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A few weeks ago Jon’s cousin was in town visiting us.  We had a lot of fun seeing the sites of Seattle with her!  Friday morning, we had a big homemade breakfast then, headed to Seattle to RIDE THE DUCKS!  It was a lot more fun than we thought it’d be and was a great way to see the major attractions.  Our tourguide was great, I felt like we were in a Disneyland parade or something because the music was blaring and we were waving and everyone on the street was waving back.  On the tour we got to see Pike’s Place, Pioneer Square, Fremont, Gasworks Park and a bunch of other sites on land and sea.  After the tour we headed to Pike’s Place and after some running around found Pike’s Place Chowder.  Their Seafood Bisque was amazing, totally worth the wait!!!  We also saw the gum wall which we’d never seen before (disgusting!!!).  After wandering the market for a bit we headed to the Seattle Aquarium.  We got a chance to feed some sea urchins, which was a lot of fun.  The highlight of the day was going on an Argosy Cruise to Tillicum Village on Blake Island.  I saw mixed reviews for the cruise online, but I have no idea what the bad reviewers were talking about, it was awesome!!!  The boat ride there was about 40 minutes and they gave the history of the Native American tribes from the area and how they helped the settlers that first came to Seattle.  Once we got to Blake Island the dancers performed a welcoming dance while we ate these yummy clams in a garlic broth.  The best thing was once we were done with the clams we got to throw the shells down on the ground and smash them.  The whole path leading up to the long house was crushed clam shells, how cute!  Once we got into the long house we got to see how Native Americans cooked salmon around a fire, we got to explore a little too.  Then the big event SALMON BUFFET!  All of the food was great actually, but the salmon was the best I’ve ever eaten.  After dinner there was a really nice dance show which told some Native American stories.  The stage was really elaborate , the costumes were great, and the production was just really well put together.  After the show was over we got a chance to roam the beach and explore the island a bit too.  The sunset was gorgeous!  The best thing about the whole thing was that we got the whole thing half off because of our Prime Card!!!!! 

Saturday we wrapped up the weekend.  First we had dim sum in the International District, then we lined up to tour a stealth ship that was harbored in Seattle for Seafair.  The ship was very impressive and the service men and women on the ship were very helpful and friendly.  The ship is called the Greenbay.  Towards the end of the tour they had an abulence and tank that you could get in and see the inside of.  They also had demos of how to use a missle launcher and a machine gun.  I was too scared to hold either, but Jon was more than willing to volunteer.  It was a fun outing and really interesting.  We also got to tour a Canadian mine sweeper boat which was smaller, but still pretty neat to see.

 

It was my birthday last week. I’m 26 and I’m really feeling the effects. Despite my quickly aging body, we were able to go out and do some fun stuff.

REI had a “garage sale” with tons of heavily discounted items. We got there half an hour early and there was already a huge line. Once they started letting people in, it was a mad house! Unfortunately since it was our first time, we weren’t able to find anything worth grabbing. But then people started throwing back the stuff they had grabbed but didn’t want. That’s when we raked in our kill! Yea yea, call us vultures–you’ll be laughing until you see the deals we got!

This is what we got (in no particular order): inflatable sleeping pad, two pairs of ski gloves, a pair of hiking boots, a pair of Nike shoes, a pair of sandal-shoes, and a pair of baby sandal-shoes. Let me give you an idea of the greatness of these deals. The particular line of gloves we got sells for $160. Ours were in perfect condition and only cost $34! And the boots? They normally sell for $185. The pair we got look like they’ve been used once and we paid $20 for them. What great deals! Watch out for my listings on eBay!

For dinner, Angela made a meatloaf cake. It tasted so good!

That evening, we had a bunch of friends over from our ward and it was a really good time. We had ice cream cake that said “Happy Birthday Princess” and I got to wear a pipe-cleaner tiara. Woot!

Well, a couple of weeks ago Jon and I thought we’d step up our exercise game and get bikes so that we could save on gas $ and get a little bit of a work out at the same time.  I know from the pictures they look pretty cool, by my bike was only $60 at Fred Meyer.  Jon’s is a little higher end, but’s nothing Mr. Armstrong would be drolling over in envy.  The first day that Jon and I went out biking was mildly traumatic, it was pouring rain and I hadn’t ridden a bike for at least 5 years.  By the time we were on our way home I had a seriously bruised bottom and told Jon that I refused to ride anymore until we got a better seat for my bike.  The next morning Jon bought me the most fabulous bike seat in the world!  It’s like riding on a cloud!  So now that we’ve got hot new wheels we’re riding them pretty much every where.  *ding ding*

We took a trip to Las Vegas for my cousin’s wedding. It was a really fun trip, but the heat and dust was ridiculous. We found ourselves planning out where we were going based on where there would be air conditioning and how hot it would be.

