Water Doggies

Last weekend we got together with our neighbor, Dustin and took our pups to the park across the street from our house. Dustin's pup, Harley is well behaved and was the best little girl the whole time. Our pups on the other hand kept running away & eventually had to stay on their leashes.

Thankfully we are working with another awesome neighbor, Ryan who has been working with dogs and training them for 10 years before he joined the Navy. We are working on recall and some extra obedience training so that they can be consistently well behaved in various situations. Hopefully one day we can take them to the park and they will stay with us without a leash. Until then, we purchased retractable leashes for situations where we want them to explore, but still be under control.

After running after a tennis ball on the baseball field, and wearing themselves out on various escape attempts (Luke and Leia were our only escapees) , the pups cooled off in the lake. This was the first time Luke had gotten fully in the water, he tried to lay down in it but didn't realize he would go under water. His reaction was so funny!

Harley cooling off in the deep end. Leia was wit her when I went to take the picture, but took off before I could snap it.

Notice pups on leashes. They can't be trusted.

Sweet Harley, well behaved, no leash lady

Leia getting into the swampy area

Luke really becoming a water bug!

Tim and I love hanging out with our babies, seeing them have a good time is just the best.... and so is the LONG nap they take when they get home.

~Katie

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

Hi there, sorry I have been away for the last week. It has been very busy & I hope to share why this coming week! But now that it is Saturday I have a few moments to catch up on some other things that we have been doing lately.
In South Carolina, Tim ate a specific brand of fruit snacks from WalMart every single day. When we moved here to Washington we decided not to continue to support the WalMart corporation and, therefore have no access to WalMart brand fruit snacks. That left Tim buying fruit roll up and fruit by the foot brand snacks. All three of these are just food coloring, chemicals & sugar. So I found recipes on 17 Apart and Our Best Bites and put together a recipe that turned out really well! So far I can't find the perfect length of cooking between gooey fruit & too-crispy-to-roll fruit... but I am still experimenting!

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups
2 cups of ripe fruit - I used peaches, strawberries and raspberries for different batches
honey - to taste
parchment paper or plastic wrap
preheat oven to your lowest setting, mine is 170F

Raspberries

Peaches and Strawberries

This picture of washing the berries isn't all that necessary, but I thought they looked very pretty in the red colander.

I put the cut up strawberries and peaches into the blender with a good bit of honey & then added more after I blending it together & tasted. The more ripe your fruit, the less honey you will need to add. Next time I am going to cook the berries in a sauce pan for a little bit before I puree them, I think it will bring out more flavor.

I made a second batch with just raspberries.

Blend until the consistency is smooth, it is ok if the mixture is thick, but you can add water as needed to get the smooth texture you want. I had to add about half a cup.

Once blended you can strain out the seeds, but I recommend leaving them in for texture.

I did the peach and strawberry batch on plastic wrap, usually you wouldn't put plastic wrap in the oven, but at this low of a temperature it will not melt. Between the plastic wrap and parchment paper I preferred the plastic wrap; however, I plan to purchase a silicone baking mat soon. Other bloggers have said that it works best & it makes sense.

Here are the raspberries on the parchment paper, no matter what you use as backing you want to smooth the mixture thinly and evenly with a spatula and then bake for 5-6 hours. The first batch I did was not ready before we went to bed, so I simply turned the oven off & started back in the morning. Another blogger recommended it & it worked just fine!

When they were finished, I cut them into strips and wrapped them in fresh parchment paper. I taped the ends - but it didn't hold well. I like 17 Apart's idea of using twine, but I was in a rush & didn't bother.

Tim has been eating these just as fast as the store bought ones & these are actually healthy!

I was a little skeptical at first, but these fruit roll ups were not hard to make - even though they take a long time, there is very little hands on time. Do be aware that they do not taste the same as fruit roll ups, it is much more fruity and natural, but I think they are better!

Let me know what you think!

~Katie

Weekend Pizza

On Sunday I made a pizza and salad for lunch, I have been having so much fun making homemade pizzas. I use whatever toppings I have on hand and they turn out so much better than kind we would have delivered.
As part of our move away from meat I used veggies crumbles instead of sausage this weekend. Soon I am going to try making my own crust, but it is a big undertaking and so far I have just used store bought.

