Turkey Day came and went and this morning I packed up the last of the dark meat and mashed potatoes & gravy for Jay’s lunch.
We hosted this year and were grateful that everyone came to us. Our long holiday weekend was filled with adventures and now we’re back to our normally scheduled routine with soccer practices, homework, religious ed classes and dance this week.
Here are a few bits and pieces of the last several days…
{simple decorations ~ a clearance vase from Target and a branch & pinecones from my morning hikes}
{kosher, Pioneer Woman brined bird on the grill}
{centerpiece from our backyard}
{our feast ~ 1. turkey {before cranberry orange relish!} 2. candied yams 3. cornbread stuffing 4. Ina’s parmesan mashed potatoes {before gravy!} 5. green bean casserole 6. maple glazed carrots ~ yum! desserts not pictured ~ sweet potato pie and Grunc’s pear ginger upside down cake}
It was a treat to have my dad {Popsi} here from Seattle, my mom {Gramma} here from San Diego and Grunc {great uncle Larry} and Auntie Jill here from Yosemite/Marin County. We all joined together to get the food on the table and consequently ate too much! Now all that’s leftover are happy memories of Thanksgiving 2012…
…and I’ll take those leftovers over a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce any day!
Coming off a {party high} with family visiting last weekend and then {celebrating the life} of a dear, dear family friend on Wednesday.
I’ve looked forward to this long Memorial Day weekend with absolutely NO plans. Usually we celebrate Elliott’s birthday, but decided to do it a week early this year.
Although there have been ideas tossed around of what we’re going to do, nothing is set in stone.
We’re at a fork in the road and we can decide which path we’ll take.
{taken about a year ago at Placerita Canyon}
So far we’ve taken the path with silver dollar pancakes for breakfast.
An impromptu trip to our park for lunch where we unexpectedly met up with several other fellow kindergartners.
And an Easy Bake brownie making session before dance class.
We may continue down this path or decide to double back and discover what lies ahead on another path.
Of course, there are a couple more birthday goodies along the way on Sunday.
*****
If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one ~ Dolly Parton
Here’s to the 3-day weekend…may the path you choose leave a smile on your face and a spring in your step.
Dinner at Islands for some fish tacos & a veggie burger
*****
Early Saturday morning run/walk
Trip to Trader Joe’s
Barbie Birthday Party
Mass
Holdy got a haircut from Daddy
*****
This morning we went and signed this one up for t-ball…
The deal of the century ~ $60 gets you a hat, t-shirt, shorts, socks, team picture & trophy! Looking forward to Saturday morning games, fly balls and base running. Spring training coming soon…
Then I drug the family to the mall to pick up some flip flop bling at Claire’s. Note to self: go to Claire’s without dragging the family along.
After Claire’s we headed to Wendy’s drive-thru {love their chili…oh, and the frosties!} and headed to the park for lunch and some sun.
Whipped up these flops for Elliott’s teacher who’s celebrating a birthday tomorrow:
I love the way they turned out…so Springy!
We finally got new batteries for the Leap Frog Tag pen…reading Toy Story 3:
Nothing too exciting, but it was a nice {family} weekend despite the loss of an hour!
Enjoying the extra light this evening and grilling some TJ’s carne asada, onions and peppers…
Hope your weekend was {simply} extraordinary, too!
On Friday Jay and I took the kiddos to see Toy Story 3.
A small fortune…
3 tickets to TS3 3D: $40 (apparently 3 year olds are FREE…thank goodness!)
1 Large Popcorn and 2 Large Diet Cokes: $18.50
Cute movie, but don’t waste your money on the extra 3D charge….
{Super cute grainy cell phone pic}
Later that evening 3/4 of the Sullivan gang joined us for dinner ~ Teriyaki Burgers, dogs for the kids, BBQ Potato Salad (which I added chopped jalapeños to!) & grilled sweet white corn.
For the burgers I just added some Montreal Steak seasoning and teriyaki sauce to the meat before making the patties. Jay basted the burgers with the same sauce while on the grill. We also grilled some pineapple slices to go on top! King’s Hawaiian buns ~ YUM!
Grilled peaches (with brown sugar & cinnamon) and vanilla bean ice cream for dessert!
