8-bit Fuse Beads - The Family That Creates Together

Our family has many passions: the outdoors, music, food, travel... but creating and pop culture near the top of the list.  So when my boys pulled out the fuse beads we could see an idea forming. 
If you are unfamiliar with fuse beads, they are small beads in all colors that can be melted together with an iron. (We like the Perler brand as they melt evenly and they offer an amazing array of colors)  Generally, you would use a special pegboard to lay out the design you are working towards before you iron them.   Perler's square boards also have a simple way of interlocking that allows for you to create much larger images. 

Our youngest was planning several fuse bead recreations of 8-bit video game art 

Power Up?

Apparently power-up mushrooms are big Charmander Fans

while our oldest was planning something more ambitious. 

After doing a bit of research, he started to adapt an image of  the Pokemon Snorlax using cross-stitch methodology. After one night the outline started to solidify.

The process was a study in patience as the outline slowly started to fill in.

It was truly amazing to watch as the beginning shapes filled with various colors and gradients, giving the piece form and texture. 

Once he was finished with placing all of the fuse beads, we ironed it very carefully. 

We covered Snorlax with parchment paper and, using an iron on it's medium setting, we carefully moved it over the entire piece to ensure each bead was attached to its neighbor. 

When we were done, we flipped him over and ironed the other side as well, to give him some stability. 

The completed art is awesome!  Just need to fit it in a frame. 

We now have a permanent Pokemon to join our sci-fi fantasy art wall. 

If you want to try it for yourself, Amazon has a great inexpensive starter kit. 

Treasure Hunting! - Finders Keepers @ Lincoln City, OR

Floats Photo from www.visittheoregoncoast.com

Our family loves a good treasure hunt.  Whether it's keeping an eye on the ground on our walks for discarded change or searching out hidden treasure in Geocaches, we love the thrill of hunt.  So when we heard about Finders Keepers in Lincoln City, OR we were immediately intrigued.  

Finders Keepers is an annual event along the 7+ miles of beaches that has over 3000 hand blown glass floats and other items hidden for the public to find.  Glass float hunting was a popular hobby up until a decade or so ago.  Japanese fishing boats previously used hand blown glass floats to float their nets.  During storms, and through wear and tear, the floats would come loose and people would find them along the coast.  As fishing boats turned more and more to plastic buoys, floats became harder to come by. 

As a nod to the past, Lincoln City sponsored the first Finders Keepers in 1999.  Growing to the more than 3000 glass items that will be hidden from October to Memorial Day, Lincoln City has created the perfect excuse to visit the coast out of the traditional tourist season.  So we will be heading to Oregon at some point this winter to try our luck...You should head to the beach too! 

Reese's Pringles - I Will Create Food!

There are some flavors that weren't meant to go together: cotton candy and broccoli, salmon and ketchup, blue cheese and ice cream.  There are however some flavors that you wouldn't have initially combined, but, once together, create something special. We stumbled upon this combination when we were making chocolates one day and had leftover melted chocolate.  It led us to try just about everything enrobed in chocolate.  Most combinations ranged from acceptable to "probably not the best idea".  This combination was everything we wanted the other trials to be: sweet, salty, crunchy, chocolatey. Dubbed Reese's Pringles by our oldest, they have been one of our go-to treats ever since. 

You will need:

Ridged Potato Chips

Peanut Butter (we use natural just to make it a bit healthier)

Semi-sweet chocolate-melted

Start by lining a cookie sheet with parchment paper. It'll stop the treats from sticking. 

Next dip the chips in the peanut butter. Don't cover the entire chip, you want a spot to hold them during the chocolate step. 

When your cookie sheet is full, put them in the freezer for a few minutes to make it easier to dip them in chocolate. 

Once the peanut butter has hardened up a bit, dunk them in the chocolate. 

And off they go back to the freezer. 

Give them about 10 minutes or so and you can give them a try.  Just don't wait too long, they don't last long! 

Easy Banana Bread - I Will Create Food!

