Fun in the sun in Florida 2

Because we had so much fun last September in Florida, we decided to return to the Sunshine State for our spring vacation. We covered a lot of ground packed in 8 days, visited Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Sea World, Epcot, Cocoa Beach and West Palm Beach. Our trip didn't get off to a good start as we had to hang out more than 2 hours in the plane, waiting for the snow storm to let up, the plane to get de-iced, and everything else in between that resulted in a series of 40 minute delays...whew!!

Seven hours later, what was supposed to be a 4 hour trip, we finally arrived in Orlando to bright, sunny, warmer weather.  Here's a view from our hotel room.  If you like to golf, this looked like a great place to do so.

Once we arrived at the parks, the lines were quite short even for all the popular rides. The longest we had to wait was 10 mins, although there was one ride where the wait time was 40 mins., but someone kindly gave us their Fast Pass tickets.  How cool was that!!  Although this probably makes the 10th time hubby has been on the "It's a small world" ride, he does it for Soph as it's actually one of her favorite rides at Magic Kingdom.

While Universal Studios was a blast for both hubby and me, especially all the simulated, 3-D, 4-D rides... not so for Soph.

We didn't have time to try out all the different rides, but out of the ones we did, Vince and I REALLY liked The Simpson Ride.  That was such a blast that gave the sensation of really being on a roller coaster initially, getting spit out of Maggie's mouth after we got close to her tonsils, spit and all.  And had lots of loop de loops through donuts and one surprise after another in a make believe theme park called Krustyland.

Epcot was beautiful with all it's the artistic gardens. Here's one I like not only because of Mickey and Minnie but because of the sunflowers, one of my favorite flowers.

We got to eat at the French restaurant, Les Chefs de France.

Meet the animated Remy, the French chef rat from Ratatouille. Here again, Soph was not too sure about the rat. Vince and I thought he was soooo cute!

However, she fell in love with the French kitty.  So we got her a smaller version of the kitty that has now become Soph's constant companion.

Last September, we ate at Germany which was quite delicious.  Next time we want to try out Italy.  It's so  much fun to eat at all these different countries.

Sea World is always a fun and pretty place to visit.  Unlike Universal Studios, the surrounding was more peaceful and calm, no loud music blaring.  Hmmm! Are we showing our age?

Our little family

Shamu Show

Here's a manatee, a large aquatic herbivore marine mammal.  I always learn something new when I visit Sea World. Manatee's closest relatives include the elephants and the hyrax (found in Africa and Arabia).   If you look at their faces, they are actually quite cute.  This is the first time I've seen a manatee calf nursing.

I also learned that the reason flamingoes are pink is because they eat shrimp, brine shrimp to be exact.  It's the beta carotene, (you know the same beta carotene found in carrots that makes it orange) in the brine shrimp that actually turns the flamingoes feathers pink. Who Knew?

In this picture, it looks as if Sophie is swimming with the dolphins, getting ready to dive up.

Then we made a quick stop to Cocoa Beach and had lunch....on our way to West Palm Beach.

Sophie and me

Daddy and Sophie

West Palm Beach was probably Soph's favorite place of all....no loop de loops and walking everywhere. Actually, it was a great place for all of us. We stayed at Marriott's newly opened Oceana Palms, located at The Palm Beaches.  It was like home away from home and believe me we did not want it to end.  Our spacious luxurious villa had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a well equipped kitchen and laundry.  Here are some photos although the photos really don't do it justice.

View from our back patio

Nice cabanas

Master Bedroom

Lots of ooohs and ahhhs

Master Bathroom

Sophie's Bedroom

Sophie's Bathroom

Living Room

Fully equipped kitchen with a better dishwasher than we have in our own home.

Back patio off living room.

Sophie loved her room.

Soph's favorite swimming pool at dusk.

Here are some more photos, that ends with a very tired, but satisfied Sophie on the plane back to Salt Lake City.

Daddy, Soph...our hotel in the background.

Soph could spend hours playing and making sand castles.  But what kid doesn't like playing on the beach? Including the big one.

Becoming such a big girl!

Daddy and Soph (in the cold water).  Too cold for me!

Just Me

Rinsing off the sand.

Soph's favorite water slide.

Who can resist that face at Lion Country Safari.

Feeding crackers to Cupid.

Walking on the beach.

The End!

Poor Kitty

Me: "Why is there plastic wrap over kitty's face?"

Soph: "It's so she doesn't smell the chemicals from the strawberries."

Me: "There are no chemicals in the strawberries. And besides you're eating them."

