BIG DOG: We took a little field trip today around lunchtime. I happened to see online that the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile would be in Kent, which is about 20 minutes south of us. I asked the kids if they wanted to go check it out, and got two enthusiastic "Yes!" in response.
From the site, I learned that the Wienermobile we saw today is just one of six that travel around the United States.
Oh, and if you've always dreamed of driving a 27-foot hotdog, Oscar Mayer is hiring "hotdoggers." You can apply on their site. It's an excellent opportunity to ' “meat” and
greet people from coast to coast,' they point out.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING: More good news on the college scholarship front for CJ today. He learned that he was awarded the Mukilteo Historical Society scholarship for his essay "The Ferry Important History of Mukilteo." That's another $1,500 toward his tuition! So yay for that!
Today is national college declaration day. CJ didn't wait until today to declare his intent to attend University of Washington's Tacoma campus. We're all eager for that chapter to start.
DRIVEN: Meanwhile, Annabelle started a new class today - driver's education!
The classroom portion of it is all online (thanks COVID). The driving portion comes afterward.
CJ should probably sit in on some/all of her classes. Since he's 18, he doesn't need to take a driver's ed course. He just needs to pass the written and driving tests.
No doubt we'll be hitting up expansive parking lots around our place soon so the kids can get some practice in.
WE'VE GOT A WINNER!: Somehow, I haven't managed to get around to sharing some really good news here on the blog. CJ recently found out he was one of the winners of the 2021 BECU Foundation scholarships.
Each year, BECU Foundation awards at least 25 renewable two-year scholarships worth $2,500 each (a potential total of $5,000).
What are the selection criteria? According to the BECU Foundation website, "[A]n independent selection committee consisting of community members representing a diverse business and education background will evaluate the applications and select the winners." The committee considers commitment to community service and leadership potential. There is also a reference required. CJ used the volunteer coordinator at Birthday Dreams as his reference.
CJ worked hard on that scholarship application. I remember saying to him back in February, when the application was due, "I think you're going to win this one." My prediction proved true!
So congratulations to CJ and a big thanks to the BECU Foundation!
ADVENTURING: More good news, this time from Mars, where NASA's 4-pound helicopter is setting records with each flight.
On its third and most recent flight (Sunday, April 25), at an altitude of 16 feet, the craft flew 164 feet downrange, reaching a top speed of 6.6 feet per second.
During its journey, Ingenuity even snapped a cool shot of Mars rover Perseverance.
Photo: NASA JPL
PROFESSING: Monday afternoon, Annabelle had an interview with a Bellevue College Japanese professor to see if she can skip Japanese 1 since she learned along with CJ already. She got the go ahead, which is great. Sure, Japanese 1 would have likely been an easy A for her, but why not aim higher? Bellevue College actually has Japanese 1-4, so she could learn a lot over the course of the upcoming school year!
ANOTHER ONE DONE: On Monday and Tuesday, we spent several hours crafting a cake for a 7-year-old spending his birthday in a homeless shelter.
CJ chose this cake because he figured no one else would. The child apparently loves a show called "Henry Danger." It's some sort of superhero show on the Nickelodeon network.
CJ cooked up a vanilla cake (per the child's request). I have to say, it was his best cake ever. It baked so beautifully and was just the right texture. (We're wondering of our 'new' oven had something to do with how great it came out. It's the first cake we've baked in the Frigidaire Flair.)
We put vanilla buttercream between the three layers, and a few sprinkles for fun.
Annabelle fashioned a mask out of modeling chocolate she made.
We made some marshmallow fondant to craft the logo's swirls and the birthday boy's name and age.
In the photo below, the child's name is (rather crudely) obscured to protect anonymity.
The top tier of the cake isn't cake at all, it's a big Rice Krispies treat covered in fondant. The mask is propped up by a really tall red candle. Six more red candles were on the top of the first tier, bringing the total to 7, the birthday boy's age.
TWO DOWN: As of last Friday, we four have all had our second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Yay for that!
What wasn't as 'yay' was how we felt afterward. I'd say CJ weathered the reaction best. He had no real complaints, except a mild headache the morning after. Annabelle had a bigger headache and a mild fever the first night.
I was soooo tired, dizzier than usual, and had random neck pain. Christian had all of that, but to a larger degree, poor guy. He and I were feeling pretty puny on Friday, and slightly less awful on Saturday, which is a good thing, because we had to make sure 80 homeless teens got fed that night. Which brings me to our next topic. ...
FEEDING TEENS: I didn't really feel like it, but I was up and at it Saturday a.m. at 7, making 25 pounds of beef barbacoa (it was delicious), as well as mountains of rice (over 40 cups of cooked) and some seasoned black beans (they were six pounds when they were dry) from scratch. When the rest of the troop upped, they pitched in and helped, as well. A couple of hours before meal service, we wrapped all that goodness up into platter sized tortillas. I'm guessing the burritos weighed about three pounds apiece.
Meanwhile, up north, Kennedy was working on his own batch of burritos. He went with a Denver omelette-inspired recipe. Lots of potato, scrambled eggs, ham, peppers, onions and more. They looked and smelled so good!
Dinner included some healthy fruit ...
and some less healthy nachos, ha ha. There were lots of chips complete with salasa, jalapenos, sour cream and some bonus hot sauce packets.
And there were also beautiful desserts. My friend Anna made over 50 cute little cinnamon apple tres leches cakes in cute little tins.
And my friend Irene made some beautiful chocolate mousse cups in fancy little glass jars.
All in all, it was a big hit with the kids. Three different Teen Feed staffers came to the kitchen to report how much the meal was adored by our hungry diners. So yay for that!
