A Peek at Our Week 2011: Week 30

Saturday, July 23

We spent the weekend at the lake with Honey and Happy.  We were all about the water...tubing, skiing, swimming, diving, and boat riding.  I can never get enough of watching my boys have fun!
 

Sunday, July 24

Happy saved the day and took a picture of Will while he was on the tube solo.  The little man would never have forgiven me if I didn't have a picture of his AWESOME ride.  After his turn, he kept telling me that "there aren't many four year olds that can do that."  I assured him that I thought he was the only one!

Monday, July 25

Jack is spending the week with Gramma and Granddaddy.  Today, they went geocaching.  The cache they found was named "Dinner and a Movie."  It was located behind a restaurant in front of the shopping center where a movie theater is located.  A high-tech scavenger hunt and one cool grandmother who knows how to do it!

 

Tuesday, July 26

Mrs. Adela has been cutting the boys' hair ever since Jack was 18 months old.  She knows where every single cowlick is on Jack's head, she loves every single crazy curl on Will's, and she makes me feel like my boys are her two most favorite little guys in the whole world.  That Mrs. Adela is special, and we LOVE her!

Wednesday, July 27

It was a double playdate day...Will and Paul spent the morning at Paul's house and the afternoon at our house and the pool.  I thought they looked so cute sitting in the chair together while playing Wii.  And Paul is such a ham.  As soon as I showed up with my camera, he started making silly faces...in every single picture.  Crazy kid!!

Thursday, July 28

Yep, Granddaddy doubles as our dentist.  Will did great during his cleaning.  He was very cooperative, followed all of the hygienist's instructions, and watched TV while wearing the rock star sunglasses.  He looks so biiiiiggg!  I'm happy to report that he is cavity free.  Will is happy to report that he got to get a toy out of the treasure chest.

Friday, July 29

Wow!  Just wow!  It was a brownie a la mode for a giant.  What a great way to start the weekend.

At the Lake with Honey and Happy

We spent the weekend at the lake with Happy and Honey and it was the best time!

Honey and Happy brought our niece Alexis and her friend Mallory up for the weekend, and they were so sweet to Jack and Will, who loved hanging out with them because they are 14!

Mallory and Alexis

We did alot of tubing this weekend.

The girls would take turns riding with the boys in the 3 seater and then the boys would come out and the girls would ride alone.  And that is when things out really serious!

Brent would fly Alexis and Mallory across the wake so fast that I thought they would flip.  And the girls would flash him the thumbs up "FASTER" sign no matter how fast he was going.

Jack loves the one man tube.  And he is really good, too.

He battled some waves...

And even went airborne, all at 20 mph, and Daddy could never flip him off the raft.   Awesome!

The lake was busy this weekend.  Lots of tubers and skiers made for some rough waters, which means good waves!

A wave for Mom.  Jack and Will tubed together.

Some pretty good waves and lots of smiles!

I love the fact that Jack and Will are growing up on the water and that they both enjoy it so much!

 Will would want you to know that he did the one man tube ALL BY HIMSELF!  He was so proud.  He would also tell you that "I am really good at this.  I am AWESOME."  (No self-esteem worries with Will.)  But I didn't get a picture of it (**But Happy did!  Yay, Happy!**) because I was watching him like a hawk in case he fell off.  Which he never did, even going 13 mph, because he is AWESOME.

Oh, and what do we have here?!?!

That would be me on skis!  It was alot of fun, and just like riding a bike, you never forget how.  And thank goodness Dad didn't know how to work the zoom!

We did give Brent a break from pulling us all across the lake, so that he could rest and enjoy a few beers.

 

And Jack and Will showed off their jumps.

Will doing the pencil dive.

Cannonball!

The 360.

I don't know the name of this jump, but I sure do love the expression on his face!

We spent most of the weekend outside, but we did manage to sneak in some electronic time!

We love Angry Birds, Ant Smasher, Cut the Rope and just about any other game on Happy's iPad!

I don't know if we could even go to the lake without making s'mores.  It is a must.

We tried out the jumbo marshmallows this time.

There were some complaints from the peanut gallery.  They take longer to roast, and you needed to position them correctly so they don't fall off the skewer, but I liked them.

And so did this little guy!

And after a full day of fun at the lake...

We were out cold each night!

One of the reasons I love summer so much, good times with family!  Can't wait until next time...

A Peek at Our Week 2011: Week 29

Saturday, July 16

We have seen Mr. Cottontail hopping around our backyard several times, but today he stopped for a rest long enough for me to take his picture.  Jack commented, "Oh, Daddy is going to be so angry.  He doesn't like wildlife in our yard.  They eat his plants."  Daddy is our very own Mr. McGregor!

Sunday, July 17

We are giving the master bedroom a makeover!  We had to make a choice between professional painters or a new dresser, there wasn't room in the budget for both.  The new dresser won!  Today, we pulled everything out of the bedroom and stored it in the playroom so that we could paint this week.

 

Monday, July 18

One coat of primer, two coats of paint, and then the trim.  It'll be alot of painting.  But I'll be so happy when they roll that new dresser in!

