Happy Birthday to Me! Or, 39 For The First Time!

Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!!
Happy Birthday to Meeeeee!
Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok, so it's two days after my birthday, but I was busy celebrating for two days!  It's true that Steve was over seas on my birthday, and that he's still there now.  It's also true that he's been over seas for my last three birthdays. ( I'm going to start taking that personally if it happens again next year!)  It's true too, that I was feeling very sorry for myself on the days leading up to my birthday, because I was going to be alone, with the exception of my kids.  Even my friends here were going to be out of town for my birthday, so I couldn't even pretend there was anyone around.  I have to give HUGE props to all of my family and friends on facebook here.  Only two of my friends knew I was very sad leading up to this birthday,but I had the most birthday wishes from friends and family ever!  Nearly 50 people wished me a happy birthday!!  WOW!!  I was speechless!  It really did make a difference.  I've cut down a lot on wishing people a happy birthday on facebook, because I didn't think it really mattered.  Well, I can tell you that it does matter!!  I'm going to make a point to wish everyone on my facebook friend list a happy birthday from now on!  See, you never know when you are going to make a difference in someone else's life. 
On my birthday, the kids and I went to the movies.  We saw Ice Age 4: Continental Drift.  The kids and I are huge Ice Age fans.  We've seen the first three movies countless times each.  Even Nathan, who is not yet three, was excited to see this movie!  I can tell you that it was good. I can tell  you that it was funny.  I can tell you that we will buy it when it comes out on video, and watch it over and over and over.  What I can't tell you is whether or not it's the best of the films.  My mom thinks it is.  I'll have to watch it a few more times to know.  I kind of don't think so, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.  If you have a chance, go see it.  It's not a waste of money, like most other movies are. 
My plan for my birthday cake was to teach Gabriel how to make it, so I wouldn't have to make my own birthday cake.  That's just sad on a level I don't want to think about.  What actually happened, was that my beloved first born had an acute attack of teenage hormonal brain damage, and wanted no part of learning how to make my cake.  So, I made it myself.  It was A. M. A. Z. I. N. G.  Flourless chocolate cake topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, and Rainier cherries.  Oh yeah!  It didn't look like much, but let me just say that it was the best birthday cake in the entire world!!!

No, my babies didn't sing happy birthday to me, but they did insist I make a wish before blowing the candles out.

I've been asked a few times for the recipe for the flourless chocolate cake under all that whipped cream and hot fudge, so here it is:

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Nonstick butter spray
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick cold butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oz vanilla rum
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
3 eggs, beaten
1 jar hot fudge
Whipped cream
cherries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 8-inch square, or round, cake pan with nonstick butter spray and line bottom with parchment.
Put the chocolate, butter, vanilla, and vanilla rum in a large bowl on top of a double boiler.  Stir the mixture frequently until combined and smooth.  Remove the chocolate from heat and put the bowl into an "ice bath" to cool the chocolate. 
Cooks Note:  The "ice bath" is important so the eggs will not cook when added to the chocolate.
Mix in the sugar, and cocoa powder.  Stir in the eggs and pour into the prepared cake pan.  Put the cake pan on a sheet tray and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and invert onto a rack over a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Allow the cake to cool and set for at least 10 minutes.  Pour hot fudge over the cake, then spray as much whipped cream over the hot fudge as desired.  Dot with cherries if desired. 

As you can see, I didn't get it out of the pan.  I didn't have any parchment paper, so I didn't do that step, so it wouldn't come out of the pan right after I took it out of the oven.  It's ok, it still tasted wonderful!! 

