4th of July

 We spent the long holiday weekend relaxing at home, a much needed staycation for us. I didn't leave the house Friday or Saturday. It was glorious!

The fun began during work on Thursday, when Cameron and I used our lunch hours early to watch the girls participate in their daycare's 4th of July parade. It was too cute. For Sydney, the parade wasn't fast enough, lapping her class at least once while she ran along. We swear that kid doesn't know how to walk - just run!

This is when Sydney decided to make her own route outside!

On the actual 4th, our friends Jeff & Christina came over for a BBQ lunch where I tried a new Zucchini fries recipe from Martha Stewart. It was fantastic - so much so Cameron and I had some more for dinner the next day. The cayenne pepper in the recipe added just the right amount of kick to it. I served the fries with Hidden Valley Ranch Dip Mix mixed with 1 cup sour cream and 1 cup Greek yogurt.

Cameron also convinced me to attempt my baking skills on a "Flag Cake" he saw online. The cake recipe and instructions came from Food52.com. The white cake recipe was decent though I still haven't found one that I absolutely love. It did result in a moist cake and didn't resemble any store-bought box cake (I don't like those at all). And instead of using the frosting recipe recommended with the recipe, I made the cream-cheese frosting recipe I use for carrot cake. Then I set to work at decorating. It was an ok job given I have no instruction on cake decorating what so ever. But it did motivate me to consider taking some classes. Enough so that while at Joann on Sunday I grabbed their class schedule and am looking at taking the Wilton Class 1 in August which goes over buttercream basics.

Every one loved the cake and we had a great afternoon catching up with friends. And about an hour after Jeff and Christina left, our friends Pat & Kim came by with their two girls before they headed out to see fireworks. We skipped the fireworks this year. We knew Sydney would not have made it given all the activity that day even with 2 solid naps behind her and while we planned to have London watch the Macy's Fireworks on TV, she didn't even make it to 9:30 pm for that. I watched them alone while I worked on Sydney's stocking (yes, I'm still working on it - it's coming along but I'm still not sure it will be ready this year) and Cameron played some computer games. 

Sydney ended up being sick with a fever on Saturday, which made for a whiny, yet cuddly toddler. Luckily, I was stuck at home with the girls any how; we had an appointment window from 12 pm to 5 PM to have the windshield replaced on one of our cars. Cameron stepped out long enough to get the oil changed on the other car, which took longer than expected as the car didn't get taken back for the oil change until 11:30 AM - he had a 9:15 AM appointment! To say they were overbooked was an understatement. He did make a stop at Home Depot to pick me up some supplies for my weekend project goal - painting the girls' bathroom. I was able to get the room prepped and coat 1 painted during Sydney's naps that day. 

Sunday, Sydney woke up fever free but whiny. Just as we were getting ready to go to Old Town Sac in the morning, she got so whiny we thought she should nap first. So I took London to Joann, Costco and Raley's. Apparently she only napped for 10 minutes over the 2 hour window we were gone. She was still whiny but refused to nap. Any time we put her down in her crib she would break out into distressed crying fits. Eventually, I decided we just needed to go so all of us could get out of the house as doing nothing for too long can weigh on us. 

We headed to Old Town Sac as we wanted to take advantage of our California State Railroad museum membership and go for a train ride. We got there around 2:30 so we could go on the 3 PM train ride. The train was running behind about 10 minutes, so boarding would be at 3 PM. We headed to the museum for a quick little walk-through in the nice air conditioning - it was now the warmest part of the day and it topped out at 102 degrees. Plus, we're getting some moisture from the monsoons down south, which added a little humidity. 

That's when we discovered, after several other visits to the museum, that there is a second floor! And on this second floor are toy trains and tracks, Chugginton and Thomas the Train themed, for the kids to play with. Perfect! We spent the whole time up there, before heading to the boarding area for our train ride. The cars on the train are either open car or non-air conditioned with windows open, so the breeze from the moving train was welcome relief once we got going.We agreed on weekends we are home we should make more of an attempt to use our membership to its maximum benefit, especially since Sydney had a grand time. Next time though, we'll head out first thing in the morning before it gets too hot!

Thankfully, after a arriving home and a quick snack and bath, Sydney was more than ready for bed, early. And I settled into getting the last coat of paint up in the bathroom. Now to tackle the baseboards!

London's 4th Birthday Party - The Recipes

Ok, so here are the recipes from London's birthday party: 

The carrot cake recipe is adapted off one I found on the Six Sisters' Stuff blog. The frosting recipe is exactly theirs, so you can go to their site to get it. It's easy and delicious! Here's the recipe I use now: 

Carrot Cake

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups canola/vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups carrots ( grated )
• 1 can of crushed pineapple ( do not drain – it makes the cake nice and moist )
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup coconut ( shredded )
• ½ cup regular Raisins
• ½ cup Golden Raisins
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
•    ½  teaspoon salt 
•   2  teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a large mixing bowl cream together oil, sugar, and eggs. Then add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour into 2 greased 8" round cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Let cool in pan 10-15 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Note: For cupcakes, it takes 15-20 minutes for baking. At the same time, remember ovens are all different, especially ours as it is propane. My trick to baking and not drying out cakes and cupcakes it to check early and often. Take out when it is just barely done - the 10-15 minutes it needs to cool in the pan will complete the baking process. 

I got the basic recipe for the popcorn here. 

