Everyone Loves a Pancake

Okay Okay, so I'm suppose to be doing my calculus homework but I'd rather take pictures of my dinner. These are not just any ol' pancakes. They are super easy and super fluffy & they are loaded with friendly microorganisms! Jonathan and I have been making *Keifer Pancakes* all week for breakfast. (It's the only way Jonathan will agree to eat the keifer....sadly) And it's what I want for dinner tonight!

Side Note: Aren't they lovely! We have good ol' keifer, then garlic, sauerkraut (fermented from my friend Tim who got me into all this crazy business, his blog soon to come!), and my pickles.

Keifer Pancakes

Super easy

2 cups flour

1/2 cup unprocessed wheat bran

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

throw in some pumpkin pie spice

2 eggs

2 tbs veggie oil

2 cups keifer

a splash of vanilla (I like a little more than a splash)

You know the drill! Add the wet to the dry blah blah blah. Add a little water cause my batter was too thick.

Mmmm. Alright, homework here I come.

Isn't this the loveliest little thought?! Oh, these things make me so cheery! (Photo from here)

Happy weekend!!

Homemade Pickles!

My pickles have been fermenting for 24 days now and they are *delicious*..I'll let them ferment for up to 4 weeks and try them every week along the way! A quart of homemade keifer a day + other ferments like this = happy Umbriaco guts!

In addition to my little hobby, classes have started up again. O. Chem and Calc (and Psych) will be kicking my butt this semester, but we all gotta do what we gotta do right?!

Wrapping up the Sister Weekend!

Sunday morning! We all got ready to go to worship. Here is everyone eating breakfast.

We had a few minutes to spare on the porch of course. They are growing into the most beautiful little women I know. Emma will be in the eighth grade in one week! I can't believe it!!

After worship, we went to Blueberry Hill for lunch.

Veggie burgers all around!

I will miss them SO much!

Homemade kale chips before the girls fly home to the great Salt Lake City...I will stop crying soon! Right?!

Day 7 Saturday Adventures

Who doesn't play with moon-putty at breakfast anyway? Saturday morning, we got ready for a trip to Soulard Farmers Market.

We enjoyed picking out our favorite fruits and veggies and meeting new people.

The girls enjoyed some snow-cones while browsing the farm fresh selections.

We bought some kale, plums, strawberries, cherries, grapes, asparagus, and peaches. Mmmm...

They are oh so cute...

The Soulard Farmers Market is close to Lafayette Square where we have a favorite little pet shop called "Four Muddy Paws". Sabrina wanted to find something for Bowie and the girls pet all the friendly furry customers.

We found a sugary treat for our neighbors dog Wolfie and brought it up to him when we got home.

For lunch, we tried Half and Half in Clayton. It was amazing.

Darling Emma and her chai.

Sabrina and Jonathan awaiting their lattes.

My delicious and beautiful latte

For dinner, we had a gift card to this sushi restaurant on the Loop. We won't mention its name seeing as how it was...not so great to say the least. However we had so much fun...poking fun of the food and restaurant. We had a lot of laughs that evening.

Day 6 (Morning) Jilly's!

Friday morning, we had lunch (and dessert) at Jilly's Cupcake Bar.

Emma had the "Missy-Liscious"

Sophia had the "Pink Velvet" and I had the "Chocolate Thunder". Each cupcake had a surprise filling (mine was ganache...mmm)

We knew we wouldn't finish the whole cupcake, so Jonathan wished to try a little of each one :)

Yum!

Day 6 (Evening) City Museum!

We spent a total of 7 hours here at the City Museum friday night! From 5 to midnight, we had a blast! The City Museum is an old 16 story building that was turned into a giant playground for all ages. There are caves, 10 story slides, a vintage clothing shop with a built in cafe/bar, an aquarium, an old schoolbus that sits on the edge of the building, old airplanes to climb and explore, an old ferris wheel on the roof and so much more!

We started with the caves. There are hundreds of random tunnels and dark caves everywhere imaginable. We found so many *new* tunnels that we didn't see last year when we went. Everywhere you turn there is something fun to explore.

The girls loved the caves. You could climb giant indoor trees connected to tunnels that led you to random caves, there was no end!

Jonathan in one of the tunnels. We were always so surprised when Jonathan fit in all the tunnels. Some were so tight that the *girls* had a hard time squeezing through, let alone a full grown Jonathan! He did it though, every single one.

In the middle of the caves, is a giant pond/pool with about fifty live turtles. Emma and Sophia absolutely LOVE turtles so they spent a lot of time just gazing at how cute they were.

In the turtle cove where you could see them real close.

One of the underground passageways

Emma at the mouth of the giant tree tunnel connected to an elephant.

One of the metal tunnels on the ceiling

There were random rooms like this one that made us feel like we were in the "Department of Mysteries"

Or the "Chamber of Secrets"

Rooms and rooms filled with strange objects

Sophia helping Emma squeeze through a passageway

Sliding out from under a cave tunnel

We made it!

Outdoors was intense because you were climbing giant metal tunnels that led you to slides and planes so high above the ground.

Sophia in one of these tunnels.

That led us to this 10 story slide

another sky tunnel

Jonathan making his way

Another "Sharp Turn" slide

A small glimpse of the museum from the outside. Notice the school bus atop the building.

The "Astronomy Tower"

A steep slide on the roof.

The girls with Jonathan inside the school bus!...

... almost tipping over the building top!

On the rooftop, there was a ferris wheel, and these two giant slides...among many other things. The people climbing up the slide, then just turn around and slide below the area they just hiked.

The view from the rooftop

A giant praying-mantis right before going down the giant slide.

Jonathan and the girls hiking the slide

This is the view from inside the ferris wheel cart

It was an old rickety ferris wheel that went super fast. It was scary at first but we went on several times because it was such a thrill.

On the ferris wheel!

Underneath the giant metal praying-mantis was this huge rope swing...

And of course, seeing as how there is absolutely no unused space at the city museum, you could climb the inside of the dome ceiling! This was the scariest thing for me because you could do nothing but look down at how high you were!

Going down the giant roof slide, for the ... millionth time :)

On the ferris wheel...again. Jonathan and Emma would play like Garth and Wayne (when they wait for the planes to fly over them in the parking lot) in the cart every time it would circle around. They would cry out just like Garth and Wayne every cycle, it was funny. And Emma told me later it helped the ride not be so scary.

Climbing atop giant cellars...

(Through another tunnel) The next morning, we all woke up to find all these tiny bruises on our knees and elbows. It was well worth it! We just wore long skirts the following day :) Including Jonathan.