Author Archives: Andrea Middleton

Currently at Reddit, I spent 10 years as a community organizer on the WordPress open source project. I'm also an avid reader, wine enthusiast, and parent of two.

An effective way to ask to wear someone else’s sunglasses:

Baxter: “Mom, I wish I was you.”

Me: “You do? Why?”

Baxter: “Because I like your sunglasses. Because I like red, and I also like white!”

Me: “And you like polka dots?”

Baxter: “Yes!”

success

Double chocolate half-birthday cake

 

three and a half candles
 
I made my first buttercream frosting today, for Baxter’s half-birthday party. He was born on Christmas Day, so we throw him a small half-birthday party every summer to give him the “kid party” experience. 🙂 He asked for a chocolate cake, and I really delivered! Homemade-from-scratch dark chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting: a rich and decadent success based on current polls. Bax had his big piece and then ate half of mine. Happy 3 and 1/2, sweet boy!  

napping after our waterfall adventure yesterday

Hiking Multnomah Falls

 

the falls in all their glory: 671 feet
  
amelia and kennedy before the hike
  
baxter shayed with daddy and grandpa
the view from the bridge
  
smallest cave ever
  
one switchback from the crest
  
we made it to the top!
  
sweaty trio selfie
  
i love this picture
  
the falls before the FALLS
  
looking over the cliff
  
the columbia river, from the top of the crest
  
kennedy rests before we walk down
  
amelia rests too
 

What we’re drinking this summer

Refreshing lemon-mint water
Hibiscus-mint tea

I like to have cool drinks in the fridge during the summer to keep us all hydrated and, well, cool. Tom is crazy-fond of hibiscus-mint tea (lightly sweetened), and I’m enjoying keeping a pitcher filled with water in the fridge, with some lemon slices and a sprig of mint in it.

We started making hibiscus mint tea in Austin, where nearly every grocery store has bags of dried hibiscus flowers in the produce section. Here in Portland, Latino foods are not nearly as ubiquitous, so I ended up just ordering a pound each of bulk mint and hibiscus through Amazon. It comes from the same company that supplies nearly every bulk bin you’ve ever used, called Frontier. The price is right, and we’re enjoying our healthy, refreshing herbal iced tea quite a lot these days. Well, Baxter loves it along with the resident adults; Amelia’s sticking with milk or (unadulterated) water.

Do you have favorite summer drinks? What are they?