Treasure Hunting

How do you get two girls interesting in hiking and being outdoors when it is drizzling outside?  Such is our conundrum...   Ronnie and I both like being outdoors, the girls tolerate it but not when it is wet out.  Yeah, we live in the Pacific northwest, they are going to need to get over it.  Ronnie came up with the perfect solution: Geocaching. 

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game using a GPS.  Basically, you navigate yourself to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.  The caches are listed on various websites, which also let you know how easy or hard they are to locate when you get to the coordinates.  So, enter our rainy day tromp through the woods around Lacey. 

This weekend, we set about locating a "Pink Princess" cache in a local park.  I think the pictures tell the story the best....

Off we go through the woods.  We wandered around for a bit trying to figure out the exact clues to get us near the cache. 

Hmmm, is there something in this dead stump?

I don't know, let me look...  Hey, there is something! 

Hurry hurry, open it up!!!!!

The girls had so much fun in the woods looking for the cache, though the prize itself was a bit disappointing.  We had fun learning about local mushrooms, the different trees, and all about moss - nature's carpet.  So, our first geocache was a success, and left the girls asking to go on more "treasure hunts."

Giving Thanks

Over the years, we have been blessed to have been with some fantastic friends that make missing our families at Thanksgiving a distant thought.  But this year, everything changes.  You see, we are stationed in the Seattle-area, meaning that we are stationed near my mom's side of the family.  My grandmother, aunts, uncles, and loads of cousins all live within a two hour drive of our home.  So this year, we had a Thanksgiving celebration complete with lots of family surrounding us.

On Wednesday, we drove over the hills and through the woods to my grandma's house.  We woke up Thanksgiving morning and I learned how to make her homemade pie crust and her famous apple pie.  We had a great time in the kitchen together and even got the girls involved in some of the smaller tasks.  Later in the afternoon, we drove down to my aunt's house to meet up with the rest of the family.  We ate and laughed and enjoyed one another's company. 

Friday morning we lounged around my grandma's house and visited some more.  I am so thankful that my girls have this opportunity to get to know their great-grandma.  Later on in the afternoon, we headed on back home so that I could get a move on my homework.  Sticking with our promise of eating cleaner and more local, we ordered a fresh turkey from the Tacoma Food Co-op.  And since Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving if you don't have leftovers for days, we cooked up another mini-Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday.  Our bird came out so lovely; it was a little more on the game tasting side, which was a wonderful surprise.  I'm thinking this will be the way we go from here on out. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Settling In

We've been in WA for a month now.  Doesn't seem like it should be, but time has just flown by.  We have been out meeting our new neighbors, finding a church home, and getting the girls in their "school" groove.  So, a quickie update that doesn't fit into another post:

Sarah finally found the new bicycle she wanted.  This was a belated birthday present for her - we promised that she can pick out any one she wanted when we got to the States since we were in the throes of a move.  She loves riding it up and down our driveway and around the cul-de-sac we live on (especially if Mr. Ed has the puppies out).

We have our first child back home with us.  Cleo has spent the last 26 months enjoying the peace and quiet at Grandma's house in Florida.  As you can see, she has made herself right at home. 

Yesterday morning, we woke up to some snow flurries on the ground.  By the afternoon it had all melted, but the girls had fun playing in it anyway. 

Overflowing Baskets

A few months ago, my friend Nicole posted about Bountiful Baskets, a wonderful food co-op she had been participating in down in AZ.  Curiosity set me on the path to find out if something similar was available in WA... and to my great excitement it was. 

Fresh produce was a luxury in Korea... if you bought from the commissary, then the odds of it not wilting or rotting within a day were slim to none. We opted to purchase from the 4-9 market, but you can't get everything you want or need from there.  So what's a girl to do?  Unfortunately it was on to frozen and canned foods for almost two years and day of trips to the commissary to ensure the produce wouldn't go to waste.  Once we moved to WA, Ronnie and I vowed to buy the freshest produce by taking advantage of the farmer's markets, food co-ops/CSAs, and even planing our own salad garden in the spring. 

We started participating in Bountiful Baskets a few weeks ago.  They are an all volunteer group that pools the money received to buy fresh fruits and veggies in bulk.  You are guaranteed to receive 50% fruit and 50% veggies for your donation of $15 per week.  I wanted to share what all we are getting for our $15 and, more importantly, what we are doing with it.  Here is our basket for this past weekend:

The picture on the left is what Ronnie brought home from the pickup; on the right is it all organized.  We received grapes, blackberries, bananas, apples, persimmons, oroblancos, and kiwi for fruit.  We got celery squash, onion, sweet potatoes, and baking potatoes for our veggies.  And yes, all this for $15...  and having to get out of bed at 6:45 am on a Saturday. 

Now with all this wonderful food filling our pantry, we turn around and meal plan for the week.  That way, we all have a plan and I don't have anything spoil from my box.  What I do is put the weekly menu on little slips of paper and place them in a "draw" bag that the kids draw from in the morning. 

1. Chicken Parmesan with salad - I had leftover salad fixings from last week's basket.


2. Corned beef and cabbage with boiled potatoes - again, leftover cabbage from last week's basket and using some of the potatoes from this week's basket.

3. Cheesy chicken casserole and green beans - a kid favorite.  Here's the recipe if you are so inclined: http://www.food.com/recipe/weight-watchers-chicken-and-cheese-casserole-158634

It's a WW one ;) I normally use a can of cream of chicken soup and cream of mushroom vs both being mushroom. Then again, I've also used a can of cheddar cheese soup too. It's really good and simple. Oh, and it freezes AWESOME!

4. Sweet potatoes and chili beans - This is a fantastic recipe from The Sprouted Kitchen.  http://sproutedkitchen.com/?p=3451  I add a pound of ground beef to the chili beans for Ronnie.

5. Roast chicken, squash casserole, and mashed potatoes - From this week's basket. 

6. LEFTOVER NIGHT!!!!!

7. Pizza night if the kids earned it. If not, there will be a second leftover night.

We use the fruits for snacks and desserts.  We made a wonderful pear and blackberry cobbler for dessert one night and an apple crisp another night. 

So far, this has really been working for us.  We hardly have any wasted food, are eating very healthy and fresh food, and the kids LOVE the draw bag.

Play is the Real Work of Childhood ~ Fred Rogers

We are so accustomed to seeking indoor play options because of the Korean weather that the PNW weather doesn't phase us...  But on to building a  new list of places to go and play when Mother Nature isn't exactly cooperating. 

Such was our day on Saturday.  We had planned to go to the zoo at Point Defiance, but a slow, drizzly, cold day cancelled those plans.  Luckily, I had read up on some other things to do in the Tacoma area, so we visited the Children's Museum of Tacoma.  What a great place!  Tons of play areas, dress-up areas, art areas.   The girls were enthralled for hours and we were warm and dry.  

They are in the midst of building a new museum right down the road which promises more "exhibits" and more areas to play. We were so impressed that we invested in a membership... that way we can come and play anytime we want!

Bursts of Color

The leaves are falling, the leaves are falling!  Hopefully next year I will have my stuff together to go and photograph our beautiful foiliage...  we have an especially nice drive to the base.  But for now, here are some of the girls playing in the leaves.  So much fun!