Starting Beach Season

Beach season does start pretty early for us Southern California residents, but nothing could make me happier. I love warm days, sunshine, and most of all.... the beach. My son takes after me in liking the beach and he often asks to go. If we pass a beach and he doesn't get to play, he gets quite upset. Today was a fun adventure to Zuma beach to enjoy the nice weather. But, I'd prefer to go when I wasn't feeling largely pregnant. Only about 2 and 1/2 months to go, I have so much large ahead of me.

We joined my friend and her two kids for a fun day in the sun. We all had a great time. The kids wore themselves out. My son chased birds most of the time, which was hard because he'd get to far and I couldn't get up to run after him. My friend helped me loosen the slack on how far he ran assuring me she'd get him if he went to far. It was towards the water that worried me most, of course, but he was pretty good about just going side to side.

We picked up a nice toy pack at Target to play with and that occupied the kids for a while too. Only $10 there. As we've always done at the beach we packed a lunch and snacks. Also, I had my must haves for the beach bag there with us.

• sunscreen (in our case chemical free)
• Wet Ones wipes (to disinfect)
• baby powder (to get the sand off, great for before lunch)
• a change of clothes for my son
• baby wipes (for those dirty and understocked bathroom trips)

Very much looking forward to a summer full of the beach, and not so full of pregnancy.

Delicious Berry Pie

My Dad just let me borrow his awesome cookbook, "Cooking With All Thing Trader Joe's". I used to work for them, as did my Dad and Step Mom so we are all very into their food. This cookbook was right up my alley and since he wasn't using it, I decided I would. I'm going to try to make quite a few of the dishes in it, and if they pass the yum! test I'll add them here.

So far, I tried this "Very Berry Mascarpone Tart". Due to the abundance of fresh berries on the pie, most kids will enjoy it. Mine did, but he is a major berry lover.

P.s. I altered this recipe just a touch, to what I thought was easier.

Ingredients:

• 1 Refrigerated (or frozen) pie crust
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 8oz container of mascarpone cheese, softened at room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 1 TB finely grated lemon zest (the white inside of the rind)
  
• 1 pint each of fresh raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

Directions:

1. Prepare pie crust according to package. (Don't forget to let the mascarpone cheese soften)
2. Using an electric mixer, beat heavy cream and sugar until stiff peaks form.
3. Mix in mascarpone, salt, and lemon zest. Spread mixture evenly over cooled pie crust.
4. Arrange berries on top of cream mixture.

Tip: Best made and served fresh, but it will keep in the fridge for a couple days, keep that in mind for the yummy leftovers, if for some odd reason you have any :)

Sticker Fest

Stickers always catch my toddler's eyes. He can spot them from across any store, and although he is good if I say he cannot buy them, he really wants all the stickers he can get. Tonight Daddy showed him a fun new trick to do with stickers. My son had a blast, we had a good laugh, and everything was happy. Thanks to a few sheets or Dora the Explorer Halloween stickers that we found on discount at a Blockbuster that was shutting down.

My son attached every sticker on all three sheets to himself. Every place on his body that was exposed. Even the coffee table got some sticker love. The cleanup process was not as much fun though. They were sticky enough to make him say ouch each time I ripped one off. I tried taking them off slow and I tried ripping them off fast, but both ways seemed to hurt him just as much. I guess if a sticker is stuck to your skin, there is no "right" way to take it off. These pictures give us the memory of the fun the stickers brought though.

Had I looked into it, remembered more, or just channeled my inner Heloise, I would have just placed a cotton ball soaked in oil over each sticker to help loosen the stick. But I guess I'm impatient.


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