Birthday Beach Trip

For Jackson's birthday

we decided on a family adventure

instead of a party.

So we went camping.

TENT Camping!

So for Rico's birthday,

we decided on a trip to the beach.

My grandmother has a semi-permanent

camper down there at a campground,

and the kids and I visited on our trip

back to NC last year.

We have been a couple of times,

and I knew it would be a great

way to celebrate Rico's birthday.

We just had to find a weekend that wasn't 

slam packed with other things.

So we finally found a few day.

I invited my mom along.

She took a couple of days off of work,

then my cousins got wind that we were going 

and they showed up too!

It was awesome!

The more the merrier in our family!

So we all squished into the camper

(with a florida room attached).

And had a ball!

Daddy was supposed to join us on Friday after work,

but was feeling under the weather

and decided not to make the trip.

We missed him

but still had a ball!

Here are just a few of the favorites from our trip:

A beach trip wouldn't be complete
without a sand covered baby!

Good gracious -

she is getting so big so fast!

The three younger kids

kept on the shore

and played in the sand

and at the edge of the water,

most of the time.

 Mr. T even let Cousin Kara
cover him in sand!
I couldn't believe it!!

We couldn't seem to keep those little toes 

covered though!

All that sand was hard to get out 

from underneath!

Dern that is a cute kid!

While the others were 

playing on shore...

I couldn't keep Rico out of the water!!

The boogie boards they are using 

are 15+ years old!

Yep!

My sisters and I used them when we were 

still living at home and doing family beach trips

as teens!

Then Nana & Papa got the boys

skim boards!

Rico LOVES it!

And he's getting pretty good at it!

This is what happens when you recycle clothes

as long as I do.

This bathing suit is probably close to 9 years old

and is now on its third kid!

So the elastic is SHOT!

That means,

the wearer 

walks around 

with his bathing suit

hanging around below his BUM!

We were following him around

pulling those britches up...

Didn't last long...

That suit made its way into the trash as soon

as the trip was over!

This is Mr. T's FAVORITE 

past time!

PUDDLES!

Falling backwards into them...

Falling forwards into them...

Flipping into them...

Jumping over(ish) them...

And the BEST part!

Belly flops into them!

 We also saw our share of sealife on this trip!

The crew is checking out something interesting here...

These are some of the creatures we saw:

(not sure what this one is - any ideas?)

Then this nice big sea snail.

Sandy baby beach kiss!

(Have I mentioned lately how happy I am that we are home!)

Rico said this was the best birthday trip ever!

Says it all for me!

The Zoo in June

Keeping with the 

"doing something every stinking weekend" 

pattern that we had developed since we 

stepped foot back in NC...

we made a family trip to the zoo

with my mom,

sister,

brother-in-law

and 

sweet baby neice.

It was a nice warm day...

quite a bit cooler than what we were used to in 

Southern Texas!

But non-the-less,

it was warm enough

for them to cool off in the 

ice cave we found over

by the polar bear exhibit.

Then Uncle Jack 

posed with two of the boys

on the giant spider web. 

Luckily there was no giant spider in sight!

A quick trip for me and my baby girl 

on the merry-go-round!

Oh this looks familiar!

Momma gorillas carry their youngins around too!

Hey look,

she's got a monkey on her back!

(sorry, couldn't resist)

There is a great dinosaur exhibit at our zoo right now.

This guy was hungry.

This guy was ugly!

This guy was supposed to be dying

after a fight with a bigger dino.

(Jackson wasn't quite sure what to make of that)

The big boys posing with a big boy dino!

This guy...

we kept hearing screams coming from 

the trail up ahead of us...

couldn't figure out why...

til we got closer.

This guy SPITS at you!

Ack!!!

We had a great time!

Except for the walking part!

Mercy!!

Rico wore his new heely shoes,

so he had a great time wandering the park.

Me...

not so much.

Daddy's knee was giving him problems

so I got to push the littles

in the stroller

(those two littles aren't so little anymore... 

I had atleast 60 lbs in that stroller!)

for almost 5 miles

I swear

most of it was UP HILL!

How does that happen?

