May 2021

 

It was a typical cloudy May day.

Mikey needed to check off a box on his Fitness Log for PE.

We took the opportunity to get out of the house for a little fresh air.

He and Huzbend tooled around on their mountain bikes while Katie and I walked with Ralph.

After a bit, we congregated at a nice little rock climbing area.

Mikey found his Zen sitting on top of the rock.

The boys did a few more circuits of the park racing each other to see who could get the best time.

Then, they took a rock-top break together.

Katie was deeply engrossed in her newest book - 'Six of Crows'.

And Ralph? Well, he sniffed things.

Bought some non-alcoholic margarita mix to make virgin margaritas for the kids.

It tasted like fizzy limeade.

I put sugar on the rim of the glass.

I'm not sure why salt is usually used.

Sugar is SO MUCH BETTER.

Katie made a "Le Leche Cinnamon Cake" from a Krusteez GF Cinnamon cake box mix.

We couldn't use sweetened condensed milk, so I made condensed coconut milk.

It was really yummy!

It was also a complete sugar bomb.

 Ralph began his annual Spring shed.

Katie decided to help him out a bit.

We could brush him every day and there still would be mounds hair that came off.

Right around this time, Mikey got a stomach ache.

When we had taken him off of all potential food triggers, his stomach ache went away.

But, we had recently added dairy back into his diet.

The stomach pain was off and on.

He decided to wait a bit longer to see if it would worsen.

Also, around this time, news began to circulate that the Pfizer COVID vaccine was really close to being approved for anyone 12yrs of age or up.

In preparation, we consulted Katie's GI doctor and it was decided to take her off of one of her immunosuppressant medications.

Maybe Katie could get the vaccine soon!

Another sign of impending summer....the bees were out in full force pollinating our blueberry bush!

YAY FOR FUZZY BEES!

The Saturday before Mother's Day, Huzbend and I got our second doses of the Pfizer COVID vaccine.

Our arms hurt a lot.

And, for some reason, my armpit ended up hurting too.

But, that was it for side effects.

Usually for Mother's Day, we're in Seattle for the Color Run and we eat dinner the night before at what Mikey likes to call "The Hot Pot".

It's actually called "The Melting Pot" and it's a fondue place.

At Mikey's request - because it was Mother's Day and because he was worried his days of dairy indulgence were coming to an end - we had fondue for dinner.

We had plenty of allergy-friendly dippers including roasted baby potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and sausage.

(The bread that you see in this picture was a special treat for Huzbend and I. We dipped it into its own bowl of cheese).

Katie did not partake in the cheese. She just ate the toppings and had some rice on the side.

Never fear.

All were able to partake in the chocolate fondue!

Mikey had some brownie bites and fruit.

Katie dipped popcorn, marshmallows and GF Oreos in hers.

For some reason, Link was all the rage in May.

Mikey got some downloadable content for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that he played through.

This led Katie to continuing with her game on Breath of the Wild.

Mikey transitioned to play Majora's Mask on his DS.

On actual Mother's Day, I took Katie out to the middle school parking lot to try driving for the first time.

Around and around the lot we went.

I had forgotten that the parking lot had speed bumps. So that added an extra little challenge to a first time driver.

Inching ever closer to summer means more and more sun.

Ralph took full advantage.

Sadly, Mikey's stomach ache became more consistent and definitely "owee".

It was decided that we would take dairy back out of his diet.

He would rest his tummy for about two weeks and then add gluten/wheat back in.

On May 11th, I was lucky to snag a ticket to a local drive-in movie showing.

Yes, it was a school night.

But, you can't say no to FREE FUN!

We arrived about an hour or so before dark.

Our view wasn't too bad!

At the event, they had some food trucks.
Definitely not safe for the kids, but I had anticipated that and brought them goodies.

I let Katie pick what I would get from the Trophy Cupcake truck.

She picked two things.

One was macarons.

Not my favorite, but who am I to say no to a dessert?

Surprisingly, they were all different flavor combinations.

The second was this cupcake.

It was a Girl Scout Samoa inspired cupcake.

Marshmallow frosting, chocolate and caramel drizzle, toasted coconut and deep chocolate cake.

It was tasty but, MAN, THE SUGAR! Yikes.

The movie was Ferris Bueller.

Which, upon watching again, decided that Ferris reminds me a little of Mikey.

I'll have to keep an eye on that.

We spent an absolutely gorgeous Mid-May Saturday afternoon mini golfing.

There was a bit of stiff competition between Huzbend and myself.

I just eeked out a win.

Mikey only managed to hit his ball off the course 3 times.

(That I can remember - it may have been more)

Katie had a few "swings and misses", but didn't do too badly.

