if only every day could be this much fun ......

Our recent travels took us to Colorado, California, and Oregon.....all in a few weeks. Our highlights included Sea World, Disneyland, the Oregon Coast, visiting with friends, New Moon, eating some turkey (even Hannah the vegetarian), and seeing family. It was a great trip.

with Kailey

Hannah with her striped shirt and the tiger sharks


holding a starfish

drinking some delicious chocolate milk at the dairy

looking for sharks

new friend- she sleeps with it every night

getting ready for the Shamu show

Shamu

at the end of her first ride on The Matterhorn

Hannah loves the teacups

with Sabrina on "It's a Small World"

scary

Hannah and Zach had fun chasing seagulls away from their picnic

the Oregon Coast- we saw a seal that day

meeting Santa in Salem- he made a great entrance by arriving on a train

Halloween Recap

For Halloween this year Hannah was Annie from The Little Einsteins. They don't sell these costumes anywhere so this is my handiwork. (I even painted the shoes bright blue!)

For trunk or treat I dressed up as a TV playing an episode of The Little Einsteins. One kid came up to me and asked me if I was a robot or an alien. Hmmm.....guess he's never seen a tv antennae before. That reminds me of something Hannah said the other day. We were talking to my sister on the webcam and I asked her if she took any pictures of her Halloween costume. Hannah said "you should put a picture of it on your blog." Technology. I remember when I first heard about the internet. Hannah listens to an ipod, runs her own DVD player.......what's next?

the spoils

we went to the Philharmonsters and the had an "instrument petting zoo"

Hannah tried out the violin

and the trumpet

Happy Halloween!

lovely fall weather

We've been enjoying lots of fun fall activities this month. Last weekend we went to a party at the local YMCA where Hannah got to go swimming and decorate Halloween cookies. They had a little haunted house which she didn't like at all. Before you went in they asked you what level of "spookiness" you wanted from 1-10. I went with 1 since this was Hannah's first time. So we went into the room and all of the people were saying "Happy Halloween" and smiling at us. It was still a little spooky with all of the creepy decorations- but Hannah was liking it. Just as we headed for the exit a guy dressed as Jason came running after us and screaming. This pretty much set Hannah over the edge and we made a quick exit. She said "I don't ever want to go into that place again!" Thanks a lot, Jason! Afterwards we headed over to my old high school to watch a performance by the marching band. Their show featured music from "Carmen". Hannah was really excited because she knew one of the songs because it's on The Little Einsteins. (Stay tuned for pictures of her dressed as Annie from the show....) During the performance she kept saying "Where's the Bizet music?" It was pretty funny. At the end, the color guard team was lying on the ground and Hannah shouted "They look like they're dead!" They did.

Grandpa has been making Hannah lots of balloon animals to play with

lately

Here is a recipe I tried the other day for Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread. If you like savory cornbread, then you'll love this. Pretty much any recipe that I've tried from Ina Garten is delicious. I think it's all of the butter and cream in her recipes. (This one has two sticks!) I've also recently tried my hand at making and canning plum jam and fresh pears.

Hannah started a ballet class this fall. She also gets to do a little tap dancing at the end of each class, and she of course loves making all of that noise!

I'm not sure what she was thinking here....

creating a masterpiece at Art in the Park

at the farmer's market, playing in the fountain

For my birthday, (30...yikes!) we went camping at the Bruneau Dunes. I remember going there when I was a kid so I was excited for Hannah to go there on her first camping trip. We both had a lot of fun, evidenced by the fact that she kept saying "This is the best camping trip ever!" and "I love camping!" We saw lots of stars, Jupiter, and a ring nebula through a telescope at the observatory, and heard lots of coyotes at night. We enjoyed the traditional s'mores at night and had fun playing in the sand. Hannah ended up in my sleeping bag, so I didn't get much sleep.....

what's this look for?

Hannah's so excited because my sister and I have just opened our etsy shop- sisterssuburban.etsy.com. Who wouldn't want adorable hand-made crocheted hats for their kids? Hannah wears them all the time- they're really comfortable and stylish! (Plus they're great for those crazy hair days, which she has all of the time....) We're offering a special incentive right now- the first 5 people to order get a second hat for free! We'll contact you after you place your order to find out which style and color you would like for your completely free hat. Did I say free? Yes, free stuff is awesome.

every burger

A few weeks ago I picked this up at a little Asian grocery store. Who wouldn't want to eat a cute little hamburger cookie? Japan definitely has the market on cute little snacks and candies.

blackberry picking

The other day, a neighbor invited us over to pick blackberries from her patch. Here is what I decided to make:

Blackberry Thyme Crisp

Filling:
1 quart fresh blackberries
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2-3 tbsp sugar (use more if berries are more tart)
4-5 sprigs thyme, leaves removed from stems
juice from 1 lemon

Topping:
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2cup brown sugar
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt

Combine filling ingredients gently so as not to break up the berries, and put into small baking dish. Combine all topping ingredients, and cover the berries in the baking dish
Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, until the top is browned nicely and the filling is deliciously bubbly. Serve as is, or with ice cream.

western idaho fair

Hannah had a good time at the fair this year, even though it was super hot. The petting zoo is always fun and she liked getting so close to all of the animals. There were even some baby chicks in an incubator that were hatching out of their eggs.


In the agriculture expo they had a kid-size swimming pool filled with beans and corn kernels. Hannah loved "swimming" in it!

Hannah, the farmer

idaho gold

We went huckleberry picking this past weekend. It was our first time and we brought home about 14 cups after 3 of us picking for an hour an a half. No wonder these berries are so expensive! They are spaced out on the bush and we had to hike for a while before we got to the patch. We could have sold the berries at the local farmer's market for $40-$50, but instead we're keeping them and enjoying delicious huckleberry pancakes. The huckleberry is Idaho's state fruit and has never been domesticated. It's really hard to find patches because people keep them a secret since they're so delicious and expensive!

hands after picking

hard at work

Hannah "enjoying nature." How else are you going to keep a 3-year-old occupied and out of trouble while you pick huckleberries on a dense slope? (She loved having the portable DVD player to watch Max & Ruby!)

The start of our hike- Hannah was a real trooper. At the beginning she kept wanting to get out of the backpack and said, "my bum is frustrated!" But it was way too steep and rocky and filled with tree roots for us to make much forward progress with a toddler so she stayed in the backpack most of the time.

Hannah liked it when the trees were all around her!

Louie Lake

nice view

enjoying some wild huckleberries

building a sand castle with Grandma in McCall

Enjoying the fruits of our labor- fresh huckleberry pancakes. If you come and visit us, you might be lucky enough to have some yourself!