Carolineism's and other funny stories from this week

Yesterday I cooked a turkey for dinner. Caroline came over and turned on the oven light to take a look. After peering inside she had this to say, "Mom, I think there is a problem. Your turkey turned into a chicken." At dinner she kept calling it ham. I think we need to watch more Top Chef.

This past weekend was my sister Jill's baby shower. When I asked Caroline what she wanted to send she had this reply,"When someone has a baby you send something old, something new, something borrowed, and something Blue's clues." That sounded like a good plan so that is what she sent.

One of her birthday presents was an Imagine Next boat and submarine (thank you Kaylyn and Holly). She has identified it as the Calypso and named the characters Jacques and Phillippe (That's my good Marine Biologist). They go on deep sea explorations and rescue missions- while Polly Pocket drives the ship in her teeny tiny high heels.

7-17-2009

My baby is 6 years old! Where does the time go?

We were talking about when she was born (and exactly when she would turn 6 which Caroline found very important). When we told her she was born at night (8:52 to be exact) she got all excited and replied, "That means I am nocturnal." Is that why she stays up reading in bed? So, she told everyone that called to wish her a happy birthday that she was not 6 yet and she would not be 6 until after the party because she was nocturnal. There was lots of explaining from mom after those calls. We were up late swimming with the twins and C kept asking what time it was. We began giving her the countdown and finally she was actually 6 years old. She did a cannonball off the dock to celebrate.



The Pirate Party



When we began planning a party I gave her the Oriental Trading Catalog and told her to find things she liked. Over four weeks we narrowed it down to a Girly Pirate themed party at our house. (not a private party as so many of our neighbors thought Caroline was telling them.) So last night we had an old fashioned, come to our house to play and have dinner, party.
The kids had a blast checking the crab lines (OK maybe that never happened at a party I attended as a kid) and digging through the bait bucket to see what cousin John had caught in his cast net. They did some girly crafts and chased each other with live shrimp. They ate hot dogs and attacked a pinata.

And of course they ate cake (yep, I made it myself). In the days of outsourcing the entire event to an event planner or destination, this was really a fun low key party. All planned by Caroline.
That is John and Adelyn (my twin niece and nephew) behind Caroline and the cake. They came up to spend the weekend with us and help celebrate. And this is the unexpected guest- a juvenile Roseate Spoonbill. Caroline would want me to add that this is my favorite bird. He landed on the neighbor's dock in the middle of the party. I guess he wanted to see what John was catching or maybe get in on the cake.

Happy Birthday America

Happy America's Birthday everyone! Caroline did some decorating yesterday and helped cook a couple apple pies. Today we have golf cart races, a parade and a community party (at which I am entering the cookie bake off). We hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Family Vacation- Day 1

Caroline got out of school Thursday May 28th at 12:00. At 12:05 we were off for our family vacation. For a month before we left, we played 20 questions with Caroline to get her to guess where we were going. For a month she asked crazy stuff and she finally had it narrowed down to driving a car and staying in a hotel with a river in the "wild". It drove me batty! Here is a little taste of our conversations.
Caroline: "What will we see?"
Amy: "an animal."
Caroline: "What color is it?"
Amy: "Black and white."
Caroline: "Is it a zebra? Are we going to Africa?"
Amy: " No, we have to take a plane to Africa and we are driving to family vacation."
Caroline: "Oh, where does the animal live?"
Amy: "In the water."
Caroline:"Is it a zebra? They live near the water and near the wild. Are we going to Africa?"

Finally, two days before leaving it clicked. We were going to see Shamu! Actually, first she guessed Orcas and asked if we were going to Antarctica and then snapped to that we could see "that famous orca in the show" closer to home.

We stayed at the Hyatt Wild Oaks just North of San Antonio. This place was amazing! We had a one bedroom condo with a porch that looked out over "the wild" as Caroline would call it. They had nature trails around the property and a lazy river that we spent no less than 8 hours in.

