September 2010 – Page 2 – Our Family Adventure

Birthday hike

Today Mr. Dave turned the big Three O! As it was his birthday he got to pick today’s activities and what he really wanted to do was go hiking, so we headed out to our favorite park.

It was a little overcast and cool today, which made it a perfect day to be out hiking and that also meant that the park wasn’t crowded at all. Ajax had an excellent time. He was all about running and then when he would get tired, we’d load him into the wagon and he’d snack on goldfish. He had a little difficulty getting moving as he kept stopping to pick a up single leaf or stick and throwing them off the path; what a little cleaner.

After the hike we headed to a large playscape and let Ajax climb and swing. He had such fun. He also played with these two children, who I thought were about his age, but after speaking with the parents turned out they were actually 21 months and weighed about 22 lbs. Ajax was a good 2 inches taller than each and currently weighs in at 28 lbs. I was like, wow!

We actually know Ajax weighs 28 lbs because we were concerned he had an ear infection and Dave took him to the Doctor’s office on Friday. No ear infection to report, but the Doc said his cuspids were coming in and his 2 year molars. Painful!

DSCN6508 — Not sure where he's going, but he's off!

DSCN6514 — Dave thought he needed a little walking stick.

Grandma’s Chicken Rice Bake

Have you ever had Stouffer’s grandma’s chicken rice bake? It’s in the frozen food aisle and it is delicious. It’s also a bit pricey and doesn’t give you a whole lot, so I found my own version! Ok, well it isn’t really my own, but I found it myself on allrecipes.com. As today maintained a cool 65 degrees I thought a perfect fall meal was in order – yep, chicken rice bake (Dave also requested it and we had leftover chicken from dinner last night).

Ingredients

1 C uncooked rice
1 can condensed cream of chicken or mushroom soup (whichever is on hand)
1 – 2 C water (or chicken broth)
1 package dry onion soup mix
4 chicken breasts, cooked, cubed

Directions

Season chicken with salt, garlic, paprika, and bread crumbs. Spread chicken in casserole dish.
In separate bowl mix ingredients together, mix well.
Pour mixture over chicken, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.
After one hour sprinkle panko bread crumbs over top, cook 10 – 30 minutes, uncovered, till done.
What I usually do– I skip the dry soup mix and instead just dump in a Rice-A-Roni long grain rice mix. I also add some diced onions and frozen veggies (peas, corn, etc). Also be sure not to cook it too long, after an hour if it’s still a little liquidy, keep cooking uncovered, checking every 10 min or so.

DSCN6488 — Sorry this is such a lame picture, we were hungry. Trust me it's yummy!

Ajax liked it very much, but would only eat it off the fork. As he’s not that proficient with the utensil, I had to load up the fork for him and then he would eat.

My dad and Ajax installed this ceiling fan the other day in our house, while Dave and I had a date night! My dad said that Ajax was quite the help, lol.

DSCN6438 — So this wasn't at dinner tonight, but just wanted to show how well he was doing with a spoon!

Wrapping up the Labor Day weekend

Well our long weekend has come to an end.

Yesterday we headed to Royal Oak for the Arts, Beats, and Eats. It was a lot of fun, but super crowded (on the news the next morning they said they had to stop letting people in because it was so crowded). Ajax was too excited to eat anything, except of course the ice cream cone we bought him. He had a blast watching all the people. I also got to try roasted almonds, the kind that come in a little paper funnel. I can’t recall ever having them before and they were delicious.

My parents also stopped by in the evening and stayed for dinner, which was nice.

Today we did nothing. It was wonderful. I didn’t get in the car once. I made some comfy food (soup, homemade bread, blueberry muffins, cookies, etc) and we just lounged around the house and ate. Dave did a bit of work outside and Ajax helped out. Dave was loading stuff up into the burn pit and Ajax was helping right along, carrying sticks and tossing them in. Back and forth, back and forth! I was tired just watching them.

DSCN6468 — This was the only pic I took at the art fair, it was just too crowded to stop and snap any pics.

DSCN6473 — Our yard seems so big; Ajax is just so small trying to keep up with Dave.

Fall and the Zoo

Yesterday was summer and today it is Fall in Michigan.

It was a cool 60 degrees and though the weatherman predicted rain it held off and was just kind of cloudy, which made it a perfect day for the Zoo! Although Ajax went last summer this was the first time in a long time for both Dave and myself. Honestly I can’t really remember the last time I was at the Zoo. We packed up the wagon and a lunch and headed out!

It was a great day, but Ajax is still a little young and didn’t have the patience to really see any of the animals (I thought he’d be a bit more interested as his favorite book right now is Goodnight Gorilla). The only animals he really seemed interested in were the tigers, warthogs, peacocks, and of course the squirrels. He called almost everything a “kitty” or “squirrel” and seemed quite pleased with himself. He told the tiger- “kitty bite!” and threw his wafer at the enclosure (he’s sharing).

His absolute favorite part of the zoo was the play scape. We spent a good 45 minutes there before checking out the butterfly/birdhouse, which Ajax ran right through. Really if it was up to him he would have just run all over the place. We spent a good deal of the day chasing after him.

Ajax is also getting quite the vocabulary. This morning at breakfast he kept asking Dave – “Daddy, bite please.” He wanted Dave to share his eggs, he of course didn’t want the food on his plate, but instead wanted Daves. It was pretty cute.

DSCN6461 — I didn't realize that I was in this picture, but otherwise Ajax would've fallen right off!

DSCN6464 — His favorite part ... the play area.

DSCN6453 — Ajax thought the peacocks were pretty cool. They were wandering outside the dining area.

Birthdays and Holidays

Yesterday was my birthday (29!) and I had the day off (holiday, of course). Ajax and I headed out to Brooklyn as my sister got on the road to Alaska and we wanted to see her off. Emily is driving out with her friend, Elena, who lives in Alaska and flew in just to drive back out with Em. They think it will take about a week to get there and Emily will be living in Eagle River (about 15 minutes outside of Anchorage). She is very excited!

Tonight Ajax entertained us by trying to jump. It’s the funniest darn thing. He would squat down low, tuck his elbows into his sides, smile wide and then shoot straight up! Of course his feet never left the ground, but he laughed and laughed and then trotted off. Of the dozen attempts or so that he made, his feet left the ground one time, and then he feel over. Dave and I almost died laughing, it was hilarious.