The Search for Miss Direction: Going to Rio!

The kids have been excited all week - when we saw them earlier this week we made plans to meet up with Mom and Dad today (and it turned out Scott, too!) to meet up in Monroe at the awesome theater there to see Rio 2. It has been a sufficient enough enticement to ensure fairly good behavior for the past couple of days, which is always a plus. So this afternoon we packed it up, headed off to Monroe and enjoyed the movie! It was cute - I really like the music. I think I was wiggling in my seat for most of the movie. Also, mad love to Kristin Chenowith - girl has pipes!

But we were of course busy this morning, too. It's been cloudy and a bit windy here all day, but with rumors that we may see snow on Tuesday (grrrrrr) we wanted to make sure we got in at least some time outside today before the rains came this afternoon and tomorrow. So after they aced their pop-quiz this morning I decided we could all use some one on one time. So Noah and I hauled out our bikes for a bike ride while Kayla and Grant picked up sticks in the front yard and then played some baseball. Then the Bean and I went out on a mission to find persimmon pulp (more on that later) while Grant and Noah finished up work on the robot they started yesterday. Then we got some lunch before heading off to the movies.

We made one last nod to Indiana (other than their pop quiz where they remembered things that I didn't) with dinner tonight. I plugged in the crock pot before we left and we came home to enticing smells of Kettle-Cooked Baked Beans with Smoked Sausage. When he saw me prepping it up Grant said "I don't know what that it in there but it looks awesome." The reason this is an Indiana recipe is because it uses Van Camp's Pork and Beans. According to their website, this Indiana company "traces its roots back to 1861 when Gilbert Van Camp and his wife Hester opened a family grocery store in Indianapolis, IN where they canned fruits and vegetables. Gilbert’s son, Frank, discovered that their Pork & Beans tasted even better when served hot in tomato sauce. He began to advertise the notion, and an American favorite was born." My family LOVES beans and weenies so I knew this wouldn't be too far of a stretch from that.

It had been my intention to wrap up the week with a fun Indiana Dessert, too Persimmon Pudding. Apparently persimmons are kind of a big deal in Indiana, they even have their own festival. I can honestly say that I'm not sure if I've ever had a persimmon much less used one to cook with, so I figured it'd be worth a go if I was able to track down the persimmon pulp the recipe called for. After multiple trips to multiple stores, including specialty places like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods that I thought I'd have more luck at, I struck out. So sorry Indiana, I tried.

Back to normal at least a little here tomorrow. Noah's back to school, Kayla and I are going grocerying in the morning - must be Monday! Plus we're officially moving out of Indiana and off to the Hawkeye State. Hope you're up for lots of corn and pigs this week. Check in tomorrow when we get the wall up and introduce Iowa. Until then...

Indiana Fun Fact of the Day: From 1900 to 1920 more than 200 different makes of cars were produced in the Hoosier State. Duesenbergs, Auburns, Stutzes, and Maxwells - are prize antiques today.