Unit Celebration

Here is the crew in their costumes in front of the castle that we made.













Kailyn started us off with a speech on The Fuedal system. She used our project as a prop. I've included some close-up pictures so you can see the great work they did.
































Here are the close-ups. God bless Playmobile!!





















































Seth went next and talked about medicine in the Middle Ages. He passed around spices that they used for healing in the Middle Ages.



















Claire went next and spoke about the story of Robin Hood.



















Annsley spoke about Joan of Arc.



















Cade talked about The Black Plague.



















But, the best part was sharing what they learned with the grandparents!

Family Picture

We got Danny's family together for a family picture!

Recipe for Peanut Butter Trifle

I have had several requests for the delicious Peanut Butter Trifle that Seth had for his birthday. It is a very simple recipe, although there are several steps.

Layer the following:
1. Crumbled chocolate cake (I choose whatever box is cheapest!)
2. Peanut butter chips melted with 1/4 cup of cream. I just drizzle it over the cake, making sure I get some on the side so that the layer shows.
3. Chocolate pudding (the recipe calls for 2 big boxes of instant pudding, but I found that to be too much, so I just use 1 of the bigger size boxes)
4. Whipped cream (The recipe calls for Cool whip, but I prefer the real stuff!)
5. Crumbled Reese's (The recipe calls for 8 Reese's cups total. This year, I raided the kids Halloween candy and stole all the Reese's and I even had to use the whipped Reese's since I forgot to buy them! Nice mom!!!)

Layer those items two times in a trifle bowl and chill. You will NOT regret it.

Seth's 10th Birthday Party

Here it is., family.....Grandma Great's nose.

Sammy accompanied the Happy Birthday on the guitar.

Seth wanted a chocolate peanut butter trifle for dessert.

Hawaii-part 3

Today we got our rental car and headed for the North Shore. It is very un-touristy on that side of the island and the beaches are more dangerous to swim in. The kids and Danny did spend a good portion of the day in the water and enjoyed that very much. We went to several different beaches (Shark's Cove, Waimea, and Sunset). We stopped at a roadside stand and drank coconut milk from a coconut and ate (chewed, actually) sugar cane. We took the long way home along the east side of the island, which was an amazingly beautiful drive.

Hawaii part 2

Yesterday (Seth's 10th birthday) we started out the day at Hanauma Bay. It was a beautiful morning and the snorkeling was amazing. I had forgotten how fun it is to be swimming out among all the fish. When I look closely at all those fish, I think that God has a good sense of humor. Some of those fish are very strange looking! Unfortunately, Danny lost the underwater camera we got Seth for his birthday!

As we were leaving Hanauma Bay it started to rain on us. Our next scheduled event was to be at Sandy Beach in the afternoon. It was too dangerous to actually get into the water there but we enjoyed watching the serious body surfers, boogie boarders, and surfers. It was rainy off and on all afternoon.

We ate dinner at a typical Hawaiian plate dinner at a place that reminded us of Dick's, but with Hawaiian food. It was pretty good! Then we walked around the International Market.

Today we got up and went to Pearl Harbor. It was interesting and even though I had been there as a kid, I had not remembered much about it. It was a gorgeous day, a traditional Hawaiian blue sky.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Waikiki Beach. While we were out swimming we happened upon a Sea Tortoise just swimming along. He was huge. He poked his head up and scared Danny and then we all got to see him swimming and he came up for another breath. It was quite something. He was at least three feet in diameter and right next to us. In fact, we had to swim back a little so we didn't touch him. That was pretty cool.

Tonight was an interesting Halloween experience!! We had been told that it gets pretty crazy on the streets on Halloween, but it was quite something. There were thousands of people out and about a quarter of them in costume. Everyone from little babies to a Grandma and Grandpa in and Uncle Sam and Betsey Ross costume. Everyone is just out there taking pictures of everyone else. There were some pretty crazy costumes, and it was really fun to people watch. Of course, judging from the noises coming from down below our hotel (we are on the 12th floor) the partying is just beginning! The kids got a small amount of candy from various shop owners who passed out candy to kids. Not the haul that they would have at home, but I think the rest of the experience made up for it!