What we did most of our vacation

Held up the beach.  Yes, that was a VERY important job to which we were well suited.

Read books either at the beach, in bed, on the patio or just about anywhere.

Front patio of the condo

And watched another amazing sunset!  I love sunsets and watching them over water is even better!

Traveling

I have had some travel recently for work and THANKFULLY for fun.

I had a recent business trip to New Jersey and was lucky enough to visit my good friend Kristina and her hubby, Andy.  We met about 12 years ago when we worked at the same company in Phoenix.  I rarely get to Jersey on business so as a bonus for the 5 hour plane ride I got a bonus visit!

New Jersey: My Amazing friend Kristina

The kids & I took our annual vacation to California this year.  Instead of one of our driving vacations we chose to hold up the beach, bike and just hang out.  I rented a condo 3 houses from the beach in a tourist area where we were able to ride our bikes anywhere we needed to go so the car didn't move for the bulk of the time after we arrived.

Simon boogy boarding

Running in the Pacific Ocean

Hannah playing in the waves

Roller coaster at Mission Beach

Bumper Cars at Mission Beach

Pacific Beach Sunset

Surfers in the ocean at sunset

Random Sunday

A few weeks ago the kids wanted to get a coconut and crack it open.  We did and not surprisingly, this is what we found inside!

Even after draining the "milk"

And cracking it open, it was not nearly as excited they had hoped.  They both tried the meat and decided it was OK and wandered away.  Not quite as exciting as they had hoped!  I am pretty sure we won't have to go down that route again.

Life as a single Mom is so exciting sometimes.  Simon's back bike tire was flat (again) so I took it apart and was very excited that I was able to replace the tube AND get the chain back on so he could ride it on our vacation!

Ground up jalapeno with garlic and salt to make the Vietnamese Dipping Sauce.

A very delicious Sizling Saigon Crepes (Bánh Xèo).  They were SO GOOD!

Finny inspired the Vietnamese cooking with her post about the crepes.  I had them a few years ago but have been unable to find them in a restaurant so we very excited to find the recipe.  You take the crepe above and wrap it in a lettuce leaf with mint and cilantro then roll it up and dip in the sauce.  I couldn't convince the kids to try it but I enjoyed it very much!  Thanks Finny!

Scottsdale Gun Club

A few weeks ago I went with a couple of guys at work over lunch so they could shoot a machine gun for their birthday. We went to the Scottsdale Gun Club.
David was getting his target ready for shooting.

I know, I look SMOKING in my safety glasses and ear protection. It was a lot of fun.

Here is David's video! The clip goes very fast.

Recent cooking fun...

For those of you that don't know, cooking is relaxing to me and I also get good food at the end of the process. Here I roasted some peppers, cauliflower and onions.
Mix it with some other veggies and feta and call it a great salad!

More cooking......I made my version of Cioppino (seafood soup) with what was in my refrigerator that included onions, yellow pepper....

Frozen tomatoes.....

Add parsley.....

wine, bay leaf, and all the other stuff and simmer.

Add seafood and parmesan and you have an amazing meal with a nice crusty loaf to sop up all that broth goodness.

And then, blueberries were in season.....

A little tip for you when adding fruit/berries to a cake. Dust them with some of the flour called for in the recipe before adding to the batter. This will keep the fruit from falling to the bottom of the pan.

Make the batter,
add dusted blueberries, bake and
glaze with a powdered sugar icing and serve.