A New Annual Family Tradition

After living in the Sacramento area for 9 years, we decided to finally make a trip up to Apple Hill for some apple goodness.  We got some suggestions of orchards to stop at – thanks to Melisa and Rod. 
We started our morning by making the hour drive and luckily Hanna slept the whole way.  It can make for a REALLY LONG car ride if she doesn’t fall asleep. 
Our first stop was High Hill where we tried some apple donuts – yumo!!  Caty also got her face painted.  The picture board showed a small butterfly but the end product sure didn’t look like that!
 

Caty spotted this sign and since it cost $120 we opted to just take a picture of it and send the picture to my parents.  

Next we headed over to El Dorado Orchards.  We didn’t do much here as Caty, Hanna and I had just gone on a train ride on Friday at the pumpkin patch.  We did walk around and looked at the different booths.  We also got a nice family picture taken.  The couple that took the picture must have owned one of the booths because the lady gave each of the girls little hand sewn snowmen.  They sure are cute (sorry no picture). 

Caty posing with the scarecrow, although she was a little timid about standing in front of him.  I’m not sure if she expected him to move or what, but she got out of there very quickly after I took the picture. 

Next we headed to Boa Vista Orchards and had lunch – yummy corndogs.  Did some more walking around and browsing what people were selling.  We watched an artist make some paintings with spray paint – they were actually really cool looking. 
From here we headed to Abel’s Apple Acres in search of an apple pie.  Boy did we find one!  Can’t you just smell it!!  Mmmm!!!!

There was a pond which looks much better in this picture than in person – up close it looked like a swamp infested with mosquitos – not so bad in the picture though.  I think that, despite the look of the pond, this might be an annual picture that we take and next year Hanna can be standing with Caty instead of hanging in the stroller. 

We really wanted to find an orchard that allowed us to pick our own apples, most of them don’t.  I sent Melisa a text asking where they had picked apples, as they had just spent a weekend up in Apple Hill.  She recommended Willow Pond Farm, which is such a tiny orchard they don’t even have a web site.  It was a wonderful place though and we had fun picking our apples. 

Looks like we’ll be visiting Apple Hill each fall.  We had a wonderful day and I’m sad that we’ve missed out on 9 years of apple goodness!

LPA Fall Regional

Our local chapter of LPA hosted the Fall Regional over the weekend of October 2-4th.  Being the Vice President of our chapter, as well as a Parent Coordinator, meant being on the planning committee.  I think that the weekend was a success.  We had around 160 attendees – not too shabby!  We are so lucky that we live right smack dab in the middle of CA and have a huge chapter.  The weekend gave us a chance to catch up with friends and meet some new ones.  For the past 16 months, I’ve been following the blog of Alex, whose daughter, Anais, also has Achondroplasia.  We communicate through Facebook as well.  This weekend we FINALLY got to meet in person – what a wonderful and beautiful family she has.  You know, when you get together with someone you’ve never personally met, yet follow along with daily, it’s such an incredible feeling.  We also got to meet, in person, a few others families that I am in touch with on Facebook – the Dino’s from Southern CA and the Tumbioli family from Fresno.  To all the other families that we got to see again, it was wonderful – the Heuer’s, the Cortez’s, the Chase’s and the William’s.  And here’s to new friends made – glad you were there!

Friday night at the Welcome Reception – the girls playing ball

 

Caty and Alex

Sandra and her son Alex (r) and Nathaniel Cortez (l)

Hanna just chillin

Caty and Mary

Caty and Bradley

Caty, Bradley and Hai playing football

The kids playing ball

Saturday night BBQ – Hanna became the centerpiece at our table

With Alex

From L-R: Mandy, Sandra, Me, Anel, Alex and Melisa

Caty dancing with Sienna and Hai

 

How cute are they!

Caty, Sienna and Peyton

Caty busting a move

Doing the Hokey Pokey

Matthew just hanging out

 

Dancing with Julie and Peyton

 

Hugs!

Taking a break from dancing

Hai

I got her to stop dancing long enough to pose with me for a picture

Caty and Matthew

Caty with Nancy and Tom Culbert

Pumpkin Bread

(makes 2 loaves)

• 1 15 oz can pumpkin
• 1 2/3 c sugar
• 2/3 c vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 3 c flour
• 1/2 c coarsely chopped nuts
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves

1. Heat oven to 350*.  Grease bottoms of 2 loaf pans.
2. Stir together pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients. 
4. Pour into pans.
5. Bake about 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes.  Loosen sides from pans; remove from pans and place on wire rack to cool. 
6. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, refrigerate up to 10 days or freeze.

If you make them, let me know what you think.

ps -  If the POST A COMMENT link isn't there, just click on where you can see the number of comments I have. I can't seem to get the POST A COMMENT link to appear on my blog - any suggestions?

Herb Focaccia Bread

 

Herb Focaccia

(This recipe will make 2 focaccia breads)

3 ½ cups flour, plus extra for dusting

1 envelope active dry yeast

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

1 ¼ cups lukewarm water

3 TBS olive oil, plus extra for greasing

4 TBS finely chopped fresh herbs (I use Rosemary)

Polenta or cornmeal, for sprinkling

Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

1. Combine the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar in a bowl and make a well in the center. Gradually stir in most of the water and 2 TBS of the olive oil to make the dough. Gradually add the remaining water, if necessary, drawing in all the flour.   

2. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead. Transfer to a bowl and lightly knead in the herbs for 10minutes until soft but not sticky. Wash the bowl and lightly coat with olive oil.

3. Divide into 2 parts.  Shape the dough into 2 balls, put it in the bowls, and turn the dough over. Cover tightly with a dish cloth or lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume. Meanwhile, sprinkle cornmeal over a cookie sheet.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead each ball lightly. Cover with the upturned bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.

5. Roll out and pat the dough into a 2 10-inch circle, about ½ inch thick, and carefully transfer it to the prepared cookie sheet. Cover with a dish cloth and let rise again for 15minutes.

6. Using a lightly oiled finger, poke indentations all over the surface of the loaf. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Bake in a preheated oven, 450°, for 15minutes or until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Hanna's New Trick

Hanna has just figured out how to laugh and it is so cute!  Hope this brings a smile to your face!

American Saturday Night Tour

 

For the second year in a row, Michelle and I got incredible seats to see Brad Paisley.  Michelle is in the fan club and even with buying seats 2 weeks after they went on sale, we ended up in the 11th row.  Our seats were 4 seats away from the side cat walk.  Although once Dierks Bentley came on we stood up right near the from of the stage.  Dierks and Brad were literally less than 5 feet from us at times.  We positioned ourselves right in front of one of Brad’s microphones. It made for some incredible pictures!  We even both ended up with guitar picks – not that either of us play the guitar, but still, a cool souvenir to come home with.  The show was AWESOME, AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE, the list goes on and one.  Enjoy the song and pictures.