Vacation

We're heading off to Utah for the rest of this month. Rick isn't coming with us this time - so wish me luck (and a little sleep.)

We'll be back in September, just in time to host Tara & Greg (my sister & brother in law) and get the kids back in school.

Enjoy the remainder of your summer (for those in the Northern Hemisphere) - see you later!

More Jacob

All the gardening we do around here has clearly not been lost on Jacob.

I walked outside the other day to see this lovely addition to our shade garden.

He had planted a fake flower that was downstairs on my sewing table.

I love the little sticks next to it - stakes, perhaps?

I walked into the living room to see Jacob up to this. Yup, he's vacuuming his tongue.

I guess we can rule out rocket science as a potential future career!

Jacob is just starting to get the idea of money, and allowance, and the power & freedom of having your own money. He found 2 pennies on the floor the other day, and carried them around with him ALL day. Finally we had this chat;

Me; "Jacob, would you like me to hold those pennies for you, or put them in your pocket?"

Jacob; "No, me put them in a bank. ..(pause) Buy a dinosaur."

There's just no arguing with that!

Garden Party

Here's another "catch up"post. Jane's birthday was back in May, but I had promised a few people I would post about the cupcakes & cookies - so here goes.

For Jane's 1st birthday party I decided to do a garden party - because she loves being outside, but also because my other 3 kids are colder weather birthdays, and I haven't had the opportunity yet. I tried to think of what would make a cute birthday cake, and thought that really cupcakes would be perfect for a 1 year old & her friends. I have been wanting to get better at making cupcakes, and especially wanting to try filled one's, so decided to go with that. I made 3 different types. Coconut with a lime curd filling, chocolate with a chocolate hazelnut filling, and white cake with a strawberry filling. They actually were way easier than I had thought, and very good. Here's Jane after enjoying one of the cupcakes.

For the coconut I used the Ina Garten recipe, for the chocolate I used a recipe I found online, and for the white cake I just used a mix. Then for the fillings -

I made lime curd with this recipe.

4 limes at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt

Remove the zest of 1 lime with a zester, being careful to avoid the white pith. Squeeze the limes to make 1/2 cup of juice and set the juice aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar and lime zest. Add-- the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lime juice and salt. Mix until combined. Pour the mixture into a 2-quart saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 minutes. The lime curd will thicken at about 175 degrees F, or just below a simmer. Remove from the heat and set aside.

I doubled the recipe & had TONS left over, so made some little tarts & then one bigger one that I took to a friend who'd just had a baby. One batch of this recipe will be enough to fill about 24 cupcakes.

For the white cake I used Sarabeth's Preserves, and cooked it adding pectin & more sugar (probably unnecessary) to make it very thick.

For the chocolate one's I just used Nutella - which was totally cheating, but super easy and tasted really, really good. Then I just used my biggest piping nozzle, and stuck it in the top of each one to fill them. I think I could have filled the coconut one's more - those cupcakes were more dense, so I think the same amount of squeezing my piping bag filled them less. When I do this again, I'll cut one or two open to see how they look before filling them all.
Then I made buttercream frosting in white (vanilla strawberry), pale pink (chocolate hazelnut) and pale green (coconut lime) and used another big icing tip to swirl the frosting on the top of each one. I scraped of any excess filling that was poking out of the top of the cupcake before frosting them, but this covered any that was still there.
Then served them in this cute stand I found at Michael's. Because I wanted to have 3 different kinds I had many cupcakes left over, so I put 2 of each flavor in cute bakery boxes (also from Michael's) and took them to friends.
I LOVE sugar cookies. I love making them, I love decorating them, and I love eating them! I also wanted them to be just right for the 1 year old set - so made mini one's. I used some fondant cutters in 2 flowers and a butterfly. Then I piped on the frosting to bring out the detail in each one. I was pleased with the results - yummy AND cute.

Because they were so small, one batch of cookie dough made a lot of mini cookies. (There are more to the right of this picture.) We had them at the party, and I also made little cellophane bags of a few to put in the take home bags. The thing that surprised me, was that they took almost as long in the oven as a regular sized cookie, maybe only a minute or two less.
They looked really cute all together on a platter.
Jane really enjoyed her day.
We had bubbles, and played "toss the ladybugs." Each guest had a ladybug with their name pinned to it, then the babies shook (with help) the blanket until only one ladybug was left - that person was the winner. Then everyone took their ladybug home with them.
I made flower chocolate lollipops and put them in pots for during the party
& also one in each treat bag..
If anyone needs green bags, I bought a pack of 100 to get the color I wanted. My kids will be taking lunch on field trips in green bags until they go to college! I ran them through my printer to add the message, and then after putting in garden themed goodies, I closed them with flower shaped brads.
It was really fun to plan this & make the treats, and no stress (probably because my super husband is REALLY helpful, and acts as my personal slave for things like this.) We also served pasta salad, and giant sandwiches from Stew's. A fun little way to celebrate Jane's first birthday. I'll definitely be doing mini cookies and filled cupcakes again!

