"Stay-cation" Entertainment....basically we ate ourselves silly. And then, ate some more.

I eluded to the fact that my prescence was scarce on the blog last week due to our little family "staycation" vacation. As noted, due to broken leg boy's, well, broken leg, our usual week long beach trip at the coast was not an option for this year. So, my sister and I devised an alternative plan....and tried to incorporate as many fun activities as we could muster up, that would be certain to hold the interests of all cousins involved, as well as being "crutch" friendly.


Basically, we ate a lot. Because to us, that's fun. We love food. And we all love to find good food spots. And broken leg boy can travel to the dinner table just about anywhere without difficulty! Win-Win for all.


To begin our staycation, we secluded a spot, located at a hotel about half the distance between our two homes. And we set out for a fun adventure, because life can only be what you make of it. Some highlights without photo evidence include the following:

• sucking down some superb milkshakes at Johnny Rockets, while twirling around the barstools and talking to the manager between fry bites!

• the most expensive theater visit known to man......Karisa and I decided to let the kids see a "late" movie one evening for kicks. Mom wouldn't have lasted through the movie, so she went back to the hotel. But we managed to act like complete idiots and agree to pay to watch the movie (G-Force) in 3-D. And our tickets cost $12.50 each. The kids, $10.50 each. What? Are they made of platinum? Do they come with a trip to Hollywood? Our saving grace....it was "Stimulus Tuesday" at the concessions counter....popcorn and drinks were only a dollar. Good thing, as all I had left was a dollar.

• about a thousand trips in the glass elevator at the front lobby. maybe even a 1001.

• the free snack bar during happy hour at the hotel.....where upon our children tried repeatedly each night to clog their arteries, one valve at a time, with big vats of processed cheese (also known as NACHOS). And countless refills at the always available free fountain drink dispenser. Seriously, if the nachos didn't kill 'em, the caffeine did. Twice we thought we might have to send my mom to detox. She slap wore out the Barg's rootbeer spout. No lie, she broke it. But not to be deterred by broken lever, as her root beer fix was in dire straights, she found a sweet little manager who quickly remedied the near tragedy.

• the nightly games of Rook, Bananagrams (fun, fun game), crazy eights, and slap jack.

However, here are some photos of some fun food moments from the trip. Enjoy, I know we all did.

Some of the kids had been to a Japanese Steakhouse before, but others had not. And it's always fun for everyone, not to mention great food, so off to Kobe we went.

Frightened by fire. They were all so funny with their expressions every time the chef did ANYTHING, but especially ANYTHING that involved fire!

At this point, TB and Savannah are BEHIND their chairs and Walt is beyond excited!!

Look at those smiles through the fire!! Warms my heart everytime.

TB looks as if she's doing Fred Sanford's heart attack imitation...."This is the big one....I'm coming to see you Elizabeth".....however she has never seen Sanford and Son, but she was a wee bit overcome by all the fire at times!

And of course there's always a pyro maniac in the crowd. Lovin' every minute of it!

Oh, and we found a new favorite place for Ribs. See it. Go to it. Eat at it. Soon.

The kids had their picture made with none other than "BoneDaddy" himself. The owner. Walt still had rib sauce sticking around his mouth in this photo. They were THAT good.

How good were they? Gnaw the bone, kind of good.

I'll have a few more photos from our mini-staycation vacation coming up tomorrow. Fun times. And just as a side note, mom's slowly making a rehab recovery from the root beer overload. Slowly. Detox is a process, kind of like the 12 step program.

He may have to start using Nair if it grows much faster!

So, I've been scarce again the last few days....but I have good reason!

My college roommate came for a brief visit and we've been hanging out reliving old memories and making new ones for the last few days! Fun. Times. A post on that must wait until later, but it will come, trust me, it will come.

And amongst this time, when we've been hanging loose here at the House of Bowling, my first born child began two-a-days football practice. Two-a-days, as in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM, kind of two-a-days.

Which is utterly impossible since he certainly can't be anywhere close to have reached an age where I would allow him to be on the field with big burly lineman in a Varsity game, or more importantly, attend HIGH SCHOOL.....

....why, that would just be crazy. You don't send babies to HIGH SCHOOL.

And he's my baby. And HIGH SCHOOL---well,you all know what HIGH SCHOOL is. Like a den of wolves, ready to rip you limb by limb.

So, maybe he is too big for me to hold and cradle in both arms, to sit in my lap and listen to me read "Pat the Bunny", to toddle around, grinning at every crazy voice and action I would do, to nuzzle his newborn fuzz of hair.....but he's still my baby. That will be a fact that remains through eternity. And the fuzz part....well, it comes back around too.

