Another artist in the family

Robin drew a portrait of "Dad".  And some fish.  And some scribbles. 

Pretzels!

We used to make these awesome pretzel dogs, with homemade pretzel dough.  The recipe was one I'd bookmarked from a blog.  Then the blog server quit out, and I lost the recipe.  We've tried half a dozen recipes to try to get a good one, when this one found its way to my pinterest view.  It's good.  Really good.

OK, ok, the recipe is really for ham-and-cheese pretzel bites, and that sounds even more awesome.  But we were pressed for time, didn't have any ham, and it was questionable if the girls would eat stuffed pretzels.  So we just used the dough/boiling part.

It was delish.

The ones I made:

The ones the girls made.  Even their "lumps" turned out beautiful, tender and tasty: 

Of course, the girls wanted to do their own "cooking show", consisting of them putting together fairly random amounts of common baking ingredients into a bowl, mixing, tasting excessively, demanding it to be baked, and declaring the product to be delicious.  Sometimes it is. 

Tonight the girls were on the tired side, so they each took the opportunity to test the consistency, integrity, and viscosity of their mixtures on the countertop.  They were engrossed.  Clean up wasn't that bad. 

CSA box 3: More Drupes

Crimson lady peaches, Robada apricots, Bing cherries, Rainier cherries.

Anyone have a good recipe/protocol for small batch canning?  We're swimming in apricots here, we're only 1/2 way through last week's bounty and I ended up making fruit leather with the first half.  Fortunately the kids LOVE the fruit leather.

Erin's Dance Recital

Somehow, I forgot to sign Erin up for dance classes most of this year.  I finally remembered this last spring session.  The only one that worked for our schedule was a ballet/vocal performance.  It suited her perfectly. 

She threw herself into each and every costume change.  She tried to remember all the words.  She kept her eyes on the teacher to follow her moves.

All the while she took care to note where her fellow dancers were, space herself appropriately, and try to keep in-time with everyone.

And she laughed the whole time.  Gotta remember to sign her up again in the fall!

Champagne and Chocolate Women's Half Marathon

That's right folks!  Dr. A ran another women's half marathon, this one sponsored by See Jane Run.  It took place in the lovely, flat Alameda, CA on a mild California morning.  While the race organization could have been improved, the course was lovely, the drinks/goo was plentiful, and all the participants were very, very gracious.

A few pictures from my sweaty self:

The 3 mile point.  We crossed a bridge.  It was lovely but smelled like estuary and skunk.

Hard to make out, but we actually had a beautiful view of downtown SF and the Bay Bridge.

Oh, and did I mention the GIRLS RAN A 1 MILE KIDS RACE?  1 Mile people. This is not a fun run, if you're in the 2-4 age group.  This is serious business.  Both girls did great and apparently were self-propelled the entire time. Here's Brian and Robin coming into the home stretch: 

Honestly, I'm so proud of my girls for doing this race.  It's way farther than most kids fun runs, and if I'd known it was a whole mile I might not have signed them up.  But they were spectacular.  Hopefully B will upload some of his pictures and video of Erin crossing the finish.  It was a sight!

Super Bouncy Fun

Our neighbors gave us this slide.  It shoots water.  This is going to be a fun summer. 

Fashion Friday: Boxers or Briefs?

Or both?

Outfit: Hanes boxer-briefs.  
Stuffed animal: Pinkie the dog

Borat would be jealous.