Squatchin'! Oh, yeah... and Mount St. Helens!!!

This morning we all crawled out of bed the best we could to face a new day of activity.  Bender did his part in climbing over Chaini and Talon and squeaking his toy, but they were still a little slow movin' this morning. 

After loading up with water, soda and snacks, we drove about 45 miles north and about the same distance east to get to Mount St. Helens.  The drive that direction is beautifully scenic and dramatic.  A lot of hills and thick tree growth.  Bryan was telling the girls to watch out their windows for Sasquatch.  He kept saying, "We're going Squatchin'!"   Wyler even did a Squatch Call at one of the view points we stopped at.  Go Get 'Em, WD!  (She ain't afraid!!!)

The highway that we drove had several stop off sites that were just amazing.  Our first real stop was at the Forest Learning Center.  It had a nice gift shop and a very nice trail with many great photographic views of the mountain. 

The road also has many bridges that have been built since the 1980 eruption.  Some of them are quite impressive like this one, which had a sign saying that we were going into the burn zone. 

Can you believe it's been 30 years since Mount St. Helens erupted?  I was 12 years old.  What I remember most about it was seeing on TV how some people refused to evacuate and seeing people who didn't even live terribly close to the eruption wearing masks and walking in ash that looked almost like snow. 

We pulled up to another forest visitor center that had an even more amazing view than the last.  Family picture!!

There was a raised platform where the view was great and there were binoculars that you could use to look for elk down in the valley.  I think Wylder and Chaini had the right idea.  I don't know what to say for Talon and Bryan's method.  Poor Cappi.



We made one more stop off.  The view was so incredible we couldn't help but to pull over and take pictures.

This particular spot was just a short drive away from our final destination, the Johnston Ridge Observatory.  Since dogs aren't allowed up there, Bender and I had to stay down in the parking area and entertain ourselves there.  The sun was shining and it was nice and warm, and at this point, bordering on hot.  In the middle of the parking lot there was a pile of snow.  As soon as his feet hit it, he dropped down and cooled off.  At first I thought he had slipped, but it was 100% intentional! 

It musta felt soooo refreshing!  Unfortunately, as you can see, the snow was quite dirty.  And when he was done, so was Bender. 

But he was soooo happy!   I was glad to be driving. He rode in the back between Bryan and Talon. :) 

We have a busy weekend planned!  It might be difficult for me to do much blogging for a couple of days, so don't expect to hear much until Sunday evening! 







Did Someone Say Voodoo... or was it Sourdough?

Whew!  I'm tired!  And I'm not the only one.  When I said goodnight to everyone at 8:40 tonight, Bryan was already laying in bed, and Cappi was commenting that she needed to go to bed because she was tired enough she was getting grouchy.  And at one point, Wylder said she would need a nap before we did anything else.  The Mob is tired.

Yesterday we started off the morning dropping Bender off at "school" to hang out with his favorite teachers and friends while we were off doing our thing.  First we went out for breakfast at Voodoo Doughnut.

It was an interesting experience.  Chaini grabbed the Oreo doughnut and went to town.  It took Talon a bit to find one that she enjoyed, but ended up happy with the Fruit Loop doughnut.  Wylder seemed content with a chocolate doughnut with coconut on it. 

After our healthy breakfast, we headed off to OMSI to do some scientific stuff.  We were hoping to go to the zoo, but were again rained out.  It worked out okay, though, since OMSI was on the agenda anyway. 

After walking through a few exhibits, we ended up in "the lab" where we had to wear safety goggles.  Safety First, People!!

I thought the picture was a little fuzzy because of my own smeared goggles, but apparently the picture really was out of focus a little bit.  :)

The girls sat down and started doing some of the experiments they have laid out for kids to do, and I look over to see Bryan standing behind them holding his breath and acting like he was swimming.  Poor kids...they had no idea.

We then went to another room where there was some electric shock involved.  First, a static electricity demo by Talon and her hair...

Then a little shock therapy using the middle person as a conduit.  Wylder's expression kills me. 

In this one, Wylder can't seem to bring herself to watch as Cappi is saying, "Ow!...Ow!...Ow!" as the shocks come. 

Bryan and the girls built a water system using a little southern ingenuity... 

