Saturday Night Dining Out

Eating is such a big part of the day with the young'uns as I have found.  I think my kitchen is only clean from 9 at night till 7 in the morning and the rest of the day it's in a perpetual state of progress. Dirty dishes waiting to be loaded into the dishwasher, out of the dishwasher, dishes to be handwashed and counters to wipe down, food to put away. Since we seem to have 6 meals a day, it never is all done at once. 

So last night we took dinner out of the kitchen and decided to make it a fun event somewhere else. With "Else" being at the park at the Blakeney shopping center. They have bands come in over the weekend in the evenings and people flock from all around with picnic blankets, food and games. And if you don't want to bring your own food? Don't worry, there are plenty of restaurants around the green to accomodate the luxury picnic. 

Bryan just learned to dance last week, so he was groovin and eating and thouroughly enjoying his Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich with a side of broccoli, carrots and pineapple.



I have to pat myself on the back because other than forgetting the picnic blanket in the hallway, I brought everything, including water shoes, clothes to get wet in, a bedtime diaper, a pair of pajamas to change into afterwards and bedtime cup of milk for the drive home.

This water jet play area at the park is ingenious and keeps the kids really entertained.  Here I am explaining the procedure to Bryan:

 He watches the other kids for a minute... "Oh I see what you do."

"You catch it like this."

"Oh, Man! It was a facer!" 

"Where did it go?"

We all had a great time getting out of the kitchen on a Saturday night. Maybe we should do this more often!

Guacamole on the Half Shell

Bryan and I came up with this brilliant way to have fresh guacamole. He likes this recipe because he can have it more often and I like it because it's fast, easy, is a single serving, uses no bowls, fewer ingredients and it's almost just as good as the full recipe.  I don't normally make guacamole dip often because 1) it goes brown if you don't eat it immediately 2) I don't like the flavor of lemon or lime that can be added to preserve it longer 3) I don't have a crowd over very often to justify making it because of reason #1. So this is what you can do in 30 seconds with one avocado, some salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin:

1) Cut the avocado in half. If you only want a small portion, save the half with the pit in it covered with saran wrap and place in the fridge.  Since Bryan and I both indulge, we use both halves. 

2) Season the half with salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin

 3) Add some more if you think it needs it

4) Mash with a fork in the shell until seasoning is well mixed
5) Dip in your chips and enjoy!

After Guacamole on the Half Shell, take a siesta and then play hard! In our case, today we washed the car to get ready to go to the Honda Dealer. We are interested in trading it in for a bigger car for upcoming Baby #2... shock! Yes! I know, it's been forever since I've posted anything, but mainly because of lack of energy. Bryan and pregnancy have zapped me and blogging has seemed to strenuous...hahaha. Soo we are having another baby in September.

I have always thought a small car is better. Better for the environment, better on the gas mileage, etc., but I never travel light and am feeling the effects of tight quarters. Paul has to ride in the back seat with Bryan because the car seat leaves no leg room in the front of the Civic. Let's not even try to describe how hard it is to go camping in the Civic. So sadly, we are probably going to trade it in, maybe this weekend.

After car washing I introduced Bryan to the joys of a sand box, by dumping a bag of play sand into his blow up pool. What a hit that was!  He was hesitant at first..

 ...but he caught on real fast. Before we knew it sand was flying ...

... and in the mouth. Uh-oh. That's when we called it a day, rinsed out the mouth and had some milk.