Our Family Adventures

slow cookin' the day away...

2012-01-31T01:43:00.000-08:00

After only being back one day from Hawaii I was still missing the pork that accompanied my Hawaiian lunch plate. I love the salty and smoky flavor of the meat but knew that I wasn't going to be burying a whole pig in a fire pit in my backyard. I turned to my trusty crock pot (along with some Internet research) to try to find a great recipe that I could recreate at home. Low and behold I came together with the one below and boy did it turn out tasty.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork Recipe

boneless pork shoulder (about 4 lbs.)
1 1/2 tbsp. of kosher salt
1 tbsp. of liquid smoke
1 tsp. of fresh ground black pepper
*you can also add 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar if you want a more tangy taste.
cook 16hrs on low heat setting

I tend to serve my pulled pork on hamburger buns with coleslaw and BBQ sauce but this would be great on its own as well.

(place your pork shoulder in the crock pot on low setting)

(after 16 hrs +/- take your pork out of the crock pot and trim any remaining fat off of the meat.)

(use two forks to pull apart the pork. you know it is done when it pulls apart very easy.)

(enjoy!)

aloha...

2012-01-28T22:15:00.000-08:00

We have just returned from ten glorious days on the Big Island (aka Ethan's second home as far as he is concerned.) The day that we were supposed to fly out was the day of the "Seattle Snow Storm from Hell". It was all over the news that Seattle was going to be getting dumped on and the worst of it was supposed to happen right when our flight was supposed to depart.

Luckily, Jeff had the awesome idea to go and stay near the airport the night before so that way if it did snow like they were predicting we would just have to take a short shuttle ride to the airport. On the day of the big snow storm we were thankfully able to fly out, and were only an hour and a half late out of the gate. Let's just say that we have had our fill of Denny's for the year now.

Once we got to Hawaii we were in paradise. We reserved a condo at the Waikoloa Beach Villas and they did not disappoint. Our condo was located on the bottom floor which worked out perfect for us. We got to run outside and play in the morning and even had our very own BBQ right outside the patio. Every day we had sunny beautiful weather which equaled spending our time between the beach and the pool everyday. We got really good at digging holes in the sand and Ethan got really good at knocking down sand castles. We did venture out a couple of times to visit Bubba Gump and Kona Brewery. Plus, I got Ethan and Jeff to join me on a tour of Hula Daddy coffee. *Their tour is free and you get to sample some great Kona coffee to boot!

(View outside of our condo patio overlooking the golf course. Too bad we don't golf.)

(After dinner sundae at the Macaroni Grill @ the Queen's Shops.)

(Walk down to our favorite snorkel beach at the Mauna Lani Resort.)

(Ethan making his award winning "Fish Soup". He mastered the recipe by the end of the trip.)

(Ethan's favorite thing to do in Hawaii, besides the pool of course.)

(Our fill in pet while we were on vacation.)

(Ethan showing off that he can swim with his floaties all by himself in the pool.)

(A typical Hawaiian lunch plate.)

(Ginger and Lychee shaved ice with a sno cap from Anuenue Shave Ice. My absolute favorite shaved ice on the Big Island.)

off on an adventure...

2012-01-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a sneak peak of our upcoming family adventure. I'll be sure to post once we return tanned and well rested.

let's play in the snow...

2012-01-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

Winter is now upon us and so is the snow. Overnight mother nature dropped more snow down onto our neighborhood and Ethan, Bindi, and I took advantage of it. Ethan and I had a snowball fight, followed by making snow angels, building a snow man, and then just running around crazy in the snow.

it's snowing...

2012-01-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

The snow has finally arrived in the Seattle area. We had a great deal of snowfall for about an hour and then it seemed to melt away. While it lasted it was nice to look at outside the windows in the comfort of our own home. Unfortunately Ethan had a little bit of a cold so was not able to go out and take advantage of it. They say it is supposed to snow tomorrow so we will see if he will get his chance to conquer the snow again. Bindi sure enjoyed it though.

up, up, and away...

2012-01-06T07:50:00.000-08:00

Our neighbors invited us to head over to the Museum of Flight in Seattle during our winter break. Even though I have lived in Washington my entire life I had never visited the museum. It was actually a very cool display and kids are actually able to sit in some of the planes. We were also able to tour a concord jet and they also had one of the United States of America presidential planes on display that you could tour as well. We also sat in on a planetarium presentation where you go into a big inflated room and watch a star show. Ethan had a great time hanging with his friend Isaac and Jeff and I had a great time hanging out with our neighbors and looking at all the planes.

science rocks at the pacific science center...

