Summer Recipes

Thought I would share some recipes I tried out during the course of the summer. The first one is from my dear friend Marsha. Gotta give credit where credit is due! Try one or two or all of them! They're all delicious and healthy...what more could you ask for?


Bean Dip

1 15oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 11oz can whole kernel corn
1 t minced fresh jalapeno pepper
1 avocado chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped(I made it the next day and didn't have tomatoes and threw a can of petite diced tomatoes....It was good!)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or 1 t dried cilantro)
14 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup fresh lime juice(about 2 limes squeezed) (I also ran out of fresh limes next day and just used the lime in a jar)
1t. salt(the best part of the dish!)
tortilla chips for dipping

Combine all the ingredients except avocado and chips. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. add avocado just before serving. Serve with chips. I used the lime tortilla chips which I prefer. Scoopers are good too. W/O any is even better....

Watermelon and Strawberry Lemonade

8 cups cubed seedless watermelon
1 cup fresh strawberries
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
½ cup sugar (I only used 1/8 cup sugar and I thought it was plenty sweet)
2 cups water

Combine all of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve over ice.

Refreshing Watermelon Salad

3 tbsp lime juice
1 cup red onion cut lengthwise
15 cups cubed watermelon
3 cups cubed cucumber
8 ounces crumbled feta cheese
½ cup chopped fresh mint
Black pepper
Sea salt

In a small bowl, pour the lime juice over the red onions and allow to marinate while assembling the salad (5 min). Combine watermelon, cucumber, feta and mint in a large bowl and season with pepper. Toss salad with marinated onions and season with salt just before serving (or allow each person to salt his or her own serving to taste.)

Tangy Cucumber and Avocado Salad

2 medium cucumbers, cubed
2 avocados, cubed
4 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp minced green onions
¼ tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
¼ large lemon
1 lime

Combine cucumbers, avocado, and cilantro. Stir in garlic, green onions, salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon and lime over the top and toss. Refrigerate at least 30 min before serving.

The Summer Continues

Summer has been moving along quite quickly! Since returning from the beach, in our typical household fashion, we have continued with the activities. We spent an afternoon at DelGrosso Park with Greg's brother, his wife and my nieces then had dinner at their house. We went to Roaring Spring for some kind of outside celebration (shame on me for not knowing the reason!). The kids fed the fish and also won a couple of fish at a booth, which lead to resurrecting the old 10 gal tank, which brought about its own source of frustrations. Rest assured that it is up and running now, the water is clear and the fish seem happy! We also celebrated my niece Brooke's 8th birthday. Greg, his dad, brother and Jake spent a day fishing at Raystown, and Jacob completed a week long soccer camp, which he loved. On top of that, I have driven to Pittsburgh twice for various appointments, and completed two weeks of returning to gainful employment. Amazingly, we have no concrete plans this weekend! It's the first obligation-free weekend we have had since before Memorial Day! And it will be the only free weekend until after Labor Day...then starts football season, then into the holidays, and so on and so forth. So, while we have been thoroughly enjoying all of our time with others, I am also going to thoroughly enjoy this free weekend and spend some quality time with just me and my boys!


(Hey, notice I finally figured out how to fix my layout! So much nicer now that the pictures are centered and bigger! Go me! ...well, actually, I have to admit that I am a bit computer stupid, which is why it took me so long to correct the issue. Nonetheless, enjoy the new and improved layout!)

The tank. Sparky and Big Fin's new home.

Jake and his new soccer buddy before the big "Parents vs. Kids" game.

Tough competition.

Go, Jake!

Is he a natural, or what?

Greg enjoying being back on the field.

"While no one is looking, I'm going for a goal myself!"

"Oh no! Busted!"

Fish feeding.

This is just before Andrew threw the entire bag of puppy chow into the water.

Hers is virgin, but mine sure wasn't!

Greg and Karissa

Family bonding on the couch.

"This is gonna be cool!"

Smiling...obviously before the smashing ensued!

A baby bird at Rob & Monique's house that kept staring us down one evening. Poor thing probably became cat food later that night. I really don't like birds, but this one was cute. I guess there's just something about babies - they appeal to moms, regardless of their species.

