ToddlingAroundTheWorld

03/30/2021 #MillersNoshNwalk week 5: As Bubba Blue from Forrest Gump teaches, Shrimp is the fruit of the sea... =========== Bubba Blue: Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it. =========== Knowing that, we tried a fantastic Creole restaurant in Puyallup called Bourbon Street. It was a bit crowded and noisy inside, so we went for the outdoor seating area and had the whole place to ourselves! We ordered the Andouille/shrimp Jambalaya and then the Cajun Shrimp with garlic fries. Because you can never have enough shrimp. Both dishes were fantastic! The service was pretty good and we ended with some fluffy beignets! We gave thi...

03/29/2021 I have loved being Austin’s dad. His passion for life, his positive attitude, his determination to succeed and help others be happy are great attributes that I aspire to attain myself. I was lucky enough to be his soccer coach for ten years. To see him excel on the pitch and help his team to improve year over year was incredible to be a part of. He has always had an intense desire to improve himself and help his team to win through hard work and commitment to the love of the game. Austin, thanks for being a great coach for your coach. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ While walking from #SeattleToBahiaBlanca and doing the #TreadmillMovieMarathons over the past couple of weeks, I finished 16 Jackie Chan movies. 1,735 minutes = 3.64 marathons, approximately 95.4 miles I have always loved watching Jackie Chan. His skill with the art, his humor, his demeanor and interactions with others are so entertaining. This was one of my favorite moments from the movie ‘Shaolin’...

03/23/2021 #MillersNoshNwalk Week 4 We went to a pizza place in Renton called the Smoking Monkey. It was definitely a fun atmosphere, with eclectic art and an extensive menu with lots of great options. We got our orders in, and waited. And waited. And waited. 50 minutes later, our pizzas came out. We were a bit confounded as to why it took so long, since it was just the four of us and one other couple. On top of that, Autumn's Margherita pizza came out a bit cold, while LeAnn and my deluxe was super hot. Seems they should have brought theirs out as it was ready, instead of waiting for ours to finish. The pizza was pretty good, LeAnn didn’t love the crust, and we gave it a 5/10 based on the slow service and overall experience. For the walk portion of the outing, we headed up to Gene Coulon beach. We were hoping to see the sunset, as we had timed our night around trying to see that on Lake Washington, but the long wait for the pizza through that plan out the window. We had a nice wa...

03/21/2021 For 642 days, Every morning, every afternoon and every night, I have walked for my son, Austin. I walk to support him as the missionary that he has been and now as he moves forward to find his way in life. For 642 days, I have averaged 9.6 miles of walking on my way to Argentina from Seattle. I’ve been blessed with the health and endurance to walk 6,162 miles from the time that he left as a missionary. This distance has finally brought me to the country of Argentina, in San Juan Province! Now with only 838 miles to go, the finish line is almost in sight. I will finish by 6/18/2021, which would have been two years since the day Austin became a missionary. I strive each day to do my best to fulfill this mission of walking to Argentina, just as I know each day Austin is doing his best to be the best version of himself. I love my son with all my heart, and will give everything I’ve got to complete this walking mission for him. What we believe, we can achieve. 7,020 miles witho...

03/17/2021 #MillersNoshNwalk week 3: LeAnn and I were in Seattle and hit up the Shake Shack to check the hype. After touring around the city for a bit, it has been hard to see how many restaurants have closed down due to the repercussions of the pandemic. Conversely, those place that are opened back up seem to be doing well enough, with lines out the doors (some related to the limitations on capacity), and others still offering outside seating. The shake shack was very popular, with people lined up outside. They were not seating indoors still, but it was good to see they were quite busy. The food was good and fresh. We both got burgers. The crinkle cut fries were OK, since we seemed to have gotten quite a few runts from the batch. I topped my order with a strawberry shake, which was awesome. 4/5 stars. For our walk, we walked ALL the way up to the Amazon Sphere. It was closed to the public, but fun to see its architecture.

03/12/2021 #MillersNoshNwalk week 2: We tried a place nearby in Milton called El Bucana’s Taqueria. LeAnn ordered Chicken Fajitas, and I had the Burrito Asado. My steak was a bit dry and chewy, while LeAnn was not a fan of the refried beans or the rice, though the chicken was nice. (Yep, I just busted a rhyme!) It was a bit pricy for Mexican food, and the quality wasn’t that great. We gave it 2/5 stars. But they did have this cool piñata, so that takes it to 2.2 stars. For the walk portion of the evening, we went up to nearby Five Mile Lake. It was a bit chilly, but being with LeAnn warmed my soul. 😊

03/08/2021 #MillersNoshNwalk Week 1 LeAnn and I started a new journey this week to support local restaurants. (While having some great food and fun outings together) We set a goal to go out to eat once a week for a year at a Puget Sound area eatery. We will try many new places that we have never been to, along with some of our historical favorites. The one we went to yesterday was Red Lobster in The FW. LeAnn is a big seafood fan and while I enjoy it occasionally, I am more a turf fan than a surf fan. 😊 For Week 1, LeAnn had the lobster, shrimp and salmon, and I had the Cajun Chicken Linguini Alfredo. Both dishes were excellent! (Ironically, earlier in the day, I actually hand fed a lobster at the point defiance aquarium while volunteering. He quite enjoyed the clam that I fed him. 😊 ) We would love to hear recommendations of some of your favorite places as well! Going forward, we will tag our outings as #MillersNoshNwalk as we will strive to walk off the meals afterwards, which w...

03/07/2021 Recently completed the Dreamworks Anime #TreadmillMovieMarathons. I challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone and up the average speed on the treadmill. I had gotten quite comfortable with walking the 3.1 mph. I have since upped that to 3.3. Not much faster, but makes for 5 minutes less for every 4 miles I walk. It was tough at first, and I had to work harder, but it has also made me stronger. One of the movies I enjoyed was ‘The Road to El Dorado’. This had been one of Austin’s favorite movies when he was small. His 4 year old self remembers the characters as coming from ‘Maine’ (which sound very much like Spain), so he was always determined to go to Maine someday. Haha I love this picture of young Austin with the shirt of a boy chasing bacon. When Austin was about two, one of his first words was ‘bacon’. I recall a time we were eating at Billy McHales in Bellevue, and I was about to bite into a bacon cheeseburger with Austin in a high chair next to me. He looks over...