Grandpa, Shaha and Grandma Marie's visit

Grandma Marie and Alyson

Grandpa gesturing to Sean that he was so close to catching the ball rolling down from the roof.

Sean was playing with a ball on the deck.

Grandpa and Alyson

Last weekend was very special because grandpa, Shasha and grandma Marie visited us from Idaho. They got into town on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning. Since we don't have a comfortable accommodation setting currently, they stayed at a motel near by.

It was a short visit, but we spent a lot of quality time together.

In the pictures above, Sean and Alyson were having good time throwing footballs onto the roof and watching them roll down. They were attempting to catch them, too, and they thought it was hilarious how grandpa and Shasha gestures they almost caught the ball.

On Saturday night, all the adults went out to the Crab Pot restaurant in town. It's one of those places where they throw the steamed seafood onto the table and eat them by hand. We were stuffed but made sure we cleared the table (literally) making sure every clams and shrimps eaten to the last bits. They were very good. Thank you Marsha and Bob for the dinner!

We are hoping for a mild winter like last year so that we can visit each other during the cold season. Thank you for coming and visit us, Bob, Marsha and grandma Marie! It's so nice to spend time together and we hope to see more of you soon!

Green Pea Flour

One can call me an odd flour collector now that my two boys are on gluten and casein free diet. The other day, when I went to a local grocer that carries a lot of bulk dry foods, I spotted a light green powder on the shelf. It read green pea flour. It said on the container that it is high in protein and fiber. The light bulb switched on in my brain. I could do lots of stuff with this and kids won't even know peas are inside! Obviously, it makes the food green, but that's even better. Kids love colorful stuff. I haven't used it in cooking yet, but I've found several recipes online I want to try. I will try to bake cake as well and I am sure Sean would find a green cake lots of fun to eat (hopefully).


Instructions: Green Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Green Pea Flour
- 2 cups Hot Water
- 2 tsp Chicken or Vegetable Bouillon

Directions

Stovetop: In a saucepan, heat 2 cups water to just about boiling. Reduce heat to medium and whisk in 3 Tbsp Green Pea Flour and 2 tsp of chicken or vegetable bouillon or soup base. Cook until mixture boils, then boil for 2 minutes.

Green Pea Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies - GF/CF

3/4 cup green pea flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter substitute
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp gluten-free vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (dairy-free)

Preheat oven to 350.
1. Sift together flours, starches, xanthan gum, baking soda, cream of tarter, and salt; whisk until combined. Sift into another bowl, set aside.

2. Combine shortening and sugar in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer on medium high speed until incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until creamy. Add vanilla.

3. Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

4. Roll dough into one-inch balls, and drop 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes, or until edges just barely start turning brown. Cool on a wire rack.

The cookies that will not be eaten in one day need to be frozen. Just stack them in a freezer bag, get out as much air as you can, and freeze. When you are ready for a treat, thaw on the counter for about 15 minutes.

The Fair Part II

Another fair day, here we come!
Meeting some cows!

Aly thought the horned cow was a goat because they have horns.

Aweee... sort of like me and Saya.

"can I have some fries please?"

Having some fair food for lunch!

Sean was holding Aly's hand while waiting for a car ride. It was cute.

They really had fun on this one.

This was Sean's first semi-scary ride. He didn't cry, but he wasn't laughing, either!

We rode on a choochoo train and the kids loved it.

Well, one thing Mike and I know is to tire ourselves even more so. On last Wednesday, Mike took a day off (thank you Mike's boss) to take Sean to the state fair. Since Amy has to watch three kids, we decided to take Aly, too (lucky girl). The weather was perfect, a sunny and warm, so it was pretty much guaranteed that we are going to have a fabulous day!

And we did. Sean, of course, had no idea what a fair is but he was all about smiles once we got in. At first, we wondered around the exhibits, saw some Native American people in traditional clothing and watched some demonstrations in the market building. Then we hit the barns and saw some cattle and even zebras. Aly loves animals and she was very excited to see more of them. The day before, most of the animals were gone.

We then had a lunch since all the food smells coming from all over the place were making Mike and I very hungry. After filling ourselves, we went to the kiddie zone and Sean and Aly rode on some rides. The kids had a really good time. Sean liked the swing seat thing that goes around the most. Since he liked it so much, I thought he might be ready for a faster spinning ride, but he might have been a little scared. He was with Daddy though and he didn't cry. What a brave boy.

We spent a lot of time in the ride area and we were so tired at the end of the day. But I am glad we did it. Sean was fussing by the exit saying that he didn't want to go home. They both fell asleep on the way home, Sean almost immediately after sitting in the car.

The Fair part I

Aly was excited to touch a big cow.

Listening to a band play.

Noah and Saya with a gigantic pumpkin.

Aly petting a baby goat in the petting zoo.

Aly and Amy with Diego. Aly was scared of him.