As he so excitedly stated a few weeks ago at the lunch table.... (sitting beside me, shirtless, as most summer days go for boys at my house)

R: "Mom, look at this" (pointing to his bare chest)

Me: "What is it son?"

R: "You don't see that"

Me: "Don't see what?"

R: "The chest hair"

Me: "Um, where?"

R: (poking chest out even farther and higher into the air) -- "RIGHT THERE"

Me: "Oh, you mean that pretty little blonde hair, right there--the ones called peach fuzz, the ones you had at birth......those hairs????"


Time, my friends, is but fleeting. However, these precious moments last forever.

And please hear me saying it in my best impression from the movie Sandlot....FOR.E.VER.

Gosh, life is so good. Blessed beyond measure, chest hair and all.

I was away & you didn't even know it.....

Hey there! I've been off with the family, having a mini-stay-cation vacation type thingy of sorts this week. I knew we'd be running around doing all manner of organized activities (read that as festive chaos--- basically, we have no schedule, other than hit the ground running and don't stop until you pass out from sleep depravation) .....so I scheduled posts to show up for me automatically, back when my brain was working, somewhat, correctly. (If you count barbie and tomato posts as important, that is.) :)



But I'm back now. And you'll see photos and hear stories of all sorts of things that happened not only this week, but over the course of the summer, random photos I've found on my camera cards, and just plain items of interest, if only to me. The problem is, we are still running pretty hard at it, gearing up for things of the future. Trying to make the most of our time, as wisely as we can.



Because whether we want it to or not, summer is winding to a close....rather quickly. School is almost upon us again. The morning routine of rising early is lurking over our shoulder, and we don't like it one bit. However, such is life. I guess that's why it's called a season, it's not meant to last a lifetime. Honestly, I couldn't take the heat all year round, unless I lived in a hotel, where I could keep the thermostat set like this for the rest of my life:




Yep, there you have it, my absolute hands down, favorite part of staying overnight in a hotel. Sure my kids love the pool, inside/outside pool, even better....and jumping on the beds, simply because they can....and the elevator riding, and ice machines, and free popcorn and snacks, and fountain drinks flowing freely......blah, blah, blah.


But not me. Give me a thermostat I can control and let me chunk that bad boy down to 60 (at times even 58), with the knowledge that I don't have to pay the power bill.... and I'm happier than Dorothy clicking her red shoes, heading back to Kansas.

But even that short lived kind of happiness came to an end as well when we arrived home again. You see, T5 frowns highly upon me placing our temperature gauge that low here at the House of Bowling. And he also refuses to install an indoor/outdoor pool and a free flowing fountain drink dispenser.

Have you ever? The nerve of some people. Talk to you all again soon....I'm off to find Toto.

One of the best things about July.....

yummy, red, ripe, home-grown tomatoes. Picked fresh from PawPaw's garden.

• Listen close, put your ear to the screen. Do you hear that?

These lovely reds are just screaming to be placed between two pieces of fresh, soft, white bread slathered with real mayo and sprinkled with salt and pepper!

Reading Fun in the Jungle Gym...another AK post.

It's been a few weeks ago, but wanted to share these photos with you all. TB and I stopped at the library on our way to visit AK one day. And she decided we MUST pick up some books to read to AK. Wasn't that sweet?

And I'll have to admit, AK was very interested and listened to every word. Smart gal. Good genes. Not from me. Her parents are intelligent, though. She'll do fab in school. Just wait and see.



But in the meantime, TB was helping her education process along. Which included a "farm" book, where TB also made various animal noises, much to AK's delight.

Oh, and this last one is just thrown in because I have a thing for baby feet. I tell you they are too cute. Somebody should bottle up that cuteness, it makes me smile every time!!

Barbie's turning 50 and I have a few suggestions for her....

Granny came over to eat with us the other night, and TB talked her into staying a while to play Barbies. Fun. I so loved my barbies when I was a little girl. And to be honest, I've been a bit upset at times because I thought TB didn't really care much for hers. However, that is far from the truth. They can still provide hours of excitement....much to her brothers dismay.


All you moms out there will probably agree....Have you ever noticed how Barbie's hair really only looks good for a few minutes out of her package? It's like the humidity in the real world does a number on her golden locks. They should ship her out with a bottle of conditioner in the box! Please don't tell me it's just our neglect of Barbie's beautiful mane......don't you have this problem too?

And then, to top it off, she apparently doesn't eat her veggies or take her vitamins religiously, because when you try to brush the tangles....her hair starts falling out in clumps. Now what kind of role model is that? She should also come with a bowl of broccoli in hand. Of course, I guess that isn't very clever marketing---nobody really wants a broccoli eating Barbie.

