Trick-or-Treating 2010

Katie and her good buddy, both of them super heroes this year (unplanned coincidence!), had an awesome time visiting all of our neighbors and came home with a ton of candy!

Getting Ready for Halloween 2010

Katie's going as Bat Girl this year!
Today she wore this to school for their Halloween Party.

Mom (Regina) did the carving, with a little help from Katie and Katie did the jeweled pumpkin, with a little help from Momma (Suzie).

Another carved creation by Regina.

I saw this wonderful idea in a magazine and just had to try it.
So, here's my pumpkin kitty cat! I love it!!

Our Japanese Maple in the front yard is on FIRE! So gorgeous!

Skate Date at Skate King

On this rainy Seattle afternoon, I invited Katie to go skating at Skate King in Bellevue. It was "Family Afternoon" so there were lots of kids there and 2 or 3 birthday parties in progress. I liked it, though, because they left the lighting on most of the time. I know I'm not a young chick anymore when a simple thing like dimming the lights and turning on those (irritating) disco balls totally throws me off. I guess the dim part is okay, it's the rotating reflections on the floor created by the disco balls that mess me up when I'm skating over them. I'm only a mediocre skater, so I guess that, combined with fading youth totally work against me when they fire up the disco balls. But, I didn't give up. I kept skating, anyway, being careful to stay out of the way of the expert skaters while also dodging the little ones and other beginners whose feet fall out from underneath them at a moment's notice, making them nothing but a dangerous speed bump in my path I had to avoid quickly! Whew. I'm happy to report though, both Katie and I remained upright the whole time and had fun.

Something up our leaves!

Issaquah's 41st Salmon Days Festival promised they had "something up our leaves", so Katie and I went down there today to check it out. This is an annual festival held to celebrate the salmon returning to Issaquah's waterways to spawn. Katie and I stood on the bridge over the creek that runs through Issaquah (I have no idea what it's called - you'd think I would know by now...) and we watched, along with lots of other folks as huge salmon struggle to swim in very shallow water, against the current, up stream to their destination, where they were born. I had a hard time talking Katie into even walking over there to look, (she was certain it would be BORING - with an attitude) but she enjoyed it once she realized she could actually see the fish and they were very active.

There were several things that Katie was interested in checking out. Of course, if there are inflatable bounce houses there, she always wants some bounce time. So, she did that for a few minutes.


There was something called Human Hamster Balls where you climb inside a giant inflatable ball and roll yourself around like a hamster. Katie was totally into that, but so was everyone else and the line was unimaginably long! We decided not to waste time standing in such a long line. Oh well, it looked like fun, anyway.


There was also something called Puget Sound DockDogs. In the Ohfishal Program, it says, "Watch as dogs of all shapes and sizes daringly dash down the dock to dive into a tremendous tank of water, creating a tidal wave of fun for all." We watched it for a while and Katie loved it. She was especially curious about one of the dogs who had canine cancer who was given an extra turn, but just wasn't performing well due to her illness. That sparked a conversation with Katie about cancer, which she'd never heard of before, and she was so sad that the dog was going to die from the disease.

Another attraction for the kids was a train ride. That was the first thing we did. One of the cars was designed to look like a car that carries circus animals. So, of course we had to ride in that one.




But, Katie's favorite activity of the whole day was the playground, which is there all the time, not just for the festival! She's a sucker for a good playground, for sure.





They had a full schedule of shows to entertain the kids and the last one today was the Reptile Guy. Katie and I sat in on it and she really enjoyed it. She was right up there in the front row, getting up close and personal with all the reptiles. It doesn't seem to bother her.

Jamie VanEaton's Oopsie Rolls (Gluten Free bread substitute)

3 ozs. cream cheese (do not soften)
3 large eggs, separated
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Separate the eggs and add the cream cheese to the yolks. Use a mixer to combine the ingredients together.
3. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff. If you are using the same mixer, mix the whites first and then the yolks.
4. Using a spatula, gradually fold the egg yolk mixture into the whites, being careful not to break down the whites.
5. Grease a cookie sheet and spoon the mixture onto the sheet, making 6 mounds. Flatten each mound slightly.
6. Bake about 30 minutes and take out while still soft, not crumbly.
7. Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes and then remove to a rack and allow them to cool.
8. Store in a loosely closed sack and allow to rest on the counter before use, otherwise they might be too moist.
9. Can be frozen.

*Varation: You can add herbs to the yolk mixture to spice it up or add stevia to the yolk mixture to make a sweet roll.

