We interrupt these regularly scheduled vacation pictures...

...to discuss our dinner tonight. I had some boneless skinless chicken thighs that I got on sale at Henry's. I never buy thighs I always buy breasts so I had no idea what to do with them. I had some coconut milk in my pantry that I didn't know what to do with either. Sooo, I went on an internet search for recipes and I found a few but I didn't have most of the ingredients. Well I found one where I was only missing one main ingredient (rice vinegar-which I sent Brad to the store for) and I had similar substitutions for other things I was missing. The Chicken is Sticky coconut chicken with chili glaze and then to accompany I made sesame noodles. Holy cow!! dinner was so good, and the amazing part... my kids devoured it! They were begging for more chicken WITH sauce. I thought for sure it was going to be too spicy for them. I did not have the chili oil for the noodles or the chili flakes for the chicken so I just used tabasco and chili powder and kind of added stuff just to give it a little kick. They all loved it! After dinner they wanted some cheese and did some sort of goofy butt cheese dance, and you are lucky enough to see a video of it!

Sooo, make these recipes for dinner it was easy and delicious. I especially loved the noodles, Yum!

Pig Roast

The pig roast was awesome! At first I wasn't so sure how I would feel about the whole pig roast situation but being there I was so happy I almost started crying. There was family that I hadn't seen in 10 years or longer and bluegrass music playing and a giant 95 pound pig being BBQ'd and cornhole going on in the background. This is family, this is what a get together should look like. 50 people all hanging out- some related, some not, all enjoying their time together. It was fantastic. It made me realize all that I have been missing out here in California. The only real, related family I had was my mom and dad. And now that they are both gone it is just me and my family. Brad has his mom and grandma out here and some other family a few hours away. I want to move, we want to move but we can't figure out how.There is a whole ex-husband situation for me and someone would have to give up summers and someone would have to give up the school year. We are trying to figure it out. Anyway, there were ladies there that were making homemade peach ice cream-it was soooo delicious!!! Pop was so excited about the ice cream and the pig roast.  By the way Pop was driving around my daughter on his ATV and I should mention that he is almost completely blind and I was terrified wondering why in the world he was riding around on that thing. I also should explain cornhole... in Brad's words it is redneck horseshoes. Bags of corn, like bean bags thrown into a piece of wood with a hole in it. Simple but very fun.

She was hot and tired and found a chair to have her dinner

Enjoying the bluegrass music

Being helped out of a hole he fell in

My cousin Jessica and her husband Clark. They were playing cornhole

Cornhole!

This kid has candy hooked to his shorts!

The munchkin playing cornhole


I forgot to post about going into Baltimore and visiting Dad's old house. That will be tommorow.

Fort Mchenry

We went to Fort McHenry on our second day in Maryland. This was exciting for my sister and I because Dad had taken us there sixteen years ago. She was only two at the time and I was 14. Whew, that was a really loooong time ago. Anyway, it was terribly sticky on this day and we were so hot. The kids were having fun going into the brick-lined tunnels and seeing all the cannons. We had a great time, and this being our first sight-seeing experience it was nice to show the kids all the artifacts. They however could have cared less and just wanted to be in some air-conditioning (we all did for that matter).

Tomorrow- Pig roast, cornhole and bluegrass at Grammy and Pop Pop's. (Cornhole surprised me at first too. If you know what it is comment, I am betting a lot of my Southern California friends have no idea what it is.)

Exhausted!

First day in Maryland we were exhausted. We didn't go to bed until 3:30 am. We woke up around 10:00am but we were just a mess! We slowly got ready and then headed to grammy and Pop Pop's house for the first time my kids and husband got to meet them, and the first time I had seen them in 10 years. Before we left for their house the bulldozer decided to take a rest on the floor by my Aunt Kim's giant dog.

The Princess fell asleep in Aunt Kim's arms-Aunt Kim was in heaven!!

Tomorrow I will post about Fort Mchenry!