Except maybe a vegan. And only then if she also carries a miniature bottle of Beano in her pink vinyl purse!!


While I have the attention of Mattel.... could you please create a realistic Ken? You know in real life Ken doesn't wear a tye-dyed peace t-shirt with yellow sunshades.....and what in the world is up with the "man-purse" carry-all bag he hoists over his shoulder? I know for a fact Barbie disapproves of him toting it on their dates at the ice cream parlor and the pet shop.

After several minutes of exhausting herself trying to set up a proper photo shoot.....TB called me in to take a gander at her dolls she and Granny had dressed. I noticed something right off.....here at our house, minus the man-purse, Ken's living the high life....3 gals to his left, 3 gals to his right.

Don't they look just lovely....all dressed up in their finest for a night on the town. Ken the ladies man, if he'd just get rid of the peace tye-dyed t-shirt. He soooo doesn't fit in with these glamour gals.

And then reality hit hard, here at our house. No matter how many times you put on your fancy, sparkly, glittery clothes, there's always going to be some drama that occurs before the night ends.

And that's when Granny pulled this headless wonder from the pile of Barbies waiting to get dressed.


Those crazy Barbie hating brothers strike again. Now, why in the world would they want to decapitate Barbie? What has she ever done to them? Do you have ones that look like this at your house??? Is this a bad sign of things to come??? Somebody check the baby dolls, they may be next.

Deep conditioning scalp treatments I can handle, or at the very least, we can break out some of that detangle spray and spritz her frizzy hair down. Buyin Ken some new clothes and trashing the man bag, I can also handle.

But fabricating her head and sculpting her face is not in my bag of tricks, so you boys better start finding the head that goes to this body. Or else.

~~Signed, Mom--chairman of the committee to keep Barbie's head attached to her body.

Wedding Dress Memories.....

Look, I know all 5 of you who read the blog actually just saw most of these photos last month on our 13th year anniversary post, but bear with me. Sorry. Just skip over it and in a few days we'll be on to different topics soon..... like whether or not our marriage withstood the test of my scandalous debut of painting rooms in the house!!!

Kelly's Korner blog, a great read, is hosting a "show your wedding dress" post of sorts. And I thought it a perfect time to say thanks to all those fingers who worked TIRELESSLY on my bridal gown. And came out in the 100 degree heat to our OUTDOOR wedding, where I was BAREFOOT!! And I apologize for the quality of some of the photos. Being married over a decade ago means there was no digital photography!

We did travel to various cities, in two states, searching bridal shops for THE dress for me. It was lots of fun and we found many beautiful dresses, but in the end, we went back to the seamstress who had sewn for our family for years, and had her make my gown. I gave some design suggestions....I wanted a square back, lots of beadwork, a long train, etc.

After many months of working on the dress, the seamstress was also doing the entire side of my bridal party....all the bridesmaids dresses and flower girls. So,needless to say, there was a lot on her. Plus, beadwork takes an enormous amount of time. Anyway, as the month of the wedding arrived, and my dress was not "finished", we started having "beading parties".

Mom would go pick up the dress in the evenings and invite a host of friends over to our house. And you guessed it, we would each sit in the floor, on the couch, on the hearth, where-ever, and have a piece of the wedding train in our hand, with needle and beads, threading away!! It was a stressful time, I'm sure, for my mom, knowing the dress had to be finished in just a matter of days, but she never showed it. She's cool like that!

Now, there was beadwork all over the gown, but the bottom of the dress as well as the long train had these lovely cutwork designs encompassing the edges of the entire gown. For the most part, this is what we would work on at the "beading" party.

31 of them around the bottom edge of the dress.

52 of them around the edge of the train.

Each one had over 400 beads that were sewn in place.

Let's do a little math, shall we? Just on the edging of the dress and train alone.

• 31 + 52 = 83
• 83 X 400 = 33, 200.

Thirty three thousand two hundred beads that sweet, dear friends and family helped sew on my bridal gown. (Plus tens of thousands more in various other spots on the gown.)

Now that, my friends, is something you CANNOT put a price tag on. So, a great big THANKS.....and please know from the bottom of my heart, it means even more today than it did 13 years ago. Sweet memories.

While the cat's away, the mice will....PAINT!

ooohhh.....i may have really done it, this time. While T5 was at work, I kind of bought a gallon of paint and USED it in the house.

He made the statement the other day that he was tired of khaki walls everywhere.....but I don't think he actually meant that as an implication for me to start painting..... oh well, you live and learn.