London's Birthday Popcorn

Ingredients:

• 4 Cups Popped Popcorn
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. light corn syrup or honey
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• 12 large marshmallows
• 1/2 a bag of M&Ms - I used pastel colors that you can buy at Easter. 
• Cupcake sprinkles

Directions

1. Pop popcorn until done, remove any unpopped kernels.

2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat.

3. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and marshmallows.

4. Turn heat to medium and stir until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth.

5. Pour over popcorn and stir in until popcorn is evenly coated.

6. Add M&Ms and Sprinkles

7. Store in an airtight container.

I've tweaked this pasta salad recipe for several years now. It's just about perfect now. 

Summertime Pasta Salad

Salad Ingredients:

• 1-2 containers of 10 oz Cheery Tomatoes, halved
• 1 ½ - 2 boxes of 13.25 oz Pasta, cooked, drained and cooled (I prefer Barilla Rotini)
• ¼ cup chopped Parsley
• ¼ cup finely chopped Fresh Basil
• 6 Scallions, sliced
• 1-2 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and diced
• 3 stalks Celery, chopped
• 6 oz Feta Cheese
• 6.5 oz jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed, cut in half length-wise

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup Veggie Oil
• 1/2cup Olive Oil
• 6 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Dried Thyme
• ½ tsp Dried Oregano
• ¼ tsp Dried Basil
• ½ Celery Salt
• ½ tsp Pepper
• ½ tsp Paprika
• 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard

Directions:

Mix all pasta Ingredients together in a large bowl, except the artichoke hearts. Mix all dressing ingredients in a small bowl , mixing well. Pour over and mix into pasta mixture and refrigerate overnight. Mix in the artichoke hearts just prior to serving.

London's 4th Birthday Party

London atop Sterling, aka Maximum

Last post about London turning 4, I promise! But this is the best one. You can't have a birthday without a party, at least at this age, right?

We found and booked the party venue back in March. Every day we pass by Gibson Park Ranch on our way to the girls' daycare. On the sign outside it advertises Pony Rides and Pony Ride birthdays. While my mom was out, we decided to stop in for a pony ride and check out what could be involved in a pony birthday party.

Well...

Inside Gibson Park Ranch, is "Old Town Tumbleweed" and this is where the Pony rides are. We came to find out we had 3 options for a party. Option 1: Rent a picnic area elsewhere in Gibson Park Ranch where we could have a bounce house and have one pony come by for an hour to provide rides. Option 2: Invite 25 people for a party inside Old Town Tumbleweed, where each kid could get one ride on a pony. People in attendance would also receive a wrist band to distinguish them from the general public. Option 3: Hold a private party inside Old Town Tumbleweed with unlimited pony rides, a brief show featuring Sterling, carriage rides, and panning for treasure for 3 hours. Can you guess which one we went with? Yeh, option 3. How could we not?

Carriage Rides were just as big a hit as the pony rides

Did I mention Sterling was the horse that Disney came to see perform and was the inspiration for Maximus in the movie "Tangled"? I believe they even put the dots on him so the computers could get the organic movement right. He's a beauty, that's for sure. And it turns out, he's a rescue horse. All the horses and ponies inside Old Town Tumbleweed we were told were rescues. And Sterling's trainer, the guy who runs the area, Lloyd Cooper, was quite the character and did an amazing job making this one special birthday. He comes from quite a line of movie & TV animal trainers, too. But this is what he loves - making kids' birthdays special.

So Sterling helped set the theme for us. London loves Tangled almost as much as Frozen, so that was a bonus. And the date we had no choice on as our June was packed with work trips and weddings already so it had to be on Father's Day. We knew this would limit how many people would be able to make it. But in the end more people were able to come than we expected.

When planning for the party, I asked London if she had any special requests. Following in my footsteps, based on stories I have been told, she quickly said she wanted flowers and popcorn and a cake with pink frosting. A little while later, she also requested that the cake be carrot cake. Fine by me - I've actually created my own recipe by tweaking one I found online. Plus, I know London will actually eat carrot cake, not just the frosting. On the day of the party, she did change her mind on the color of frosting and insisted on purple. She told me she would have pink next time.

By special request of the birthday girl - a carrot cake and flowers! One of these days I'll take a cake decorating class. I love making cake over buying store bought, but my skills here seriously lack!

Ok, I guess there will be one more post about London's birthday - but it will be for sharing the recipes, as I also tweaked a recipe I found online for caramel popcorn to make it more festive. The popcorn was a huge hit with the kids too. They filled cups with it and snacked on it while Sterling performed.

Ally Up also performed for us

 

Sterling is a Tennessee Walker - just gorgeous!

London enjoying the show with her cup of popcorn

They even set up shade for the kids to sit under for the show.

We also served Cameron's 7-layer dip, my favorite pasta salad, goldfish crackers, cheese and salami, and fruit. The biggest hit was Cameron's BBQ chicken, which he soaked in BBQ for an entire day before grilling it the morning of the party.

London enjoying Daddy's chicken while catching up with her buddy Lucas's mom Christina.

 And at the end of Sterling's show, London got to sit on top and wave Lloyd's hat around like a true cowgirl.

It was a fantastic party that all the kids seemed to enjoy. They definitely kept the ponies busy with rides. Both London and Sydney seemed quite at home on the ponies, and London on Sterling. I suspect riding lessons could be in our future.

London even got a play "Maximus" as a gift, thanks to her Grammi!