sundays are full with church and preaching, so mondays are days off now. it is so nice to have the day as a family. on monday, we finally celebrated our anniversary by going to point dume nature preserve and beach for the afternoon. it was absolutely beautiful.
can you see the seal sunning on the rock?
we ate watermelon and had a picnic lunch, jumped in the ocean waves, saw some crabs in the tidepools, and watched the climbers on the big rock.
from there we headed to the santa monica pier.
and we got up close and personal with a pelican.
we're trying to take full advantage of our summer location...and so far, we are doing a great job!
our little one is quite the picky eater these days. i often struggle with knowing what to feed her - especially since we are not at home and do not have our usual food resources around us. i recently started making mexican pizzas. they are easy, nutritious, and yummy and are perfect for a pinch when we need a quick, easy meal. in fact, we're going to have them for supper tomorrow after a busy day of church and our nephew's birthday party.
you need:
tortillas (any kind will work. i've been using food for life's sprouted corn tortillas and they work great)
refried beans or leftover beans from making beans and rice
cheese (i use raw sharp cheddar, but any kind will do!)
toppings...tomatoes, olives, corn, whatever is on hand...
1. assemble the "pizza"
2. bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted to your satisfaction
3. enjoy! these are really yummy with a bit of sour cream and salsa.
it being my anniversary, you would think i would be out on a romantic date with my love tonight. (my sweet husband who hacked into my blog to leave the romantic message in the last post. what a guy). instead, he is at church helping with vacation bible school, and i am at home with our little one who is already in bed for the night. he won't be home until close to 9, and vacation bible school is every night this week, so we decided we will leave the celebrating for saturday. maybe we will go to the ocean. we are only twenty minutes away.
i haven't been feeling well for the past six days or so. some days worse than others, but i must have caught some kind of nasty bug somewhere. due to my being sick, we still haven't celebrated my birthday, which was on thursday (and yes, i did cry because i was sick on my birthday). we are a bit behind on the celebrating over here, so we will have a lot to catch up on this weekend. i am feeling a bit better today, so things are looking up.
while i have a bit of quiet time tonight (except for the neighbor's dog that barks all night long), i thought i would write a post about real food on the road.
on our recent eight day cross-country trek, we learned a bit about balancing our desire to eat real, whole, healthy food with the reality of being on the road for eight days, not having access to a kitchen, and traveling with a one-year old. we ate meals in all kinds of different places, and by the time we finally arrived at our destination, i concluded that we did a pretty good job of eating real food on the road.
i would have loved to make all kinds of things to take on the road with us...crackers, yogurt, bread, etc...but flying home from our trip to california and leaving for our road trip left two weeks to get our house ready to be put on the market and pack up our family of three for a summer away from home. i did what i could and called it good.
breakfast:
most of the hotels we stayed in had a free continental breakfast available in the mornings. as we were on a tight budget for this trip, we appreciated this but it was challenging for us as we are used to eating eggs, smoothies, quiche, or soaked oatmeal for breakfast. we compromised. a couple of times we brought our own bread (ezekial bread) and jam (raspberry) to the dining area and made toast. one morning i decided i was going to have a waffle (you know, the kind that you make in the little waffle maker?). i didn't feel very well after that and didn't do that again. our little one ate instant oatmeal - i chose the one with the least amount of things added to it and decided i had to be okay with that.
there were a couple of hotels that didn't offer breakfast, so i brought boiled eggs and yogurt and granola along for those mornings and that worked out great. we all liked it, and it was easy. one morning near the end of our trip, we went to the hotel lobby for breakfast and there was nowhere to sit. we were staying in a historic little town at the time, so we decided to try a local place for breakfast and we were really glad we did. we were able to get eggs, and we also treated ourselves to bacon, hash-browns, and toast. we met some locals, sipped some hot coffee, and enjoyed a breakfast out.
yogurt and granola in our hotel room before we hit the road.