Cinnamon Coffee Mug Bread (Sugar Free, Gluten Free)

1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp powdered stevia (1 packet)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1 tbs butter, melted

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add the egg and butter and beat until smooth.
3. Pour batter into a coffee mug.
4. Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes or until done.
5. Dump it out of the mug and then slice.

Coconut Muffins (Sugar Free, Gluten Free)

9 eggs
6 tbs butter, melted
2/3 cup coconut milk
1 tsp liquid stevia (90 drops)
3/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sifted coconut flour
3/4 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Blend together eggs, butter, coconut milk, stevia, salt and vanilla.
   
3. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix into batter until there are no lumps remaining.
   
4. Pour batter into 12 greased muffin cups.
   
5. Bake for 23 minutes or until golden brown, or until toothpick comes out clean.

161 calories, 13 grams fat, 4.9 carbs, 6 grams protein, per muffin.

Spring/Summer Video

I decided to put together a video of short clips from the footage I shot throughout the spring and summer this year. As I looked through it, I realized I actually didn't get all that much on film this year. That's not like me at all! I need to get back into the habit of filming things. Anyway, here's the video.

ZooTunes at Woodland Park

Tonight Regina, Katie and I we went to see Cyndi Lauper perform her Memphis Blues Tour concert at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Betty stayed home with a caregiver. We picked Katie up from school, stopped for a snack and headed to the zoo through all the stop-and go-traffic. Yuck. Made it in time though to set up our chairs on the grass and eat our picnic dinner while listening to the opening act. I didn't take my camera, but snapped a couple of shots with my cell phone. Didn't get any pics of Cyndi though, too far away, but she was the one on the stage with the huge, bright red wig on! Completely outrageous!

Katie enjoying the concert?

First Day of School - First Grade!

Katie's a first-grader now and today was her first day at school. She's going to the same school she attended last year, so she's with many of her same friends and she's actually going to have the same teacher again this year. We're happy about that since she's a wonderful educator and Katie adores her. Katie is especially excited about school starting up again because now she can see her boyfriend every day. They fell in love last year and even though they did not see each other all summer, their love seems to have survived the separation. She's quite smitten with him, as you will see in the pictures below...

Katie "posing" for the obligatory first-day-of-school photo on the front porch.

Katie and her boyfriend found each other within minutes of arriving at school!

Katie sitting in her classroom at her desk.

Katie and her teacher.

Katie LOVES her dogs!

2nd Day at Grandma and Grandpa Finger's House

Wow, talk about HOT! Living in Seattle, we are definitely NOT used to this kind of heat! But, we managed to stay cool by spending the afternoon at the local swimming pool.

Local pool in this small Kansas town. We had a great time!

Katie's favorite activity was to go down the water slide.

Since she doesn't really swim yet, she held on to this "noodle" to stay above the surface.

Tonight we went back to the rodeo again.

And when we got home, we had to play with the kittens before going to bed, of course.

First Full Day at Grandma and Grandpa Finger's

Katie and I arrived at Grandpa (my Dad) and Grandma's (Karone) house yesterday evening. They live in southeast Kansas, so we flew into the Tulsa airport on Southwest airlines. It was an all-day process to get there from Seattle, but well worth it. Dad and Karone were anxiously waiting for us immediately outside security at the airport and greeted us with great big hugs. On the way to their house, we stopped and at Lone Star Steakhouse and ate a delicious dinner.

Here are some pictures of our first full day at Grandma and Grandpa's:

Every morning Rosie (The black dog in the above picture.) woke Katie up by jumping up on her bed and giving her kisses all over her face. Katie loved it! On this first morning, Grandma joined in along with two of their other dogs, Mandy and Dixie. Katie didn't mind one bit. She would have loved it if her room had been FULL of dogs!

It was sooo hot there! In the 90s and even in the low 100s, along with the high humidity, it was quite a change for us being used to the cool Seattle summer. Katie and the dogs ended up in their kiddie pool for the afternoon.




Katie and I really lucked out. They had three kittens who appreciated all the attention that we were happy to give them. They had lost their mother, so Grandma Karone had been taking special care of them for a while now. We spent as much time as we could with them. There were three of them. Katie named them Rose, Olivia and Lucky. Pictured here is Olivia.

Katie with Mandy (I think - Mandy and Dixie look too much alike!)

Tonight we ended up at the rodeo in Sedan, KS. It was Katie's first one and it was my first in probably 30 years or so! Katie seemed to really get into it and enjoyed watching. Of course, she made us all climb to the highest spot of the bleachers...