Summer Staycation

Every summer we travel which I love and look forward to. This summer, we are planning our first ever “stay-cation”.

Do you know what that means? No resorts, no hotels with someone else cleaning up after my family of five. No sleeping in hotel beds, wearing big fluffy white robes, no lounging at the Spa having a facial, massage, mani/pedi , or anti-aging scrub.

I needed to start looking at the positives of this year’s summer plans in order to avoid utter disappointment over missing our trip to Boston, Chicago, Arizona, Calgary, San Fran or Halifax. I happened upon a magazine article in O The Oprah Magazine, titled 40 Ways to Love Your Summer more. This article inspired me to find ways to enjoy our stay-cation!

I should mention that the reason for our non-trip summer, is that we had an in-ground salt water pool installed last Fall. For our first stay-cation at least we have an in-ground pool to enjoy! In order to enjoy the time off work while staying home, I plan to ditch the normal household routines, read by the pool, mix up pitchers of iced tea and sangria to enjoy by the pool, take day trips to sites close to home that we’ve never seen, watch movies and hire someone to come in and clean the house that week. In the end, I’m quite certain it will be a very relaxing stay-cation/vacation from work and I know it will cost much less than travelling as a family of five.

 

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Coming up for a breath

This morning as the house and neighbourhood are still quiet, I hear the peaceful sound of birds. The stench from a skunk was almost overpowering on my walk with Ruby this morning. I thought we were taking the best route to avoid it, but instead we were led through the thick cloud. No skunk in sight and only my imagination to think of what happened to cause the explosive reaction. I think it was a cat and somewhere the poor cat was trying desperately to clean the sticky odour from its eyes, mouth and fur.

What’s been happening for me?  I’m now a yellow stripe belt in karate and testing tomorrow for my yellow solid belt. I had my first horseback riding lesson, which was truly soul soothing. I’m back to piano lessons to learn some new repertoire to play and sing as a stress relief. I had a personal trainer set up a program so I can get into better shape. AND….I got a promotion at work. Life is awesome, crazy busy, but awesome.

My children are now 11, 13 and 15. Summer vacation has been relatively quiet so far with no summer camps, only down time at home and visiting with cousins and friends. The school year was a successful one for all of them and a huge relief on many levels. My middle daughter made a very mature decision to give up competitive ballet to pursue more horse back riding!  My youngest is now a purple stripe belt in karate. My oldest loved her first year of high school and is going for her junior life guarding this summer. My, almost two-week, vacation started this morning and so I’m looking forward to some down time to enjoy each other’s company. Ruby Tuesday has had some health issues over the past few months but for a Boxer, she’s still the healthiest we have ever had.

Time for a cup of decaf and to start learning more Japanese words for tomorrow’s karate testing!  Wish me luck!

 

Selfie time

Vacation fun

drop everything

In this moment, I’d like to drop everything and travel the world. Take one year, pack one bag and board a plane. Is that possible with a family of five? 

nuts for waffles

Cooking and baking are all about modification and experimentation to create the perfect recipe for you and your family. You can substitute various dry and wet ingredients depending what you have in your pantry at the time!

 

Multigrain Blueberry Waffles

 

2 c organic spelt flour

1 c organic brown rice flour

1 c organic old-fashioned oats

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 organic eggs lightly beaten

3 c organic soy milk

1/4 cup agave nectar ( I actually only used about 3/4 of the 1/4 measuring cup)

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 c blended organic coconut oil and sunflower oil

1 c plain organic yogurt

1 c organic blueberries

1 c mixed pecans, walnuts and sunflower seeds

 

Place flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. In a separate bowl stir together eggs, soy milk, agave nectar and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients. Stir in oil and yogurt. Finally, stir blueberries and chopped nuts into batter. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes before using.

 

My kids enjoyed these waffles with the nutty flavour. I was happy to add more protein and less saturated fat than the recipe called for. You can use whole wheat flour rather than spelt and brown rice flours. I also substituted the agave nectar for maple syrup. If you don’t stock agave nectar in your pantry use pure maple syrup.