Fun in the Sun

Just got back from a great trip to Florida.  We were welcomed back to Michigan by snow in our backyard and temps below 40 degrees!  But after 24 hours of traveling in the van it feels good to be home.  Here is a summary of our trip:

We spent a lot of time driving

Stopped at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, GA

Took a Sunday stroll on the beach and was unsuccessful in keeping the girls in dresses out of the ocean

Visited with family

Visited a large aquarium

Went to Busch Gardens

Got up close with animals

Got up close with Big Bird

Rode some roller coasters 

Ate some Cuban food

Ate some seafood

Played in the sand

Played in the waves (and even swam along side a pair of sting rays)

Collected some seashells

Recorded it all in our family adventure journal

Stopped by the Airstream factory in Ohio and dreamed of more family adventures to come

A Swim Shirt for Suz and Guest Post

We are all a little toasted here in FL.  Before I left I experimented with sewing a woman's rash guard for my sister Suz to try out.  Should have made one for myself because my back is fried! Suz looks great in it  but still wish I could take it in on the sides and lengthen it.  But this was just a prototype - send it back Suz and I'll make it, or better yet pull out the old Bernina and give it a go.  And thanks for your advice on children's swimwear.  

Today I was the happy recipient of an "Alison's original" shirt.  I have been on the hunt for the perfect rashguard for summer.  We purchased season passes to a local water park to help us get through the hot summer.  When temperatures reach 120 nothing feels better than swimming.  The problem is I can't stand the feeling of the sun cooking my skin.  I've noticed once the temperatures pass 110 the landscapers continue to wear long-sleeves.  I'm sure they have realized you can feel cooler with out the sun hitting your skin directly.  Sun-block rubs off, and feels really greasy.  There are some long-sleeved rashguards for women on the market, but they are not very flattering.  I don't look all that great in the high-neck rashguards made by surf companies.  I have worn white cotton hoodies at the pool but I am unable to get in the water wearing these.
 
Al solved this problem by sewing a custom swim-shirt for me with 3/4 sleeves and a scoop-neck.  This shirt is both flattering and functional.  I think it even holds in my arm fat a bit.  I can keep my self covered up at the water park and not look like a super-freak.  All I need now is huge hat, a swim-skirt or board shorts to go with the shirt and I will be ready for summer 2011.  
 
Thanks so much Al - I love it!!
 
Also, for those searching for kids rashguards I have spent hours online looking. It is really hard to find long-sleeved shirts for kids.  My kids need these for the summer because they burn easily, and sunblock rubs off.  The best options are at www.tugasunwear.com or the o'neill skins at www.zappos.com - the o'neill skins are really tight so we went up a few sizes.  My complaint with the o'neill shirts is that they have screen printed writing on them.  I tried to avoid this whenever possible - by the end of the summer the words start to rub off and the shirt looks old and worn.  Lands end has good options for boys, but the girls shirts are kind of awkward.  I also avoid white because it turns yellow over time.  I ended up buying the $30- o'neill skins at zappos (even thought i like the tuga 3 piece sets) and we'll see how they hold up.  The bright pinks will go with suits we already have.  The o'neill shirts have spf rating 50+ and do look flattering because of the white stripes on the side.  We'll try not to get sunblock all over them.  The other thing I try to do is rinse the chlorine out of them (sometimes by having the kids shower after a swim) after each use and then line drying them.  Swimsuits take a beating, especially in Arizona where it is all my kids wear during the summer.  I'm usually happy if they don't dissolve before October.
 
The best solution would be to sew your own.  You could choose the sleeve length, color and avoid screen printed designs altogether.  Al - are you going to make some for your kids?  I'd love to see what you can come up with.  
 
Thanks again!
Suz

Road Trip Prep

We are now enjoying a very warm and very sunny vacation in Florida.  It took several days prep to pull off this road trip.  But after 24 hours traveling in the car I realized no matter the amount of prep, family travel is really more work than leisure.  In fact, the past couple of days in our van would have made for a highly rated reality show. But I suppose it is the unscripted and unplanned events on family road trips that make them so memorable.