Fishing extravaganza!

Another one! Let's eat it!

Thoughts From The Boys

Having six weeks off over the summer gives me extra opportunities to listen to my kids. As you all know, I find endless humor in some of the things they say. Here are some of the most recent comments:

Andrew loves to rough-house. If someone sits on the couch or chair in our living room, he literally jumps all over that person. To him, it's a game, although for the rest of us, it can be highly annoying and sometimes even painful. One night while I was in the kitchen, I heard Jacob yell from the living room, "Andrew! I am NOT a playground!" I found this particularly funny because when the boys are running like maniacs in the house or at the grocery store, for example, my phrase of choice is, "Boys, this is not a playground." I guess they do listen after all!
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One day, out of the blue, Jacob said, "Mom, just give me a large box of TNT and I'll make us the best firework this family has ever seen." Oh, OK, Jacob. Just how large of a box did you need?
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In excitement to go outside to play, Andrew tripped and fell in our front doorway. His little foot caught on the rug and he was literally air-born and rammed into the door full force with his forehead. I comforted him, and we then went about our day. Later, I looked at his head, which had a nice sized knot, and said, "Oh, Andrew. You are going to have a big egg on your head from that fall." He looked at me, smiled and said, "Mmm. Egg."
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At the playground one evening, Andrew was being particularly clingy to Jake. Jacob, at 7, does not view Andrew's enamour as flattering, but rather as truly pestering. Jake said to me, "Pap told me that it's hard having a little brother, but that some day Andrew and I would have a lot of fun together and like each other."

"That's true." I said.

"Well, I'm not sure if he was being serious or if he was just telling me a riddle."

"I don't think it was a riddle. I think Pap was probably serious."

"Yeah, I guess so."

I suppose life with Andrew does feel like a riddle to Jacob at times. Such is the life of a big brother!
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On the way to the beach, we stopped in Williamsburg, VA and stayed over night. That evening, we took the boys for a walk through Colonial Williamsburg. Jacob is very interested in history and how things used to be. As we walked around, he made several discoveries:

"Oh," he said, "Instead of garbage cans, they used barrels! And the stop signs were different! The poles were wooden and it looks like the letters were carved instead of painted! "

Yes Jacob, those were the defining differences between modern day society and colonial life - wooden barrel garbage cans and carved stop signs at every intersection!
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Also on the way to the beach, I popped in a CD of some older songs. One of the songs by Billy Joel was on Jacob's IPod. He said, "Mom! I know this song! It's on my IPod!"

I said, "Wow! Do you remember the name of it?"

"Yes," he said, "Only God dies young."

Close, but not exactly right!
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And finally, during a pit stop on the way to the beach, we had to wait in line to use the restroom at a convenience store. Andrew took one look at the cases of Miller in the cooler beside us and loudly proclaimed, "Beer! Mmmm! Beer! Dada's beer! Mmm!"

Needless to say, we got a few sideways glances from other store customers!

Vacation And The End Of Summer

I'm sure everyone has deducted from the recent posts and video clips that we were at the beach last week. It was such a nice and relaxing vacation. I don't think any of us wanted to come home.

This year was a little different for us. We went to Kill Devil Hills, which is in the Outer Banks, but south of Duck and Corolla, where we usually go. It was also different because we went with Greg's family instead of mine. I'll admit that I did find myself comparing things, especially the location, but the atmosphere of family was just as easy and welcoming as being with my own flesh and blood. In fact, this is the first year that I did not feel that intense longing for my grandmother, probably due to the fact that the company was different. It would be a lie to say I didn't think about her at all, because the truth is that I think about her every day, regardless of where I am. But I didn't experience the usual intense loss that accompanies a family vacation to the beach. For that, I am grateful.

It was great for Jacob to play with Brooke and Kiersten, my two nieces who are 8 and 6 respectively (or will be shortly!). Fred brought his guitar and Greg brought his drums (yes, he hauled a drum set to the beach! That's dedication!) and we had several jam sessions on the deck. The men made friends with our neighbors and we even had an audience one night! That's a new experience for me at the beach, and I must say, it was a lot of fun!

