Reliving my vaca--a little bit at a time

Here are the kids out in the ocean on the beach at Newport, CA. Son was a little freaked out about the seaweed. But they had a great time. We walked up the pier and back and then played in the ocean for about an hour and a half and then had dinner at Rockin' Baja Lobster. Here are my kids in the stockade--they really got in trouble at Legoland and I had to lock them up.

And speaking of Legoland, I thought the bathroom signs were really cute. Little Lego people that had to go potty.

Well that's enough vaca for today--coming tomorrow (maybe): Disney crowds and pirate's treasure.

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For lunch today, I made a broccoli and kale salad (garden kale) with nut cheese mixed in. Son said it was good, but he didn't eat very much of it.

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Last night dinner was sauteed veggies with olives, mushrooms, and a can of diced tomatoes served over whole wheat pasta. CCV mentioned yesterday about putting vinegar in stuff, so I put a bit in the veggies and it really added something. I make a pasta with capers and marinated artichoke hearts in it and the vinegar in my regular veggies gave them a similar flair.

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Today, daughter is over at a friend's house and hubby is helping another friend out with some work on his place. So it's just son and I. I could get used to this (although it is better with both kids in school and hubby working).
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Also, I have exercised 2 days in a row. (Yeah Me!) And my relationship with food is getting back to where it needs to be. (Yeah Me, again!) I just need to keep going.

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Well, back to work.

Ciao for now.

Garden Bounty

Here's a pic of us at LegoLand last Wednesday. When we got back, even though it had rained the whole time we were gone, our garden had really jumped up. Yesterday we basked in some of the bounty.
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For lunch, I had a kale salad made with two kinds of kale from my garden.
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For dinner we had broccoli from the garden. (Does anyone know if broccoli keeps producing or if once you harvest the crown it's done?)
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That's all I have right now. Son is working, daughter is watching TV (I really need to get her busy this summer), and hubby is at a doctor's appointment. I'm back to work.
Ciao for now.

We're Back--a little bug eyed and big eared, but back

We made it and we had a wonderful time! We did Disneyland, California Adventure, LegoLand and Newport Beach. This is a pic of the kids after we saw the 4-D show, "It's Tough to be a Bug". They have their bug eyes on and their ears on--so cute.
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There were a lot of people in Disneyland! I have never seen that many people there! So Sunday and Monday were a bit frustrating because of that, but the rest of the time was good.
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In Newport, we walked out onto the pier and there were people fishing all over. The kids were really interested when one guy brought up a sand shark. So another guy showed us a sand shark he had on a rope swimming around under the Pier. It was disgusting--the rope was like through the poor shark's nose and he was just swimming around down there. It kind of made me nauseous. We did have fun at the beach, though.
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I didn't stay vegan while gone, but did stay vegetarian. I had some items made with milk and eggs but I'm not going to beat myself up for it--overall, the world is still a better place for the choices I make. I eat the way I eat as a choice and I made the choice to change it up a bit for vacation. (I actually had planned on eating better while gone, but got frustrated at the lack of choices since we had to eat out for every meal.)
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Saturday, lunch was at a Mexican place and there was a rolled up tortilla left over. So on Sunday, we gave the dried up old tortilla to Little Girl. She was so proud of that silly tortilla! She carried it around in her mouth all day Sunday and until it got too soggy to stay together on Monday. It was like "I got a tortilla from Disneyland!". Silly dog.
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Well, I ought to get back to work.
Ciao for now.

I'm out......

Just letting you all know that I won't be blogging for a couple of weeks. I'll give full details when I get back. (When I get back and caught up, that is.)

Yes, we have no bananas

So I'm almost out of everything fresh, but we do have a good supply of bananas! Got some yesterday because I couldn't deal with no bananas. I had one yesterday afternoon, one in my oatmeal for breakfast and will probably have another here after a bit for a snack.
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Things at work are starting to move along so I'll be in a good place to leave for vacation. Tomorrow, I'll work, do laundry, and we'll all pack and then we're off Saturday morning. Can't wait.
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My folks were exceedingly nice yesterday. I needed new batteries for my old camera (actually, it was a hand me down from my parents) and it takes special expensive ones and I hadn't had time to go shopping for them. Dad actually did some shopping for me and told me where I could get the batteries and how much they'd be etc. but I never got around to getting them. So yesterday, he called me and said that they had a camera I could use that just uses regular batteries. It is a really nice one and it's small (my old one is a huge beast). Thanks Dad!
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It has been really weird weather here. Just a few minutes ago, the sky opened up and we had rain like we rarely have. It's still coming down, but not nearly so hard. The sky is still rumbling.
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Son's building with his Lego's and daughter is playing the Wii. And I'm just finishing with lunch (a steamed sweet potato and a bocca burger w/ Veganaise on Ezekiel bread).
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I've got to go out to the bank here in a bit--I hope it quits raining soon.
Ciao for now.

