San Diego Trip

Some pictures! Grandma H. was brave enough to take 4 grandkids to San Diego. They had a fun. time. I think Bret had a few complaints (he's 13) but everyone else enjoyed themselves immensely.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

                                    

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society I just finished this up last night. I'd say out of 5 stars I'd give it a 3.75. I enjoyed this book. I feel like a better person for reading it. But at first it was hard for me to get into. It's a book about many characters which you get to know through their letter writing. So at first I found that a little overwhelming. It's also very smartsy fartsy, talks about classic literature alot, which doesn't always interest me. But the core of it, the characters, you do come to care about. It takes place after the German Occupation of a little Island called Guernsey. The people of Guernsey come to life slowly and their stories come out and some of the hardships they endure from the war. I found it riveting in the end. I also found that I still care about the characters after I read the book. Which is a very good thing. A charming little book. 

Koolaid Play Dough

Yesterday we made Koolaid playdoh. I am trying to let my girls get in the kitchen more and get a hands on experience. So I thought this would be a great activity to do that. Which it was. We chose blue, red (cherry) and lemonade, as our "flavors". Primary colors so they could mix and make other colors with them. I think cherry turned out the best. The lemonade one was too light so we ended up adding a few drops of yellow food coloring. This makes a really nice soft dough. It doesn't leave a salty residue on the table or your hands after playing with it, it doesn't dye your hands either. It was sticky at first so does require some kneading with some flour to get the sticky out, but once you do that it's perfect. This was a wonderful activity. I think we spent about 20-30 minutes making the 3 colors and then they played with it for about an hour after that. It was messy and there was flour on the floor but it only took me about 10 minutes to clean it all up. So it was worth it. We got our playdoh paraphernalia out - rolling pins, cookie cutters, etc. When they were done with it, I put the dough in ziplock baggies and put it in the fridge. I don't think keeping it in the fridge is required, but thought it might be nice to play with "cold" dough on a hot summer day.

What you'll need:

1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 Tbsp cream of tartar
1 envelope unsweetened Koolaid - 2 packets for more scent.
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
a few drops food coloring can also be added for more vivid colors.

1. Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar, Koolaid and water in medium saucepan. Stir in oil.

2. Mix over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until mixture forms a ball in the center of pan. Dough will start darkening in color.

3. Remove from pan {caution: will be HOT}. Knead until soft. Use a little flour to prevent sticking.

4. Store in airtight container or ziploc bag.

Not recommend for eating as it probably tastes gross.

Marissa's Art

I love being creative and have always made sure we have paints, crayons, markers and tons of art stuff. I always regret it after because the mess can be incredible. But art in childhood and adulthood is important to me. Marissa has made me go "Wow" lately with her creations. She seems to have the Danowski art gene.

Dreamy Draw

Yesterday Joe and I got up at 6:00 AM and drove about 20 minutes to hike one of the trails at Dreamy Draw Park. We did the 202 trail, it's an easy 1.5 loop that has some small up and down hills. Very serene and beautiful, but also made me sweat (because I'm out of shape) and got my heart rate up. It was neat to see horseback riders and lots of people with their dogs moving so early in the morning. It was an awesome way to start the morning!

Here's a picture of Joe, I doubt he even knows I took it. We each had our iPod's/MP3 players on, but low enough to still talk to each other. But I guess at one point I was talking LOUD.

Bon Voyage!

My girls left for San Diego yesterday with Grandma and the cousins! I'm so excited for them. But I truly am sad to be apart from them. I miss them terribly! Today they will be at Sea World and dining with Shamu.

Here are some pictures upon leaving, one is of Bret before they left. They watched the movie Firehouse Dog while waiting for Grandma to get here, it's Bret's twin, Josh Hutcherson.

I will add more pictures when they get back. I told them I need tons of pictures!

Gran Torino

Joe and I watched Gran Torino last night. Clint Eastwood still has it. We laughed quite a bit at his tough "I don't give a crap" attitude. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a funny movie, but it had lighthearted moments in it. He befriends a kid who is in danger of getting mixed up in a gang. I guess he was 78 when this movie was filmed. Hopefully not his last film.

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Yesterday was movie day again. We saw The Spiderwick Chronicles at Harkin's. While I think this is a pretty good movie, it was scary for some kids. We had Nicole with us, she's 5 and she was tense and jumping throughout and wouldn't let go of my arm. I hope she didn't have nightmares... I looked it up on Commonsense Media and it says for ages 8+. We went swimming afterwards. I had my camera yesterday but for some reason I didn't take any pictures. Next week I'll be better. I did take some pictures from the night before. The girls were playing in the loft. It's a total disaster as you can see. Daisy got in on the act and got in the dress up trunk, she loves getting right in the middle of things, especially chaos...

Next week's movie is Madagascar 2. Now that one isn't scary so that's good at least....

My Chirping Cat

Daisy chirps whenever she sees birds outside the window. I don't know why she does this. It's really funny. I've seen other cats do it too so I know it's a normal behavior. But why do they do this? I tried to get a little video clip of it with my regular camera, it's a little short:

A Morning Swim

I decided to take the girls for a swim this morning. It was a good start to our day. I even did a few laps. We also stopped by the gym and gave the elliptical machine a whirl (not pictured).