Afterwards, we headed off to watch a movie about the Arctic.  I thought it would be a fun one to see since I remember Cappi liking polar bears and knowing the girls like animals.  Well, it was good and had a good message, but I think when we left, we were all slightly stressed and near crying over the plight of the mother bears.  The diminishing arctic ice is sad and awful, for certain.  And we all were terrified that we were going to witness the death of a polar bear cub.  I am pretty sure that at one point Cappi, Chaini and Talon all had their hands over the eyes preparing for the horrific doom of a cub.  Thank goodness it didn't happen.  There would have been tears flowing without a doubt. 
Immediately following the movie, Cappi, Chaini and Wylder toured the blueback submarine that is at OMSI.  Bryan, Talon and I toured it a couple of years ago, so we opted not to do it again. 

We wrapped up the visit with a walk through of the natural disaster display at OMSI.  There was a map that had "tornado alley" outlined in red with Oklahoma being right in the middle of it.  I've decided that if Mt. Hood ever blows, even though I'm a ways off from it, I still might be too close. 

We ended the day with a stop off at Joe's Crab Shack.  Lots of seafood.  Lots of fried seafood, that is.  And much to my disappointment, terrible service.  They're gonna get a letter from me, for sure!!

Today we got up and had sausage biscuits for breakfast (and I learned that WD loves, loves, loves biscuits!) then headed straight for the The Oregon Zoo.  We were there from about 10:00 until about 4:15.  What a long day!! 

I told the girls when we got there that if they saw someone taking a picture and they photobombed it (examples of what photobombs are can be seen here) I'd give them $2 for each one they did.  Chaini earned $18 and Talon and Wylder each ended up with $4.  Chaini takes her money seriously. 

There was one exhibit where the girls could crawl into a dome and see the animals up close and personal.  Chaini went in and started taking pictures!

We ended the zoo visit with a little train ride.  It took us to Washington Park where we got off of the train and walked around and checked out the Rose Gardens.  It smells divine and is very pretty.

We met an older gentleman while we were there, Jacob Avshalomov, a composer and conductor, who was very interesting.  I just Googled him and found this:  Wikipedia Info on Jacob Avshalomov.  And he wrote a book called "Avshalomov's Winding Way" that he told us about that I also found online.  Interesting... 

So, after everyone pleaded being so very tired, we hopped back on the train and headed back to the zoo. 

We went to dinner tonight at The Old Spaghetti Factory where they bring out fresh, hot bread to the table to start things off.  Wylder was the first to dig in who declared it to not be very good because it tasted a little bit sour.  Yep, you guessed it - it was sourdough bread.  The whole night was one of a lot of laughing, mostly my own.  The Mob is truly a source of unforgettable and constant entertainment. 

Alright... off to bed again.  Otherwise, I won't be able to keep up tomorrow.  We're either headed to Oaks Park or to Mount St. Helen's visitor center.  We'll see what the verdict is in the morning!!  Here's hoping for another sunny day! 

A Cold and Rainy - and Sticky - Taste of Oregon

Today I had planned for The Mob to go to the Oregon Zoo.  When we woke up, it was raining and it seemed that a change of plans was in order.  We decided to go to the Lloyd Center Mall in Portland because there was some shopping that needed to be done. 

Going to the mall with The Mob is always a venture.  I shoulda remembered, and if I had, I woulda known better. 

Crazy people!  (I should note that I've stolen some of these fabulous pictures from my sister-in-law!)

The mall we were at had an indoor ice skating rink.  It was pretty cool.  We all stopped to watch, impressed with people who were able to stay upright.

When we left the mall, we headed home, ate lunch, grabbed the dog and dashed off to Multnomah Falls, just west of Portland.  When we pulled up to the parking area, Talon astutely noted that while we were all dressed in shorts, nearly every person walking from their car towards the falls was dressed much warmer than us.  But we forged on anyway.  Because it's pretty.  Even in the rain.  Even when you're cold. 

The Mob hiked all the way to the top.  Bender and I stayed down at the bottom and enjoyed a coconut latte and, when it rained hard, stood under the shelter of some tree limbs.  Bender got his picture taken a few times and even got an unexpected hug from a little boy that cried when his parents made him leave. 

Now, although I didn't go up the path with them, I heard stories upon my return.  First, for those that know the area, you already are well aware that we have slugs.  Big, slimy, gross slugs.  And for those that know my family, you are already well aware that big, slimy, gross anything is destined to be touched, handled and treasured.  While on the hike, apparently Wylder found a slug or two and Chaini happily picked them up and pictures were taken. 

See the slime between the slug and her thumb?  For the record, that slime is like super tacky glue that is nearly impossible to get off.  When they arrived back down the ground level, Chaini held up her hands and said, "I've been holding slugs."  Her hands were covered in slimy, sticky muck.  Everyone headed to the restrooms for handwashing.  Chaini's hands came out looking like this:

Yes... this is after washing with soap and water.  The restrooms only had blow dryer type things in them and no paper towels, so Cappi found some paper towels for her to use, and they didn't do anything more than stick to her hands. 