Soph: "But they're healthy chemicals for me and unhealthy for kitty."

This is a typical conversation I have with Sophie everyday.  Does anyone feel sorry for me? ....(I didn't think so.)  I'm still trying to figure out how she was able to obtain all 4's (full mastery) on her last trimester grade report :o/ ?? Hubby and I would like to see the median score in her class....lol.

Sophie - Student of the month for May

Yes, Soph has come a long way since the beginning of the school year. She's still shy, however underneath her diffident exterior is a passionate, eager, bright little girl that fills my life with lots of pleasure and joy! Congratulations Sophie!!

While we were on vacation (which I will post later this week), Soph's school had a Dads and Donut day and a Moms and Muffins day. The yellow flowers were picked by Sophie to give to me.  She said she chose the yellow flowers (instead of the pink flowers) because she knows how much I like sunflowers and daisies. You know what?  She's absolutely right! No wonder she's student of the month :D

In all weathers

The weather today was gorgeous, beautiful with blue skies, SoCal temperatures and slightly breezy. What more can one ask for?   Unlike Arizona where the weather is just a carbon copy of the day before, day in and day out, cloudless blue skies....here in Utah, it's so true what Utahans say, if you don't like the weather just wait 5 minutes.  Even though it sounds a little extreme, there's actually a lot of truth to it.  After living here for almost 4 years, I'm still unjaded when it comes to the weather here.

A few weeks ago, I was amazed to see all different kinds of weather in a week.  I had tweeted something about having all 4 seasons in one week.  However, the other day, I believe we actually had all 4 seasons in one day!  What started out as a fairly warm spring, bright, sun shining day, turned into a cloudy, windy, stormy day with rain, hail, snow and freezing temperatures (see picture). It certainly was a smorgasbord of different weather.  However, I'm glad to see bright, blue skies WITH clouds again today.

Sophie went to the dentist past Tuesday.  She was excited as she now only has to have x-rays once a year rather than twice a year; apparently she's low risk when it comes to cavities.  So, no cavities thus far. Her permanent molars in the back were sealed (i.e. dental sealants) to help prevent cavities as well.  I don't know about other kids her age, but it seems her teeth have a tendency to get "spots" on the surface.  This is something that has even perplexed her dentist. I've tried just about everything you can imagine including getting toothpaste, with and without fluoride.  Her dentist mentioned that there is a difference in fluoride and to be sure to get the one with sodium fluoride versus stannous fluoride.

Evidently, it's the tin in stannous fluoride that has recently been shown to create spots on teeth when it comes in contact with certain bacteria in the mouth.  I don't believe I've ever used stannous fluoride due to the fact it's used mostly to control gingivitis. But because she doesn't like milk (just like her daddy), I'm now giving her a calcium supplement to see if that might help.  Even though she eats yogurt and cheese almost on a daily basis, I'm not sure if it's enough for a growing, little girl.  By the way, certain cheeses, like cheddar will actually offset tooth decay if eaten right after the consumption of foods known to be harmful to teeth.  Also, researchers are looking into adding cranberry extract to toothpaste and/or mouthwash.  Supposedly, there is a compound present in cranberries that may reduce plaque formation.  Aside from the minor "spots" on her teeth, she's lost so far 4 of her baby teeth and her 2 upper front teeth are lose.  Pretty exciting, but at the same time not so because my little itsy-bitsy, mini-me is no longer a baby :( As my Sis mentioned, it's exciting when you lose your teeth when you're young, however not as thrilling when you're older....lol.

Soph continues to love her gymnastics.  Seriously, she wakes up starting her day doing handstands until it's time to go to bed.  She wants to be like the big girls at the gym to include wearing 5 pairs of underwear so she can have a big butt :o/  Nevertheless, I can see she's made great strides since last summer and is doing awesome.  I really admire her determination and drive.

Hubby finally got his Christmas gift; it's the new iPad. I'm really looking forward to trying it out during our flight to Orlando.  I can download Soph's books (Winnie the Pooh for example comes already preloaded on the iPad), my books/magazines, hubby can download movies and will be able to preview them on a bigger screen.  I didn't think I would like the iPad much, but it's actually quite intuitive, consumer oriented, everything is in color, it's backlit, so you can read in the dark, and it's such a space saver.  Truly, it's a good thing!