We were in a hurry to get Tim off to work, so I forgot to take a picture until we were in the middle of the meal. This pizza has tomatoes, red bell pepper, sliced onions, veggie meat crumbles, mushrooms, garlic, mozzarella and parmesan.

Yum ! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

~Katie

Point Defiance Zoo

Monday, Tim surprised me with a trip to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. As soon as we got there, things started going really well for us. Someone pulled out of the very first parking space right as we pulled up. Score! As we walked up to the ticket booth to buy our tickets a lady came up to us & blessed us with two extra tickets she had for free!!

I have been to several aquariums, and this one was much smaller and only had local sea life - but I didn't mind because they were different that all of the animals in the aquariums in the south.
The zoo part of Point Defiance was wonderful! There were so many fun animals from all around the world.
Since the weather is cooler here than in Atlanta, all of the animals were so much more active than I have ever seen. My favorite were the sea otters. They were so funny, spinning in the water, playing with each other, cleaning themselves, SO precious!
I also loved the arctic fox, who ran into view and out of view over and over again - putting on a show!

Before we ate lunch, we found an area where you could ride a camel!! There were mostly only children  riding, but riding a camel is on my life's to do list... so I HAD to give it a try! We only paid for me to ride the camel, Tim was going to take pictures... but once we got up there, the man leading the camel said that we could BOTH ride & the man tending the camel stand would take pictures!!! People were SO sweet to us there!
While we were riding, I started worrying that the camel was unhappy or that we were too heavy for him. But people ride camels in other countries, and the zoo was so nice - hopefully they are loving on their camels too.

We ate lunch at a stand with restaurant quality food for CHEAP! I had a massive serving of mahi-mahi tacos and Tim had bratwurst with sauerkraut with french fries for only $18.

While we were there we also saw a fun show called Captain Adventure and Dr. Do Nothing with a dog that did the cutest tricks... if only we could get Luke and Leia to act that well!
After the show the park really started to clear out, even though it was still open for almost 2 more hours.   We got to see much more of the park without many people around. We even got to feed little birds who landed on our hands and see baby Cloud Leopards playing together!
I am so thankful to my sweet husband for such a wonderful day!

Red Wolf behind the tree. These guys were hard to spot because they had a vey large enclosure, we did see a wolf pup, but I couldn't get a good shot of him.

The arctic fox is grey in the summer and white in the winter, this little guy bound around his enclosure putting on a show!

My favorite sea otters!!

The once closest was looking at me!

underwater view of the sea otters

Puffin swimming, they only have white around their faces during mating season.

  

 Tortoise eating clover

 Camel Riding

 Lunch

 You could buy little sticks with seeds on them, then the birds would land all over you to nibble on the seeds. We didn't get a picture, but one landed on my hand!

 The tiger's enclosure also had swings for monkeys, we found out that they animals get to rotate between the enclosures to have more space to roam!

What a guy!

 I can't remember this animal's name, but he has very pointy horns. We weren't sure at first what was on the tip of the horns, but the closer we looked - he has tiny KONG toys stuck on the tips to keep him from poking anyone! How funny!

 By the time we got to the elephants they were already being fed and cleaned up for the night, so they were in this house/cage area eating. 

 Baby Cloud Leopard!! Look at that tail!

 aw!

 We almost missed this section of the zoo because it is called the "Kid's Zone"

This meerkat was relaxing in the shade.

This one was getting a sun tan!

Rough housing meerkats 

Fun lemurs

 You can't tell from the picture, but this guy was sitting on the edge of this rocky area just like a human with his legs sticking out in front of him & his hands on his knees

 Lemur tail

 He blends in well, but behind the first rock and before the stump is a wallaby. 

Bonus animal! By the time we left everyone was leaving the park & about 20 people had stopped to take a look at this sweet deer grazing outside.

~Katie

Green Smoothies

This week my new healthy food is green smoothies, I found a recipe on Pintrest:

used these ingredients plus water:

 and it turned out looking very scary.....

