Beating the storm.

Today was the day.  Beach day!  Oh, how excited all the little campers were.  Chatting about their swimwear, their fun floaties and water toys, and what their plans were once we got there.  "When are we leaving?"  "Can I put my suit on yet?" were just a couple of the questions I heard over and over.  "As soon as I drink my coffee!" was my repeated reply.

Sipping my cooled (not by choice) coffee, I checked the weather on my mobile weather checking device.  Storms!  How could it possible rain on our parade day?  We had two hours.  Could we possible get everything and everyone ready to head to the sandy shores and beat the storms?

Amazingly, all the kids pulled together, got their suits on, gathered towels water bottles & a simple little snack and got themselves into the van in record time.  And then it started to sprinkle.  We braved the elements and headed to our new favorite water hole.

It's a good thing we didn't wimp out, the rain stopped by the time we made it to our destination.  No other beach go'ers were to be seen.  The park ranger was racking the sand for us.  We had the entire beach to ourselves.  Our own private beach. It was so awesome.  I could not have planned it better and I think because of this simple little fact, the whole beach just for us, I became just a little bit cooler in the eyes of my campers.

I would call it a perfect day at the beach.  It was overcast, a great temp, the water was just right and it was just the six of us.  We figured we would stay until the thunder gods chased us out of the water.  They didn't.  Two hours later, we decided to head back to camp.  We had showers to take, lunch to eat, and naps to be had. 

By the way, I think we may have beat the storm.

We're melting

When the temp outside looks something this:

(thanks weather channel)

standing in front of a fire to toast the perfect marshmallow for a tasty summer time treat is the last thing you want to do.  Today, following Family Fun Magazines instruction we made Solar S'more (http://familyfun.go.com/badges-of-fun/go-green/solar-smores-673886/). 

Since we were working on earning our Go Green badge (again from FFM--the above link should get you to Badges of Fun info), if figured it would be best to use the supplies that we had on hand to make these little cookers.  One of our day care dad's had gifted us with the perfect boxes (thanks Scott).  I have no idea what was in these gems, but they were the right size for us.  FFM had used a pizza box--really any box that allows you to have a hinge at the back is going to work. 

In place of the clear plastic we used CD cases that have been around collecting dust forever.  We also took the black CD holder part to use in place of the black construction paper.  Not sure if I would use that part again because this happened:

See how the one corner is curled up.  Non of the other ovens had this issue, but I think I would stick with the construction paper next time.  Experimenting is so much fun. 

So after I cut the box, foil was added, glued down & our black square was set in place.

It was then time to build a yummy foundation of graham, chocolate bar/carob chips, and festive star shaped mallows.  Our ovens were then carried out into the heat source, clear plastic placed on top and left in the sun to bring us closer to ooey gooey goodness. 

Then we waited.  And checked.  And waited. And checked. And waited until...

The number on the bottom left is the temp inside the box.  168 degrees

Melty perfection was achieved.

Normally I would not enjoy a puddle of chocolate with my s'mores, but we wanted the marshmallow to be soft.  I would recommend waiting to add your chocolate of choice until closer to the end of melting time.  A certain temp is not required before the product was done, we just wanted to know how hot our box got.  Check frequently, especially if the temp is or feels like 106 degrees outside.  We got busy doing other things indoors and ended up cooking longer than we really should have. 

Even though it was goo-zing with drippy chocolate, they were really good.  Schmoozie mallow, chocolate and warm grahams how could you go wrong.  Here are pictures of the chefs enjoying their labours of love. 

Comment below as to who you think may have said "This is the best s'more I've ever had"

Was it Poppy?

Could it have been Emma?

Perhaps it was Caden.

Would Martin have uttered such a phrase?

The fun, however, did not end at s'mores.  We made an attempt to cook an egg and what we got was eggs with skin, not really cooked, but changed.  A hot dog was also placed in the oven and cooked through.  I was told that it was pretty good.  If there had been anything else to solar cook up, we would have experimented s'more.  Maybe next time. 

Don't forget to vote on who you thought said "this is the best s'more I've ever had".  The winner(s) will get bragging rights--nothing better than that.

let the children play: Don't stress the mess

Nothing to blog today, but saw this on one of my favorite blogs and thought I would spread the mess.

let the children play: Don't stress the mess: The benefits of playing in the mud, the dirt, the water and the sand to a child's health, well being, learning and develop outweigh the ...

Feeling a little Saucy



Ripe Red Strawberries plus

Perfectly Processed Rhubarb (+ powdered sugar) equals

a tart little saucy dish.

This is what we made with our fresh picked strawberries last week.  We picked on Monday and processed on Tuesday.  We notified of this wonderful taste treat from my good friend, Steph.  She found it here:  http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=146841

Here are some pictures of our process.

Washing Berries

Taking the berries for a spin (to dry them off, not needed, but it's super fun.

Moving berries from one bowl to another

Taking the hulls off

Careful Cuts

Waiting for the Rhubarb to thaw (I had put up the barb the week before)

Strawberries, Rhubarb and Powdered sugar all mix up and making friends.

Cooking down

Almost done

Stir it a little more

I blending it a little to make it real smooth and put into cups for three little tasters to try.


(Taste testing shots were not taking because we were all in a saucy coma)

This is good stuff (if sour is your thing). 







Berry Good Time

Over the weekend, I went to one of my dear friends home and had a jam session, a jam-jamboree, a jamtastic time.  We made jam (check out Laci's blog for a little bit more information http://purelace.wordpress.com/. ) Lots of jam (like over 200 containers of various sizes).  It was so much fun. 

I went out early Saturday morning and picked 17 pounds of berries (they were little berries so I did a lot of pickin').  Spent a work days worth of time with some really amazing women making memories and jam.  My kids and the hubs were thrilled with the results.  Me too, but something was missing.

This morning I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe we needed more berries in our lives.  So we headed out to our favorite lambing farm (which doubles as a berry patch) http://www.govinsfarm.com/, to have the children pick some berries to make something with. 

We had a berry good time.  When I picked the 17 pounds mentioned above, I did it all on my own, which I felt was the best way to do required amounts of picking.  Today was about just getting the children out in the field and picking and tasting and breathing in the country.  It was great.  Just what we all needed.  It was the missing link.  A breath of strawberry air. 

Here are a couple of pictures I was able to take of my two and one daycare friend.

Enjoying the hayride to the berry patch



Pickin'

Tasting

Prize worthy

Heading back





The End!