Anyways here is how I prepped and here is how it has worked so far.

A few days before ETD I had all the clothing bags packed.  I usually do two to a bag filling them with enough outfit rolls for the trip.  The outfit rolls include socks and underwear so there is no unnessasary digging and jumbling of clothes.  I usually work individually with each child on this process.  Afterthoughts:  it looks neat upon the first opening but the fact is there really is no avoiding the digging and jumbling of clothes no matter how neatly they were packed.

Next up:  packing individual backpacks for entertainment. Each was assigned to do this on their own.  This has to pass my inspection.  Here is Maryanna in the inspection process, can you guess what passed my inspection and what had to be left behind?

She ended up with two coloring books, two picture books, a baggie of crayons, a plush horse purse and one blankie.  In the other's backpacks you may also find a journal, sketchpad, Madlibs, books, pencils, a few small toys, pocket knives, sunglasses, binoculars, compass and playing cards.  

In the end I find they spend most their time coloring or drawing, and only playing with a few small toys.  In addition to a backpack each child brings something soft and cozy like a blanket, pillow or stuffed animal.  Here it is all lined up and ready to be loaded. Afterthoughts:  whatever is packed, just imagine it all dumped out on the sticky floor of the van mixed with stinky shoes and crumbs.  This really was too much stuff.  Sometimes keeping track of treasures on long road trips causes more stress than the comfort. 

I had shoes and hoodies lined up a few hours before ETD.  There is nothing like one missing shoe that can hold you back.  Afterthoughts: that is only a good idea if you are likely to meet your ETD but in our case we were several hours off so the lined up coats and shoes just got in the way.  Also, it is way to hot down here to even look at so many layers but I'm sure somewhere along northbound I-75 we'll be happy to pull them out again.

A lot of the road trip prep actually revolves around food.  I made a triple batch of pumpkin muffins to eat on the road but since we were 7 hours off our ETD we ate them around the table.  Hard boiled eggs are another favorite road trip food.  Just be sure to peel the shells at home otherwise the floor of your van will really start looking like a compost pile.

The rest of the prep work is done on the idea of a few different "mother ships" and smaller "satellites".  Our mother ship cooler gets packed way in the back of the van.  It is only accessible when stopped.  In it there are several frozen water bottles to keep food cold and a gallon of fresh milk and a gallon of frozen milk.  There may also be bags of deli meat and cheeses, yogurt, and cut up fruits and veggies.  The satellite cooler is accessible while on the road and will hold whatever cold drinks the driver may need, whatever meal will be passed around until the next stop and a few sippy cups of milk.

Here is my mother ship "pantry", it is stored in a large plastic bin in the way back.  I always keep at least two satellite pantry bags accessible for whatever snacks are needed to help keep the driver and all the passengers happy.  The satellite pantry bags are then restocked at the pit stops.

My mother ship diaper bag (actually bin) is also just below.  In it there are packages of pull-ups, cloth diapers, homeopathics and baby wraps.  This is also stored in the way back and has occasional exchanges with my small satellite diaper bag.  Afterthoughts:  This system really worked great!

Here are some children patiently waiting through hours of delay.  In the back you may see a 5 gallon water jug - that is our mother ship.  Then below are 9 little water containers that act as our satellites.  Afterthoughts:  you have to be really careful with a 5 gallon water jug because it can easily leak!

Now a place and system for the fun stuff like oversized running shoes and beach towels.  These three bins are serving as my back hall or mud room.  One for shoes and hats, one for towels and bathing suits and another for sporting equipment.  This also worked well with the execption of storing wet towels and bathing suits.  Perhaps I could figure out a clothesline for the van?

It is kind of funny how I look back on all the family vacations and road trips from my youth with only pleasant memories, never realizing how much work it actually was for my parents to pull it off.  So we do it now (all the work) for our children all out of the fun of it.  Just posting this up here for moral support to myself the next time we off on a road trip adventure.

Please share your secrets to family adventures and road trips - would love to hear what  works and what doesn't for other families.

