Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Kale Chips


Last summer I tried a few times to get good kale chips, but kept failing. I actually landed on something that worked today! Finally!!

I think the trick is getting them DRY! No water on them before you put them on the pan. These were from our CSA, so organic but that means hitch hikers, like a nice spider web I found. So they needed to be cleaned real well. I spun in my salad spinner but that isn't good enough. I then dried with a kitchen towel. 


Once dry I laid out on two baking sheets with pieces torn into bite size pieces. 

Next you want to toss in some oil. I used my sprayer with coconut oil then sprinkled each batch with some pink Himalayan salt. 

Next I popped into a preheated oven. Here's the other important part. LOW heat! I did 275 on convection oven setting. I set the timer for 10 minutes expecting to rotate pans and put in for another 5-10 minutes. BUT at only 10 minutes they were perfect!!! 

Serve plain or in soup, healthy way to get that kale in. 

Saturday, June 24, 2017

First Family Fishing Trip

We took the kids fishing today! It was a fun, hectic morning. We went to KMart first to pick up fishing licenses and poles for the kids. Kyle has been wanting to take Isaac fishing and they got the idea yesterday. With all things, it's a lot of work but you just have to do it, or it won't get done! We got the poles out and set up, loaded the wagon, and walked to the lake. Oh and I fixed a quick lunch since the day was getting away from us to have a picnic after we fished.

The kids had found tons of little frogs on their walk the night before while I was at work. And the frogs were still out, Isaac is holding one here.

The girls had fun pushing the reel button, letting their rubber fish drop and then reeling it in. We didn't mess with putting a lure on their poles, but they had fun none the less.


 Kyle taught Isaac how to cast and reel in with a real lure. They didn't catch anything but did get to see some other guys on the dock pull in some BIG fish. That was good for Isaac to see.

To give Kyle some time with Isaac on the dock the girls and I went to put up our hammock. It was tough finding a good spot as none of the trees were close enough together. But we eventually found a spot and they had fun swinging about.






We had our lunch then Kyle wanted to cast in a couple more times, but the kids weren't having it, lol. They kept getting in the way and tangling up their lines, it was rather humerus cuz well they're kids.


Once I could get the girls away from Isaac who was using a real hook and paid no attention to who was around as he whipped his pole around, things were a little better. Only two wads of line were wasted in a tangled mess. I call that good :-P


I had to head into work later that day but it was a beautiful morning. Ended up pouring on me as I drove in, which I wasn't expecting. The kids were napping good when I left. 

New Children's Museum

The Minnesota Children's Museum finally reopened after their remodel and we made a trip last Thursday. It was a rainy day and EVERYONE had the idea to go, it was pretty packed, but fun. We picked up lunch after my chiropractor visit and arrived a little after noon. We stayed until about 2 or 3.

This room was full of stickers and had stacks of stickers for the kids to place where they wanted to.



The scramble was a big play structure with two big four story climbing towers and a big slide. The girls didn't wait in line for the slide but Isaac did, it was fast. 




This was a little 'skate park' will be fun to do again without the crowd.


This exhibit and the car wash were ones we'd seen before, it was open before the shut down for remodel.


We spent the most time over in the 'little world' area, mail room... not sure it's exact name but it had these cool mailboxes:

A post office set up and fire truck.

A little kitchen and grocery store.

A light rail mock up

It was similar to the work station they had before and Isaac was very happy the blocks were back.

A hardware store with a wall of lights, latches, doors, and tools.

And this bike which was in the old line up. Isaac hopped on and it was cute seeing Mary hop on behind him and grab a hold of his waist ready to go for a ride.

It was a fun visit and exhausted this mama out, but a good rainy day activity after a week of laying low. 

Spring/Summer TBall


Back in April Isaac started WASAC T-Ball. Kyle signed up for assistant coach... but since no one signed up for coach - apparently everyone signs up for assistant not head, he was given head coach of a team. There were three teams total. Luckily many other dad's helped out as assistants as they knew signing up would land them responsibility, haha.

Anyway we ended the season last weekend so I thought I'd just do one post with some highlights from the season. It was twice a week, Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings, which is great to get our money's worth for the season HAHA but wow it was a lot doing it twice a week.

The first session was the last Saturday in April and it was a practice with a team of boy scouts. It was a chilly one!
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Video of Isaac hitting:


May 4th:
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One Saturday Kyle rode his bike with the girls while Isaac and I drove and met them there.



Since there were only three teams, every third game we had practice at a separate field (not near the park).
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Fielding at one of those practice nights:

May 25th - Isaac hitting a 'homerun' lol


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The girls liked playing at the park near the field and sometimes watching
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June 1st
There was one game Kyle had to miss due to working late, some other dad's filled in for coaching.
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video:


June 8th
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One of the kids ended the season a few days early and I'm happy his mom got everyone together for a group photo.





I brought my real camera for the last game on June 17th. The kids got some park time in before the game.
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Isaac prefers fielding to hitting, which is surprising, but good.
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He would draw lines/a box maybe in the dirt before hitting... ??
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