My Haul

I blatantly violated the 6 item dressing room limit. This is the sort of thing that happens when Sweetling isn't there to keep me in line.

But, I will look way fashionable when trekking through the Arizona dessert.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

....and the winners are

We have too much selected for our drive from the Grand Canyon to Albuquerque. Which cannot be said without also saying, "I knew I should have made that left turn at Albuquerque."

I sat the kids down, opened up a webpage on all seven attraction options, and then had them rate what they would like to do, in order of preference. Here were the lists I got back. I'd like to try to get both kids top three picks in if at all possible.

Toa of Boy's picks, in order of preference:
Meteor Crater
Montezuma's Castle
Petrified Forest National Park
Lowell Observatory
La Pasada
Petroglyph National Monument
Sky City


Sweetling's picks, in order of preference:
Lowell Observatory
La Pasada
Petrified Forest National Park
Sky City
Meteor Crater
Montezuma's Castle
Petroglyph National Monument

Which might make our drive plan look something like this:

Return Trip Day 4, Tuesday May 10

--Depart Grand Canyon 8:00am

--Flagstaff AZ Lowell Observatory 9:40-10:40

--Camp Verde AZ Montezuma Castle National Monument 11:40-1:00

--lunch?? 1:00-1:30 Las Margaritas 2099 E Cornville Rd, Rimrock, Arizona
OR?? 1955 Forest 119 Road Lake Montezuma, AZ I can't figure out if there are two restaurants here, or one with two addresses. I'm only seeing one restaurant on google street view.

--Meteor Crater AZ 2:30-3:30pm

--Winslow AZ La Posada 4:00-4:30 pm

--Holbrook AZ some cool restaurant the Jedi found 5-6pm, right down the road from concrete tepees

--Petrified Forest National Whatever it is AND we'd be getting there right at sunset. I want my time machine back.

I just emailed the whole thing to the Jedi. He and Sweetling can build us a time machine. Or perhaps a Rocket Car. We can zoom across Arizona in a rocket car. Toa of Boy would dig that.

Revised schedule. You know this is why I have the soaring readership.
--Depart Grand Canyon 7am. The Jedi has said this is feasible.
--Lowell Observatory when they open at 9am. Stay till 10am, latest.
--Montezuma Castle Monument 11-12:30
--Subway eat on the road 98 Kachina Blvd # B, Flagstaff, AZ
--Meteor Crater. 1:30-2:30
--Winslow La Posada 3:00-3:30
--Holbrook, dinner 3:30-4:30
--Petrified Forest 5:30-7:00
--Hotel at Albuquerque 10:40 (which will be 9:40 in NM--see I have a time machine after all!!!)

Time Machine Traveling

I can't possibly squeeze everything in that we had marked to do this day.  I'm putting in links and such to all the things we'd like to do, then we'll have to trim down the list somehow. 

 Return Trip Day 4, Tuesday May 10



--Depart Grand Canyon 8:00am

--Meteor Crator near Winslow 10:30am-12pm

$15 adults, $8 youth (6-17); 8am-5pm
Admission prices include 3 lookout points on he rim of the crater, an Interactive Discovery Center, a theater showing our movie "Collisions and Impacts" and weather permitting a guided rim tour which takes you on a 1/2 mile hike. A Fully enclosed shoe is required for the rim tour.

--Winslow AZ 12:30-2:00
The Turquoise Room restaurant in La Posada
La Posada Historic District, 303 E. Second St. /Route 66 Winslow, AZ (12:30)
Darrel’s Root Beer Stand 1001 N Williamson Ave Winslow, AZ 86047 (928) 289-2891

--Petrified Forest National Park, 3:30-5:30
Giant Logs Trail. An easy 0.4 mile paved trail located behind the Rainbow Forest Museum that passes by numerous petrified logs, including the park's largest, nicknamed Old Faithful.
Newspaper Rock. A roadside overlook leads to an area in which hundreds of petroglyphs have been etched into the rock.
Puerco Pueblo. A short trail leads around an 800 year old pueblo that once contained 100 rooms and housed as many as 1200 people.

