Want S'more??

We are transitioning nicely into our school-year schedule.  Alicia is in the 2nd grade and loves it! 

Next week, we'll have our first Brownie meeting here at our house.  I've discovered a new hobby of housecleaning which I hope is not just a passing fad...  But I figure scheduling a bi-weekly onslaught of 14 second graders will be enough inspiration to carry me through.

Stephen's getting used to the long hours of his new job.  He works 8 days on and has 6 days off.  Regardless of the physical challenge, the stress levels are MUCH lower with this job and that is worth the effort.  He just got certified as a Level III Wastewater Operator with the State of Alaska.  So, he's pretty glad about that.

Tess stopped by just now and I unloaded lots of miscellaneous household items on her to be used at her new place.  My new cleaning hobby is turning up all sorts of things we have no need for and no room to store them.  Towels, cups, utensils....  You'd think an entire army lived here instead of just the 3 of us.  Purge purge purge!

We've spent some time enjoying the State Fair this past week.  Alicia entered the Kid Cookie Contest and won 4th place out of 38 entries!  Hooray!  She was shooting for 2nd place.  Because, if you win 1st place, you're not eligible to enter the following year.  But, she is more than satisfied with the 4th place showing for her S'mores Cookies.  If you're interested in whipping up your own batch, here's the recipe:

S’mores Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk chocolate chips

1 pack graham crackers

3 Hershey bars, broken into pieces

2 cups mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Arrange graham cracker squares on a baking sheet and set aside.

Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine baking soda, salt, and flour in a small bowl.  Slowly add the flour mixture into the batter.  Mix well.  Stir in milk chocolate chips.

Form 1” balls of the cookie dough and place a dough ball in the center of each graham cracker.  Bake the cookies for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are starting to brown.  Remove from the oven and top each cookie with 2 mini marshmallows. 

Return cookie sheet to the oven for another 2-3 minutes, or until the marshmallows have started to melt and the cookies appear nicely browned. 

Cool the cookies for 5 minutes.  Then, top each cookie with a section of a Hershey chocolate bar.  Allow to cool completely.  Enjoy!

Eklutna Lake

We made a quick trip to Eklutna Lake a couple Sundays ago.  Stephen had that Monday off and the Public Use Cabin had a rare summertime vacancy for that Sunday night only.  So, we snatched it up.  For $50, we had the use of the cabin from noon Sunday to noon Monday. 

Eklutna Lake is about 20 minutes from our house.  But, strangely enough, we don't go there often.  It serves as the main water reservoir for the city of Anchorage.  The lake is 8 miles long and originates at the Eklutna Glacier which spills from the icefield beyond the Chugach Mountains. 

For this trip, we brought our "new" Mule ATV to see how well it would do on the trail.  The Lakeside Trail goes the whole length of the lake and then about 4 miles further up to the glacier.  We ventured just up to the end of the lake which is about 8 miles in.  The trail is open to ATVs on Sun-Thur during the summer months.  There were lots of other ATVs zipping up and down the trail.  Some parts were pretty smooth, while others were super bumpy.  Inside the Mule, the engine noise is pretty loud.  It's similar to riding in a small plane.  Earplugs would've been useful.  But the adventure was fun!

The public use cabin is located 3 miles up the trail on the shore of the lake.  It has a woodstove, table, and sleeping bunks for 5-6 people.  We enjoyed some card games and lots of rock fun at the lake shore.  The beach is almost entirely rocks, with lots of driftwood strewn around.  Stephen and Alicia did lots of rock skipping, while I took lots of pictures of pretty rocks.  Good times!






For more photos from our trip, go here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151055162473159.442823.523908158&type=3&l=bd25e3247f

Islands and Sunshine

We are Hawaii bound!

Okay, not right now.  It's summertime in Alaska!  Why leave now?  No, we're going to Hawaii in January when the snow is piled high and daylight hours are scarce...

Alicia's been saving her nickels for nearly 2 years so she could have enough for a ticket to Hawaii.  She wants to see the hula girls.  Well, she finally reached her goal recently.  So, we bought tickets to Maui for January.  We'll be there for Alicia's 8th birthday.

We're 2 weeks away from "back-to-school".  Alicia is headed for the 2nd grade.  Her summer camp sessions are over.  So, she and I are spending lots of quality time together for these final 2 weeks of summer.  I've been working from home or from the library every now and then.  But, mostly, we've been enjoying the sunshine at the local playgrounds.  Tomorrow we've lined up a playdate with her friend so I can put in an appearance at the office.  I wouldn't want them to forget who I am!

While we've been out and about during the daytime, we settle in each evening to watch the Olympics.  Alicia falls asleep on the couch and gets escorted up to her bed where she falls back to sleep immediately.  Then, we get up the next day and do it all again!