Yesterday was part two of my birthday celebration.  We went to the beach!  Yay!!  The beach is my favorite place in the whole world!  I LOVE the beach!  My children love the beach as well.  (what child doesn't love the beach??)  Yesterday, the waves were great for body surfing.  I love playing in the waves!  For some reason, Nathan picked yesterday to decide that he thought the water was terrifying.  Usually he loves to splash in the shallows and dig right there where the waves lap up.  Yesterday he wanted no part of it.  I carried him out, kicking and screaming, to play in the waves with me a couple of times, and he was scared the whole time.  Not only that, but if I left him at the tent, (yes, I have a beach tent because I get sun burned really easily), with Leesie and went out in the waves by myself, I could hear him screaming the whole time!  The last time I took him out with me, he sort of calmed down a little.  He wasn't crazy about being out there, but he wasn't kicking and screaming and choking me with his death grip around my neck like the first two times.  Then it happened.  Out of the depths of the ocean came a giant wave!  This thing was over my head, and there was nothing I could do about it.  Nothing.  It just appeared out of nowhere, and then it was on us.  I lost my footing.  I went tumbling in the surf, head over heals, knickers over elbows.  I didn't want to let go of Nathan.  I didn't want him to get sucked down to the bottom, and/or sucked out to sea further.  I kept thinking, "Don't let go of him, don't let go of him!"  But I did.  I let go of him.  When I finally found my footing and stood up, he was right behind me, just under the surface.  I plucked him out, and he coughed a couple of times, and that was it.  I had ocean water and sand in my sinuses all the way up to my forehead!  I still had water draining out of my sinuses an hour later!  Nathan coughed two times and was fine.  He was crying and wanted to go back to the tent, but he was fine.  You know, if I hadn't let go of him, he would have been much worse.  I can't help but think that it was the hand of God that made me let go of him so he'd be alright. 
We packed up and headed home within an hour of that happening.  I didn't think Nathan would want to go back to the beach ever after that.  I'm not sure if he will ever want to go in the water again.  Probably not with me, that's for sure!  With all of that, do you know what that boy said to me when he woke up this morning?  "I wanna go to the beach!"  LOL!!  I guess getting tumbled by a giant wave didn't phase him any more than anything else that happened at the beach. 

Before all of that, Gabriel and Annalise were playing in the waves, and Nathan and I were at the tent, and I saw a pod of dolphins swim pretty close to where Gabie and Leesie were.  I called them in and asked them if they saw it.  They had.  I gave Gabriel the Optio (waterproof camera) and he went back out to try to get pictures of them.  By the time he had gotten back out there, the pod had moved on.  I went out a few minutes later, when Leesie came up to the tent, and Gabriel took a few pictures of me playing in the waves.  I found something out about him.  He doesn't have enough experience taking pictures to know when to push the shutter release.  Oh well.  He will get better. 

Salt water! 

About to ride the wave

I took a few pictures of Gabriel body surfing.

The end of the wave

Going in again!

All things considered, I had a good birthday.  :-)

Pentax Optio WG-2 Adventure Proof Camera

When Steve and I decided we were going to go on a cruise to celebrate our 15th anniversary, we also decided that we wanted to get a high quality waterproof camera to take really good pictures of the snorkeling we are going to be doing.  We did some research, and found the Pentax Optio WG-2.  Take a look at this amazing camera:

http://www.pentaximaging.com/digital-camera/Optio_WG-2_Vermillion_Red?gclid=CKiY8dCumrECFQeR7Qod7z1Jiw

On our cruise, we will be snorkeling in the Bahamas, and St. Thomas.  We will also be going on a zip line canopy tour in St. Maarten.  It's taken us this long to be able to go on a trip like this.  I have a feeling it will be a very long time before we get to go on another trip like this.  I have very high expectations for the pictures we take while we are on this cruise.  Therefore, I have extremely high expectations for this camera.  I have been reading the instruction manual, but to be honest, I don't get it.  I'm pretty sure that if I had more than five uninterrupted minutes when I wasn't dog tired, I'd be able to make sense of it.  Since the planets aren't going to be in the right alignment for a situation like that to occur until the middle of next month, I'll just have to wait until then to figure out how to use this camera. 

One thing I figured out how to do was take point and shoot underwater pictures.  Pretty much, you put it on the underwater setting, then just point it at something and take the picture.  I put it on the underwater setting, and gave it to the kids while they were playing in the pool.  They thought it was super cool that they could take pictures underwater.  I was very impressed with the results! 

These pictures are so clear even though the subjects, and the photographers are moving. 

 Nathan is just now learning the difference between swimming, and running in the water.

 Gabriel doesn't like to have his picture taken anymore.  Annalise managed to get this one.

 I think this one is cool.  It's taken from just under the water.

 Above the water pictures are clear too. 

This one just made me laugh.












I'm very excited about this camera, and the pictures we are going to get on our cruise!  Even if I don't get a chance to read the rest of the manual, I know we will still be able to take great pictures! 