suggestions for next time: bring some instant oatmeal to eat for breakfast, definitely bring the yogurt and granola again
lunch:
we decided before we left that we wanted to do picnic lunches. we figured it would be a good way to break up the day, it would save us money because we wouldn't be going out, and we could decide what we wanted to eat. for the most part, our picnic lunches worked out great.
on day 1, we were getting ready to stop for lunch just as a massive thunderstorm was moving in. we had a big breakfast that morning and we weren't that hungry anyway, so we just snacked in the car. we had our picnic for supper that day instead. on day 2, we spent the entire day driving through 40 mph winds and decided not to attempt a picnic. we stopped for lunch somewhere that day, but i don't remember where. another day, we were driving through the desert and could not find anywhere to stop and have our picnic. we finally came upon a little desert town but couldn't find a park (or shade!) anywhere, so we ended up eating at a sonic. there was another day when it was very windy, so i quickly threw together some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in a parking lot and we ate them in the car.
what did we have for our picnic lunches?
sandwiches made with sprouted ezekial bread (until it got moldy and then we bought the best bread we could find at a grocery store along the way), lunchmeat (nitrate and sugar free), tomato, hummus, and mustard
carrots, celery, and hummus
raisins
for a break from sandwiches one day, we had salmon on kashi crackers
we also had bananas and oranges along, so we had a nice variety of options for lunch.
suggestions for next time: consider making sandwiches in the morning, especially if it is going to be a windy day
supper:
there were a couple of days when we had sandwiches for dinner in our hotel room, but we usually ate at a restaurant for dinner. it was nice to go out for dinner after a long day of driving. we chose local restaurants and enjoyed the experience! because we were on a budget, and because we couldn't really keep leftovers anyway, we almost always shared a dinner. it worked out really well. one night we shared a buffalo burger, one night a grilled chicken dinner, one night a steak, and the rest i don't remember. our little one ended up eating macaroni and cheese or spaghetti for dinner most nights.
fort collins, co. coppersmith's brewery. beer bread. yum!
suggestions for next time: rack my brain to try to come up with something we can bring along for baby to eat for dinner (she is very picky these days!)
snacks:
we took quite a few snack breaks during our trip. when baby needed a break (or we needed a break) or when it was taking longer to get to our destination than we thought and we needed something to tide us over...out came the snacks!
pecans
pistachios
granola bars
annie's cheddar bunnies (for baby!)
homemade trail mix (peanuts, sunflower seeds, and raisins)
and of course, fruits and veggies.
treats:
what is a road trip without treats? we got a couple of treats along the way. actually, we kept saying, "today we are going to stop for ice cream"...and then we wouldn't be able to find an ice cream place, or we would see one but the little one would be sleeping and we wouldn't want to stop, and we would get to the end of the day and we wouldn't have gotten ice cream! we did finally stop for ice cream.
no...we didn't buy her two ice cream cones. when we stopped for ice cream, the only time she wasn't crying was when she was holding both of our ice cream cones! we ended up leaving the restaurant and eating the ice cream in the car while we drove.
and of course we got sarsaparilla floats. and they tasted so good in the middle of the desert!
we also brought several treats along with us. we figured that this stopped us from buying more unhealthy sweet things along the way. here's what we brought:
newman's own licorice. i bought this at the health food store before we left because i thought it would be a good treat to bring along. this is the tangerine flavor, which i didn't like, but we also tried the raspberry flavor and that one was really good.
chocolate chip cookies
dried organic apricots.
sugarless peanut butter fudge brownies i made a while back and took out of the freezer before we left.
so...that's what we ate! i am pretty happy with how it all went. of course, there are always unexpected things that come up when traveling, but i think we did pretty well overall. we will be doing it again in two months when we drive home, and it's nice to have more of an idea of what to expect after doing it on the way out here.