Still counting down to vacation

Time can't seem to make up it's mind! On one hand, it's going way to slow--I am so ready to head out of here for vaca. On the other hand, I have lots to do before we go and I can't seem to get things done.
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Right now, daughter's in the shower, son's raking weeds out in the pasture, hubby's at a class at Job Service, and I'm sitting at my computer working (or not working as the case may be).
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I'm trying to use up all the fresh produce before we go so last night we had a vegetable lo mien and tonight we're having spuds & onions and steamed kale. Tomorrow is going to have to be a throw together. And for lunches, today and tomorrow, I'm having sweet potatoes. Then I think we'll have all of the fresh stuff gone. I did ask hubby to get some bananas on his way home from his class, though. We are fresh out and we can't seem to live without bananas these days.
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Well, back to work.
Ciao for now.

Vacation Countdown

We leave in T minus 5 days............

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We are going to do California this year. We have our motel reservation, our Disneyland tickets, and 2 of our Legoland tickets.

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I'm a little concerned about eating on the trip--a lot of salads, is my guess. I was craving some ice cream here a while back and, after my last episode with dairy, I decided to "test" myself. Sure enough, I had dairy and just over a day later, I was stuck in the bathroom. So I am going to have to be really careful about dairy while we're gone. The problem is that so often, dairy and eggs are hidden in things that you wouldn't think they'd be in. And I just won't eat meat--yuck. I told hubby that we may need to find a grocery store and keep things like banana, apples, and baby carrots in the motel room.

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At the top is a picture from our last trip--2 years ago. I was better than 100 pounds heavier in that picture than I am now. I am really looking forward to not having my feet hurt this time. Last time, I was literally crying one day because my feet and legs hurt so bad; and on the way home, my feet swelled up so bad that I could hardly get my sandals on, let alone any shoes.
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This is a picture of my kids taken on that trip. They have sure grown!

Son actually started a summer job today. He's on the "Bug Crew". They monitor and count and transplant bugs that kill noxious weeds. Today is training in the morning and then they spend the afternoon in a field making sure that they can actually identify the plants and bugs that they'll be working with. He is an alternate on the team, but the lady told me that often, the alternates work more than the regulars because they cover absences for vacations, summer camps, illness, etc. He's really excited. And it's nice because his best friend is on the crew, too.

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Well, I'm back to work. I have to get stuff done this week so I don't come home to an even bigger pile--my job is one of those where the work just waits for me if I don't get it done.

Ciao for now.

Proud Mama Post

I haven't been good at posting. There seems to have been a lot going on and when I've had the time to post, I haven't had the inclination (due to feeling like people were looking over my shoulder. Anyway, here's a summary of life since last post--"proud mommy bragging" alert! The kids had their piano recital--there is a picture of them with their trophies. The trophy was for getting 3 consecutive "Superior" ratings at the annual Jr. Music Festival competition. Both kids got one. They played really good at the recital. They could have been better, but considering the fact that they had to prep their songs without the aid of a piano teacher I think they did great. (We had to quit piano lessons after hubby got laid off a couple of month's ago, but their teacher didn't want them to miss out on the recital so she gave them their songs and included them anyway--that was so nice of her!)
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Daughter was invited to join the "Magnet Classroom" for 4th and 5th grades. They did 3rd grade GT (gifted and talented) testing throughout the district--both public an private schools--and out of those tested, 26 were invited to attend the magnet classroom next year. This is a specialized class that caters more to the individual kids. They don't necessarily follow district curriculum and they go a lot deeper into some areas. The kids are also helped to advance in their individual strength areas. I am really excited for her! I think she will do really well.
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Son got the "presidential award for educational excellence" at his 6th grade graduation. The criteria were to have gotten all "A"s in elementary school, gotten "advanced" and a certain percentile in the ISAT tests, and gotten certain scores in the DWA and DMA tests. (There was something else, but I don't know what it was.) There were only 2 kids that got it and son was one of them. I am really proud of him as well.
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I warned you that this was a "Proud Mama Post" and that I was going to be shamelessly bragging on them.
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School's out for summer, now. Yesterday was their last day. Since I work from home and hubby is not working, they will be home this summer--I'll let you know how my sanity fares with 2 kids and 1 husband home with me all summer. (So far, I don't think it's going to be an easy summer.......)
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Well, I am going to get back to work now.
Ciao for now.