Bottling It Up

 So yet again the kiddos were off of school and I knew we had to get out of the house today if possible!  I'm good with a day or so of idleness and being pent-up, but the natives were getting restless.  Fortunately, I had a plan :)

But before all that....  Bright and early this morning we noticed the flag was up!

And it came in a pretty interesting way!

My Silly Little Detectives,

Did you like my means of leaving you a little clue to my current whereabouts today?  I’m sending you a message in a bottle – a Coca-Cola bottle to be exact!  Which leads me to a little trip I took today.

Since I know you’re not hot on my heels or anything, I figured it was safe for me to take a road trip to the city of Vicksburg today and visit the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum.  Joseph Biedenharn owned a general store in Vicksburg where he had a soda fountain that served the popular cola to many customers.  In 1894, impressed with the growing demand for the beverage, Biedenharn installed bottling machinery in the rear of his store and began to sell cases of Coca-Cola to farms and lumber camps up and down the Mississippi River. He was the first bottler of Coca-Cola.

Since 1894 the bottle design has changed quite a bit.  I am sending you a picture that I stole, um, I mean, just happened to pick up, from the museum that shows how the bottle changed from 1894 to 1961.  It is continuing to undergo changes – all the way to the plastic design I left for you crazy little selves.

And, because I have a desire to load you up with sugar because I know it’ll drive the Chief absolutely crazy, somewhere in your house I’ve hidden two real glass bottles of the tasty beverage for you.  To get them, simply answer the following riddle: go to the location in your house where you keep the things that get wetter the more they dry.  Good luck, kiddos, you’re gonna need it!

HA HA HA

Nita

Before solving the riddle, we checked out the picture of how the coke bottle has changed through the years.

It took them about thirty seconds of pondering then... 

They were off!  With Bella close behind :)

They found two bottles of Coca-Cola in with their bath towels

Noah again pulled out the picture he had drawn during the State Project for Mississippi (the one from earlier in the week with the Muppets) and confirmed he had also drawn a bottle of coca-cola!  So they felt confident enough to make a guess!

Mississippi it is

Kayla sent it off

Then, like I said, I had a plan to get us out of the house!  There is a $1 movie theater in Warren (and one in Allen Park for you nearby) and when I pulled it up yesterday I found it was showing "Annie" at 11:15 this morning.  So we made a quick stop for the supplies in the project we tackled this afternoon (more on that later) and then grabbed R to come with us!

They all held hands the whole way in - it made me smile.

The wonderful Janoch crew joined us as well.  Cute movie - though I do have to say nothing compares to the original

Both Grant and I have been really impressed with how hard Noah has worked on his Pinewood Derby car and his overall attitude and demeanor about the big race tomorrow.  He's told his countless times that he doesn't think he'll win, he hopes he doesn't come in last, but that really he's just going to have fun and learn.  Kudos, kiddo - wish I could be that way about competition!  So I really wanted to do something to celebrate the final weigh-in tonight and give him a little extra boost for tomorrow.  So (thanks to pinterest, which very might well be the death of me) this afternoon we made Twinkie Derby cars!

The Bean got started on hers first

Adding the wheels

Noah's with his wheels on and the driver in place :)

Which (and it's hard to see) he gave a drawn on helmet

Kayla decorating

You can't really see because it's in yellow frosting but Noah gave his stripes

I worked on Grant's :)

They loved it

Here's race day goes just as smoothly...

Before the boys headed off to the weigh-in we sat down to a yummy dinner of Shrimp & Broccoli Alfredo (yes, I know the original recipe calls for chicken but it's Friday and this made the Bean way happier anyway!) and some Olive Garden Breadsticks (love love love this recipe).  The kids also enjoyed their cokes from Nita and everyone loved their car creations (because apparently today my mission was to see how much sugar I could get into them.  Whoops!)

This one earned rave reviews

And the breadsticks are a fave!

Got the boys out the door and the Bean and I decided to whip up a special treat for Noah for after the race tomorrow.  He has recently become obsessed with nutella after Grant brought him back a small thing of it from Italy.  (He'd had it plenty of times before, but this is a new kick.)  Anyway, I enlisted my favorite cheflette to help me make these Little Oreo, Chocolate Chip Cookie and Nutella Brownies because this might just be the best of all worlds for NJ.  (By the way, we used this Edible Cookie Dough recipe.  Which may have not been the smartest idea after I've now pulled them out of the oven and noticed that the cookie dough didn't really set.  I'm not sweating though as it's egg free (duh, edible dough) anyway and will probably be just as yummy.  My silly brain was thinking "small batch" not - will this set if I bake it :-p)

Ready to bake

Working on the cookie dough

We got the cookie in the oven and I continued to put her to work - she prepped the crock pot for tomorrow night's dinner all by herself!  That's right - Kayla made dinner tomorrow ;)

Pulled 'em out of the oven - we'll see tomorrow!

And if that wasn't enough, I also had my little chef help with the breakfast prep.  She even dried all the dishes when we were done - I may keep her :)

So the boys aren't home yet so I don't have an official word on if the car passed inspection (gee I hope so) but race day is tomorrow!  So until then...