We decided to try some fancy hotels out since they are heavily subsidized by people who think they can beat statistics. Our first hotel was Palms Place and is now my favorite hotel ever! Just look at the pictures!

On our last night there, we stayed at the Bellagio.

There’s a much larger Filipino population in Vegas than here, so I was excited to get some good fooood! We went to a Filipino buffet, but unfortunately we didn’t take a picture. But we did go to Jollibee (the equivalent of McDonald’s) twice!

We visited the Atomic Testing Museum and the Mormon Fort Museum.

We toured the Hoover Dam. The tours and everything were really well-organized, probably because so many people tour the place since they’ve seen it in the movies. The tour was grossly over-packed with “dam” jokes. All the engineering and thinking that went into it was pretty amazing. They said the upkeep of the dam was entirely self-sufficient from the energy generated there. They didn’t say whether tourism contributed, but I estimate that they give tours to about 500 people per hour…and they charged $10-30 per person.

A couple of weeks ago, Jon and I went to try out the California Pizza Kitchen down in Bellevue.  We had a giftcard from our credit card rewards and we’re not known to say no to a free meal   It turned out to be really good.  Our waitress was super helpful and we were pretty daring so we tried some weird things.  For an appetizer we got these panko breaded artichoke hearts, yum!  Then for the pizzas we got the Thai Chicken and a Sante Fe.  The Thai Chicken had a sweet peanut sauce and was super good.  The Sante Fe came with salsa, guac and sour cream and was pretty good too.  We’ll definately be going back!

When I was in college, there was a sweet deal on cheese so I got four pounds of it. While I was in the store, I ran into some friends and they said, “WOW! Look at all that cheese!” Here’s a picture:

So we were grocery shopping yesterday and we saw a SWEET unadvertised deal on 8 ounce shredded cheese. They’re normally $5 per bag, but they were on sale for $1 each!!! So naturally, we bought 12 bags of it. We even cleared the store out of a couple of their flavors.

This Saturday we took another quick trip up to Vancouver.  We met up with a family I knew from my mission that had moved to Canada.  It was fun to catch up on how they’ve been and find out all the news from the people I knew in the Philippines.  It turns out there’s a huge Filipino community up there.  We got Mango Tang, Balut, and Yakisoba!  We’ll definitely be going more often!

The same day was the last day of the open house at the Vancouver temple.  It was a really good experience and I was really impressed with how organized everything was.  When we went to the chapel of the church building next door, they put us into tour groups and gave us a tour guide.  It was cool that there were lots of church members as well as locals taking the tour.  The temple was really nice.  Somebody asked the tour guide what type of wood they used.  Our tour guide said that he didn’t know exactly what type but that it is the best quality: “The best things belong to God.  So we don’t mind giving them back.”

It’s a small world in the church.  After the tour, we ran into a family from our ward.  Then we (re)met a guy that we had first met about three years ago.  I also met some people who know the Lacestes that we had lunch with earlier.

On the freeway heading home, we heard a loud screeching noise.  We looked over and saw sparks flying across two lanes behind a car.  They traveled for about 1/4 mile before they stopped.  We realized what happened when we saw that their rear tire had fallen off and was rolling down the freeway.

Well, I’m officially old.  I turned 24 yesterday and as usual Jon planned a great birthday surprise for me.  I was totally in the dark this time and my closest guess for what he planned wasn’t even remotely close.  We drove up North about an hour where Jon had found a KANGAROO FARM!!!!  It was the strangest place.  They had all sorts of animals that you could feed and pet.  The first animals that we got to see were a collection of chickens and other birds that were just wandering around the place.  My favorite animals were this giant turkey and these chickens that had down feathers all the way to their feet that made them look like they were wearing fuzzy go go boots.  I’d never seen a real live turkey that close and it was sort of scary, he definitely looked like he could handle himself.  We also saw this cool looking duck that had a red bill and all black feathers, he looked like a little gangster.  They had some gorgeous peacocks wandering around too that were really pretty.

