A good sign

As Hudson and I left the walk in clinic tonight and headed over to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions for the horrible mouth sores he's been dealing with, along with a fever, for the past three days this is what we saw.

"Hudson, that's got to be a good sign" I said. "We are driving right into a rainbow. Your misery is going to end soon."

And when we arrived and saw that our destination was directly under it I was even more sure. There has got to be some relief for him in there.

Now we are home. He has taken the pills, he has done the mouth rinse (not enjoyable) and he has put on the topical numbing cream.
We are hoping for great things in the morning. 
Rainbow or no rainbow.

Cookies with Nana

An afternoon with Nana is always special, especially when you get to choose exactly what treats you want to make and you get to make a trip to the candy store to get the perfect toppings for the 'pizza' cookies.
Thanks for sharing these with us Tag. They were delicious.

Seattle

The first Seahawks home game of the season was on Saturday. Tony took Hudson to Kelowna for a football tournament of his own so that meant I was the one driving into Seattle for the game. I don't have a lot of interest in seeing the Seahawks and Cooper was much more interested in taking a buddy anyway. So while Cooper and his friend were at the game, Reagan and Tag enjoyed exploring the city with me.
We had so much fun doing nothing.


Some cow chip cookies made the perfect snack.

Have you ever seen the gum wall? I had heard of it but never seen it. We stumbled upon it by accident. Tag was bummed that we didn't have any gum with us so he could add to it. I told him next time we come, we would remember to bring some. (it was an iphone day, so I've got blurry photos again)



We arrived at Pike Market just minutes before closing but we still managed to buy Tag a big juicy apple that he enjoyed for the next hour.

We came across these blue trees that i thought looked pretty cool. And there was a kids climbing area nearby which we spent some time at before heading to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.


Ipods became handy as we had to wait about half an hour for a table.

The three of us had such a great day. I really enjoyed hanging out with just these two.

A couple food successes

When a good friend threw a package of live mussels into my fridge because she wasn't going to be able to use them before she left on holidays, I really wasn't sure whether they would go to good use.
After all,  I've never cooked mussels and my family is not too crazy about seafood.
But then as if by fate, I had the short notice opportunity to have Anita and Brenda for dinner. My SIL, Brenda is a seafood lover, that I knew. But what I still didn't know was how to cook mussels. So Google became my friend and I found a recipe that looked simple enough and off I went. Turns out mussels are really easy to cook and they were delicious, if I do say so myself. Actually my lovely guests said so too. But as for my non-seafood loving kids...I didn't convert them. Anita actually paid Reagan and Cooper $5 to try one, which they both did. Cooper actually ate a few more but Reagan ate only the one to get her five dollar bill and then ate a bowl of cereal.
But I still call this a culinary success.



My second success was our meal of watermelon and rollkuchen. This wasn't an experiment or a first try. I have made them a couple times before, but somehow I never think I am going to be able to cook them like my Mom did. She is on my mind the whole time I roll out the dough, twist the little rectangles and do the frying. I think I am trying to channel her somehow to make them turn out as light and lovely as hers always did.
 
 
 
After my first bite, I realized quickly that these are not my Mom's rollkuchen. A little tough and just not the same. But the looks on the faces of those that I cook for as they walk into the kitchen and see them piling high in the dish and the smiles as the enjoy them is why I still consider this another culinary success.

Braun Day

Just a little summer get together in the backyard with my side of the family. Always enjoy spending time with these people.
Tag and Leo

Opa and Liam

Just more Braun peeps


Liam really wanted to go in the water so Cooper jumped in to help him out but that clearly wasn't what he wanted. I think he really wanted his daddy in there with him, but since Lyndon wasn't going in he needed to be satisfied with sitting on the edge.

A few splashes didn't seem to bother him at all.


Taggart enjoying the water.

Reagan and Evie, slightly out of focus but clearly having fun.
 
Wesley was more than happy to get a ride from Cooper.
 
Then back inside to warm up, enjoy the late evening sun pouring in the window and snack on a few Cheerios. Liam and Reagan.

20 Years.

20 years ago today Tony and I said "I do, for better or worse...."
There has been a little bit of worse but there has been a whole lot of better.
20 years and 4 beautiful kids later, there is so much to be thankful for and so much to celebrate.
Happy Anniversary. I love you.

Our city day

We all love a day in the city and because it doesn't happen that often, we pack as much as we can into that day. I thought the plan was going to be me taking the kids in and then meeting up with Tony later, after he was done work, for dinner. But as it turned out..he took the day off and we all went in together. I decided that my iphone was the only camera I wanted to carry around. When I looked at the photos later I wished I had taken my Nikon but....nevermind, as the memories are still the same.
We started the day off at Krause Berry Farms in Aldergrove.  Mary was meeting Nana there so it seemed the perfect place to have breakfast before heading downtown.

At Krause there is every kind of berry treat you could want but Taggart decided that nothing would do. My only rule is that he couldn't have ice cream or french fries for breakfast. Not unreasonable, I didn't think. He spent some time sulking while the rest of us enjoyed our shortcakes, pies and waffles. Cooper finally took him back to look again and he came back with a piece of corn pizza. A perfectly suitable breakfast.


I tried to get Nana into this photo but she was darting out of the sun so you'll just have to trust that she was there.

Our next stop was Capilano Suspension Bridge. The day was hot and sunny but underneath the canopy of all the trees we stayed nice and cool.





Hudson, in his usual fashion, spent the day ahead of all of us doing his own thing. We caught up with him at the end and I was able to snap this photo of all 4. One of my faves of the day.

Next stop...Granville Island. Always a favorite of the kids. A wander through the market provides so much for the senses. Love seeing all the perfect produce stacked neatly and there are so many choices of treats that everyone can choose their favorites for lunch.



A trip through the Kids Only market always means some new silly toys to bring home. Cooper was on the hunt to add to his LEGO minifigure collection. Hudson and Tag found some gag toys at the magic shop. Reagan found nothing but didn't mind at all. That girl's a saver, not a spender.


 
A gag knife for Tag and a gag gun for Hudson.


We even managed a couple family photos.
 

But not without bunny ears. At least they provide real smiles, not fake ones like I usually get.

Then we were on the move again. We headed down to the beach to watch the sunrise and just hang out. Of course, kids were hungry again so we picked up some pizza for Tag. Hudson, and Reagan, sushi for Cooper and burgers for Tony and I.
 


I tend to find we eat our way through the city with four ever hungry kids but the smiles here look like everyone was happy and satisfied. Great day.
(Apologies to Jake and Mary, as they actually joined us during parts of our day, but somehow never made it into the photos. We so loved that we could meet up with you. Thanks for fitting our plans into your day.)

A perfect view.