Sushi Just Got More Expensive!

Last Saturday we decided to take the evening and go find good Sushi in nearby Rochester.  We've never been to any of the Asian/Sushi restaurants there and I thought it was just about time we had some Sushi. It's been, oh, six months, since we had sushi at Fujiyama down in Southern Illinois, and that is too long to go between servings of raw tuna!  In our former life we would've handed the girls over to Grandma and just gone out as adults, but now if we want fine dining we take the whole family.  Happily, our girls are gourmands.

After driving back and forth for a while, we found a little Sushi joint in a strip mall and would've probably been frightened away by it's location but for the fact that our favorite Sushi Restaurant in Iowa City was also in a strip mall.  We figured we'd go ahead and try it.  

It was only about five o'clock - we knew other diners wouldn't appreciate our noisy, messy children while they were trying to have a nice date - so we beat the Saturday dinner rush.  Even so our sever, Ashley, seemed a little taken aback by a family with three kids five and under.  We quickly ordered drinks and spring rolls to nibble as we decided what sushi to order.  A quick look through the menu showed us that this place had lots of rolls and sashimi to chose from, didn't have anything that was kid friendly.  No fried rice, no lo mein, not even wan tons.  So we ordered a sushi assortment, an extra tuna roll, and a bowl of miso soup for the girls and hoped that if we could just keep them distracted while we ate then we'd grab them a hamburger on the way home if we had to.  We forgot we had adventurous kids.

Every single thing that came to the table the kids wanted to try!  We started them on some simple tuna rolls - raw tuna encased in sticky rice and wrapped in seaweed.  They were small.  The girls scarfed them down.  Then we split the egg and cucumber rolls between them.  Beatrice even ate hers with chopsticks.  They both dipped their Sushi in the little bowls of soy sauce, just like mom and dad.  Then Maggie saw the octopus.  She ate not only one, but two bites.  Beatrice was enamored with the Salmon Roe.  She and Maggie picked the salty, sticky, gelatinous little eggs off one by one and delightedly squealed when they "popped" in their mouths.  (I could only manage one.  Roe is way too salty and fishy for me!)  At one point Beatrice was holding the sushi up to her mouth and sucking out the roe like she was a vacuum cleaner!! They each tried my favorite, Unagi, or barbecued eel.  They each ate tofu and seaweed.  They both even tried the very spicy pickled ginger.  We ordered two more rolls, one eel and one spicy tuna.  They tried everything and there wasn't anything they didn't like.  We even gave a few nibbles to Obie!  Then, we ended the meal with a bowl of nice, plain vanilla ice cream.

My Kids Love Sushi.   The owner of the store was very impressed.  Heck, I was impressed.  I see many more Sushi runs in our future!  Hooray!!!

Friday Foto

Waiting for ride tickets.

Lake City Water Ski Days

Lake City, MN

Critters

We had an exciting day on Saturday.  It was full of critters!!  While the girls were sitting at the kitchen table finishing their dinner Maggie yelled, "Mom!!  There are RaCOONs in our yard!!!"  I though to myself, "Sure there are, honey," but looked out the window to see two adorable little coons tentatively making their way towards the bird feeders.

They were beyond cute.  At one point the braver one acted like he was just going to march up and sit on my lap.  They followed each other all over the yard making little purring, gurgling noises at each other.  We followed them everywhere they went for at least an hour until they eventually got tired of us and wandered over to the neighbor's yard and off into the woods.  Beatrice was fully in love and I had to keep telling her over and over, don't try to pet them, please stand back, they're wild animals, they'll bite, etc. 

Then much later I went into the kitchen and out of the corner of my eye saw something slowly trying to scurry into the pantry.  It was a baby BAT!!  In my kitchen!!  Rob tossed a dishtowel over him and then hung him up on a tree in the yard.  He squeaked for a long time, but in the morning he was gone.

I thought having a houseful of cats would keep these critters away from my house!!

Obie's First Popsicle

Our neighbor, Mrs. Dorothy, likes to dote on the kids. Today while we were sitting in the sprinkler she toddled over and asked if they wanted popsicles. Who could refuse?? Well, she brought one for Obie, too!

He really wanted to hold it himself, but I only let him take licks. What really confused him was when it started to melt and he could take off big, icy bites. He'd then make an awful face at how cold his tongue was and just hang his mouth open until the offending popsicle chunk fell out. But he kept coming back for more and we soon made short work of the sicle!!

Then he got to have the stick all to himself. That's what he really wanted anyway!! (By the way, it was a banana popsicle! My favorite!!)

What Happened to the Produce??

When I went to the refrigerator to get the nice fresh strawberries to make Father's Day Strawberry Shortcake I found something suspicious:

Someone had nibbled off all of the ends! Little Bee had been sneaking in the fridge all day long to take bites. She's a fruit-aholic!!

Friday Foto

Featuring a Toad

Toads have been a popular item around the house lately. With spring they are coming out in droves, but they've been little guys up to this point. This big daddy showed up in the flower bed and entertained everyone for quite a while.

There are very strict toad rules the girls have to follow - no holding toads by their legs or arms, no running or jumping around a toad, no hiding the toads in a receptacle they can't escape from (after a toad spent the night inside an Easter Egg under a tree and lived to croak about it!), and the toads all have to be named. The girls added the last rule.

Perhaps there is still a chance we'll have a Herpetologist in the family!!

The Crib is Up

We finally set up the crib for Obie to sleep in at naptime and at night. It was past time since he can roll off things quite easily and with little effort on his part. We set the crib up with three sides so that it's still mostly co-sleeping, but he's safely trapped when I'm not in bed, too. We did this with Beatrice and it worked great.

As you can see, though, he's not often by himself.

Obie's crib is a popular hang-out spot. You should stop by sometime, too!

Friday Foto

I told them if they didn't co-operate I'd put the worst of the pictures up today. Do you think they were co-operating??

There's just a glimpse of our new swing set here! Grandpa Supan spent the week building it for us! I'll post more about it soon.

A Tooth!

Obie's first tooth cam through last Friday!  It's on the bottom left.  So of course we put him into the high chair and gave him solid food.  Here he is with his first cheerios.  I'm not sure he actually chewed any of them, but he did maneuver them into his mouth!

I don't think I'll be able to get an actual picture of the tooth, but we know for sure it's there because he bit his sister when she stuck her finger near his mouth!  Chomp!!

Friday Foto

Grandma and Grandpa Supan are in town with their big ol' Camper!!

Hay Creek, MN

Maybe He'll Turn Into a Prince