Since moving here, we’ve had quite a few exciting firsts. It will probably take an hour, but we’ve got sick (read: sleepy) children today –another first since moving here– and I have FOUR of the five SLEEPING right now.
[happy sigh]
So! Let the picture-loading begin!
Our first time with the kids @ Turtle Bay.
Awesome beach for little kids! The sand is a little gritty, but they don’t seem to mind. C, D & E are taking swim lessons and the older two are much more comfortable in the water now. I *almost* don’t worry about Doodle, and Ms. Creativity is fine in a pool. The beach seemed to add an element of “scary” for her that negated her water skills, but it was their first time really swimming in the ocean.
Next time we get to the beach will be lots and lots of pictures because…. drumroll please!… I finally found the charger for the waterproof-camera’s battery! YES! Can’t wait to go again.
Our first 2-inch+ cockroach:
Jealous?
Thankfully it is thus far also our only cockroach of that magnitude. <cringe!> I squashed it with an empty bucket. Speaking of empty buckets…
The first empty bucket of wheat!
Yes, we brought our wheat with us. (Thank you, Grandpa Mann!) And our wheat grinder. (Thanks, Mom!) And I’ve made good use of both since we moved here. I can’t believe I hadn’t used this grinder until we came here. It’s great! Loud as a jet, but it’s not like we use it every day or anything. It’s about a 2x month job. If the pattern holds true, we’ll be going through one of these big buckets every month, too.
Looks like that “year supply” was more like a 6-month supply… Good to know.
It’s fun baking with freshly-ground flour. Any pointers on getting bread to poof up a bit more? It’s yummy but it’s a little on the flat side. I think I want another bread maker so I can bake 4 loaves at once. “Resourceful but lazy”… Would that make a good tag at the top of my blog?
Awww…
Our little Gentleman almost rolls over! Half-way there.
One of the biggest toads I’ve ever seen!
Toad on the right
It rained quite a bit yesterday, and on the way home from another awesome potluck we ran into this guy. It’s adorable how Freedom “talks” excitedly when something cool happens. Someday maybe he’ll change all this jabber into real words…
Speaking of Freedom, here he is:
Taken at our
first time to the Hawaiian DMV.
Words cannot adequately describe the ordeal, so I won’t even try. If I could, though, it would probably be pretty funny… to everyone who wasn’t me living through it…
Okay, fine. I’ll give details since you asked so nicely. Notice that impish look on Freedom’s face? That’s because he’s not covered in poopoo any more. His stroller smelled *lovely* on that hour-long drive home, in case you were wondering. Ah, motherhood.
And. The car did not drive off with Hawaiian plates because -this is great- the dealership had printed the title under the name “John Smith” and our car insurance is printed “Johnathon Smith” (except that’s not really his name… you get what I mean). Grr.
On to something happier.
My first homemade French Dressing.
Recipe to follow in its own post
It turned out super-duper, and on a salad with crushed pineapple & almonds it was mmmmmm-yummy. If you like salads. Which I don’t, deep down, which is why I hardly ever think to make ‘em, but I’m grown up and it’s good for me so I pretend to like it for the sake of the children. When dressing turns out this well, I almost don’t have to pretend.
And that’s it for our firsts! At least, the ones with pictures. 
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
White wheat or red? I’m assuming hard. White wheat rises better and is less dense than red. With red, you either need to go 50/50 or use a dough enhancer (has extra gluten and such to help it be lighter, etc.)
Oh, and great job!
Um… it’s… uh… wheat. I thought it was white, but it’s pretty dense and doesn’t rise well, so maybe it’s red! I’m going to try Tolley’s trick and see if it’ll work. Too bad I just finished this week’s batch.
Hopefully I don’t forget when we get to next week’s! 
Yay for picture updates!
*shudder* to that cockroach. We get cockroaches in our house every summer and it’s nasty.
Your salad dressing looks really yummy! PS – I’m not a big fan of salads either.
Thanks! I love your comments. That reminds me I need to post the dressing recipe. I sorta improvised and it turned out tasty.
ON BREAD: Soak the flour in watered-down yogurt for 12 hours or so, and it should rise better. The crust might also get more crispy. Downside — you’ve gotta fiddle with the recipe to compensate for the flour being already wet. Also, should you ever try sourdough with this flour, note that if the grinder heats up much (as some seem to do) the sourdough start won’t take to it as well, because the flour’s been cooked.
ON SICK KIDS: Isn’t it surprising the gratification that comes from kids feeling awful? I mean, I don’t want them feeling awful, but … THEY’RE ACTUALLY SLEEPING!
ON BUGS: At our new place it’s earwigs. They’re everywhere. No larger or more ferocious than those I’m used to but … they’re inside. On the walls. And what’s creepier than an earwig, anyway? Ok, a 2-inch cockroach is definitely creepier than an earwig.
BREAD: Funny you should mention sourdough. I had a starter going & it was smelling yummy, but I had to hide it in my oven to keep the flies off it and then preheated it for 10 minutes at 350. Oops. Never done sourdough before… Should I even try with this homeground stuff?
BUGS: Flies are everywhere; it’s annoying but not yucky. And, thankfully, though the cockroaches are inside, they are few and far between. Whew.
Do you have my bread recipe? Um, gotta go, the smoke alarm just went off and Im not even cooking!!! haha
You can also add in a few Tablespoons of Wheat gluten when you add the flour.
I think kneading it well helps too. I use a Bosch, which is nice and easy. But, it sounds like you have a bread machine?
Also, oil and salt can interfere with rising. So, if you go easy on those you’ll get a lighter loaf with whole grains.
And you can use a recipe like this one http://herbivoremeals.wordpress.com/basic-whole-wheat-bread/recipes/
that utilizes a sponge to develop the gluten.
Love the cockroach. Or, at least the tropical weather that it signifies!