Greg went clamming and fishing on the charter boat like last year. Clamming was a huge success, but unfortunately the guys came back empty handed from the fishing charter.

We had a few shopping excursions, Greg and Jake visited the Elizabeth II, a colonial ship, we rode Go Karts, fished off the pier, and did the typical beach and pool swimming.

Andrew was relatively well behaved, for a two year old, which helps tremendously.

I ran 4 days of the week. I was impressed with myself, actually. I couldn't run on the sand, because it just wasn't packed hard enough to keep my legs from turning in and out. I didn't want to risk another injury after just recovering from the knee and hip issues I had. So I ran on the road each day. I didn't know how far I went, I timed it instead. One day, I noticed that I ran well past the 5 mile marker, which meant 2.5 (approximately) miles from our house one way! I was thrilled and felt very encouraged that I was able to run around 5 miles in about 50 minutes. That's much closer to my previous fitness level than I have been in the last two years! Top that with the fact that running outside is much harder than running on a treadmill, and I just doubled my enthusiasm! It feels good to be getting back in shape. No, the scale isn't what I want, but I'm slowly beginning to accept that I may never get to my so-called goal weight. I just want to be healthy, and I'm hoping that my mind will follow my body. We all know the mind is much harder to change.

Now I'm home and getting ready to start back to work. My summer vacation was cut short by about a week and I was called back to work already. I start tomorrow. In some ways, I look forward to getting back to my old routine, but I'm also not quite ready to give up the ease and freedom of the past month and a half. I wish I had more time to spend with the kids, to travel, to visit with friends, and to catch a moment here and there with my wonderful husband. I guess I will have to do that around the work day though, because duty calls! There are kids to register, paperwork to complete and crises to solve! Look out, Altoona, your super social worker is back on the scene, refreshed and ready to start a new school year!

Beach Photos

1717 N. Virginia Dare Trail

Ah...Freeze pops in the pool. Who could ask for anything more?

Real men wear pink.

"Holy cats! There's sand on your shovel!"

"Mom, this is very relaxing. Nothing could ruin this moment."

"Except maybe the monster waves lurking behind us!"

Even on vacation, I can't sleep in. But at least at the beach, I'm greeted by a beautiful sunrise each day!

We ate out one night at an excellent restaurant. When we left, we asked a man in the parking lot to take our picture under the sign. Unfortunately, he cut out most of the sign, so now in 15 years when we look at this photo, all we will know is that the place had live music on Thursday nights! Haha! (It was called Barefoot Bernies. If you stay around Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk or anywhere in the Outer Banks, you should eat there. YUMMY food and fast service)

Snorkeling in the pool is hard work!

I love this picture of Jacob and Brooke. The sun is still rising, as they test out the water.

Ghost crab hunting.

Jam session. Yes, Greg actually brought his drums to the beach!

Eddard had a few of his own little solos that night!

The hot tub wasn't working, so Katelyn made her own! Texting in the kiddie pool - every teenager's dream!

Hook the noodle up to the nozzle and watch the pool clear out very quickly!

Digging away!

"I'm holding on to you tight, Mom. I saw what happened with Andrew!"

Ed, Rob and Greg

"Mmmm...fiddler crabs. Eat it!" And we aren't quite sure...maybe he did eat it.

"I'm hungry, Mom! I know there's food beneath the sand!"

A few beers and Dalann thinks she can sing, and I think I can play the guitar!

Go kart riding. Jacob was in it to win it!

Andrew was able to ride too. He LOVED it!

Ed and Dale Ann take a rest on the beach.

Greg stands in as a human target, just to see what it feels like to be hit with a water balloon that has been flung from a sling shot at 30 mph...needless to say, it hurt.

4th of July Photos

Oooo...fire!

Andrew chats it up with baby Drew.

Jacob does the sparkler dance!

"Holy cats! Look at that!"

Jacob and Kiersten

Men love explosives.

Slip-sliding it!

Corn dog madness!

To the rescue!

MedEvac on it's way!