Sliding Down
Greetings from Aruba! Skylar is getting to be such a big girl and today she expressed interest in going down The Big Slide.
It’s not really that big. Unless you’re four years old.
It’s amazing that I am now a mom of a Big Kid. Well, big enough to slide down and have daddy waiting in the water to catch her.
And that’s a semi-steep slide, actually.
And she was radiating pure joy after realizing that the slide is not such a biggie.
Next up, driver’s license. Kidding, but I’m sure when that milestone happens, slides and sippy cups will feel like just a second ago.
After we were done with slides and the pool, we went for a walk. Scott and I walked. Skylar slept.
One thing I have been waiting for is the Bread Pudding Raisin Cake they make and sell in the local grocery stores here. Took this picture with dinner hour, i.e. no lighting.
I cut the cake it into bite sized pieces and froze it. I take out a few cubes about ten minutes before eating and enjoy the bricks in my belly cake.
Morning lighting, much better.
Dense, sweet but not too sweet, raisins, cinnamon-ey, and did I mention dense. Seriously filling and wonderful! In fact, this was the “cake” I bought for Scott’s Birthday over our December trip and he was happy to have it again, too.
Thanks for the comments on the Cheesy Taco Casserole I posted earlier today. About an hour after I published it, I edited the recipe to include some easy substitutions to make the recipe vegan and it was already gluten free.
That’s the image FoodGawker used
In case you’re not into Casseroles and don’t have access to any Bread Pudding Raisin Cake at the moment, you could make a Microwave Blueberry Banana Oat Cake instead.
A 3-minute effort that’s well worth it.
Questions:
1. Best thing you ate or did over the weekend?
I have had a huge weekend:
I became a contributing member for Marcus Samuelsson’s site (he won Top Chef Masters and has cooked for President Obama!)
I celebrated my 10 year anniversary (and thank you to all who keep commenting on this post. I am so glad you it resonated with everyone. I had no idea when I posted it that anyone would even care it was my anniversary. So thank you for caring!)
I had a recipe published in Women’s Health Magazine
And I watched trips down the slide and ate bread pudding cake.
It’s been a stellar few days! Trust me, not all weekends are like this! In fact, 99% of them, I work! This is way better than working!
2. Did you like slides as a kid? Or have you eaten anything that’s slid down nicely lately?
I haven’t slid down any slides lately and as a kid I liked them, but loved swings or the teeter totter more.
The bread pudding cake slid down nicely.
As did the local coffee. I love the coffee here. <— Holy flashback from that coffee post 18 months ago. Skylar is such a peanut!
Have a great week and I’ll see you in the morning. It’s weird blogging on east coast time when I’m used to Pacific time.
P.S. Here are my posts since Friday in case you’re catching up:
- Cheesy Taco Casserole
- In Aruba & Magazine Feature
- 10 Year Anniversary
- Contributing & Superstitious
- Packing, Suitcases & Winners
- Bake Sale & Brownies
Skylar’s hair looks curlier! So cute!
Oh yes, I LOOOOVED slides when I was younger.
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Averie (Love Veggies and Yoga) replied: — May 15th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
total humidity, right???!!! :)
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VeggieGirl replied: — May 15th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
She’s lucky – the humidity makes my hair look like I was electrocuted, haha ;)
Skylar is too cute – I would be exhausted if I were her too! The best thing I ate this weekend was homemade granola. I made a fresh batch last night and it’s so so good.
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Love love love it. My niece finally got over some of her fears and loves pool slides now. Nothing quite like the pure innocence of a child enjoying something so simple as a slide.
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I’m such a wuss when it comes to water. I would never go down that slide so Skylar totally beats me.
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Averie (Love Veggies and Yoga) replied: — May 15th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
lol. I bet you would be GREAT though in water with kids..like a big kid yourself. I have seen the pics of you w/ your little cousins and they’re precious!
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So glad you are having a wonderful time. :) These pictures of Skylar are priceless.
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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!
& MAJOR congrats on the published recipe–WOOP WOOP!!
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You definitely had an exciting week!
I used to love slides (still do sometimes!) — water slides, playground slides, rollercoasters, you name it!
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congrats to skylar on taking on the slide!
can’t wait to see more of the aruba grocery store finds – you’re off to a great start! :)
enjoy your eve – bet you feel relaxed already!
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Averie (Love Veggies and Yoga) replied: — May 15th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
just working on a post for tomorrow, you guessed it, local groceries!
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Looks like you all are having a great time! I got to spend time with Tony outside of the house this weekend. That was so nice. Enjoy your time there Averie!
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So glad you are having fun on your vacation! I’m living vicariously through you, haha!
I LOVED slides as a kid–especially slippery pool slides. Skylar looks like she is having a blast!
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Wow Kudos to Sklyar, I’m too much of a chicken for water slides! She looks too cute, like she’s having a total blast. Best thing I ate over the weekend was probably an ice cream sundae!
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She is such a beautiful little girl ! It goes by in a flash doesn’t it?
Katie
ps. wish i was in aruba. i am on east coast time. just way up in philadelphia.
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I love water-sliding as much as a little kid :-) It is so fun!!!!
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i LOVED waterparks but hated (and still do) amusement parks…rollarcoasters and thing slike that scare me, but water slides? BRING IT ON! I still love them! LOL
omg skylar is getting so big! she is so adorable in that bikini!!! i SO remember that moist cake that you get when you went to aruba last time and it looks so good!! the idea of freezing it and eating it cold and dense sounds AMAZING!
have fun! and thank you SO much for the email back regarding the raw recipes!
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What it would be like to be Skylar’s age again!
Do you use sunblock and do you have favorite types? Like types that don’t leave you white or everything you touch white??
