Spring Break 2010, Part Two, Day One!

After a long weekend away and a couple of days of rest, we packed up again for Part Two of our vacation to spend a few gloriously relaxing days in one of my absolutely favorite places…Key West!

Key West and I go waaayyy back!  As a kid, three or four times a year my mom would throw us in the car and head down the chain of Keys to Key West for long weekends.  And years ago, in another lifetime before kids, as a CPA I used to head down to Key West annually for usually three-month periods to perform audits down there.   I was always first in line with my hand raised and frantically waving “PICK ME” every year when it was time to do our annual Keys audits!

And even though I was working down there, far away from the crazy hustle and bustle, stiff suits and heels, and hour-long commutes of Miami, it still felt like I was on vacation!

Key West has a totally different atmosphere.  Packed chock full of some seriously really weird people coupled with a “5’ o’clock somewhere” mentality….I think the locals are always on vacation too! 

And while I know Key West like the back of my hand…I came to a startling realization that other than a brief afternoon stop on a cruise and a many scout camping trips in the middle Keys, my kids had never really experienced Key West.  I felt I was sorely depriving them of this experience and decided to fix that this Spring Break.

I had made “reservations” a few weeks ago at my friend Irene’s Inn, better known to her as her tiny two-bedroom condo which suits a single person just fine.   Of course we descended on her in a five-person frenzy…kids included!  She was very gracious about it though…and didn’t even get grumpy with us!  I made sure we brought our own food, fixed all meals for ourselves and for her, and didn’t stay long enough to wear out our welcome..so we only stayed two nights.

Since I had received my produce box on Tuesday and really had not had a chance to use much of it, we packed most of it into coolers and brought it down with us. 

I also quickly threw together some wraps to eat on the way down so we wouldn’t have to stop…hummus, cukes, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions (all from the produce box) in a Flat-Out multigrain wrap.  So filling.  So YUM! 

This was rounded out with unpictured organic apples, bananas, Stacy’s Pita Chips, and this Publix fruit and nut granola bar.  I think everybody ate their way down to Key West!The drive down was its usual stunning sight.  I love the bridges!  With the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic on the other there is water, water everywhere!

I have always had particular fascination with the seven-mile bridge…literally seven miles over water.   As a kid I always made sure my mom would wake me up when we got to it and never wanted to miss it!  Now in my 40s I still eagerly look out for it!

To the right you will see the old, two-lane, scary, dilapidated bridge we used when I was a kid…it is now a fishing bridge.

 

Key West in all of its weirdness didn’t disappoint!  As we turned down the street towards Irene’s house, we were greeted by this giant Easter Bunny waving at everybody passing by! By the time we got to Irene’s it was later than I expected and I wanted to make sure we got to see the Sunset Celebration down at Mallory Square. 

Tourists gather on the pier to watch both the sun setting in all its spectacular glory…along with a whole bunch of street people performing different kinds of street theater…mostly juggling fire on ladders and other high things, along with some other stuff sprinkled in. 

Friday night we saw….

This Silver Guy who stands like a statue:

This guy who has someone in the audience tie him up in a strait jacket and then wrap him in chains…and he unhooks his joints, bends his body in painful, odd-looking positions, and gets out! Then we found a Silver Girl..also standing like a statue!  Next was a juggler guy on a bicycle balanced on a pole! In the background was a guy who walked a tightrope and juggled fire: A guy who was sort of a combo one-man band and Goodwill store.  You had to see this to believe it:

A guy who just played the guitar and sang!  Yep…no fire…no juggling…no trash..ummm..no teeth!  But he did sing and play really well!!!

A different guy who had someone put him in a strait jacket and wrap him tightly in chains!  Incredibly he got out in less than 2 minutes…

And then went on to juggle fire and breath out flames too!  That is not fire on the back of his head though….that is the sun getting ready to set and reflecting off of him! 

Which brings us to the main event of the evening (no, not the street performers…nature’s stunning show!)

   

Beautiful!!!

Afterwards we saw two more shows before heading home for dinner!

This very very young (19? 20?) boy actually did a great job!  He was humorous, fun to watch…and had some amazing strength and balance…sorry for the dark pictures.   The sun had set and we couldn’t use flash or he might be flash blinded!

Balancing the ladder:Handstand on the ladder:

Juggling fire!  See in the second picture where he catches the flaming juggling baton thingie  (do those have a name?) on his face!

Then he switched ladders to a free-standing kind of ladder (I don’t know the technical name!) with no leaning thing!  He climbed on this up into the air!  And then juggled flaming batons on top!  INCREDIBLE!

The last show had a guy and girl.  They did quite a few things…among them he juggled flaming baton thingies..then breathed the flame and blew out fire!  Can you see the fire in his mouth?  This was seriously impressive in person!!!               Then his girl climbed into this box and he put knives through it.  It is after dark so it was hard to photograph…but if you look closely you can see her arm coming out on the left to show us she is okay…after all the knives are pushed down and coming out the bottom.

