Friday Night, Date Night

Miss Pip has decided to sleep in this morning and I am actually getting to drink my coffee alone without little hands trying to grab the handle or rip off the lid and scald me. 

Last night we headed to the beach to watch the sunset. It was a cloudy windy day, not great for tanning, but awesome for a two mile beach walk. We walked for over an hour stopping to collect shells, pet dogs, and chat with fellow beach lovers. Pip hung out in her stroller for the 1st half and then demanded out on the way back. She waved at the sea gulls, surfers, and power walkers. As you know, Pip loves the water and trip to the beach is not complete until she gets to splash. The water was COLD last night and she didn't care at all! She crawled into the waves and proceeded to jump, hop, and splash. Her new thing is the scream as the wave comes in and crawl back into the wave right before it gets pulled out to sea. She provides excellent entertainment to fellow beach goers!

I also promised Mr. R. sushi for our date night so we stopped at Publix for two chef's specials. Tuna maki and nigiri for him and a spicy shrimp roll for me. 

Can I just say that I love when date night only costs us $16.99! Beach walk = free! And grocery store sushi is way less expensive then restaurant sushi. The salt air knocked Pip out and she was in bed by 7:30 and we spent the rest of our evening watching arrested development, sharing sushi rolls, and sipping on sangria.

TGIF!

Happy Birthday Pals!

I know we celebrated you today over dinner and key lime pie, but I wanted to take a moment to publicly announce how special you are to us. 

With each passing year we learn more about you, your life, the hardships you faced, the choices you made, and how you always made sure the protect and support our family. I've learned that I am more like you than I ever imagined. And I take that as a compliment. I want you to know that I am proud of you. I am proud to be linked to the Morris name and I hope that the decisions I make and the values I instill in Piper will make you proud. In short, you are my hero Pals. Happy Birthday! We love you!

 Pals, is short for Palsy (pronounced Pal-Z), he is my grandfather and right now we are lucky enough to live just a quarter mile away from my grandparents. We celebrated Pals birthday tonight with layered summer salad, crab spread and multigrain crackers, sweet tea, and cornbread. Granny Faye and Cal were in attendance and we had pie for dessert. It was a fabulous night!

Summer Salad Recipe:

• Layer 1: Romaine Lettuce
• Layer 2: Sliced Strawberries and blueberries
• Layer 3: Red Onion
• Layer 4: Chopped Rotsserie Chicken (I used the Publix lemon pepper flavor)
• Layer 5: Mandarin orange slices (drained) and chopped green apple
• Layer 6: Avocado (2 diced) and seasoned with salt and pepper
• Layer 7: Blue cheese crumbles (one 4oz. container)
• Layer 8: Sugared Pecans

Cheers to a FANTASHTIC summer!

After Mr. R. signed off of work today I surprised him with a happy hour in celebration in our kitchen. We celebrated the start of my summer break and his recent acceptance in grad school. He is going back for his MBA! Way to go Mr. R.! We clinked mason jars and sipped strawberry sangria. And of course their were mustaches involved. It's going to a fanTASHtic summer after all!

Strawberry Sangria:

• One bottle white wine 
• One bottle cheap strawberry wine (I used Arbor Mist)
• One quart of strawberries
• 1/4 of white sugar
• Stir and refrigerate 2-4 hours before serving. 

June Dates

School is OUT! And from now on you will find me soaking up summer sunshine with my girl.

Mr. R. always complains that he doesn't get a summer. I am pretty sure that June, July, and August are also on his desk calendar, but I know what he means. Being a teacher, I have 10 weeks of summer vacation, unpaid of course, but still vacation. Mr. R. works incredibly hard 48 weeks out of the year with no guaranteed summer break. So as a nice surprise, I am giving him 67 days of summer. I have a little date night surprise planned for everyday of my summer break.

Here's what I have up my sleeve for this week!

 Thursday, June 7th: After work drinks

Friday, June 8th Sushi beach picnic

Saturday, June 9: Leave the work clothes at home and join Pip and me for coffee, the bread lady, and some sunshine

 Sunday, June 10: A lazy Sunday afternoon with coffee, croissants, and the Sunday paper of course!

Mayer Hawthorne

Mr. R. and I have been listening to Mayer Hawthorne on Pandora for the past week. I am in love with their retro 60's sound. Mr. R. pulled out his trumpet to play along on Monday night. 

Miss Pip was his biggest fan!

And as usual the pups were not amused. 

Piper's Bunny

Every morning and late evening we have a backyard visitor. He sneaks up to our patio sniffs our red sandbox, hops around the plastic table and chairs, and then snacks on our freshly cut grass. Pip get's so excited when her bunny comes to visit.I love how Piper waves at bunny and squeals when she hops in front of our living room windows. And being the sucker that I am, I have actually been sneaking a few carrots outside to ensure that our furry friend keeps coming back.

 

Under the weather

Our weather has been gorgeous this weekend. Sunny, breezy, exactly what you expect when you think Florida. Unfortunately I am battling a nasty cough and head cold. Jeff and Pip are still doing great and I am on the countdown to the end of the school year. Hopefully I will be feeling better and blogging more soon. Until then I will just give you more pictures of the girl you came for.