- Sky City, NM (+3hr, check out the time tours are given. see the problem here? This is why we need a time machine.)
Pueblo of Acoma I-40, Exit 102, Acoma 87034
Tours 10am-3:30 pm $55 family tour, $10 camera permit





--arrive Albuquerque, NM 7pm (8pm local MT time)

Now, not included in this day are the following sites that have been tacked on to the original list. That's fine, cause I'm using a time machine to make it all happen. 

-- potentially Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque

--potentially detour to Sedona AZ (Montezuma’s Castle,

--potentially Lowell Observatory 1400 West Mars Hill Road Flagstaff, AZ 86001
 reciprocal museum
Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat 9:00 AM - 9:30 PM
Tue/Thu/Sun 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
During the day explore the Observatory's history and current research by joining guided tours. In the evening, view through a variety of telescopes including Percival Lowell's 24" Alvan Clark refractor and experience interactive live presentations with our mini-planetarium.

I'm bringing in the kids for a family meeting, so we can discuss our options and hold a vote.

The Mother Road

Return Trip Day TWO, Sunday, May 8

-- Barstow 9:00am-11:00am

--Route 66 "Mother Road" Museum, 681 N. First Avenue, Barstow, CA 

--Calico Ghost Town 11:30-3:00

--Needles CA 5:30 drive through dinner
Jack-in-the-Box 221 J Street, Needles, CA 92363

--arrive Grand Canyon Village 10:30pm (Arizona does not observe DST, will be in Pacific Time)

Atta-way.....Atwater CA

Return Trip Day ONE, Sat May 7


--Depart Sacramento CA 10am

--Atwater CA 12pm lunch options....
...Tary Boscolo's Pizzeria 351 Atwater Boulevard, Atwater, CA 95301-4603 (good homemade pizza)
...Jantz Cafe & Bakery 987 Bellevue Rd Atwater, CA 95301 (sandwiches and pies)
...Granny's Pantry 1221 Broadway Avenue, Atwater, CA 95301-4328 (basic homecooking)
...Kim's Restaurant 161 Atwater Boulevard, Atwater, CA 95301-4601 ( family owned Korean food, former bar)


--Castle Science & Technology Center, Atwater CA 12:30-2:30


--Bakersfield CA 5:30-6:30
Wool Growers Restaurant 620 E 19th St Bakersfield, CA 93305


--hotel at Barstow CA 9pm

Schooling Snippets

Just some snippets from our day. These aren't really that out of the ordinary for us....you can interpret that as you will.

Setting: The couch. We are all gathered there reading from "Hero Tales". The question, and the lesson was about Truthfulness. I had posed the second question after our reading, and this is how it went from there.

Toa of Boy: "I don't know. Can you just tell me, Mommy?"
Mommy: "What about you Sweetling, what do you think?"
Sweetling: *shrug*
Mommy rephrases the question.
Toa of Boy: "Just tell me, Mommy."
Sweetling: *shrug*
Mommy: "Well I think Toa of Boy should try to eat his own toes."
Toa: "aaaarrrggggghhhh" (as he puts the big toe of his left foot into his mouth)
Sweetling: "No, no, no, no, NO!!!!"

Setting: The kitchen. Toa of Boy and I were working on a math lesson measuring capacity and volume.

The result of our efforts: Little wet footprints made by little wet feet all along the kitchen floor and one empty milk jug with permanent marker lines drawn around it to denote a 1 liter fill line and a half liter fill line. 

Setting: The kitchen again. Sweetling had just emerged from her room for snack.

Mommy: "Hey Sweetling, what does 'ubiquitous' mean?"
Sweetling: ???
Mommy: "I've had that word stuck in my head for two days and I'm really not sure what it means."
Sweetling rushes out of the room and comes back just a few moments later.
Sweetling: It means 'being present everywhere'.
Mommy: Really??? Did your vocabulary book have a sample sentence?
Sweetling: yes.
Mommy: Did you read it? Do you know what it is? Can you tell me?
Sweetling; I think it was something about God being ubiquitous.
Mommy. Huh.
A few minutes pass while Mommy does food prep.
Mommy: So, 'a ubiquitous response' or 'a ubiquitous reply' doesn't really work.
Sweetling; What??? Where did you get that??
Mommy: I don't know. That's what's been stuck in my head. What word do I need there?
Sweetling: I have no idea. What are you trying to say?
Mommy: Like an answer that is difficult to really pin down, one that can mean more than one thing.
Sweetling: Ambiguous.
Mommy: Oh yeah....