I'll have to show you my little project, but it will have to wait until after the weekend.....I need a little help reaching the ceiling, thus I'm going to have to wait to finish 'til the mister gets home.

Keep your fingers crossed....I don't want to get in too much trouble. I'll just say it was the kid's idea. That plan just might work.

Of course, I guess it doesn't help that he's going to find out this grand news via the internet. Who knew when we took those vows, til death us do part, that it would include messages over the blogosphere????

One last thing... I love you, babe. A lot. And have I told you lately what a great trim painter your are? Really, such a detail person. I guess that's why we compliment each other so well.

All you need is a little imagination to make a MOUNTAIN out of a mole-hill.

And may I present the King of the Mountain:

On Monday I showed you pics of the kiddos on our fun day at the beach. I had packed us all PBJ sandwiches and chips and waters for lunch on the beach. But I knew we'd all be starving after playing all day in the ocean, and we had over an hour drive back, so supper would need to be close by. Therefore, I packed us all a change of clothes, we set out to the public showers, made an attempt at getting the sand off, and put on our fresh duds.

And then we walked about 28 steps and ordered up a helping of this yummy goodness: Anybody recognize it???



You are correct if you answered silently to your computer--"The Hangout". That's exactly where we were. And it's situated RIGHT BESIDE the public beach. And that queso....ummmm, wish I had some right now with a basket full of those sea salted chips!!!

If you've never been, it's a neat place to go, you know, HANGOUT, and eat, and let the kids play, and even shop for a souvenir---all under one happy roof. Jackpot for this tired mom.


So we did it all. We ate, the kids played, the bought souvenirs, and we had fun just Hanging Out. Clever marketing people. The HANGOUT. Who knew it was that easy?

Anyway, if you go, may I please suggest you get the Chicken Wrap with their special sauce on it, called Shaka Shaka. It is DIVINE. And if I wouldn't have devoured mine when our waiter brought it out, I would have taken a photo to show you. You'll just have to trust me on this. Divine. Plus what's not to love about saying a cool name like Shaka Shaka???

After we ate, the kids begged to go back out to all the play areas. I loaded up the to go cups and trudged on out to watch. Of course with camera nearby. My belly was full, so I could focus on taking pics again!!

Let me tell you....I should just pay for a dumptruck load of sand to be brought in to our backyard. My kids could have stayed on that hill of fresh, soft sand for HOURS. Running up it, rolling down it, jumping off of it, etc. etc. etc. Of course, that is, everyone but Broken Leg Boy.

He couldn't do what this sweet gal is doing. Look at that fierce runners face. Fast little scoot, even in a sundress.


Nor could Broken Leg Boy do any of these fancy stunt-man-worthy moves that his brother exhibited. Disclaimer: No broken bones occurred during the making of these photos. Thank Goodness.

Nope Broken Leg Boy could do absolutely NONE of that. However, he ditched the crutches at the bottom and went to town on this sand mountain. With sheer determination, and the clawing and digging up with his hands.....



He made it to the top. King of the Mountain. While the other court jesters roust about, he gazes over the grandeur of his domain. Crutchless. Feeling normal, yet again today.

• Little miss fast and furious....and cute, too.

The other two continued to roll, leap, run, jump and slide all up and down the sand. And eventually broken leg boy came down from the top perch as well. Slowly, methodically making his descent.

• Gosh, I love these kids. I am ever so thankful for this HANGOUT time we shared.
  

I laugh every time I look at this. She may be cute, but she CANNOT do the proper "HANGOUT" sign. The boys shouted to hold it up, and her first attempt was just a thumbs up. Then I have a couple of shots of her looking at their hands, trying to figure out what to do with hers. And a couple more of the boys turning around laughing and trying to show her..... bless her heart, this was the best she could muster. Girly girl. Cracks me up.

Cooking Camp....Cappucino Frosted Homemade Brownies.

Oh. my. lands. Chocolate and Coffee flavored goodies??? Homemade brownies, with chocolate chips in the batter, and cappucino, mocha flavored frosting......seriously? Can it get any richer? Nope. It can't.

I believe we've hit the mother load of richness. And I'll tell you how I know. Under normal circumstances (as in a betty crocker 9x13 family size box mix) we can finish off a pan of brownies in less than a day, if I've went shopping for milk the day before. Proper milk amounts are key to scarfing down a batch of chocolatey goodness.

However, when you make them from scratch with real chocolate....and add in some cappucino, caffeine related goodness in the form of icing.... well, we had to pace ourselves, even with a fresh gallon of 2%.

