riding the jet ski

One of the days we were at the beach, Luke rented a couple of jet skis for an hour.

playing in the pool

This condo has two pools, one has a hot tub at one end. They are pretty nice only they were fairly cold this year. Of course the kids didn't care but there wasn't much relaxing for me in the pool unless the hot tub wasn't too crowded.

playing in the sand

The kids did a lot of playing in the sand too.  They always love burying each other in the sand.

playing in the ocean

We got back Saturday from the most relaxing vacation we have ever been on. We went to Panama City Beach. We went last year as well to the same condo but we did a lot of stuff last year, exploring the town, pirate cruise, waterpark, etc. This year we took it pretty easy. Our day went much like this:
Step 1: wake up, put on bathing suit
Step 2: go play in the ocean
Step 3: come in, eat lunch
Step 4: go play in the pool
Step 5: come in, shower, relax, get dressed
Step 6: go somewhere cool for dinner
Step 7: go to bed
Repeat daily!

It did not rain on us one drop, the weather was perfect. There was no nasty seaweed in the water (unlike last year) but the waves were pretty big.

two new recipes

Cooking is not something I do a lot of, I can cook, I just don't. During the school year I leave my house at 6:15 and don't get home until 4:30 and I am just worn out. John would rather eat out anyway so we usually do.

But I have been pinning all kinds of good recipes to try so this summer I will cook a lot more. I started by cleaning out my kitchen which included emptying my fridge, freezer and pantry and getting those all clean and organized. My countertops are clear and I am have cleaned out my cookbooks and magazines.

The first recipe I tried is Mexican Manicotti. It was one I tore out of a quick cooking magazine years ago.

1 pound of ground beef
1 can (16 oz.) refried beans
2 -1/2 tsp chili powder
1-1/2 tsp oregano
1 package manicotti shells
2-1/2 cups water
1 jar (16 oz.) picante sauce
2 cups sour cream
1 cup mexican blend shredded cheese
1/4 cup green onions
sliced olives (optional)

In a bowl, mix the uncooked ground beef, beans, chili powder and oregano. Spoon into the uncooked manicotti shells, arrange in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Combine water and picante sauce, pour over shells. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (I didn't do that part)

Cover and bake for 1 hour on 350. Uncover, spoon sour cream and sprinkle with cheese, onions and olives. Bake 5-10 minutes longer.

I only put sour cream on half the pan because I don't like sour cream but John does. I also did not put the onions or olives on top.


The next night I cooked a Chicken Cordon Bleu lasagne. It was really good. This recipe came from pinterest.

Here is the link to the recipe:
Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagne
I did not put in the cottage cheese so next time I will use more ricotta cheese in its place.

I cooked both of these recipes in my pampered chef 9x13 stone (which I pretty much cook everything in).

Tie Dye shirts

One thing on our Summer fun list is to tie dye t-shirts. We tried that and it went pretty well. So well actually that I bought more tie-dye and shirts so we can do it again!

St. Jude Dream Home

We went to visit the dream home today. We started this summer tradition in 2010 so this is our 3rd dream home to see. It was the least impressive of the three.
2010 dream home
 2011 dream home
Don't get me wrong, it was still a very lovely home and much nicer than anything I will ever own but I definitely liked the previous homes better.

shower in the master bath

I always like how they put a this stone tile somewhere in the house. 

Kaitlyn filling out the form for us to win a furniture shopping spree

Summer of Fun week 1

We have started off summer with a bang! We did lots of fun activities this week.

Wednesday we went to eat lunch at Five Guys then bowling with friends

Thursday we went to the Pink Palace with the Paulo's then to eat lunch at Wiles Smith

Friday we went to Mud Island and took our lunch to eat there, the water was freezing but the kids didn't care