Ralph Waldo Emerson
This week was all about family. 💛 Besides a few mornings when I had to stay home to do the mundane things like cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping, we were with family!
On Monday, before we went shopping, we went bike riding. HBear is getting so much more confident on her bike! OMG teaching her how to bike ride was harder than potty training 💩 we went to the track so she could practice on a smooth surface. She met a little boy there. He was riding his bike too. He was very nice, only a-year-older than her. He stuck by her and encouraged her the whole time. When she went to do a lap by herself he hung out with me for a minute. He said, “hey, you know what the scariest thing in the world is? An African Mom! Because when she says go up to your bedroom she doesn’t mean maybe she means now or it’s life or death!” 😂 I just looked at him and said, “Dude where’s your helmet? You should go home right now and get it, it’s the law you know!” He looked at me and said, “oh OK so white Moms are scary too!” LOL
I had a great week. The girls weren’t in any camps and we got to spend the whole week together. To be honest, I was scared. Scared like as in petrified… not like there’s a little spider but like, OMG there’s T-Rex!!! 😳
I was pleasantly surprised. We had our ups and downs but there were way more ups and for that I am thankful.
It was my SIL’ S and JQ’s last week here. The weather has been so terrible and this past 2 weeks it has finally been summer! We did the beach, water parks, and the sprinkler!
And then there was something completely out of the ordinary on Friday. My Great Aunt Maxine passed away this past April. 😢 She lived in Portland, Oregon but almost all the family, no matter where they end up, like to be buried with family, here in Penticton. Her family from the States came up to Canada to lay her in her final resting place on Friday.
It’s funny, some of the family I had not seen since I was at a family reunion when I was 6. Some of them I had not seen since my Mom’s funeral. Some of them I had seen this past year or even this past week. Some of them I had never met at all. Although we all come from different walks of life there were so many similarities…
They were my peeps.
We all had stories about the woman that had brought us all together that day, we all had similar hobbies and funny enough you could clearly see a certain type in each family. 3 distant cousins all love horses. Another 3 had an affinity for gardening, what some would call a “green thumb”. We all bonded and our conversation was natural and familiar… Even though we were all pretty much strangers.
OK follow along lol, Maxine was my Mom’s Dad’s Sister. My Mom’s Aunt and my Great Aunt. Maxine had a daughter, my Mom’s Cousin. My Mom’s Cousin has 3 daughters that are all just a few years older than me. The middle daughter (Who, when I was 6, was my idol ☺️), has a 2 sons who are in their very early 20’s and a daughter.
As soon as I met 1 of her sons… I knew him.
He was blood of my blood. As soon as I heard him speak I got his wit, his sense of humor, and a sense of who he is. I could see his potential. There is at least 1 in every generation of our family. My Mom always called it the Crazy Gene LOL I am not limiting the Crazy Gene to just 1 member of each family but each family has 1. Some families are super lucky and have 2 or even *gulp* 3 😁.
I have the Gene. He has the Gene too 🙂
Good times.
This week I had leftover ingredients from our Mexican Feast we had last week. I love Mexican. I love 1 pot dinners. I love pasta. I love easy, flavourful and fresh food that I can make in less than 30 minutes. Do you like any of these things? If you said “yes” then you need to try this recipe!
One Pot Enchilada Orzo
Adapted from Jo Cooks
1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 can corn, drained
1 1/2 cups dry orzo
2 cups enchilada sauce
2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1 cup shredded cheese
Toppings (optional)
chopped tomatoes
chopped green onions
chopped fresh cilantro
Sour Cream
Add the ground turkey to a large skillet and brown it over medium-high heat until it’s fully cooked, breaking it up as you go along.
Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and let it cook for about a minute,
then add the bell pepper and corn. Stir everything together and cook for about 3 minutes until the onion is translucent and the pepper is tender.
Add the dry orzo to the skillet and turn the heat down to medium low.
Stir in the enchilada sauce and the chicken broth, season with salt and pepper then add the hot sauce. Cook for about 10 to 12 minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the cheese and remove from heat.
Top with tomatoes, green onions, sour cream and fresh cilantro before serving.
This week I dropped the Girl’s off at my InLaws for a swim and I visited with my Great Uncle Ron. He is in a retirement home and he was Maxine’s youngest brother. He was very sad when I saw him. While I was showing him pictures, he had a severe anxiety attack and had to be rushed away 😞
After lunch we played in the sprinkler.
Another hot day followed so my SIL and I took the kidletts to the Summerland Waterpark and playground. It was a pretty great day!
The next day we met everyone including MBesty and HBear’s PSBesty at… The Beach! That evening my MBesty, SIL and I went out for a yummy dinner and then to see Bad Moms. OMG so freaking funny! I loved it! We all laughed… hard! I could relate to almost every character. Every Mom NEEDS to see that movie!
On Friday I HAD to clean the bathrooms. I hate that real life gets in the way of all our summer fun lol! The Kids caught me at a vulnerable moment obviously because I agreed to a morning of Play-Doh. Jesus Christ I hate Play-Doh. It just gets everywhere! The kids get off the chair, Play-Doh sticks to their feet and then I am cleaning colourful bits of sticky shit for days! One time I read that the best birthday gift to give a child whose parent’s you don’t like is, Play-Doh. Passive aggressive but hilarious and true all the same 😇
After I cleaned up the MESS we headed over to the cemetery to meet up with our family and say our goodbyes to Aunt Maxine.
That evening we went out for dinner, a walk and dessert on the beach. JQ, my SIL and my MIL met Dad, Ninja, the Girls and me, we thought it would be cooler around 6:30 but it remained 31 waaaay past 10 pm!
Early the next morning we met up with JQ and my InLaws for a goodbye breakfast. Although they had been here for 30 days, it seemed like they just got here. It was such a great visit and I am sad to see them go, JQ is growing up so fast. To be honest… they didn’t end up leaving until the next day due to bad weather in Calgary. My SIL has the WORST luck 😬! Her flights have been bumped, cancelled, delayed and rerouted more than half the times she has flown here.
After our “goodbyes” (we did it all again the next day lol) Ninja and I took the Girl’s to Kelowna. We had to pick up a hose for our business so we decided to make a day of it and hit up the beach for a picnic and a dip. That was our first visit to the Kelowna beach (I have no idea why!) and we had a great time!
To end the week I surprised the Girls with tickets to see The Magical Journey! To be honest I forgot I had bought the tickets waaaay back in February during The BC Winter Games. When I looked at my calendar last Sunday I saw Princess Show in there. I had to think very hard to remember what that meant lol. It was a good show but SBean was DONEZO! I mean toast, fried, exhausted, spent! She didn’t even make it through dinner 👹 lol.
It was another great week filled with family and good friends! Next week my Cousins get in and it is PeachFest!!!! The fun just keeps on going 😊
