Post #196: In which Miss E goes to the Children's Museum

Getting eggs

This Labor Day weekend, Miss E got a visit from Grama and Grampa.  On Saturday, we took a little day trip to Brookings.  We started with lunch at Pheasant Restaurant and Lounge, which is, reportedly, where Gordon Ramsay ate when filming Kitchen Nightmares in nearby Minnesota.  (By the way, it was not a kitchen nightmare; it's supposedly his favorite restaurant in South Dakota!)  I had a vegetarian burger, which made the short list of best burgers in a 7-hour radius.  Miss E got grilled cheese, but she actually ate every French fry in sight instead.

Also notable about the restaurant is, they manage to keep it classy and have a name like "pheasant" without any taxidermy pheasants displayed in any part of the restaurant or wine cellar. This is very hard to do in South Dakota, and I was nervous, but I was pheasantly surprised (cringe!).  

Picking flowers

However, the main event was everyone's first visit to the Children's Museum.  The museum is housed in an old school, with each former classroom housing a different exhibit.  I thought Miss E would kick and scream as we transitioned to different rooms, but she was fine and each room was better than the last.  It was the most fun day we have had in a long time.  It's strange to be in a place where you are encouraged to touch and interact with the exhibits, touching, climbing, building, splashing...there is so much to do.  In one of the exhibits, (older) children can "climb a cloud" all the way up to the ceiling, of the two-story building.

Highlights for us included: 
• Giant Lite Brite

• Splash table

• MiniExplorers slides, steps, and cave

• Picking flowers and ears of corn

• Getting eggs from under the chickens

• Playing in the stream outside

• SDSU ice cream: SDSU is where "cookies & cream" was invented.  Could anyone imagine a world without "cookies & cream?"  Does anyone want to?

Also, happening this week: Miss E learned how to say her own name!  She is also repeating a lot more and pointing to get us to name things--mostly "Elsa...Anna...Olaf...Elsa...Anna...etc." 


--吴碧芙

Post #195: A little work, a little play

Working from home

On the bridge

Today after church, we planned to assemble a salad, pack a picnic, and have lunch outside at the local Japanese gardens.  We had moved Miss E's little table and chair into the kitchen on Saturday, when we cleaned the kitchen and prepared our Sunday lunch components, while she played with her Duplo farm set.  Today, she sat for a good ten minutes and watched Elmo in Grouchland.  She definitely looked like she was working from home.

This is the third or fourth time that we have gone to the Japanese gardens.  Today our menu was farro salad with fresh cucumber, garden kale, garden tomatoes, corn, black beans, and lemon dressing.  We also took aged cheddar and Triscuits, fresh raspberries, and watermelon.  After lunch, we took a little walk, especially on the bridge.  Miss E loved the ducks.  We watched them eat, with their tails up and heads under the water.  Miss E had her rubber duck eating all over the bath tonight.  We also all ate some pretend raisins in the bath, and at the grocery store, proving: raisins are always fun, even when they're not really there.
--吴碧芙

Post #194: In which Miss E goes to a California wedding

Looking out

Before felting

After felting

This is the first blog post after a long hiatus.  At the request of my great-aunt, I decided to start posting again.  And guess what, guys?!?  We're almost up to post #200!

During the break, a lot of things happened.  Most notably: Our family grew by one very sweet little girl, Miss E/Boo Boo/L. Bell or any number of wordplay reformulations and extensions that may or may not be vaguely related to her name.  I probably finished whatever knitting project you last saw me working on...and many others.

Last week Miss E  took her first plane ride to California.  She did surprisingly well, with the minor exception of raisins being dropped on the ground in 5 states, 4 planes, 3 hotel rooms, and at least 3 restaurants.  When the raisin trees start sprouting, you'll know where they came from...

At the wedding, she had a great time.  For me, something changed.  Maybe it was seeing those California relatives that I hadn't seen in so long, and despite the long separation, the conversation flowed just as if no time had passed.  Miss E danced, took a walk with my aunt, met many of these family members for the first time (including her newly wed aunt and uncle), and stayed up way past her bedtime.  Then we woke up at 4:00 am in order to walk to the airport (from our hotel across the street) to get ready to go home.  She slept through most of the plane rides on the way home, and she wasn't too messed up to sleep all night when we got home.

Yesterday, I worked on finishing my new Hydroflask cover, with improvements from the old one I made two years ago.  Here are the before and after pics.  I hand felted it for 1 hour and 15 min, and then I decided to finish it in the washer. 

Lastly, my birthday was last week.  We generally bring our own treats at work, unless you organize some sort of exchange with a coworker.  I did make treats for one of my coworkers in April, and she surprised me with bagels, but I wanted to bring my own treats too.  I had just stumbled upon a new cookie technique: cookie mashups.  I made choco-choco-peanut butter and snickersnaps.  Basically, they are 1/2 one type of dough and 1/2 another type of dough.  Everyone at work wanted the recipe, and they wanted to know if I had made two snakes, rolled together and sliced.  Although the result is impressive and the idea is genius, it's way more simple than you might imagine.  I used bagged cookie mixes, except for the ginger snap mix that I made from scratch, and then I balled together a scoop of each dough before baking.  

Well, consider yourself caught up.  Check back soon, as I have a goal to make it to Post #200 soon. -吴碧芙

Foreground: snickersnap, background: choco-choco-peanut butter

Tiny Feet

A baby girl is expected to arrive in April 2014!

-吴碧芙

Meet Harvey

Harvey

We decided to get another bird.  So Harvey has been with us for 1 week. He's originally from Sioux City, Iowa, and he enjoys eating, peeping, and sitting still.  He is 4.5 inches tall (excluding crest) and 11 inches long (including tail).  He doesn't mind being touched or pet, and he's not a biter.  If he wants you to stop petting, he gives you a slow-motion, gentle nibble.

-吴碧芙

War on Bugs

We have holes in our basil, zucchini leaves, and the marigolds were killed off.  I replaced the marigolds with zinia.  Now the zinia are being eaten, too.  A few days ago, I sprinkled cayenne pepper on the basil, to no avail.  I saw the earwigs last night when I went out with my flashlight.  I'm ready to get these creeps!

The first items on the list are to be sprinkled or sprayed directly on the plants.  Although, Sevin says it can be used on vegetables, I don't put anything on my vegetables that has so many warnings on it, so Sevin is going only on the zinias.  The homemade spray is using this recipe that I found online after a helpful neighborhood garden store manager told me about it.  Apparently, dish soap kills bugs.  Here is the recipe, since it took me so long to find it:
Concentrate:
1/2 Tbsp. Dawn liquid dish soap
1/2 c. oil (the cheap stuff)
Mix together:
4 tsp. of concentrate
1 pint water
The directions say to spray leaves and undersides of leaves.  Also, it's best to spray on cooler days (< 85 degrees).

Non-organic poison powder

Homemade bug spray

The other strategy is to make some traps.  The earwigs will come for the beer or tuna juice (yum!) and will stay because the oil will trap and drown them.  A video from an entomologist shows exactly how to do this and how it works.

Beer

Earwig death trap

-吴碧芙

Ka-Blamo!

I swear this wasn't there yesterday!