Camping and S'mores

Ben was off of school on Friday (which, by the way, is the greatest three-day weekend set up, all federal and state holidays should be switched to Fridays) and so we went camping on Thursday night.

We had a great night sleeping under the pecan trees, near the Guadalupe River.
It was warm enough to sleep on top of our sleeping bags, but not so warm that it was uncomfortable. Clark loved being outside with the endless abundance of sticks and rocks to play with.
He is definitely an outdoor boy.

We saw an armadillo (yes! for reals, and not squished on the road), some cardinals, deer, some little fish, and red ants carrying three times their body weight. Those red ants turned out to be allergic to gasoline and flames. Ben is an outdoor boy too.

Clark was also introduced to S'mores during our camp out. And he loved them. He loved to stuff the marshmallow into his mouth and then use his index finger to drag the gooey mess across his face.
Repeat 40 times.
He generally doesn't like to have sticky fingers. . . so this was quite uncomfortable.


We spent some time at the river, picking up rocks, throwing them in, getting wet, sitting down in the river and even swimming in his birthday suit (just Clark).
All in all, easily the best Francisco Family Campout of 2008.

"Inside the Cult"

Pictures from within the El Dorado compound leer out at me while I'm in the checkout line at H.E.B. And I can't help but suddenly feel extremely self conscious. . .

I have my long hair in a braid and I forgot to put makeup on this morning.



Help me, my hairstyling friends! How do you do long hair in a braid and not look like a 5th wife???

Majority Rules

The results are in:

11 for a Girl
8 for a Boy

So, that means its a GIRL!!!

Good job everyone!

(Everything looks fine, we didn't really get a good shot of her face in the ultrasound, which would have devastated me with the first baby, but now, with a little perspective, I realize that I will get PLENTY of time to get to know her face in a few weeks).

Sea World!

So, when all y'all come to visit, we'll take you to Sea World for a BIG drink of water!

At least that is what Clark and his friend Mary did when they visited last time.

Even though it took us 1.25 hours to get to Sea World, 5 miles away from us, we persevered and enjoyed our time in the Kiddie Water Play Area. We didn't realize that the Kiddie Water Play Area (known henceforth as "Shamu's Happy Harbor") was open, so we just stripped them down to their onesies and let them splash around. Yeah, it was March. So you should REALLY think about coming to visit.

Now I'll give you more of what you want: Pictures of Clark, soakin' wet.






p.s. it took us so long to get to Sea World because it was Spring Break in Texas (apparently the entire state took it at once and headed to Sea World for the day. We were in stand still traffic the entire 1.15 hours mostly on the exit ramp, and then on the little road that went into Sea World)

p.p.s. I accidentally ate 1/3 of a boston cream pie while I was typing this. Well, me and the baby. The baby probably ate more than I did. How does that happen???

p.p.p.s. SHAMU'S HAPPY HARBOR!!! No sense in putting a "henceforth" in a blog post if you aren't going to use the name again.

Pita pita po pita

(***WARNING! This is a very wordy recipe!***)

My Aunt Carol was a Pita-pusher. That's right. The first one was free, maybe even the second or the third, but eventually you had to figure out a reliable way to feed your addiction.

One option was to move to Enoch.

The other option was to have her teach you how to make it and then start your own pita-pushing business.

I chose option number 2 because I wanted to see the world, and now I present option number 2 to the blogosphere. Prepare to become addicted.


The Recipe:

(any bread recipe will do, some pita recipes online are super simple--just flour, water, yeast and salt, mine is just my bread recipe)

5 c. water
2 Tbsp yeast
1/2 c. honey
2 Tbsp salt
1/2 c. shortening
flour to make a dough (ends up being about 10-12 cups and I like to do half freshly-ground white wheat and half all-purpose flour)

Mix the water and yeast and honey, then add the shortening and salt. Then go to town on the flour.

Let it rise for about an hour (till its double), then punch it down and decide what you want to do with all of the dough.

This recipe will make four loaves of bread. Or, two loaves, a 9" circular pan of rolls, and 8 pitas; or, 1 loaf, 1 pan of rolls, and 16 pitas. . . you see how it goes. Each fourth of the dough is the equivalent to a loaf, so do what you will.

We only have three people in the family, so I made 8 pitas this time.

First, you pinch off the dough into 8 equal sections (about the size of rolls, go figure). Then, you make the pita balls--



All you do is take the edges of the dough ball and push them into the center, over and over.

Then let it rest for a few minutes. If you are doing the whole batch of bread dough in pita, just start at one end, and then when you get done making the balls, the first ones will be ready for phase two. (Essentially, the ball should rest for about 7-10 minutes before you roll it out).


Aunt Carol puts the pitas on a floured dish towel, which is probably how the Israelis do it. I used tin foil because then I could just wad it up and throw it away.

Next is phase two: Rolling the Pitas Out

But don't forget Phase 1.5: Turning On The Oven - 450 - 500 degrees, and put a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven. If you don't have a pizza stone, you should buy one, they are great. Or you can use a cookie sheet that you just leave in there, upside-down.



Now we're at Phase Two:


You start at the middle (again with the middle) and roll toward the edges. That's it.

I think the "doing things from the middle" helps the pocket to form. So try to not just roll it out like a pie crust or a tortilla.

Let them rest another 5-7 minutes (or just go through the whole batch and then start cooking the first ones that you finished).

Phase Three: Cooking

I did take a video of this process, but it is mostly long shots of the cupboard, or the countertop on an angle, since I was busy putting the pitas in. Here's the scoop: take the first pita that you rolled out (you should always do the steps in the same order with the dough so that they are all equally rested) and put it on the pizza stone. Repeat with as many as you can get on there. I've gotten up to 6 but I think 4 works the best because the hot air can circulate between them well.

Set your timer for 4 minutes. They are seriously fast cookers. When they puff up and start getting little (or big) brown freckles, they are perfectly done. Sometimes they don't all puff up. It doesn't mean you are a bad person and they still taste great. Hopefully most of them will though--thats how the pocket is formed.

Take them out with a spatula and set them on a clean dish towel to cool. Then keep cooking them, four or five at a time.




Fill them with chicken salad, seafood salad, taco-stuff, fruit salad with yogurt (one of my favorites), or wrap them up like a shayrma. They are just . . . addictive.

Today while I was doing the dishes, Clark came into the kitchen, turned on the oven light, said "wow" and then waved at his lighted reflection in the oven window and said "Hi Dad". One of the phrases we were most proud of.

Perhaps our pride came a little early.

Bath Time is Party Time

Clark has started enjoying his baths as much as his showers. He brings a toy with him every day.

Monday it was his sunglasses.





Tuesday it was his monster truck (thanks Auntie Em)


Apologies to "future Clark" and his "future dates" for taking pictures of his business.