Holiday Weekend part 2

Yesterday there was free admission at the Museum of Science and Industry for kids so we decided to take the kids and go. We went a few years ago and I wasn't overly excited but we thought the kids might get a kick out of it, and I have great memories of going when I was a kid. Needless to say, the kids LOVED it. We stayed for 4 1/2 hours and they didn't want to leave at that point but everyone's feet were getting tired! Bear with me, I took 75 pictures, I'll just share a fraction!

Checking out the crazy mirrors

U-505

How we sleep on a submarine

Remember these?! I think we actually HAD the space shuttle when we were kids!

Lillian planting corn in the farm exhibit

Oddly enough, this was one of their favorite exhibits! Ship models!Waiting for the coal mine tour
This was probably James's favorite. He loved the chicks!

Lillian's favorite exhibit, the imaging exhibit. That's her, Jason and James's head on the screen.
And last, but not least. Lillian climbing the rock wall.

We're going to the zoo zoo zoo!

Along with everyone else within a 100 mile radius apparently! It was a perfect day and with the holiday weekend, everyone seemed to share our idea that it was a great day for going to the zoo!

We did a few things we'd never done before and avoided the main areas and the children's zoos which were just insane! We checked out the Wolf woods for the first time. They had a room you could go into that was almost completely dark with speakers all around and it played wolf howls and owls and other night time sounds for 2 minutes. Go figure the kids LOVED it! I thought for sure they'd be terrified but they wanted to do it again! We also walked the trail around Indian Lake and checked out Dragonfly Marsh which was a lovely walk! The highlight of the day came when we cut through the Pachyderm house on our way out and walked up to the elephants just in time to see the trainer feeding them treats! The trainer was maybe 3 feet away from us and the elephants maybe 2 feet from him so when they stretched out their trunks to take the treats the kids got a really awesome glimpse of their trunks and how they were able to grab the treats! It happened really quickly and then he told the animals to go outside and they did! We stood and watched them a bit at the outdoor habitat, but I wish we had gotten pictures of the feeding but it happened too quickly to even get the camera turned on!

Lillian discovered my hat from when I was in Israel, she's claimed it as hers this summer!

Ready for 1st Grade!!

I cannot even believe that Lilli has only got 2 1/2 days left of kindergarten. I can't figure out where this year has gone! Her teacher, Mrs. Slagter has been absolutely amazing and it's been so fun to watch Lillian grow this year! Yesterday afternoon they had a small program in their classroom to show us some of what they've learned! It was hard to get any good pictures, but here are a few!

Here she is with her very bestest friend, Gabrielle!

Here's Lillian as part of the little "play" that they did. For those of you with kids, it's a take off on the book "The Wide Mouth Frog". All the kids said what kind of animal they were and what they liked to eat. Lillian was a Monarch butterfly who likes to eat the nectar from lilys. :)

Tulip Time round 1!

We're still in Michigan. Lillian had a nasty stomach bug yesterday so we stayed put. Jason drove to Patrick and Kutu's and they took him to O'Hare last night. My mom will drive us there today and then stay with us til Wednesday. Jason will be home Friday late afternoon so that's not too bad! Here are some of the Tulip Time pictures off my mom's camera. I'll download all mine when we get home and try to get those posted in the next day or so.

Chapel

The kindergarten classes were responsible for chapel today. Their theme for the year was trees. They started the year talking about roots and today the kindergartners talked about fruit.

Lillian was so excited this morning, and I rarely get a good picture of her that's not a cheesy smile so here's a picture of her before we headed out the door.

The whole school singing "The Tree Song"

The kindergarteners reciting a poem about using their hands.

And a couple of video clips as well!

Lillian telling how God can use her (He can use her to help people)

And the whole school singing. This reaaaally took me back!!

Sunday Morning

The kids were dressed and ready for church early yesterday! How often does that happen? It was so beautiful out I wanted to snap a few pictures!

Bread!

Well, today I decided to try my hand at baking bread! We eat so much of it and we're attempting to cut out so much of the processed stuff, so this way I can control what goes into it!




I made 2 loaves of whole wheat bread from my friend Eli's recipe. I can't wait to try it!

Here it is in the bowl waiting to rise after kneading for 10 minutes....next time I'll use my mixer for this part!!

After rising, ready to be punched down and made into loaves

Ready to go into the oven, I have to work on shaping my loaves a little better!

Out of the oven and waiting for that first bite!!

Here's the recipe!

3 cups stone-ground whole wheat flour

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup shortening

1 tablespoon salt

2 packages regular or quick active dry yeast

2 1/4 cups very warm water (120°F to 130°F)

3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Butter or margarine, melted, if desired

1. Mix whole wheat flour, honey, shortening, salt and yeast in large bowl. Add warm water. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Stir in enough all-purpose flour, 1 cup at a time, to make dough easy to handle.

2. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. (You can do this part in your mixer if you have a dough hook!) Place in greased bowl and turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place 40 to 60 minutes or until double. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

3. Grease bottoms and sides of 2 loaf pans, 9x5x3 or 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2 inches.

4. Punch down dough and divide in half. Flatten each half with hands or rolling pin into rectangle, 18x9 inches, on lightly floured surface. Roll dough up tightly, beginning at 9-inch side, to form a loaf. Press with thumbs to seal after each turn. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Press each end with side of hand to seal. Fold ends under loaf. Place seam side down in pan. Brush loaves lightly with butter. Cover and let rise in warm place 35 to 50 minutes or until double.

5. Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 375°F. 6. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until loaves are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans to wire rack. Brush loaves with butter; cool.