Papa and Aidan
Aidan, Papa, Cari & Cameron
Cari and Cameron
Dinner was awesome!! The kabobs were all different and were made with onions, peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers (did you know grilled cucumbers taste like dill pickles?), tuna, steak, shrimp and chicken. Yummmm!!!!
Grape Salad
8 - 10 cup grapes, washed & dried
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla
Brown Sugar
Chopped Pecans or Walnuts
Whip cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla together - I used the mixer. Fold in grapes. Sprinkle brown sugar and chopped nuts on top. Refrigerate overnight.
Tomato Mozzarella Salad
Fresh Mozzarella cheese
Fresh tomatoes
Fresh Sweet Bazil
Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
I used about 2 slices of cheese per tomato in my salad. Use fresh basil to taste. I'm heavy handed with it. Combine dressing ingredients and toss immediately before serving.
Now for the fun!! Fireworks!!!! Marc was serious about these fireworks! He even made a jig to set them in so lighting multiples at a time would be a breeze - especially with a damn blow torch!! I'm telling you - the boy is crazy! So he and Matt light this set and off they go. Whiz - Bang! - Sparks falling all over the place. What fun! LOL Aidan got scared and Stacey went inside with him. At least one of us had some sense!
Here they are, each with a blow torch mind you, lighting off the second batch. Two or three take off and guess who pulls up? Yup, a police officer. (And the remaning lit fireworks continue to go off.) "Do you know it's illegal to have fireworks in the state of Virginia? They are a fire hazard and dangerous." Marc apologizes and thanks her for the warning and off she goes. Well at least we didn't get a ticket! So let's see, how many minutes did that take? I'm thinking about 5-6 is all. You could hear them going off all over the place. I guess she was busy last night. After she left I made the comment I should've taken a photo of her too. Don't think that would've gone over too well though. So having the plug pulled on fireworks, they got the sparklers out for the kids ...
The kids had a ball with the sparklers after they got the hang of them. But the bugs were getting the best of us and we still had a 40 minute drive home - or so we thought. Stacey called Cameron in to get her pjs on and I started packing up. It was still a while before we got out of there and Cameron crawled up in Cari's lap with a blanket for a little more cuddling. I love her hair cut and she has the bluest eyes you could ever find. What a sweetheart. :)
The drive home drained us of whatever patience we had left. I think everyone in Portsmouth went to the waterfront to see the fireworks and we happened to be heading home the same time they were. I don't know where Portsmouth Police get their traffic training, but in my opinion, they need a new instructor! It took us about 20 minutes to get down Effingham Street to the tunnel. Police were at every corner letting only those coming from the waterfront through. The other three directions of traffic were completely stopped. It was insanity! It wasn't even like the cars were bumper to bumper either. There was plenty of time to stop them to allow the flow of traffic in other directions. We sat there stunned in disbelief that this was happening. It was simply incredible that they would allow one direction of traffic to continue for this long without switching.
Obviously, we did get through eventually. We assumed we were home free. Wrong! There was an accident on the Broad Street Bridge that had the left lane blocked and traffic was lined up for what seemed like miles. Eventually, we made it through that too and the rest of the drive home was pretty uneventul. Finally arriving home about 11:15 after leaving Mom and Dad's at 10:00. So much for our 40 minute drive home!
Oh well, all is good. We had a wonderful time being with family. It could only have been better if Brooke and her family were there too. Until next time ...
8 - 10 cup grapes, washed & dried
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla
Brown Sugar
Chopped Pecans or Walnuts
Whip cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla together - I used the mixer. Fold in grapes. Sprinkle brown sugar and chopped nuts on top. Refrigerate overnight.
Tomato Mozzarella Salad
Fresh Mozzarella cheese
Fresh tomatoes
Fresh Sweet Bazil
Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
I used about 2 slices of cheese per tomato in my salad. Use fresh basil to taste. I'm heavy handed with it. Combine dressing ingredients and toss immediately before serving.
Now for the fun!! Fireworks!!!! Marc was serious about these fireworks! He even made a jig to set them in so lighting multiples at a time would be a breeze - especially with a damn blow torch!! I'm telling you - the boy is crazy! So he and Matt light this set and off they go. Whiz - Bang! - Sparks falling all over the place. What fun! LOL Aidan got scared and Stacey went inside with him. At least one of us had some sense!
Here they are, each with a blow torch mind you, lighting off the second batch. Two or three take off and guess who pulls up? Yup, a police officer. (And the remaning lit fireworks continue to go off.) "Do you know it's illegal to have fireworks in the state of Virginia? They are a fire hazard and dangerous." Marc apologizes and thanks her for the warning and off she goes. Well at least we didn't get a ticket! So let's see, how many minutes did that take? I'm thinking about 5-6 is all. You could hear them going off all over the place. I guess she was busy last night. After she left I made the comment I should've taken a photo of her too. Don't think that would've gone over too well though. So having the plug pulled on fireworks, they got the sparklers out for the kids ...
The kids had a ball with the sparklers after they got the hang of them. But the bugs were getting the best of us and we still had a 40 minute drive home - or so we thought. Stacey called Cameron in to get her pjs on and I started packing up. It was still a while before we got out of there and Cameron crawled up in Cari's lap with a blanket for a little more cuddling. I love her hair cut and she has the bluest eyes you could ever find. What a sweetheart. :)The drive home drained us of whatever patience we had left. I think everyone in Portsmouth went to the waterfront to see the fireworks and we happened to be heading home the same time they were. I don't know where Portsmouth Police get their traffic training, but in my opinion, they need a new instructor! It took us about 20 minutes to get down Effingham Street to the tunnel. Police were at every corner letting only those coming from the waterfront through. The other three directions of traffic were completely stopped. It was insanity! It wasn't even like the cars were bumper to bumper either. There was plenty of time to stop them to allow the flow of traffic in other directions. We sat there stunned in disbelief that this was happening. It was simply incredible that they would allow one direction of traffic to continue for this long without switching.
Obviously, we did get through eventually. We assumed we were home free. Wrong! There was an accident on the Broad Street Bridge that had the left lane blocked and traffic was lined up for what seemed like miles. Eventually, we made it through that too and the rest of the drive home was pretty uneventul. Finally arriving home about 11:15 after leaving Mom and Dad's at 10:00. So much for our 40 minute drive home!
Oh well, all is good. We had a wonderful time being with family. It could only have been better if Brooke and her family were there too. Until next time ...
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