Alex turned 13 last week. His actual birthday was on Tuesday, so we celebrated by taking him to Mikata (his favorite choice). Then, on Saturday we had a party at Surge Trampoline park. They were so tired they couldn’t even stand for the picture! Jumping for 2 hours = hungry and thirsty boys! So we brought them to CiCi’s for lunch. One of the boys got Alex a doll! It was quite a hit. Click the link below to see more pics from the party! https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/alex13thbirthdayparty
Rob’s cousin, Tara, recently got married. We drove down to Spring Hill Florida, which is about an hour north of Tampa. She had a Medieval Fantasy Themed Wedding at the Nature Coast Botanical Garden. It was lots of fun. Tara worked her fingers to the bone, but did a great job of delegating help that weekend. If you also want to have this kind of wedding, then you may start inquiring for affordable all-inclusive wedding packages with options for wedding ballrooms. And for grooms who still don’t have any ideas what to wear on their wedding day, you may consider…
On Day 5 of our West Coast trip, we checked out of our hotel and head towards the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove over it and then stopped for some photos. It was a chili, foggy day. We drove through Wine Country and stopped at a couple different wineries. The first one was Milano Family Winery. The lady there was friendly and educated us a bit on a few of their wines. We tasted a couple and ended up buying a bottle of Big A$$ Blonde, which is a white wine with fruity undertones. We paid around $15, I believe.…
This month I was happy about: getting to see Elton in concert so close to home in Columbus, GA. This year I’m going to rate the books & movies. Here’s my rating system: ♥ ♥ = Love it! A must read/see! ♥ = Really good! Highly recommend. ✓ ✓ = Good, not great ✓ = Not much to talk about X = Awful. Total waste of time TV Shows I watched were: NCIS ♥ NCIS LA ♥ NCIS NO ♥ CSI Cyber ♥ Hawaii 50 ♥ ♥ Amazing Race ♥ Survivor ✓ ✓ The Pioneer Woman (Food Network – mostly…
Dominica (doh-muh-NEE-ka) is known as the Nature Island. We eagerly woke up before the alarm…again. Did our normal routine of going to the dining room for breakfast. I had the same thing I had the day before, but Rob switched it up a bit and ordered French toast. We got off the ship and loaded the bus for our tour called Dominica’s Favorites. Our guide was amazing. Throughout the day he impressed upon us that Dominica is the nature island where they eat healthy and use all natural remedies for medicines when necessary. We saw this rainbow as we made…
During our Spring Break trip to Florida, we took a break from baseball and took Rob’s grandparents out to their niece’s house. She lives a ways out. It was a nice day and it’s always good to get Gramma and Grampa out for a little bit. If you or kids develop love or interest in ponies, its is advised to look for a source of knowledge about horses before you plan to buy and raise a horse of your own. Linda has lots of fun farm animals Willow is the coolest little dog around. The neighbor’s horse wanted to attention…
We woke up before the alarm went off and watched us dock at Antigua. We got dressed and went up for breakfast. We met some folks that cruise a lot. One of the guys has been on 75 cruises in 2 years. Oh the life of the retired…. It was interesting to listen to the 3 different couples talk about their cruising experiences and to hear what it’s like to be a Platinum or Diamond cruiser. Rob had Eggs Benedict wit OJ and I had pancakes, banana, bacon, and OJ. Rob isn’t used to eating breakfast, so he never eats…
After leaving San Juan about 10 pm the night before and getting to bed after that I still managed to wake up before the alarm went off. I looked out the window and saw that we weren’t docked quite yet. Rob and I got up and got dressed and headed to main dining hall for breakfast. Rob enjoyed Eggs Benedict, OJ, and hash browns. While I scarfed down scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, peach yogurt, and OJ. We went back to our cabin to go to the bathroom and pack our backpack for our day in St. Thomas. We had…
Rob loves him some Cadbury eggs, so I decided to try to incorporate that into one of my favorite desserts; brownies! These, Cadbury Mini-Brownie Bites, are so easy and yummy. Perfect for the Spring and Easter season. Servings: 20-24 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes Ingredients: 1 cup butter 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 2 tsp. vanilla extract 2/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder 1 cup all purpose flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. baking powder 2 packages of mini-Cadbury eggs (24 total) Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350° degrees. Prepare mini-muffin pan by spraying with non-stick spray.…
One of the things on our St. Thomas bucket list was to take the Skyride up to Paradise Point. It takes you up 700 ft. for amazing views of Charlotte Amalie, the boat harbor, as well as islands in the distance. Our plan was to ride up, have a drink or 2, and enjoy the views before heading back to the ship. The Bushwacker is the drink that St. Thomas is known for. so it was a must try. Rob wasn’t super thrilled about it because it had Kahlua in it. He’s not a fan of coffee flavored items. For…