Everybody was invited to go up and see how she was contorted inside the box…but we realized our meter was up and so made a beeline back to our parking space before we got a ticket!FabPreteen was seriously disappointed!  I promised her she could look in the box when we went back the next night…but they weren’t there!!!  Of course I didn’t hear the end of it. 

If you have a preteenage daughter you probably understand.

After a quick stop at Publix for some extra dinner supplies (FabHubs was going to make pizza) we went back to Irene’s for dinner.

Somehow with all my gabbing I forgot to take a picture of the gorgeous (and absolutely delicious) pizza FabHubs made for me!  Yes he makes his crusts from scratch…and topped it with my favorites…ricotta, mozzarella, onion, pineapple, mushrooms, red pepper, and maybe more veggies but I cannot remember!  Kids had cheese. 

I never thought I could break everybody from the pepperoni habit but they seem perfectly happy without it!  I am pleased!!!

I was starving…I had not had anything since the hummus wrap and granola bar on the way down (I can’t afford the snacking calories the rest of the family can!) so while FabHubs made dinner I made a nice salad for myself.  I was in the mood for something crunchy on top, so stealing an idea from Pursuing Balance Meredith, I topped it with some crunchy, fruity granola, along with some balsamic!  It was perfect! Next was bedtime!  Kids were packed onto the floor and couch.  Good thing they are campers and used to being in sleeping bags on little mats in tents…they adapted perfectly.

FabPreteen got the couch of course!  She is not as adaptive as the boys are!  After tucking everybody in…FabHubs and I went off to bed ourselves, pretty exhausted and ready to recharge for another day of sightseeing…

Check out more of our Spring Break 2010  Sites and Eats:

Spring Break Part One, St. Augustine

Spring Break Part One, St. Augustine continues

Spring Break Home Again Intermission

 

Eating On The Road

Whew!  What a weekend!

Saturday was spent at Girl Scout Day at the Kennedy Space Center.  We woke up at 3:30 a.m. in order to be at the chartered bus by 4:45 a.m.

There was an organized day for Girl Scouts with all sorts of activities and we had to be there by 9:45 a.m.

The night before I made a list of things to pack, and put into the cooker whatever didn’t need refrigeration.  I also put some water bottles into the freezer as well as some O.N.E. coconut water.

I definitely wanted to be prepared for the long bus ride and for the day at KSC.  I knew we had veggie burgers available for us in our included lunch…but I also knew the other stops on the road would probably include fast food of some description and I wanted a healthier alternative for FabPreteen and myself (only of us was excited about that preplanning…the other was really hoping for a rare fast food indulgence!)

Once again I was lousy with the photos!  But I packed:

• Two organic pears
• A thermos of coffee
• Waters
• Coconut water
• Two organic apples
• Organic sweet mini bell peppers
• Organic carrots
• Laughing Cow cheese
• Stacey’s Pita chips
• Larabars:  Two minis and one regular
• Cliff bars, for FabPreteen
• almond butter packets
• Peanut butter and jelly sammies for the FabPreteen
• An incredibly awesome wrap for me which consisted of an organic avocado, some of my amazingly delicious homegrown (by me!!) sprouts,  organic tomatoes, organic scallions, organic cucumber slices, and some S&P on a multigrain Flatout wrap. 
• A gigantic salad…with all sorts of veggies, feta crumbles, and chickpeas
• A square of Ghirardelli dark chocolate for yours truly

Before we left in the morning I filled the thermos with coffee and made us some Mom McMuffins!  (scrambled eggs and cheddar slices on an Arnold Sandwich thin).

By 8:30 I was starting to get pretty hungry.  I thought it was kind of early to be eating…but as I started to think about it I had eaten breakfast at 4:30 a.m.!  We weren’t scheduled to be there until 9:45 and I knew lunch would not be served until noonish of course…so I broke out the snacks!

Over the next hour I had a pear, some Stacey’s, and a miniLarabar!  This was enough to get me by.

When the bus stopped for the rest of the troops to get coffee and snacks, I loaded up a mini backpack cooler I brought to tote around inside NASA.

I brought with me one of the coco waters, regular waters, pears and apples, carrots, Cliff bar, and Larabar.

FabPreteen and I arrived looking quite haggard after only a few hours of sleep..hair crazy blowing in the wind!  My hat went on right after I saw this!

While there we got to talk to an astronaut…..

….stand underneath the actual Saturn V rocket that was flown as part of the Apollo program.  We looked and felt really insignificant under this….it is 36 stories tall and lying on its side here…it goes down the length of this very very very long building!!!

…and see the Discovery shuttle already out at the launch pad ready to go up on April 5!  The picture doesn’t do it justice with my little point and shoot!