Once I got past the first few sips - the look and texture were very new, it was actually delicious and I have had a couple more since then. I even got Tim to drink one!
When I go back to the grocery store, I am going to get more greens (I went through them faster than I thought I would) and try to make one every few days.
The coconut oil adds a tropical flavor to the smoothy & the honey makes it decently sweet (since it is blackberry honey it adds flavor as well).

Even though I ran out of greens, I have still been putting the chia seed in all of our smoothies. We have ones with strawberries, bananas, blueberries, peaches, milk, coconut water, yogurt, honey, powdered peanut butter - with is fantastic and very health -, cocoa or whatever else looks good at the time!!! It is a great addition to our breakfast & I have been having them for dinner occasionally too since Tim isn't home at dinner time.
~Katie

Just an Update

I am sitting on the couch with Lucas watching Reba before bedtime, my mouth watering from the smell of fresh homemade fruit roll ups drying in the oven, so I thought this was a primo time to update all of you (and by all of you I probably just mean Tina, since I am not sure that anyone else is reading this. haha) on the most current things happening here.

Things at the Fowler household have been steady and quiet recently. I started reading The Kitchen House for the FRG book club & attended my first FRG meeting on Monday as treasurer. Thankfully it wasn't as awkward as I thought to sit facing everyone. Tim has been working harder than ever, but we are so thankful to get to spend each morning together.

This week Tim and I both got oil changes, had a chance to spend some time together running errands, and found a fun new app for our iPhone/iPad.
The new app is called Plague, Inc and the premise is that you design and evolve a disease with the goal of eradicating the world's population before they find a cure. Morbid, but super addicting! I haven't managed to win a game yet, but Tim is really good at it!

The pups have also had a fun week, going on walks and going to Howe Farm again today! This time my friend, Jamie and her pup Max came with us and the three had an incredible time running in the fields & getting muddier than ever before!!! I love seeing Luke and Leia enjoying themselves outside. I can tell how happy they are to be running at top speed and splashing through creeks :)

Lucy is also doing well, she has been eating her little pill in a Pill Pocket every evening like a champ & there have been no signs of seizure activity! WooHoo! Because of her health scare she is now allowed to sleep with us at night, which makes everyone so happy. Tim tries to say that she wakes him up at night, but you couldn't wake Tim up at night if someone was cutting off his own leg - so I think he is just dreaming it. She cuddles right up either on my chest or under the covers next to me, what a sweetie pie!

Yesterday, for the 4th of July things stayed quiet around here. Tim was at work and the pups were not excited to hear all the fireworks, so we stayed in the house and I baked Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies to send with Tim to work. I saved a few for dessert at the house too, they have to be one of my absolutely favorite desserts! Other than that, I just cleaned up the house, mowed the yard, and cleaned up the mess Luke made when he had a wild moment of digging in the "flower bed" (it is currently just a rock garden) and scattering dusty soil and rocks all over the patio. While I was doing that, the people in the apartment above me (who were throwing a party with lots of loud music and foul language - bleh) yelled out the window that I shouldn't be working on the 4th of July. It was weird & makes me even more anxious to move into a free standing home! Hopefully, that will be in the works sooner than later.

That's all I've got! The weather has been all over the place, cool and rainy to warm and sunny. But certainly not warm by the standards I am use to! We are really settling in well and enjoying life here in the PNW!

And here are some bonus pictures of our babies:

silly girl, getting some sun in the kitchen window

handsome Lucas sitting in my chair (this is from before Tim even reporting back to work)

Leia trying on an old t-shirt

~Katie

Before and After

As I mentioned in my trip to Seattle post, Tim didn't shave or cut his hair from April 6 to May 15... a "liberty beard" since he has to stay clean shaven for the Navy.

I thought it would be fun to post before and after pictures.

These are from before I cut his hair and shaved his face (he did the close shave, I just got off the bulk)

He looked somewhere between homeless and a lumberjack (he has a penchant for plaid flannel shirts). It was terrible and although I had started to grow attached to all the fuzzy myself... I was glad to see it go.

We headed to a local pizza place in Poulsbo for lunch where I remembered to take "after" shots:

Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm, there is my handsome husband

I wish I had taken a picture of all of the hair on the floor! It was unreal!

~Katie