Playing, Building, Learning

Some may say my Papa (grandfather) was a junk collector.  If you knew him you know he would NEVER consider throwing away a piece of copper wire, an old two-by-four, a rusty nail, or an unusable toilet.  He embraced the unwanted and reigned as king over his junk castle.  To him, these were ALL treasures and would one day be used to create a kingdom to be admired.

Radiator Springs Racers Video

We had the opportunity to experience Cars Land at California Adventure this week. Disney offered Annual Passholders one hour special event early entrance before the park opened to the general public. It was GREAT!  Having this hour before the masses allowed us to take in the new land, photograph it and go on a couple rides.

If you're going to California Adventure this summer, and you would like to go on Radiator Springs Racers, I would highly recommend getting there at opening, rushing to the Fast Pass line or go on as a Single Rider.  Otherwise, you're looking at a 3-4 hour wait.  Who wants to spend a good portion of the day in line?

When we got in line with our Fast Passes the wait time was 210 minutes for Stand-by.  By the time we got off the ride, Stand-by wait time was 240 minutes!!  We don't even know how bad it got as the day went on.  With our Fast Passes, our wait time was about 5-10 minutes.  We rode alongside two gals who did the Single Rider line.  They waited 45 minutes.  Not too bad.

Here's the ride from our vantage point:

I will post more photos from our day.  What a special day it was!

My Brother Visits

The saying that time flies when you're having fun is so true.  I can't believe we've lived in southern California for almost three years!  In these three years we've had some friends and family visit, but in May we had some extra special visitors.  I think we had my mother-in-law, my Grandma and most recently my brother, sister-in-law and niece came for a one week visit.  As expected, the seven days FLEW by!

Little League Day & Albert Pujols Hits His First Angels' Homer

Yesterday we celebrated Little League Day at Angels' Stadium and kicked off a fun-filled-action-packed family day.  We met with our fellow Orange County Little Leaguers in the Angel Stadium parking lot on the morning of May 6th.  There were thousands of anxious kids with coaches and team parents awaiting their turn to enter through the tunnels and step out onto Angel Field.

Downtown Disney Lego Store Now Open!

We have a Lego boy in our home who's been obsessed with the Danish interlocking building blocks since he was a wee little lad.  I love watching the wheels spin as he spends countless hours building and creating.  He doesn't seem to tire of it and hearing the Lego employees refer to the "Master Builders" I can sense he'd love to be a "Master Builder."

Living fairly close to a Lego Store, is a highlight in his life.  We frequent it when we head to Downtown Disney so he can purchase mini-figures or look at the latest Lego releases.  He has informed me his one Birthday wish is to be able to go into the Lego store, make his purchase and walk out with a BIG bag!  I think to a Lego boy, that is a sign he has "arrived."

Field Tripping with Grandma: The Mission at San Juan Capistrano

"When the swallows come back to Capistrano," Grandma began singing when I told her we'd be heading to San Juan Capistrano to field trip at the mission. Interestingly enough, this song was written and released in 1939 when my Grandma was 13 years old.  This is the same age as our oldest son.  It's fun to think of my little grandma as a 13 year old girl singing this song.

Get Away From It All And Enjoy America's Favorite Past-time

Last year, my hub packed up the car and took us on an adventure to Arizona so we could experience Spring Training.  Despite my protests, reminding him of ALL the things we NEEDED to do, he insisted we get away from it all and relax.

World War Two Heroes

Today we participated in a field trip to Lyon Air Museum where we viewed amazing WWII aircraft and met some REAL HEROES of the Greatest Generation! I was excited for this field trip as we're beginning to study WWII, but I didn't realize we were going to spend the morning with these amazing veterans.

Cranberry-Ribbon Apple Pie

When I think of fall, visions of apple trees and pumpkin patches come to mind. Here are some photo memories of a trip we took to an apple farm/pumpkin patch in 2008.

Now this is a pumpkin patch

And every great pumpkin patch has a enormous corn maze

circa ~2008

Pumpkins and Apples- Fabulous Harvest

There are so many delectable apple and pumpkin recipes to choose from where does one begin?  In the last many years, I've come to appreciate Bon Appetit recipes.  I can honestly say, everything I've ever made from Bon Appetit turns out great.  My aunt is a long-time Bon Appetit subscriber and amazing cook.  She's saved all her magazines and I'm sure has quite the collection stashed away.

