Hudson's 1st Cub Scout Camp (aka Dirt Camp)

Two weekends ago Hudson spent a chunk of Friday and Saturday at Cub Scout camp.  He had so much fun...I'm surprised they were able to get him in the car to come home at the end of each day.  The boys practiced archery, participated in and watched skits, learned how to shoot BB guns (probably the highlight of his weekend life), panned for gold, and among many other things, did an obstacle course.  All of this was done up a canyon beneath a canopy of trees and in what is apparently the driest, most incredibly magnetic dirt known to man.

Hudson came home fairly dirty the first day and insanely, unbelievably, pig-enviably, completely and horridly FILTHY the second day.  By the time I got to see him, he was already undressed and ready for the shower so I snapped pictures of his face, hands, and feet.  His feet, mind you, were in socks and sturdy tennis shoes all day...he never took either off.  Yummy!

I didn't feel like the way the pictures of His Royal Dirtiness quite did the grime justice so I played around with the shadows and highlights a little bit and....voila!  This honestly gives a more accurate view of what my boy really looked like:

I know that these types of things are a rite of passage and my boy cleans up well so I'm not going to let the grime keep him from going on these camps in the future.  Besides, he really did absolutely LOVE his two days up there...I won't be the one to pull him away from such bliss!

RECIPE: Dill Dip

I haven't shared any recipes on here in a super long time so I thought I'd get back into the sometimes-habit by providing y'all with what you need to know to make this:

It's an incredibly delicious cold dip for vegetables.  I love it with carrots, raw zucchini, celery, bell peppers (yellow, orange or red),  jicama, cauliflower...basically, it's good with just about any veggie.  My mom got the recipe from a friend many years ago and it's always been a favorite in our family.  Except, that is, for my hubby and my weirdy little brother as neither cares much for dill.  That's akin to not liking cheese, chocolate, ranch dressing, etc.  It kind of makes me wonder if I should care much for them.

DILL DIP

3/4 c. mayonnaise

1 c. sour cream

2 tsp. dill weed (or more)

2 Tbsp. fresh green onions, finely chopped

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, finely chopped

Have your ingredients ready?  Here's the hard part: Stir all ingredients together, mixing well.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour prior to serving.

Wow.  I'm exhausted.

TIPS/NOTES:

• Please use real, full-strength mayonnaise.  Either Best Foods or Hellman's is acceptable.  All others are impostors.  One of my great rules in the kitchen is as follows: Reduced fat, low fat, or nonfat mayonnaise - regardless of brand or price - is not really mayonnaise at all and if you use it in place of mayonnaise you will be banned from my kitchen henceforth and forever more.  Notice that I used the word "mayonnaise" three times.  I mean business.
• Now that we've guaranteed calories and fat with the real deal in the mayo department, let's talk sour cream.  My new favorite is Tillamook.  In this recipe and all others I use their nonfat or reduced fat sour cream and it tastes every bit as good.
• A handy trick for parsley: after stripping the leaves off the stem, put them in a shatter or scratch proof cup and go to town with some kitchen scissors.  A few seconds of snipping won't do the trick...really go to town for a good minute or two and you'll be happy with your finely diced/chopped results.
• I usually make this dip several hours before I plan on using it and sometimes the night before.  As with many recipes, the longer it sits and the flavors meld, the better it'll be!

I'll try to come up with another recipe to share in the next week or two.  Gotta keep working on reaching my blog post goal for the year! 

Hogle Zoo / Rocky Shores

During the first official week of summer break my sister-in-law and I took our kiddies on a last minute trip to the zoo.  Just a week prior a new exhibit had opened there - Rocky Shores.  The zoo was most definitely crowded but we were happy with the visit nonetheless as we got a good view of all the new animals in their impressive habitats.  The bald eagles were happily perched in a good spot to be viewed, the river otters and harbor seals kindly entertained us in their underwater viewing areas, two of the three the young grizzly bears were out wandering around (the third was sleeping in a windowed den), the harbor seals swam around their aquarium/exhibit and passed the window where we sat again and again, and the polar bear did a bit of swimming (we caught a glance of her in the underwater viewing area) and sauntered around her habitat.  However, I think the favorite animal of the day was Big Guy, an 850 pound California Sea Lion.  He's positively enormous, cute as can be, and completely blind.  To read or see his story, click here.  Apparently he's very social and tame (he has to be as he's hand-fed every meal).  He sticks to one area of the habitat he shares with the harbor seals as he gets used to his surroundings.  I know he could easily squish the life out of me but I really wish I could give him a great big hug!

