Summer Time

And the living is easy. Well I can hope it will be easier. With the two little kiddos walking the chances of ease are pretty slim in this household. However, no more school for Gabriella means at least the potential for sleeping in exists, even if it isn't too likely. We are looking forward to a few trips to Disneyland and a vacation in early August. There are a few things I'm really looking forward to. First, sleeping in, even if it's just past 7...once. Second, going to parks or kid friendly places like Java mama and not having to stress about getting back in time to pick up Gabriella from school. Third, not making lunches 5 days a week. I'm considering letting the kids go free range and forage in the pantry for food on their own. Just kidding, they can't open packaging yet, although Gabriella could help them with a few things. I'm happy summer break is here, I think I'm probably more excited than Gabriella is. Hopefully the next few weeks will be full of fun and relatively stress free, but if their not at least I don't have to explain to a teacher why my children are in pajamas at 3 in the afternoon.

Swimming Days

Now that the weather is hot the easiest way to stay cool is to crank the air conditioner to arctic and shut the windows. However, since we don't want to blow our food budget on keeping cool we occasionally get out to our community pool. The water is a bit on the chilly side and we tend to try to go first thing in the morning before it gets too crowded. The little girls love splashing in the water and being toted around in either our arms or in their princess floaty. Gabriella is mastering her strokes and breathing. She's like a fish in the water and given the chance she would swim for hours. Of course getting to the pool requires a few bags of stuff and enough sunscreen to keep us from getting too toasty. Lucky for me Greg is there to help. On this particular day Gabriella even rode her bike to the pool. We hope to make it to the pool a lot more now that Gabriella is almost on summer break. I haven't been brave enough to take the girls by myself, I think it's a little too much for me. But who knows maybe a day will come when I just need to cool off in the pool.

Raising an Adventurous Eater

Feeding children is a challenging and often thankless job. They complain about what is on the table or constantly ask for something that is not on the menu. I love to cook and when my food is complimented it makes me glow with pride. The little girls are starting to appreciate new and different foods. As we move away from purred beets and applesauce, I'm saddened as they make another move towards growing up. They've enjoyed steak, guacamole and turkey meatloaf. I'm sure overtime they will become just as adventurous as Gabriella.

Gabriella is shaping up to be quite a foodie. From the video above you can see her eat her very first crawfish. She's had more high grade sushi than most children twice her age. She loves natto, fermented soy beans and enjoys crab legs. She happily eats fish when ever it's offered and even has her favorite ways to prepare it. Because I like to cook and eat, she's been exposed to many different types of food. Living abroad also brought opportunities to try different foods that are they norm there. Another example is miso soup, full of tofu and seaweed, is delicious to her. I hope this love of the different and adventurous continues throughout her life. I hope she's always willing to try something new. I've given her the building blocks, I hope she continues to build on her foodie foundation.