parading through the pumpkin patch...

To continue with our Halloween traditions we headed to the pumpkin patch with our next door neighbors and Ethan's buddy Isaac. We changed things up this year and headed down to South 47 Dr. Maze Farm. We had a pretty good time eating kettle corn and searching for the perfect pumpkin. Ethan was very intrigued with the monster pumpkins this year and stayed in that section of the patch the entire time.

viva las vegas...

Jeff and I have just returned from his company trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. The last time we went to Vegas was about twelve years ago and there was plenty to see and do this time. We barely scratched the surface of the strip but we did make our way to old Las Vegas. We won some and we lost some but I happily came away ahead. I didn't lose my wages in Las Vegas.


A couple of highlights from the trip was seeing the show KA by Cirque du Soleil at the MGM Grand Hotel. I highly recommend this show if you make it to Vegas. As Jeff said, the stage deserved its own standing ovation. We also got a chance to eat at the restaurant Le Cirque at the Bellagio. This was an absolutely fantastic meal. Then the final highlight was a trip to the Grand Canyon via route 66. For those that know me, I've always wanted to travel down route 66 and even though it was a short ride it was still fun. We took a river rafting trip through the canyon and then a helicopter ride. We were on the road for at least 6 hours and almost ran out of gas in the desert but it was well worth it.

 (Our accomidations for the week.)

 (Old Las Vegas)

 (We visited the Pawn Stars Show pawn shop.)

ghosts, goblins, and witches...

My apologies for the long delay between blog posts but we have been pretty busy in the Kalles household recently. I did manage to get my Halloween decorations up on October 1st (minus the scary ghost that makes noises which is hiding in the garage.) After going through many of costume catalogs and I mean many, Ethan settled on being a jack-o-latern. That was what he was on his first Halloween and had recently seen a picture of him as a baby in it so he immediately wanted to be one again. I will be sure to post pictures at a later date!

Let's play some football...

This past weekend was the season home opener of the Seattle Seahawks. For those that don't know, Jeff is a season ticket holder and has been for quite a few years. Last year he was able to get a seat for Ethan to go but it was a little too much for him with the super loud crowd last year so they only made it to kickoff before having to leave. This year we have three seats so I was able to go which helped things a bit. Plus, Jeff had gotten Ethan special noise reduction headphones which worked like a charm. We were actually able to stay until half way through the third quarter. I think that the fries and popcorn also helped this time as well and they WON. Go Seahawks!

We also had a United Way carnival at my work this past Friday. Ethan was one of a handful of kids that came so he got to play the carnival games at least four times and that equalled lots and lots of prizes. I think Ethan actually had a sugar overdose that day.

big boys, big toys...

The day has arrived. Ethan finally got his big boy bed. We had taken him shopping and had looked all over for a twin bed that would work in his room. I wanted to make sure that the colors and such were just right. After scouring the interwebs and going to a couple of furniture stores we finally found one at Dania right down the street from our house.

I have to tell you, bed shopping was a little hard for Ethan. He was really excited to finally get one but the concept of not taking it home when we bought it was a little hard to take. Ethan did not understand that when you order a bed you have to wait for it to be delivered so it was a long three days for him. But when it finally arrived we had his room set up when he came home from school and he was so excited. The next day when Jeff took him to school he was happy to tell everyone he slept in a big boy bed. Very cute!!

summertime endings...

Summertime is almost coming to an end and my favorite season fall is quickly approaching. To take advantage of the clear nights I put some salmon on the grill and it turned out great. I know that some people are afraid of cooking salmon so I will share my recipe with you to make it turn out perfect every time. All you need is four ingredients, fresh salmon, a lemon, 1/4 cup of brown sugar depending on the size of the salmon, two chopped garlic cloves, and butter.

• Create a "pan" with aluminum foil. Be sure to fold up the sides so that the extra juices do not spill all over the place. This also makes it easier to move on and off the grill and onto your dinner plate.
• Spread a generous amount of butter over the salmon fillets.
• Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top. If you like sweets you will want to be generous with the brown sugar.
• Sprinkle the chopped garlic evenly over the salmon.
• Slice the lemons and place them on top.
• Depending how fast your grill cooks you will want to cook the salmon until the flesh is no longer opaque and is a darker pink.

I love to serve salmon with grilled veggies since this fish is such a hearty meal.

To get into the fall mood I also made a pumpkin cream cheese bread. I had a box of Trader Joes Pumpkin Bread mix in my pantry and whipped up a cream cheese filling to fold into the bread batter and boy did it turn out yummy!

go fly a kite...

For the Labor Day weekend we joined our friends Jeff and Courtney at Seabrook Washington to enjoy the long weekend. Seabrook ended up being a very quaint town where kids were all out riding their bikes and enjoying the fresh air. All of the cottages were centered around the community, in close proximity to the fire pits that were surrounded by neighbors hanging out and having a good time.

If you want a safe place to take your kids on a vacation where everyone will indeed have a fun time I highly recommend Seabrook. You can rent cottages here.