Karate!

So for four weeks, Harrison has been taking Karate lessons twice a week. He is really enjoying it and picking it up quickly. He's been doing a great job and loves to wear his gi.

Unfortunately, there's a cute blond girl in his class- (Harrison has a huge weakness for cute blonds- must take after his dad!) which can get distracting sometimes!

The California State Fair is...

WAY bigger than the Del Mar Fair- but the kids' area is just not as good. We still ate the corndogs, pretzels, nachos, pickels, lemonade, and cinnamon rolls- and they were delicious. The kids went on a few rides- but nothing spectacular. The most incredible part was the farm nursey that the fair had. We saw a baby calf, that was literally 4 HOURS old. The kids actually walk up on it right after the birth and were a little curious about all the blood that was there- that was a long story! Grandma Birley handled it nicely though.

Unfortunately, Harrison didn't want to slow down to get pictures, so James and I are smiling and Harrison just wants to move on! But here are a few pics from last night- thanks to Grandma Birley!

Megan's Bridal Shower

Last weekend we made a trip down to Fresno, for James' sister's bridal shower. It was so good to spend some girl-time without the boys around and just chat and talk about wedding details. And it was especially nice to spend some time getting to know my newest neice- Emily! She's is such a toe-head- it runs in both our families, I guess. It's going to be a beautiful wedding- and is in less than 3 weeks. I'll post some pics of the rehersal dinner and party and then of the wedding! I can't wait for that weekend.

Great Summer Recipe

Yes- it is still summer, despite the Halloween AND the Christmas decorations for sale in Costco! (Seriously can it get any ealier in the year?!)
Anyway, here's a great summer dinner recipe I made last night- I really enjoy it, James enjoyed it too, and Harrison avoided it- still has the 7 year old palet- so he had left over spaghetti instead. And with only 187 calories per serving, you can keep your summer figure too!

CITRUS MAHI MAHI WITH FRUIT SKEWERS
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 pound mahi mahi steaks
1 navel orange, peeled and cut into 8 pieces
4 cherry tomatoes

Drain juice from the pineapple into a measuring cup and set the chunks aside. Add enough water to the pineapple juice to make 3/4 cup. Add the soy sauce, oil, ginger, red-pepper flakes, and garlic. Stir to combine. Set aside 2 tablespoons of marinade. Pour the remaining mixture into a sip-lock bag . Add the mahi-mahi and seal the bag. Shake well to coat the fish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
While fish marinates, place the pineapple chunks, orange pieces and cherry tomatoes on skewers.
Coat a grill rack with cooking spray (or we use a special fish trail on the grill instead).
Place the fish on the grill and cok for 5 minutes each side.
The last 3 minutes, add the skewers, turning and brushing with the extra marinade.

I served this with brown basmati rice, to balance out the citrus flavors, which turned out nice.
Enjoy!

I finished it too!

Thoughts? Praise? Criticism of Breaking Dawn?
Think there's gonna be a fifth one?! I can definitely see it!

First Week of Summer?!

Stuck in the bowl- they couldn't get out!
Going through the park on his back- it was apparently safer than his feet! The first thing they learned was how to fall correctly- thank goodness!
Our second favorite thing at Raging Waters- the wave pool.
Practicing regular, goofy and mango footing out in the cul de sac!
And using that first lesson on how to fall properly!

It's hard to believe that Harrison just got out of school for the summer only 10 days ago! This year-round schooling makes me almost feel bad for him, but he doesn't even know what's it like to have 3 glorious month of break- so he doesn't even know what he is missing!

So far, he's been in swimming classes, skateboarding classes, we've gone to the water park twice and caught up on all our family-friendly movies! Here's some pictures from over the last few days. Up next week- karate!!

It only took 5 months but...

I finally saw the Governator!! I was eating lunch and reading my book on the capitol lawn, like I do almost every day and all of a sudden there was a huge crowd and 15 different news outlets all crowded around a very averaged size man in a very nice suit. And there he was....he is not as big as you might imagine in reality. But his accent is just as thick as ever- he kept talking about the wador (water) in caleeefornea (California). Fun!