We waited for a few minutes and then the tour began.  The first animals that we got to see were a family of ring tailed lemurs.  They were really cute and could jump from the ground to the tour guide’s shoulder so fluidly it was really amazing.  We also saw some special breeds of pheasant that they had.  Next it was the big item, kangaroos!  They had the kangaroos in an enclosed area and gave us each a little bread so that we could feed them.  They ate right out of our hands and were surprisingly friendly.  I always thought kangaroos were sort of mean, but these ones were pretty docile.  We even saw some mommys with little joeys in their pouch and we got to pet them and feed them too.  They also had rabbits and tortoises thrown into the mix.  The wallabies also shared the same enclosure as the kangaroos.  I never really knew what a wallaby was until I saw them.  They’re just like kangaroos, but more furry and chubbier looking. They also had these really strange animals in there, I never really got the full name something like Patagonian Capris or something, but I dubbed them guinea deers because they look like guinea pigs with little deer legs, so weird!  After the kangaroos they took us to see and feed a ton of other animals.  They had mules, donkeys, more chickens and goats in one area and we fed them these alfalfa pellets.  Then we headed over and saw this miniature horse, which I guess is different from a pony.  We also got to see an ostrich and two emus, but they didn’t let us feed them (probably because they’d peck our eyes out or something).  The last animals we got to feed were some alpaca llamas.  They were pretty gentle and the tour guide coaxed some of us to feed them from our mouths.  I tried it…wasn’t the best experience of my life, but I escaped unscathed.   When we went back to the starting point of the tour we all got to hold a baby joey and take pictures with it.  It was really neat and he was soooo cute.

After we were finished at the farm Jon took me to Outback Steak House just to complete the Aussie theme of my birthday.  We both had really good meals and I even got a free ice cream treat.

I’d say overall it was a grand adventure and a really fun birthday!  Too bad birthdays only come once a year

Last weekend Jon and I went to check out the Granite Curling Club in Seattle due to interest sparked during our olympic adventure.  After watching the curling event we figured we could probably make it on the US team without too much trouble, but after trying it we realize that curling is a bit harder than it seems.  The rocks that are used weigh about 42 lbs and when you’re expected to aim and release the heavy rock while crouching and sliding and keeping your balance it’s actually pretty tiring.  Then there’s the furious sweeping while running on ice part.  Who thought up this sport?

We got breakfast at Maltby Cafe first then headed to the club and got there about 15 minutes before it opened.  The line went all around the building, apparently curling is really popular during the Winter Olympics.  It took about an hour for us to even get in, but they had snacks and we were able to watch the other groups curl.  Once it was our turn they gave us each one rubber gripper to go over your throwing side shoe.  It helps you stop yourself from slipping on the ice.  The curling ice is bumpy unlike skating ice so it’s a bit less slick.  First we learned how to release the rock, you sort of squat down then push back with your gripper foot then push yourself forward.  Then we learned the sweeping part, which I actually thought was harder.  We ended up playing a game, but had a hard time getting the rocks to even make it to the house.  Our team didn’t do so well, but the rock that I release was one of three that made it in and scored a point, so horray, maybe I can be an Olympic curler. 

After curling we went to the Experience the Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum with our friend.  We liked the Sci-Fi part better, but we were able to take this really cool band picture at the EMP.  We were still in our sweat pants from curling so it’s not so convincing…over all it was a fun outting.

 

Last week our friend Susan came up to see the Olympics with us!  We woke up early, drove up to Vancouver, perused the scene, saw the women’s curling event, and drove home so we could go to work the next day.  Here are the pictures.

We waited in a HUGE line for about an hour to get into the store to buy official Olympics stuff.  As is the case with all touristy places, things were overpriced.

Angela’s always the one that remains calm while I freak out.

All the onlookers were speechless at Angela’s snowboarding skills.  When asked how she knew it she said, “I just thought, ‘What would Shaun White do?’ and I just did what was natural.”

Click here to see a video of our US curling team in action! Apparently WordPress doesn’t have out-of-the-box ability to embed video, so you’ll have to download it to watch it.

Our team got schooled.  Ended in the seventh in, even.  But all in all, going to the Olympics was really fun.  People were really friendly and there was a lot of energy in the air.