Granola

5 reasons to make this right now:

1) It's more affordable than store-bought granola.
2) It stays fresh for at least 2 weeks in a sealed container on a shelf (but it probably won't make it that long before you devour it).
3) If you have a Scott, you can mix it with a little plain yogurt and he will eat it up all by himself, without any adult assistance, for breakfast or a snack.
4) It smells wonderful while baking.
5) That will probably make your housemates think YOU are wonderful.

And you are!

3 c old-fashioned oats (not instant! and Dad Koop & I think Quaker's are the best!)
1/4 c cooking oil (Canola or veg, not olive, or subs melted butter)
1/4 c honey (go short)
1/4 c brown sugar (go short)
1 c shredded sweetened coconut (if unsweet, may want full measure honey/sugar)
chopped nuts, raisins, dried berries as desired
wheat germ or a little flax seed if you have it around

Preheat oven to 250F.

Pour oats in a large baking pan. Add brown sugar, oil, honey and mix well to coat oats. (Measure out in that order so that the oil helps the honey slide off cup.)
Add coconut and extras. Mix.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, turning every 10-15, until lightly golden. Oats will crisp as they cool.

The only downside to this is that the granola doesn't really clump together. I've heard you can add a little water to your hands prior to baking and try to form clumps, but I didn't have success with that. No clumps, no big deal.

Camping

Last weekend we went camping with friends. Skyline Sanborn county park is 25 minutes from our front door and beautiful! Allow me to share.

HOW TO CAMP, Team Wagner-style:

You load your equipment into a camp cart and push it, slowly, up a steep hill. (Rather, you load your equipment into a cart and watch admiringly as your young, fit husband sweats and pushes it up the hill and you walk behind him, even more slowly, with your big pregnant belly.) When you get to the top, you set up your tent and then walk just a little further uphill to a creek and small waterfall, whose sound will later lull you to sleep.

At sunset, you light a campfire and cook up some beans & hot dogs. Later, you make s'mores with high quality Lindt chocolate bars that your awesome camp-mates brought because they are Australian and do not believe in Hershey's. Delish. Since it's summer at Skyline, you consider going down the hill to see the Shady Shakespeare play that is performed in the clearing, but you find yourselves too caught up in lounging and watching the toddlers happily roll about in the dust to bother.

If you've done camping correctly, you should at some point find your little one exhausted. Now it is time for a tent nap, one of the best kinds of naps. You may want to join in.

Sweet dreams!

Kenniser Kenniser

AT&T customer service uses call centers that I suspect are in a foreign land, where KENNISER KENNISER is a more common name than JENNIFER WAGNER:


But once there is a name on your account, it's nearly impossible to change. Odd that they insist on verifying your social security number but don't care if it matches the name, huh?

JaegerMonkey

Luke's work project, JaegerMonkey, has been getting some internet press lately with Hacker News and reddit linking to nicely written blog posts by Luke's coworker and friend Mr. Anderson. (David's blog is inspiring. I always like reading experts' addresses to the lay people.) Look for JaegerMonkey and faster JavaScript in the 4.0 release of Firefox! I'm proud of Luke and his open source work, and I'm doing my best to keep this baby boy inside where he's easier to care for until the JaegerMonkey September 1st deadline.

Check out the awesome framed, signed, numbered poster Luke was given as a thank you. Totally cool and way more fun to look at than the diplomas that are still sitting on our closet shelf in tubes.

I find myself, again, envying Luke's perseverance. He can stick-to-it like nobody's business. He's back at the office tonight, hacking away at the to-do list. By nature, I love to start projects and I love to sprint through the first half of them, but I have to drag myself over the finish line. I hope I can absorb some of his pacing and steadfastness in the next decade.

So little

Cleaning up video archives this week. Look how little he used to be ...

Adventures with Grandparents

After the weekend with both pairs of grandparents, Scott set off on a cross-country trip with my parents. They left California and camped and adventured their way out to the family reunion in Minnesota. (Dad is the eldest male Koop.) Mom & Dad took video on our new little iPod nano (so cute) and here, in less than 7 minutes, is their week:



I love you parents! I'm so very glad Scott knows you. I can't believe that we are so lucky as to have two sets of grandparents who are so loving, dedicated, and smitten with Grandson that they come all the way out here to spend time with him. And that I'm so lucky as to have had a whole week with just Luke. What a life. I am a princess. The end.

Maxed out (not credit cards)

This weekend, I flew to Minnesota for the family reunion and to pick up Scott, who had driven out with my parents (more about our week of adventure to come). We returned on a completely full flight from Chicago to San Francisco (just over 5 hours on the plane). On one ticket, we had:

34 weeks pregnant me (35 or 36 is the cut-off)
22+ month-old Scott (24 months is the cut-off)
Backpack and purse carry-ons
Stroller, gate-checked
Car seat, checked free of charge

I think we have set a record for maximum amount of humans/luggage that can travel in one seat. It was actually kind of fun, especially since Scott has turned into the best little traveler. He politely talked to the tweenage girl seated next to us through take off and then listened to George Winston piano solos on the iPod until he fell asleep, not awaking until we got off the plane. Amazing child.