We did peruse the rest of the zoo as usual and got to see the giraffes up close and a silly orangutan that held a blanket or sheet over his head wherever he climbed and roamed.  At the end of our trip we went on the train and for the first time ever, the kids sat on the very end row of the back car.  It actually faces out...the kids were tickled to be in such a special seat!

Note: In the picture of the kids standing in front of the big viewing glass, you can see the body and tail of a harbor seal at Hudson's knee level.  I failed to get a picture of Big Guy (imagine me frowning).

Next time we go, I'm shooting for going at the end of the day when crowds are heading home - just before the gates close (about 90 minutes before the park closes).  Hopefully it'll allow us to get more quality viewing time at Rocky Shores!

P.S.  I just remembered that a zookeeper heard me call to my boy one time and told us that one of the harbor seals is named Hudson!  If you ever go there, he's the darkest one (a medium-dark gray with dark spotting).

Hudson's 8th Birthday, Friend Party & Baptism

May was a very busy month around here...mainly because my not-so-little boy gone and growed up.  Hudson turned 8 at the beginning of May.

His actual birthday was rather low-key.  He had school as usual but being an awesome mom, I let him take the day off from homework.  For his dinner that night he chose home-grilled hamburgers, homemade french fries, fruit salad and a green salad.  My brother Matt was staying with us that week so he was our only guest that evening.  After dinner Hudson opened his presents from us, Matt's family and my parents.  Dessert was Orange Leaf frozen yogurt so he didn't even have any candles to blow out that day.  He didn't seem to mind, though...

The Friday after his birthday he had a birthday party with some friends here at the house.  He decided on a pizza dinner followed by watching Cars2 (along with cake & ice cream, of course).  We had a fun group of kids here...primarily boys with Claire and one other girl at first and then mid-party a couple of girls came late as they'd had another shindig to attend.  Everyone had a great time and I was glad that Hudson was excited for such a simple evening.  All the kids had a blast running around the backyard and playing together before, in between, and after festivities and being kids, they were all thrilled with the meal choice, dessert, and the movie.  The best part of all was that the whole thing was so simple...my kind of party!

Finally, on June 2nd, Hudson was baptized by Max.  We had a relatively quiet family morning with just the four of us.  In attendance at the baptism were both sets of grandparents, a few uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. and a handful of friends, neighbors, and Hudson's 2nd grade teacher.  After the baptism we had a family dinner at our place.  I am sorry (and kind of sad) to say that while we did get a few pictures, all of us forgot to take pictures of Hudson with either set of grandparents or any other family or friends that attended the special afternoon and evening.  At least we got a few shots of the man of the hour...below is a favorite that my dad took.

Happy Birthday and Congratulations, Hudson!

Opinion: Blogger's New Template Designer

A few days ago the fonts on my blog started to look wrong.  In trying to fix it, I learned the following:

• I think this new template designer that Blogger has put out rather stinketh.
• The minima template is no longer an option and I don't like the way the other templates jive (or don't jive) with the fun and cute backgrounds I want to use.
• I tried to go back to their "classic option" and got really scared because I didn't understand what exactly I was getting myself into and said option didn't seem to be what I really wanted anyway.
• I played with the template options, colors, widths, layouts, etc. and never really got what I wanted.
• Some of the new font options they have are cool...but I'm still mad.
• I guess what I've done to my blog tonight is just going to have to do for now.
• Pooh, pooh on Blogger.
• Unless they take my blog away from me for saying that...ugh.

If one of my bloggy friends out there knows what to do, will you please let me know?  Thanks...