Amy and I took Aly, Noah and Saya to the state fair today in Puyallup. I've only been to a few in Idaho and one in Oklahoma and this one reminded me of the one in Oklahoma. It was big and fun! Aly was so happy petting some animals and able to see a lot of interesting things like huge pumpkins and silly puppets walking around. Saya was also wide-eyed, although she had to sit in the stroller most of the time. Noah was looking around and busy trying to make sense out of all the rides and commotions around. We ate well and walked a lot. It was a fun field trip for all of us. It was so much fun, I'd decided to take Sean with Mike tomorrow. He'll get to ride a lot of kiddie rides and I can just imagine how happy he will be. I will report back with the photos tomorrow.

First Sushi

On Monday, I took the girls to get some osushi (sushi) while Noah attended his class. It was our usual sushi place which we order take outs from. It's one of those sushi conveyor belt restaurant, so it's quick and easy. If you really want to, you could come in and out of the restaurant in 5 minutes with a full belly. It was their first sushi experience for them, so I wasn't sure how they would take it. Well, their favorite was a bowl of fruits salad. I gave them a plate of California Roll, but they didn't like it. It's probably because the rice taste a little differently. They love their rice, so I was surprised that they didn't care for it. I ordered ramen for them which they ate. It was kind of a disaster because Saya didn't want to sit on the high chair and in the meantime Aly was very eager to touch the food on the conveyor belt. So, I ate several rolls really quickly and left. I am not seeing going their as a family for quite a while.

Lazy Weekend

On Saturday, we went to Seattl's Pike Place Market to try the new...
Japa-Dog place. They make hot dogs with Japanese toppings on them. I had one called "Matsuri" which had Japanese mayo, green onions, shredded carrots and tonkatsu sauce. I don't remember what Mike had but they were good. Not fantastic, but ok.


There are no relaxing weekends in our store for the next 20 years, but we tried taking it easy this weekend. Two projects are happening though and one is the garage project and the laundry room is starting to take its shape. The second project is the front yard project, which Jason has been working hard on. He cut out most part of the wilderness we had on the right side of the house. He has a little bit left to demo plus the hauling duty of the debris. We've been waiting for them for a little while, so very psyched to have them moving.

We have a busy week planned ahead. Amy and I will be taking the kids (except Sean) to the fair on Tuesday and Aly will be starting her new Japanese class on Thursday. We'll have Bob, Marsha and Marie for the weekend, which we are super excited about. So, it should be a good week!

Video of Aly and Saya playing:

Picnic, Block Party and Date Night

Little Xander wanted to play with Saya and kept advancing towards her.
Sean and Parker had great time eating together.

It was a perfect weather for a picnic.

Saya wasn't sure about walking on grass at first.

Xander was having fun scooting on the picnic mat.

The kids had a super fun time at the block party.

Sean sitting in the police cruiser.

Aly wanted to sit there, too.

We had another busy weekend filled with activities.

On Saturday, we went to a water front park near downtown Bellevue to have a picnic with Jen, Kevin and the kids. It was a beautiful day and perfect picnic weather. There were only few people at the park and it was as if we owned the beach. The boys had lots of fun digging in the sand, dipping their feet in the water and playing on the slide. Aly was following them around and had a great time, too. Little Saya wasn't sure about walking on the uneven surface at the park at first, but she warmed up to it and wandered around everywhere. Noah really wanted to dive right in to the water and was pretty upset when we stopped him. Pretty much everyone was covered in sand by the end of the outing and they all got a good wash when we got home. It's so nice to relax at a beautiful park with good friends and we all had a very good time.

On that evening, Amy watched the kids so that Mike and I could go out. We went back to our favorite Japanese restaurant in the city, Maneki. This time, we made sure that we didn't order too much and did a pretty good job. We befriended the sushi chef Jun, a young Japanese guy who claims he's an accidental sushi chef. I guess he started working at the restaurant doing something else and one thing led to another and he's a sushi chef now. There are all walks of life. The food was really good as always and looking forward to the next time!

We were going to go to the Japan fall festival which was held at the community college near by today, but we had no time to go. I was looking forward to taking the kids there this year. Oh well. We'll make sure we'll make it next year! We did manage to go to the neighborhood block party in the afternoon though and it was a lot of fun. We met many neighbors from the big houses and the kids were running around in the big cul de sac and they even go to visit with real police officers and ride the flashing police car! Sean told us that he wants to be a police officer for Halloween this year. I've never seen inside the police car before, so it was very interesting. Did you know that the back seat is made of hard plastic and they are not very comfy? Saya even sat on the driver's seat and was being very curious. Jen gave us a lot of left over food and I won't be cooking for a little while!

So, we had a pretty good weekend. Don't feel like we got much rest, so I am hoping to rest more on the coming weekend.

Sticky Rice Fingers...