*****
On Saturday we headed to Venice Beach and Santa Monica for the day.
I was immediately reminded 2 minutes after arriving why I haven’t been to Venice in over 15 years….
But at least we visited and can check that off the list now.
Being entertained by the plethora of hilarious t-shirts for sale:
Waiting for Holdy to zip up his sweatshirt “by myself!”:
I think this is my “let’s get out of here” face:
By the time we got to Santa Monica the sun was out and it was gorgeous.
Jay was craving wings, so where did we go for lunch?
Think orange shorts. Super short orange shorts!
It was actually nice…we sat out in the patio along the street and people watched, sipped ice cold beer, dipped fried pickles into spicy horseradish sauce and shared HOT (as in 9-1-1 hot) boneless chicken wings dunked in Blue Cheese and Ranch.
{The fried pickles here are the best!}
The street entertainers were out in full force so we strolled up and down, listened, watched and dropped dollars in their buckets.
My fave for the day was a twentysomething girl who sang Andrea Bocelli’s “Time To Say Goodbye” half in English, half in Italian and Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic. Cheesy, I know, but I just enjoyed listening to her and we even followed her after she shifted her spot to the other end of the promenade.
Jay ducked into Sur La Table to pick up this, and I took the kids next door to Yummy Cupcakes for a couple minis. I finally sampled the Coconut one….new fave!
The 4th of July was greeted with some Krispy Kremes:
Later that afternoon we joined Emma and her family for some pool time, chips & salsa, margaritas, and a BBQ before heading out to catch the fireworks with The Sullivans.
As American as apple pie:
We parked our chairs across the street from the mall and waited for the show to start.
Spotting one:
It was a great show once it got started!
Enjoying some ‘mallows:
*****
Yesterday it was a small dose of reality.
Jay and the kids dropped U-Rod at the airport. I stayed home and straightened up. We lounged around and kept it classy watching episodes of “Operation Repo” on True TV!
To close the weekend, we made Pink Lemonade Ice Cream and visited with some old friends from Gilroy…Gina, William & Matthew visiting family here in Valencia.
{Emilie, Elliott, William, Dominic, Matthew & Holden}
They played out in front for a bit after the street lights came on.
Summer at it’s finest!
*****
Back to the old grind today.
Counting points.
Doing loads of laundry.
Heading to the gym this evening to start working off the the yumminess of the last 4 days.
Hope your entering the week with wonderful memories of another 4th!
Today we ventured to the pool. For me, Memorial Day should include some pool or beach time.
It felt great to be out under the cloudless blue, getting some real color for the first time in months. A rainbow of flip flops lining the edge of the pool and at the sides of lounge chairs. The sound of little ones squealing and splashing. Mommies and Daddies getting caught up with their friends while keeping one eye on their little swimmers. Plastic tumblers holding “prohibited” beverages. Orange stained Dorito fingers and towels showing the same. Grilled hot dogs & cheeseburgers, macaroni & potato salads, chips & dips and brownies & cupcakes!
Dive sticks. Boogie boards. Floaties. Goggles. Wet towels piled up on the warm cement. Funny tan lines already emerging and peeling crying kids away from the water promising them another trip to the pool SOON.
Kids that fall asleep on the 3-minute car ride home and still look like this after 2 hours:
And little newly turned 5-year olds that say, “I had SO much fun!”
Now, that’s a good day.
*****
This 3-day weekend was also full of all sorts of summer fare.
I don’t normally get excited about coleslaw, but this stuff is GOOD. Thanks to Hollie for planting the seed by mentioning this to me a few weeks ago!
Note: I only used 1/2 cup mayo as the bag of angel hair cabbage mix was only 10 oz. (and well, because frankly NOTHING should contain 1 cup of mayo). I also used Craisins in place of the grapes and they worked well with the blue. If you need a slaw recipe for your summer, you’ve got to check this one out.
We used some of the BBQ pork and baked beans for some Southern Skillet Nachos on the grill. I layered chips, chopped pork, baked beans and cheese in a cast iron skilled and Jay put it on the grill for about 10 minutes (until the cheese melted).
Time was running out so I just went to Trader Joe’s and picked up some of theirs. It was very lean and super flavorful. We grilled some onions and peppers and made some mini burritos:
