More yummy recipes

Will I make them? Who knows, but I like the looks of them!

Triple Chocolate Butterscotch Bread

 Forget zucchini bread. This is where it's *at*

 Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Though Sweetling said, "WHAT?" in response to these cookies, nevertheless, I think they look fun.

Chocolate Cobbler

Again, yum.

 Bananas Foster French Toast

You might notice a lot of sweet recipes hitting my blog tonight. It's like a pattern.

 Reese's Pieces Blondies

Because I love my husband.

Sloppy Joe Squares

Another one for the Jedi.

 Snickerdoodle Bars

See how much I love him?

Philly Trip Plan: Day One Possibilities

The first day of our trip sees us leaving Cincy and driving to Williamsburg VA.

That is NINE hours of drive time and looks like this:

I'm back in research mode, looking for at least one midway stop to break up the long drive and provide some interest and adventure in the day.

One option is Covington VA. It's 5 hours and 43 minutes from Cincy.  A quick buzz through trip advisor isn't shouting out with any awesome stuff.

Hawk's Nest State Park in West Virginia is almost exactly at the halfway part of the drive. This might be a real possibility to get out and stretch our legs some. It has a visitor's center for kids, a lookout point over the river....and an aerial tram car. The Jedi (who hates heights) says, "Yeah....you're funny."




The city of Charleston WV is also near the halfway point. But once again, I'm not seeing any cool kid friendly stop. Coonskin Park is near Charleston, but it's a fairly standard county park.

Lansing is close to en route. It has a bunch of Adventures on the Gorge, such as ziplines and white water rafting. But I need a quick, easy attraction. Orb the Gorge would be fun, but a bit too pricy for a 'travel diversion'.

 Huntington. There's a historic farm and village there, but I think that we need something active for Toa. We'll be doing enough history on the trip as it is.

 And Fayetteville....which has a BridgeWalk, certain to be another hit with the Jedi. It's not my fault that the cool mountain attractions are up high. But in this case, the bridgewalk is a whopping $69 per person! I shall keep looking.

 And Beckley....which has a tour of a historic coal mine, described as "not for the claustraphobic." This has gotten me another *look* from the Jedi...who is, in fact, claustraphobic.

That makes me 0 for 7.... crap.

But the Jedi hits a home run by finding Waves of Fun.

Giant water slides for the win!

Unschooling Morning

Our dear neighbors lost a grandson over the weekend. Having just gone through a death in our family this winter, both the Jedi and myself wanted to attend the service this morning.

I left the children home with Mama. They each had a list of schoolwork. I told them that they could do their school work, or work on any creative project of their choosing. They both opted for the creative project.

Sweetling put in a few more hours on her plush TakoLuka. She's creating it from scratch, no pattern or directions. Just the Japanese youtube videos she likes as a guide.

Toa of Boy is creating a coin operated Lego arcade. So far he has two vending machines which accept Lego "money" and then *actually function* to dispense little cylindrical Lego soda cans. He also has a photo booth (non-functional) and a claw machine complete with prizes, a dangling claw, and two joystick controls. He is a little disappointed that he can't make the claw machine operational, but I told him not to worry about it. You can't get prizes out of the real claw machines either.

If I were cooler, I'd be able to take pictures and get hem from my phone or my camera to my computer and then to my blog. Alas, I am only a dork..not a techno geek.

Geek:  You understand, create and fix Really Cool Stuff

Nerd:   You understand and collect Really Cool Stuff

Dork:  You are confused by Really Cool Stuff

On the agenda for the afternoon, making white chicken chili and Texas sheet cake to take to another co-op family. And probably more unschooling.

Pinterest is a Pain

It's true.

And I'm saying it.

I don't like Pinterest.

I'm going back to my tried and true method of putting links and pictures in a blog post for myself.

There should be a rule similar to, "don't go to the grocery store when you're hungry,"  is....
"don't surf food recipe sights when you've got the munchies."

Everything looks good.

Rather than spam my Facebook wall with links that I'll never be able to find again (really, Facebook needs the ability to search a wall)...I'm posting them here.

Slow Cooked Triple Cheddar Mac & Cheese.

Downside, it uses a can of cheddar cheese soup. Alternatives must be experimented with.

 Jalapeno Popper Dip

There is no downside to jalapeno poppers.

 Pepperoni Pull-Apart

Making this on Friday to go with a family night activity.

