Make your own Oreos

Want something a little healthier than Oreos? Here ya go... And since they won't last years, ya gotta eat 'em fast. OK! I wonder if a version of s'mores is in here somehow?...

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sandwich-cookie-filling-recipe

2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar or glazing sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cold water, or enough to make the filling cohesive
INSTRUCTIONS
Beat together the sugar, shortening, salt, and vanilla. The mixture will seem very dry at first, but will eventually begin to clump together.
Add the water, beating until smooth and spreadable. The filling should be stiff, but not so stiff that you can't flatten it when you sandwich it between your cookies.
For best presentation, roll pieces of filling into a ball before gently flattening atop cookie bottoms, and adding cookie tops.
Yield: a heaping 1 1/2 cups filling, enough to fill about 24 to 30 medium (about 2 1/2") sandwich cookies.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chocolate-wafers-recipe

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup black cocoa
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
INSTRUCTIONS
Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, or more if you have them; you'll make 3 to 4 baking sheets' worth of cookies.
To make the cookies: In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the sugar, butter, salt, baking powder, and espresso powder.
Beat in the egg and vanilla, then the flour and cocoa. Cover the dough, and chill for 30 minutes. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Roll the dough about 1/8" thick; use cocoa instead of flour to dust your rolling board and the dough.
Cut into 2 ½"-round cookies. A biscuit cutter is handy for this.
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Watch them closely at the end of the baking time, and if you start to smell chocolate before 10 minutes has gone by, take them out. When they're done, remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool completely.
To make stack cakes: Whisk together the heavy cream and other ingredients. When blended, whip until the cream holds a soft peak.
Place one cookie on a small plate. Put about a tablespoon of whipped cream on top; our teaspoon cookie scoop, heaped up, works well here.
Top with a second cookie, using it to compress the whipped cream to about a ¼"-thick layer.
Repeat with 4 more cookies, finishing with a layer of whipped cream.
Refrigerate from 4 to 24 hours before serving.

Pool Fun

Shenanigans in the pool after the crowds and the lightning cleared out...

A Walk and a Run Scored

AJ's team won this game by quite a margin. Here's one of AJ's at-bats: a walk and a run scored.

Cervical Collar

Jonny's recent MRI showed the decompression still looks great but there's some instability issues in his spinal column (possibly) causing pain problems again. So we are doing a trial run in a cervical collar for the next week to see if that improves his symptoms. Pray it helps and it’s not a battle to keep on. So far so good. He got a very good night's sleep last night with the collar, even slept in!  #chiarimalformation #chiariawareness

Rock Climbing Camp

If that doesn't sound like the best idea ever for AJ! Today's the end of two weeks of rock climbing camp at CityROCK Climbing Center in downtown Colorado Springs. They've even got a cave to climb in. And in downtown!

Tracy got some good shots.

AJ's got his hair back in a pony tail for climbing in the
cave. He and Matteo are growing their hair to donate
to St. Baldrick's Foundation next Spring.
They need at least 8" to donate.
Sorry it's not a better photo of AJ, but the point was
to show the very cool climbing facilities.

Miscellany from Vickie's Visit

Aunt Vickie left this morning to return home. What a fantastic visit. If you haven't been following along, here are some highlights covered in other posts:

Mount Herman Trail hike
Class 3 whitewater rafting
Gators and Gorges
Rocks and Railroading
Alamosa, CO
Pool with Aunt Vickie

And below are some miscellaneous final pieces...

A church downtown Colorado Springs. We were walking around with Susan.

The Lucky Dumpling, Brother Luck's newest restaurant.
The "Not So German Egg Rolls" really aren't very German! But very good.

Mochi Butter Cake.

Da da da du, da da da du, da da da du. They're...

Vickie's feet at the Club.

Mount Herman Trail

There's a Mount Herman Trail here in Colorado Springs area. It's also known as Monument Preserve Bike Loop. And there's a Mount Hermon in California that's a very popular church camp and conference center. Who knew?! Today, five of us set out for the trail just north of the west end of Baptist Road (Monument, CO area): Nana, Aunt Vickie, Fina, AJ, and me. We didn't cover anywhere near all of it (the area is riddled with unmarked trails), but some of us did make it to the rock formation. Below are Vickie's pics. Jamie's pics are here. Oh, we were told by another hiker that there was a bear spotted in the area this morning. While I kinda wanted to see it, we never did.

Seen only in the photo. AJ is convinced it's an angel.
Some odd light reflection thing, no doubt.

(One of my pics so we get Vickie on here.)