Wagfest

Last weekend, we went to Wagfest, which is a big festival, all for dogs, here in Central Ohio.  There was a dog swimming area and park, shows, vendors & breeds of every kind.  I thought I'd share a few pics!

 
Ranger met a couple of other Rhodesian Ridgebacks at the fest:

It was a really hot day, and Ranger absolutely loved the ice area they had set up for the dogs to romp in.  We ended up visiting twice so he could play and cool off:

We watched the dock jumping in the afternoon - some dogs couldn't wait to make the jump, others needed a little coaxing:

And here's a shot of a dragonfly, because I can never resist taking a dragonfly picture:

Ranger had a blast at Wagfest, but towards the end he was so tired, he was going under food carts & plopping down.  It was a big day for our big dog!

-Cheryl

Camping at Salt Fork State Park

Last week, the Bach family went on a little camping adventure at Salt Fork State Park in Ohio.  We've never taken the kids camping before, but we thought they would enjoy it.  DH bought a little pop-up trailer (which he promptly dubbed The Mobile HQ) and we headed out for a few days of hiking, swimming & s'mores-ing.  Here are a few shots from our trip.

The Bachsters all buried each other in the sand on the beach: 

Our 7-year-old found the coolest caterpillar right by our campsite:

Silver lining:

DH planned and cooked all our meals - it was a nice break for me:

One morning we woke up to beautiful, foggy campgrounds:

Waiting patiently at the marina:

We rented a pontoon boat for a couple of hours - everyone had so much fun exploring the lake:

Ranger's ears flapping in the breeze:

We let the kids swim off the boat - a daring rescue in progress:

We enjoyed a big campfire every evening:

Here's a shot of our pop-up......I mean, Mobile HQ:

Our last day at the park, we found our own little "secret beach" - we were the only ones there, so we let Ranger run around & go wild.  Our 7-year-old amassed quite a collection of shells:

One of everyone's favorite part of the trip was watching Ranger go from timid around the water to all-out goofy, jumping, exuberant water-dog:

We hiked....we swam....we heard owls and coyotes at night.....we saw a million stars......we couldn't get enough s'mores.....we saw lots of deer and butterflies........we already want to go back.

-Cheryl

Book Nook - Camp Out!

Camp Out! The Ultimate Kids' Guide by Lynn Brunelle:



Guess what we did last week?  Went camping at Salt Fork State Park, Ohio's largest state park!  We had so much fun - a post with pictures is coming soon, I promise!

I took this book with us on our camping adventure, and I'm so glad I did.  There are lots of camping-related tidbits of information throughout the book.  On the cover are the following bullet-points:

-pitch a tent
-tie knots
-explore nature
-get crafty out there
-use a compass
-cook up s'mores
-read the weather
-build a campfire

The book has all of these things, plus pages on topics like identifying constellations, popular campfire songs, things you see in a tide pool and games to play after a busy day of hiking and swimming. 

Our oldest was fascinated by the chapter on animal tracks and scat.  She also loved reading the ghost stories aloud to her younger siblings, causing them a couple of nights of scary dreams before we left on our trip.  We made sure to tell her no spooky stories when we're out in the woods!

If you & your family go camping - get this book.  But make sure you bring it with you because there are many, many interesting and useful items in it that are fun to read about while you're experiencing it.  If nothing else, it's a fun read while you're kicking back & eating s'mores.

-Cheryl

Ice Cream Sundays - {peach}

If I were at a birthday party, and we were having cake and ice cream, and the ice cream flavor was peach, I would probably pass on the ice cream and ask for a second piece of cake instead.  Peach ice cream just doesn't do anything for me.  I remember one time in the recent past, for some reason we had some store-bought peach ice cream in our freezer, and it stayed there for months.  In this family, that's an unusual thing, indeed.

So, I set out to make peach ice cream knowing that it wasn't the most popular flavor around here.  But peaches are in season, and we picked up a bunch from a local farm.  Why not give it a try?

I used the recipe from The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco, a cookbook that I'm really loving right now.  However, I used the ice cream making technique of The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz - my favorite ice cream book.  Lebovitz recommends taking the skins off the peaches and then pureeing the peaches in a blender or food processor, which is exactly what I did.  The tiny pieces of peach weren't icy at all in the ice cream, thanks to this advice.

It was a good peach ice cream, but I'm afraid it didn't change my mind.  I might make this again for someone who loves peach ice cream, especially for their birthday.  And it definitely wouldn't stay in the freezer for months, like that store-bought kind we once had.  If you love peach ice cream, this is a great recipe (well, hybrid recipe).  If you're not a peach-ice-cream-person, I highly recommend caramel - for which I'd skip the birthday cake altogether and just ask for seconds (and maybe thirds).

