quick breakfast at our hotel. We headed to the London City airport, which is much smaller and calmer than Heathrow. Our flight was delayed an hour, but we survived! We landed in Amsterdam around 1, the airport was massive! We headed to our hotel, Boat and Co, which was just north of downtown. It was right along the water with great views. We walked down the road and caught a bus to the main train station, and then rode the subway right into Amsterdam proper. We walked around the canals and saw some really cool houses. We found dinner at this bbq place that has been around for decades and is a local favorite. We had to wait a while for a table, but the food was very good and it was fun watching the people. We walked to the red light district to see if it was really all that, and we saw some fun things but it wasn’t too explicit.

On Tuesday we walked through town to a cute place called The Breakfast Club. I had pancakes and a really great latte. We loved watching all the people zoom by on their bikes from the window of the cafe. We got a ride to the Rijksmuseum, apparently I went there when we went to Amsterdam, but I had no memory of it. It was a beautiful building, and we saw so much! We walked around and found a cafe for lunch were I had a very interesting version of an American cheeseburger. Joe had a meeting at a company that works with Bungie at 1, so we took a car over to the office. Luckily, it was located right in the heart of Amsterdam. Joe went in for his meeting, and I walked back through the canals and went in and out of shops. I went to a cafe that is famous for their apple pie. It was the best apple pie I’ve ever had! I found some cute clothes and a few things to bring back for people. I headed back towards the office and sat outside reading a book until Joe was done at 4. We went back to our hotel and hung out until dinner time. We had reservations at an Argentinian steak place near the red light district, it was more casual than we expected but very good.

Wednesday was a national holiday called Kings Day, the whole city was decked out in orange. It’s basically a big party day, so we decided it was best to avoid the main downtown area so that we wouldn’t be late to the airport. We had breakfast in our hotel, and later walked around town to find lunch. All the local restaurants were closed for the holiday, but luckily there was a Papa Johns open. It was a very good pizza! Haha. We left our hotel at 1 to get to the airport. Our flight didn’t leave until 4, but we wanted to have plenty of time. Turns out we were right to get there so early. It was chaos at the airport. There was only one security check point, and it was so backed up. It took us an hour and a half to get through. We were lucky we had the time, some people were so stressed out that they were going to miss their flights, and a few did! Joe and I were just glad that we didn’t have the kids, they would have been miserable! We flew to Stuttgart, had a quick layover, and were in Berlin around 8 pm.

The sun was still out when we landed, and the airport was oddly empty. We got a taxi and headed to our hotel. It was the most centrally located hotel we stayed in, it was on a very hip street with shops and restaurants. It was a super cute room with a great little balcony looking over the street. On Thursday we got up and walked to breakfast at a place called Father Carpenter, I’d seen it recommended on Instagram. I had really good french toast, but Joe had an avocado toast that he didn’t like. We walked through a street market towards the museum island. It was huge, beautiful, old buildings that were all types of museums. We could have spent days going in each of them, but we didn’t have that time!

We walked over to the Fehrnsehturm and rode the elevator to the top. It was like the Space Needle! But it was great to see just how big Berlin is, there was so much in every direction. We walked back towards our hotel and found lunch really close to where we stayed. Joe had read about this place online, it was a combination Indian/Mexican place. We had some really amazing garlic cheese naan and a lot of dips. We went back to our hotel to rest a while. We went out a bit later and got some pastries from across the street. We had dinner reservations at an Italian place. The entrees were really good, but the ambience was just okay. There wasn’t anything great on the dessert menu, so we went back towards our hotel and got Ben and Jerry’s (there was one conveniently located under our hotel).

Friday morning we had to get Covid tests taken for our flight home. We walked to the clinic and had the tests done in no time. It was actually the first time I’d had a Covid test taken, and it was brutal! They put a swab basically all the way to your brain through your nose, and then do your mouth. We left the clinic and went to find some breakfast. We had some croissants and then walked to a memorial for the Berlin wall. It was really heartbreaking, to see how the city was divided and people were separated. We got a ride to the Brandendburg gate, which had a bunch of touristy shops nearby, including a Dunkin Donuts. I got a coffee and we walked through the gate towards the Tiergarten. We walked all the way to the Victory Column. Joe wanted to get to the top of it, and I immediately knew there’d be no elevator. It was 3 euros each, and 285 steps to the top. It about killed me! We’d walked so much every day, my legs were on fire!

