Doughnuts with Sadie and other fun

Last weekend we had a wonderful visit from Jill, Mark, and Sadie.  It was Mark's first opportunity to meet Wyatt, and, of course, Wyatt liked him instantly.

As always, when we get together there is much eating, walking, and talking.  We ate pho and banh mi, Ethiopian, Snappy Dragon, and even made homemade doughnuts.  We walked a couple times around Green Lake, and we visited several playgrounds.  All of this was only made better by good conversations of the sort you can only have with those whom you have known for what seems like always.

Without doubt, one of the highlights for me was making Cinderella pumpkin doughnuts with Sadie.  She carefully measured, stirred, and mixed the entire recipe, including separating one of the eggs herself, while I read the recipe directions and made sure nobody turned the Kitchen Aid all the way up to 10.  I've always enjoyed cooking with kids and this was kid cooking at its best.  Once the dough was mixed we let it chill for only a fraction of the recommended time -- well, because we wanted to eat them of course -- and then patted out the sticky dough, cut it into doughnuts, and passed them on baking sheets to Byron at his outdoor frying station.  After they were fried, Sadie and Jill dipped them all in a cinnamon glaze (which sounds spicy but really was perfect).  And just about as fast as they were glazed, we ate them. Excellent fun!

The weekend went way too fast, but we did out best to eek all the fun and together-time we could from the three days we had with them.  My pictures from our time together are spotty as I was too busy having a good time. Jill also posted some pics and stories from our time together here.

One other highlight of the weekend was the whole suitcase of hand-me-down books and toys and puzzles that Sadie generously brought to give to Wyatt, including Dressy Bessy and Rody, which he is thoroughly enjoying.

We missed them the instant they got back on the plane, but we're looking forward to our next trip together in December -- to the sun!

Walking (or riding) around Green Lake

Story time with Jill and Sadie

The doughnut frying man

Doughnut cheerleaders

Chef Sadie measured all the ingredients for the doughnuts and made the magic glaze for our doughnuts

Turns out babies love doughnuts too

Rody -- one of the toys Sadie gave to Wyatt -- has delicious ears

At the playground at Green Lake