Doesn't it look like something out of a horror movie? "My baby is being attacked by flesh eating rice!!" This is Noah's hand after dinner. He was about to scratch his head after the shot and you could imagine Mike and I gasping. We caught him before he rubs rice all over his hair, but he did manage to put some on his hair anyway.

GFCF Cooking

I am getting pretty good at cooking gluten and casein free food. I made Asian style pancakes using rice flour, xanthum gum, egg substitute, shredded cabbage, dashi stock, shrimp and a dash of sea salt tonight. They turned out really well. The girls loved them (boys didn't eat them), too. It's fun to find a creative way to make delicious meals with the things you have in the fridge sans wheat or milk. Baking is a big challenge, but I am getting better. I baked two loafs of zucchini bread the other day and they were moist and yummy. The texture was a tad different, but that was about it. It tasted much like a regular kind with wheat and milk. I am due to bake some cookies since we are out. Kids sure keep me busy in all areas!

Labor Day Weekend Outings

We stopped and had lunch at a little burger place in Concrete, WA.
Aly had a hot dog, Sean and Noah had packed lunch from home.

Noah eats like a munchkin.Aly crossing a small bridge over a little creek.

Looking at a creek.

Sean mostly walked at the tail end for some reasons and kept shouting "wait for me!!" most of the way.

Towards the end, Saya hopped on to the backpack carrier because Aly wanted to sit in the stroller. We took the carrier with us just in case someone gets tired. We learned from the past mistakes!


It's always nice to have a three day weekend especially when the weather is still warm. It wasn't a hot and sunny day, but we had a decent day up in the north cascade on Sunday. We went up north to Rockport state park to hike and we had a lot of fun.

We left home in late morning and had lunch at a small grill restaurant by the road near the state park. We were aiming to go to a pizza place where they recommended on a newspaper, but we did not expect it being closed for lunch on Sunday. We were bummed but the burger joint we reluctantly stopped surprised us with one of the best chicken burgers we've ever had! The girls shared a hot dog and the boys ate what we took from home, which is a standard these days.

The hike was very pleasant! The forest was ancient and could not believe the height of some of the trees! My neck arched backed so low, it hurt! It was so ancient, the branches were covered with moss and it was so ghostly beautiful seeing them all sway in the forest breeze. Alyson of course, spotted some flowers and was busy picking them. Sean was afraid of the trees but he got used to them. He found some bugs, squatted down to see where they go. Looked at unidentifiable objects growing from dead logs (turned out to be mushrooms - they were red an shiny), picked out some little stones, the hike took a long time but the kids soaked up all they could from the forest. Noah and Saya sat in the stroller, Noah fell asleep, but Saya was content looking around. She called for me when she couldn't see me. It was very cute.

After the hike, we went to check out the organic farm nearby. The farm belongs to "Cascadian Farm", a national organic health food brand, much like Kashis. On the newspaper, it recommended checking out the organic ice creams they sell at the stand, so we had to go. We all got out of the car, but sent Mike in to see if they sell non-dairy kind. It turned out, they don't. We surely can't eat ice creams in front of two very sad-eyed (or mad) boys, so we left without one. The farm was beautiful though and did not feel like we wasted the time.

On our return trip, we stopped to have some beer at Birdview Brewery, which they also recommended on the paper. Unfortunately, they didn't allow kids in the outside seating area and didn't feel like taking kids into the pub, so we bought a jag instead to take home. We'll probably have it at the football party next weekend.

For some crazy reasons, we decided to stop at the Premium Outlet Mall in Marysville. As soon as we turned into the parking, we noticed the mayhem! The mall was packed! We walked around and looked at some stores, but we didn't buy anything. If there weren't so many people and if the kids weren't with us, it might have been a fruitful shopping visit. We had no desire to line up or hassle people with our gigantic jogging stroller, so we left fairly quickly. It was a nice mall though.

It was nearly 10 pm when all the children settled down to their own beds and we were so tired. In fact, I am still tired after one day. But we had a lot of fun. We all do better with outing to a peaceful location like this time. Hope to have more trips like this before the dreading rain season officially kicks in (which just seems like it already has...)

Silly Girls

You can often here the girls screaming chasing each other in the Campbell households these days. Aly would say "Saaaya!!" and Saya just dashes off to not get caught by Aly. Aly on the other hand decides to go around the other direction to strike a surprise attack on Saya. Both girls squeal and parts again for another show down.

Girls Playing Together

Saya having lunch.
She likes to dress up!

She looked so cute waddling around in her princess skirt and her purse!

Aly, too!

I am happy to say that the girls play together more now. Aly is very good with Saya, most of the time anyway, and Saya seems to enjoy her big sister's company. Yesterday, when I was working in the kitchen, two of them came out from my bedroom dressed in their princess skirts, clutching their purses and sucking on paci. Apparently, Aly helped dressing her sister. When both of them see a hat on the floor, they swiftly put it on their head and walk around pretentiously as if to say "look at me, I am pretty!" Girls are so much fun. They really do funny things!!