i thought i'd sneak this one in since she is still sleeping. i've always considered myself a romantic and certainly can define myself through my poetry. sometimes i think i wasted all the good ones on "the others" that have come and gone in my life but then i realize that all of those poems were just rough drafts. i was waiting to belong to the one that i know is the one for me. here is another work for another year, another one for a shoebox of memories:
put this one in the shoebox, my love
for i will write you a new one, my dear
i will tell you how much you are loved
and that we have loved another year
i am growing richer, my sweet
for i am the richest of all, my wife
i have such a beautiful, growing family fleet
all of this unpredictable beauty in my life
four years ago i could never imagine, my peach
that you and i would be together
and now i sit telling all of my reach
the love i have for you now, always, and forever
happy 3 year anniversary, my grace...you are my final draft
tomorrow will be our third anniversary. it really does get better every year.
i am a very lucky woman to have a husband with a poetic side. he writes me many, many poems. i can never bear to throw even the shortest little rhyme away, which is why we have a couple of shoeboxes full stashed in our house. below is the one he wrote me last year for our anniversary. it's one of my favorites and i thought i would share it here as another way to celebrate.
we met, and he proposed four days later. several friends thought i was being too hasty and making a mistake. the thing is...we just knew.
the boy & the girl
A boy who loved a girl
Not wanting to go too fast
“It’s a whole new world”
He thought, referring to his past
He knew that she was distinct
Different from the rest
“This girl’s so unique”
He thought, “Better than the best”
Sure enough, his thoughts played out
As conversations between them grew deeper
“What if she’s the one, without a doubt”
He thought, “Truly she’s a keeper”
Before they ever met, he would ponder
Over all of the early potential
“Maybe this is it, I wonder”
He thought, “Purely providential”
That day came when they first met
He was nervous and out of touch
“She won’t want to do that again, I bet”
He thought, “I know I talked too much”
Yet, he got the courage up to call her
Shortly after their first summit
“How’d that go? I’m just not sure”
He thought, “I’ll just ask her about it”
Upon it ringing, she answered her cell
With a friend and her dog by her side
“Hello…I think it went well”
She thought, “At least he clumsily tried”
In the conversation, he wanted to appeal
A bit too nervous, he gathered his strength
“Can we try again? I won’t talk a great deal”
He thought, “I’ll have to shorten my length”
In their next encounter
His nerves were laid-back
“I’ll find out so much about her”
He thought, “This time I won’t slack”
So they continued to assemble
Their curiosities to never decline
“My hands are starting to tremble”
He thought, “I must make her mine”
Then one evening on the phone
She suddenly realized the fact
“I want him for me alone”
She thought, “Marriage as our pact”
That next night they were together
He knew what he had to do
“I want to be with you forever”
He said, “I will always love you”
His words resounded as they sat on the futon
Now this was only their third date
“Our days will indeed go on”
They thought, “Until death will separate”
Then their thoughts began to align
A pattern they continue to set forth
“I’m so blessed that your mine”
Each thought, “I value your true worth”
That day had finally come for them
Another chapter to their story
“I do! Through the power of Him”
They declared, for everyone to see
Their love is still growing
Not every day is bliss
“I love her in all ways, knowing”
He thought, “I’ll always have this”
He still recalls how he feels
About the beginning to this romance
“In the end true love always heals”
He thinks, “I’m so glad I took the chance”
And so this love song continues to play
No need for praise or applaud
“One things for certain” the boy and girl would say
my love preached his first sermon. it went well, and i was pleased to learn that watching him preach makes me even more attracted to him. i was so proud of him.
our little love wore the most darling dress.
a delicious lunch.
a long walk (with some peaches and a lemon picked along the way).
a unique flower was picked as well. a quick google search later and i learned that it is a purple passionflower. interestingly enough, this flower was given the name passionflower because it is thought to stand for certain parts of the crucifixion story.
unsweetened sun tea.
a rose picked from our front yard.
we are starting to feel a bit more settled, although we mostly still feel like strangers in this place. aside from being away from our friends and the things we are familiar with at home, it has been very difficult to know where to shop for groceries. things brightened up a bit for me today when we located a health food store. it smelled just like our health food store at home! we found several products we use at home, and we were even able to purchase raw milk (it is legal to sell it in the state of CA!). it was more expensive than back home and we didn't think it tasted very good, but it was fun to try anyway. i told jeremy that all of that made it feel a bit more like home to me.