2012-01-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

Since we had the week off and the weather was not that great we headed to the Pacific Science Center on one of our days off to hang out in Seattle. Jeff was heading to a game day at a friends house so he was able to join us in the morning and then after he left Ethan and I had a great time exploring the rest of the science center. Ethan absolutely loved the space shuttle that you could sit in and he also thoroughly enjoyed the shadow wall. I remember I loved the shadow wall when I was a kid as well so it was great to see him having so much fun in there and I had a great time too.

Before Jeff left we also took a ride up the elevator to the top of the Space Needle. Even though it was a little foggy and rainy up there Ethan liked being up way high and it was great to see the city.

new year's resolutions...

2012-01-02T18:15:00.000-08:00

At the start of each new year I like to make a list of things that I would love to accomplish in the coming year. Here are mine below...

Have more home cooked meals at our dinner table. Our lives tend to get busy with work and preschool but I am going to try to take time to make delicious healthy dinners for my family to be eaten at the dinner table while we discuss what went on in our days.
Get better acquainted with my sewing machine. I've only barely scratched the surface of using my sewing machine so I am going to try and get more creative with it. Maybe possibly some skirts??
Go on more outside adventures. This is mostly for the Spring/Summer months but I would love for us to get out and explore more.
See more of my friends and family. As stated above work and preschool make us long for the weekends with nothing to do but I am going to make an effort to see friends that I haven't seen in a long time and also see my family more.
Eat healthy. Yes, I know this is always on people's New Year's resolution lists but I really want to eat less bread and pasta and sweets since they tend to give me headaches and no energy. I have been eating this way for only five days now but I am feeling great so it must be working. ;)
And of course update my blog more since I know everyone loves seeing pictures of my adorable son.

Happy New Year everyone and I hope that you are all able to accomplish your goals and have a wonderful year in 2012!

let there be lights...

2012-01-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

Jeff puts on a pretty great light display on our house every year but we decided to go and see the lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden - Garden d' lights. We ended up going the day after Christmas since I thought that the crowds would be a little smaller and boy was I wrong. The place was hopping and it was a little crowded to see the displays but luckily there are so many lights that you have views all around you. Plus, if you have kids under 4 they get in free!

ho ho ho...

2011-12-31T09:30:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous holiday this year. Both Jeff and I had the week off from work and Ethan was out of daycare so we had a bunch of fun family time. We got to visit with a lot of family and friends and Ethan was so excited for Santa to visit. We had to make sure that our fireplace was not blocked so that Santa could come down the chimney and eat our cookies and milk that we left out for him. We had a great Christmas morning opening up presents as a family and playing with our toys after the craziness was over. Then we headed up to Bellingham for dinner to visit with Grandpa and family. Thanks again for the wonderful dinner and hosting us all dad and Jackie!!! And thanks Alison and Sid for hosting us on Christmas Eve!!!

(Hanging out with his cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Herron's)

(Ethan's present to me. He picked it out himself because he wanted his mom to have a girl dump truck and magic wand to play with.)

(Castle from Grandma and Grandpa Allsop.)

(Our Christmas Tree)

the san francisco treat...

2011-12-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

This past week I took a trip down to San Francisco to visit some friends and attend a conference for work. I arrived on a Saturday and stayed with my friends Jill and Greg at their very swanky apartment in the city. Thanks guys for letting me crash at your pad. We took in the Cirque du Soleil show Totem and ate at some very yummy restaurants in different parts of the city which was a delight.

They also took me on a drive into the Santa Cruz mountains to go wine tasting. We drove up and up and went to a winery at the very top and then made our way back down stopping at a few other wineries along the way. The weather was a little cool but we were able to have a picnic outside at a winery that had their very own peacocks. I ended up getting a few bottles since there was no way I could go home empty handed and I knew that Jeff would love the wine as well.

The rest of the time I spent in the financial district attending training for work and it was in the perfect location, right across the street from my new favorite place the Ferry Building. If you are in San Francisco I highly recommend that you check this place out and make sure you visit hungry.

*Special thanks to Jeff as well for being a single dad for a week.

a house built out of candy...