Quick Skirt Makeover

This skirt was picked up months ago at a thrift store with the intention of making something for one of the girls.  I was visioning a high yoke pinafore with 2" straps.  But if I sewed up all the things I in vision for them their room would be impossibly messy and in the end I'd only be creating more work for myself.  So the skirt was cut up for me because I actually could use a few new items.

I simply shortened the skirt and added some over sized patch pockets so it could become official "mom wear".

Here is the back.  I'd like to note an error that was made here.  I got lazy and just chopped even along the  stripe without considering the amount of length a big "bump" takes up.  In other words the back looks shorter than the front when being worn even though it was cut evenly across.  It is always best to have someone else mark your hems.  The best way to do it is with shoes on and a wooden yard stick measuring up from the floor.

It is not worth unpicking the hem.  I'm sure this skirt will see plenty of wear despite the error.......and if it doesn't I'll just pick off the pockets and make the pinafore I originally planned.

Nary's Spring Rolls

Nary is my good friend from Philadelphia.  She is originally from Cambodia and was generous in sharing with me both incredible food and inspiring stories from her childhood.  Before I moved from Philadelphia she taught me the secrets of making spring rolls.  She also attempted to teach me how to make Pho but I was too busy eating to focus and now every time I get the Pho craving I regret my lack of attention to the process. 

This weekend we aren't doing much besides listening to General Conference.  When we lived in Philadelphia our small Church branch would gather for a Conference pot luck and since most of the members were Southeast Asian, there were always piles of spring rolls to gorge on.  So in the memory we made them today.

Springs rolls are not at all difficult to make, it just takes the right ingredients and time.  I stopped by the Asian market last night and picked up just what I needed, spring roll wrappers, oyster sauce, bean threads and sweet chili dipping sauce.

I already had ground turkey and ground pork in the freezer and the rest was picked up at a regular grocery store, cabbage, carrots, celery, jicama, onion and garlic.

You start the process by shredding the cabbage and carrots.  I just ran mine through a food processor but before I was lucky enough to own such a great tool I shredded it by hand with a vegetable peeler.  Like this:

The jicama and celery should be finely minced and added to the shredded cabbage and carrots.  Reserve the garlic and onions for the meat mixture.  Dump a few spoonfuls of salt over the minced and shredded veggies to extract excess liquid.

Squeeze out the excess liquid with your hands or ring it out in some cheese cloth.  You do not want the mix watery.

Now in a separate bowl you can mix the meat.  On this occasion I used 1lb. of ground turkey and 1 lb. of ground pork.  It's been a few years since we've made these and we determined today that was too much meat.  Also, I did not realize one of the meats was pre seasoned and that had an affect on the over all taste.  They were still good, just not as authentic.

To the meat mixture add minced garlic ( I think we used 4 or 5), a few tablespoons of oyster sauce, a few small spoonfuls of sugar and fresh ground pepper.  At this point Nary use to mix a little, cook it in the microwave and test for flavor, hers always tasted good.

Now drop the bean threads in very hot water for about 3 minutes.  When they are soft strain them then drop in cold water.  Shake out excess water and cut them up a bit before tossing them into the veggie mix.

Mix it all together in a very large bowl.  I sometimes find it is easiest to use my hands for this.  

We had 100 wrappers to roll today.  It is a group effort and after careful training I was discriminating in which rolls would pass my inspection.  I explained that these were not over stuffed burritos or even traditional fat egg rolls but light barely filled spring rolls.  They had to be rolled carefully and tight enough to avoid spilling out during the frying process.  Everyone participated in the training but only Paul and James graduated to the actual rolling process.  Maryanna was assigned to carefully peel the wrappers apart and make sure they were covered with a damp cloth and Clara got to dip her finger in an egg mixture then help seal the wrapper. 

Paul manned the deep fryer (the same one Nary gave to me as a going away gift several years ago) and I kept the rolling production in motion.

The kids couldn't resist eating them hot out of the oil.

They kept reaching for them and it was impossible to keep up with the demand.

Here's a close up

And here they are almost gone.

Everyone loved them!  Not something we'd make every day but definitely fun for Conference weekend.