Oh my goodness, we're actually planning a vacation!

Craig and I are cruising toward our 10th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe. While we're not taking a cruise to some exotic location, getting a hut in the South Pacific, or jetting off to Europe, we did want to do something special to mark this occasion. After much discussion, narrowing down of locations, and debating what we wanted out of this trip... we have settled on a destination!

Charleston, South Carolina here we come!

We're going next month... what I need is suggestions on places to eat and where to stay. We'll probably use Priceline or Hotwire, but I'm open to specific suggestion or suggestions of what part of the area would be good. Also... any thoughts on whether we ought to rent a car? I'm thinking we should.

Very excited!!!!

T-Ball Time!

I've crossed a new bridge in parenting... I'm now a sports parent! Alex started t-ball last week. The kids on his team are 4 and 5 years old. He's the second shortest kid on his team... comes by that honestly as neither Craig nor myself are all that tall. At this age, it's all about learning the skills and rules. No outs. Everyone bats every inning. They only take one base at a time. Games only last an hour. He did have an advantage over the other kids... he's had a tee since last summer and he's gotten pretty good at hitting. I'm proud to say he was the first kid up to bat in his game. He smacked the ball really hard on his first swing, and would have had an in-the-park homerun had the no-run rule not been enforced. Yes, I'm bragging. He had a blast and so did we... even the wee one!

Strawberry Time!

My strawberries have gone nuts again this year, thanks to tons of rain and heat. Unfortunately all that rain has led to much of the crop rotting on the ground before I could pick it. I will probably be able to get one batch of jam out of this year's crop.

My struggle with strawberries is... I'm the only one in the family who really likes them. So I start to get burned out on eating them after a bit. The jam was a big hit last year... I made two batches of freezer jam. We're still eating on it and my mom is always happy to take some.

This year, I was determined to get Alex to try strawberries. Alex, being distinctly my child, is a picky eater. I gave my mother fits growing up, refusing to eat so many things it would take weeks to list it all here. I have outgrown this picky-ness quite well, I think. Alex is coming around. I insisted that he stop saying "I hate that!" about foods he hasn't tried. Instead, he's supposed to say "I've never tried that." It's actually working, and I've gotten him to try a few new foods over the past month or so. I figured we'd give strawberries a shot since I knew we'd have a lot of them.

He wanted to help me pick the strawberries and I told him he could, but he would have to eat a strawberry. He said, "I won't eat a strawberry, but I would try a strawberry smoothie."

Alright! I have an entire smoothie cookbook. And I only make healthy smoothies, so I was THRILLED!

Tonight was the night. He pronounced the smoothie "So delicious!"

Here's the recipe:

2-3 cups whole strawberries
1 banana
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 to 1/2 cup plain low-fat or fat free yogurt
Ice if desired

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Makes about 3 good sized smoothies.