Hubby back!

It is so nice to have hubby back in town. He was in Oregon from Wednesday to Saturday for a web-conference. He is currently working to launch ecommerce on BigLots!' website. It is kind of what he was hired for and is super excited to be heading it up. He may get to hire another person to work for him in addition to the two he has already. It will be a lucky person to get him as a boss...well, as long as they are driven people like he is. He is pretty demanding and a perfectionist, but that is why he has such a great reputation within his corporate walls and around town.

Yesterday, we took P to the ultimate playground. The only thing it needs is a bit more shade and some color, but it is seriously crazy. Then there is a small playground next to it that is good for the wee ones. The crazy playground has swings, sand, lots of mazes, tire obstacles (for older kids) and a little music thing. We had fun - except for one thing. Hubby put P in a tree and she started crying. Turns out he scraped the backs of her legs on some nodules on the branch. We didn't realize it until we put her down to play again. She cried and cried for me and we thought she was just scared of being up high...these are times when it will be nice when she has the developmental capability to say "daddy hurt my legs." Right now she just cries if she hurts and doesn't understand to say where and why she hurts unless she is probed. Well, in this case, I didn't even know to probe her. Then when I saw the two scratches down the backs of her legs I felt so bad! She was fine, though.

After that we went to Amul India for some delicious Indina buffet, which I could not partake of. Luckily, they had something on the menu without butter or dairy. The waiter was terrific. He totally got how important it was that I had no dairy and recommended a dish for me. He said it is crazy how in America the Indian food changes. He said that the dishes they serve here are full of butter and cream and it isn't like that all the time. Even the rice they serve had butter in it! That must be why we like it so much! We just laughed and said that American palates like the high fat additives. He was from Southern India and said they cook with some cream and butter, but that isn't typical. He said it is hard on his system to have a lot of dairy and especially fast food. It was interesting to hear his outlook on food in America...and not surprising. I am sure many Americans don't even think twice about the types of food they eat. Now that I am dairy-free it is interesting to taste the difference in food. Food almost tastes "cleaner" if that makes sense. Don't get me wrong, I love butter and cream, but I don't miss it like I thought. I do miss cheese every once in a while, but not enough to eat it. What I do miss is a good chocolate chip cookie.

And, I thought I found one. We headed down to Pattycake Bakery for some vegan baked goods. I was really hoping to find a really great chocolate chip cookie. Well, it was good, but not great. On the other hand, whoopie for the whoopie pie!!! It was delish and I am so glad I bought two. They also were giving away birthday in celebration of their three-year anniversary. The cake was also delish. If they keep doing baked goods like that they will definitely be around for another three years.