I hope you are having a great spring or fall if you live in the southern hemisphere. Mike and I lived in Australia for three years, so I am used to thinking about our friends in the opposite season countries :-). We have been having a great weather this year or had been I must say, as the rainy weather returned with cool temperature since last Saturday. It has something to do with El Nino (I want to put the wavy line over the "n" but I am too lazy to do it) or his sister La Nina, that this summer is going to be a very hot one and the winter harsh with lower temperature. I do like the hot summer since I hardly get to wear my T-shirt when Seattle has a cool summer. The girls get to wear their cute sun dresses and what not to love about cute little girls in sunny dresses ?!
Where do I begin? I had my birthday in the early April and that passed quietly with my family, a few presents and a chocolate ice cream cake. I didn't eat the cake because I am gluten free now. I am not sure if I wrote this before, but I've decided to go gluten free since February. I don't have severe allergy to wheat or anything but it makes me feel very bloated after consuming pasta or bread. I've decided to test to see if the bloating goes away and it went away in about a week after I stopped consuming wheat. I've made many mistakes thinking certain food does not contain gluten but my tummy always let me know afterwards. I am now better at choosing what to eat and I feel a lot better! I also lost about 12 pounds since going gluten free. I eat healthier consuming more vegetables than rice. I was surprised how easily I could give up the carbs. I was a typical Japanese who could eat lots of rice, definitely too much rice. I still eat rice but not as much as I used to. It's as if I was released from the spell of carbs and I am able to make food choices with clearer head than before.
On one sunny day in April, it was in fact the last Saturday of the kids' spring break, Mike and I took the kids to a native animal zoo near the glorious Mount Rainer. It was a beautiful day and we were determined to enjoy it outside in a place we have never been to before. Mike and I argue sometimes about visiting new places. I love to explore visiting places I have never been before whereas Mike is just as happy going to the same old place. Note that I inserted the word "old" in there :-). On the night before, we got in an argument about where to go since Mike didn't want to go anywhere far for the sake of visiting a "new place". I exclaimed to him as he walked to the bedroom that I will find a place within an hour and half of driving that is new and fun. And I did. I was so proud of myself that I wanted to wake him up to tell him, but knew it certainly would not go well so I stopped. He has so much to be thankful without even knowing it, right?
The zoo was a lot of fun. There were a lot of people since it was a spring break for many in the area, but the park was big enough with plenty of space for kids to run around. Then animals were all native animals and many of them were hiding somewhere in their enclosures. They blended into their area so well, it was like playing find the animal game every time. The bears were sleeping near the viewing area though and being cute rolling around in the hay. The zoo has a large kids' play area with water fall, man-made creeks, and a giant tree house in the middle. The four children went nuts over it. It was hard to keep track of Noah as he moved fast amongst the crowd of children, but he was having so much fun. Mike and I teamed up and he took charge of upper area and I watched him in the lower area. The kids were sweating and getting red-cheeked. They would have played all day in there though if we let them.
As much as we like the place, the bus tour we took at the end of the visit tarnished the enthusiasm of the day. The tour took us to the large property they converted to a nature reserve with free roaming native animals such as deer and mountain goats. The first 20 minutes was fun, but then realized that the tour was an hour and half long! It was educational, but being stuck in the hot bus for 90 minutes was a little too much for an easily excited person like me. Even the kids were asking when it is going to be over. A baby on the bus was crying and we had enough of listing to this habitat and that habitat. All the passengers looked so happy when we finally got off the bus. I realized then why the passengers coming off the bus were smiling big when we were waiting to board. I gave a good luck glance at the people waiting in line. They have no idea, I thought...
Our April story will continue to the next post. I will post it within 3 days I promise so stay tuned!
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