Weekend: Museum, Bean and Blythe

Hope everyone had a fantastic 3 day weekend. Luckily I didn't have to work it and we spent the three days hanging out as a family.

I started Saturday with a denstist appointment. I go to Bright Now! in Lynnwood because it's the only dentist I can trust. I'm such a big weenie when it comes to going to the dentist, but this current guy is so awsome. He understands my phobia and accomodates it. While Bean had acting class R and I had breakfast together at Barry's in Everett. Their food is so fantastic. I'd highly recommend it. We finished the day at home mowing the lawn, and cleaning.

On Sunday we spent the day doing what Bean wanted. We started with Dutch Babies at Mitzels, then went to the Pacific Science Museum. Grandma M & Grandpa I gifted us with a membership and Bean was excited to see their new Grossology exhibit. It lived up to it's name and was quiet gross. We saw Another Night at the Museum Imax then headed home to let out the dogs.

Monday was 'stay home day'. I cleaned the patio furniture, Bean and Bella sunned themselves out on the deck. I spent some time in my sewing room cleaning and organizing. Then Bean and I played with my dolls together. She redressed all the Blythes while I switched clothing on the Pullips and dusted the doll case. It was fun to hang out with her and paw through all the doll clothing.

First Sign of Spring

Bean found a furry little caterpillar crawling on the tarp wall in our front yard. She was memorized by it.

The construction on the street is progressing. We now have a curb. No sidewalk yet although the area is flattened. I think I'll miss when they move the cement barriers to the other side of the street and we have to fight our way out of the drive. Currently when we want out the flagger will stop traffic so that we can get in. I'm not sure they'll do it though when the barriers are over. There's no driveways on that side and less reason to flag us in. I also miss our trees. The two we have left look so scraggly and there's less wild life in the area.

Thrift Store Finds

Recently I've had some rather stellar thrift store finds. The best is an American Girl Kirstin doll that I paid a whooping $2 for. I could resell her on ebay for at least $40 - but Bean is going to keep her as she collects them. Several baggies of My Little Ponies that had a few rare ponies in them, a dressed My Twinn doll that will be traded or ebayed. A pretty milk glass fruit dish to replace the wire one that I love yet is too big.

I also purged several things from the house this last week too. A kitchen garbage bag of stuff to the thrift store, the old TV is in my car is waiting to go some where (where do old TV's go?) and Bean's crib found a new home with my best friend. And I have a pile of stuff to ebay - once I get off my butt and do it.

Bathing Bella

This picture is from Sunday but is still too cute not to share. A new puppy has really changed the dynamic of the house. This morning Bean got herself up, got dressed took care of both dogs and made herself breakfast with out any involvement from me. She has become considerably more responsible. And to our relief Bella has attached herself to Bean following her around like a little lost duckling.

Mother's Day in Portland part 2

When visiting Portland we stay at Red Lion Jantzen Beach as it is near our friends and is pet friendly. The hotel is interesting, it's two large buildings seperated by a bridge, it sits on the river with a pier, a beautiful outdoor pool, an indoor restuarant that serves a very pricey Sunday buffet and they host a lot of weddings. But one of the two hotel buildings is closed and fenced in. They've done some restoration on the inside of the open building but it still feels old, our hotel room had also been updated new TV and pretty beds, except the bathroom had cracked and broken fixtures. Still it's affordable and clean even if it's quirky.

Chair storage.

A 'wall' made from chairs and couches. It seperates a walk way from the buffet area and coffee bar.

After eating at Voodoo Doughnuts we said good-bye to our friends and met up with the puppy seller to pick up the newest member of our family. Bean has begged for several years and we finally caved and bought her a puppy. A pretty petite 'shorkie' which is 1/2 Shitzu and 1/2 Yorkie. She was a beautiful little girl but got car sick and had to ride home in her crate. Leaving Bean to cuddle with Remy.

Bean has named her puppy Bella and she's such a little cuddle bug. She likes to bound over the grass like a rabbit, then drops down and hides in the green like a ninja puppy. We'll have to enroll her in puppy classes. But right now she just wants to sleep with us on the couch. Remy is not completely amused.

Mother's Day Weekend in Portland

On Friday Bean spoiled me with my mother's day gifts. In class she had made a flower from a wooden spoon and a potted plant. I love class project gifts. So much inovation and creativity.

