I am embarrassed by how infrequently I have posted about gratitude, and the many, many things I am thankful for. But being that it is close toThanksgiving, I will remember to post more often.
981. Bumper boats
980. Violin recitals
979. A refreshing breeze
978. How The Grinch Stole Christmas!!!
977. BearLover's laugh
976. Our pastor's really really terrible jokes
975. Going home for Thanksgiving
974. Friends I have met through blogging
973. An afternoon nap (I can be thankful for a dream right?)
This field trip with our local homeschool group took place on November 8, 2009. What an interesting business! Here is the owner explaining about the hives. The entire time we were standing there, bees were flying over our heads back up into the mountains. They were gathering pollen from eucalyptus trees that were blooming several miles away.
The bees can travel up to 5 miles to a pollen source. They tell the other bees how to find the food source by doing a complex dance.
Before entering a hive, you use the mighty smoker. I don't remember what he burns in it, but he has to use one specific thing, otherwise the bees get mad. Oh and if you smoke them too much, the bees get mad. So it is a very fine line....
One of our fellow homeschoolers got dressed up in the bee keepers outfit so he could smoke the bees.The other nifty tools for using around bee hives: the hive tool and the frame grip. You have to smoke the bees to calm them, while making sure you don't smoke them too much. Then use the hive tool to pry to top off the hive. The bees seal up all the holes and nooks with beeswax, so you really have to pry the tops off.
Then you use the hive tool to break apart the comb frames.
This is a frame of the comb matrix. They provide the bees with a matrix for the construction of the comb. The bees construct the comb over the matrix, and start filling the holes. The chambers with yellow are filled with pollen. You can push through the top of the comb and get to the honey. The honey is stored away from the brood (where the eggs are laid and hatched).
The dark chambers contain larvae that are being tended by the nurse bees. There is only one queen per hive, and she will never leave it. The bees tend to stay in their own hives, and don't migrate into neighboring hives, even though the hives are close together. Bees can orient themselves visually. So to help them find the correct hive the bee keeper paints the front of the hives. Who knew bees were so smart and fascinating?
This week has been pretty busy. I have been trying to get all of my holiday baking done. It is difficult. Being on Maui, it is hard to get into the holiday spirit- there is no temperature difference to indicate that it is fall. But since we are heading to the mainland for the holidays, I am trying to get my Christmas gifts out to friends before we leave. And that includes getting my chocolate chip pumpkin bread baked. The recipe is here. Very yummy!
That's also why our Christmas decorations were up so early. If we wanted to actually enjoy our decorations they had to be up for November. We are going to be gone for the month of December. Usually, Hubby won't let me start playing Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving!
Monday night we confirmed that Hubby does in fact still have an allergy to pine nuts. We went over to our friends', the B's, house. Dinner was take and bake pizzas from Costco. Turns out that the margherita pizza has pine nuts on it. There is a pesto sauce on the pizza, and they always make pesto with pine nuts. I don't really know why.
Funny story about pine nuts: we actually confirmed his allergy at our wedding reception. Yes, you read that right. We were married in New Mexico, and our reception entree was baked chicken with green chiles and pine nuts. Poor Hubby, he turns this horrible shade of green and ends up rolled into the fetal position. So much for the rest of the reception!
The first time I made him dinner when we were dating, I made angel hair pasta with sauted garlic and pine nuts. A delicious dish! But Hubby of course turned green and was sick the rest of the night. However, at that time, we didn't suspect the pine nuts.
Once we figured out it was the pine nuts, we have been very careful to avoid anything with pesto. The last time he inadvertently ate some was probably 9 years ago.
After the bumpy start to the week, the rest of it went pretty well. We went on a really cool field trip day, to a chocolate factory and a bakery. Lots of yummies that day! The posts are here and here if you want to check them out.
However, I forgot to include cookie-making videos there, so here they are!
Our local aquarium had another Turtle Physical day. The last time we went to one was June of 2008. My post about that trip is actually the second post on my blog.