And I must inform you that we found this little recipe on another blog: Let's Eat

There are some really good recipes on her site, we'll definitely be trying some more! But here's how the kids did on their first attempt at homemade brownies and cappucino frosting.

• Rivers began with unwrapping the baker's chocolate squares. I was busy helping the other two get set up for their tasks when I looked over to see him making a weird face. He said, "a couple of small slivers of chocolate fell out of the box when I was getting the squares out and this stuff tastes bad, mama. Like, real bad. It tastes like bitter coffee"......

I just had to laugh and then explain that what were we using was UNSWEETENED baking squares. Chocolate comes from a cocoa bean, and doesn't taste like a Hershey Bar until lots of sugar has been added!!

• I could make a great living if I sold tickets to crack eggs..... of course I guess I'd be the same one forking out the money for the tickets, so nevermind.

• A new technique learned this session was "leveling" the flour with a butter knife. Is this how you do it?? I don't know....it's just the way I remember my mom and Granny and MawMaw doing it. Of course the kids loved it because they were allowed to bang around making a mess with white stuff!!

• Adding the SEMI-SWEET chocolate chips....again, trying to snitch a few bites of chocolate would not be a good idea here.

• Getting "eye level" with the measurements.

You would probably skip right over this photo, if I didn't have a little "aha" moment to go along with it. Please notice the amount of milk. A sibling had shouted the measuremen tacross the kitchen to Rivers...."one third cup". He understood them to say ONE and a THIRD cup.

There's a difference in those measurements. We learned a lesson from this mistake. However, it was after we had already tried to mix up the frosting.....and wondered why it just wouldn't thicken up!!!

• But never fear....we started over and came out with some thick cappucino goodness to spread atop the brownies!!

Yep, just like KFC, it was finger lickin' good. Just remember to cut small bites, every few hours, and whatever you do, don't have them with a cup of Java....you'll be bouncing off the walls for days. Recipes are on the recipe blog.

Life's a beach....for at least one day, anyway.

We had not planned a beach trip for this summer. In fact, we had all but ruled out completely, a beach trip, this summer. Broken Leg Boy kind of made different plans for all of us.....bless his heart.

However, we did travel to stay with Dad while he was visiting one of his project sites recently, which just so happens to be along the coast. However, it's on the Mississippi coast. Not exactly the home of pristine white beaches and gorgeous blue waters. Ever been to a beach in MS, or LA, or TX???? Yea....In fact, it's the exact opposite. We are so spoiled to the gulf coast shores of Alabama and Florida.

So, I made an executive decision, which was encouraged by some pleading from the kids, to drive back across the state line and make a visit to the pretty beaches. We loaded up, traveled a little over an hour, paid $5 to get a parking space at the public beach....and BAM....there we were.

At the beach, for the day. We felt just like the locals....probably because we were surrounded by them. :)

I was skeptical about Broken Leg Boy, but he is doing SO SO well..... here, just take a look for yourself:

• Initially he sat along the shoreline and let the waves roll in on him.

• But it didn't take long of watching his brother dive into the waves.....

• And see his sister embrace the ocean like her long lost friend.....until finally....

• He finally had to embrace it for his very own. So, off they went, with the leg floating along.

• And it wasn't so bad. Actually, it was great. So great, that the big brother came and took Broken Leg Boy out for a spin as well. The mom had worried about the circumstances, but all worked out fine. Life was good.

• In fact, life was real good.

• Who's this beach bathing beauty?

• She's so cute.

• Nope, I don't have any family beach shots. Not this year.
• We didn't eat at all our favorite seafood restuarants, although we did stop in for a early supper nearby...photos of that to come soon.
• We didn't stay for a week.
• We didn't go to the parks and let the kids go crazy on go-carts, bumper boats, water slides and such. Not a chance with that leg.
• We didn't take a trip inside the souvenir stores (thank the Lord for small favors).
• We didn't get to crab hunt.
• We didn't walk the shoreline looking for shells.
• We didn't lay on the beach under the night sky to see the stars meet the sea.
• Nope. We didn't do any of that.

But let me tell you.....it may have been one of the best beach days of our lives. Look at these smiles. It was a lot of work. I couldn't do it but one day like that. And I don't think Broken Leg Boy would be able to make it more than one day either. The lugging of the bags, and blankets, and towels, and toys, and chairs, and water bottles. The crutches digging down in the sand with each step.

The beach beckoned us....and we responded to the call. We were ever so thankful.....for that one day on the beach.

And it was all worth it, when Broken Leg Boy kept looking up at me in the ocean, on the sand, and in the car ride home and said, "this is the greatest day, thank you mama...I feel normal again."