Today was going to be a busy day. Then I decided to go to Anchorage because the busy day I had planned would not be busy enough.
Hubby left for his hunting trip around 9:30am, and the sun was shining. It has not shined for 31 days. I only know that because we broke a record of rain and everyone is talking about it and it almost drove me literally insane.
I had to get out of the house, BAD! I tried to get some peeps to go blueberry picking with me, but we're doing that tomorrow. So I loaded our 6 perfect angels into the van and we headed to the big city of Anchorage. We stopped at one of our favorite mouth watering holes, Donut King. The kids were beside themselves at "having" to pick out 2 donuts each.
I don't normally take the kids with me when I go all the way there. I like to shop in peace and so I usually leave some home with Papa while he's working and then a couple more at my mom's. But today I kept my munchkins in the van with me, ran a couple of errands, took them to Subway for dinner (where 2 of them now want to work) and then back out of the city.
I've wanted to go to Thunderbird Falls with them for quite some time. We have not gone at all since K was very little and I don't remember if we had any others yet. This, after all, was the place my husband proposed 14 + years ago....and we don't go there, we're not...how do you say? Outdoorsy people. Well, suffice to say, my kids aren't very "outdoorsy" either. At least not the 4 and 6-year-old girls. The others were great and had a blast....the 4-yr-old held my hand the whole time and cried most of the way to the look out "I wanna go back into the car!" and the 6-yr-old generally complained and whined and claimed that she would NOT go berry picking tomorrow. I obviously need to take them into the woods more often. Living with no trees on our property has made them very soft indeed. The 2-yr-old did wonderfully except those times where she was looking backwards and walking straight for the cliffs edge, but there were enough older siblings to save her life, fortunately. We got to the look out and it was very anti-climactic for the oldest 2, they thought they had been here and in a picture they were in front of a HUGE waterfall and this one was very small... That would be Multnomah Falls, WA in that picture. Poor kids, yes they were there when they were little and this clearly is not that same one.
This is also where while sitting peacefully fondly remembering old teenage memories that Fran told me that she had to pee. Great, no problem, there's an outhouse back at the PARKING LOT! I've only walked a good 1/2 mile with 6 small kids up and down and up and down a muddy mountain side in my hard plastic orthodics on my feet, we'll just jog straight back, no big deal. (I know, I'm such a whiner!) Needless to say, on the way back, I made a break for it when I realized there was no one around and she peed like a perfect princess by the tree off the side of the path and after that? "Oh mama! Look the sun is out!!! Mama, It's so pretty here!" See what a full bladder does to one's outlook on things?
On the way home we took the scenic route via the Old Glenn Hwy where I never allow myself to go because it adds an extra 15 beautiful exciting minutes to the drive...so worth it and the kids loved it.
We got home around 8:45, I realized I'm really unsure about my new house color and I'm now thinking about going back to green. K went out to milk the goats (she does morning and night) I got the others to do some of their other chores. Em was crying in the bathroom for the next hour with constipation (I know you needed to know that) and I decided not to worry about the house paint and to get on some cheese making since I had about 5 gallons of milk in the dairy fridge. I started around 9:30 with 2 gallons in one pot for our regular "farmers" cheese aka paneer, or any other variety of names for the cheese coagulated with vinegar that Stud usually makes and now the kids have gotten used to this cheese. The other pot was filled with one gallon for the squeaky cheese curds that I've been craving this week. The recipe takes 4 hours. I was in for the long haul.
Kids went to bed after finishing chores and having some of their ice cream that we made last week and I am finally finished with the cheese curds at 2am. They are beautiful and squeaky...I realized all the delicious cheese curds we have bought at the store made locally don't even have the squeak...which I guess really only comes that day or the day after. Very tasty...but I think I need to find a recipe that does not take that full 4 hours, that is really not worth the effort.
Something I did discover as I was waiting during one of the waiting stages was that that farmers cheese that we are used to eating now fries up like a dream. I knew this but hadn't tried it. I guess because of the way it's made it simply doesn't melt...so I heated some oil in the skillet and threw on a few chunks of the cheese we had been eating for our 2nd dinner after we got home. It was, how do you say? Out-of-this-world! Wow. I can't wait till Stud comes home so he can try too. That cheese recipe is so easy, now I know what a VERY yummy snack is...fry up some cheese baby and let's have a party! That will have to be our new appetizer when people come over...I even started dreaming about opening up a food booth with fried goat cheese kabobs *with no MSG added* for the fair....oh silly me. Aid could not get enough of them himself, and I even fried up a pickle to try with it, since my friend told me about eating one at a neighbors house. Pretty good mix of flavors if you ask me. Those southern-ers know a thing or three, about food.
I'm looking forward to my Rubbermaid totes full of caribou to come home with hubby in 10 days or so, but tonight he told me that the caribou herd is not near the town, so they will have to hike over to the other side of the island (only 14 miles) in order to find their game. I doubt we'll get as much as last year if that is the case, but I'll be thankful for some. And I guess the ptarmigan are plentiful there and they already got 4 today, so at least we'll have plenty of bird in the freezer this year.
I blew off the other 3 things that I had planned today, a play date for Fran down the street, a potluck with old friends who are up for a visit, and K's shotgun club where I'm now the brand new treasurer, but I'm glad we had our adventure. The kids were shocked with how much fun they had with me and with out papa (see he's the fun one, not me.) So I was pleased with myself and I think they were too. Life is more fun when Papa's home, but a few days are fun when he's gone too.
Hubby left for his hunting trip around 9:30am, and the sun was shining. It has not shined for 31 days. I only know that because we broke a record of rain and everyone is talking about it and it almost drove me literally insane.
