pie

beauty found in delicious (mini) pies made by a dear friend.

A friend loves at all times.  Proverbs 17:17

 another fourth of july, 

another Robbins

meet Cade Timothy at nine days old

and

another Robbins' burger competition

(i think this makes the 4th annual)

 There was a lot of grilling to get the burgers ready "on time".

careful preparation

and the finished products.

 all plated,

and 

ready 

to serve.

The five competitors

our tasting and scoring sheet

(if you look closely you can read each burger's name)

thoughtful consideration went in to rating 

and commenting on each masterpiece.

and the winner is...

 (mama Robbins always reads the results)

Elizabeth and Debbie's 

"Kick Tim in the Patty Melt"

It was delicious!

The mess afterwards....

letting it all digest...

before the Dessert competition

(fyi these are the winners of the burger competition)

tallying up some more scores.

(patriotic style)

and this time the winner is... the cousins' (Cassidy & Reagan) 

chocolaty, ice cream, fudge cake with oreo crumbs.

Now for the pyrotechnics.

watching eyes,

 fire-loving uncles,

sparklers,

abby's first time

and a good night!

magic beans

Today we found "magic" beans.


At least Peter hopes that they will grow a large beanstalk.
(Can you guess what book we've been reading a lot of?)

Really, they are just amazing pink and purple beans in grandma and grandpa's backyard. 

Which, for our five year old, Hannah, whose favorite colors are pink and purple -
what could be better?

They worked tirelessly retrieving these beans from the pods
and delighting over every big one they found.

 

The plant responsible for these awesome beans. 

Part of our stash of what is formally known as Scarlet Runner Beans.

Unfortunately, I learned they turn grey when you cook them.
But we are taking some home to plant our own beanstalk.

I wonder what will happen...

apples

Yesterday our family took a trip up to Apple Hill.

I love going to that place.

And I love fresh, crisp apples!

So does my family.

 

We had a lovely picnic, looking out at the apple orchards and in the distant,

 we could even see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains.

 

 There were a few a pumpkin patch decorations still up and the kids had a lot of fun with them!

Peter was loving climbing on top of the gigantic pumpkins.
And we were trying to get him to say "I'm the king of the world!"

Then Hannah announced, "it's my turn to be the princess of the earth!"

We watched this industrial strength apple peeler & corer machine in action.

 

 

There were some gorgeous fall colors around us.

And we explored until we found a tiny orchard that claimed to have award-winning pies.
And oh my, were they good.  If you happen to be up there go to "Bodhaine Apple Ranch" -
absolutely delicious and all handmade!!!

 

They said their favorite apple to use was the Rome Beauty.

Another picnic, this time under the apple trees.
In fact, as we were enjoying our treats a huge apple fell out of a tree
and missed hitting Peter's head by mere inches!
The kids thought that was pretty awesome (and we got to take the apple home).

 

What a refreshing, lovely place to spend the afternoon!

This morning the kids and I set to work making our first ever batch of applesauce.

All ready to cook in the crockpot.

It was easy and came out pretty yummy,
but I think the kids had the most fun with the long, curly strings of apple skin.