Sea World

 This past week we made a trip down to San Antonio with the kids to Sea World. Our oldest who leaves for the Navy in July had never been so he really enjoyed going. First night there we ventured down to the Riverwalk and dined at the Iron Cactus. Ate amazing food while a mariachi band walked around to each table singing. Let me tell you it is HOT and HUMID during the summer months! We stopped at a 5 and dime store along the Riverwalk and let the kids buy a few things, it was just so crowded and it was a Monday night!

(The hubby and young son goofing around)

(Boat tour)

(some walkways along the river, beautiful!)

(Giant clock, love the design)

(My most favorite pic I took of pink crepe myrtles blocking all but the steeple of a church from view as you rode the boat tour... amazing!)

 We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites just outside of San Antonio in Schertz, TX trust me doing this brought the hotel cost way down. The closer you got to the Riverwalk, Sea World or Six Flags Fiesta Texas the prices soared! And we love the Hampton, one room can sleep 6 people with two queen beds and a hide-a-bed couch that can sleep two. The rooms are always nice and very roomy, with a separate kitchenette area, breakfast is very nice when you have kids to fill up. Waffles, eggs, potatoes, bacon/sausage, hot/cold cereals. yogurt, breads and pasteries, fresh fruit, juice and coffee. Everything you could need for a big day at Sea World.

(Relaxing at the hotel)

 Sea World is very pricey.. tickets were $60 each for our bunch. Bought two refillable drink cups $20 total, with 99 cent refills. Lunch at Shamu's Smokehouse for all 5 of us was $51 and the portions were very very small. My step daughter's plate had one BBQ chicken leg, fries and one fork full of coleslaw for $10 it was crazy. Other then that we had a blast, rode all the roller coasters and seen all the shows then ended the day in the water park area and cooled off. The kids enjoyed the sea lion and walrus show and Shamu the most. We also got to hand feed dolphins! I haven't been to Sea World in 10 years and they have changed a lot but for the better! A wide variety of activities for any age.

(Sea World entrance)

(Shamu, my pics were terrible but the videos were great)

(Step daughter, step son and hubby)

(Youngest son looking at the sharks)

(shark tank, I thought the sunlight streaming in made for a great pic!)

 So tired after that we just took showers and walked next door from the hotel to Chili's lol where I had about 3 margaritas and didn't have any problem going to sleep that night! The next morning had breakfast and made our 4 hour drive back home. It was a very nice trip, and somehow the kids didn't fight or argue which made it even better! 

 FOUR WEEKS until the big vacation trip to South Padre Island!!!! I'm super excited and can't wait! Hope you all are having a great summer..... till next time :)

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A Bowl Full of Lemons

Sweet Blessings

Sorry everyone I haven't had much to post lately. Its been so hectic since school ended and it doesn't look like it will slow down much either. Today I was blessed with my 4th niece Mallory Nicole and she gave momma a run for her money, more then the other girls before her. Before hand I brought some breakfast in to my brother and visited with him while his wife slept. He said if by some miracle the baby ends up a boy he would come out doing cart wheels lol well we didn't get to witness that. But she is here and healthy and thats what matters most! Congratulations to my brother and his wife!

Next week we are off to Sea World with the kids! Fun fun! Now its shower time for Aunt Deanna and bed. A 4 am wake up call and a waiting room filled to the limit with family has worn me plumb out!

Graduation Night

 Our oldest (well my Step Son) Justin graduated last night. He was extremely happy as we were. He will now move on to become a Combat Medic in the Navy. His bootcamp starts July 13 and from there he will take big steps in becoming a man. From being a little pain in the butt sometimes to this is just amazing to me lol seriously the last 4 years have been very emotional and trying for all of us. We are very proud of the person he has turned into and hope to see him accomplish great things. I got emotional last night, Justin has been "my son" for 17 years..... my husband said "Oh man just wait till Kason Graduates your going to be a full on crying mess!" lol Being that Kason is my/our only biological child together who is 14 right now.

 My babies are growing up and its sad and thrilling at the same time. Soon we as well as them will move into a new phase in life. So proud of you Justin, I truely am very proud of you.

Summer Va-Ca planned!!

 Sorry guys I haven't been crafting or painting this past week. Things get a little crazy as school comes to a close! Like planning the summer family vacation! This year will be.....

