More Summer Outings..

Is it possible to have too much outdoor fun?  No way, not for the Kurani family! Although looking back over the week we had I understand why I'm so tired today.

First stop was the Huntington Beach Adventure Park.  I got the idea for this excursion from a friend of mine, Brenda Ponnay aka Secret Agent Josephine.  She has a great blog and is a uber-talented gal.

Opening up the place

We showed up right at 10am when it opened (ok, maybe we were 10 minutes early), you know cause that's the way I roll.  Admission was only $3. and let me tell you that this may be the best $9 I spent all summer.

Huckleberry Finn anyone??

There is a medium size pond with a bunch of rafts the kids can take out.  Now, before anyone gets too excited let me say that at the deepest point the water came up to the kid's thighs.  So not too deep, but deep enough for fun.

Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Watch me!!

Besides rafting, the Adventure Park also has a building area.  A serious building area - you know like where they hand out nails, hammers and saws. 

Building a shelter, we may be moving in :)

Son 1 was in heaven, he got busy collecting wood and finding extra nails to use.   The kids only get issued 3 nails and if you want more you have to turn in either trash or old, bent nails.  The quest to get more nails seemed to be half the fun.

Lunch break

I brought a chair for me and a picnic lunch for the kids.  I ended up moving my chair around depending on what the kids were doing.

At 11am they opened up the "Mud Slide".  Can I just say that this slide is aptly named and a whole bunch of fun - for the kids at least.

Daughter and Son 2 covered in muddy water

Luckily I had read the website information on the park and came prepared.  Because this is what the kids' shoes looked like when they changed.   Disgusting.  The park recommends you bring extra clothes and wear old shoes.  Yep, that was some good advice.

Shoes ready for the trash

I would go one step further and wear clothes that you can throw away when you get home, because honestly I don't think these clothes will ever be clean again.

Mud slide casualties - those are white socks and shorts

But honestly the HB Adventure Park is all about having old fashioned fun and getting dirty. Something we don't always get enough of.

Right next to the Adventure Park is the Huntington Beach City Library - and what a library it is.  We stopped in to use the bathrooms (the ones at the Adventure Park are Porta-Potties) and looked around.  I didn't get a chance to look at their programs but it would be worth going back and spending some time there.

Circular ramp - Central Library was built in 1974

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Conservancy.  The driveway is easy to miss as there isn't much of a sign and only a small building on site.  Small packages can be deceiving though, because the visitor center was packed full of interesting exhibits for the kids and had the added bonus of being free!

Sea bird exhibit

Outside there are 2-3 miles of trails to explore.  We didn't get to walk the whole thing because Son 1 and Daughter went on strike, much to the disappointment of Son 2.  We are going to plan a second trip here with Nadim on a weekend.

Wetlands trail

The Santa Ana Zoo was also on our hit list this week, but to be completely honest it was the most expensive thing we did and the most boring.  Not a good combination really.  Admission was $10 for me and $7. for each kid.  I would have liked the zoo more if the tickets were half the price.

Bald eagle nest

We did enjoy seeing the Bald eagle nest and the Bald eagle.  The nest was huge!  The Pampas grass exhibit was one of the nicer ones along with the collection of primates.  We saw the whole Zoo in about an hour and then spent an additional 45 minutes at the playground - yep, $31 was too much.

Lamas, emus and camels - oh my!

The Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary on the other hand was great and it was free!!  The drive was a bit long but very beautiful.

Ready for some adventure!

The Nature Center was loaded with hands on science and nature activities.  The microscopes were particularly popular with Son 1 and Son 2.  Daughter was happy with the giant basket of animal puppets and coloring sheets.

Looking at a moth's wing

We started out on the Chaparral trail and headed up to a view point.  Along the way we saw a coyote and raccoon tracks along with a whole bunch of scat (otherwise known as poop). Who knew poop could be so exciting?  I guess I'm to blame since I'm the one who purchased the scat identification chart.  Yes there really is such a thing :)

Son 1 wanted to keep on hiking into the wilds of the Cleveland National Forest, but there was more to see back at the Sanctuary.

Water break

Once down the hill we wandered the trails in the Sanctuary itself and saw an abundance of wild life.  There were bird and squirrel feeders set out to draw animals and the most exciting thing we saw was a covey of quail and a woodpecker.  This was hands down the best outing of the week.

