Florida- part deux!

While we were beginning our vacation, my cousin Jessica and her friends were wrapping theirs up. We had a day overlap and we decided to meet in Cocoa Beach for a little dinner and conversation. Most of the girls were attending OSU and had met because of their fondness for Harry Potter : ) I think the restaurant was called Captain J's. The food was good, the service slow, but I had crab cakes made with real crab. Yum!

Jess and her gal pals having dinner with us in Cocoa Beach

This was the walkway that leads to the beach.

Owen and Mama on the beach

My friend Dawn suggested I take some water wings for the swimming pool. She is a genius! The child turned into a little fish. He was floating and racing and really enjoying the pool. The water was pretty deep so these were perfect. Seriously. I can't say it enough. Perfect! Thanks for the loan of water wings, Dawn! Such a smart mama!

Beautiful sky

Oh, Summer! Miss you already!

Florida! 2009 Vacation!! Whoo hoo!

Well it only took a few years but we finally went on a non-holiday vacation. We were able to go down to to Florida and spend a week on the coast. The Atlantic Ocean was awe inspiring with the waves crashing against the shore and the vastness of the water and sky would humble the biggest giant. It was beautiful!

We were lucky enough to be right on the beach, just a few stories up. It afforded us beautiful views and easy beach access. G'Ma and G'Pa really made the trip happen for us. They organized the housing, the food, the activities, the car, and the I think they may have even ordered the perfect weather! All we had to do was enjoy it : ) I have so many pictures of our trip it will take about 3 or 4 posts to get even a portion of it in!

Troy and I were so excited to have Owen visiting the beach. He was tentative for about a second with the big waves and soon he was running full force into them. Even as he was being tossed and pulled he was thrilled. The rip tide was very strong, so the bunch of us would form a line in the water and catch the little booger when the tide pulled him out. Talk about scary from mom's perspective. I thought my heart would fall out every time the waves pulled and pushed him, but that child just laughed and ran back in.

So you can see that we spent the majority of our time on the beach. At least once or twice a day we were playing in the sand and enjoying the waves. I miss it. I want to go back.

Mama Bear Celebrates 34!

I am the first one to admit that I have a charmed life. I have a home and a family. Friends who love me and whom I adore. Oh, and enough Tootsie Rolls to last a lifetime.

When your loving spouse asks you what you want for your birthday while you are strolling the candy isle at Costco and you see a giant tub of tootsie goodness and you say "That! I want that huge tub of Tootsie Rolls!" beware- you may just get the 280 count of candy goodness- especially if you ask for nothing else.

Not that I am complaining. (I'm not!) I am steadily chipping away at the Tootsie's and have managed to cram them all into the corner cookie jar so as not to appear completely gluttonous when guests pop over. And truly, I never would have said anything if I didn't absolutely love them. Of course we will see if almost 300 pieces of candy cures my predilections or not.

For my birthday dinner this year I picked out a lovely fillet mignon and Papa treated himself to a porterhouse. We had baked potatoes, corn, and salad. Yum!!! I love birthday dinners!

What birthday meal is complete without a cake? We had an ice cream log cake from DQ per my request. I love it. I really do. It doesn't compare to the homemade ice cream cake that Troy made me a few years ago, but it's a good second.

I would love to tell you all my birthday wish but we know it won't come true if I do (hey- those are the universal birthday rules- I have no say on the matter) so you have to trust me when I say it was a good one. Keep your fingers crossed for me ;p

Happy 34th Birthday to me!

I should add my birthday was at the end of May- I'm a little behind in my postings.

How does your garden grow?

Well, we finally decided to try our hands at gardening. Papa built us a great little 4x4 foot garden box and a fantastic deer/bunny proof fence! I gave him a bit of grief for it taking 3 days to build the enclosure, but it really is wonderful and I have eaten my words. Now hopefully soon we will be able to eat out of veggie garden. We have broccoli, peppers, onion, cucumber, spinach, and lettuce. Yum! Wish us luck- it's our first garden : )

Happy Birthday Papa Bear!!!

April 14th, 2009 Papa Bear turned 35 years old!!!

This year we got Papa a fun gift - Owen and I picked out racquetball racquets for Troy's present this year. He also got a spiffy new bicycle a few weeks before. And a helmet! Safety first!!

The requested birthday dinner this year: Spaghetti Spinach Pie, a salad with pepperoni, mozzarella, bacos, and Italian dressing, a loaf of garlic bread, and milk to drink.

Now I don't know how many people have attempted to make a spring formed spaghetti pie, but other than being multi-stepped, it wasn't so bad. And to toot my own horn- it tasted GREAT. Yeah to me for making a tomato meringue.

Dessert was a requested Poke-n-Pour cake. White cake, poked multiple times with a fork, strawberry liquid jello to pour over into the holes, and topped with Cool Whip. you might notice the crazy strawberry design on top of the cake. There was a reason for that. When the Cool Whip container says not to stir it up as causes the whip to get liquidy, well, they ain't lying. I failed to let it defrost for the suggested 4 hours before use so I tried to thaw it with a few stirs. Don't. Mistakes were made! So I decided to try to hide the soupish Cool Whip with lots of fresh berries. It may have been a bit ugly but it was still super tasty and we devoured it!

Owen put on the candles- there were MANY : )

Make a wish, Papa Bear!!!
Happy Birthday Sweetie. We love you so much. I hope all of your wishes come true!

Easter Breakfast 2009

This year for Easter we made bunny shaped pancakes!

Here is Papa bear and Chief showing off their yummy bunnies!

I'm not quite sure how I missed taking pictures of the goody basket, but I did! not that the child missed out on any candy. Not only did he receive a basket from the great bunny himself, but Grandma and Grandpa sent a chocolate filled delivery all the way from Georgia! We had (have) lots of goodies :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Coloring Eggs

A few days before Easter Owen and I sat down to an afternoon of Easter Egg coloring. He had such a great time! I was going to be the super enviro-mom and treat him to all natural egg coloring with boiling vegetables, but the standard vinegar and water colored dye tabs beckoned me as we meandered through Target's isles. They were non- toxic, so what the heck :)

We used crayons to color on the eggs before we dipped them.

He started getting really good with the bent wire dipping spoon.

Look at that! the child was very proud of his egg coloring skills and I was proud of him, too!

I think he was more excited to eat the eggs than to color them. He loves the white part, not so much the yolk. A little sprinkle of salt and voila! An egg-stra special snack!