 Last time we planned to go there Hurricane Dolly hit 2 days before we were to arrive. So lets pray no rain and no hurricanes the last week in July!
 We have rented a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2 kitchen and 2 living room house. Why so big? Well it will be our family, my sisters family and my brothers family. We definately needed the space! Snorkeling, deep sea fishing, parasailing, dolphin watch cruise and a pirate ship cruise. Plus sightseeing and shopping! We are all excited!
 My 15 yr old son will be the only kid above the age of 7. So we decided to let him bring a friend to pal around with. Now I guess I have to go bathing suit shopping :/ I love swimming but hate shopping for a bathing suit!

What are your plans this summer?

Movie Review- Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides

We made a trip to the movies last night and seen the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie On Stranger Tides. The plot kept you interested and over all it was good. I didn't find it as funny as past Pirates movies. Maybe because we have all become so familiar with Captain Jack Sparrow and know how he will react to things going on around him. Don't get me wrong Johnny Depp delivers a great performance as always its just the 4th movie and its becoming predictable.

 This time some new characters are introduced Black Beard (Ian McShane) and his daughter Angelica (Penelope Cruz). Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) returns as does Captain Teague (Keith Richards) who is Jack's father.  Everyone wants to find the Fountain of Youth and of course there are snags in the plans. Plus some challenges in finding items needed to make the water from the fountain actually work. Like a mermaids tear... the mermaid scene was rather good. So pretty and enticing are the mermaids until they turn into piranha.

We also seen the 3D version, let me tell you I use to hate 3D movies. Mainly because it really bothered my eyes. But now with better 3D glasses and the 3D effects in the movie getting even better it was really good. Instead of things coming out at your face you now feel as if your walking along with Jack Sparrow thru a rain forest or standing in the rain. You feel more "in" the movie it works and was great effects.

 Over all we liked it. I give it 5 stars out of 5 stars.

Summer time grillin'

Yes its Tuesday and yes we are grilling today! With the hubby having rotating days off he is off this week Sunday thru Wednesday. So its his weekend so to speak. To begin with the grill wasn't used at all last summer and was stored in the shed. So hubs drags it out and we open it up to find a nice rats nest. Yuck! We got it all vacuumed out and cleaned up but will need another trip to the store for more propane!

We have chicken breast, ribs, sausage and fresh corn on the cob to throw on the grill. I'm making potato salad and fresh fruit cookie pizza to go along with it. The cookie pizza is simple to make and its just really good!

Fresh fruit cookie pizza
You will need:
1 roll sugar cookies
1 pkg cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Your choice of fresh fruits. Here I've used strawberries and kiwi's (grapes, blueberries, raspberries, mandarin oranges or whatever you like will work too)

Sprinkle some flour on your work space and unwrap the sugar cookie roll. You might need to knead it a little to get the dough to work into a ball for you. Then using a rolling pin dusted with a little flour roll the dough out very thin but just thick enough that you will be able to roll it up to be moved to the baking sheet. You can roll it up or fold it over and transfer to to your baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 7 to 8 mins just until the top is lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely (You have to let it cool completely or the topping will melt off) Don't worry if it puffs up during the cooking process. As the giant cookie cools it will flatten back down.

Topping;
In a mixer blend together softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup powder sugar till smooth and creamy.
Slice up your fruit - you can toss with a little lemon juice to help keep browning away.
Ice your giant cookie with the cream cheese mixture and arrange the fruit all over the top.
Keep chilled till serving.

I forgot to get a picture before everyone dug in.. but you get the idea :)

We then ended the night with a bon fire. Its been a great Tuesday! :)

What I've been up to this week...

 Hello! Hope you have been having a great week. I've been up to my elbows in paint, yet again. I finally tackled the extra bedroom which use to be my step daughters room and looked like this..

She moved back to her moms so now I have a craft room again. Since she had decided on purple "Barney" paint I had to primer then paint. The room is a big mess I've been using it to store just about everything so I moved all the junk to the center of the room and got busy. This is the color now..

  

I got the peg board up on the wall finally to help me organize things better, Lord knows I need it!

The drop cloth canvas curtains I made are up..the patio furniture cushions are in there due to it raining outside among all the other junk everywhere!

This room doesn't have a closet, so I installed a closet organization thingy with some shelves and room to hang winter coats. The black curtain back there hides the A/C system since we haven't built anything to cover it yet. And this room is on hold until I'm finished with the dresser I'll use as additional storage. 

Here its soaking up the Citristrip

Let me tell ya this piece hasn't been easy. There are so many layers of paint.. black, pink, purple and white UGH!! But its coming along. You can spy in the picture above a white chair thats part of the kitchen table set that I'm painting white. I also patched holes and painted the ceiling in the kitchen finally. 

Its been a very productive week so far and its only Wednesday! I'm ready for summer vacation! 16 more school days left for us, which I'm glad because I love summer! Cheers :)