Aloha Friday: Niagara Falls

This past Saturday, we went to visit

Niagara Falls with Aunt M and Cousins S & B.

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The kids loved seeing the falls, though JSL did not like the horseshoe falls’ spray blowing onto him.  This from the kid who walks slowly when it’s raining while saying “I don’t mind.  I *LIKE* getting wet!”

I especially was geeking out about the waterfall stats:

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Between the two falls, 725,000 gallons of water fall over Niagara Falls each second.  That means that it would take Niagara Falls, 382 seconds (or a mere 6 minutes

and 20 seconds) to fill the Empire State Building.  (I can almost imagine the infographic writing itself.)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever visited Niagara Falls?

Don’t forget to enter my Outback Steakhouse $45 gift certificate giveaway!


Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #95

A Cherry Filled Adventure

Three years ago, on a visit to B’s brother, we decided to go cherry picking.  While I love picking fruits and vegetables, I’ll admit that I was skeptical.  After all, I don’t like cherries.  Never have.

Still, I went and had a blast.  We picked a ton of cherries.  One great thing about cherry picking was that the trees were so short that we could easily reach the top branches and NHL (then 4) could easily reach the bottom branches.  Meanwhile, JSL and Cousin S (then 1 and almost-1 respectfully) sat in their strollers holding hands.  We collected 22 pounds of cherries.  Enough for everyone to split and feast.  I wound up trying a few and, for the first time ever, found that I loved cherries.  Especially the rainier variety which tastes like peaches.

Last year, we went with B’s brother, his wife, Cousin S, and B’s parents.  Between all of us, we collected 33 pounds.

So how did we do when we went cherry picking yesterday?

We arrived at the cherry fields, got some buckets and hopped on the wagon.

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We could have walked, but the kids loved this.  It was like a ride before the cherry picking fun.  Once we got off the wagon, we headed to the trees.

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As you can see, there were cherries everywhere.  We immediately got to picking.  NHL went on a quest to find the perfect cherry.  Meanwhile, JSL and Cousin S formed a team to work together.  Cousin B just was happy having room to move and big buckets to try to tip over.  (He didn’t manage to, but he was having a blast once we let him loose.)

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One big challenge was keeping them from eating too many cherries.  Ok, let’s admit it… We ate a lot of cherries too.  They were just too tasty!  Still, most of the cherries wound up in the buckets until they were filled.

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So how many cherries was this?

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Yup, we picked 45.2 pounds of cherries.  Even after we split it with B’s brother, give some to B’s parents and perhaps to some others, that’s a LOT of cherries to eat.  Luckily, they’re healthy as well as tasty.

Hmm…. I wonder if there are any cherry peppermint recipes.

Plenty of Peppermint

IMGP0627 B has written before on our gardening efforts this year.  We planted zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppermint.  (In pots, thanks in part to the low quality of the soil where we live.  Also because peppermint, if given half a chance, will take over your entire yard.)  While the cucumbers have yet to appear and the tomatoes and zucchinis aren’t ripe enough to eat yet, the peppermint is more than ready.

I’ve already broken off some sprigs and munched on the leaves.  NHL and I both loves doing this.  The taste is incredibly minty.  It doesn’t hurt the plant either as it just grows more faster than we can munch them.  We even gave a few sprigs to B’s parents and kept them alive in a cup of water for days.  Those peppermint pieces might just be appropriate for planting in a pot soon.

IMGP0631We’ve grown peppermint before.  A couple of years back, it was one of our only successful plants.  I used it’s leaves in hot water to make peppermint tea and even tried my hand at drying them (unsuccessfully).  I brought the pot into our porch during the cold winter months to try to save it for next year, but the cold must have been too much for the poor little thing.  It never did grow again.

This year, I have plenty of time to consider winter season options.  IMGP0628Until then, though, I need to consider what I should do with our plethora of peppermint leaves.  Most of the recipes I’ve found online call for peppermint candies or peppermint oil.  Never for the leaves themselves.  Perhaps I should puree them and mix them into brownies or into fudge.  Or add to our watermelon smoothies for a minty touch.  Or maybe I should break off a bunch of stems, grow them indoors in small pots and hand them out as gifts.

What would you do with a lot of peppermint leaves?  (And, if you live locally, do you want any?  I’ve got plenty!)

Don’t forget to enter my Outback Steakhouse $45 gift certificate giveaway!

Across Two Playgrounds and Blue Buds

On Sunday, with the boys going stir-crazy and driving us just-plain-crazy, I put the boys in the car and headed to a park that we heard had a new spray ground.  The spray ground looked really cool and we’ll have to go back there one day.  For today, though, the boys were content with playing on the drier equipment.

 

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After picking up B and going to lunch, we decided to head to another park for another quick playtime.  At this park, the boys’ favorite attraction is the hedge maze.

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Of course, they went on normal playground equipment as well.  As usual, NHL went off on his own while JSL insisted that I accompany him.  Thus all of the photos coming up are of JSL.

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And, just because I like this photo, here are some budding flowers on one of our bushes

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What playground features do your kids enjoy the most?

While you’re here, remember to enter my Outback Steakhouse gift certificate giveaway.

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