Photo caption:

Cheerleader Mikey tries to pump up Golf Weary Katie who has missed the hole for about the fourth time.

When we got home, the kids made root beer floats.

Wow.

That was gone quick.

Since the warmer weather was upon us, the kids decided they were ready for haircuts.

Here are some before pictures....

Not sure why the dorky face....

And here are the after pictures!

Katie chose short hair again.

It was a great cut that really makes her shine.

And, Mikey chose short hair as well.

I think it's because I make him pose for the photo that I get the dorky faces.

Here's an "action photo".

The Pfizer vaccine was approved for those 12+ years of age on May 12th.

We signed Katie up to get her first dose about a week later.

She was so excited and happy about it.

And only had a sore arm as a side effect.

A bit of rain made it back into the forecast.

Ralph discovered that he liked drinking water out of an upside down frisbee instead of from his water bowl.

When weather cooperated, the outdoor judo lessons continued.

I ran a very sweaty virtual 5K away from gluten.

And then I ate gluten later that day.

I guess I was too slow. It caught up to me.

That same day happened to be the general sessions of the Washington State PTA convention. 

A PTA friend provided me a bucket full of candy to munch on. 

For those who don't know, candy is a common indulgence at PTA conferences.

I guess I should've run away from gluten AND candy.

Mikey and Katie playing Smash Bros. while Ralph naps.

Just a normal Sunday afternoon at our house.

All of a sudden, it got wicked hot out.

We were up near 90 degrees!

We have rose bushes in our front yard.

They've been there since we moved in.

I trimmed them while doing yard work one day and gotten eaten by the thorns.

The buses were very happy, but I wasn't.

On a side note, Huzbend did not know that we had rose bushes in our yard.

We've been here almost 15 years.

To celebrate the unofficial start of summer (AKA Memorial Day Weekend), we baked up some strawberry rhubarb crumble.

Our resident baby bunny was not so babyish anymore.

Although Ralph tried quite a few times to get the drop on him, he had not succeeded.

The rabbit was lightning fast.

He may have been bigger, but he was still cute.

Time for a Memorial Day weekend road trip.

We headed to Deception Pass for the day.

The plan was to hike along the North beach, climb some rocks and see what we would see.

Ralph was very happy to plunk himself into a large body of  cold water.

There were lots of rock climbing challenges.

Most were successful efforts.

Hey. This picture isn't that bad.

It was decided to take a break from climbing after Ralph peed on the rocks they were climbing on and everyone thought it was gross.

What would the next challenge be?

Balancing on driftwood!

Not wanting to be left out, Ralph joined in.

Back to the rocks.

There was a lot of posing.

I think this is what Ralph loves best about the beach; the endless potential snacks.

"Ow. My butt."

Hmmm.

How do I get down from here?

Jump?

MADE IT!

This left behind rose made for a pretty picture.

Revisiting a past favorite.

The kids have gone down this "rock slide" many times on our past camping trips here.

This time they brought Dad along.

Mikey went down, climbed back up and went down again.

No pants were ripped while attempting this decent.

(Mikey did get one small hole)

Hey bro.

We made our way around to the more popular West Beach/Cranberry Lake section of the park.

Here they have a swimming beach, changing rooms, bathrooms, picnic tables and such.

We used the facilities and had a quick bite of lunch.

Before we turned around to head back towards our car, we picked up some kettle corn for Katie.

There were a few rocks that had yet to be climbed. 

Katie was done climbing.

She didn't like the way the salt from the rocks made her hands feel.

So, she hung with Ralph and I.

As we waited for Mikey and Huzbend, we spied these bones on the beach.

Upon closer investigation, we surmised that it was the paw of some animal.

There was a paw pad still attached.

A little farther down the beach, we found another set of bones.

Our curiosity was piqued.

What animal was this? What happened to it?

We would have to wait until we got home to research.

In the meantime, we documented our find with these photos.

Everyone was a bit tired of walking on the rocky beach.

It's hard to walk on shifting rocks for miles.

So slippy and slidey.

We decided to find a nice comfi piece of driftwood to relax against.

Mikey built a cairn.

Katie pet Ralph.

Not pictured.....

Huzbend took a nap.

No. Really. He did.

It was time to head back.

The boys were having a bit of a shoving match and, remember the shifty, slidey rocks?

Well, Mikey lost his balance - post shove -  and bit it.

Ow.

I ended up putting a Band-aid over that bloody notch that was taken out of Mikey's knee.

For some reason, the Band-Aid had a SUPER adhesive on it.

When we went to take it off later, it took some skin off with it.

Yikes.

I promptly threw out those Band-Aids.

Look out June, here we come!