You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April, 2009.
Eric and I are serial wasters. It seems like every other trash day we’re dumping expired milk, moldy oranges, soggy lettuce, that huge bunch of cilantro that I used 4 leaves of. It’s bad…we’re ashamed…but be encouraged, we’re working to remedy it. So this morning when we were about to toss 2 well-over-ripe bananas, we stopped ourselves, and concluded to come up with something fantastic from this delicious food we let pass it’s prime.
A little Google Searching and aha! A nifty website I will probably reference once a week from now on, called What Can I Make With It. Of all the suggestions we chose to make some banana muffins which turned out great. A perfect little snack for me and the bean. She loved them and made a hot mess in the consumption process.
Once again, Google to the rescue. I already checked and unfortunately there’s nothing you can make with soggy lettuce or moldy oranges. Too bad.
Em was in her chair watching a little bit of Elmo’s World tonight, while I was in the kitchen preparing dinner before Eric got home. I looked over my shoulder to check on her and thought “oh my goodness, she’s beautiful”! So I had to stop to take a few pictures.
We had the privilege of spending the weekend at Camp Howlett in Lake Arrowhead. We enjoyed the weekend with the Millers, Wheelers, and Clearys (that’s 8 adults and 5 kiddos) for a relaxing, fun-filled weekend amongst great friends and the great outdoors.
Johnsons
Millers
Wheelers
Clearys
We stayed at the Howlett’s beautiful yet comfortable home, which sits high above the lake with descending steps to the waters edge. This was the view from the deck off the main house. Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. While I love Ladera, I must admit its lacking a bit of authentic nature. The Howlett’s home was built around the trees. They have holes cut out of the deck so that trees grow up through it. We spent a lot of time there with Emily watching squirrels leap from the branches all around us. She loved the squirrels. Besides the beauty of our surroundings it is so nice to stay at their home where every accommodation is considered: the fridge is stocked, they have movies, games, plenty of decks of cards, a pool table, a hot tub, cozy 600 thread count sheets, luxurious bath towels, 5 pack n plays!, basically anything you would ever need that you may have forgotten…it’s way better than staying at a hotel. Way better.
We all arrived Friday and stayed through Sunday afternoon. It was great fun to spend such concentrated time with these friends, and fun to see all the kids interact. We enjoyed elaborate meals together (each couple was responsible for one), we went for a long walk around the lake with all the kiddos in backpacks, the guys went for an unintentionally intense mountain bike ride (everyone but Wheeler came back with moderate injuries, and blood dripping down their legs). But the most fun probably came around 7:30pm when all the kids were in bed, we got out dessert, and played games till much too late. Despite all of Eric’s threats Wheeler never got thrown in the lake. And despite Jenny’s attempt of poisoning our throats with poblano chiles, we all survived the weekend.
Thank you so much Millers and Howletts! We all had an amazing time.
I’m the kind of girl that prides herself in going to the beach with a bathing suit on and a very small tote in hand to carry my towel, a small snack and perhaps a piece of reading material.
I recall many summers of seeing other people coming to the beach with umbrellas and beach chairs and coolers and toys and sunscreen and hats and boogie boards and other sorts of excess. And I recall pitying those people.
OK, I’m about to become that person.
After a couple visits to the beach now with Emily, I’m convinced that in order to make it all that it can be there is a certain amount of packing, planning, stuff, effort, etc. on the front end that can make our day a whole bunch better. We went as a family over the weekend and Eric showed me how to “Do it Right”. Umbrella (most important, and the part I’ve most boycotted), beach toys, extra large towel, sunscreen (I’m Italian, I don’t see this as a necessity), beach chair, a plethora of snacks and drinks, and so much more. While I hated every second of parking, unloading, walking down to the beach all sweaty, and setting it all up…all that work made our beach day SO MUCH FUN! Not to mention that Emily had way more fun, which means we have way more fun 
Here are some sweet pictures of Em enjoying the beach:
Making sand castles
Watching the surfers with Daddo
Leading the way
Loving the freezing cold water
We’re officially ready for summer! Next up, swim lessons.