Saturday after Bean's acting classes we hit the road and headed to Portland. For lunch I wanted to eat some where that had personality. So we pulled off the road at Tumwater. A little sign caught our eye and in the distance the restuarant looked like a darling blue coastal building with white pillars and a wrap around porch. Cute! But then we pulled into the parking lot and R noticed the bar attached to the side of the restuarant and a large motorcycle gang parked out front. The blue paint was peeling off a building that looked more shabby than chic. So we stopped at a sub shop instead. We walked the dog and watched a nicely dressed man pee in the bushes outside of Costco. Tumwater has quite the personality.

We then arrived in Portland and after checking into our hotel we headed to the pool. Only too bad for us the pool was closed and we could only use the Hot Tub. Hot Tubs are not as fun as pools.

We wrapped up Saturday with some sushi and Rock Band with some friends. On Sunday we met up with the same friends for breakfast at Elmers. It's such good food! Bean had a dutch baby and now I have to find a recipie for it as it was pure yummy. After breakfast we headed to Voodoo Doughnuts which was featured on the Food Channel. They have two locations in Portland. The first one was full of bums so we went to the second location which is very quirky but has 100% less bumage. Bean and I had voodoo doll doughuts, complete with raspberry filling and prentzle stuck in the heart.

Continued tomorrow....

I have a love-hate realationship with our local Value Village. There are some days that I'll scoure the store then leave empty handed. Normally because everything is so very over priced. But sometimes I can be lucky. This last week my nearest store gave me a slew of hand made dollies for a very good price, and this beautiful tablecloth. I'm not sure if it's vintage but it's stamped 'Brown' and it matches my kitchen well.

I've also been collecting dishes that I find interesting. Such as this china bowel:


And I also have a thing for saucers. So petite and tiny.



Another pretty saucer and vintage plastic teacups in a cheery blue.



And all together.

One nice thing about being an adult is that you can go to Disneyland as many times as you want, it's like having chocolate cake for breakfast.

It's not the rides, smiley characters or fake buildings that we love so much. It's that at Disney there is so little to worry about. We go during value season, I'm great at preplanning, R is great at keeping us organized the final days up to our trip. It can be cheaper than a trip to the beach or camping. So the minute we step into the airport the only thing we need to do is relax and spend time as a family. Our families must think we're nuts as we've gone to Disneyland and Disneyworld twice in a very short period. But we're all so busy at home, with work and school - that it recharges our little family and helps us get to know each other better. We've had some great arguments on our trips. I miss it already, though we are planning on taking a little Disney break and focus on other vacations for the next few years. We want Bean to experience other things.

Bean handed me a tiny yellow post it note yesterday while I was bent over my sewing machine. It was an invitation to her Pokemon Club. I headed downstairs to discover her bedroom door was covered in more tiny post it notes with various signs such as 'We have Turtwig, Picachu and Zubat', 'No Team Galactic' and 'Train your Pokemon Here'.



She had her room set up as a battle arena and after I picked my pokemon (Pikachu) we battled it out. Her pokemon of course won, mine kept attacking me and she was some what tolerant of the moves I made up - although she kept looking up moves on the little Pokedex she got from Grandma Mary to check if I was doing it right.

After playing pokemon we dressed up her build-a-bears. I wish the clothing was better organized in her room. Right now it's all shoved in a plastic drawer, or hanging on paper hangers in her closet. It's not an ideal storage solution. I thought about purchasing this until I saw it in person at the store:



It's almost $40 and the inside drawers and compartments are cardboard. For that price I expect it to be better made - as is I didn't feel it was worth more than $20. It also didn't look like it would hold much.

If she had the floor space I would just purchase a short bookcase and glue a rod inside it to hang clothes.

May 1st was our ten year anniversery. In celebration the three of us went to dinner at The Melting Pot. I love fondue, the tiny forks and gooey dips are right up my alley. R enjoys it but it's not his favorite food, and Bean had never had it before. We arrived early and killed time by walking around the streets of Bellevue. It was a beautiful evening and the spring flowers were out.

Bean is wearing a dress from the children's resell shop. She picked out the socks herself. And her dog Pudding insisted on joining us.