Favorite Little Princess

K1 has been experimenting in the kitchen and recently she came up with a quick salad that she could throw together. Sometimes you just don't want a hot meal, you know? Plus, Cross Country has started up so lighter meals can be easier on the stomach when running in this heat. You only need four ingredients for this one. Tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, and Italian salad dressing (we use fat free). Just slice up the tomatoes in quarters or thin slices - however you want! Then layer with sliced cucumbers. We keep the peel on because you know that is where all the vitamins are, but hey, do what you like. Sprinkle on the feta (we use a lot because we are rebels like that) and then drizzle with the dressing. Quick, easy, and no heating up the house. Perfect as a meal or a side. Thanks, Kassidy. Keep experimenting in the kitchen!

We have been running around like crazy with our first week of school AND dealing with Tropical Storm Isaac so I forgot to post our last hoorah trip. We have tickets to Disney, and last year we did Universal, but we decided to add Sea World/Busch Gardens to our line up because they were offering Florida residents a really good deal. We haven't been to Sea World since I was pregnant with K2, so this was exciting for the girls. K1 actually asked to have her picture taken with Shamu. He was very energetic, but I'm sure the cooler weather that day helped. We were greeted by some beautiful "plamingos".  The girls have called them that since they were little and we continue that tradition today. I'm sure people think we are nuts. It's not very often that these two get along (if you have girls, you know) but we had a good day. We absolutely loved the Manta roller coaster. It was so thrilling! We got to walk through an aquarium while waiting in lin...

Back to school time is always bittersweet. It's nice to get a routine back and for the girls to have things to do. However, waking up at 5 am to get K1 to the bus at 6:30 is not fun. Plus, now we are trying to keep up with schedules and after school activities. I'm sure it will all work out once we get back into the groove of things. So far, day one was fairly uneventful. K1 is a sophomore this year. That shirt had sleeves the night before, but she wanted to cut them off to wear it for the first day of classes. I don't see her getting a job as a planner in her future. We managed and it turned out great. Gone are the days of taking her to the classroom and taking pictures. Sigh. This year she gets to take 2 electives and she scored drama and the holocaust class. She is super excited about those two. Between drama and cross country team, we should keep pretty busy this fall. K2, our little diva, had her clothes picked out and ready to go. The orange belt is for safety p...

Weeki Wachee State Park Since the girls spent the summer with grandma and grandpa, we've been trying to get some fun things in before school starts. One place we have been wanting to go ever since we moved to Florida is  Weeki Wachee Springs . Good thing we did wait all these years, because now their little water park is included in the ticket price. The days are still quite warm here, so we needed to visit while the 72 degree water still feels refreshing and not so cold. K2 has always been a big fan of mermaids, so she was especially thrilled to get to see "real" live mermaids swimming in the water. We were greeted by an ostentation of peafowl. Who can resist itty bitty baby peacocks? Even though they were molting, these gentlemen still looked gorgeous and we were able to score a few of the dropped tail feathers. K2 enjoyed playing the part of a mermaid princess to her King Triton. Goofy people. We all enjoyed reading the folklore behind the me...

K2 1st Day of School Last Year This whole week has been a flurry of preparation for going back to school. Not only do I have one kid in elementary and one in high school, I will be teaching two courses as well. So we are all getting ready. I love getting new school supplies for the kids as it reminds me of my own childhood. The only thing I really miss, besides the lower prices, is the clothes shopping. I grew up in Colorado, so going back to school meant getting new jeans and sweaters and any other typical fall clothing. Not so much here in Florida. It's still blazing hot with no sign of relief. The good news is that all the summer clothes are marked down for clearance and since we will be enjoying many more months of warm weather, that will probably make up most of our back to school shopping. K2 has a really good backpack from last year, which she rarely used because she kept going back to her backpack from the year before. Sigh...alas, this is my life with this kid. I cav...