How much longer??

Last was a trip to M and M Nursery.  I've been to this Nursery before, like about 20 years ago, but I hadn't realized that they turned into sort of a niche nursery with their fairy garden angle until I read about it on another friends blog Suffle' Girl and decided to check it out.

Fairy garden display, I love the living roof

If you love Story Book Land and Casey Jr rides at Disneyland (which I do) then you will LOVE M&M.  Even the boys got into it.

Checking things out

M&M has a beautiful display of fairy gardens and bonsai, trust me that if you take your kids you will wind up with a fairy garden of your own.

Daughter's favorite garden

We did.  We came home with some plants and have started our own fairy garden in the backyard.  I'll post some pictures of it another time.  Inside their store, M&M sells all the miniature buildings that really turn the garden into something special.

Son 2 and Daughter checking out the largest garden

How's that for some summer fun??  I don't think we could have done any more - well and remained sane that is.

Let me know if you try any of the places I've mentioned out :)

Have a great week!

Ebelskivers..

..what??

For those of you unfamiliar with the deliciousness that are ebelskivers let me enlighten you :)

Order up :)

Ebelskivers are a round Danish pancake that are solid like a pancake but fluffy inside like a popover.  My kids LOVE them.

But the recipe is a bit difficult and time consuming, something I normally save for special occasions.  But Son 2 asked me to cook them for breakfast, so I had only one option, wake up an hour early and make them.

If you want to try ebelskivers but aren't into making them yourself, head up to Solvang, CA and order them there.

Here is the recipe I use:

Ebelskivers
Makes 28 pancakes

Ingredients
4 eggs, seperated
1 T sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups cake flour
2 scant cups milk
shortening

Equipment
2 mixing bowls
ebelskiver pan
skewer

1. Beat the egg yolks.  Add the sugar, salt and milk to the egg yolks and mix gently.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the egg mixture, mixing gently.
3. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff and then fold into batter.  It will be lumpy.
4. Place a small amount of shortening in each cup of the heated pan and fill with batter.
5. Cook over medium heat until bubbly
6. Turn pancake carefully with a skewer and finish cooking
7. Serve with butter, powdered sugar, jelly or syrup.

Serves 4-6 people

Separating the eggs

I should tell you that I usually make a double batch of ebelskivers whenever I happen to cook them.  They hold well in the frig and they are so much work, I might as well get 2 breakfasts out of them.

Egg yolks only

Once the eggs are separated I worked with the yolks first.  Since I don't have two mixing bowls for my mixer I just used a hand whisk to mix the yolks, salt, sugar and milk.

Liquids are ready for the flour

The recipe calls for cake flour, you can find it at most grocery stores.  Cake flour is designed to make light and fluffy pastries.  You can use all purpose flour for this recipe but the texture of the pancakes will not be as good.  Honestly if you are going to go to all the work to make ebelskivers, you may as well buy some cake flour while you are at it.

Ready for sifting

Once the flour is whisked into the egg yolk mixture I start beating my egg whites.

Whisking in the flour

While you are beating the egg whites keep your eye on them, we want stiff peaks.

Let's beat some egg whites

Once your eggs hit the stiff peak stage you will be able to lift your mixer out of the bowl and the egg whites will stand up on their own.

Stiff peaks

The next step is to gently fold in the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.  The batter will be lumpy.  Make sure that you don't over mix and collapse your egg whites.

Ready to fold in the egg whites

While I fold in the egg whites I also start my pan heating up.  My ebelskiver pan is a cast iron one that I've spent many years seasoning.  This baby doesn't get washed, it just gets wiped down when I'm done with it.

Heating up the ebelskiver pan

Once the pan is hot, drop a small bit of shortening into each cup and spread it around the cup with a heat safe pastry brush.  I grease the cups every time I add raw batter.  You can also grease the top of the pan so any extra batter won't stick.

I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour the batter into the cups.  I fill the cups up pretty full since I want a solid ball pancake with no gaps in it.  Patience is key here.

Ready to turn

Now, for the trickiest part of making ebelskivers.  Turning them.  I use a long skewer and as soon as the side of the pancake is set and browned a bit, I stick the skewer into the pancake and rotate the pancake.

