seashells by the seashore.

Meant to blog this yesterday, but apparently I'm turning into a blogging slacker already ;)
On Tuesday we usually go to the Farmer's Market and August's dance class, but our good friends also had the day off, it was a million degrees, and we all wanted to escape our little town.  So we did.  We headed out to Monterrey to visit the aquarium and the ocean beach.  The aquarium is pretty expensive so we've never taken the kids, and I haven't been since I was a little girl myself, so we were all pretty excited to finally go!

(actually, Callie was just excited to get out of the car after 2 hours!)

But first, we had to stop for pictures at the Bubba Gump Shrimp place, even though the kids have no idea who Forrest Gump is....

 Inside the aquarium we saw and learned about all sorts of sea creatures:

Jelly Fish....

Sea Dragons....

Leopard Sharks....

Libby showed Callie some Rays...

and Daddy showed Callie what life looks like "under the sea".

we got to touch hermit crabs...

and Libby's favorite, the Sea Star.

We also learned that 2 year olds don't really grasp the concept of "giant ocean below"....

We saw how waves happen...

and learned about the real home of Nemo (the coral reef!).

Cadence bonded with some penguins...

and August talked the ear off of one of the aquarium workers at the touch pool

We stopped to play in the whale and dolphin learning area

And last but not least, saw Mommy's favorite, the ADORABLE otters! <3

After a full day at the aquarium we stopped for some pizza and Fro-Yo.  Because all their nut containing items were in a separate area, I felt ok giving Libby some too.  She was VERY excited to get a treat!!

Libby's fruity treat!

I couldn't decide between pumpkin spice and Pom-Raspberry, so I tried to do them both in one cup

The girlies and their yogurt!

By the time we left it was nearly dark but it would be an injustice to drive all the way to the ocean and not put your toes in the sand, so we made a late night pit stop at the beach!  It was cold and foggy, but it still brought me that sense of peace that I always feel when I'm watching the waves crashing onto the sand.  In fact, it almost felt more magical, with the moon right there, pulling the ocean's tide.  I <3 the sea.

August + Cadence still had fun digging in the sand, despite the fog and darkness!

warm cooking for a cold day.

Ok, Ok.....it's not really a cold day.  But at least it's finally in the 70s!  And the weatherman (er, um, Weather.com) says it's going to rain tomorrow morning!  This is cause for celebration!  Or at least some yummy fall food...right?
This morning I made pumpkin-raisin muffins, by far one of my FAVORITE fall treats.  I used a recipe from Joy of Cooking, it seems almost anything I bake from that book turns out amazingly good.  I included the recipe at the end!
 

After that, we went to the Farmer's Market in Concord.  This is sort of a weekly ritual for us, we usually meet friends for a playdate there.  Today though, it was just my friend Shawna and I (plus the kiddos).  We got some veggies and fruits and then let the kids play for a bit.  I got some awesome organic multi-colored beets and some sweet potatoes, I think I'm going to have roasted root veggies and quinoa tomorrow for lunch (when my picky husband is at work so he can't turn his nose up at the beets!)  I also got leeks for potato leek soup and a few pounds of "damaged" (read: slightly bruised or deformed but still edible and VERY cheap!) pears.  The apples were screaming my name but I refrained because we're planning on going apple picking this weekend....look forward to lots of apple baking recipes next week  ;)

beets and a honey stick!

I finished the day off with some veggie stew, buttermilk bread from my bread machine, and watching GLEE in my warm jammies.  <3

a day in the life.

Busy Sunday today, and I think homeschooling might be a misnomer, we're never home!
First I baked some yummy apple muffins with a bunch of bruised apples my grandpa gave me from his tree. I used this recipe:

http://thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com/2010/02/apple-muffins.html

They were super yum, but I think I used to much brown sugar on top because all of my tops fell in. Oh well, they still tasted great AND I loved that not only were there no nuts but there was also no dairy so this is getting filed in my recipe folder for a future playdate with other friends who have allergies!
Then it was off to church, I go to a Unitarian Universalist church and love it there. I love how welcoming and open they are, how we strive for social justice and equality for all, how it's a church for those of us who just don't fit in anywhere else and a place where we can make our own spiritual path. I wish I could tell you how great the service was today, but above stated muffins made me 20 minutes late and then Libby (my 2 year old) was having some anxiety over staying in the nursery PLUS they were short staffed one person, so I ended up just helping out in the preschool room. Callie liked that idea better anyways since she also got to play (read: chew on) some toys on the floor rather than sit quietly on my lap.
On the way out we saw a family of deer right there along the roadside! The girls were SO thrilled and did really well at not yelling to them and scaring them away. I, being a crazed picture taker, made my husband pull over so I could snap a picture out the window.




After this, we went to Clayton's Oktoberfest. This, unfortunately, was a flop. Everything was INSANELY overpriced, there were about a million and one people there, and nothing really great to see. Since we had already parked and the kids were bouncing with excitement we still went in and did one loop around and let the kids go on one ride each.
August chose the classic dragon coaster, it seems she's a little daredevil in the making ;)



We also got a silly picture taken, that I somehow got talked into since I wanted Callie in it....



Now we're back home, I'm in my favorite pair of penguin jammies, putting some finishing touches on my blog, and getting ready to have a "make your own pizza night" with the kids. This is the first time we've made our own crust (using this recipe for making dough in the bread machine!), usually we buy it at WinCo. It's rising as I type, so wish me luck!