Labor Day Beach Vacation

Although I'm excited for fall, I'm in denial that summer vacation is over. This year was very different for a lot of reasons, but we actually had a great season. We enjoyed our country weeks, exploring local towns, and starting to go on hikes as a family. We ate well, played in the pool, and read a lot! 

But what we really missed was a beach vacation (#Firstworldproblems). We were so lucky to be able to go on a last-minute vacation to Bethany Beach courtesy of our neighbors Marcus and Dani. Their family owns a beach house that gets a ton of use all summer, but they so generously found a few days for us to visit.

The house is only a few hours away, so it was an easy trip. We planned to keep physically distancing while there, so we packed food for us to take to the beach and to eat at home in the evenings. It was actually really nice to pack picnic lunches and to come home to eat burgers. 

We did eat out one night at a restaurant called Off the Hook; the food was great! Really fresh fish and veggies. And, no trip to the beach is complete without ice cream. If you know us at all, you know we follow "Rome Rules," whereby we eat as much ice cream as we want while on vacation. We had ice cream each day at a different location. They were all delicious, but the chocolate peanut butter on the beach was my favorite. Dan's favorite was the rocky road from Vanderwende's.

The house was perfect for us. It was built in a way that created two wings. The kids slept on one side of the house and we were on the other. Zahara slept in a really cool "secret" room that she accessed by way of these steep stairs. And there were so many spaces for hanging out. I really loved the screened in patio and the outdoor shower!

The beach itself was lovely. It was a five minute walk from the house and was exclusively for the neighborhood residents. We had plenty of room to spread out and play. The waves were very rough and large, so we didn't do a ton of swimming, but the kids liked holding on to us while we braved the waves. 

Since we went over Labor Day, Zahara was off school on that Monday. But she had virtual school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday she did a good job attending her classes and doing her work while Dan and I took turns with Asher at the beach. The four of us joined up after her class for some beach time and ice cream (of course).

Wednesday it actually rained all day, so we stayed in and played games and cleaned the house while Zahara was in school. We headed home after her last class and made it home in time for dinner.

I can't tell you how refreshed I feel after that quick trip. It was a great change of scenery, and the house was everything we could have asked for. Thank you again, Dani and Marcus!

Tonga Week!

As summer comes to a close, we decided to wrap up our around-the-world adventures. I'll have a highlights post with some of our favorites, but for now, I'll fill you in on our last stop on this world tour: Tonga. 

Craft/Culture

Why Tonga, you might ask? Or where is Tonga--another valid question. Tonga is a Polynesian nation of more than 170 islands located in the Pacific Ocean. Only a few of those islands are inhabited, with some islands even disappearing and reappearing with volcanic activity and erosion.

This week I let Zahara choose the country. She had recently listened to a podcast called Wow in the World (family favorite!) that highlighted this island nation and wanted to learn more about it. I'm all about interest-led learning, so off we went!

I posted earlier about how we used this country week as an excuse to visit a nearby waterfall (see here). It was a bit of a stretch, but we had fun pretending we were exploring a Tongan island and that the sand and mud were volcanic. 

Dan helped get us into the spirit of the week by buying a young coconut. We drank the water and then used the shell to make a coconut bra. Ha! Mixed verdict on the water. The meat wasn't ready to eat--it was more gelatinous than I was expecting, and the water was a little bitter. But two thumbs up for Dan's engineering skills and Zahara's dancing skills!

We also watched Moana this week. It was a nice tie-in to talk about the Polynesian culture and their ancient traditions. I love this movie. It's so beautiful. And of course the songs are incredible. 

Food

When Zahara first mentioned Tonga, I wasn't sure there would be much to eat this week. Turns out there are a ton of Tongan dishes that we could make at home. You won't be surprised to find out that almost all of them center around coconut. Here was our menu: ota'ika, lu pulu, lu sipi, kale moa, otai. No, I'd never heard of any of these before either.

Ota'ika is a little like a Tongan ceviche. It's raw tuna mixed with coconut milk, tomatoes, and bell peppers. It was pretty good, actually. We got all of our ingredients from H Mart.

