Oink from Austin

It's kind of funny that this post is following the one where I talk about our CSA subscription and all the healthy non-processed food we are going to eat. To celebrate Chris's birthday we drove 45 minutes to the small town of Austin, home of Hormel and the Spam Museum. (See, I told you we were doing something you can only do in the midwest!)

We started the day with balloons and presents because Penny was a crazy jumping bean about both.

This morning I told Penny the letters and she wrote it on the card. I know this is normal for a 3-year-old, but it still amazes me to see her do it.

And the inside of the card with her name. So here's the funny story about writing words. Over a month ago we got an email from my sister-in-law with a photo of my nephew Dylan. He had written his name. I said "that's so cool!! Wait! Oh my gosh. Penny is nowhere near writing her name. I'm failing as a mom. Pennnnnnyyyy....come here! We have to write your name" yeah. great parenting moment, huh? We've been tracing letters, and she has been doing "P" for a while. Thankfully they've also started working on it at school. Her teachers said she has been so excited to practice writing her name. This week was when it really became legible and in the right order. She does have an issue  with putting a lot of lines on the E. She says it needs more than 3 lines.  It is amazing to look at the scribble from a month ago and see all the words she can write now.

Our Grandpa DiNanno glasses! Penny and I got a few fun toys for Daddy.

Here we are at the Spam museum! I've never eaten Spam so I was a little unsure of what we were getting into. It is a free museum so at least that was a positive. Kind of like living in DC and being able to go to all the free Smithsonian museums...okay, not really at all like that.

Penny and the farmer. 

Some kids get to meet Mickey Mouse...ours meets the spam can.

Ewwww...Spam pizza! Okay, so here's the thing with spam. I don't really understand it, even after going to the museum. Today I learned there is actually a short list of ingredients: pork from the shoulder, ham, salt, water and sodium nitrate. It's weird that they list ham separate from pork. Isn't ham pork too? I guess it is to let us know that they've added an already processed meat into this processed canned meat product. Even after going through the museum I still don't get how they make it safe, but penny was pulling on my arm when I was trying to read about the canning process so I didn't get to read all of it. Did you know Americans eat a can of Spam every 3 seconds? In Hawaii, their consumption equals 4 cans of spam per person. What is their blood pressure like?!

Here's what surprised me...the museum was really well done. There was a ton of history to focus around Spam and the  last 100 years. They had great exhibits about every decade and a good film. You won't believe this, but Tom Brokaw spoke at the Spam museum. There's a big section about the GIs and the amount of Spam they ate during WWII so it fits right in with his "The Greatest Generation" book. He came to unveil the memorial to all the Hormel workers who went to war. 

Cafe from a Monty Python skit about spam. Unfortunately besides Chris's best efforts I have never watched more than 15 minutes of Monty Python. I don't get it. 

I do appreciate a good cafe and an oversized coffee mug though. 

The Spam museum did not give out free samples so I'm still Spam-free. But that didn't mean we didn't indulge on meat today. After the Spam museum we headed over to Piggy Blues Bar-B-Que. (And to think I was a strict vegetarian for 7 years!) They did have a spam burger on the menu. The woman at the Spam gift shop said all the restaurants in town have at least 1 spam menu item. We stuck to the regular BBQ fare. Delicious! 

Then of course, it was the birthday cake! Penny could not wait to see Chris blow out the candles.

And that's a 31st birthday!!
 The Nintendo shirt was one of the birthday presents from me. Now if you've been following our blog for a while you may notice that Chris will wear a t-shirt forever, especially if it is one he thinks is funny. I did wonder "do I think this shirt is funny enough to see him wear it for the next decade?" before I ordered it. Oh, and I do not plan to partake in his Spam purchases.