Fruit Spray

I swear by the following fruit spray:

1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 tbsp baking soda
20 drops of lemon juice

I use a Rubbermaid 32 oz spray bottle.  They are slightly more expensive than other spray bottles but much better quality.  You can find them at target in the cleaning supply aisle.

Church Family Fun Day

A day filled with food, fun, and fellowship.  Hopefully this will be held again when the little one is old enough to actually enjoy it.  

What I Have Been Up To Lately

Reading Unbroken.  My sister-in-law recommended this book and so far I am really enjoying it.

Listening to my baby boy babbling on about whatever babies babble on about.

Dealing with learning how to balance life with a child.  As someone who likes her personal time, this hasn't really been that easy for me.

Watching shows I am too embarrassed to admit watching.

Thinking about the holidays coming up.  Thank goodness my sister is coming out to visit for Christmas.   It will make the holiday season a little less lonely for us.

Eating:

Playing Hay Day.  I never thought I would get into a game like this, but times have changed and it's a great game to play while breastfeeding.  Too bad I am not that good at it, if it's possible to be not that good at it.  But I have never been much of a gamer so I have a lot of catching up to do. 

Sea Asparagus

The farmers markets here are not quite up to par of those on the mainland and I really miss some of the ones in California and Virginia.  Despite that, I still like to attend and browse.  In Hawaii, I typically just buy vegetables from these markets (though I do plan to venture out into the tropical fruit world soon) but there have been some fun purchases mixed in as well.

The first being really really soft and chewy cinnamon bread.  The hubby thinks it would make great French toast but I think I would have to let it get a bit stale first so it doesn't get soggy.  I am hesitant to try it because I am not a great French toast maker.  One day I will be a master of French toast, but until then, I will save the poor cinnamon bread from torture.

Another fun purchase we made was sea asparagus.  The hubby pointed out a stall that was letting people taste pickled sea asparagus and thought it would be something I would enjoy.  So I went over and tried it.  It was good but it didn't really hit the spot until I tried the fresh, unadulterated sea asparagus.  I had the hubby try it, thinking it would be something he would like, despite it being called asparagus.  I was right so we purchased some to take home.

Sea asparagus is crunchy and salty.  In fact, it's salty enough that you can't eat very much of it at once if you eat it plain so we have mainly eaten it with vegetables.  With a green bean and tomato dish I made, I just cut it up into small bits and threw it in at the last moment to add some saltiness to the dish.  When I topped some fresh tomatoes with the asparagus, it had been sauteed in olive oil with some pepper.

The sea asparagus we bought is grown by Wenhoa Sun at a hydroponic farm on the North Shore.  (I actually have a special fascination with hydroponic farming.)   It does grow wild in mud and marshlands around the world, including Australia and New Zealand, though I don't know how common of a food it is in these countries.  Instead of boring most of you, those of you that are interested should check out this post on Food Gal.  Carolyn, whose blog I just found tonight through a Google search, actually visited the farm and discusses what she learned.  It's quite intriguing if this sort of thing is up your alley.

Not only is sea asparagus tasty, but it is suppose to be quite good for you as well, so it is a purchase I plan to make again.  The next time though, I need to remember to ask the vendor how to tell when it is going bad.  If you look closely at the picture above, there are many dark spots on the sea asparagus.  The hubby said he would eat it anyways, and it tasted fine, but I plan to ask them next time just to clarify.  It is certainly a purchase I plan to make when we have guests visiting since it would be something unique for them to try.

The market we now attend has a few vendors selling one of my favorite things:

I am a bit of a lemonade fanatic.  The one above was pretty good and came with a mason jar (jars being another fascination of mine the hubby is still trying to wrap his head around).  I also tried a strawberry lemonade from another vendor.  It wasn't anything great but before I give up on them, I have to try their blueberry lavender lemonade.   Who knows, it could be earth shattering.

P.S. Just in case you are wondering, the best lemonade I ever had was at Oren's Hummus Shop in Palo Alto, California.   I continually crave it.  A review of this place is on my list of things I never got around to blogging about but always planned to.  I think I might just have to get to it this week since I am now full on craving their food.

Boy of Many Expressions

This is why I love taking consecutive pictures of him.  You just never know what face you are going to get.

The Hot Tub

I have been wanting to get Jack in the water again but we haven't made it to the beach in a few weeks.  We were considering going last night but I just didn't feel like making such a big treck and it had been a long day for each of us.  So we decided to take him to the pool instead.

I was planning on taking him into the pool after the hot tub, but we ended up spending the whole time in the hot tub.  It was the perfect temperature and the hubby didn't think he, nor the little one, was going to enjoy the pool since the air wasn't quite as hot as it has been.  Not to mention the kids that were splashing around in the pool.  So the hot tub it was.

Despite the face he's making in these pictures, this cutie really did enjoy it.  He just has a knack for knowing what we are trying to do and decided long ago he won't cooperate when technology is involved.  He spent the time floating in the water, totally chill, until we made him get out, at which time he became one unhappy fellow. 

A little Asian kid joined us in the hot tub.  He and the hubby really hit it off.  It was hilariously cute.  The kid happened to be named after someone in The Lord of the Rings which created an instant bond between them. That and the fact that the hubby belted out the Kakuna Matata song with the kid.

I think our future will be filled with many trips to the hot tub.  After that, swim lessons surf lessons.

Picture Update Of Our Stud

Weird Sleeping Position 

Our Little Golfer 

New Crib

We got him a mini crib.   I will do a few reviews on this crib,  one soon and one down the road, since they aren't common in the U.S.   And no he didn't sleep with that blanket in the crib. 

Watch The Hands

First Day Of Cloth Diapers 

First Time In The Ocean 

 Doesn't quite love it yet.  

He enjoyed this wrap I think.  He took a nice long nap in it, in and out of the ocean.  I will also do a review on this product soon. 

Whoever said this would be fun?