Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival

A squash phone.











Kit says she is a purple pumpkin and wonders if anyone will pick her.

Kit picked a nice pumpkin that fits right into her little hand.

Hair Dryer

A pink kid-sized hair dryer!

She knows how to hold down the 'cool' button so it doesn't get too hot.

Halloween Decorations

Kit is very proud of the Halloween decorations she helped put up at home. Then she decorated her own house.

Parent-Teacher Meeting

Today I met with Kit's teachers, Ms. Jeannie and Ms. Minu. They say Kit has become very comfortable and social in class. She has complete conversations with the teachers and introduces herself to kids in other classes during recess.

Kit loves school. Music time is her favorite. She often sings the songs at home.

This year she started learning Spanish for 15 minutes a day. In the car she will count to 10 in Spanish and practice some phrases, "Hola. Como esta?"

At dinner time we started playing Uno and Go Fish! Kit is getting very good at these games. Occassionally we play Mille Borne too.

YFU Beach Party

Host families in the Santa Cruz area put together a beach party for Saturday night.

Kit explored the beach.

The water is a bit cold.

But not too cold.

I took Inga on a walk. She's very sweet.

Kit approached her and gave her a pat on the back.

Inga is the first big dog Kit allowed to get close to her. Kit was very comfortable. Inga is slow and gentle, never actually touching Kit.

Thai girl gang.

Pepe, Dream and Nut with Kit.

I'm the YFU rep for Pepe and Nut.
Pepe
Kit
Nut
Dream




Kit with P'Nut.

Nut's host family couldn't make it so she went with us.





Nut, Pepe and Dream at sunset.

Sailboat returning home.

Crescent moon at sunset.

Enjoying a BBQ dinner. We grilled sausages and corn.

Only girls this year. 3 Thai, 3 German and 1 Austrian.

Anja

Today Anja visited us. She was an exchange student from Germany about 5 years ago. We used to take her hiking and camping with us. She has been very busy volunteering around the world for humanitarian causes.

We walked around downtown Palo Alto, enjoying gelato and pizza.

The firemen were out showing off their new truck.

Kit ran around and around this egg.

And we saw this nice car.

Dream posing on a bench.

Spaghetti Tacos and Coconut Cookies

Today I read an article about spaghetti tacos. I often wonder how food combinations get created and this one just makes perfect sense.


Now you can eat spaghetti without a plate, or even in your car!

Why did it take so long to discover this? We'll have to try it sometime.

Dream has been learning how to bake. The other day we baked the now famous chocolate-chip cookies with coconut, sans chocolate chips, for a friend's birthday. Her friends declared them the best cookies ever. Last night Dream made a batch of the coconut cookies all by herself. They are delicious.

We keep experimenting with the recipe to make it better and better. While the ingredients are standard the techniques are quite different from your typical cookie recipe. A mixer is not used. Instead we carefully brown the butter solids to give it a more nutty, butterscotch flavor. Sugar and salt are dissolved into the melted butter, egg and vanilla mixture. We let it sit for a few minutes, stirring occassionally, until everything is well dissolved. Flour and baking soda are stirred in along with anything else you wish to add, like coconut, chocolate chips, nuts, whatever you like.

Recipe coming soon...

Kit likes them.



She also considered being a witch for Halloween.