Fly Fishing

We're in Charlottesville, VA for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving. Today Steve took Thomas to the Rapidan River and taught him how to fly fish.

There was a beaver dam. All the trees in the surrounding area were chewed up.

Steve says you have to sneak up on the fish because they can see you.

Can you find Steve in the woods?

The fish were really biting. Here's the day's catch:

These fish were on vacation from Sweden.

A caterpillar fish.

It was a nice relaxing day outdoors. You don't really need to catch fish to have fun.

Zopf

Gina is on a quest to create bread that reminds Thomas of home. This bread was a big hit yesterday when it was fresh out of the oven. Thomas calls it Zopf.

Schnee!

Yesterday it was warm enough to sit out in the sun and eat lunch.
And today it snowed!

Gingerbread House

We were tired of working on our dissertations, so we baked a gingerbread house. From scratch too, the walls and everything. Some walls turned out a little bendy. It stayed together long enough for us to take this one picture:
Then boom. The roof fell in.

We were sorry to see our little house collapse but it still tastes good.

Relevents

Thomas and his woodwind quintet played a concert last night at the Tate Street Coffee Shop. The place was packed and the music was smokin'.

What do you think this is?

It's Thomas' birthday! We celebrated with our good friends Meaghan and Scott.Thomas requested spanish rice.And this is his birthday pie.

We played Thomas's new seafarer expansion of the Settlers. Thanks Germany Pappases! It's so much fun to play. Gina won.

Thomas: A Culinary Genius

After running seven miles at the park this morning, Thomas went to Food Lion where he procured some very nutritious items at a great discount. This cake mix was just $1.

He also couldn't pass up a deal on 45 pouches of sour gummy worms.

With those ingredients he created these glorious cupcakes. Henceforth these shall be known as "Thomas' famous Halloween cupcakes."

Crime Scene

While we were out at Office Depot tonight, two very bad people snuck into Gina's purse and ate her chapsticks.
We caught them in the act, but they didn't care.

We Vote for Free Food

We love this country. We discovered today that our "I voted" stickers could earn us lots of free stuff around town. Since we are happily unemployed, it was a perfect day to drive around asking for handouts.

Here we are with our free chicken sandwiches.
Free coffee at Starbucks. Thomas drank his, but Gina didn't.

Free Ben and Jerry's (we missed this one, there too early)... maybe we'll go back after dinner.

Best of all, free Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Chocolate glazed ones with patriotic sprinkles.

I like to be in America!

First it's Candy... Then it's Gum

Thomas proclaims this to be his new favorite candy:
It only has 10 calories. He found it in a big bag of random candy purchased for half price after Halloween. It reminds Gina of Tums but she has to admit that once it turns to gum, it's pretty good.

This one's for you, Daniel and Elizabeth...

Amazing Microwave Cake

THREE MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour (plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional), some nuts (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)

This is pretty awesome. Thanks Pu for sending the recipe our way.