Lu pulu and lu sipi are the same dish, but with different proteins. Lu pulu is lamb and lu sipi is beef. You make them both of them by wrapping the meat, onions, and coconut milk in taro or banana leaves and then cooking them in the oven. Traditionally, lu sipi uses canned corned beef. We made our own corned beef instead, and it turned out great. This was a really different dish--and not at all visually appealing, but I enjoyed it.

Kale moa is a chicken curry with...you guessed it. Coconut milk! I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but Asher was a great sous chef. 

This watermelon drink was really refreshing! We made it the traditional way without coconut. We all loved it, and Zahara even asked for seconds.

I was really surprised that we were able to make a whole week out of this tiny country, but we did! This was a good reminder to me to not say no automatically to my kids' ideas, but instead to explore and learn with them. Tonga was a wonderful host for our last week around the world.

See our other country weeks here.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail

This past weekend we went for another family outing--this time to Weverton Cliffs. We had heard great things about the view at the top of this hike, and since the kids did so well last week, we decided to give it a go.

This hike is part of the Appalachian Trail that spans over 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. Some people spend months hiking the A.T. from end to end; luckily, we didn't need that kind of commitment to experience the beauty of this path. Instead, we walked the 3 mile Weverton Cliffs loop.

The path is pretty steep and rocky with lots of switchbacks. It took us about 90 minutes to climb up. I think if you didn't have a four-year-old with you, you could do it much, much faster. But taking our time allowed us to appreciate nature. We saw a fuzzy caterpillar (that landed on my shoulder, scaring the bejesus out of me), a tiny ring neck snake, and tons of huge wood ear mushrooms. 

We stopped for a snack and bathroom break at some large flat rocks near the top. One of the things to note about the A.T. is there are no bathroom facilities on the trail. Just something to keep in mind if you're making a day of it.

We figured out last weekend that the kids LOVE lychee. Before this hike, we went to H-Mart to grab a huge bag of the fruit to use as enticements (a.k.a. "bribes") to keep moving. We created "lychee opportunities" every 20 minutes or so where the kids would look for the best place to stop and eat. I love the little things that make my kids happy.

The view at the top did not disappoint. We sat on the rocks overlooking the Potomac river and watched as a freight train traversed the hills. It was more crowded than I would have liked, but at least everyone was wearing masks and doing their best to keep distant. There were even hikers who set up a hammock there!

We had a nice picnic lunch before heading back down. The way back took significantly less time. I'd say maybe 45 minutes or an hour? The kids were such troopers. I'm so impressed and hopeful that we can do more of this in the future.

Have you been to Weverton Cliffs? Have you hiked the Appalachian Trail? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Summer Musings by Asher

I can't keep up with writing down all the hilarious things Asher is saying these days. He's so chatty, and is at the stage where he's curious about everything. And I mean everything.

Thought 1:
Asher: Dear G-d, You are the best G-d ever. You make the plants grow. Thank you.

Thought 2:
Asher: Mommy, let's both be monkeys. That's my dream.

Thought 3:
Asher: Mommy, can I see your vagina?

Me: No, that's private. We don't show people our private parts.

Asher: Can I see my penis?

Me: Yes, you can look at your own penis.

Asher, checking his pants: Yup, it's great!

Click here to see some of Asher's previous thoughts.
And to see his equally insightful and hilarious sister, click here.

Morning Glory Muffins

Popping in quickly to tell you about my favorite healthy-ish snack: morning glory muffins. I've been making these for years and can't wait to share them with you. They're so easy and so delicious! 

Over the years I've made a lot of adjustments to the original recipe to get it to be a bit healthier, but still tasty. This is my favorite version. Asher loves them too! Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Morning Glory Muffins

Original recipe from here

Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cups brown sugar 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 2 cups shredded carrots 
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 apple - peeled, cored and shredded
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup apple sauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two muffin tins. This recipe makes 12 large muffins and around 12 mini-muffins.
• In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the carrot, raisins (if using), nuts, coconut, and apple.
• In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, apple sauce, and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into the carrot/flour mixture, just until moistened. 
• Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Spain Week!

