International District

On Thursday we took the kids to the big city. We have been wanting to explore the International District and eat in China Town. 

I looked online for restaurant recommendations and picked one. I really wanted good Chinese food....not the American version of fried congealed saucy junk you usually find around our town. I had high hopes...and said a few prayers. 

We were seated by a  very friendly woman. This is a BIG DEAL! When you walk into a restaurant with five kids you are often not warmly welcomed. We were off to a good start. 

We could tell the decor was a bit dated....and there was a large broken window near us that had a board nailed over it and cold wind coming through....and there was a huge water damage spot on the ceiling above us. Eeeeeks, Cam and I nervously giggled to each other. 

But, it was clean and that goes a long way.

The kind waitress brought hot tea and the kids were thrilled!! 

A lot of tea was consumed....with sugar of course.

Moses got ready for the main event and was excited to use his chop sticks. 

We ordered four different lunch specials. There was a TON of food!! The kids were in heaven! They LOVED it!! The nice waitress brought extra fried rice just because she knows kids love it. She's right! The kids are still talking about how good the food was. 

Now, if you want to know the truth...Cam and I thought the food was okay. Actually, I think what I said was, "well, it wasn't disgusting". Ha!! It wasn't the best and it wasn't the worst. And...the bonus is that the whole lunch cost us $34.00. No kidding!!! There was so much food left over that the kids ate it for dinner. 

After lunch we hit the streets to explore China Town and Japan Town. There are two distinct areas of the city with shops, restaurants, and businesses. 

We went to the huge international grocery store that we love. It's so much fun!! Everyone got our favorite Hawaiian juice and some rice treats.

We found a huge beautiful community garden on a hillside. You can walk all around and look at the plots and see what is growing. There were even chickens! 

We found some bamboo and it's Cam's favorite plant so we had to get a photo. This would be a good time for all reasonable people to leave a comment telling Cam NOT to plant bamboo in our yard. 

We went to a noodle factory and they also make fortune cookies. We bought a humongous bag of them. They were so good and the kids loved reading the fortunes. 

The best thing we saw was very somber. We spent time telling the kids about what happened in Japan Town during WWII and how the Japanese were rounded up and interned. Many of those families lost their businesses and property. I read a great book called On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet a few years ago. The book is about that time in our city's history. There is a hotel featured in the book and the building is still standing. There is a tea shop there and we brought the kids to visit. I had the most delicious cup of tea.

I was enjoying looking at the photos on the walls when a man sitting at a table asked me if I'd seen the window in the floor. I hadn't seen it so I walked back to look. A hole had been cut in the floor revealing the basement below. In the basement are items that were left behind by families leaving for internment. In the book I read about how people put all of their things into storage and some never returned to claim it. It was moving to see those items frozen in time....a baby buggy, suitcases, clothing, boxes. It's a shameful part of our country's history. We showed the window to the kids and talked lots about it.

It was a good day. Family fun and history lesson all in one. 

On our way home we decided to stop at a big park that we've never been to. It was the perfect photo opportunity. I recently dubbed my kids, "The Fab Five" and I think this pic sums that up perfectly. for a laugh...look closely at Sis's face. She is such a hoot! 

In turn, one of the kids said Cam and I are, "The Terrific Two". Nice! 

More adventures to come....yes, we were exhausted after our staycation. 

Bitter Sweet

I wrote a blog post once about selling my babies' changing table. You really must read it first so you can understand what I'm talking about. Read it HERE.

Okay, so now you understand a bit about my attachment to things...things that hold dear memories for me. The changing table was hard. And then there are the baby clothes...I still get a little sweaty when I remember giving them away. I sometimes wonder if I could get them back. It's bad.

It's not a materialistic relationship....it's not that I want the items but it's the memories those items bring back to me.

So, good news! The rental house sold!! Very, very, VERY good news. And yet, here I am feeling a bit sad and weepy that I can no longer walk through that house. You see, that house is special to me. Not special as a piece of real estate but the feeling the house gives me. It's like a warm hug when I walk in the door.

We moved into that house when Tuba was an only child. A lot has changed in our lives since then. We built our family in that house. I have such sweet memories of bringing each baby home to that house. Playing with toddlers in that yard. Sledding with kids down that driveway. Making countless meals in that kitchen. Snuggling my favorite people in front of the fire. Plus, dozens of holidays and celebrations under that roof.

Over the 10 years we lived there Cam and I did everything we could to make the home ours. We painted every room in the house....except the laundry room. We removed wall paper from three rooms. We replaced all the windows and the furnace. We changed all the windows coverings. We put new floors in five of the rooms. We had the cabinets refaced and the outside of the house painted We had the bathrooms tiled and updated. We purchased new appliances and changed the railing to bring it up to code. We made every piece of that house ours. The house reflected us.

It's hard to say goodbye. But, good bye house. I'll always be thankful for you. So many good memories.

Bitter

I will be posting about each of the kids and what they have been up to but first I thought I'd share with you a delicious little story.

At dinner the other night I was trying to get the food onto the table. Kids were loud, kids were running around, one kid was crying.

I heard Cam comfort Baby George (the crier) and give him a kiss.

I came to the table to see BG with his finger extended and asking for a kiss. I assumed that he had an owie on his finger (hence the crying) and I kissed it.

As soon as I had kissed it I realized that there was something on my lip. I touched my tongue to my lip. Why? I do not know and in hindsight this was a very poor reaction.

Hmmm....there is something very bitter on my lip. So I walked back to where BG was sitting and took a little look at his extended finger...which he was still holding out. EEEK. I notice something brown all over the end of his finger.

I ask BG, "is that poop on your finger?", "Yah" was the reply.

Alarm bells were sounding, Cam hollered from the next room, "WHAT!! I just kissed that finger". We both quickly ran to the bathroom and as I began rinsing my mouth and lathering up my face with soap Cam went full court press with a bottle of hand sanitizer. Blech!! We got all cleaned up (really, can you ever be cleaned up from such a thing?) and returned to the table.

There sat BG with his finger still extended, still covered in poop. I then asked him, "BG did you put your finger in your diaper?", "Yah" was again his response.

Cam cleaned him up while lecturing him on poop poking while I got the kids started on dinner.

The moral of the story. Poop is bitter and now you know it. Just kidding, the real moral of course is do not blindly kiss a boo-boo when it could really be poo-poo. :)