SUOMI

Moi! We made it to Suomi safe and sound and other than "sleeping" every night for 15 hours we've been having lot's of fun and eating a lot of good food. This picture above is a berry stand that had about 15 different kinds of berries and I loved the Finnish flag stuck in the strawberries.

My friend who we're staying with, Jarna and Timo took us to a very Finnish restaurant called Zetor. Jon and Timo had reindeer (I'm sure that was just the first of many reindeer dishes) and Jarna and I had  fish. I didn't know it when I ordered my plate, that Vandace was a little small fish, so I got a pile of little fish, some mashed potatoes and pickled beets! Jarna is actually always smiling, but I think she was giving Jon some attitude!

We headed down to Helsinki again for a Design Market which was part of Design week and we found some really cool stuff. Jon was in heaven. I was just glad we made it there by ourselves without getting lost!

We went to the open air market in Helsinki harbor where we had some lunch - the fish plate which came with more little vandance, a salmon patty, potatoes and veggies. 

This is looking across the harbor . . . 

Next we went to Helsinki's famous landmark - the Dome of Helsinki, a very pretty Lutheran church. The one on the right is the view from the front doors looking out. See the cruise ships in the back in Helsinki harbor?

Now I'm off to bed. Hopefully it will only be a 13 or 14 night!

Exciting Times!

We have an exciting and event filled couple of weeks coming up!  Jon and I leave today for our yearly parent-only trip, or as Jon likes to call it, our "couples therapy". This is the first time in a long time that we will not be going to Hawaii, in fact, it's about as opposite from Hawaii that you can get. We are headed to . . . 

Everyone keeps asking, "WHY Finland?" So I'll answer that question. When I was 14 we lived in Finland for a school year on a Fulbright scholarship. I have always wanted to go back since I've kept in touch with some of the "kids" I knew while living there and now the time has come! We are having a class reunion, so we decided to make the pilgrimage back and we are really excited, but also scared of the cold! Jon is very excited to eat all sorts of forest game (Bear is at the top of his list) so it's going to be an interesting and fun trip. 

While we are there, we are also going to be celebrating our 14th anniversary! I can't believe it's been that long! Here is a picture from right after being married, back when we were "young" as Grace said. 

I don't know if I'll be able to post any blogs while we're there, so I guess you'll have to wait and see!

Ode to Jon

An ode to Jon through pictures . . . the following is drawn by Collin, age 9. Medium: Magna doodle.

Grace, age 6. Medium: crayon and pencil. The artist described the subject this way, "This is my DaD. He is rile (really) nic (nice)."

At the Houston Zoo they have an African Lion named Jonathan which seems to be our Jonathan in his previous life. Our Jonathan is very vocal and enjoys attention. Our Jonathan likes to roar early in the morning and late in the evening. His roar might not be heard for 5 miles but he can often be found lounging on his back under the shade of our roof with his feet in the air on a Sunday afternoon. 

Happy Birthday Jon, Yon, Dad, Yonni, Yonni Poni Mayoo, Jethro, Joey, Joey Nathaniel, Daddy doodles, etc. WE LOVE YOU!!!

(See previous post too!)

Happy Birthday Boys!

"He was born in the summer (fall) of his 27th year . . . " Actually the exact day of his 27th birthday! That's right. For those of you who didn't know, Collin was born on Jon's 27th birthday. 

And now my baby is 10 years old today!! Happy Birthday Collin aka Chubble Bubbles, Chubbs, Sweet Potato, Chub of love, Buder, Brother, Bud, Sweetie, Happy Buddha Baby, C boy, Coyin etc. WE LOVE YOU!!!

Ike'd

So how do you sum up going through a hurricane in a few sentences? You don't! Long story short . . .  no major damage thank goodness. Let's just say it was REALLY LOUD when the hurricane hit Friday night, then really quiet when the power, water, phone and internet went out. We got power back Sunday night, water yesterday and the rest today and we are the VERY lucky ones!! I feel bad because the people across the street don't have power yet! This is our neighborhood the next day:

The kids kept busy playing games, reading and doing science experiments. They loved that they got to stay in their "jaminas" for a few days. 

Jon manning the grill. He was sad when the power came on not to get to use it anymore. Seriously. 

More scenes of our neck of the woods. Line wrapping around Donut World - the only place open Sunday. Lines for gas are still really long at the very few stations that have them.

The grocery stores and Post office. I can't wait for fresh produce!

My Top Ten  Favorites Today:

1. Running water!! Running Water!! RUNNING WATER!!

2. Hot water (see #1)

3. Toilets that flush (see #1). We used water we had filled the tub up with to flush.

4. Being able to shower and wash hands with soap and hot water instead of wipes!! (see #1 and #2)

5. Electricity. Don't know what you got till it's gone. 

6. Washing dishes in hot water AND a dishwasher (see #1,2 and 5).

8. AC although we haven't used it much yet. (see #5)

9. Food storage! Haven't used too much of it so far, but the peace of mind it brings is HUGE!

10. That we live on the West side. Less damage, utilities turned on from West to East. 

Calm Before the Storm

We are hunkering down at home to ride Ike out. We are in a No Evacuation Zone which means we're suppose to stay put so we don't clog the freeway for those who are in Evacuation Zones trying to get out. I'm posting this in case our power goes out tonight. We are starting to get some wind and rain. Things have died down now in comparison to the maelstrom of yesterday when the roads around us were like parking lots and the lines to get gas were 1/2 a mile long. Yesterday was pandemonium eerie and today is ghost town eerie. 