Note:  I was laughing sooooooo hard through this whole thing.  Seriously couldn't stop.  I'm so glad Chaini didn't cry, because I don't know if I could have controlled myself enough to reign it in. 

Ok... so next attempt was to get her hands super wet by running them over the all the sitting rain water and then go scrape them on the tree trunk.  This suggestion came from her dear ol' Dad who pulled a very similar slug handling stunt when he visited about two years ago.  (Look close, she's in there, vigorously scraping her poor little palms!)

Note:  I was STILL laughing... hard at this point!  Actually, I'm laughing a little as I type this.  It was funnnny! 

Apparently, a funny side story to this is that while up there in the land of sticky slug play, Chaini was pretending like she was going to kiss one of the slugs while Cappi took a picture.  Well, as soon as Chaini's lips were close to it, Bryan (being the sweet Dad that he can be) pushed the back of her head and her lips actually touched it.  When she pulled back, there was a string of slime from her lips to the slug.  Bryan (being the sweet Dad that he can be) told Chaini that she could wipe her lips on his sweatshirt sleeve, and according to the story, instead of removing the sticky slime, this course of action simply caused lint from the sweatshirt to stick to her lips. 

Poor Chaini!!

Anyway, we all survived, and I think Chaini has managed to get all the sticky off from everywhere at this point. 

 Family photo:

They were tired, but apparently not too tired to still be a little goofy! 

Bender, however, was wiped out.

And so am I.  Again.  Turning out the light and hoping for better zoo-type weather tomorrow. 

G'night!

Strawberries and The Cow Train

Today was a good day.  Well, except for the OKC Thunder not winning.  But other than that, we had fun!

We got up this morning, got ready and headed to Sauvie Island, just outside of Portland, Oregon.  We went to a u-pick farm called The Pumpkin Patch where we picked a lot, a lot, a lot of strawberries.  The berries were small, but really sweet. 

Here's some of our picking crew hard at work.

I believe there were many consumed berries during this process.  I told the lady that she should charge us for an extra pint, but she said that tasting goes with the territory.  At least I did try to pay for 'em! 

We ended up with a beautiful box of strawberries.  Yep, we got some skills at strawberry selection!!

After we picked to our hearts' content, one last thing was on the docket for The Pumpkin Patch visit:  A ride on the Cow Train.  And since it is Father's Day, Bryan got to ride for free!  Lucky, lucky him!

I have to admit that just watching this Cow Train zipping around in the parking lot and then off through the pasture was FUNNY!  

After we left The Pumpkin Patch, we stopped off a a little lavender field.  It was very pretty even though the lavender wasn't ready to be cut yet.  Apparently you have to wait until the bees arrive, and that's how you know it's really ready. There were no bees yet.  It still smelled good.  Talon sneezed and I had an itchy nose by the time we left.  But it was worth the view and the fragrance.

At the end of the day, we came home and Bryan and Cappi turned into yard working monsters!  I was so impressed and so thankful for what they did.  Cappi is fearless with the weedeater, and she got down to business.  Bryan worked on an area of the yard where there were some railroad ties that needed to be pulled up and dealt with and an accidental compost pile that needed to be removed.  Then Wyler jumped in and helped remove some rose bushes that I was so glad to see go.  Really, I am very appreciative for their doing all of the work they did. 

Afterwards, I had a couple of friends come over for a cookout.  Burgers and dogs as well as baked beans, zucchini casserole, and potato salad.  The squash casserole was a recipe of Cappi's and it was absolutely delicious.  I do love squash!

For dessert, we had strawberries and ice cream.  It was SOOOOOOOOOO good.

Lyn brought some interesting ice creams and cones from Salt & Straw, a specialty ice cream place that has become very popular in Portland.  They have a variety of unusual flavors like Sea Salt Ice Cream with Caramel Ripple and Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper.  Everyone tasted, but with the strawberries, we all ended up having vanilla.  Chaini really liked the Sea Salt & Caramel one, just for the record. 

After dessert, we all sat outside and enjoyed the cool evening air.  It was a breezy 63 degrees and everyone thought it was freezing.  I loved it.  We sat outside and talked about good movies (Lyn is making a "must watch" list) and other fun things. 

The girls played catch with the dogs to the point of exhaustion.  A tired dog is a happy dog, right? 