I have no idea!

But it was a great workout!

And I got a lot of sympathy from 

fellow zoo goers!

More May Happenings!

As you have probably noticed,

we have stayed VERY busy since we have been home...

so much so, 

that I cannot sit down long enough to get

to these posts much!

So to recap,

in the first 2 weeks of May we:

Hunted Wabbits

Picked Strawberries

Celebrated Mother's Day 

and

Two Birthdays!

The rest of May was a little more quiet

with 

a visit with the Budweiser Clydesdales

a 80th Birthday Tea Party

Sleepin wif da fishes

and

Memorial Day.

The Clydesdales!

I grew up loving these beautiful horses.

I remember vividly,

the first time I ever saw them.

It was in a greek restaurant in 

Columbia, SC 

where we would go when I was a child,

called Zorbas.

I remember one of the owner's was called

"Jimmy, the Greek"

And the last time I went to this restaurant

was probalby 25+ years ago

(bleh! Am I really old enough to say that!?!?!)

I remember seeing a replica of the 

Budweiser Clydesdales 

in the restaurant,

on display.

(source)

I loved visiting the Clydesdales at 

Sea World San Antonio

when it was still sponsored by

Anheuser-Busch.

And my hubs knew how much I loved these horses...

so I was OVER THE MOON

when he told me that they were coming 

to our new little town!!!

I am still not sure how we got them here,

but we did!

And,

of course,

I didn't have my good camera with me!!

So these pitiful ones are all I got.

They ride in a better vehicle than I do!

They also travel with their own food AND water!

They were board at a local stable

(imagine the stable owner's excitement!!!).

Then they headed to Seymour Johnson AFB 

the next day!

(It doesn't take much to get me excited)

The Tea Party

While we were still in Texas,

my mom & aunt started planning my

grandmother's 80th birthday party.

They decided to do a Tea Party.

Complete with hats!

I wasn't sure how I could help

all the way from Texas

and knew I wasn't going to be

able to come up for it...

UNTIL...

we moved!!

I was so excited and 

wanted to help in any way!

So Friday night,

two days before the party,

I loaded the beast

with the two littles

and we headed to Raleigh to 

pick up

my mom

my younger sis

and

my little neice!

The beast was loaded to the gills.

Three women

and

three children 

(4, 2 & 7 mo)

take a LOT of stuff

for a weekend trip!!
My dad got the honor of helping us load.

Yes - it appears we packed in 

garbage bags!

I have NO idea what was in there.

Then I rearranged the carseats to have my littles

sit in the back

and my sis and her little sit in the middle row.

But Mr. T was thoroughly confused 

as to what exactly was in his spot

and 

was tickled with the fact that 

he just didn't fit right.

Our baby sis drove down 

and met us!

We spent most of the weekend 

visiting 

and

cooking

and

finalizing.

Then Sunday morning

more cooking

more finalizing

and 

finally at 1pm

the party.

(Did I mention it was a 4+ hour drive for me?)

After the party was finally over and cleaned up from,

we loaded up and headed back to Raleigh.

The littlest Miss

got sick on the way home.

It was scary...

and it was raining on top that.

So it was a pretty stressful ride.

We got back to Raleigh, 

unloaded half the cargo

(people too)

then jumped back on the road

for the hour plus trip 

home.

Through the rain,

in the dark.

But we made it!

I don't have any pictures of that trip,

because I was too busy cooking and cleaning 

but I had a ball!!!

And you will just have to take my word that 

my mom & aunt 

did a great job!!

Sleepin Wif Da Fishes

While the littles and I were attending a tea party...

daddy and the older boys 

went on an overnight

with our new scout group...

to the aquarium!

How cool is that??

They had a ball!!

And daddy took way more

pictures than I did
at the Tea Party.

Here are a few of the better ones:


Before they got to the aquarium,
Daddy took them for dinner.
Apparently Jackson had
fish and chips
(before the aquarium...that's just not right, is it?)
and it appears,
in this picture,
he had a beer too!

I have no words for this picture:

This is about the size of the group that went...
how often do you get
a whole aquarium to yourselves??

