Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day

A friend of mine blogged about this bread, so I was curious to try it, so I ordered the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day 
When the book arrived and I started to read it, I realized there was much more science to it than just following a recipe in a recipe book. So I took the time to learn all about it before I proceeded.
With Will as my helped we made the dough. The reason it is five minutes a day is you make a large batch of dough that can be kept in the fridge for 2 weeks, and then you pull off the amount you need to make a daily loaf. The five minutes is the amount of time you are actually dealing with the dough. It does not include rising/resting and baking time.
So we made the dough, which just consists of flour, water, salt and yeast.

We made the dough two days ago and today we made our first loaf of bread.
The only trouble I had was sliding it onto the hot pizza stone (mine didn't slide) so the loaf was a little flatter than I hoped for, but that's OK.

We had to wait for it to cool before we could try it for the first time.
It was very very good. It tasted like a fresh bread you would get served with your food in a nice italian restaurant. I was very impressed.

There are things Will and I don't agree on... but we both agreed this was some good bread!

I am excited to be able to make bread this good, but also worried, because I could get carried away (there are all kinds of recipes on how to make different breads and flavored breads and pizza, soft pretzels, cinnamon rolls out of the dough) If only I had more time... to make all this, and to work out to compensate for eating all of this :)

Pumpkin Station

This year, we went back to Pumpkin Station in Del Mar, only because I got a groupon type deal and I knew the kids wanted to go.
It is not a pumpkin patch since the Pumpkins do not grow there, but pumpkins of all sizes are for sale, and there are rides and inflatable jumpers and slides, and a few animals to pet.
The tickets for these are pretty expensive (without a groupon deal) Regular price was $30 for 12 tickets. Luckily we only paid $15. That was about right.
I will say though, if it is not busy, they will let the children pretty much stay as long as they would like in the inflatable jumpers and go down the slide as many times as they like (which are huge and of good quality). My boys had the best time in the big jumper. Definitely got our ticket worth there as they were in if for a 1/2 hour before I had to make them leave as we had to get going.The other rides are nothing special, and make me feel nauseous just watching.
The boys had a good time, so that's what mattered to me.

Will impressed ladies with his man strength

 The boys were so cute on the slide. Will was a little scared, so the first picture is Westley telling him hot to do it and that it will be fun. It's hard to see but they are totally smiling at each other. Will was scared though on the way down

Drew and family joined us too- we got a pretty decent picture of 3 boys- all 3 of which have no interest in smiling or looking at a camera on a consistent basis.

Clint Perry of the Boo Hoo Crew

Clint Perry and the Boo Hoo Crew is a band of children's music here locally in San Diego. Clint Perry plays at local kids hot spots, libraries, birthday parties etc.
I will be working with him to sell his CD Jelly and Peanut Butter and his book Pack Rat Pat 

So Will and I went to check him out at The Cal Coffee in San Marcos where he sings and read stories 2 Thursday mornings each month. The crowd here consisted of many 1 and 2 year olds (likely because many older children were in school)Like Hullabaloo, I enjoyed his songs. They are easy for adults to listen to too. I was impressed by how he knew so many of the kids names and he showed a genuine care for children.
The atmosphere and muffin we got there was nice too, my only complaint is that too many of the moms have full loud conversations with each other during the show which I think is very disrespectful and a poor model for the children.

Recycled Tree

I had gotten some packages with long brown paper crinkled up as the packaging material. I thought I had seen in the past where something like this was used to make a tree. So, I have saved the paper, and we finally got around to making the tree. The boys helped me tape it to the door. Then they picked up leaves from outside and taped them on the branches.
We didn't have time to fully leave the tree that night as it was getting dark, so this tree has turned into a work in progress/ongoing fun in our house.

This was an enriching and fun project that didn't cost a thing!

Pumpkin Carving w/ Grandma and Grandpa

Sunday we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa and they had got pumpkins to carve with the boys. Grandpa read that you should cut off the bottom instead of the top. (We weren't sure why but it did make getting the seeds out easier. It was harder to put it back together though for the Jack-O-Lantern though)
Grandma and Grandpa hadn't carved pumpkins in years, so it was a fun time fore everyone!