This week it was back to Europe to visit Spain. Spain is one of my favorite countries. I've been a few times, and each time I fell in love with the food, the culture, and the smell of oranges that pervade the Valencia region.  

In Spain with my parents and sister (and pregnant with Z); 2013

Culture

Dan hit it out of the park with this one. He found some fantastic videos to watch that taught us fascinating new traditions. Of course we've heard of the running of the bulls, but watching this video was eye-opening. We didn't watch it in advance, so we found ourselves in an interesting position of explaining bull-fighting to the kids. Let's just say they were not fans.

We also already knew about Gaudi, but seeing his creations all together was cool. The kids loved the gingerbread house the most, but were also pretty excited about the stone forest and gorgeous stained glass in La Sagrada Famila. We watched this video to learn more about his work.

Back in the days when we were traveling a ton (man, I really miss those days), we loved learning about new destinations from Rick Steves. We did several of his walking and audio tours (British Museum, Montepulciano, Rhine Valley, Notre Dame) and always found him to provide helpful tidbits and interesting facts. This video provided the same about the Andalucian region in Spain. We learned about their lifestyle, history, and eating habits.

But the piece de resistance was learning about a Catalan tradition called castells. These are incredible human towers can reach several stories high! Each tower involves around 1,000 people, and usually includes a small child (around age 7-9) at the top. It's really hard to describe how incredible this is. Please watch this video and learn more about it. 

Source

We also looked through our travel pictures and showed the kids our favorite parts of Spain. I've been to Spain five times. I traveled with my friend Leah in college and went on a girls' trip to Alicante while living in England. Together, Dan, Zahara and I visited Barcelona and Tenerife, and we traveled with my family to Malaga when I was seven months pregnant. 

Funny story: Dan and I knew what we were naming Zahara, but no one else did. We INSISTED we visit the Spanish town of Zahara to collect some memorabilia and take pictures. Sadly, it was pouring rain, so the only thing we saw there was a cozy restaurant and a cemetery. All the shops were closed, so the only memento we got was a picture of a storm drain. This picture still hangs in her room today. 

Food

Spanish food is such a treat. I love having lots of little things, so tapas are perfect for me (as long as I don't have to share with too many people--ha!). In addition to tapas though, we made several other Spanish dishes. Here was our menu for the week: tortilla de patatas, tinto de verano, sangria, albondigas, various tapas, patatas bravas, rabo de toro, and arroz con leche.

The tortilla was so good we made it twice! The second time we added one more egg and cut the potatoes smaller. It's delicious!

We had a couple of Spanish drinks this week. Sangria is one of my favorite drinks, especially in summer. It's so nice and refreshing. But, apparently, locals don't really drink sangria. Spaniards drink something called tinto de verano ("summer red wine"), which tastes a lot like sangria but is less complicated to make. It's just red wine and sprite! Sounds crazy, but is really tasty.

Albondigas are Spanish meatballs. These were good, but I didn't get a real "Spanish" taste from them. I probably wouldn't make this recipe again. Same with the patatas bravas. They were perfectly crunchy, and I liked the sauce a lot. But the potatoes were a bit salty.

We ordered in from Jaleo to experience a few different Spanish tapas. I love Jose Andres restaurants (as seen here, here, and here). We got gazpacho, ensalada Rusa, marinated olives, cauliflower and dates, manchego flautas, roasted salmon, marinated mushrooms, spinach and raisins, and more manchego cheese. It was a spread!

We made our own tapas plate the next night with leftovers and veggies.

We tried to make a traditional oxtail stew, but had a hard time finding kosher oxtail. Instead, Dan made this recipe with short ribs. It was really tasty--especially with Dan's homemade sourdough to sop up the sauce!

I've never been a huge fan of rice pudding, but this was pretty good. The kids and Dan loved it. I can see how some people consider it a comfort food.

It's easy to see why I love Spain so much. It's such a wonderful country with so much to explore. I hope to visit in person again one day soon with the kids. Meanwhile, next country is a bit of a surprise. Stay tuned for our trip to Tonga!

See our other country weeks here.