LiveStrong Toby Ryan

Yesterday morning after I dressed my mom came in and goes ‘Karen! You look like Lance Armstrong today” So I immediately thought to myself . . . ‘WOW! What does she mean by that?! Does she mean that my abs look this good?



or that I look THIS good in Oakley sunglasses??!



But no, when I thought about it, and looked in the mirror I saw this



Do you see it?!



So Saturday I did look like Lance – livestrong lance

Also in this picture is my good friend Toby Ryan and this was at his album release party. I am so proud of him and would encourage you to check out his new cd. You can download it off of iTunes and get it on amazon and many other places.



So go to his site here or here and check out his sound. He writes, plays and performs all his own stuff!

All I Need - Toby Ryan

…..I think I may have to become a groupie!

Flashback Friday

Ok so you all know my family visited the Alamo a week or two ago. Well the only other time I have been there I was about 3 or 4. My mom took this picture of us near the cannon. So here is my only memory of the Alamo – standing, squinting and waiting for the shot. I bet I was hot too.



When we got there my sister and I had the same idea – have mom take the same picture 25 years later. So here you go!



The only difference would be….who has their hands on their hips. HA and, I guess the age thing.

Vacation!

My sister and her family were here last week and we had a greeeeat time together. We hung out at home for a few days because the Engineer was in a wedding here. Then we took off for sunny San Antonio – but first a few ‘home’ pictures.

Apparently her Auntie ‘Rocks’


I got to show the kids around the nursery for a field trip. Here we are talking about the different kinds of grass seed and how we scoop it and weigh it out to be sold.



While Falcon and Engineer attended the wedding . . .



Mom and I got all the grandkids together outside to play in the kiddie pool. A good time was had by all!



Sunday we got to visit the Wind Energy Museum and marveled at all the windmills – large and small





On Wednesday we headed out to San Antonio and the first thing we did was to swim in the pool on the roof of the hotel!



The roof was super hot but the pool was super nice!

That evening we had dinner with some family friends at one of our favorite Mexican food places, La Fogata. If you are ever in San Antonio – you have to eat here!



One of our main reasons to visit this wonderful city was to go to Sea World! My sister and I loved it when we were kids and just knew we would have a great time taking the next generation. A good time was had by all!

Feeding the dolphins



Seeing Shamu



Meeting Shamu (yes we did get to meet the real life shamu!)


Tired and happy family



The next day we visited the Alamo. I was excited about this because it had been a long time since I had been there. It was cool to share some Texas history with the kids.



Auntie Mule (how much of the trip went!) oh and I loved it!



Happy Kids





feel free to comment!

Flashback Friday

My sister and her family are on their way here to visit us so I thought this week for Flashback Friday I would flash back a few months – to the last time that we saw them. FarAway family traveled to see them last March and Auntie was a surprise for the kids.

So here we are, Auntie and Princess:


Princess with her Starbucks:


Explorer and I drew flags on the sidewalk – this one happens to be the Danish flag:


And in our alternate reality of Animal Crossing, Engineer was able to catch me a Tuna:


Oh such sweet memories!! I am hoping this trip will be as good or even better then the last!

Cochineal

Have you ever wondered where that red color comes from that stuff is dyed with? Like that great carmine red color? Well me neither BUT I did learn about it the other day and thought I would share.

Periodically we have people call up to the nursery wondering about the white fungus looking stuff that is growing out of their prickly pear cactus.

It looks like this:


And this:


Well people, this is not a fungus – it is an insect and a very valuable one at that! If they were to run their finger over the white fibrous stuff (which I do frequently because its cool to show people what I am talking about) they would see that the white stuff is a protective coating for a bug called a cochineal!

It looks like this:


And the Cochineal looks like this:


The cochineal insect is native to Mexico and the production of the dye was in full force when the Spaniards arrived in Mexico in the 16th century. The Spaniards loved the bright color the dye made and started exporting it to Spain. It was a high commodity and was even regularly quoted on the London and Amsterdam Commodity Exchanges. The dye was even used to color the infamous red coats of the British Army.





Today cochineal is primarily produced in Peru, France and the Canary Islands. These days cochineal is used in various forms including: food products like gatorade, water color paints, dye for fabrics and in various cosmetics. It is one of the only pigments that can saftely be used in the eye area. If you are looking at the label of your food or beverage (the FDA requires that even natural derived colors be put on the label) then look for "cochineal extract", "carmine", "crimson lake", "natural red 4", "C.I. 75470", "E120", and even sometimes ‘natural coloring’ – all of these can mean that the cochineal insect was used in the coloring of the product. Cochineal is one of the colours that the Hyperactive Children's Support Group recommends be eliminated from the diet of hyperactive children. But is becoming very popular again because like many commercial synthetic red dyes, it is not toxic or carcinogenic.


I have no problem comsuming insects with my daily yogurt but I am sure some people do. What do you think about this? Have you taken your child off of things that contain this red dye?