All tucked in and ready for bed.
Daddy's flash caught some of the fish eyes in the background.
Not sure what I would think of sleeping
next to a shark tank...

They had a great time!

Memorial Day

I honestly have NO
recollection of Memorial Day!
I have NO idea what we did.

I can only imagine that we stayed
home for the first weekend
since we moved back
and actually unpacked!

Skittles Flavored Rainbow Cake

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As I briefly mentioned in my last post.

My oldest boy child,

asked for a simple 

Skittles Cake

for his birthday.

He even told me how to make it.

(thanks kiddo)

He said all I had to do was make a circle cake

and put an S on it.

Easy enough.

Not a chance!

So I jumped on-line to look up ideas.

And finally decided that I was going to do 

the

INSIDE

Skittles colored

AND

Skittles FLAVORED!!

What?

How?

Here is how!

You need:

* 2 boxed cake mixes

(+ ingredients listed on back of box to make these)

* 1 large bag of Skittles

* 1 large tub of Cool Whip

Step 1:  Preparing the Skittle flavors

* Have your kids sort out the Skittles by color.

I didn't get a picture of this,

but they all worked so well together!

And didn't eat TOO many!  

*Turn each flavor/color of Skittles
into somewhat of a  simple syrup.

I measured just over 1/3 c of
each color of Skittles 

then melted them in a sauce pan in 1/3 c of water.

The color comes off first...

Then it turns into the Skittle flavored simple syrup.

Pour the liquid into small glass bowls

to allow it to cool,

while you work on the other colors.

Repeat process with each color.

You will notice,

that there are no blue Skittles.

So I just added blue food coloring to 

the water for the blue layer.

Step 2:  Making the Cakes!

Prepare your cake mix using the instructions on the box,

one mix at a time to keep it more manageable.

OMITTING THE WATER!

Follow instructions on the box,

but, again,

DO NOT add the water!

It will be quite thicker than normal.

There will be approximately 3 c of batter.

Put 1 c of batter in 3 different bowls.

*Quick Tip - coat the inside of your measuring cup

with cooking spray and the batter will slide right out!

Add 1/3 c of your flavored water to each bowl of batter.

 Here is the lime flavored batter.

I wanted to build my cake in the order of the colors of the rainbow:

top to bottom:  red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

 I cooked 2 layers at a time in 9" pans.

And I chose to start with the bottom two colors/flavors,

so I could start assembling the cake as soon as the layers cooled.

My first two pans in the oven were the purple and blue layers.

 While they were cooking,

I prepared the batter for the next 2 layers (green & yellow),

(which means I had to make my second cake mix too).

When the cakes came out of the oven,

I allowed them to cool briefly inside, 

flipped them out of their pans on to a cooling rack,

then threw the cakes into the freezer.

I wasn't sitting around forever waiting for them to cool

so I could put the Cool Whip on them!

No thanks!

Then I prepared the final 2 layers (red & orange).

 This is what it looked like in the middle of 

stirring in the flavored water.

And fully incorporated:

And into the pan!

I left the cakes in the freezer until I needed the cooling rack again

(for the next batch in the oven).

Then I started assembling the cake!

I leveled off the layers before assembly.

Bottom layer is purple,

then the blue layer.

Then all the other layers followed.

so bottom up:

purple,

blue.

green,

yellow,

orange,

and

red.

With a layer of Cool Whip between each cake.

I chose to go with Cool Whip as the filling and frosting,

because I felt there was really enough sugar in the cake

and the light Cool Whip might 

go better with the "fruitiness" of the cake,

instead of the heavy buttercream.

But I couldn't just leave the outside plain...

so I had to add a little interest.

I added the Skittle decorations the next day,

right before we served the cake,

otherwise the color from the Skittles

would have bled onto the Cool Whip.

I didn't want that.

I used the reserved Skittles on the outside.

And instead of the requested big S on the top, 

I chose a big R, 

for the birthday boy's name!

I was so excited about cutting into the cake!

And

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

the reactions I got from my family!!

Especially the birthday boy!

After all, his opinion is the ultimate one, right?

This face is worth the trouble!