2011-11-26T12:51:00.000-08:00

Instead of hitting the malls in the wee hours of the morning, Ethan and I constructed a house out of gingerbread and candy thanks to a kit we bought at Costco. Luckily, Ethan didn't end up eating all of the candy like last year a bunch actually made it onto the house this time. He definitely has a knack for decorating and the house turned out great.

Let the holiday festivities begin!

a bit to be thankful for...

2011-11-25T14:10:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful turkey day at the Kalles household. Dinner turned out great and everyone left with full bellies. We have been talking a lot about Thanksgiving and what we are thankful for in our house lately. Before dinner we went around the table to discuss what we were thankful for. Ethan decided that he was thankful for Popsicles. We had asked him this same question the day before and his answer was he was thankful to get to live in places like Disneyland and Hawaii. We are taking this as a sign that we travel a little to much.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ended the evening with full bellies.

roll tide...

2011-11-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend our friends Chris and Joni had a Alabama football party to watch the big game against LSU. We were tasked with bringing the dessert for our group of friends. I could not decide what to make but wanted them to be Alabama themed. Jeff suggested that I make red velvet cupcakes with white frosting. I thought that sounded like a great idea and then I also added to the theme by using red sugar sprinkles that were Ethan's choice and then printing out the Alabama logo and creating a cupcake decoration. They were a big hit at the party! I never was that big of a baker before but I love me some cupcakes and I love to decorate them even more.

The game ended up going into overtime and unfortunately they lost but we all had a blast and left with full tummies.

happy halloween...

2011-11-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

It was a busy time at the Kalles household this Halloween. We ended up carving our pumpkins with our neighbors and Ethan was a little scared of the pumpkin innards but loved cutting the pumpkin. He was not the greatest cutter, plus our safety knife broke so I ended up doing most of the work.

Ethan's daycare also had a Halloween parade where the kids got to go and trick-or-treat around the nearby office park. Everyone was parading in their costumes and it was a site to be seen.

We also ventured out and trick-or-treated around our house and visited a nearby house that always has the best decorations for every holiday and Halloween was no exception.

And we actually grew our own pumpkin in our garden this year as well. As you can see below, we will not be winning any prizes for the biggest pumpkin.

parading through the pumpkin patch...

2011-10-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

To continue with our Halloween traditions we headed to the pumpkin patch with our next door neighbors and Ethan's buddy Isaac. We changed things up this year and headed down to South 47 Dr. Maze Farm. We had a pretty good time eating kettle corn and searching for the perfect pumpkin. Ethan was very intrigued with the monster pumpkins this year and stayed in that section of the patch the entire time.

viva las vegas...

2011-10-15T15:16:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I have just returned from his company trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. The last time we went to Vegas was about twelve years ago and there was plenty to see and do this time. We barely scratched the surface of the strip but we did make our way to old Las Vegas. We won some and we lost some but I happily came away ahead. I didn't lose my wages in Las Vegas.

A couple of highlights from the trip was seeing the show KA by Cirque du Soleil at the MGM Grand Hotel. I highly recommend this show if you make it to Vegas. As Jeff said, the stage deserved its own standing ovation. We also got a chance to eat at the restaurant Le Cirque at the Bellagio. This was an absolutely fantastic meal. Then the final highlight was a trip to the Grand Canyon via route 66. For those that know me, I've always wanted to travel down route 66 and even though it was a short ride it was still fun. We took a river rafting trip through the canyon and then a helicopter ride. We were on the road for at least 6 hours and almost ran out of gas in the desert but it was well worth it.

(Our accomidations for the week.)

(Old Las Vegas)

(We visited the Pawn Stars Show pawn shop.)

ghosts, goblins, and witches...

2011-10-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the long delay between blog posts but we have been pretty busy in the Kalles household recently. I did manage to get my Halloween decorations up on October 1st (minus the scary ghost that makes noises which is hiding in the garage.) After going through many of costume catalogs and I mean many, Ethan settled on being a jack-o-latern. That was what he was on his first Halloween and had recently seen a picture of him as a baby in it so he immediately wanted to be one again. I will be sure to post pictures at a later date!

Let's play some football...

2011-09-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the season home opener of the Seattle Seahawks. For those that don't know, Jeff is a season ticket holder and has been for quite a few years. Last year he was able to get a seat for Ethan to go but it was a little too much for him with the super loud crowd last year so they only made it to kickoff before having to leave. This year we have three seats so I was able to go which helped things a bit. Plus, Jeff had gotten Ethan special noise reduction headphones which worked like a charm. We were actually able to stay until half way through the third quarter. I think that the fries and popcorn also helped this time as well and they WON. Go Seahawks!