Setting: The kitchen. I am preparing dinner. The Jedi has just arrived home from work and has come into the room to put away his lunch box and sort the mail.

The Jedi: So, whose Mobius strip is that on the table?

Setting: The van. We are on our way to church for Awana and The Brink. Toa of Boy is talking to Sweetling about a wide range of topics.

Sweetling: Wait, he's bald and he eats hair?
Toa: Yes! He eats hair and he's bald but if he eats the hair maybe it comes out on his head!!!!!

Donner Party

Day EIGHT, Tues May 3

--Depart Reno 9am

--Truckee CA 10am-11:30am
--Donner Memorial State Park. Here's a wiki article and here's the state park site.










--Auburn CA 12:40 pm
In and Out Burgers. Which has a secret menu.


--Sacramento 2:30 pm


And for the days that we will be in Sacramento, the Jedi has already done a lot of research and planning.

Which makes this an easy planning day.

Salt Lake, Salt Flats, Reno

Day SEVEN, Mon May 2


--Depart hotel 8 am

--Great Salt Lake 8:30-10:30am

    Antelope Island State Park, 4528 West 1700 South, Syracuse 84075
beaches, bison, trails, antelope, restaurant, junior ranger program 
$9 per vehicle,

--Tree of Utah. This is just too funny.








--Bonneville Salt Flats
"Imagine a place so flat you seem to see the curvature of the planet, so barren not even the simplest life forms can exist. Imagine the passing thunder of strange vehicles hurtling by on a vast dazzling white plain. This is not an alien world far from earth; it is Utah's famous Bonneville Salt Flats."

--Wendover UT 1:30-2:30pm
Salt Flats Cafe Interstate 80, Wendover, UT 84083
"The food is good, the prices are CHEAP, the staff is a kick and they're FAST.  They have the land speed record for fixing some good Mexican food. " ...and...." It was a warm oasis decorated with numerous photographs of men in bright suits posing next to bright cars amongst stark white backdrops. This surreal touch is just one of the many appealing aspects of the Salt Flats Cafe."
Wendover Airfield, housed the Enola Gay.Abandoned for a while, but is now being restored.

--?? Wells, NV 3:30-4:00 (whether or not we stop here is up in the air.)
    Wells Colony (Native American gift shop), unknown address
Historic Front Street, Clover St & 7th Street, Wells NV

--Elko NV 5-6
Round Table Pizza 2503 Mountain City Highway, Elko, NV 89801-2462
King Arthur themed restaurant, pizza, sandwiches, salads


--exit 292 of I-80 6:30-7:00
   Letterbox, stone marker, historic kiosk

  

--Reno NV 11pm

Colorado!

Less than 6 weeks till our trip, and I've been slacking off on the planning. The Jedi, however, has not. "Slacking off" has never ever been a part of the Jedi's mode of operation.

With that in mind, the Jedi has the day we're spending in the Denver/Boulder area all mapped out. And had nailed some spots west of there as well. We'll be leaving Denver/Boulder in the morning, to drive west over the Rocky Mountains. How cool is that?

WAY COOL. That's how cool.

Day SIX, Sun May 1

--Depart Denver, 8am

--Georgetown, CO 9:30am

The coolest thing in Georgetown is definitely the train. However, the train is expensive and would take way too long. The buildings are still really cool looking.

But there is also a Bighorn Sheep Viewing Station there.

 --Grand Junction, CO 12-2:30pm

                Judy's Family Resturant 

435 Highway 6 and 50, Fruita, CO

                Hot Tomato Cafe & Pizzeria 201 East Aspen Avenue, Fruita, CO

                End Zone 152 South Mesa Street, Fruita, CO

                Colorado National Monument park (39.104217,-108.7277)

--Moab UT(take out dinner, which we will take with us to Arches) 4:45


--Arches National Park UT 5-6:30 pm
Here's a MAP! And here is a list of hiking trails.

--Springville UT (uncertain about this stop. I want something to break the drive up, but....)

