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Every year growing up all my family members and my friends got a Paul's Bakery Birthday Cake.  I never could.  See, my birthday always fell on the week they closed the bakery for their annual family vacation.  So instead I got an Carvel's ice cream cake.  This year the girls took me to Baskin Robbins for a small ice cream cake to continue the tradition.  Here it is in all its beauty.

Yum

Greek Salad

Fresh Fish

Cukes from the garden.

Caprese Salad

BACON!!!

Berry Butter

Marinated Tomatoes and fresh Bruschetta

A Flat 4th of July

Because of this....

The sadness of our grass.

There was  none of this...

July 4 2010

So I tried to make it special in a different way.  I made Fourth of July Patriotic French Toast from the Pioneer Woman.

fresh french bread 

 This french toast is a little different.  It has fresh lemon zest in the batter.  MMMmmmmmm good.

Soak it good.

Put it on a griddle with butter of course.

Berry Butter
www.thepioneerwoman.com

add fresh berry butter.

And there you have it.  It was awesome.  We have also topped Thomas English muffins with the berry butter.  To die for!!!

What would the 4th be without hot dogs?

My friend Sarah and friends came over for the afternoon.  We had a great time cooking out and making fajitas.  I have to say thank you to my sister-in-law Jill for her marinade recipe. 

It is a bit messy I won't lie.

Put it on this cheap $3 piece of meat and voila... tender deliciousness.

I'm getting better at the grilling thing.  I have added corn on the grill to my new skills as well.

We topped the night off with the Boston Pops concert and fireworks display on TV.  Thus our flat 4th.  

Nobody Likes the D word

Divorce... its whispered by those on the outside and hated by those living it.  No one wants to say this dirty, devastating word.

I am living this word.  It is a messy, messy affair and I do not wish it upon anyone.

No one likes the D word.  No one.

Glass Bottom Boat

Today, our friend Sarah treated us to a special "adventure trip".  She took us to the Glass Bottom Boat tour in San Marcos, TX at Spring Lake.  Here are the girls in front of the boat we went out on for our tour.

This is a bald cypress tree at the park.

The girls enjoyed standing next to the trees.

There were lots of cool places to take cool pictures.

Natalie refused to sit down, she did not want to get dirty.

We finally convinced her to pose with her sister.  I love this picture of the girls.

Here is Miss Riley.  She is growing up so fast.

She asked me to take her pictures with the butterfly paintings.

Here is Riley in front of the original underwater theater.  This place was fascinating and was one of the first amusement parks in Texas.

Here they are posing.

We finally got to get on the boat.  There was this long wooden box down the middle of the boat with a big glass bottom.  All the boats are made of wood and not fiberglass.

This is what it looked like below us.  Not that we needed to look through the glass.  The water there was so clear you could see straight to the bottom without the boat.  The entire lake is fed through underground springs.  The log on the bottom of the lake is over 100 years old!

Here is the view out the side of the boat.  See what I mean about the water being so clear?  There are also Gar in the lake.  They like to hide in all the plants.

The kids were completely fascinated.

Here is one of the big fish swimming under us.

This picture is of some birds that were panting to cool off.

They had an aquarium we got to walk through also.

They had turtles...

Photo op!

Then we went to the Wetland Boardwalk.  This was a great experience for the kids to learn about being quiet.

Riley is so smart.  She said,"Mom, if you are really quiet you see a lot in Nature and its beautiful."

I agree.

Randomness

We love samples!  Its the best free snack in town.  The economy is down and we are dealing with it and making the most of free fieldtrips.  LOL

This is what happens when the girls get ahold of my phone.

Here is Natalie's silent cheer.  This is what you do when you are happy and cannot be loud.

Summer Pic and Grillin'

Here is a picture of a wonderful greek salad I learned to make from Miss Aunt Jill.  UMMMM!!!

Here are the girls swimming.

Riley is learning that mistakes are okay... it's what you do about them that counts.  Yes, she has a unique sense of humor.

I decided to not be afraid of the grill.  I thawed out some of our steaks and face my fear...

It turned out beautiful.  The downside was it was a little freezer burned.