Bompa

That's what my friend's daughter called her Grandpa.

He passed away yesterday.

How wonderful to have lived a life so well

that at the end of it you have

a granddaughter who still 

calls you by her pet name for you

and daughters who love you so deeply

and will miss you so terribly.

And how comforting to know that he

is resting in the arms of Jesus.

Automatic Sprinklers

Kind of. 

Carol and Ava gave me this cute set of flower boxes

for Mother's Day.

I really like them but I put them on my front porch.

I don't think to water much on the front porch.

See that bit of glass peeking out on top, 

in the back?

TaDa!

(kind of like WaLa)

Those are bottles that I filled with water

and inverted into the soil.

The water will dispense as needed. 

Cool, huh?

Not my idea, I stole it from Viki.

But I do have my own bottles!

Giant Kerplunk

Remember that game with the marbles?

You had to pull pick up sticks out of the cylinder

and try to not make the marbles fall through?

Well, someone came up with a giant yard

version and they have called it

Shishkaball.

I had to read it a couple of times.

It was one of those things that most 

people look at and think, 

"that looks like fun." 

And then never think of it again.

I'm not most people.

I also put a spigot in a 

watermelon. 

Nature Scavenger Hunt

We are working down that bucket list.

I am over electronics.

Today it was time to get back to nature.

We grabbed Mia, lunch and our list.

We found

soft

and smooth

things.

We found 

rocks, leaves, pine cones, wild flowers and

bark.

We found a 3 leaf clover, sticks, green grass, berries, 

and pleasantly hard to find

litter.

We found circles

and triangles

We found green, brown and 

red.

(kind of)

And we found a bit of my missing 

sanity.

Go figure.

http://foxvalleyparkdistrict.org/?q=node/6

Walker Races

Problem is, nobody told them they have to be 

facing the same direction!

Mural Update

We're coming right along!

This is kinda more attractive at

90 plus degrees :)

Grilled Tilapia with Peach Guacamole

 I like a to have a 

photo to go with a food post.

I have made this dish twice and although it

tastes great, it has a bit of a problem.

The guacamole turns brown VERY quickly.

I grill the tilapia outside

and then make up a very basic

guacamole with the addition

of a fresh peach.

I put the tilapia on a bed of quinoa

and then top with the guac.

It's delicious.

The problem is, no amount of lime

juice keeps the concoction  

from turning brown.

Fast.

I suspect it's the fault of the peach.

But I'd like confirmation.

Mark?

Basic Guacamole:

one mashed avocado

a few slices of jalapeno, diced small

small amount of red onion, finely diced

salt

lime juice

one peach, chopped

Mexicanish Quinoa:

cooked quinoa

corn

black beans

jalapeno

olive oil drizzle on top

Baby Races

My niece has twin boys.

She and her husband have joked

about when the time comes, 

when both boys are crawling, 

 they can have 

Baby Races.

This wasn't so much a 

Baby Race

as a 

Baby Escape, 

but you get the idea.

So we decided to hold our own 

Baby Race on the 4th of July.

 Aaaand, they're OFF!

 But they aren't really moving.

 Ah, the front ends are getting stuck in the grass.

 Eliana takes a little break.

 Eliana is so happy to see Maddie again!

 Maddie is finally getting serious.

Yeah, eat my dust.

I thought this would be a fun 

4th of July 

event for years to come. 

Only problem is, 

come next 4th of July

these two won't be babies anymore.

Hmmm....

we're gonna need some more babies :)

Milkyway Brownie Crunch

Yum.

I baked a box mix of 

brownies 

in an 8 x 11 pan and about 

10 minutes before they

were done I sprinkled on 

Milkyway bites 

and finished baking.

Then I melted 6 ounces of 

chocolate chips

with 6 ounces of 

butterscotch chips,

stirred in a bunch of 

Rice Krispies 

and poured it over the hot brownies.

Um, Yum.

The only thing that might have

made them better would have been some

drizzles of caramel along with the

Milkyways.

I have done this before with Reeses bites

and added some dollops of

peanut butter. 

With all the bite size candy they are coming

out with, I am wondering what

other combinations might be good.

Kit Kat?

Maddie And The Pool

 Papa took the afternoon off for Maddieday.

 Besties :)

 Her Eliana, let me help you with that.

Trust me, it's better this way.

For Mom and Big

 Peek-A-Boo!!

Watermelon Dispenser

But it doesn't dispense watermelon.

 And in all honesty, it didn't dispense the 

white sangria I filled it with very well either, 

but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. 

Here are the parts it took.

To the guy at Home Depot's credit, he didn't

even flinch when he asked what I needed the 

spigot for and I replied a watermelon. 

The spigot was in plumbing, the 

hose washers in garden,

the flat nut kind of thing in electrical, 

and the reducing washer in hardware.

 Enjoy your day at The Depot.

Here's the order,

spigot and rubber washer,

watermelon,

reducing washer and nut.

I set the watermelon in a bowl to make it sit up

and it appears that was a good thing

because at the end of the night

the bowl was full of sangria.

Not quite sure where that came from.

Also, I had the fruit in a bowl on the side 

so you could add it to you glass

but it wasn't in the watermelon getting

in the way of the opening.

I chilled the melon in the fridge for a few

hours, it helped keep the sangria cold.

Next time I would save the top that I cut

off and place it back on to keep

it cooler and keep out any flying friends.

Oh, and PS, I 

pre-washed all those parts in 

really hot soapy water.

Pretty sure none of it was intended to go

into a watermelon.

Salt Painting

It's a bucket list item.

You make a design on paper using 

Elmer's glue.

We found it best to draw a design with

pencil then go over it with glue.

Then sprinkle liberally with salt.

Let it set up a bit and then shake off the excess salt.

The salt kind of stuck to the paper a bit

on the ones we didn't shake off. 

We did that yesterday so that

today it was all dry and ready for

the water colors.

 The more wet your brush is, the better. 

All you have to do is touch it to the salt.

It spreads on it's own.

 Happy Ava.

Here is one that I shook off while the glue

was still wet. 

It's hard to see in the pictures but the salt

left a crisper line here.

It was a fun project, 

we just might do it again. 

Ava wants to make them for 

"all the elderlys."

Watch out Carriage Oaks, 

I think she means you!