Does that make sense?

Turning the pancakes

You want to get the pancake turned over so the uncooked batter runs into the cup and you wind up with a round pancake.  There is a learning curve here with timing, your first pan or two might look ugly but they should still taste good.

Keep on turning

I keep rotating the pancake until it is nicely browned and my skewer comes out of the pancake fairly clean. 

Mmmm, ready to eat

Since I made a double batch, I have this nice plate of ebelskivers that I'm going to keep in the fridge that the kids can snack on or have for breakfast later in the week.

Left overs

If you are trying to decide whether to make 1 or 2 batches keep in mind that my kids eat 7 pancakes each.  Error on the side of more :)

Enjoy!

Summer Outings..

.. a whole weeks worth of them :)

Summer is my favorite time of year, not because my children don't bicker constantly, they do - but because its time for me to play teacher.

I love exposing my kids to new people, places and things.

So I've come up with a loose schedule for the summer where the the kids and I alternate who gets to pick the outing.

Here is what we did this week :)

Chuck E Cheese - ok, so I hate this place and really it has no redeeming qualities.

Token bank

But the kids chose it so what am I going to do??  I spent $30. on tokens and set them free.  The tokens lasted about an hour,

Las Vegas for kids

then we traded them in for about $2.98 worth of crappy toys.   On the positive side, we've done Chuck E. so no need to go back the rest of the summe - yes!!

Prizes we redeemed about 1000 tickets for

After Chuck E. Cheese we all needed some fresh air and where better to find some fresh air than the summit of Turtle Rock?

I chose Turtle Rock because I love hiking and it was free!  Something to consider with a large family like mine.

Heading up to the never ending staircase

This hike can be quick or pretty long, its up to you.  We headed up the face of the hill, the kids love scrambling over the rocks.

The kids and I heading up

Once we got to the top all of Orange County was at our feet, talk about some great views.  We hiked down the ridge a while then looped back.  There is a nice playground at the foot of the hill, so the kids played a bit and then we headed home.

SoCal at our feet

Next up was the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach.  The kids were free and it was $12 each for Nadim and I to get in.

The kids were not excited to see the museum until we pulled into the parking lot and they saw the sculpture outside.  Yes, that is indeed a very large un-nuetered male dog peeing on the side of the building.  The boys of course LOVED it.

"Bad Dog" sculpture outside the building

The Museum was Nadim's idea and he did a great job of making the art inside interesting and relevant to the kids.

My favorite art installation

The OCMA has a great collection and the museum is small enough that you can see everything without the kids going nuts.

Very, very detailed painting

The kids favorite's were the pieces that were performance art based.  The best one was entitled "Open Doors", be sure to check that one out if you take your kids.

Modern tapestries

Finally we visited Sherman Gardens and Library in Corona Del Mar, Son 2 wanted to see some animals - he is my scientist.

The kids were free and my admission was only $3. The Gardens don't open until 10:30 but we showed up at 10am and wandered in.  They were nice enough not to kick us out :)

Heading inside

The gardens are beautiful.  They don't seem to get many children visitors as all the staff were oohing and aahing over the kids.

Heron sculpture

The whole site is about 2 acres and there is a lot to see crammed into the fairly small space.  Take your time and pay attention to all the small details.

Koi pond

The kids loved the koi and the turtles best.  The staff told us that there are also 5 tree frogs by the koi, but we didn't see them.

Turtle pond

We headed into the library last.  In the car on the way over I had discussed what a Resource Library is with the kids and we guessed what kind off books might be in there.

Resource Library

No we didn't find any Sponge Bob or Fancy Nancy books, we did find some phone books from 1910-1940, Sunset magazines from 1911 and other old, old books.  There was even a journal from one of the Father's who came up and founded some of the California missions.

Looking up "posterior"

Son 1 found this dictionary and thought is was hilarious to look up "posterior", you know another word for butt, and leave the dictionary open to the page.

Definition of posterior

The kids liked Chuck E Cheese best (no surprise there) but running a close second was the Sherman Gardens and Library.  Who knew??

Keep me posted if you try any of these outings (well, I don't really care about Chuck E Cheese :) and let me know how it went.

Have a great week!