Oh, yes we're really looking forward to our upcoming vacation to Orlando and West Palm Beach, especially Soph.  She looooves staying at hotels as much as visiting the amusement parks and attractions.  In West Palm Beach, we're going to stay on the beach this time in a category 6 hotel, which should be more convenient and luxurious (for me :D).  We're all very excited!  My mouth is watering just the thought of all the good food we'll be eating and Soph can't wait to have crab legs.  This time we're more prepared and made reservations at the French restaurant in EPCOT and will be visiting other attractions that we weren't able to do the last time we were there.

That's all for now! xoxo

Spinach Soup with Egg Strips

So, it's been awhile since I've posted a recipe. Sophie and hubby aren't fond of spinach and this soup is a great way to get them to partake in eating some supernutritious leafy greens. Spinach is loaded with lutein, an antioxidant that helps mop up free radicals which can help slow down or even prevent age-related blindness and cataracts.

It's no secret that greens are among the most healthful foods. I try and incorporate it (cabbage, chard, turnips, beet greens, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, spinach) into all our meals. And on those rare occasions where I don't... yep! I drink a greens drink or go to Jumba Juice for their wheatgrass detox shots.  They say if you consume wheatgrass juice on a daily basis, it can actually turn gray hair back to its natural color as well as tighten loose and sagging skin.  I don't drink it regularly so I really can't say.

This particular recipe makes 5 cups.

Ingredients:
4 large eggs
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
3 teaspoons olive oil
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Two 14 1/2 ounce cans reduced sodium vegetable or chicken stock
1 teaspoon ground ginger
5 ounces fresh spinach, washed

Instructions:
1.  In a medium bowl, beat together eggs with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon water. In a medium saucepan, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium/low heat; add eggs to cook, pulling eggs in from edges as they set, until center is just set, about 3 minutes.  Turn out onto a plate.  When cool enough to handle, halve, then cut each half into 1/4 inch strips.

2.  In a medium saucepan, heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil over medium heat.  Add scallions and garlic, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add broth, 1/2 cup water, ginger and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper; bring to a boil.  Add spinach and cook until spinach is wilted and is tender, but not mushy, about 3 minutes.  Stir in egg strips.  Remove from heat; season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Hope you enjoy this soup as much as we do.

Original recipe, courtesy of Martha Stewart

Update on this, that, snow & soaked tea bag?

Yesterday, we had a little winter storm :o/ This is how much snow that fell in one day.

Poor old Ernie and Chief kept getting stuck in the snow while doing their business. Ernie will be 14 years old this Saturday and Chief will be 13 at the end of this month. Can you imagine! The Vet said Chief should have been long gone when he was 9 years old, but he's still hanging on.

Last year hubby and I both would have said Ernie, hands down would be around the longest. However, we're not sure what happened, but it seems Ernie has taken a turn for the worse and is quickly declining. We doubt he's going to be around for another year as he can barely see, hear, smell, stand, walk, tries to bite us when we touch him. Needless to say he looks quite scruffy.

There's no way I can drag either Ernie or Chief out of the snow and so hubby had to create a path with it ending in a big mound to prevent them from going further into the yard.

All the snow we've received recently couldn't have come at a better time. Vince was home all week to have his teeth fixed. He has to eat soft foods for 2 weeks and is recuperating quite nicely. On the subject of teeth, Soph lost her 4th tooth today. Now she really looks like a little hillbilly...lol. It bled a little more than her last tooth, however I just applied a soaked tea bag for about a minute and the bleeding immediately stopped.

That's all for now. Staying super busy and really looking forward to our upcoming vacation.

Looking Zone

Yes, I know, I know I haven't been as diligent in updating my blog. It seems as soon as I have something semi-figured out, I'm moving on to the next project that entails a huge learning curve, and that is the world of network marketing.

I was featured in someone else's blog regarding network marketing about a month ago. The link below will explain why I have been so preoccupied. At the same time, I'm finding this industry extremely fascinating and something I never would have considered in the past... until now. It truly is about "timing." You can't solve people's problems if you don't know what they're looking for, me included.

The "looking zone" is something I had no idea I was in until I found two products. Two incredible health products that's exclusive and science based, but totally different. One's based off "redox signaling" (ASEA) and the other is based off the Amalaki fruit (Zrii).

MLM: Can You Succeed With More Than One Company At A Time?

You'll notice in the article I had mentioned MonaVie. After further research, I no longer am interested in using MonaVie due to the fact it contains a preservative that is man made - i.e. sodium benzoate. When this chemical is combined with vitamin C, it yields "benzene" which is a known carcinogen.

One final thing, there are basically 3 types of people: 1) people who make things happen 2) people who watch what happens 3) people who wondered what happened.

Which one are you?