Speaking of tired, it's time for me to turn the lights out.  I'm t-i-r-e-d.  Tomorrow was supposed to be the zoo, but the weather forecast changed a bit, so if it rains we may have to make some adjustments to the plans. 

Good night.
Over and out.
Austa la pasta.

Colemans, Colemans Everywhere...

Well, as spoken so spot-on by the girl in the movie Poltergeist, I, too, can say, "They're heeeere!"

The Mob arrived this evening and I have laughed a lot already. When I say a lot, I mean a whole, whole lot. My brother is just pure comedy, and it is true that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree - his kiddos are just as comedic. And Cappi fits right in, which makes sense since she is part of the tree system.

So, Bender and I picked them up from the airport - luggage ad all fit nicely into our borrowed mode of transportation (thank you, Lyn! I hope you're geared up for that group hug!) without us having to strap anyone or anything to the top of the vehicle. I made in advance of their arrival a huge mess of tacos - ground beef and chicken, soft shell and crunchy. I am all about offering choices! And I was glad to hear that they were all feeling hungry!!  I love feeding people! 

As you can see, I got the thumb's up from Talon and a lovely food-check from Bryan.  Typical.

I also made a banana nut chocolate chip bundt cake for dessert. I did something with the cake that I know better than to do, which was to add extra banana to it. Uhg! It tasted good, but was just too moist. I know better, and yet I did it anyway.

So, after dinner, they decided they wanted to watch some ghost story show on tv. As things progressed, I look over to a big empty couch, and then turned to the tiny love seat and see this (excuse the bad picture quality, but you get the idea):

At which point Bryan said, "I think maybe it's time to turn the channel."

And, yes, I'm sure we'll see several amazingly great facial expressions by my dear brother over the course of this visit. 

Tomorrow we will be visiting a u-pick farm on Sauvie Island to gather some fresh strawberries. Then in the afternoon we will be back home to have a cookout, which seems an appropriate way to spend Father's Day.

And even though I already sent a very sentimental card to my Padre, I still want to wish him a very happy and relaxing Father's Day tomorrow. Anticipating that you just might end up out at the lake, Dad, I offer this toast to you:

Here's to cold beer, fried catfish and taters, retirement before another record-breaking summer, being a lake bum just because you can be, and being an awesome and amazing Tree to a couple of silly and appreciative Apples. 

Happy Father's Day!

With that, I am off to bed. I have a feeling tomorrow will be an early morning wake up since I'm dealing with a Mob that is still functioning on Oklahoma time.  I'm just hoping for a quiet night now that I've heard the stories of sleep walking and sleep talking and flowers getting planted in the cracks of butts.  It could get interesting around this place, needless to say!   

Over and out...

For the Love of Peanut Butter and Basketball

June 12, 2012:  National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

Yay for us!!!!  

And... Thunder Up!, too, while you're at it! Whoot whoot!

I don't know about you, but I think June 12, 2012 should be declared a National Holiday so that everyone can sit at home and make and eat peanut butter cookies all the day long and watch the OKC Thunder play some ball against the Miami Heat.  Oh, what a glorious day that would be.  Especially since Peanut Butter Cookie Day and the kick off of the OKC Thunder playing in the NBC Finals are on the same day.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Good omen?  Oh, yeah. 

Well, since an office closure to celebrate cookies and basketball aren't going to happen in my reality, I am making varieties of peanut butter cookies today for different reasons. Oh, before we get too far into things, here is what a busy baking kitchen looks like.  (Yes, those are increasingly ripening bananas!  I'm waiting for them to get just a little bit darker and then, Bam!, Banana Nut Bread!)  And, yes, my kitchen is as small as it looks, but I love, love, love it. 

I get sidetracked...

First, reason number one is that I was (happily!) assigned the peanut butter cookie baker for work to celebrate the special day.  Easy, peasy and makes me happy!

For the second reason, there's a story you'll have to sit through.  I'll make it brief.  Basically, it goes like this...  My father-in-law came up to visit overnight on his way through town a couple of days ago.  To help me out, Tommy decided to mow the front yard (yay!).  We all opted to go out for dinner that night.  While we were gone, Gert, my F-I-L's little chihuahua, made a grand escape and managed to run about in the neighborhood.  We got home and there was no Gert to be found.  Talk about horrible.  So, amidst searching and walking the neighborhood, we received a call from my sister-in-law who lives 2 hours south saying Gert's vet had called and a guy in my neighborhood had Gert safe at his home.  Needless to say, there was much celebration and a few strong libations to be had.  The nice guy that found her and called the numbers on her tags has several children, and we think that's why Gert was willing to go to them (some other folks had tried to catch her when they saw her, but she ran from them, we think because they were adults).  So, guess what the Gert-rescuers will have delivered to their house today?  If you guessed flowers, you're wrong.  But, yes, a basketful of peanut butter cookies is in order for these kind folks!!!