This time, they were also checking on the new babies. These turtles were hatched at Sea Life Park on Oahu and brought over to Maui. The kids both got to touch a turtle this time. The big turtles are a year old and weigh about 13 pounds. They are measured with a huge caliper.
Miss Twinkle Toes got to help out with the measuring.
BearLover was able to touch one of the big ones too.
The little turtles are about 4 months old, and weigh about a pound.
If you looked around on the blog, you saw I uploaded some videos of Miss Twinkle Toes practicing violin. Those are the songs she will be playing in the holiday recital. Very Christmas-y. I am glad she will be able to perform before we head to the mainland next week.
Thanks for stopping by to check out our week. Thanks to Kris for hosting the Weekly Wrap-up. Be sure to check out other homeschoolers' weeks at Weird Unsocialized Homechoolers
The second part of our same day field trip was to a bakery. We went to the Patticakes Bakery in Wailuku. Patti is the owner of the company. She has been baking for 15 years. She started her company with a hand-me-down 5-quart Kitchen Aide mixer and a used apartment oven. It has since grown in size.
Here is BearLover in front of the store.
The kids on the tour were able to make shortbread cookies. In case you didn't know, shortbread cookies don't contain eggs, and have a longer shelf life in Maui.
Here is BearLover adding her block of butter to the giant mixer.
The kids each got a ball of dough to scoop and shape into shortbreads.
Then you get to smoosh them down.
Cookies baking!
The final product: butter shortbread cookies with sprinkles and chocolate chips!
Patti told us the secret to baking in Maui is to use parchment paper. Not only does she bake with it, but she includes it in the package with her cookies, brownies and other goodies. The paper keeps the cookies crisp in the Maui humidity. So that's the trick for anyone who is baking in those damper climates!
Our local homeschool group had a field trip to the Wowwee Candy Bar Company, home of the Wowwee Maui Candy Bar. Mmmmmm, Mmmmm!
Michael is the owner of the company. He showed us how they make the candy bars and finish them for sale. Wowwee Maui candy bars are hand-made and hand-wrapped! First, though, he made us promise not to give away their secret recipe!
They make 10,000 candy bars a month. To make those bars, they consume 1500 pounds of chocolate. Michael buys the chocolate in 15 pound bricks from a company on the mainland.
This is what 15 pounds of chocolate looks like.
The chocolate is melted in a special vat.
Then the particular ingredients are added. Macadamia nuts are really popular with the tourists.
The chocolate is spooned into a special tray mold that has the Wowwee emblem.
The bars are refrigerated for about 30 minutes then they are ready to wrap.
Each bar is handwrapped in foil, and the custom label.
Michael has one full time employee who makes candy bars for about 9 hours a day, and 4 part time employees.
Other flavors include a dark chocolate and coconut bar, and chocolate with Maui potato chips. One of the newest flavors is to die for: kona coffee, and caramel!
This is the 10 year anniversary wrapper for the kona coffee bar.
Wowwee Candy Company will ship to the mainland, so if you are looking for a delicious taste of the tropics, check them out!
The bees can travel up to 5 miles to a pollen source. They tell the other bees how to find the food source by doing a complex dance. 
The other nifty tools for using around bee hives: the hive tool and the frame grip.
You have to smoke the bees to calm them, while making sure you don't smoke them too much. Then use the hive tool to pry to top off the hive. The bees seal up all the holes and nooks with beeswax, so you really have to pry the tops off.
The bees construct the comb over the matrix, and start filling the holes. The chambers with yellow are filled with pollen. You can push through the top of the comb and get to the honey. The honey is stored away from the brood (where the eggs are laid and hatched).
The bees tend to stay in their own hives, and don't migrate into neighboring hives, even though the hives are close together. Bees can orient themselves visually. So to help them find the correct hive the bee keeper paints the front of the hives.
Who knew bees were so smart and fascinating?
