Free money, whales, pineapple pancakes & legos

Jana left early this morning for work... no school for the kids, so I'm on dad duty with the ultimate question - what the hell are we going to do all day? Well, It's only 1:30pm, but the day has been great so far.

10ish: Two Orca whale pods, right here at Three Tree Point! They were spewing water (is that a whale term?). Very cool. We haven't seen em for a few years.

11ish: We went to AAA Polynesian Deli in Burien - just to poke around - but the food looked great. So, we had chicken, rice, lamb and a great fish casserole. Wow! Fatty and yummy. And the people there are VERY nice. I really like this place. I hear they have great pineapple pancakes too.

While we were eating, a very jovial guy (think polynesian saint nick) came in and started talking with me and the kids. As he was leaving he handed Karsten, Britta and me a bunch of money!?!! I was shocked. He said, "I'll probably never see you again, have a good christmas!" Britta scored about $25. Karsten $35. Me $6. I paid $10 for the food and we headed to Hans' - the best German Deli in Burien.

12ish: Hans' Deli: Lye rolls, bacon, salami, cheese, candy...

12:30: Quick trip to Burien library. Scored a Harry Potter book on tape, comic book, sing-a-long CD for britta and a book about big wave surfing for dad Stealing the wave.

1pm: Time to spend the 'free' money at Lollipops toy store in Burien! I told Karsten and Britta "now kids, we can't spend all our money, we have to save some..." yeah right, that didn't work. legos. jewelry box with spinning butterfly. and the money is gone!

I just put Britta down for a nap, Karsten is assembling his new Star Wars lego toy and Harry Potter is playing on tape... fun day!

Would you drink this?

tea
Originally uploaded by B-TownMom.

Western medicine is very predictable. You go to a doctor. The doctor prescribes a pill. The pill masks your symptoms. The pill company makes a lot of money. The doctor gets a golf trip. Everybody is happy.

Pills are clean. white. easy.

So, if western medicine is so great, why did jana visit a Chinese herbalist in the I.D.? She came home with a crazy mix of tree branches, mushrooms, flowers, and who-knows-what-else. She must boil the crazy mix for one hour, then choke it down. And believe me, this tea is stinky and nasty.

I have a theory here... sometimes to get well, you have to EARN it. The easy path (get rich quick, get skinny quick, or learn Java in 21 days) is littered with failure. So, I've got to give props to Jana - she's not afraid to earn her good health - one nasty chug at a time. :-)

Serve coffee, and wine!

Two weeks without drinking and I finally pulled the "get out of jail" card for a fun night with The Shepards, Terry Marks and his wife Laura! I broke the top off a wine bottle while opening (pent-up aggression - must get to the sweet juice!) so Kyle and I decided to filter the wine into the coffee pot. The coffee filter worked like a charm, and as an added bonus the coffee pot was a great carafe! We all joked about the old folgers commercial, "while the guests weren't looking, i secretly replaced the coffee we normally drink with a cab blend..."

Don't call after 1pm

where's my wetsuit?!
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

Or, perhaps i should say, call the coast guard after 1pm! OMG, it's getting windy. I took this photo 15 min ago, and it looks TAME compared to what's going on now... I'm warming my wetsuit by the fire. Garbage cans are rolling down the street. It's going to be epic. Wes and Karl are headed over to join the party. Woo Hoo!!

Good kids get... Fishballs!

I have fond memories of fishballs.

I remember the old Prairie Market in Burien. begging my mom for fishballs. Sometimes I convince her to open them in the parking lot, i'd eat them cold, out of the can. Other times we'd wait for dinner... mom would make gravy... i loved the white, fluffy, even-consistency, fiskbuller! yum.

Now that i have my own kids i'd like to continue the fishball tradition (jana doesn't care for canned, bottled, buried or pickled fish - so i'm on my own here). I purchased two cans of fiskbullers at IKEA... and set my plan in motion... tonight Jana was working late, kids were hungry, the conditions were perfect...

ME: You kids have been sooooo good the last few days, i'm really proud of you.
KIDS: (no comment, sensing a set-up they just looked cute and listened to my pitch)
ME: You know what bestemor (my mom) did when I was a good kid?
KIDS: What?
ME: Well... i would beg and beg bestemor for fishballs, and if I was REALLY good, she would make fishballs for dinner! Ohhh they were soooo good!! Ya know... you kids have been so good... if you were to beg for fishballs... i guess i could make some for you... you've been so good...
Karsten: (hands in praying position) Oh PLEASE, FISHBALLS, PLEASE!!!
ME: (singing the swedish chef song from muppets, which i turned into a fishball song somehow - all i know is it ends with - bor bor bor!!)

By this time the kids were in a fishball frenzy.

I cracked the first can. Ahhh. Fishballs in red sauce. mic'd that sucker for 1 minute. and the kids devoured it.

They begged for more.

I cracked the second can. Fishballs in water. Karsten demanded sauce. So, i mixed the new fishballs with some leftover red sauce and pow, devoured.

My kids downed TWO cans of fishballs. A day i'll fondly remember.

Then Jana walked in the door "Whoa. it smells in here."

Lego's Mars Mission teaches evil empire techniques... good idea?

Karsten's latest lego toy is freakin me out... the Mars Mission lego toy is not for the politically correct space tourist... no, this time the lego space heros are on their toughest mission ever - alien genocide!

The premise for the Mars Mission (i'm not making this up) ... Our lego heros have discovered powerful crystals on Mars and have established a profitable mining business, exporting the crystals to earth. The only problem - the local martians also want the crystals... ohhh what do to?! Could we share the crystals? Live in harmony? Create a peace treaty? Not this time alien scum! These aliens hate our freedom! Let's blast em!

Karsten quickly assembled his alien incarceration vehicle - complete with restraining device and alien sucker-upper. Or, better yet, let's just use our blasters and terminate the pesky aliens! After all, these crystals are ours now, sucka's.

Karsten and I discussed other ways to 'get rid of' the native aliens... I suggested an alien reservation on the cold side of Mars. And for good measure we could provide cheap cigarettes and let them gamble. He thought that seemed fair. But then again, we just built this perfectly good incarceration vehicle, so we may as well use it. These aliens are gonna pay! Get your green hands off our crystals! Blast em!

I don't think this Mars Mission is going to end well...

Trick or Treat or SHOT?

We had about 150 treaters this year - but every year I think about the moms and dads... wouldn't it be great to give them something too?! Something to keep them warm and happy? Jana suggested Hot Damn... but i'm a fan of Goldschlager... for a second i wondered "would parents take shots from a random guy in a mullet wig?" But then i remembered, we're in Burien, and most bartenders still proudly wear mullets. So really, this mullet makes me an authority figure - a trustworthy drink dispenser! And yes, the moms and dads gladly shot it back. The bottle is almost gone. And NO, i didn't even have one little taste - 4 days and i'm still on the wagon.