Bridge Climb

The Sydney Harbor Bridge is the largest single span arch bridge in the world. The sweeping curve over Sydney's world famous Harbor is 503 meters long, 134 meters high and 49 meters wide. Flanked by four towering concrete and granite pylons it is the crucial centerpiece of Sydney's transport network. The weight of the steelwork alone totals 52,800 tonnes and includes an extraordinary six million rivets. (from the Bridge Climb pamphlet.)

I have a love for two of the worlds great bridges.

Both have played a major role in my life, and are in places I have lived. The second is the Brooklyn Bridge, but my first love was the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

One day Rick, Rebekah and I abandoned The Littles, and headed into the city to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We spent a really long time suiting up and going through all their safety procedures - but it was worth it because it was a really cool experience.They wouldn't let you bring anything with you, so all we have are these dorky pictures that our climb leader took (in hindsight, I wish we'd refused to do the thumbs-up thing, but Oh well.) Lest you think Rick is a lot shorter than I - he's just standing lower on the part we were climbing at the time.
It was raining when we reached the top - but of course cleared up right after we took these pictures. The rain gear was pretty cool - stored in packs that never had to be disconnected from us to put on or take off the jackets.

Featherdale Wildlife Park

You can't possible go to Australia without seeing some of it's amazing & unique animals. Featherdale Wildlife Park has been one of our favorites since we lived down under.

Tara, Greg, Mitchell, Emy, Jacob & Jane entering the park.Emma, Josh & Maya came too - but I don't have any great pictures of them.

Jacob patting a joey.
Loved this joey in his/her mother's pouch.

The mother was so calm and tame, that she let Emily pat her joey right in the pouch. These are grey kangaroos at Featherdale, they are quite a bit smaller than red kangaroos.I figured that these animals were born in captivity, and have visitors filing past them all day, everyday, and it was safe to put Jane next to her. I was at-the-ready to grab her if the kangaroo made an aggressive move or started to get up! Jane really like her.
The BEST part of the visit was at the end, as we were leaving. There was a worker there with a joey in a bag ("fake pouch") that we could hold.
Jacob was quite pleased with the experience!

I was so thrilled to see my baby "holding" a baby kangaroo, and to share that experience with her. She won't remember it - but we have the cute picture!

There were lots of other Australian animals - the black swan (state bird of Western Australia.)

A cassowary.
A personal favorite of mine - a wombat (sleeping.)
They're not exactly active creatures!

Kookaburra's
We actually went to Featherdale twice. Once with the cousins, and then again when Rick and Rebekah arrived. Here are some shots of when we went as a family.

Rebekah with the koala.
Rick and Jane & koala.
One was named Adelaide. We took pictures of her & her name sign, since that's also Jane's middle name.
Mother & Baby cuddling & sleeping.

Anytime I see animals with their babies, I am struck by how close they keep them, even though most animal babies are far more capable than human babies - and my belief in attachment parenting is renewed! (Much to Jane's relief.)

The Three Sisters

As it turns out, blogging is just another thing for me to be behind on ... I enjoy it, and find it a very useful way to keep in touch with friends & family - but always have a sense that I am not keeping up the way I should.

The problem is, it's one of those things that requires kid-free time - something I have very little of. Most of my kid free time is at night, when they are sleeping, and then I waste it on ridiculous things like laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, and going to the gym. Maybe if Rick ever works normal hours, or when Jane starts pre-school, I'll do better. Maybe not. For now however, I'll do what I can and you'll get the odd photo and story to break the chasms of silence.

In that spirit - I thought I'd try and post the rest of our Australian trip (you know, the one that ended 3 months ago) before we head out to Utah this week.

This is the beautiful 3 Sisters Rock formation in Katoomba, not far from where I grew up. I hiked these mountains many a time in my youth, and love them dearly.

This is what they looked like the day we were there.
To my dismay, Rebekah had decided to go to the Royal Easter Show with her cousin, and didn't come with us. Then, when we got there and it was so foggy, I didn't mind so much.
Maya (cousin), Emily and Jacob.
It did clear up after we hiked down & took the scenic railway back up - so we got to see a nice clear view before we left.

Conversations with Jacob

Perhaps, because Jacob has had a hard time with his expressive language, or maybe because Jane is so close in age and I rarely get 1:1 time with him, I feel that I haven't conversed with him the way I did with the girls. It also makes me more appreciative of the progress he's made, and how much fun it is when we do talk, uninterrupted.