I hate wasting food.  If there is any way possible to reconstruct, reuse, re-purpose or recycle grocery items into another meal I will give it a try...even if my family hesitates at my Frankenfood creations.  One of best ways to breath new life into certain fruits and veggies is baked goods. Zucchinis, and especially bananas, are particularly adept at supporting this transformation.  Taking overripe bananas that most would consider far past their peak and turning them into a breakfast/snack that doesn't last long brings me an odd joy.  

In the past I made the entire batch from scratch, meticulously measuring out my ingredients into myriad bowls throughout my kitchen.  I have, however, learned of a shortcut - Baking Mix. Using pre-made baking mix saves so much time that it's just as easy to make two loaves as it is to make one. (You probably should, they won't last long.)

Here's what you'll need:
5-6 overripe bananas (about 1.5 cups mashed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
3 eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce (you can use oil, but I like to avoid the oil in baking when I can)
2 1/3 cups baking mix
1 cup sugar (you can cut it down to 3/4 cups if you have particularly sweet bananas)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees to start.

The first step is to mash your bananas into a liquidy paste. 

Almost there.

Next add the liquid ingredients: Eggs, vanilla and apple sauce. 

Apple sauce makes it moist!

Now the dry ingredients. Stirring while adding the baking mix helps prevent big, dry clumps in your batter. 

Don't forget the sugar!

Now whisk it all together, making sure none of the dry ingredients stick to the bottom and sides of the bowl. 

Now spray your loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray so the loaf will actually come out after baking. 

Make sure you spray the sides too. 

Pour the batter into the pan and bake it for 50-60 minutes (it's done when a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.)  

Take them out of the oven and let them cool for 15-20 minutes, it'll be easier to cut if you do.   It's great freshly cut, warm out of the oven (I prefer a bit of butter on mine).   As quick as it disappears, you'll wish you had made several loaves. 

Go Climb A Mountain - Free Entrance Days in the National Parks

Here is the Pacific Northwest we are lucky to be surrounded with amazing options for outdoor activities.  Within an hour we can be hiking deep into an old growth forest or climbing mountains.  One of the reasons we have this bounty available to us, is the commitment to preserve these green spaces for public use.  In addition to the many state parks and community spaces, the National Parks System has several parks within driving distance with the most famous being Mt. Rainier and the Olympic National Park.  This weekend, no matter where you are in the United States, you can enjoy these historic wonders for yourself.  As part of it's 100th Birthday, the National Parks Service is opening all of it's parks for free!  That's right, no entrance fee at the more than 400 National Parks throughout the country.  So grab your hiking shoes, pack a lunch and go enjoy the tranquility of nature.

Let's All Go To The Lobby - Kubo and The Two Strings

Being the Pop Culture family that we are, we tend to see a lot of movies.  Sci-fi, comedy, animated, fantasy, action, drama, documentaries...we enjoy a wide spectrum of films as a family. That being said, Kubo and the Two Strings satisfied us all on several levels. The story is engaging, with plenty of action to keep the youngest focused and a solid story of love, loss and family ties for the oldest. The characters are written and acted nicely, allowing you to connect with them throughout the movie. The animation is beautiful, with the unique style that only comes from stop motion animation and the music was stunning, primarily focused on Kubo's shamisen (with an incredible cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps featuring Regina Spektor)  The plot and overall theme have you leaving the theater in a good mood, wanting to hang with family. 

If You Build It- Adventure Playground

In a time where people are perhaps too focused on protecting their kids from every bump and bruise, there is a place you can take your kids where they can hammer, saw, construct and watch their imaginations take shape.  

Adventure Playground, located in Deane's Children's Park  on Mercer Island, is a build-it-yourself play zone that will satisfy anyone's craving for design and fabrication. 

Upon checking in at the front, kids are given a toolbox, safety gear (including a hard hat and goggles) and nails.  After that they are let into the construction zone.  

The current construction zone has a tree house theme!

All children under 12 must have adult supervision, but really, why wouldn't you stay to create with your kids. 

All in all we spent several hours 

hammering,

Sketching, 

Climbing, 

and building. 

 The best part was watching all of the various projects slowly emerge from the materials at hand. 

Adventure Playground is open Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. from July 5th through September 25th. The program is run by donation.  All participants, including adults, must have closed toe shoes to enter.