                Sammy’s Café 27 North 100 West, Provo, UT 84601

                (pie shakes, we could get them to go perhaps)

               http://sammyscafe.blogspot.com/

--Salt Lake City UT 10:40pm

          

White Chicken Chilli....Revised

Revived, Revisited, But Still Misspelled, its----

White Chicken Chilli

(I wanted to try to make this recipe without using canned beans. One because the grocery store was out of the brand I usually by, and two, because I've been trying to use less processed food anyway.)

1 lb bag great northern beans
1or2 boneless skinless chicken breast
6 cups water
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 cups shredded cheese
garlic powder
chilli powder
cumin powder

1. Soak beans overnight (or 8 hours)  in 8 cups cold water.

2. Drain and rinse beans. Place in large pot with 6 cups cold water, chopped onion, and chicken breasts. (If you happen to have some chicken broth on hand, you can substitute some of the water for the chicken broth. But the chicken that is in there will also make some broth.)

3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1-2 hours with pot lid slightly askew to let some steam escape. When beans are tender and chicken is cooked through, remove chicken, shred, and return to pot.

4. Stir in shredded cheese. (I like to use a bag with preshredded blend. Colby jack, pepper jack, cheddar, and asedero cheeses are all good choices.)

5. Stir in spices. I didn't measure my spices, but if I had to guess, I'd say I used between an eighth and a fourth teaspoon cumin, a fourth teaspoon garlic, and between a fourth and a half teaspoon chilli. Toa of Boy was my taster for this process.

Serve soup warm with additional cheese, sour cream, or salsa for garnish if desired.

Ice Cream Conundrum

It's been a long time since I've had to turn to the cyber world for help with math, but here we are today, hat in hand.

Here's the problem:

Every afternoon the three little pigs take an ice cream break. They head to the closest ice cream shop, where each orders a double-dip cone. There are only two kinds of double dips that the pigs ever order. It's either a double-dip vanilla cone or a licorice-chocolate combination.

If pig #1 orders vanilla-vanilla, then pig #2 orders the other. Either pig #1 or pig #3 orders vanilla-vanilla, but they never do so on the same day. Pig #2 and Pig#3 never both order the licorice-chocolate combination the same day.

Which of the three little pigs ate a vanilla-vanilla cone yesterday and will order a licorice-chocolate cone today?

Sweetling and I think that there is a misprint in the book. We can come up with only one scenario of orders which meet all the criteria of the problem.

Help?

Wordless Wednesday

Twenty for Tuesday

1. I saw a list on a friend’s blog called Friday Five. I like lists, but its not Friday. I might calle mine the Tuesday Ten, but we’ll have to see how many items I end up with.

2. Sweetling’s highest form is looking really good.

3. I am, by the way, at Tae Kwon Do. Just me, the netbook, and a blank word document. This is why the Tuesday “Ten” might not work as a title.

4. I made the mistake of telling Sweetling she was “teaseable.” She was quick to inform me that she was not in a teaseable mood. Since she is now practicing her take down moves, I think I should heed this tip.

5. Went to Frisch’s today. I ordered a Big Boy of course. Toa of Boy asked me if I was going to request enough tartar sauce that it would run down my arms and drip off my elbows when I picked it up. My great-grandma’s favorite sandwich specifications live on.

6. Went to Meijer yesterday. I bought ingredients for Cincinnati style chili, traditional chili, and white chicken chili. I think I was hungry for chili. I hope my family is too.

7. When I went to Meijer yesterday, I picked up a bucket of 10 pieces of chicken for $4.99. When I got to the van, I had no bucket of chicken. We went back in and retrieved our chicken.

8. Also at Meijer, I bought 2 mangoes. When I got home, I had one mango. I have yet to figure out where our other mango went.

9. We spent two to three hours this afternoon on our church’s food pantry….pulling what was on the shelves off, wiping down the cans and the shelves, checking the expiration dates, putting the newer cans in the back and the cans that will expire in 2011 in the front. While we were there, someone came to the church office asking for help with groceries. (Our church doesn’t have set hours for our pantry. We tend to give food to one or two families every week or so on a drop-in basis.) I went up front to talk to the woman who had come in, and Toa of Boy helped me carry her bags to the car. It was neat to meet and chat with a person, since the work we do is usually all behind the scenes.