We also had a United Way carnival at my work this past Friday. Ethan was one of a handful of kids that came so he got to play the carnival games at least four times and that equalled lots and lots of prizes. I think Ethan actually had a sugar overdose that day.

big boys, big toys...

2011-09-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

The day has arrived. Ethan finally got his big boy bed. We had taken him shopping and had looked all over for a twin bed that would work in his room. I wanted to make sure that the colors and such were just right. After scouring the interwebs and going to a couple of furniture stores we finally found one at Dania right down the street from our house.

I have to tell you, bed shopping was a little hard for Ethan. He was really excited to finally get one but the concept of not taking it home when we bought it was a little hard to take. Ethan did not understand that when you order a bed you have to wait for it to be delivered so it was a long three days for him. But when it finally arrived we had his room set up when he came home from school and he was so excited. The next day when Jeff took him to school he was happy to tell everyone he slept in a big boy bed. Very cute!!

summertime endings...

2011-09-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Summertime is almost coming to an end and my favorite season fall is quickly approaching. To take advantage of the clear nights I put some salmon on the grill and it turned out great. I know that some people are afraid of cooking salmon so I will share my recipe with you to make it turn out perfect every time. All you need is four ingredients, fresh salmon, a lemon, 1/4 cup of brown sugar depending on the size of the salmon, two chopped garlic cloves, and butter.

Create a "pan" with aluminum foil. Be sure to fold up the sides so that the extra juices do not spill all over the place. This also makes it easier to move on and off the grill and onto your dinner plate.
Spread a generous amount of butter over the salmon fillets.
Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top. If you like sweets you will want to be generous with the brown sugar.
Sprinkle the chopped garlic evenly over the salmon.
Slice the lemons and place them on top.
Depending how fast your grill cooks you will want to cook the salmon until the flesh is no longer opaque and is a darker pink.

I love to serve salmon with grilled veggies since this fish is such a hearty meal.

To get into the fall mood I also made a pumpkin cream cheese bread. I had a box of Trader Joes Pumpkin Bread mix in my pantry and whipped up a cream cheese filling to fold into the bread batter and boy did it turn out yummy!

go fly a kite...

2011-09-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

For the Labor Day weekend we joined our friends Jeff and Courtney at Seabrook Washington to enjoy the long weekend. Seabrook ended up being a very quaint town where kids were all out riding their bikes and enjoying the fresh air. All of the cottages were centered around the community, in close proximity to the fire pits that were surrounded by neighbors hanging out and having a good time.

If you want a safe place to take your kids on a vacation where everyone will indeed have a fun time I highly recommend Seabrook. You can rent cottages here.

a whirlwind weekend...

2011-08-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

While Jeff was off working at PAX Ethan and I headed up to visit some of the grandparents in Anactores and Bellingham. In Anacortes we got to tour an old tug boat used in WWII that was offering tours at the marina.

Ethan also got to go out for a short ride on grandpa's scooter which he loved. After it was over he told me that we needed to get a motorcycle. We'll see about that.

While in Bellingham we visited Hovander Park and then headed to Birch Bay for some fun in the sand and surf. Luckily for Ethan we had a change of clothes in the car since he dived right in.

woodland park zoo...

2011-08-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

Jeff has been gearing up for his big work show PAX going on this coming weekend so Ethan and I had a day to ourselves. What better way to hang out than at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

We packed a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit and headed to the zoo to pretend to be silly monkeys for the day. I even talked him into going and seeing their Dinosaur exhibit. He was a little scared at first but seemed to enjoy it. I think his favorite thing about the exhibit was that the dinosaur spit and burped and of course getting ice cream at the end of the day.

(Ethan was a little nervous about getting close to the dinosaur)

(Trying to force a smile while wanting to make a mad dash out of there)

(Ethan tamed the beast by the end of it)

remlinger farms...

2011-08-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

The sun decided to make an appearance in full force this weekend so we hopped in the car and headed to Remlinger Farms in Carnation Washington. This place has it all and is fantastic for kids, especially little ones Ethan's age. They had plenty of kid amusement rides and Ethan was able to go on all of them. We met up with his neighbor friend Isaac, his sister Lucy, and their family and they all had a blast.

We were unable to pick berries this time but it is definitely something that we plan to do again in the future.