After the column we got a ride to lunch in the city. I read about a local favorite place and had the best jagerschnitzel! It came with the right kind of fries and it really hit the spot. The restaurant was literally under a train station, and the wifi was out so the credit card machine wasn’t working. Luckily I had some euros left, or we would have been in trouble. We grabbed a Kit Kat McFlurry from McDonalds and then headed back to our hotel. We bought tickets online to see a movie that night. We walked from our hotel to a Korean Fried Chicken place. We walked past a bunch of crowded restaurants on the way, and we hoped that we weren’t passing good options by. We got to the chicken place and there were a bunch of people waiting outside, so we felt good about it! It didn’t take long to get a spot inside. I ordered a Heineken, and the guy asked me a question (but it was very loud inside) and I just assumed he asked if I wanted it in a bottle. Joe got a cold Coke, but the guy handed me a Heineken that had 0.0 on the label. Turns out, he thought I wanted a zero alchohol Heineken. My mistake! Haha.

After dinner we walked over to the Kino. It was not fancy, but it was playing The Northman in English (with German subtitles). We were excited to get some popcorn, and I wanted a real beer. But we got to the concession stand and there was a sign that said no visa, only cash. We were so bummed! We’d used literally the very last of our euros on lunch. So we saw the movie without any snacks, which is not ideal. The movie itself was kind of bonkers. But we found a convenience store on the walk home and got drinks, and got to see a whole lot of drunk Berliners walking around. We finally got our Covid results at 11:30 pm, I was starting to really worry that our results wouldn’t be sent, or that they’d be positive. Luckily they were negative! We were all set to make the long trip home in the morning.

We left our hotel and headed to the airport. We dropped our bags and got through security easily. We got a little breakfast and waited for our flight to Zurich. It was a quick easy flight to Switzerland. We were first class from Zurich to San Francisco, so they treated us like royalty and put us on a cool shuttle van to get to the first class lounge to hang out during our layover. I had champagne and Joe had a Coke with ice (he was really missing cold drinks while in Europe). We boarded the 12 hour flight and were very happy with our fancy seats! Swiss Air doesn’t mess around. We were given more champagne (I was slightly day drunk and it was barely 1 pm). After take off we had lunch, with a legit white tablecloth and everything! We had bread, then salads, then our entrees, and dessert. My lemon pudding cake was so good, I was completely full and still managed to devour it!

After lunch we turned our seats to beds. We got fluffy pillows and a real duvet blanket. Joe went to sleep, but I started watching White Lotus on my tv. I was only going to watch an episode or so, but I wasn’t actually sleepy so I just kept watching it. I ended up watching the whole season! It was only like 7 or 8 episodes, but I still had hours to go when it was over! A 12 hour flight is no joke. I can’t imagine doing it in an economy seat! I napped for an hour or so, and then woke up and had a snack. We landed in San Francisco around 6 pm local time. We were 9 hours ahead when we left Zurich, so it was a little confusing! We grabbed some Burger King and waited for our Seattle flight. It was only a short 2 hour flight home, but we were pretty exhausted by the time we landed. We got our bags and Rick picked us up. It was nice to not have to take another Uber. We got home and crashed, it was almost midnight!

It was so great to see the kids in the morning. They were excited to see us, but also really excited to see what we brought them back from our trip. Rick and Cindy were flying out that morning to head to Phoenix, they were going with some old friends to Puerta Vallarta the next day. Joe took them to the airport and I unpacked and started the laundry. It was so nice to be home, and to know that everything went smoothly! I had some real anxiety before leaving on the trip, it was the longest we were going to be away from the kids, and so far distance wise. I was worried about the kids getting hurt and us not being there for them, or something delaying Joe and I from getting home. I was so happy that we got to go on this amazing trip, and that everyone stayed healthy. Especially after two years of life being weirdly paused/altered with restrictions and masks and all that craziness, it felt so good to go on such a great trip. The kids are almost old enough to go on a Europe trip with us, we just want to wait until they are old enough to remember it!

This ended up being quite a lot to get down! Luckily I had all my pictures to help keep my memory straight! Since getting home, the jet lag really had Joe and I out of sorts. We were falling asleep at 8 pm each night, and it was a struggle some days to make it until then. By the next Saturday we were able to make it to 11 pm, and we think we are finally back in our time zone. We had a really nice Mother’s Day. We went out to lunch at my fav Mexican place, and then out to dinner at a place I love for their burger. It was a very calm, easy day! I’m spoiled every day though, I’m very lucky to have such a great family!