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I had so many things to say about that bread pudding cake, but then – I read that you had a recipe published in Women’s Health Magazine and got totally side tracked! Holy bajesus, congrats – That’s ahhhmazing!
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Skylar is adorable!! :) Slides that big ARE really scary when you’re little!
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Your little princess is getting so big! What a cutie! BTW, thanks for the casserole recipe! It looks so good. Can you tell I like savory over sweet? ;) Been loving one-dish meals lately for planned leftovers. One of my favorites is Mama Pea’s Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna: http://peasandthankyou.com/recipage/?recipe_id=6000567&prev_term=zucchini%20quinoa Vegan, GF, SO easy, and a crowd-pleaser. Enjoy your vacation!
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What I wouldn’t give to have my hair look like Skylar’s in the humidity!! Also, she looks more and more like you everyday! It seems like only yesterday she was doing Barbie fashion shows for us!
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Averie (Love Veggies and Yoga) replied: — May 15th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
I know…time.flies.
Someone at the pool today, our next door neighbor down here, said the same thing that she looks more and more like me every day!
I miss you!!!!!!
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god i loved slides! i still do. i need to get my ass to a water park this summer!!!
i wrapped my movie that i’ve been shooting in san fran for the last 3 weeks. that was a highlight, but coming home and being reunited with my husband and dog was even better.
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Skylar looks so different! But really HAPPY.
Thank you so much for your email, sorry I don’t have time to email a proper reply, but I was smiling form ear to ear. you’re awesome! Family time… ;)
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I loved slides! but swings in particular, I was the queen of swinging and sliding! :P Skylar is such a pretty lil gal~
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Your photography has improved SO much and I love it!! I guess those classes and your investments have really paid off. I agree with what you have said before, that good photography really does make a great blog. I’m still slinking by with a point and shoot but eventually I’ll probably invest in a better camera!
Cute pics of you and your daughter. Looks like you’re having a fabulous time!!!
Hmm.. best thing I ate this weekend? Some homemade chewy granola bars. Mmmmm I’m a sucker for oats.
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why do you always post so excellent posts!!!
they make me come to your blog so frequently in one day to check out for new post!!!
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Awww, you’re daughter is absolutely adorable! Looks like she had such a fun time on the slide:)
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Awww, Skylar looks like she’s having such an awesome time!! I’ve never been down a pool slide, but I used to like regular slides a lot. I had a HUGE one that my parents bought but I hardly ever used it, lol. I was a little on the spoiled side. I agree: swings were WAY better. And riding bikes. I could do that all day long–and used to, so many years (decades) ago. OMG, I feel old now, haha. Gotta shake that feeling ASAP!!
That bread pudding cake looks AMAZING! I love dense, moist cakes. YUM! I bet it tastes so yummy.
Keep enjoying your vacay! The pics are great. I WISH Dustin took pics as good as Scott does! OMG, Dustin is like a jitter bug, nit a shutter bug. It’s why I don’t post that many pics of me–they are almost ALL bad! And not just due to my un-photogenicness, the actual quality is usually blurry and at terrible angles, lol. Sigh. Maybe he’ll get better at it one day. :)
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Averie (Love Veggies and Yoga) replied: — May 16th, 2011 at 5:41 am
Girl…I had Scott take 17 pics of me and Skylar. The two I posted were the only useable ones and that’s after massive editing with the crop and lighting and sharpening. (blur much?!) Like when he’s taking it, I can see that camera wobbbling up and down and Im like babe, STEADY the camera. It’s got this huge lens on it, and so you really need to use two hands and he treats it like a P & S tiny thing. Trust me, photography and his skills, ahem, have been the source of more than one heated interchange over the years :) Now i just have editing tools! lol
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Averie, this trip looks like waaaayyy to much fun. Love the slide teaser – Skylar is a champ going down that thing. Bring on all those great eats – that raisin cake looks beyond delish!
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Way to go Skylar! I have wonderful memories of going down slides while at the pool, and then working up to going to water parks.
Best thing I did on the weekend: Sushi Groupon for dinner on Sunday. Yummy and easy on the wallet :)
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i love slides…it has always been a challenge for me but in the end I always conquer the slide as a young kid and as an adult :)
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So funny, as a kid I was pretty timid. It took me a long time to gear up to going down the slide. But finally I loved it! We lived in Florida for a time and there was a huge slide where you paid for a little blanket and got to slide down just a couple of times. Very exciting.
My favorite thing that “slid down well” this weekend was raw acai chocolate cheesecake at Caravan of Dreams. It was so light and mousselike. How do I do that for myself????
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Happy Anniversary!! Today is our 13th. Where or where does the time go? Sounds like you’re having a fabulous vacay….awesome. That cake looks so satisfying, too. Yum!
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Nice review! This is exactly the type of information that should be shared around the internet. Sad on the Bing for not positioning this article higher!
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What cute pictures, she’s growing so fast! The bread cake sounds great frozen, what a treat.
1. Helped with a successful baby shower and spent time with hubby before he’s off on business travel again.
2. Loved them and climbing up them backwards.
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Wow, Skylar is growing up so much! She seems tall for 4 years old too. What a cutie :)
Best thing I did – sleep – a 2.5 hour shuttle bus ride from the airport (starting at 11:30pm) turned into an over 4 hour shuttle bus ride when the dang thing broke down on the highway. I’d gotten up at 6am that morning, and was becoming a little sleep deprived by the time my head hit the pillow! Besides that, we had some awesome Vietnamese food!
Yes, I liked slides.
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Vegas was so fun, the gluten-free pancakes that I got there were awesome. Just wish the restaurant had been a lot closer to the Strip!
I was much more interested in the swings as a kid, not a big slide fan. Too much work for too little reward, lol.
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