Seriously Amazing!!

This weekend my sister came to visit and we watched Julie & Julia. Anyone that likes cooking would enjoy this movie. It really made us hungry and we decided then and there that we were making a dessert. We googled Julia Child's favorite dessert and found a recipe for Reine De Saba (Chocolate Almond Cake). We weren't that excited about it because it seemed very plain and almost picked something more spectacular sounding. In the end we decided to make it because it was quick and easy and we wanted to try "Julia's favorite". Wow!! I'm so glad we did. I can't quite explain the explosion of taste that hit my tongue when I sampled the first bite. It was soft and moist and dissolved on my tongue. The taste was exquisite! It was like a Willy Wonka experience. First you taste chocolate, amazing chocolate, then it slowly melds into dark chocolate mixed with almonds. If it stopped there it would be the best cake I ever had but it doesn't. By now the cake is dissolving like chocolatey cotton candy and the almond flavor slowly opens up and then disappears into chocolatey creamy rum. This was the first cake that I ate slowly, morsel by morsel, savoring every bite. All I have to say is this was good and everyone should make it. Seriously, try it and you will never look at a regular cake the same again.

Determination

Alia's week long determination finally paid off this week. She always watches me buckle and unbuckle her car seat, stroller, backpack, and highchair. She is fascinated and wants me to show her how to do it over and over again. Tonight when I was cleaning up dinner she walked over to the highchair and tried to buckle it herself. She succeeded in buckling the 3 pieces together all by herself!






I'm in love with those curls!

Backpacking in the North Georgia Mountains

This weekend we celebrated Mother's Day by going backpacking!!! We have always loved backpacking but haven't tried to go since the children were born. Now that Avery can hike for longer distances we decided to look for a hut hike. We found a hike-inn about 5 miles in in the Georgia Mountains and were thrilled we were finally able to go.


This picture is the last time we went backpacking. It was taken in Michigan in 2005 when we did another hut hike. We always talked about the day we were going to be able to bring our kids with us. It was an overwhelming moment when we were hiking on Mother's Day with our two kids.


2010 with Avery and Alia. I'm sad that Venus wasn't with us but dogs weren't allowed and she never would have been able to make the hike that far with her bad knee. Scott and I both had to carry our packs on the front and the kids on our backs (when Avery was being carried). It was pretty tiring hiking so much in but we made it.


Avery did a great job. He hiked around 1.5 miles carrying his own pack. He loved that he had a water backpack. He was also very diligent about looking for the green blazes that marked our trail. He kept saying, "Look, we're on the right trail!"




Alia did a great job. She even fell asleep on my back on the way out. She walked for a short while but it took way too long since she wanted to pick everything up.


Avery and his water backpack.


This was the lodge we hiked to. They provided all of the food and linens so we only had to hike in our personal items. The only difficult thing was hiking in all of Alia's cloth diapers but they were a better option than the disposables since there was no trash service and we had to backpack everything back out. It was better to clean the cloth than hike out dirty disposables.


Avery loved the top bunk.


Alia didn't like her sleeping arrangements as well because she slept in the closet.


They had a great recreation room at the lodge. Avery and Scott are entertaining us with their musical talents. It sounded great since we are such a musically talented family. (note the sarcasm in my voice).

Touch a Truck

From the time Avery was really little he's always loved to play with cars and trucks. I rotate his toys each month but I usually end up leaving one bin of cars and trucks. This weekend he was able to get up close to monster trucks, emergency and construction vehicles. Our town hosted touch a truck where you could actually get inside and explore each one. Avery had a blast pretending to drive. Alia enjoyed her time as well but was really only happy being able to run around on her own. It was all concrete and she fell last week and scraped her nose so I was not all that thrilled that she wanted to walk since she's still so wobbly.

I love his face here, he's driving and making the noise.




Daddy wanted her to be included so he kept putting her in different places.




He wouldn't get in the police car unless I was with him.


We've been making the honey wheat on a weekly basis here instead of buying bread. Avery made his own this week and used his very own kid-sized pan. He was so proud when it came out of the oven.