This month I was happy about: Rob and Drew getting to go to Florida for Spring Training, while Alex and I hang at home for Spring Break. This year I’m going to rate the books & movies. Here’s my rating system: ♥ ♥ = Love it! A must read/see! ♥ = Really good! Highly recommend. ✓ ✓ = Good, not great ✓ = Not much to talk about X = Awful. Total waste of time Movies I watched were: White Water ♥ – This movie was filed just down the street in our neighboring town of Opelika. Here’s the book…
A few weeks ago, Rob and Drew spent a few days down in the Tampa area visiting with his Gramma and going to Spring Training games. Below I’ve outlined the 4 stadiums with a few pictures from each venue. Atlanta Braves Champion Stadium located at the ESPN World of Sports at Disney Spring Training home of the Braves from 1998-2019 (see this post for new Braves Spring Training Stadium in Venice) Capacity: 9,500 Lake Buena Vista, FL Things to know… Restaurants and village around ballpark Free parking in the small lots around the park Ballpark food selection was good…
Family Friday {Eagle Project Proposal} Drew wrote his plan for Eagle Project Proposal and he before the board last week. So exciting! This is one of the first steps in completing the Eagle Scout Project. Now he has to write the Project Plan and then assemble groups of people to carry out the plan. He is doing his project at Alex’s Elementary School. He is working with the P.E. teacher, who was his P.E. Teacher coming through elementary school and he really likes him and finds him easy to work with. I’ll write more about his plan later. Here he…
Flashback Friday{Spring Break} I didn’t have much to share about the family this week, which is just crazy. This was Spring Break and Rob and Drew were gone much of the week, I was thinking back to the Spring Breaks of the past. I scrolled through the pictures and found a few and decided to make this little collage. 1999 – Here’s Rob and Drew (14 months) somewhere in Florida. We were with Rob’s Gramma and Granpa staying in a condo they had rented while they looked for places to live. They were getting ready to move from Atlanta to…
Servings: 6 Prep Time: 25 min. Cooking Time: 25 min. Ingredients 24 uncooked jumbo pasta shells 1 lb. lean ground beef 1 large can of enchilada sauce 2 tbs. taco seasoning 1 cup of finely chopped onion 1 can (8 oz.) fire-roasted diced tomatoes 1 cup frozen corn 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained 1 cup shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend or cheddar cheese TOPPINGS: 8 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream 8 tablespoons salsa 1/4 cup sliced ripe olives 1/4 cup sliced green onions Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Cook pasta shells according to package directions;…
I’m always looking for easy ways to make yummy food a little healthier. I recently watched an episode of Trisha Yearwood on Food Network and decided to give it a try with a couple differences. If you’re kids need something to dip this in, you whip up some Fat-Free Honey Mustard Sauce or Chick-fil-A Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce. Servings: 4 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes Ingredients: 1 cup milk 1 tbs. hot sauce (Tabasco) 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 1/2 cups Panko breadcrumbs 1/2 cup powdered Parmesan 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp. paprika 1 lemon…
Family Friday {Blue & Gold Banquet} Last week was the annual Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet. It was our last one, since Alex is moving up to Boy Scouts in a few weeks. This years them was camping in the outdoors. The decorating committee did a great job decorating with tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, fake fire, and even Christmas trees to help really fill it in. The tables were numbered with yellow ‘tents.’ They also made little table decorations that looked like a camp fire surrounded by rocks. Inside of each one they put one of those plastic, battery…
The other night I had an itch to bake. I knew that Oatmeal Cookie Day was coming up, so I decided to make some! After making them, I had to look up and see what day in March it was. I was chagrined to find out there appears to be 2 different dates; one being today March 18 and the other bring April 30. I decided to post today, because it’s earlier. I love the way these Oatmeal cookies turned out. They are soft and chewy, but not so much that they become crumbly. Love that about good cookies! Servings:…
Often we think our chicken sandwiches or chicken fingers are to die for without the sauce. However, this sauce add another amazing layer of flavor that makes it totally worth the few minutes it takes to make. Servings: 4 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 0 minutes Ingredients: 2 tsp. dijon mustard 2 tbs. honey 1 tbs. fat-free mayonnaise 1 tsp. vinegar Directions: Mix together this ingredients and chill before serving. Fat Free Honey Mustard Sauce Print Prep time 5 mins Total time 5 mins Author: Lysha @ A Camera & A Cookbook Serves: 4 Ingredients 2 tsp.…