Tuesday, July 19

After dinner, I announced that we had a special dessert...M&M cookie ice cream sandwiches!  During the excited squeals, Jack said, "Will, you were born for these!"  Because Will has never met a treat he didn't like, especially the sugar variety!  I love how he is holding his hand out as if to say "No pictures, please.  I have serious work here with this ice cream sandwich."

Wednesday, July 20

They have been begging to paint all week.  So we put them in Brent's old undershirts, handed them rollers, and gave them strict instructions about where to paint.  Jack is old enough that he is a good painter; Will did fine, but you have to watch him like a hawk.  Jack said his rates are $30/hr...yikes!  But he did agree to settle for a trip to Yogli Mogli tomorrow afternoon instead.

Thursday, July 21

We stopped by Yogli Mogli on the way home from camp this afternoon.  The boys got ahead of me in line so I didn't see their creations until we got to the register to pay.  Look at the size of Jack's yogurt!!!  As we were walking to our table, a lady asked me "Is he going to eat all that?"  Well, yes ma'am, he did.  Every last bite.

Friday, July 22

There were only 5 kids at the pool this afternoon, and the set of sisters brought water balloons, which provided a whole afternoon of entertainment.  They filled the baby pool with their water balloon pets...Alex, Archie, Tiny, Wormy, and The Dude...and they played games with the balloons.  Even the lifeguard joined in the fun with a game of balloon toss.  An interesting twist to our usual afternoon at the pool.

   

The Cajun Doughnut

On our family beach vacations, breakfast is a big deal.  We start the day off with a big breakfast together before everyone scatters to play, read, ride bikes, and relax.  We usually do eggs, grits, bacon & toast, or pancakes & bacon, and sometimes breakfast shrimp & grits and bacon....but always bacon!  haha

This year, Brent treated us to homemade beignets that were fabulous, and dare I say, even rivaled Cafe du Monde's?!?!?

Brent used a beignet recipe from The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine, not a only fantastic collection of all the wonderful Lousiana recipes, but also a history of the cuisine.  It is fun just to sit and read through it like a novel.

New Orleans Beignet

10-12 servings

• 1 package dry yeast
• 4 Tbsp warm water
• 3 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 1/4 c milk
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 c melted butter
• vegetable oil for deep frying
• powdered sugar for dusting

In a measuring cup, combine yeast and warm water.  Using a teaspoon, stir to blend well then set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, salt and sugar until well blended.  With a wooden spoon, stir in blossomed yeast, milk, eggs and butter.  Mix until dough is formed.  Cover with a dish towel and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.  

Heat vegetable oil to 350 in a home-style deep fryer.  Turn dough onto a lightly-floured surface.
  

 Knead once or twice 

 and roll out 3/8 - 1/2 inch thick.  

 Cut dough into 3 inch squares and deep fry beignets, 2-3 at a time, approximately 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown and puffed.  

 Remove beignets from oil, drain and 

 dust generously with powdered sugar.

 

 Try to eat just one ;-)

Enjoy!

Hilton Head Vacation 2011

We had a great time at the beach!  I already shared a little about our vacation here.  This year's vacation was as close to perfect as we could ask for.  The weather was wonderful...temperatures were in the high 80s and low 90s all week with a nice breeze the entire time.  We also got smart and set up a tailgating tent on the beach, and the added shade allowed us to stay on the beach the entire day!  Wonderful!

Here were some of our favorite activities:

1) Building sandcastles of different varieties

Even the daddies built sandcastles this year.  They were given the challenge to build a sandcastle that could withstand high tide.

 It was an engineering marvel!  It had walls, pools and channels strategically placed to direct the water away from the sandcastle (in the very back with the driftwood flag).  As long as the driftwood was standing after high tide, then Daddy had "defeated nature!"

The test begins...

It looks like it will hold.

In the end, the sandcastle was able to withstand 2 high tides and Daddy defeated nature!  He celebrated with a beer!

2) Riding the waves on the boogie board

 Jack riding the waves

Jack and Granddaddy were a great team this year.  Jack knew just how to control the board and Granddaddy could pick out the best waves to carry him all the way into the shore.  It was so much fun to watch.

Will the surfer boy

Will loved boogie boarding and could not get enough of it.  One day, the water was rough and the waves were pounding him, but Will would not give up.  He wanted to ride those waves! 

3) Playing on the beach

4) Celebrating our country's birthday

 We start the morning off with the Firecracker 5000 5K race...

 

 Proof that I actually ran in the race.

And end the day watching the fireworks over the Harbour Town lighthouse.

5) Exploring a local farmer's market

Sampling the Lowcountry's version of gumbo.  It was different than the Cajun gumbo that we are used to, but it was good enough for us to buy a bowl to share!  Two of my other favorite samplings were the caramalized onion and pickled beet hummus and the soybean pesto...both were so good!

Jack and Will's favorite was dancing to the Cupid Shuffle at the Music Man's tent.

It was a great vacation and we all can't wait to go back next year!