Simpsons in Seattle

I find quite a lot of random Nora selfies on my phone camera all the time and they always make me smile. She is such a goofball! She likes to take pics and videos of herself, and here's a few of the latest one I just found:  

Scott has been super interested in stinging nettle for a while now, ever since we spied them last year and he took a few leaves to make stinging nettle tea. It apparently has a lot of great properties that help with all kinds of ailments, and hey, who doesn't like something that's healthy and free? This past weekend, we (read: Scott) foraged for some new, young nettle and we tried cooking it to eat for the first time.  Well, count me in as one of those that aren't into it. First, it sprouts up everywhere in the PNW and can give you a nasty sting just by brushing up against it. When you forage for them, you need to wear gloves. And as much as I wanted to like eating or drinking nettle, I'm sad to say that I don't. It has a very earthy aroma and taste, which to me translates to drinking or eating grass or mud (it's the same color too!). The texture, even when it's cooked down, is like a hairy, chewy spinach.  File this under another item I've tried so you

The last leg of our journey was exploring the southern section of the island and the main town of Kona.  The drive from Pahoa and through the southern part of the island through to our last hotel in Kona was going to be 3 hours long and we decided to break it up with a detour to see Papakolea, aka Green Sands beach, which is only one of 4 green sand beaches in the world! The beach is also just a stone's throw away from the southernmost point of the US so bonus that we passed by that destination too.  Green sands beach is about a 2.5 mile hike along a very dusty, windy stretch of the island. There are numerous paths to the beach, all of them made by 4x4s that brave the rocky terrain to get to the beach. In fact, you can pay for a local "shuttle" to drive you to the beach for $20 per person. Since the walk was flat, we opted to walk instead but saw lots of people stand in the back up of a pick up truck and bump along the road. The hike ended up being fine, albeit long in th

After our sunny, westside beach adventures, we were off to Hilo to explore the east side of the island! It was about a 1.5 hours drive from our place in Mauna Lani to the Hilo farmer's market, which is right in "downtown" Hilo across the street from the waterfront. It was a small market but we were able to get some fresh fruit and then grabbed take out a few local places for lunch before jumping back in the car again. Next up was exploring some local waterfalls and we ended up exploring 3 in all - Akaka Falls, Rainbow Falls and Boiling Pots. All 3 are all very close to get to from their respective parking lots. Akaka falls had the longest walk, and that was only about half a mile on a paved path! It was nice though that this side of the island was incredibly lush and green so our walks were through dense, beautiful rainforests. The bummer was that it was pretty wet and rainy, but it was nothing us Seattle-ites couldn't handle! We got there about 11am and it was still

We got back from Hawaii last Wednesday and boy, are we missing the ocean breezes and island mentality! We always love Hawaii and this time was no exception - we had a great time and explored the Big Island much more than we had in the past and discovered some really great beaches and places we'll definitely want to return to.  The highlights: - Snorkeling! The best snorkeling I've ever seen (although to be fair, I don't have lots of experience here!). I saw so many beautiful fish and even a turtle! Scott even saw a shark and swam with dolphins, and Kingston saw an octopus - Watching the stars come out atop Mauna Kea, one of the best places in the world for stargazing. - Going to Papakolea, one of only four green sand beaches in the world. - Visiting Volcano National Park. Pretty neat to see old lava tubes and lava lakes up close. - Trying all the awesome tropical fruits. We had your typical pineapple and mangos, as well as papaya, star apple, apple bananas, soursop, guava a