We bought Kayaks!

Because we needed just one more outdoor activity we bought some beat up kayaks on Craigslist. We got a good deal and they are little 10' kayaks that easily fit into Richard, the truck. On Saturday we finally got to take them out onto Lake Washington.

Now I convinced Joshua to buy these because

1. I swore they would fit strapped to our stairs and wouldn't look that bad.

2. We can walk 1/4 mile to a dock from our place carrying them so he wouldn't have to drive

Somehow my logic worked and he totally let me get them. I convinced him in 3 days, which I'm very proud of.

This weekend in Seattle was stunning. 80 degrees, sunny, warm wind. Glorious. We walked the kayaks down without to much trouble and hit the water. Being that these are about 6' shorter than any other kayaks we've used we spent quite a bit of time spinning in circles and trying to figure out how to steer. We made a little progress. Then we kayaked out under the Ballard and Fremont bridges, to Gasworks park, and took in a view of the city from the water. Overall we kayaked 7 miles! And then carried the kayaks back. Obviously we took naps after that but it was amazing and I can't wait to do it all summer!

Lucky Charms Marshmallow Cake

Last week we had a little birthday party for me. 29! We had some friends over, played records, made pizza, ordered extra pizza, ate cake, played salad bowl game. It was exactly what I wanted and I'm so thankful for everyone that came.

Joshua made me a vanilla cake and we covered it in white chocolate ganache frosting and then covered it in lucky charms marshmallows!!! Then I made a few white chocolate, sprinkles, and marshmallow shards and of course added a few pocky sticks. The cake was so tasty!

Also since Joshua was making the cake I wanted to make it an easy one. This definitely fit the bill. He was even surprised how fast it was to make. I'd make this one again. It's a bit dense and holds it's moisture.

photo by Megan

photo by Megan

Vanilla cake:
recipe from here

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup water

1   preheat oven 350 degrees F and line 2- 8" cake pans with parchment

2   in large bowl mix sugar, flour, soda, powder and salt

3   in another large bowl beat together eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla

4   pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix only until incorporated

5   pour in the boiling water and stir in

6   pour batter into the 2 cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes.

White Chocolate ganache frosting:

3 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup butter; room temp
4 cups powdered sugar

1   heat the heavy cream until boiling
2   remove from heat and stir in white chocolate chips
3   cover with lid and let sit 5 minutes
4   stir chocolate mixture until smooth and set aside to cool to room temp
5   beat butter until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes
6   beat in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time
7   once white chocolate has cooled beat in white chocolate
8   ice the cake

Curious George Cake

Had the pleasure of making a very cool little boy both of his birthday cakes. This year we went with a yellow cake slathered in chocolate frosting. Characters scare me a bit so I took to the laser cutter to help me out with Curious George riding a bike. Hope he had a fabulous birthday.

Backpacking season begins

Kicked off backpacking season this past weekend. Our traditional 6 mile Teanaway Ridge hike had the added benefit of our friend Jessica on it. We headed out of work early on Friday to get on the trail. The sun was out, the mountains were out, and no one else was there-great kick off trip.

Once we had our tents set up we built a fire, ate some mac and cheese, cookies, and sipped on wine. The sunset up here is my favorite, it slowly drips below the mountain range streaking the whole sky with beautiful color. Luckily the clouds stayed away long enough for us to watch it.

Next morning we packed up and hiked out past tons of dayhikers heading up. (loved feeling like I had a secret having gotten to witness the sunset behind the mountains not just the sunshine on them) We also kicked off the burgers and milkshake season on our drive home.

The rest of the weekend Joshua and I spent lots of time sitting on the dock, drinking thai iced teas, coffees, eating pizza. Walked around Ballard in the sunshine, played games, and worked on some cakes. The sunshine has me feeling good!

Vantage Double Take

We spent the last two weekends in eastern Washington soaking up sunshine. One weekend we just went for the day and the next weekend we camped for a night and enjoyed some hot dogs and a fire.
Joshua accidentally pulled the rope on a 10c and ended up leading it to get the rope back up. He was amazing! I also led my first 10a while we were out the next weekend. Another big win- no one got sun burnt.

Bunco!

Had our small group over to play Bunco this past Wed. We had a table full of appetizers and exactly 12 people. The disco ball light bulbs set the mood and we were off. Luckily some people had also played at Josh's birthday and everyone else learned pretty quickly. The night ended with prizes of items such as a wind up swimming otter, bumblebee paper yo-yo, hipster hippo magnet, and more.