Well it only took me three years to finally cave and build Erin her retaining wall for her flower garden.  She has been after me to build it since we moved into our Sammamish home back in March 2005. 

Lowe’s dropped off a palette and a half of landscaping bricks, 35 bags of pea gravel and 50 bags of sand (for the wall foundation + the kids sand box) on the 1st.  After some good progress on Tuesday evening after work, I jumped back in on Thursday evening, this time with the help of the kids. Ian was especially helpful, filling up the wheel barrow and then setting the bricks once I hauled them to the back yard.  Here are some pictures Erin took while we worked; there are more in a slide show here.

Ian helping to set the bricks

Ian and the tamper; no steel toe boots, but he was careful

Nathan got in on the action long enough to set a couple of bricks

All three boys helping dad

After a full day ending with a parent/son baseball game with Nathan’s team over at Pine Lake park, I decided that I needed to try out a couple recipes from the books that I got for father’s day.  As a main course, I chose to make Asian spice-rubbed pork chops with wild mushroom-soy vinaigrette from the Bobby Flay book.  As a side, I whipped up some Risotto coupled with grilled asparagus wrapped in pancetta with Citronette; chosen from the Mario Batali book. 

We paired a bottle of 2006 Cinsault (columbia valley) limited release Chateau Ste Michelle with the meal and the results were off the chart.

Of course, I have to include some gratuitous shots of the food.  Guys, remember that the best way to continually justify the purchase of a Big Green Egg is to grill dinner often for the family ;-)  I think Erin would have let me spend 10x the amount on a green egg had she known ahead of time the kinds of meals that she would be served throughout the year.

Be sure to get thick 1+” chops

The wild mushroom-soy vinaigrette zaps the taste buds and tastes amazing with the grilled chops

After you wrap the asparagus in pancetta, refrigerate for an hour and you’ll get the best results when grilling

The citronette sauce gives the asparagus a tangy flavor that pairs well with the main course.

Here’s my plate just before I consumed every bite.

I am a spoiled soul.  Erin and the kids made a huge breakfast feast on father’s day with sausage, eggs with peppers, home made coffee cake, strawberries, honey dew and hash browns. In addition to the handmade cards, poems and Ian’s plaster hand print, the kids hooked me up with a couple of awesome BBQ books and grill accessories. 

The first book is Italian Grill by Mario Batali

I can’t wait to try the Beef Braciole “Pinwheel-style” recipe that is a variation of one of my favorite summer recipes; flank steak pinwheels.  The pork shoulder Braciole also looks like it could be a winner. 

The second book is Boy gets Grill by Bobby Flay. 

It is going to be a busy summer in our back yard!

After the great breakfast, my mom stopped by and all of us drove over to Tiger Mountain to hike about 3 1/2 miles to see the Talus Rocks.  Here’s a few shots I took during the hike; click on any of them for a short slide show. 

Despite all of the energy the kids expended on the hike (I think they probably ran 7 or 8 miles back and forth despite the 700+ foot change in elevation), we later met up with Ian’s t-ball team back in Sammamish for a family picnic.  Needless to say, there was not a single complaint last night when bed time arrived

I woke up early on Saturday to get a fire started in the green egg to smoke four slabs of baby back ribs.  I have a new recipe that turned out amazing.  By the time I took them out of the smoker at 1:30, the meat was falling off the bone.  At 9:30 Saturday morning, we went over to Beaver Lake Park for Ian’s last t-ball game.  It’s a league wide jamboree, so they only play a single inning, but they really go out of their way to make the kids feel special with the star spangled banner at the beginning, announcing throughout the ‘game’ and medals for all of the kids afterwards.  

As busy as the morning was, the afternoon was the opposite.  After a huge lunch of baby back ribs, hazelnut brown ale, pasta salad and corn bread I went into a food coma in the hammock for an hour.  It felt great to just relax and know that Sunday would be much of the same, so I thought….