For our Thanksgiving gathering this year I chose to make Bon Appetit's Cranberry-Ribbon Apple Pie.  The crust is great and the pie was a crowd-pleaser.

Cranberry-Ribbon Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup 100% cranberry juice (I didn't have the juice on hand, 1/2 cup water worked fine)
2 cups cranberries (fresh)

2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
1 3/4 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 Butter Pie Crust Dough disks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon milk
Cinnamon/Sugar mixture

Vanilla Ice Cream

Stir 3/4 cups sugar and juice in saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add cranberries; bring to simmer.  Reduce heat; simmer until almost all liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 25 minutes.  Cool.  (This can be made ahead of time and chilled).

Toss all apples, flour, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and sugar in large bowl to blend.

Apple Mixture

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Roll out 1 dough disk.  I roll out between two sheets parchment paper.  Transfer to 9-inch deep dish pie plate.  Trim overhang, if necessary, to 1-inch.

Pie Crust

Pie crust Recipe

Spread cranberry mixture over crust bottom.   Top with apple mixture;  dot with butter.  Roll out second dough disk; drape over apples.  Trim, if necessary.  Press crust edges together to seal; crimp.  Cut 1-inch hole in center (I cut slits in top- for steam release).  Brush crust with milk.  Mix 1 tablespoon sugar and pinch of cinnamon tin small bowl; sprinkle over crust.

Bake pie 15 minutes at 400 degrees; reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake until crust is golden, about 50 minutes.  You may need to place baking sheet under pie to catch juices that may bubble out.  Also, if top of pie is golden and about 40 minutes, you can cover with foil to prevent further darkening.  Transfer to rack; cool at least 2 hours (unless your family demands to eat it while warm).  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Making History: Guinness Book of World Records

As a child I remember spending countless hours laying on the living room floor looking at the crazy photos of the World Record holders featured in The Guinness Book of World Records.  Who could forget images like these:

The long-time world record holder for nails:

The world's tallest and shortest man meet:

World Record Holding Heaviest Twins

I could continue to look up these interesting and sometimes mind-boggling world record holders, but for today we want to celebrate the fact that yesterday (11/8/2011) we participated in a world record holding event!  Thankfully, I did not have to grow freakish nails for the last 30 years, or gain an obscene amount of weight, or attempt an obscure feat.  All we had to do was what we love...go on a field trip, spend time together and learn about HISTORY!

We were part of what we hope was the world's largest history lesson.  It is estimated that 20,000 third graders attended!

It was a well-planned hour of Orange County history.  The event was complete with entertainment, audience participation celebrity appearances and leaders in the community including:

Caroline Sunshine from Disney's "Shake it Up"
Stan Oftelie, author of Nothing Rhymes With Orange
Gail Eastman, Anaheim Councilwoman and historian
Bill Habermehl, Superintendent of Public Schools
Jose Mota, former baseball player announcer for the Anaheim Angels
Ambassador Gaddi Vasquez, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture and former head of the Peace Corps
And what Orange County event would be complete without a visit from long time resident, MICKEY MOUSE!

One of the interactive question games

Caroline Sunshine

Stan Oftelie and Gail Eastman

Gaddi Vasquez

Jose Mota

Bill Habermehl and Mickey!

The Guests

In addition to the dancing, guest speakers, and interactive learning the students were able to see a comparison of Orange County growth using doves.  One dove represented Orange County's earlier population of 13,000 people.  The many doves represent the O.C.'s current population of over 3 million!

The doves flying away

At the end of the program a helicopter was flying over.  Suddenly it came closer and closer!  It landed on Angel field!  We all anxiously waited to see who was inside.

The helicopter held a representative (complete with English accent) from Guinness Book of World Records.  He was certifying the event as a new world record.

Attending students received a tote bag with a copy of Nothing Rhymes with Orange by Stan Oftelie.  Our kids immediately opened the book to read it following the event and continued to share tidbits throughout the day.

Our 3rd grader with a friend

The volunteers

Tote bags in hand...CLASS!

The Krispy Kreme outing that followed the field trip.  Fresh chocolate donuts!

Here's the news article from the OC Register:

http://www.ocregister.com/news/history-325829-orange-county.html

What a GREAT morning of learning the history of Orange County!