CopyCat Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

This is here because Toa loves chicken alfredo. It's one of his favorite dinners. The rest of us are sick to death of jarred alfredo sauces.

Monster Cookie Dough Dip

No other words are needed.

 Crispy Cheddar Chicken

 Mmmmmm.....

Going to Philly

We had about assumed that the trip to Philly was a no-go, which is why we had gone ahead with the application to adopt Zoboo. But the Jedi just received word today that his company is sending him to Philadelphia for two weeks of training. The kids and I are going along. We'll hit DC for four days before his training starts. Then the kids and I will tool around museums and parks and attractions in the Philly area while the Jedi is stuck inside doing complicated chemistry. On one weekend, we'll head north to go see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

I'm collecting some ideas to keep the kids and I busy during the day.

Toa of Boy immediately suggested a daytrip to Hershey PA. Google map says Hershey is only an hour and a half away....Land of Chocolate, here we come!

Other cool things in Philly itself (while the Jedi isn't with us)...

Out on a Limb at the Morris Arboretum. The website says, "Get a bird’s eye view of the forest from 50 feet up, perched on a canopy walk high above ground level. Or scamper down onto the Squirrel Scramble, a huge hammock-like net where you can look down to the ground far below through the rope netting. Enter a Bird’s Nest and sit on giant robin’s eggs, just waiting to hatch." The Arboretum also has gardens, sculptures, and historic buildings (oh my!)

• Mon-Fri 10am-4pm
• Adults $16, Youth (3-17) $7

 TripAdvisor ranks the Philadelphia Museum of Art as Philly's number one attraction.
School trip and $5 school rates available with at least two weeks notice.

• CLOSED Mon, and one building closed Tuesday
• Wed-Friday 10am-5pm
•  Adults $20, Youth (13-17) $14, 12and under free

The Barnes Foundation
Not only is a $5 school rate available, but an hour long lesson might be.

Tickets for any day should be purchased and reserved in advance. (However, a google image search seems to speak of an environment that Toa of Boy might expire in.)

• CLOSED Tues
• Wed-Monday 10am-6pm (Friday till 10pm)
•  Adults $18, Youth (5-17) $10

Shofusu (Japanese House and Garden)

 Tours of the house can be provided based on staff availability. For availabilities, please email info@shofuso.com. Shoes are not allowed in the house, but socks or stockings are required. Shoes are required in the garden.

• CLOSED Mon & Tues
• Wed-Fri 10am-4pm
• $6 Adults; $4 Youth(3-17)

 

 Fireman's Hall  located in a restored firehouse in the heart of Philadelphia's historic Old City district, is one of the nation's premier fire museums.

• Tues-Sat 10-4:30
• donations requested

Reading Terminal Market. This seems like it might be like Findley Market and be a good place for the kids and I to grab lunch one day.

• Mon-Sat 8-6
• Parking $4

Bringing Home a Dog

For a couple of weeks now, the Jedi and I have been talking about adding a dog to the family.

We have been researching breeds and rescue organizations and discussing what would make a good match for our family as well as what changes in house and routines would need to happen for the dog to be safe and well cared for in our home.

Here are some of the characteristics we are looking for--

• good with children
• trainable
• a good watchdog
• hypoallergenic
• medium in size
• 2 to 5 years in age
• from a rescue or adoption agency

When you put those parameters into effect, there's only a few breeds that might work. Oh sure, there's lots of great breeds out there, but only a few that we can get through a rescue or adoption agency. (And while I don't have anything against a legitimate breeder, our family is about adoption, so that is the preferred approach.)

• greyhound
• standard poodle
• standard schnauzer
• labradoodle or other poodle blend

Of those, greyhounds seem like the best fit....except that they aren't generally watch dogs from all the info we can turn up on them. I really want a dog that will sound like a wolfhound when someone comes to the door of the house. And it seems like they have to be leashed and supervised outdoors at all times to keep them from taking off in pursuit of something.

So, I've been researching the amount of care a standard poodle would take. I'm especially concerned with the grooming aspect. Understand, I'm not talking about maintaining a show cut on a poodle. Not only is that impractical, it also isn't the 'watchdog' look I'd be after. Check out these 'pet trims'...

Those don't look like fru-fru show dogs. Those look like loyal family dogs. That's what I want.

We put in an application for Zoboo. We still have a lot to do in the house before he comes home, if our application is accepted. But look how wonderful he his and read his write up on Petfinder.