Today is the day that thousands of little leaguer’s and their families descend on Safeco field to watch the Mariners.  Last year we missed it because we were vacationing in Florida and the year before that we didn’t take the kids on the ‘parade’ around the field.  So this year, we got an early start, picked up my mom in Bellevue and headed over to the stadium an hour before the game so that the kids would have a chance to walk around the outside of the field.  I’ve got to say that even for big kids, the scale of the place is impressive.  I couldn’t imagine hitting a ball more than 400′ and I certainly couldn’t come close to fielding a ball and throwing it from the back wall into the infield. 

And you know that I can’t go anywhere without my camera, so here are a few shots of the kids with a bunch more here (or click on the pictures below). 

I couldn’t choose from all of the great shots of Cole, so I posted several.  He had a great time and promptly crashed on the way home.

It was cool to see Ian hanging out with his friends.  He is quite the ham; talking non-stop, telling jokes, and having a great time. 

Here’s Nathan without his coat.  It could be 20 degrees and he’ll refuse to wear a coat.  We got stuck in the food line for the better part of an hour and the wind chill was kind of bad given the fact that the little league block seats are in the nose bleeds (not that I’m complaining or anything).  He was shivering pretty badly by the time we got back to our seats.  But he still didn’t want his coat.  No idea whom he inherited the stubborn gene from

I can’t believe that the spring baseball season is already winding down.  Nathan had a great game this weekend with a couple of solid hits.  Needless to say, he as well as dad were very proud of his hits and the fact that baseball is starting to click with Nathan.  It turned out to be a baseball weekend as we took in a Mariners game today along with thousands of other little league families across the state. 

Here are a few pics from Nathan’s game.  There are many more in a slide show.  Click here or on one of the pictures to see the rest.

It used to be that almost every night, Erin and I would go upstairs to bed and find Cole in our bed or he would wander in sometime before morning to cuddle.  It seems that these nights are less and less common.  Do they have to grow so fast?

Yesterday, we decided it would be fun for the kids to help us make home made pizza.  I visited Pine Lake Pizza just around the corner for fresh dough.  Pine Lake has the best NY style pizza around and they sell their dough for $3.00 a pizza so I bought enough for four pies.  I loaded up on fresh ingredients so that we could make several different kinds of pizza, from traditional to gourmet pies that had a pesto, olive oil and garlic base. 

We fired up the green egg to 525 degrees, sprinkled a little corn meal on the pizza stone so that the pizza wouldn’t stick and cooked each pie for 15 minutes. 

The results were awesome! 

Before Kate got back on a plane for home on Sunday, we drove over to Discovery Park in West Seattle.  The park is on the grounds of Fort Walton and offers miles of trails that open to the Puget Sound.  It was another gorgeous day, so we took lot’s of pictures.  In addition to the ones you’ll find below, click here or on any of the pictures for a slide show of more shots that we took throughout the day. 

The boys exploring a field leading to the water

Cole taking a break on the trail

Ian pouting after getting into trouble

Last week, Erin’s folks and my sister Kate flew in to town from Ohio and San Diego respectively to celebrate Nathan’s first communion this past Saturday.  The weather was incredible albeit a bit hot (close to 90 degrees).  After a couple of baseball games in the morning, the boys dressed up and allowed me to get some pictures of them looking like they are little adults.  After the 5PM mass, we drove to Bellevue for a dinner celebration which lasted until almost 10:00 PM.  The boys were pretty beat by the time we got home, but we still managed to get rolling at a decent time Sunday.  More pictures from Sunday to follow, but first, I’ve posted some pictures from Nathan’s big day below.  If you click on any of them, there is a slideshow with many more pictures.  Enjoy!

I can’t believe how mature they are looking

First family picture we’ve taken in a long time…

Grandpa and Nathan looking at Nathan’s rosary

Ian having a GQ moment

Nathan getting ready to enjoy dessert.