Lunch was a little eventful…I had called to find out about vegetarian options and was told lunch would be a choice of hot dogs, hamburgers, or veggie burgers. 

But we were the last group to get lunch and by the time we got there, they only had hamburgers and ONE veggie burger.  NOT COOL!

I was just not going to eat and give the veggie burger to FabPreteen…but she ended up eating a burger (which she has not had in at least six months) and gave me the veggie burger. 

I was not happy at all and found that to be quite unreasonable!!!

In addition to the burger, they included a drink (we chose bottles of water…although FabPreteen did beg for the soda!); a bag of chips (which I ate); and a bag of cookies (which I ate).

No fresh fruit..no salad..no veggies.  So I broke out my carrots and munched away on those!  I try to make it a goal to have some fresh fruit or veggie at every single meal!

Otherwise…the day went well and we were back on the bus by 6 p.m. to head home.

At dinnertime, sure enough they made a rest stop/fast food run.  I broke out the PB&J for dear daughter and I had my wonderful wrap!  Which I even remembered to photograph!

With flash and without…lighting on the bus was awful!!!!      We finally arrived a little after 11 pm.  totally exhausted!!

Foodwise the day ended up working quite well for me (other than the veggie burger incident) because I packed and planned…but I have to say that quite a few people commented (with wry humor) on my packed cooker and the backpack I brought in…as if I had packed for a longer trip.

I am not sure why I am expected to settle…at the rest stop many of the places were closed and someone mentioned to me that there was very little available for someone who didn’t eat meat…I was content because I had brought healthy food that I really enjoyed..plus I saved a whole bunch of money by packing my own.

On trips do you usually take your own foods or do you get whatever is available?  What are some of your favorite easy to pack meals and snacks?

I’ve Sprouted!

No silly…I am done growing myself…but look what I grew this week! Lousy picture I know…but these things are truly amazing!

I do love sprouts.  I never buy them but I enjoy them when they come on sandwiches…and I have been looking into growing my own.  I just hadn’t gotten around to it.

I had talked about it with a girlfriend and Monday night she surprised me with some seeds, a jar, and two lids of hers to try!

So I put a TBS of seeds in the wide-mouth mason jar she brought me, put a bunch of water in them, put the finer-meshed lid on top, and soaked the seeds overnight.

Tuesday morning I drained the water and set the jar in a sunny spot.

Tuesday night when I went to rinse my seeds (I am supposed to do this twice a day) this is what I found…

Can you see that?  (sorry…I only have a little point and shoot)…they were already sprouting!  I was really excited…and I couldn’t believe how excited I was over sprouting seeds.

By Wednesday morning they were shoots already!  HOLY COW!  I was so excited that I noticed that my empty Maranatha jar was the perfect size to set up another sprout garden!

I swapped lids, putting the lid with the larger holes on the already sprouted jar, and the finer meshed lid on the Maranatha jar and got some more sprouts going!  The lid won’t screw onto the Maranatha jar…only set on top so I have to hold it down when draining…but it still works!

These were my two little gardens Wednesday night!

Tonight (Friday night already) my first batch is just about ready to harvest!  I have a Girl Scout all day trip tomorrow and am packing my own dinner rather than suffer through the McDonalds I know they are going to be stopping for…so I will make a sandwich using my first crop of sprouts!

Pretty exciting wouldn’t you say?????

Sprouts are serious Superfoods!  They are powerful cancer fighters, extremely high in antioxidants and immune boosters, as well as being high in fiber, and vitamins C, E, and E.  They help the body absorb glucose, are high in protein, and even help slow down the aging process!

All that and more in something that is so cheap and so simple to grow!  And incredibly fast too!  I went from seed on Monday to plate on Saturday!

I am addicted!  I am ready to try all sorts of seeds now and need a few more jars and lids to get a good supply growing at all times.

I also thought I would share this beautiful RED pear I got in my organic produce box this week.  We only got two of them and there are five of us…so we all shared! 

       I had my half smothered drizzled in a TBS of almond butter!

Tomorrow I am off with the Girl Scouts to the Kennedy Space Center for Girl Scout day!  They have a great program prepared for us…but we have a five-hour bus ride each way and I have to be at the bus by (UGH) 4:45!!!  A.M.!!!

I am looking forward to the sites of course…but also walking around all day…and I have packed a cooker with frozen water and coconut water to drink…and packed plenty of healthy snacks…fruit, carrots, mini-peppers, Laughing Cow Cheese (FabPreTeen), Larabars (for me), Cliff bars (for FabPreteen), Stacy’s pita chips, as well as PB&J sandwiches for the FabPreteen for her dinner and an avocado wrap (with my fabulous homegrown sprouts) and organic salad for my dinner!  I am well prepared I think!

It is now 10:30 and I am off to bed for my 3:30 a.m. wakeup call!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend my bloggy friends!