How do weekends go by so fast? I don’t fully understand it.  I hope some of you out there are enjoying an extra day off. Technically, I should be too since Peter is off work. Sadly, though, he is having to work on his car at his brother’s the entire day. I could use his help around here today. I need some rest after the busy weekend we had. I shared my fun from Friday & Saturday already and the actual 4th was loaded as well.

Sunday morning we woke up and had a red, white, and blue breakfast. It consisted of homemade blueberry pancakes and a strawberry smoothie.

The pancakes are a really basic recipe that we adapted from www.allrecipes.com and always use for our once in a blue moon pancake mornings.

Ingredients

• 1.5 C flour (all-purpose or mix of all-purpose & wheat)
• 3.5 tsp baking powder
• 2T sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 C milk (I like using vanilla almond milk)
• 1 egg
• 3T melted butter
• 4 large handfuls fresh blueberries

Mix the dry ingredients first (flour through salt) and create a well in the center. Pour the wet ingredients (milk, egg, butter) into the well and blend until batter is smooth. Fold in blueberries. Cook on a griddle or pan like any other pancakes. 😀

After breakfast, we headed to church for an excellent service. It was all about the freedoms we have, not only within the country we live but also in our faith. Our pastor discussed how we need to really consider what we are free from and be grateful because none of that freedom came free. All of it came from huge sacrifices. From the many men and women who have fought for the freedom of our country across centuries, but also for the one man who sacrificed himself for each of us to be truly free and the countless others who across time made sacrifices to keep his word and truth flowing to others. The message brought people to their feet at the end and there were many sniffles heard among my fellow church friends.

Later that afternoon we headed to my parents’ place for some July 4th fun. The plan was to hang out for awhile and then gather up a picnic dinner to eat and games to play while waiting for Atlanta’s Lenox Fireworks show. There was a little bit of a glitch in that plan thanks to a “moment” between my father and I. Our relationship has had its fair share of strain and typically we can handle each other for the times we do see each other. Yesterday he was somehow set off and I had to face that look of pure hatred in his eyes and the anger that can come from his lips again. The evening evolved into a much rougher time than I expected and I fought the darkness I could quickly sink into from him the remainder of the night.

However, we persevered and gathered our forces to delight in our time together. My brother would leave in the morning to return to his home in Arizona, so we packed the cars and ate our picnic dinner or Publix chicken with potato chips & salad. We donned our happy faces to laugh and be goofy.

We played some Apples to Apples and adored the darling Makenzie.

And we also dove headfirst into a fabulous dessert – S’mores Brownies. Somehow Jess always gets it right. Always.

Then I viewed the fireworks through Makenzie’s eyes yet again. Believed in the magic of fireworks, instead of the realities of pain that can still infiltrate even after you thought them to be resolved. Now, it is today. A new day. A day where I can sweat out some tension in a spin class; spend time laughing with my daughter; and with any luck have a husband who comes home at a reasonable enough time to give me a break. I have a feeling there will be some prayer in my future on finding a way to let it all go and find a way to forgive (even with no apology present)…again.

I wish you all the best of days! Now, tell me…how was your weekend?

And no, it’s not the Backstreet Boys. I’m back! For good!! I missed you all and blogging soooooo much while I was away. I have to say that as much as I enjoyed vacation and all it entails, I am glad to be back to regular living. We knocked out a bunch of errands (like restocking our fridge and such) yesterday so that way I could just go about life today. I went to a spinning class this morning (first workout in over two weeks!) and then did some other odds and ends running around – like to the post office to ship something, to pick up the loads of photos I got printed from our trip, to get a new hair dryer to replace my busted one, etc. I don’t know for sure what it is, but something about having a wonderful vacation and then coming back and still loving everything in my life just makes me smile from the inside out. I sincerely hope you all have been doing just as fabulous.

Now I guess I should move onto what most of you are looking for in this post…vacation details! Basically every day is the same when we are on our Daytona Beach vacation. My extended family has been going there for over 25 years and I look forward to it every year. Days of relaxing at the beach, spending time with family I only see twice a year, and topping off the night with a fabulous seafood dinner out together makes for a great vacation. Even better? It’s all on my G-Pa. He spoils us. 😉

Day to Day In Daytona

In the morning, we would wake up at around 6:00 am thanks to a specific little person sleeping in our room. Then, we would do our best to make it out to the beach for a morning sunrise walk. We would do a 3 mile walk with M in the stroller which was a lovely start to many mornings.

After hopefully making it out for our walk, we would come back in for some breakfast. Then we lathered up the sunscreen, got in our swimsuits, lugged the endless vacation paraphernalia down to the beach and just enjoyed ourselves. Makenzie played in the sand; we all went to jump waves in the ocean; I read some books.

We would hang out for about 3 hours and then head up for naps and lunch. I loved naps! I took an almost two hour nap pretty much every day. It was glorious. I loved lunch as well. Healthy food finally sounded good to me again and I ate it up. I think I ate my weight in fresh fruit, cheese, hummus, carrots, and whole wheat pita chips this trip. If I was extra hungry a sandwich or something would accompany this snack plate.

At around 3:00 pm we would head back out to the beach to soak up a few more hours of sand and fun. After all, we had to be sure to work up appetites for our dinners out every night. I absolutely adore the food from the places we go eat at in Daytona Beach. I start drooling over it a month in advance. This year did not disappoint. Here are some of my favorites….

Lots of Salad – Caesar or House

The Most Delicious Filet with Spinach & Mashed Potatoes

Coconut Shrimp

Broiled Crab Cakes + Baked Potato

Clam Chowder Bread Bowl for the Sis & I

And in case food pictures aren’t all you were looking for, here are some others of us going out.

All the “Kids” with our G-Pa

When dinner was done it was time to return to the condos, perhaps play a game or two, and then crash in bed simply to repeat it all another day. I did have a few other highlights on the trip, including a luncheon meetup with the awesome Julie and a trip to the Ponce Inlet lighthouse, but I will save those for a post later this week.

Now you tell me…

• What is something that made you smile this past week? I want to know a highlight from your world while I was away frolicking in the sand.
• Do you have a vacation spot that is special in your heart? Daytona Beach will always be my favorite beach and place to vacay simply because I have ALWAYS gone there.I have so many wonderful memories from there.