Country Meats and Backyard Playdough

With the temperature dropping back down to more reasonable levels we ventured back outside for a bit of clowning around on the back porch. (Yes, Sylvia, you are not in this picture. Other people need their chance in the spotlight too). We then moved inside where it was discovered that like her parents, Sylvia enjoys cutting a rug.

(Luckily none of us embarrass easily).

Alas, we had to say goodbye to Nana Linda. But never fear, she will return to the Pacific Northwest in December for more family fun. Saturday is the house cleaning day. We usually start with the laundry, move to the vacuuming and finish with cocktails. This time Sylvia decided that we were doing a shoddy job and on site supervision was required.







This weeks cleaning had a purpose: dinner party. Architects like to eat (it comes from starving through grad school) so we had a gaggle of them over for a tasty semi-authentic Argentinian Parilla courtesy of Ian. To prepare for the feast the chef and I headed out to Gartner's Country Meats and made a selection of fine beef short ribs, New York steaks, and Spanish chorizo sausages. The choice was hard as we were trying to approximate Argentinian style cuts but the large selection of meat and the helpful staff made the choosing easier. I expect we'll be back to sample their marinated ribs and other delicacies in the near future

As people began arriving, Ian worked our gas grill (thus semi-authentic; grilling should be done over wood coals) to cook a bunch of tasty morsels for the assembled crowd. This feast was followed by the dads and kids doing their best to grind playdough into their clothing.










As the sun set the kids got tired. That was the signal for the end of the festivities and the start of bedtime. Sylvia has recently decided that sleeping is not cool enough for her and only samples it in small doses. We feel like we've moved backward a bit (she was sleeping for 6 plus hours straight for a while) but with the thousands of books, pamphlets and circulars on getting kids to sleeps Aurelia and I are sure the solution is out there....somewhere. Until then, sleep may be a little more punctated with waking than usual.