My Flog for February 2 - From ABC to KFC and A Visit to Ladner

Another busy day. Today was the 6th out of the past 7 days that I spent away from home. This morning I got a ride in a flat bed tow truck - it was fine after I managed to climb up to the passenger's seat. There were only two steps there, thank heavens there were also some handles so I could hoist myself up easier. Neil and I drove to Richmond, where he dropped the truck off to a window repair shop, unloaded his van from the flat bed, and then drove up to ABC Country Restaurant for breakfast.

After breakfast, he drove me back home, and shortly after Howard and I got ready to head to Ladner to see  Dominik on his 2nd birthday - thanks, Shannon, I love this pic so I stole it. All the ones I took of Dominik today were fuzzy - I don't think he likes to stand still for a photo shoot!

February starts off with two special birthdays in our family - our grandson Gabriel turned 11 on the first, but unfortunately we don't get the chance to celebrate with him in northern Manitoba. 

So it was bus up to Surrey Central skytrain station, hop on the sky train to Scott Road Station, then wait half an hour for the bus to Ladner, where we enjoyed a bumpy, swayey ride in the very very back.

Birthday celebrations started early -

 and Neil got busy on the building aspect of things - with Dominik's help, of course. After all, he is 2 now.

While Clayton got a bit of babysitting, as in sitting with a brand new baby girl, Layla (not sure if that's the right spelling - if not, my apologies to the lovely parents.)

 And I actually achieved the impossible - a nice picture of Tanner. He left his silly faces in his pocket.

This is Chris with his 'Please may I play with the toys?' look on his face ...

 ..and Lizzie, who just got down and into it right away.

Neil gets his reward for putting the toy together finally ... after Shannon finishes frosting the birthday cupcakes for the party.

Shortly after this, Steve and Neil traded vehicles - the car is sleeping over at Neil's, and Steve drove all of us home in Neil's van, which is sleeping over in our driveway. No bussing home for us! Yeah!

All in all, it was a great family day, which makes me miss far away family even more.

**************

Today I decided to get a bit closer to Canada's Food Guide -

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee - 2 grain products, 1 meat and alternative (coffee is made from beans, right?)
• Lunch - actually Brunch - well, okay, maybe a second breakfast - 2 Blueberry Pancakes, Coffee (2 grains products, 1 meat and alternative, 2 fruit - 1 fruit per pancake
• Dinner - KFC - 11 meat and alternatives, 1 vegetable (popcorn chicken, fries)
• Snacks - Apricot Muffin, diet Pepsi, banana - 1 grain, 2 fruit (apricot and banana)

So:

• Vegetables and Fruit - supposed to have 7, had 4
• Grain Products - supposed to have 6, had 5 (does that mean I can have another muffin?)
• Milk and Alternatives - supposed to have 3, had 0. Oh. (Well, maybe I'll have a Baileys and Milk later, that would be 2 as there is cream already cream in Baileys, plus the milk) 
• Meat and Alternatives - supposed to be 3, had 13. 

I'll try to do better tomorrow - I know I won't be eating Popcorn Chicken, anyway.

Meanwhile, I found another terrific site you may want to check out - it's called Parga's Junkyard, and I found this delicious looking recipe there. Lots of other neat ideas too.

BAKED POTATO SLICES

Preheat oven to 400 degrees 
Brush both side of potato slices with butter; place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated 400 degrees oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned on both sides, turning once.
When potatoes are ready, top with bacon, cheese, and green onion; continue baking until the cheese has melted.