This morning after hearing clanging and banging in the kitchen for awhile, I came to investigate and Collin (with Grace as his Sous Chef) had Snickerdoodles in the oven just ready to come out!! Like a true male Bybee, he had dirtied every counter space and dish in the house but I got a good laugh and maybe a little teary-eyed over the cookies. See my bread maker in the back of Collin? We've made a few batches to last us over the next few days. 

Here are some pictures from around our neck of the woods:

The one gas station around us that is open or at least has gas . . . which has gone up about 30 cents since yesterday when the whole town was a parking lot. The only other places open are the video stores and pizza places.

Most of the gas stations look like this:

And the grocery stores:

Hopefully we'll be posting soon with some good news!

Bike, Bush, Brick: 3; Collin: 0

Number of lacerations received: 3

Number of numbing shots given DIRECTLY INTO LACERATIONS: 20-30

Price of the Happy Meal that made it "worth the pain": $2.59

Number of stitches received: 7

Number of years off moms life after the 4 hour ordeal: 2.75

That it wasn't worse: PRICELESS!!

Fantastic Flaming Altar Ring . . .

 . . . and other FHE fun.

So, I bought this  book and another one about the Bible when Collin was just a tyke and we have gotten a lot of mileage out of them.  Let me start at the beginning though. . . . I had used the old standard FHE lesson manual and planned a lesson, songs, treats etc. for Monday night. When Jon got home I said we were ready for FHE and he gave me the look and said, "are you serious?" After a small discussion he let me know that any sort of formal FHE had to go out the window, so I started looking around for something else. That's when I found these gems. Jon, I mean Collin loved them. They are treats that are named after what the lesson is about.  So as you're making the treat you tell the lesson in the manual. The first one we did was Nephi's Graham Temples.

Jon had his dremel tool out an spent a good hour on his graham temple. Collin looks a little dazed and confused, but I'm sure he loved it too.  

So, fast forward 10 years when the kids are old enough to help out with the lessons. I showed these books to the kids and Collin took one look at the Fantastic Flaming Altar Ring and knew it was the one for him. I don't think he read the lesson or even chose it by what the treat was. It was all in the word FLAMING that won him over.  The recipe is just Monkey Bread and then you put lemon soaked sugar cubes around it and light it. The lesson was about Elijah taking on the Priests of Baal in an altar lighting showdown. Notice the Pyro gleam in C's eyes. . . 

So, I didn't read the fine print that said to put the "altar" on a LARGE platter so the flames started burning the altar itself, but I'll bet your boots those kids will never forget the story!

TGIF Friday!!!

I remember after having Collin, Jon would come home from work and say, "I am SO glad it's the weekend."And I would think, I remember what a weekend was. . . once you have kids, you don't get too many "weekends" since it's a full time job. I didn't think I'd ever have one again. Well, since starting homeshool, guess what? I can now say, "Thank goodness it's the weekend!". Not that it's been horrible. On the contrary, it's actually better than I thought it would be, but still. It's nice to have a break. 

Yesterday we went to our first day of Garden Oaks Co-Op (GOCO or the Co-Op for short). It's a group of homeschoolers that get together on Fridays to hang out and have supplemental classes like Spanish, Chess, Art, Home Ec. etc. The kids made friends and it was great, but it was a long day after a long week. 

So, I say, enjoy your weekend! I definitely will. 

Blue Tuesday

Life with Jon is always an adventure. I consider myself a pretty adventurous person. . . ok, maybe when it comes to food . . . at least not picky . . . or at least as long as meat isn't involved. SO, Jon watched No Reservations the other night and Anthony Bourdane was in Egypt. This got him hankering for Ethiopian food. How one "hankers" for Ethiopian food is beyond my understanding, but Jon loves it. That is one cuisine that my taste buds have a hard time wrapping themselves around. I think because the "bread" they eat with it - Injera - has a tang to it that overpowers all the other food. Injera is precisely what Jon loves most about Ethiopian.

A few years ago we saw a documentary on taste. If you have a lot of taste buds you are a Super Taster because your taste and smell is more acute. If you have less than average, you are a Non Taster. Super Tasters don't like spicy or strong foods. Non Tasters do. I am a Super Taster. Jon is a Non. I think Collin is a Super and the jury is out on Grace. 

So back to Ethiopian . . . One good thing is that they did have a great green salad and vegetarian food with things like split peas and lentils which I, and my kids love. So, I gave the ok and we headed out to Blue Nile. A total hole in the wall in a very Vietnamese part of town. Jon ordered a big meat combination plate and I got a vegetarian one. The kids liked parts of it, but not the Injera so much. I was glad they ate as much as they did though. 

I jokingly said that we should have a Blue evening by going to Gelato Blu after leaving the Blue Nile which the kids thought was a great idea. As a side note, the last time we were in there Collin got half Olive Oil and half Gianduja and the guy behind the counter was so surprised that a kid would be getting those flavors and told Collin he had "a very sophisticated palate". 

On another side note, I overheard a lady saying to her son that "they" have found a correlation between eating different kinds of foods and intelligence. Meaning that the more kinds of foods you try the more intelligent you will be and the more intelligent you are, the more foods you'll try. I don't know if she was just saying that to get him to eat something other than a Happy Meal, but I like to think it's true and that we are making our kids smarter through food. If it's not, please don't burst our bubble!