Uncle Mark and His Fabulous Sense of Humor

Just received this email about an hour ago after a delivery arrived to his house in anticipation of our upcoming visit.
Early Christmas

Breakfast at the Keckler Diner

I think I've created a bit of a morning monster. Not too long ago I started following the blog of a Registered Dietitian from Tucson. It has interesting posts with healthy recipes and ideas and ways to eat fresh and locally grown food. So when a recipe for an easy pancake appeared, I thought I'd give it a try. Two months later, not only am I hooked but so are Kari and Bryce. And now this is what our kitchen looks like in the morning.

Fortunately, there is some prep work that can be done the night before. And the result? Happy faces in the morning and tummies filled with a nutritious hot breakfast.

I've modified the recipe a bit:
Per serving:
1/2 C old fashioned oats
pinch of cinnamon
Grind these two ingredients together in a food processor or food prep machine. (This is what can be done the night before.) Cover and set aside.
In the morning, take your dry mixture and add
one egg
splash of milk
splash of vanilla
Mix and pour into a fry pan. I coat the pan with non-stick spray.
Voila'! Serve with peanut butter (for some additional protein) and light syrup.

Weekend with the Cousins

Well, it officially went by far too quickly. The Colorado Crew trekked Westward for their annual visit with the Kecklers. It was a wonderful time had by all, but in particular, those three beautiful girls had a special four days together.

It started with a special pizza dinner at Pizza King, a Lafayette landmark. Not only is it popular for its thin crust pizza, it's perhaps more well know for the train that delivers your drinks to the table. That's right, a small model train with flatbed cars stops at your booth and on it is your soft drinks. The girls got a kick out of this, along with the small television that allowed you to watch 10 minutes of TV for a quarter.

Friday both Bryce and Kari took a vacation day from "work" and stayed home to play with their cousins. An early afternoon visit from Grammy Pammy and Dale led us to a quick stop at the Fire Station. I wanted to not only give the kids a chance to get on the trucks, but the adults a chance to experience a small slice of life as a firefighter by getting behind the hose. If only they knew that I was going to crank the water pressure up high enough that it would result in Amy falling down and the hose spraying Grammy quite hard. It was comical to say the least.

Friday night the adults scooted out for a wonderful dinner at the Beef House, followed by a round of drinks in West Lafayette's Nine Irish Brothers. Both were wonderful. We re-lived our college days and talked about many memories. Certainly we never expected to still be living in the same place we attended school 13 years ago! This allowed some quality time for Grammy Pammy and Dale to provide a spooky dinner (hamburgers made into spiders) and a fun craft- Popcorn Factory popcorn balls to decorate. The girls loved it.

Saturday was an eventful day. In the morning we went to Fair Oaks Farm. There are nearly 3,000 cows on this dairy farm producing milk 21 hours of the day. While this was Kari's third time here, we were still able to experience new attractions. The tour and knowledge gained at Fair Oaks is unreal.

Equally as impressive is their Cheese Shop, which includes homemade grilled cheese, soups and ice creams. WOW. The kids really enjoyed their time on the farm, which also had several different games and toys to play with.

Upon return to Lafayette, and after naps of course, we took them to Exploration Acres for a corn maze. This setup is very cool and had hidden posts sponsored by local restaurants where if you found them and got a car punched, you could redeem prizes there. All of the kids did great, and in fact they even thought an "Elephant Ear" sounded awful. Soon after, they found out they were wrong and its cinnamon and sugary taste was quite tasty.

We also took time to complete another craft to add to the kiddos' wardrobes. I found instructions on Sharpie Tie-dying and it turned out really well. It was a project that the girls could all do on their own and get creative.

Sunday morning we were visited by Gran and Beep-Beep. We were asked to participate in a family photo which actually turned out to go fairly well. While it was certainly not easy to keep squirmy Bryce still for a few seconds, the few shots we did get were definitely worth it.

Sunday evening just happened to be Halloween. Our festivities began with a pre-party at the Clawsons house. Four families and their kids were present for a wonderful gathering. After that we let the kids loose to ring door bells and Trick-or-Treat. Despite a brief fall by Spider Man (Nolan), things went off without a hitch. Plenty of sugar filled goodies were gathered by all the youngsters. We featured a Care Bear, ballerina, giraffe and Jester.

Monday morning arrived faster than we could have imagined and a return trip to school/daycare, work and the airport applied to all. We had a fantastic time with the Williams family and can't wait to see them again soon!