Vacation

My amazing grandparents paid for us to go out to the east coast. All six of us boarded a plane excited for the trip ahead. I was so nervous that there would be nothing but meltdowns and crying. Thanks to all the pre-packed activities, the 2 flights out there and 2 flights back went fairly smoothly. We stayed for two weeks and visited lots of family and saw many different places. I will be posting about our excursions individually because there is so very much to post about! To start it off airport pictures. We arrived at our local airport very, very early. I was concerned that it would be busy and that the whole removing six pairs of shoes and then putting them back on was going to be time consuming. We were happy to not be rushed. We had packed peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches and after getting through security and making it to our gate we sat and enjoyed our lunch.

My Dad passed away

On February 17th. After my mom died he helped clean out her apartment and helped organize our garage with all of her stuff in it. Then about a week later he just didn't have the energy and would have to go back inside to go sit down. He went into the emergency room December 20th and they said he had pneumonia. He got out and started drooping weight. He went into the emergency room again January 14th and when I picked him up the next day I just started crying. He had lost 20lbs. in one month. We had the memorial service for my mom on the 17th of January and everyone could see that clearly my Dad was not doing well. On January 26th he had lost so much weight and was so weak that his legs could no longer hold the weight of his body and he began using a wheelchair. On the 29th my husband took him to a doctor's appointment in Loma Linda and they admitted him-we were hoping they would. On Feb 1st I went to visit him and he had many tests scheduled-a lung biopsy, a bone scan and a liver biopsy. On Wednesday he called me with the results. He had lung cancer that had spread throughout his body- it was in his liver, pancreas and bones. It was incurable and untreatable and he only had weeks to live. Two days later his sister came out to visit and she stayed for two days. I wanted to move Dad closer to our house but I knew that he had a few friends visiting him there. They had gone and watched the Superbowl with him and that brightened his day. After I asked him if he wanted to move and be closer to us or stay and be closer to his friends he said I want to move! So I immediately filled out paperwork to get him moved. The next day, Friday Feb 12th my Husband drove out there and moved him 5 minutes from our house. It was perfect timing because my Dad's other three kids from North Carolina were coming on Valentines day. His kids are 18, 16, and 11. He was so happy to have them visit. By this time he was very confused and he thought we were going to take him with us. He also stopped eating. They left on Tuesday morning the 16th. Later that morning I went to visit him but he was fast asleep. I went back later that afternoon and I was so happy to see that he was in his wheelchair and looking out the window. I had three kids with me and after about 15 minutes they started making too much noise and we said goodbye. I wish I would have taken him outside with us but I didn't think of it. Later after my husband got out of school he stopped by to go see him and he was asleep. My husband told him thank you for all he has done for us and that he was a good man and that he loves him. In the morning at 7:30 I heard my cell phone ringing and I went running to it but missed the call. When I saw the number I knew it was hospice. I returned the call and the nurse said that William has expired. I just broke down crying. Dad died in his sleep within an hour of them finding him.
So now I am trying to work through all of these emotions of losing both my parents within 2 1/2 months of each other.

A Positive thought...

This is a poem Brad wrote today as a way to deal with his grief. He was at the library looking out the window at the golf course and it was surrounded in caution tape and it made him think of my mom. Although there was no actual crime and no caution tape, he said that he felt it was a crime that she went so suddenly. He said he felt like she was robbed of her life. The final thought of the poem keeps his mind positive and hopeful for what's after this life. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did-it made me cry because it is so true!



Floating yellow strands, with cold, black letters
Line the doorway of your dark, empty place.
“Not for the weak of heart,” the tape mutters,
As it flutters, like a slap in the face.
But the words don’t hurt anymore, because
The sun is still shining from heaven’s lap--
To remind how He has washed all your flaws,
How anyone can dodge the devil’s trap.
Burn on us now, and show us, the path:
That the bleakness of The Fall was usurped
By the power and glory of His death.
Hand in hand, go from the devil decerpt,
And let the tears be happy memories
Of a life, once in bondage, that is free.