Dog Days of Summer

The entire month of June was terrible here at the Craig homestead, (with the exception, of course, of the one week we spent in Georgia.).  It rained, it poured, old men snored.  It rained more.  Then, when it was finished raining, we had a tropical storm.  A whole month of rain messes with stuff.  It messes with the grass, and makes it grow at warp speed.  It messes with the mowing, because you can't mow if the ground is soggy.  It messes with the garden because some plants don't like to swim.  It messes up swimming because the pool doesn't actually like rain water.   It messes with trips to the beach, because who wants to go to the beach when it's raining??  Most importantly, it messes with my head.  I get so depressed when it rains all the time.  I honestly don't know how the people who live in the Pacific North West do it.  I was ready to hibernate under my bed until the sun came out again!  Needless to say, except for the trip to Georgia, we didn't do any of the cool things I wanted to do with the kids in June.  Oh wait, that's not true, we went to the MOSH at the end of June, on a rainy day. 

July had a slow start for us because we were still shaking off the effects of a month of rain.  This past week, the second week in July, has been really fun!  First of all, Gabriel had been invited to go with his friend, Nick, and Nick's family to Disney World this week.  He left on Monday with them, and will be back tomorrow.  I was very nervous about him going and even more nervous about him being gone so long.  He's never been away from home that long, except to visit my mom and dad.  Germophobe me was terrified that he wouldn't wash his hands before he ate, and contract some hideous disease.  I got over it.  He has texted me every day this week telling me things he's done, rides he's been on, things he's seen.  He is having a BLAST!!  He's going to hate coming home tomorrow!  I can't wait to hear about everything all at once, instead of in tiny text messages.  I think the coolest thing he's experienced so far, according to his texts, is a ride called Expedition Everest.  He texted me right after he got off it, and was soooo excited about it!  He told me to look it up so I could see how amazing it is.  Here's what I found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qoTcnVcM0c

While Gabriel has been enjoying the Wonderful World of Disney, Annalise and Nathan and I have been having our own adventures.  We went to the zoo.  Yeah, I know, yippie, the zoo.  The Jacksonville zoo has some pretty cool things though.  Besides the animals, there is a train, which most zoos have, and a carousel, which some zoos have, and a full size play ground, and water park, which only a very few zoos have.  Nathan has never been to the zoo before.  He's also never been on a train, real or zoo, and he's never been on a carousel.  He loved the animals, because all kids love animals.  He loved the times I let him run around instead of being locked in the stroller.  He was terrified of the carousel.  The one thing he loved the most was the train.  We rode the train last, so the entire time we were there, all we heard about was riding on the train.  "I wanna ride the train!"  "Ride the train!!" Over and over.  The one and only picture I managed to get at the zoo was of Annalise and Nathan on the train. 

The next time we go to the zoo, we will go with another adult so I can take more pictures. 

We also went to the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens.  That place is incredible!  The gardens are gorgeous!!  Unfortunately, they were also filled with mosquitoes, another byproduct of too much rain.  Next time we go, we will pack bug spray in the stroller!  We didn't spend nearly as much time in the gardens as we wanted to because of the mosquitoes, but the few minutes we were there were very nice. 

Inside the Cummer, there are two parts.  The first, biggest part, is the art museum.  Nathan was less than interested in this part, so Annalise and I only got to see a couple of collections.  *sigh*  I told her I'd take her back without him and we could look at everything.  The second part is the interactive kids section of the museum.  Here, kids can create using all sorts of mediums.  There's even a little room where music plays, and the screens on one wall show your movements with different light patterns.  Nathan liked that part best of all!  He loves to dance, and he thought it was cool that that wall changed with things he did.  Annalise was shy to show her dancing like that, but after a little while she warmed up to it. 

 Pool noodle sculpture.

 Music and movement

 Virtual painting

 Puzzles

 Working with cutting and pasting.

 Wooden block sculpture building

 Drawing on dry erase boards/glass.

As we were leaving, we found something very interesting.  There is a kiosk in the lobby next to the gardens that is full of what looks like over sized first aid kits.  They are art kits.  On a shelf at the bottom of the kiosk are stacks of blank paper.  There is a note on the kiosk that says something to the effect of: Take an art kit and some paper out into the gardens while you explore.  Be sure to put your art kit back in the kiosk before leaving the museum so others can create as well. 
Is that not the coolest thing???  I promised Annalise that the next time we go, since we will have bug spray, she can take an art kit and some paper and draw pictures of whatever she is inspired to while we are in the gardens.  I wonder what's in the art kits??  I guess we will find out next time!