I had to get out of the house, BAD! I tried to get some peeps to go blueberry picking with me, but we're doing that tomorrow. So I loaded our 6 perfect angels into the van and we headed to the big city of Anchorage. We stopped at one of our favorite mouth watering holes, Donut King. The kids were beside themselves at "having" to pick out 2 donuts each.
I don't normally take the kids with me when I go all the way there. I like to shop in peace and so I usually leave some home with Papa while he's working and then a couple more at my mom's. But today I kept my munchkins in the van with me, ran a couple of errands, took them to Subway for dinner (where 2 of them now want to work) and then back out of the city.
I've wanted to go to Thunderbird Falls with them for quite some time. We have not gone at all since K was very little and I don't remember if we had any others yet. This, after all, was the place my husband proposed 14 + years ago....and we don't go there, we're not...how do you say? Outdoorsy people. Well, suffice to say, my kids aren't very "outdoorsy" either. At least not the 4 and 6-year-old girls. The others were great and had a blast....the 4-yr-old held my hand the whole time and cried most of the way to the look out "I wanna go back into the car!" and the 6-yr-old generally complained and whined and claimed that she would NOT go berry picking tomorrow. I obviously need to take them into the woods more often. Living with no trees on our property has made them very soft indeed. The 2-yr-old did wonderfully except those times where she was looking backwards and walking straight for the cliffs edge, but there were enough older siblings to save her life, fortunately. We got to the look out and it was very anti-climactic for the oldest 2, they thought they had been here and in a picture they were in front of a HUGE waterfall and this one was very small... That would be Multnomah Falls, WA in that picture. Poor kids, yes they were there when they were little and this clearly is not that same one.
This is also where while sitting peacefully fondly remembering old teenage memories that Fran told me that she had to pee. Great, no problem, there's an outhouse back at the PARKING LOT! I've only walked a good 1/2 mile with 6 small kids up and down and up and down a muddy mountain side in my hard plastic orthodics on my feet, we'll just jog straight back, no big deal. (I know, I'm such a whiner!) Needless to say, on the way back, I made a break for it when I realized there was no one around and she peed like a perfect princess by the tree off the side of the path and after that? "Oh mama! Look the sun is out!!! Mama, It's so pretty here!" See what a full bladder does to one's outlook on things?
On the way home we took the scenic route via the Old Glenn Hwy where I never allow myself to go because it adds an extra 15 beautiful exciting minutes to the drive...so worth it and the kids loved it.
We got home around 8:45, I realized I'm really unsure about my new house color and I'm now thinking about going back to green. K went out to milk the goats (she does morning and night) I got the others to do some of their other chores. Em was crying in the bathroom for the next hour with constipation (I know you needed to know that) and I decided not to worry about the house paint and to get on some cheese making since I had about 5 gallons of milk in the dairy fridge. I started around 9:30 with 2 gallons in one pot for our regular "farmers" cheese aka paneer, or any other variety of names for the cheese coagulated with vinegar that Stud usually makes and now the kids have gotten used to this cheese. The other pot was filled with one gallon for the squeaky cheese curds that I've been craving this week. The recipe takes 4 hours. I was in for the long haul.
Kids went to bed after finishing chores and having some of their ice cream that we made last week and I am finally finished with the cheese curds at 2am. They are beautiful and squeaky...I realized all the delicious cheese curds we have bought at the store made locally don't even have the squeak...which I guess really only comes that day or the day after. Very tasty...but I think I need to find a recipe that does not take that full 4 hours, that is really not worth the effort.
Something I did discover as I was waiting during one of the waiting stages was that that farmers cheese that we are used to eating now fries up like a dream. I knew this but hadn't tried it. I guess because of the way it's made it simply doesn't melt...so I heated some oil in the skillet and threw on a few chunks of the cheese we had been eating for our 2nd dinner after we got home. It was, how do you say? Out-of-this-world! Wow. I can't wait till Stud comes home so he can try too. That cheese recipe is so easy, now I know what a VERY yummy snack is...fry up some cheese baby and let's have a party! That will have to be our new appetizer when people come over...I even started dreaming about opening up a food booth with fried goat cheese kabobs *with no MSG added* for the fair....oh silly me. Aid could not get enough of them himself, and I even fried up a pickle to try with it, since my friend told me about eating one at a neighbors house. Pretty good mix of flavors if you ask me. Those southern-ers know a thing or three, about food.
I'm looking forward to my Rubbermaid totes full of caribou to come home with hubby in 10 days or so, but tonight he told me that the caribou herd is not near the town, so they will have to hike over to the other side of the island (only 14 miles) in order to find their game. I doubt we'll get as much as last year if that is the case, but I'll be thankful for some. And I guess the ptarmigan are plentiful there and they already got 4 today, so at least we'll have plenty of bird in the freezer this year.
I blew off the other 3 things that I had planned today, a play date for Fran down the street, a potluck with old friends who are up for a visit, and K's shotgun club where I'm now the brand new treasurer, but I'm glad we had our adventure. The kids were shocked with how much fun they had with me and with out papa (see he's the fun one, not me.) So I was pleased with myself and I think they were too. Life is more fun when Papa's home, but a few days are fun when he's gone too.
3 comments:
You are still blogging! I should have known: it is another project, after all. So fun to read about all of your projects and your big family. I wish I could have seen you while in Alaska. I did actually see your hubby and four or so kids in church. Your kids were behaving beautifully and mine were being awful. :) BTW, Craig is a horrid speller, despite being a math genius. It is a skill that doesn't indicate much, other than the fact that your brain happens to remember spelling.
Are you seriously thinking of going back to green?! HAAAAAAAAhhahahahaa! Oh Anna...Love it.
Hillary, you're so sneaky! Well, I seem to like my "new" yellow color, so we shall see...
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