Last Day of School!!!

No more pencils.
No more books.
No more teacher's dirty looks.

Remember that rhyme?

My teen is probably singing this song with her friends and soon my tween will do as she goes on to 8th grade at our local middle school next school year.

Me?  I'm looking forward to days in Disneyland,  pool, road trips, beach days, sleeping in, movie marathons, visiting my Mami, family visits, and fun with friends. Maybe teach myself the art of crocheting and jewelry making.  I would love to check out any easy hiking trails here in California and in Florida.

It sounds like I want to do a lot but I want this summer to be one of the best and memorable summers.  Life is short and I'm tired of holding back because the kids would rather be at a very close distance to our home Wi-Fi.

Noon today is the beginning of our summer vacation, what will you be up to?

No Wii? No Cable? Boring life? Oh please!

Yesterday someone asked what did we do for fun since we didn't own the latest in video game consoles or subscribed to cable.
I simply said, "We go outside".

Let me explain.

We are a busy family.
During the day as I send my husband and oldest daughter to work and school I am home with my youngest.  Our school day starts at about 8am until 3ish.  We get ready and head out to our local YMCA where my daughters are taking a variety of dance classes, an art class or an acting class.  We are there for a good 2 hours a day.


My husband picks us up on the way home.  Sometimes we go to the library first and pick up books and videos.  We read A LOT.  You will always find a book in our bags.  Depending on our schedule for the weekend, we go food shopping.
Once we are home, we start our evening routine which consists of dinner, shower, grading, math tutoring and homework.
After all is done, we do watch an hour or two of TV.  It might be in a form of a video from the library (we watched Cars 2 last week) or a show on TV.
Once the weekend comes around we are not home much.
Our Saturdays are filled with the teen interning and the tween going to girl scouts and acting/theatre class.
Sometimes they have a gig which is usually an all day event.  They love their job.  Sundays is our day of rest.  If they don't have a gig you will find us at home watching movies (again the library has tons of free movies.  My husband and I watched In the Land of Blood and Honey last week) and resting.  Sometimes my husband wants a day of fun because of a stressful week and we go to Disneyland.


You see?

Why have the latest in gaming or shell out all that money for cable if we can enjoy what is all around us?  The library lends us so many wonderful books (and if you have an e-reader you can borrow from there) and videos.  Why do I want to shell out hundreds of dollars a year to let it go to waste?  We enjoy doing things as a family.  Yes, Disneyland is starting to get expensive because of ticket prices but where else can a family hang out and go on rides, dance, and just enjoy your surroundings with the added security measures they put into place?
Maybe they idea of sitting around all day long is something I sometimes long for but the truth of the matter is
I LOVE BEING OUT AND ABOUT WITH MY FAMILY!

(I wanted to post more pics but my DSL/WIFI is extremely slow at the moment)

In other related news ...

Kinda fucked up the other day.
We ate out. 
For those not in the know, I challenged my family to eat vegan and not eat out. So, basically, a hybrid of the books The Art of Eating In and 30 Day Vegan Challenge.
The girls were really busy w/an Audition on the westside and rehearsals in Hollywood.
I haven't gone to the grocery store to do my weekly shopping because I was too tired to walk around the store w/the most annoying people who park their carts in the middle of the aisle.
Or waiting in a long line with people who are still writing checks or counting their change.
So I really didn't have anything to throw together in hopes that it wouldn't spoil in the heat.
We hit the Veggie Grill near LAX using my birthday coupon.
BTW, if you have one nearby go try the carne asada w/avocado sandwich and sweet potato fries. And their yummylicious strawberry Lemonade drink.
Today I will be hitting the store and stocking up on bread rolls, tofurkey, Daiya, and sprouts. Then start on the baked beans, by request. I make a mean baked beans in the crock pot.

quick dinner....sorta

On Saturday I was cleaning and noticed the rest of the fam were due home in about an hour. So I took out my Bob Red Mills vegetable soup mix and added 2 cups of the mix and 8 cups of vegetable broth into my big pot and let it cook for an hour. As soon as they arrived I popped into the oven whole wheat bread buttered with a slice of swiss cheese for a few minutes and TADA! soup and sandwich. So nutritious and so good and oh so filling!