Lowe's Build and Grow

Kevin brought home a Build and Grow car from Lowes that he made with Will. Both boys were very into it, so on the next trip he got a tic tac toe/checker game box that he made with Westley.

I knew that Lowes and Home Depot have workshops for kids, but we had never been.

We were inspired after making these kits (and realizing that the kits we had done that cost $5-12 in the store but are what you make for free during the workshops)

So, the next day I took them to the Monster Truck Build and Grow event.

You are supposed to preregister on their website but I was unable to because it was full. I called and they said to come anyway as often times people do not show up.
So we did, and got there right at 10am and got in. Good to know that even if you are registered you should go at 10:00am because people were still coming at 10:45am and at that point they were out of Monster Trucks.

Kevin couldn't go with us to the workshop, so it was all me. My putting things together skills are very weak. It's been a weakness of mine since 3rd grade with the puzzle part of the GATE test kept me from passing. The families around us finished before us. I got hung up on using the wrong size nail (in my defense no where did it say there were two slightly longer nails, and Will just handed it to me so we used it). I kept my patience though and we got it made (Kevin made fun of me for putting the monster wing things on wrong, but whatever, real trucks don't even have that).
And Westley slammed his finger with the hammer and has a blood blister under his nail, but besides all that it was a good time and we will go again when we can!

Hurkey Creek Camping

This weekend we went camping for the first time at Hurkey Creek near Hemet Lake and Idyllwild with our cousins.
It was a peaceful place, so most of the activities revolved around cooking/eating and watching the kids play.
They had a great time enjoying the open space for running, exploring and bike riding, and enjoyed the dark evenings for campfire time and glow stick dancing.

They also enjoyed Uncle Fred's jungle gym of a truck. Complete with a swing, gymnastics bar, and homemade zipline.

Even Fred took a turn

Play Dough Birthday Cakes

Will was given the opportunity to use portions of pip cleaners with play dough at preschool. He got to bring his creation home. I am not sure if Will labeled it as a birthday cake with candles, or if that was Westley's idea, but soon they started singing Happy Birthday and taking turns blowing out the candles. Westley so sweetly asked Will if he could make him a cake at school the next day. When I picked up Will though he was sad to report there was no play dough and pipe cleaners set out that day. So we hurried to beat Westley home from school, and I dug out our play dough and pipe cleaners and Will had time to make one for Westley. They both were so cute, and happy about it.

I'm back!

After an eventful summer,  time working on getting ready for the Fall semester and time working on Packed 4 Fun I then got a concussion that prevented me from doing a lot - including special activities and being on the computer. The vision in my left eye is still messed up from the incident, but I think I am ready to be back  - at least for a couple of posts each week :)

Apple Picking and Pumpkin Patch

This year, for the first time, with much anticipation, we went to Julian to pick apples. We visited Apple Starr Orchards with organic apples and pears. The man who owns it was very friendly, and it was such an authentic and peaceful place to be. It isn't cheap, at $25 for a big bag of apples and pairs, but they are organic and we got a lot in our bag. If you consider all the expenses of the orchard and the man's time, I'm not sure he makes much at all, but my boys had as much fun as a day at an amusement park, so I didn't mind spending the money.


On the way we saw a pumpkin patch in Ramona called Mountain Valley Ranch. We stopped on the way home. It too was authentic, peaceful, and the people who owned it/worked there were very friendly.
The boys really enjoyed the real corn maze, and Kevin and Westley got a kick out of the corn shooting cannon. It was nice to see animals in their home environment, instead of all shoved in a small pen to be harassed by human touch all day. The pumpkins here were reasonably priced for a real pumpkin patch too.


I was really worried about the boys getting car sick on the drive. Will was starting to look queasy, but I think the wristbands and travel-eze oil that we put behind his ears helped us make it there.

Apple Picking Pictures:

Pumpkin Patch Pictures