10. Speaking of the food pantry, I’d really like to revise what we put in bags. I have been working on getting away from processed foods with my own family, and now I feel like I should do the same with the pantry bags. Sadly, we don’t have the capacity to give out perishable foods….so….I’m not sure what to do about that.

11. The Munchkin card game, in several variations, has become quite popular at our house. We are currently working on our own “Penguins of Madagascar” version. I can’t work out a way to work in a “I like to move it, move it” card….but that song isn’t ever in the Nickelodeon tv series, so I suppose we can live without it.

12. While playing Super Munchkin, Sweetling snatched the victory away from her dear sweet mother. I had just defeated a villain to achieve the game winning level. Everyone else at the table had laid down all their combat altering cards and I had countered them all. “Ha!” I exclaimed, cause I’m humble that way. “I win the battle!” I pumped my fist in the air. Again, the humbleness. “Yes you did,” said Sweetling, very matter-of-factly. “Too bad it wasn’t cannon!” And with that, she laid down a card that totally negated the whole spread. “Too bad it wasn’t cannon,” has been added to our home’s repertoire of oft repeated quotes.

13. Our last day of school is April 22. I’ve got a countdown calendar going on the fridge.

14. We head out on our trip shortly after that. The countdown calendar on the fridge is doing double duty.

15. In our women’s Bible study today, there was a question about even if we could know everything that was going to happen to us in our lives, would we want too? We talked about how overwhelming that might be. We talked about how much more resentful and rebellious we might be. But I mentioned how difficult it would be to focus on what we were doing in the present, if there was something coming up in the future that we were really looking forward too. I think I said it more elegantly in class, but I was thinking about the countdown calendar on the fridge. It’s hard to remain enthused and energized about our schoolwork and the housework and the “everyday” when I’m so excited about the upcoming trip.

16. I shared about my potential involvement this summer…wait, let me back up so that this one makes sense. My sister is working for the Children’s Hunger Alliance. She’s been working in a local 90-90 school teaching an after school program covering nutrition, food choice, and staying active. The community doesn’t have any nearby grocery stores, and many of the residents don’t have any form of private transportation to be able to get to a grocery store. However, the community does have several thriving community gardens. What many of the parents of the children my sister has been working with has requested some classes or some education on how to cook and prepare and store all the produce and beans they can receive from the community gardens. The local elementary school has offered the use of its kitchen and its equipment for my sister and her co-workers to teach cooking and canning classes to the adults of the community. This would happen once a week in the evening. I asked my sister what the children of these parents were going to do during this class time. She said that the school might open the gym. What would the children do in the gym? How cool would it be to have some awesome enrichment stations going in various parts of the gym. Art, music, story time, games, maybe some construction or problem solving, maybe some drama/acting. Long story short, I’m going to the PTCO meeting at the elementary school this coming Monday. I was sharing about this in Bible study today, and I immediately got positive feedback, and offers to help, from some of the women there. I have to confess that I’m not an administrator and not a detail person AT ALL, but I got an offer for help with detail management too….so…..

17. The orange belts are practicing their take downs. The mat area is much more chaotic than it was when the higher belts were in class. I notice Master did not teach the orange belts the choke holds which he showed the higher belts. Master is a truly wise man.

18. Tonight is a mid-week movie night. Tomorrow shall be a sleep-in and delayed start jammied school day. We have the movie Mega-Mind.

19. Most VBS curriculums are set up for 5 nights. The summer evening class at the elementary school will go for 12 weeks. That’s two VBS curriculums plus a kick-off party and an end-of-summer party. If we use VBS curriculums that we already have at church….we already have the curriculum and that’s a lot less planning. Many of the volunteers will have done the curriculum and be very familiar with it ahead of time. It’ll be easier to recruit volunteers if it’s something they are familiar with. I can sub-delegate the stations easily (with a standard curriculum we are all familiar with) and let different teams be in charge of their own stations. Oriental Trading company sometime carries craft kits from discontinued curriculums for an 80 to 90% markdown. Budget is going to be a serious issue.

20. Tae Kwon Do has wrapped up. It looks like this list shall be a Tuesday Twenty list.