Here are a few gems from this week;

While going to pick up Rebekah from her friends house, their last name is Ricks. (It was dark.)
Me; "Oops, I missed the turn off. Oh, well. I'll go this way."
J; "Mama, are we lost?"
Me; "Nope, this is their street. Now, which one's the Rick's house, which one's the Rick's house - oh here it is."
J; (confused) "Daddy live here?"

Getting ready to go to the pool.
Me; "Jacob, hurry and go get your swimsuit, or we won't be able to go to the pool."
J; (casually) "Will there be crocodiles there?"
Me; "No, crocodiles don't live in pools."
J; (disappointed) "Oh."

During his educational evaluation, for on-going speech services.
Evaluator; "Jacob what would you do, if you saw fire and smoke?"
J; "Die"

LOVE that kid!

320 Calories

So, I've had 3 knee surgeries.

The 1st was in August of 2001 (after my pregnancy with Emily killed my left knee), then in May of 2005 (after my pregnancy with Jacob killed the right) and now in July 2007 (because the 2005 one didn't work, and being pregnant with Jane made it worse.)

This one really needs to work, so I've been RELIGIOUS about going to the gym everyday to swim and use the bike to make sure I don't build up scar tissue, strengthen the supporting muscles, and work it out, etc. Even when I have to pay $15 an hour to put the kids in the babysitting service there, I've done it. (OK, I confess I missed last Sunday, because we had Lindsey & Erin & their families over for dinner. The weather was great, and the food was great & hanging out with them even better - and I felt so relaxed I couldn't gear up for it after everyone left.)

Other than that, I've been a zealot.

I have never loved exercise for it's own sake. I've never taken an aerobics class (am I dating myself), or used a gym before. I've only tried a treadmill once, and even though we owned a Nordic track elliptical machine for about 5 years, I think I used it twice. In my healthier (read; pre-NY) years, I was a runner. A long distance runner. I ran, for the love of running - not for the exercise, that was always just a side benefit. I love the sound of my feet hitting the ground, I love the solitude, I love the sound of my breath, and the rhythm it makes with my feet, I love to feel my leg muscles, and feel strong - I just love running.

I am never supposed to run again.

I have been instructed to do only low-impact exercises, that will preserve my knees for years to come. So, I am mourning the loss of running (& skiing, and those tennis lessons I had been planning on taking) and slogging it out at the gym. The nice thing about the gym, is that the machines tell you how many calories you have burned - OK, maybe it's not so nice. After 35 minutes on the bike, I only burn 200 calories. I'll never look at those "100 calorie" packs of snacks the same way again!

Seriously, only 200!!

So, tonight, mostly out of boredom, I switched to the elliptical machine. MUCH more fun, felt a little more like running and the best news of all; 45 minutes got me 320 calories. That's more like it. So really, the only down side of the elliptical machines, are that they happen to be placed right next to the giant wall-covering mirror! I guess I just won't be glancing to the left anytime soon.

My New Favorite Place

I have been wanting to go to Wave Hill since Kathryn first told me about it last summer, but just hadn't found the time. Then, when we had dinner at Blue Hill last November I had this really delicious tea, and when I checked their website, I saw that it was also served in the cafe at Wave Hill - and that made me want to go more.

So last Tuesday, I loaded up the kids and we finally made it. It didn't disappoint. Breathtaking views, beautiful old buildings and absolutely gorgeous gardens.I try really hard to teach my kids about plants and gardens and respect for them (starting in our own garden), but really when I take them anywhere outside, I'm also looking for them to be able to run around and stretch their legs, breathe fresh air ... you know - be kids.
It was pretty kid friendly, and I felt good letting Jane amble around by herself,
No-one told them to stop running,
I knew I was in the right place when we got to the water garden and the worker there didn't stop the kids putting their hands in the water and told them to look for frogs,
which they found.
We enjoyed looking at all the gorgeous flowers and plants, and I noted a couple that I want to get for our garden.

Then we walked through the beautiful shade garden to the cafe (where I bought 2 boxes of Lavender Chamomile tea) and we had a really yummy lunch. Rebekah and Jacob had chicken dumpling soup, Emily had lentil soup, Jane had a cup of organic apricot & apple sauce (the very same one we have at home), and I had a spinach and chick pea salad with a preserved lemon vinaigrette (that I am now trying to figure out how to make.) The salad was huge, so the kids had some too. Chocolate milk for the Little's, and Bek and I had limeade. YUM!

So nice to be able to get some real food while on an outing.

It was a great day, and only about 20 minutes from our house, Oh, and did I mention Tuesdays are free? - we are SO going back.