Day one: Travel to SA, change into swim suits and float for three hours. Eat dinner and ice cream, watch 30 minutes of The Incredibles before falling asleep.

Family Vacation- Day 2

Day two: Caroline and I took a walk around the property and identified flowers and birds after breakfast (a selection of sugary cereals that don't exist in Tiki Island).

Then we loaded up to drive four whole miles to Sea World. Sea World is owned by Anheuser Busch so they have Clydesdale Horses on display. Caroline loves the superbowl commercial where the Dalmatian trains the horse and sure enough, at the back of the exhibit is King, the Dalmatian. C was pretty happy to meet a tv star.

One of the first things we did was feed the dolphins. Our neighbor rescued Maddy the dolphin in Galveston and after some time at the Marine Mammal rescue center in Galveston the dolphin was transferred to Sea World SA. So, Caroline and I purchased bait and tried to find Maddy. I went to college to be a Marine Biologist and had to go to Sea World to feed or pet a dolphin. It was wonderful! It was more than a little intimidating to be holding a three inch long fish and have this huge mouth full of teeth come bursting out of the water below you.

We watched the shows in the morning and headed to the rides in the afternoon.

Caroline was only tall enough for three of them. The Raging River was our first and this was pretty fun for her after being a little afraid in line. The log ride was our next choice (I will take all the credit/blame for this one). The log ride is just a little coaster right? Wrong! There is a six story drop and no seat belts. Caroline was holding on to the rails with her hands and my knees with her elbows. Everyone enjoyed it as you can see from the picture. After that, we had to end our day on a high note (and help her courage) so, we stopped at Shamu's Happy Harbor and rode the kiddie coaster and played in the nets. We were worn out by 3 so we headed back to the hotel and floated for 2 hours. That night the hotel lit the campfires at the pavilion and we made smores. Yummy.

Family Vacation- Day 3

Day three: Today was culture day as Hunter kept telling Caroline. No fun, only culture. We went shopping at the Mercado where Caroline purchased a "crack on your head egg", a marionette and a stick pony with money from her piggy bank. We then met up with our friends the Wilsey's at one of the oldest Mexican restaurants on the river walk and caught up with them while listening to Mariachi's. After leaving the riverwalk we went to the Alamo where Caroline did a scavenger hunt. There was a street fair in the square outside, so we went over to check it out. Since today was "all culture and no fun" Caroline had to do some quick thinking to convince us that she should do the "bungy thing." She had a blast. We then went back to the condo and got in the lazy river again.

Sorry the video is sideways. I have not figured out how to flip it yet.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

Tuna season is back. Last year Hunter had a great summer of tuna fishing with his brother, dad and friends. Unfortunately we lost much of our tuna due to Ike so we were excited for this season to roll around.

Hunter, David and Trey set out mid morning on Saturday and returned mid morning Sunday with a full boat. Tuna fishing is an overnight trip from here and usually involves fishing all night. They plugged the boat in 2.5 hours and had no room left for ice or bait. They even ate one for dinner Saturday night. You gotta love fresh sashimi! After a few pictures, the boys (and I) got to work on this wonderful treat. Check out the size of one of the Yellowfin in comparison to Caroline (and her feet).

For two hours we cleaned and bagged tuna steaks for transport. We had an excellent assembly line going. Of course word had now spread and neighbors came over to see the fish and watch the process. George the Great Egret came over for some scraps, but he was a bit overwhelmed by the commotion on our side of the fence and he did not stay around long.

Four of the thirteen tuna were yellowfin (far superior meat). Caroline (who has earned the title of the fetch-it) got my bathroom scale and David weighed the loins from the yellowfin as we filleted. 120lbs later we were all pretty happy.

After all the outside work was done and the boat and deck were clean, David and Trey took their enormous cooler and headed back to Corpus while I took our cooler upstairs to vacuum pack our tuna and prepare a little fresh tuna snack. I worked for all of Mary Poppins (139 minutes of "song to move my job along") then learned to roll my own sushi. You gotta love living on the water.