Cyndi's Birthday Weekend

Friday night, we drove down to Massachusetts after work, to have dinner at The Melting Pot.

I ordered the Spring Blossom... there was a yummy edible alcohol infused Hibiscus flower in it.  Kaitlyn was grossed out when I actually ate it, haha.

On Saturday, we went back to Minuteman National Park.  Kaitlyn got her Jr. Ranger badge (we didn't know about them last time we were there).  And we walked some of the trail...  it was a beautiful day!!  We finished up with a meal at Chili's!

Yup...  Had to separate the kids because Kenzie was trying to attack her sister's hair.

On Sunday, Kaitlyn and I took a puff pastry baking class. We made cream horns, raspberry twists, cheddar and black pepper twists, and apple turnovers.

Here's Kaitlyn starting to shape her puff pastry dough.

Shaping the butter to get folded into the dough...

Rolling out her dough...

Shaping the dough for cream horns...

The "tabletop"/home size model of this beauty runs about $1500.  The industrial version here probably costs more than my car.  And, yes, that's Kaitlyn working it like a pro with a little help from Andrea!

Cutting out the dough for some apple turnovers!

Kaitlyn egg washing the turnovers

Cream horns are ready to be filled.

The finished product!

The most amazing thing about this class is what happened with Kaitlyn...  Andrea owns the bakery and runs the classes.  She received information about one of those kids baking challenge shows that are on the Food Network.  She told Kaitlyn that she'd thought of her when she saw it and gave Kaitlyn a printout with the try out information!  Kaitlyn is hesitant to do it because "she doesn't want to be on TV", but I told her it was cool enough that Andrea thought she was good enough to tryout!

After class we went to Kobe for a late lunch and had some yummy Hibachi!  Kenzie has always loved the fire, but my little pyromaniac was REALLY into this time!  Her whole body was vibrating.  She was laughing and giggling.  The Chef and the people at the table next to us got a kick out of her reactions.  

And no birthday would be complete without a cake!  I had this amazing Cookies n' Cream cake!

This weekend we have a big surprise for Kaitlyn that has been in the works for several months.  Can't wait to share it with you all next week!

What We've Been Up To...

Now that Spring is here, we are getting out and about more!  So what have we been up to?

At the beginning of the month, we attended the Sea Dogs' Welcome Back Dinner.  We met all of the players and got autographs.  There was dancing with Slugger, glitter tattoos, and balloon art for the kids.  And of course, what kind of Sea Dogs' dinner would be complete without a Sea Dogs' biscuit?!?!

Two weeks ago, we attended the Portland Fire Department's annual award ceremony.  Kevin got a unit commendation.  I told him he's not allowed to get any more awards since we are running out of wall space for them.

After the awards show, we walked down the street to the Portland Science Center.  Kaitlyn has been wanting to go to their current exhibit on sharks.  As you can see, the girls are really interested and Kevin...  well Kevin is Kevin!

 

Portland just got an arena football league.  Last weekend we went to their inaugural game.  The girls LOVED it!  Although Kenzie still somehow managed to fall asleep at the end!

On Tuesday, we went to a very special Sea Dogs game.  This year is their 25th anniversary season.  And on Tuesday it was 25 years since their very first game.  They wore throwback jerseys from that season.  Based on the colors, can you guess their original affiliate?

Yup, those would be Marlins colors!  No offense family, but we like the Red Sox affiliation better!

Kaitlyn has been saving some of her birthday/ First Communion  money for her own Sea Dogs blanket!  

We got a game ball!  The foul ball landed in the row behind us and bounced/rolled into our seats!