Here's a picture of Tommy and Gert from a recent family gathering.  It was taken pre-field trip, but you can see how tiny and cute she is.  And princess-like. 

And there are lessons to be learned here!!  Don't underestimate the value of having some sort of identification on your pet, whatever it may be.  And always make sure that gates, doors and small escape routes are securely closed for the safety of your small furry friends.  ~WHEW!!~

So, the third reason I'm baking delicious morsels of peanut buttery goodness are to do a test shipment to my soldier that is stationed in Afghanistan.  I have a food vacuum thingy, so I'm going to vacuum seal some cookies and then wrap them as best as I can to protect them and ship 'em off.  I hope they get there safely and I hope she likes them.  Oh... you wonder why I called her "my" soldier?  Let me explain! 

I recently visited this website:  366 Random Acts of Kindness

This site has some great ideas and suggestions on how to just be nice(r) to our fellow peeps.  For instance, I stop off at a little drive through coffee shop occasionally on my way to work in the mornings.  They have a card that they stamp, and when it's full, I get a free drink.  Now, if there is someone behind me and I have a full card for a freebie, I ask the barista to use it to pay for their drink.  It doesn't cost me anything extra to do it, and it's an unexpected pleasantry for the person behind me.  Many of you may have thought of this nice trick on your own, but my brain just never went there without a little nudge.  I love the site, and I'm going to visit it again and again over time. 

Ok, so back on track here...  On the kindness site, one of the suggestions that really caught my attention was to adopt a U.S. soldier.  It's something that anyone can afford to do.  It just takes a small amount of your time.  Really, all they ask is that you send a letter or a card to your assigned soldier weekly or so.  You can, if you want, send more than that, but the letters from home are what they really want.  If you are so inclined to send a care package, the U.S. Postal Service makes it super easy to do with their flat rate boxes.  Since you're shipping to the military, it's considered to be within the U.S. and the flat rates still apply. 

And, contrary to popular lore about not sending chocolate over because it will melt, according to the site, soldiers say, "Send chocolate of any kind - we don't care if it melts or not!"  I have to say, I understand and agree with that train of thought!

Anyway, you can visit that site by clicking here:  http://adoptaussoldier.org/

Now, back to the cookie situation...  (and may I start with saying I am SO glad that I have milk in the fridge!!!)

Today, I'm baking a couple of different kinds of peanut butter cookies.  First, I'm making Giant Peanut Butter Cup Cookies which kids love because they're big and they've got cut up peanut butter cups on top.  This time, I made them slightly smaller to get more cookies out of the batch since I'm dividing the batches up to go different directions.  Here they are, all in one glorious pile! 

The second type of cookie I'll be making is a new recipe, Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies from the website of http://www.mybakingaddiction.com (recipe can be seen by clicking the link to the site).  The batter turned out very light.  The cookies have a very nice taste and texture (thank you, oats!).  I'd caution to avoid overcooking.  The original recipes says to bake for 12-14 minutes, but I found 9 minutes to be near perfect.  Otherwise, they were a little bit too crisp for my preference.  They turn out to be pretty little cookies, though! 

Lastly, I'm going to make some Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies.  These aren't really peanut butter cookies, so sue me.  I'm gonna roll with it.  :)  They're one of my favorites, and it's what I want to make, and I'm willing to risk it that no one boycotts them.  I don't think I know any "Peanut Butter Cookie Day" purists... yet.  And, I'm thinking that the chocolate cookie might be a good non-melting (even though it doesn't matter) way to get chocolate to my soldier.  We're gonna give it a try!  These cookies don't look so pretty, but they taste so good that it'll knock yer lips right offa yer face! 

Here's a plate that shows the fruits of my labor today.

And what my kitchen looks like right this minute, closely resembling a small cookie factory.

It's a beautiful, sunny day here in the Pacific Northwest.  The animals are sunbathing in much the same fashion as turtles on a log.  Bender comes into the house periodically to see if I am making anything that he would be interested in before trotting back outside.  It's back to work tomorrow, but I got some much needed rest this weekend, so I think I am ready to face another Monday. 

Have a good week, y'all, and don't forget:  Gooooo Thunder!!! 

"With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."- Julia Child