Contacts

Guess who now has contact lenses?!? Alex is looking so grown up!

First contacts to get used to. Looking good!

Zoo

Fun at the zoo on President's day.

Even polar bears are celebrating the Chiefs' win!

Looking for other stingrays at the gift shop.
No one comes close as Sandy!

Val/galentine

What do we do for Valentine's day? Invite girl friends for the boys' basketball game and have pizza! Romantic, right?!?

Alex made lots of buckets
while Sophie keeps on drawing...

Pizza night with Isa & Marie.
Happy Galentine's Day!

Smart phone convention.

Sausage Day

What's today? It's demo sausage-making day!

We have come a long way since 2015 when we had no recipes and started with just pork and salt/pepper, salt/pepper/garlic, and salt/pepper/Italian herbs. Today, we processed 50 lbs of pork shoulder into bratwurst, curry, chipolata, andouille, lao sausages and about 12 lbs of lamb into merguez. We also made some patties for lunch, so that we could taste all our new recipes. Tasty!

Ready to meet our friends Dan & Linda to make sausages at their house!

Check out our meat models!

Meat was still quite frozen and the saw was really helpful!

It all starts with cutting meat into chunks.

Alex was all over "stabbing the meat".

Apprentice-butcher at work!

Sophie & Sara wanted nothing to do
with this messy sausage business...

Adding spices and grinding step. Smells so good!

It's all about the power tools!

Stuffing time. Look at the pretty coiled sausage!

Sausage stuffer: family heirloom working hard!

Upgrade: sous-vide vacuum-sealed bags & fancy scale!

It's in the bag! All packed
and ready for the freezer.

Thank you Linda for the wonderful lunch: vareniki with
bacon cream sauce. The sausage patties disappeared
before I had a chance to take a picture!

Chúc mừng năm mới!

This is our last new year celebration for the year. We went to a casino to watch our local lion dance troupe perform. Chúc mừng năm mới! Happy new year!

Casino all decorated for lunar new year

Waiting for the lion dance

No gambling for you, young man!

GDPT Pho Hien Lion Dance Troupe

Lion parade

Fan dance

Folk dances

Found a new Vietnamese restaurant in Little Saigon Plaza
in Gladstone: Lotus Hot Pot & Grill

Hot soup cooked right in front of us: dreamy!

Birthday

Maman enjoyed taking the day off last year for her birthday and decided to do that again this year. Nobody home: enjoying peace & quiet! Of course, someone ordered snow again...

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

Birthday cards from Papa, work,
Sarah & Sophie

Alex's contribution, reminding me that
the Superbowl is always around my birthday
& that I should be grateful for that!

Exception: all the swear words Alex recently learned
from a friend & dictionary

Car

Le monde est petit. J'ai rencontré une dame franco-allemande qui a grandi près de Wissembourg (Alsace) lors d'une soirée Beaujolais nouveau. Elle habite à Kansas City depuis une trentaine d’années. Deux mois plus tard, j’ai entrevu une voiture garée dans mon quartier et me demandais si c’était la sienne. Bingo !

Et c'est une Prius en plus !