Summering, cont.

We went to the Lincoln Children's Zoo while in Nebraska, and I must say, I like it. Mostly because it's not so huge that you can't possibly get through in a day and also because you aren't completely worn out when you're done. One dumb thing is that you can't bring in outside food or drink. So much for having a picnic in the zoo. We ate on a park bench 20 feet from the entrance and watched the zoo train go round and round. Annabelle was with Aunt Kristie taking a nap which made the whole experience a little easier.

The poor reindeer really smelled bad. It was 90 degrees and humid, you can imagine the smell.

We loved the butterfly pavilion. Next we'll know to put flowers in the girls' hair. They kept landing on a little girl with a giant orange flower bow.

Waiting for the train. The most expensive train ride...ev..ver.

The train's about to go...

I can't wait...

Yep, the train is awesome.

Riding on the tortoise...statue

Pretending to be eagle chicks in a the eagle's nest

My new favorite picture of all time. Have I mentioned that I love my new camera?

Madalyn was in tears because the butterflies wouldn't land on her and then one finally did and she totally freaked out.

Summer-ing

Why isn't summering a word?

You might ask us, "What have you been doing for the last month and a bit?"
And we would answer, "Oh, we've just been summering."

Because that's exactly what we've been doing. We've been doing all the things that make up a perfectly wonderful lovely summer. Here are some pictures of phase 1 of our summering.

We went to Nebraska for 3 weeks. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and crammed in as much fun as I could handle while Greg flew to the Netherlands for a business trip. One of the first stops was Pioneers Park. A beautiful park full of rolling hills, green (Nebraska is GREEN, not muddled brownish green that I see everywhere here) open meadows, a couple of small lakes, a playground, nature center, etc. I forgot how much fun Pioneers Park can be. We fed the geese and my kids loved it. It was hard to get them to move on to other things even when we ran out of bread. This little family of "gooses" (Maddie called them gooses)adopted us. Jacob said it was because we had four kids, a mom and a dad, and they had the same. It was cute. Then we went and had a picnic lunch and moved on to the nature center. Which is lovely and would take a couple of trips to explore thouroughly. We had to leave because Annabelle was exhausted, otherwise I think my kids would have stayed there forever. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Pioneers Park. We actually went back the Saturday before we left with Greg. We also got a new camera, can you tell?

Annabelle in the nature center bird watching area. She went nuts looking at all the birds through the big windows.

Our family of geese.

J Jacob is thrilled to be out in the "wild."

Walking in the nature center

Maddie, just being Maddie

Annabelle really didn't want her picture taken, but it was a lovely little spot with the sun breaking through the trees. Phooey.

Lorelei was in heaven.

Annabelle kept pointing to all the butterflies.

One of the lakes in the nature center.

Lorelei's a Kindergarten Graduate!

Here are some pictures of Lorelei at her Kindergarten graduation. There would be more but the lighting in the cafeteria is awful, so a lot of the ones I took aren't worth much. It's hard to be excited for summer when at the mere mention of the word both my school-aged children start to cry because they want to go to school instead. That's a good sign right? Well, whether they are excited for summer or not, I am. Bring on the fun and the sun!

Baptism Day

Jacob was baptized this week and we are all so excited. Here are some pictures from his special day and the day after too.

It's Great to be Eight!

As you can see Jacob is extremely excited to be eight! He had two great days celebrating his special day. We went to an indoor playground (it still isn't warm enough to be outside for very long)on Saturday and we had cake and ice cream yesterday. That dragon on his cake was drawn by the birthday boy himself. I was impressed. Happy Birthday to Jacob!!!

Happy Easter!

For as long as I can remember my mother has made these delicious rolls for Easter morning breakfast. They go great with hard-boiled eggs and freeze well so you can make them in advance. The orange glaze just makes these melt in your mouth. They were also featured in the April Friend. So if you're looking for a good Easter treat, here is the recipe for Bunny Buns, mine are rising as I type this and I can't wait to steal one of their little tails off and eat it. Happy Easter!

(We don't put faces on ours and the tails are not fluffy like the picture but it'll give you a general idea of what they look like.)
Bunny Buns
1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk, warmed not quite to boiling

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons grated orange peel

5 1/2 cups flour, sifted

Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot orange juice, 1 teaspoon butter

1. Wash hands with soap and water.

2. Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.

3. In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.

4. Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.

5. Knead dough 5–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.

6. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2 inch wide and 14 inches long. Roll between hands into rounded snake shapes. Cut one strip into pieces 1/2 inch long, and roll into balls.

7. Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop.

8. Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12–15 minutes.

9. For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, orange juice, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while they are still warm.

Do Unto Otters

It's been awhile, I know but well, we've just been reveling in the fact that we are all healthy (it's been a long time)and enjoying the slightly warmer weather (although I can't say it's officially spring yet.)

I thought I would share one of our favorite new kids' books. It's called "Do Unto Otters" by Laurie Keller. A rabbit comes home to his tree to find out that Otters have moved to the river next door and he is a little concerned that they won't like each other. The wise owl tells him to "Do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you." The remainder of the book goes through the rabbit explaining how he'd like otters to treat him in a very humorous but very effective way. My kids love love love it. I am sure I read it about 3 times a week at minimum. A fantastic way to introduce manners and being considerate to others. Apparently you can watch and listen to someone read the book on YouTube and I also found out they are making a movie based on the book.
Enjoy!