-Cheryl 

Feeding the ducks and geese

The other day, the Bachsters and I went to a local pond to feed the ducks and geese.  It's so much fun to do, because they are totally fearless of people - they will come right up to you, sometimes even snatching a piece of bread from your hand or stepping on your foot (which feels really funny).  I thought I'd share a few pics of our time at the pond:

And after a little morning snack, it's time for a nice swim in the pond (for the ducks and geese, not us):

-Cheryl

Book Nook - Falling In

Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell:



Sometimes, I choose a book because I've heard a lot of buzz about it, or it was recommended to me, or I find it while researching another book.  Or maybe it's a classic that I've always meant to read.  But then there are times when prominent shelf placement at the library and a cute cover are all it takes to nab my interest.  Such is the case with Falling In.

As the Bachsters and I started reading the book, you can't help but "fall in" to the story, just as the protagonist, Isabelle, falls into an alternate world.  One minute she's helping a classmate who has injured her arm, the next minute, she finds herself in an unfamiliar basement, in a world without electricity, but one that has a witch.  And during different times of the year, the children from 5 neighboring villages go camp in the woods, believing that this will keep them safe from the child-eating witch.

Isabelle is quickly ejected from the initial unfamiliar basement, and sent to one of these camps in the woods.  But on her way to camp, she decides that it might be more fun to actually meet the witch, so she heads in the opposite direction.  Along the way, she makes a new friend and discovers things about the witch that will change the lives of the villagers - and her own - for the better.

This story unfolds in a nice way, and gives the reader the "reader-tingles" when a new element is added to the layers.  Grown ups will see some of the plot direction ahead of time, but some of the story was a surprise to me.  I think this book has the intention of older readers reading it to themselves, but it also made a nice read-aloud with the Bachsters.  And a couple of telling signs that the book was a success: our oldest took it to her room several times after we finished, so that she could read ahead - and, I was also caught reading ahead!  So, it's a grown-up-and-kid-pleaser.

After recently finishing the How to Train Your Dragon series, I was hoping to find a book with a little less violence.  Falling In does have some violence, but certainly not as much as the Hiccup books.  I'm starting to wonder if there are any books for kids that don't have any violence in them?  Well, I know they are out there & we've read some, but it seems like most of them do contain some violence.

So, next time you're at the library, check out Falling In.  And take a look around the shelves for other books that catch your attention.  You might find yourself unexpectedly "falling in" to a good book you never even knew about.

-Cheryl 

Ice Cream Sundays - {fresh mint}

The internet is a funny place - you can find all sorts of great information, but there's also a lot of trash out there.  And sometimes, you might find something that's just flat-out incorrect, like I did when I came upon a review recently for a gelato book (yes, I read gelato book reviews in my free time) in which the reviewer slammed David Lebovitz for using corn syrup in his recipes.  My feathers were all in a bunch, let me tell you!  After some research of the recipes in the excellent The Perfect Scoop, out of 130 recipes for ice cream, sorbet/sherbet & granitas (yes, I counted) there are only 2 that use corn syrup or corn starch - both are in the sorbet/sherbet section.  2 out of 130.  What's really unbelievable is that there are ice cream cookbooks out there that use these ingredients in every recipe (no, I'm not naming any names).  I avoid these cookbooks at all costs & stick to my absolute favorite, The Perfect Scoop.

I think that gelato book reviewer should take a look at David Lebovitz's recipe for fresh mint ice cream, as a good example of what you'll find in the book.  It doesn't get any more natural than this: whole milk, sugar, heavy cream, salt, fresh mint leaves and egg yolks.  These ingredients mix up magically, to make a creamy, delicious, minty ice cream.  I added the stracciatella to the ice cream at the end of churning, which is simply melted chocolate added to the ice cream to make a thin swirl that breaks up into tiny chips as the chocolate cools.  I think it's a must with the fresh mint ice cream - it was just perfect!

 
The funny thing is that the base was actually a lovely mint green color as I stirred it.  Once I added the egg yolks, the color changed to what you see in the above picture, but I was excited to see the mint green there naturally.  No food coloring needed, because the green leaves provided their own color.

So, I think our gelato reviewer owes it to his or herself to take another look at The Perfect Scoop.  There are recipes here for some of the best all-natural ice cream you will ever taste - 128, to be exact.

-Cheryl