Summer is coming to an end : (

 Summer is coming to an end soon and we have been trying to enjoy it as much as possible and get prepared for back to school season at the same time. We recently discovered at Gianni's check up that the child needs glasses. He wears them everywhere and even has asked to sleep in them!

The kids began swim lessons last week. These are pictures from the first day. Carmen did so well that they bumped her up to Gianni's level so now they are in the same class together. Side breathing, arms, and legs at the same time has been a struggle for her but she is doing very well with the big kids. 

  

 This past weekend we packed our swimming suits...and pj's and headed to Arizona Grand Resort. They have a water park with slides, wave pool, lazy river and much more but it is for guests only. So we decided to do a little staycation! So we have had no rain in Arizona and of course...gloomy all weekend with on and off storms, but it was actually nice because it wasn't too hot! The kids had so much fun and we were wet all weekend long. 

 The best part about the resort is how family friendly it is, especially in the evening. When 6pm hits, they have a DJ that does a family dance party with kid friendly music. Carmen was brave enough to get up there but brother stayed in the water and played water volleyball for hours. 

Video of Carmen dancing:

http://youtu.be/doHYAWQqww0

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The resort is so pretty at night!

 Swimming at night is the coolest!

  At 8pm they do a movie in the pool. You float in your tube or just wrap up in a towel and lay on a chair as you watch the movie under the stars. The kids loved it!

 Lastly, we have 6 new additions to report into our family. 

 Above is Spots

 Above are "Stripes" and there are four of them. We can't tell them apart so we call them all Stripes.

 Gianni allowed Carmen to name this pretty orange one and his name is Van. These 6 fish joined Yellow, Smooth, and Tiny on Sunday night. Our three glowfish we very pleased to make new friends. Gianni does a great job of taking care of them and cleaning the tank. 

Happy 4th of July

This week the kids have gotten very creative with their afternoon play time. I came out of the shower one day and caught these two in full costume running their food stand again!

 Our 4th of July started off a little rough. We have had almost no rain since January and it finally decided to pour on the 4th of July. The kids ran around and danced in the rain. This is something we look forward to here in Arizona!

 While the kids played I was inside working on my corn casserole and Red, White, and Blue Chips and Dip to bring over to Jenni's house for her 4th of July bash. 

I served these two dips with blue corn tortilla chips for dipping. Both are whipped up in a small food processor. Don't over blend the salsa!

Roasted Red Pepper Salsa:

-two chopped roasted red peppers

-1 vine ripe tomato

-1 jalapeno

-1/4 of a large white onion

-1 TBSP fresh lime juice 

-1/2 teas cumin

salt and pepper

Creamy Garlic-Cilantro Dip:

-1 1/2 cups sour cream

-2 TBSP fresh lime juice

-2 TBSP chopped cilantro

-1/2 teas coriander

-1/2 teas lime zest

-two small cloves garlic

-salt and pepper

Jenni's party was nonstop fun. The weather turned around and it actually made for a much cooler day which we could definitely use! The kids went swimming and we ended the evening with fireworks and sparklers in her back yard. 

 Some of the cracks were a little too much noise for her!

 After Jenni's the kids were hungry AGAIN! Probably because all they did was play and swim and getting them to stop and eat over the 8 hours we were there was not happening. We grabbed them a little something, found a parking spot in a dirt field next to the ballpark, and took in the fireworks courtesy of the City of Goodyear!

A Taste of the Islands

The Summer Supper Club was held on Saturday night and it was a true Taste of the Carribean . We all tried to dress as tropical as possible and we are proud to say that this completes two full years of supper club. Jenni and Chad hosted the bash with a beautifully decorated table and the room was surrounded by pictures from the past two years.

On to the food. The cocktail of the evening was brought by Holly and Adam and was a Luau Coconut drink with Rum of course. Holly did a nice job of decorating the coconuts with our names. The joke of the evening was A-B-L-E and not A-B-E-L. Oh well, he is used to that Holly! They looked great. 

The first appetizer was Plantain Chips with Warm Cilantro Dipping Sauce

 Next up we had Carribean Meatballs. The dip that went with these was out of this world yummy. 

  One of my absolute favorite dishes of the evening was this salad. 

Black-Eyes Pea and Pumpkin Salad

   On to the main course, Jerk Chicken and Honey Glazed Sweet Potatoes. The Jerk Chicken had the most amazing flavor and it was grilled to perfection! It was pretty spicy stuff and I was proud of Abel for doing as well as he did with the spice in this dish. I would definitely make this chicken again. 

 After dinner we all changed and relaxed in the pool. We ate way too much and we needed to digest a little before dessert. 

 Dessert was my dish! Rum Cake with Rum Raisin Ice Cream and Island Fruit. 

 The next Supper Club will be hosted at our house and that will begin our third year. Hard to believe that two years have gone by. On Sunday the kids got creative and opened their own food stand in Carmen's room. Free drinks and $2.99 gets you two menu choices. The kids have been playing very well together these last few weeks. 

Today we tried to escape the heat and we went to the Indoor Trampoline Park with Sydney. The kids jumped for an hour. Gianni enjoys the dodge ball area and Carmen likes jumping into the foam pit. I think next time I might pay to jump. It looks like so much fun!