Playing in the rain

While we were outside making S'Mores it started to rain. While everyone else ran outside or under the cover of an awning or slide Zoey and William ran around outside in the rain. There is nothing like the pure joy of kids running around playing in the rain. 

I RUNNING IN THE RAIN MOMMY

Will Will is gonna get me.

The rainbow after. 

We made marshmallows

We have realized that William reacts to food dye. Like MAJORLY. Night and Day. Calm to Meltdown. Happy to Inconsolable. So we have cut them out. Finding marshmallows with no dye is hard. Not impossible, but hard. Especially when you are constantly traveling and are not sure which stores you will have to shop in. So we decided to try our hand at making marshmallows. 

Now this is not a hard thing to do. It does however take some planning as they need to sit about 8+ hours to dry out. So it isn't a hey let's whip up some marshmallows to make S'Mores activity. I scoured the internet and pretty much all recipes were the same. Where it differed a lot was on how to prepare the pan. Some just had you sprinkle powdered sugar on the bottom. Some had you grease and then powder sugar. Some had you oil and then line with parchment. We went with the powder sugar only because I was out of cooking spray and I would not do just that again. I would spray and powder or use parchment. 

They turned out pretty good. I think I needed to whip them longer though as they were REALLY sticky. Like REALLY REALLY STICKY. We had them dry overnight and until evening. They tasted AMAZING though. William kept saying over and over how much it was worth the wait. When we used them for S'Mores he made me post on Facebook how homemade was so much better and post a picture. We will definitely make them again. 

Recipe

3 packages Unflavored Gelatin

1 C Cold Water split into 1/2

1 1/2 C Granulated Sugar

1 C Light Corn Syrup

1/4 tsp Kosher Salt

1 T Vanilla Extract

Confectioners Sugar for dusting

1. Combine gelatin and 1/2 C COLD water. Let sit in bowl with mixer with wisk attachment while you make the syrup. 

2. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 C water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat.  

3. With the mixer on low pout the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Turn mixture on high and whip until the mixture is very thick. About 15 minutes or so. Add the vanilla and mix until it is all mixed in. 

4. Dust the pan with a generous coating of confectioners sugar. You can also oil and then dust or oil and place a later of parchment down. Pour in mixture and smooth out and dust with more confectioners sugar. 

5. Let sit at least 8 hours or overnight to dry out completely. Turn pan onto cutting board and cut into squares and dust with more sugar.  

Eric mixing up the ingredients

Getting it up to temperature

Adding the sugar syrup to the gelatin. Be careful and make sure it is on low. IT IS HOT! 

Whipping it up. 

All ready to dry. 

Zoey approved of the leftovers in the bowl. 

Finished S'Mores. DELISH! 

Let's go fly a kite

It seems every year the kids get kites for Easter. Almost every year they hardly get to use them or they get broken because they open them and loose pieces. So this year they have been stored under the rv. We have not really been anywhere with a nice open field or enough wind to fly them if there was a field. Well finally we had both at Indian Lakes Thousand Trails. Eric was super excited and got all the kited out and we set them up for him and his brothers. Zoey's kite was missing and I am pretty sure was tossed for missing pieces. Anyway we got them all sorted out and set up in the field. It was a perfect day. The wind was consistent and strong enough to keep the kites up for a long time. 

Eric's kite went up really easy and Ashton's was pretty easy as well. William's however was a PAIN! The shape of it made it kinda hard to get up so daddy had to step in and help. Eventually it was up and flying. They stayed out there quite a while flying them and letting Zoey have a turn since she didn't have one. It was one of the most perfect afternoons we had had in a while. 

This is one of the things I just love about this life. If the weather is perfect for flying kites we just go out and fly kites. No worries about soccer practice, or homework, or needing to be at this meeting or that meeting. No telling my kids we can't go outside because I am to busy cleaning my 2200 sf house because people are coming over or it just needs to be done. We have so much more free time now and it is AMAZING. 

Eric and Ashton are up and running

Eric helping Zoey fly the kite

She is so proud of herself

No help needed now. Though you can see Eric is itching to get it back. lol

William flying Ashton's while dad gets his up. I love when they share.

Ants, ants, everywhere

So the park we are at has a lot of sand. The problem with that are there are ants EVERYWHERE. They have gotten in our rig and have bitten Zoey a few times. We sucked a bunch up and I made this spray to use where they are coming in at. Just don't use it on food surfaces.

Pizza Haus

Well if you read my blog the other day you know my husband is obsessed with his Stromboli from Evansville and finding the same thing in other parts of Indiana. So we ran up to Pizza Haus for lunch one day. It is a cute little place right in the middle of downtown Batesville. 

Eric of course ordered the Stromboli which again was not exactly what he was hoping for but still tasted really good. I got the Lojac. The Lojac is corned beef, turkey, mayo, pizza cheese and sauerkraut. It was really tasty as well and something I would order again. We also got fries and onion chips as a side which were good. The only downfall was they have Pepsi. (Dang it pepsi give me my aspartame back) It is definitely somewhere we would go back to next time we are in the area.

The Lojac

The Stromboli 

Lil' Charlie's

Eric's parents had all the kids for a couple days so Eric and I took advantage and went out a bunch. For out first night we decided to try a little brewery in Batesville, Lil' Charlie's Restaurant and Brewery. Now, I have to tell you neither Eric of I drink beer. So don't look for a review of their brew-skies. 

For an appetizer we ordered potato skins. My two favorite foods in this world are potatoes and cheese so this is my jam. They came out with some tangy red sauce, Bull Ram sauce, as well that was good but I am more of a classic girl with the sour cream and salt. Overall they were very tasty. Eric ordered the Jamaican Jerk burger and really liked it. I did get a bit and it was nummy. Definitely an order again meal. I had the fish and chips. It came out as chunks not the fillets I was expecting and it was just okay. There really was not much flavor in them and some were just mostly breading. I would not order them again. The tarter sauce was good and the cole slaw was not good. Fries were delish though. They also have coke products so that was good. I used to be a Pepsi girl but then they went and messed up the diet pepsi. 

Overall we would return. The place was nice and most of the food was good. Being able to sit in the bar area next to where they make the beer was nice. They also have an outdoor seating area which is nice. 

Mmmmmmm potato skins

Jamaican Jerk Burger

Fish and Chips

Mama Rosa's

We decided to check out Mama Rosa's in Batesville for pizza. We posted on our Facebook page where we were and immediately had a few people comment how much they love the food here so that was a good sign. 

We decided on a pizza we could all share and some appetizers of fried onions, french onion soup, and cheese bread. We also got a side of Italian dressing because we were told it was the best. The soup was really good. We were able to try a few bites before Zoey decided it was hers. The onions were good and the bread was really good. Especially dipped into the dressing which was really really good just like we had been told. They also have one of the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines so you can get whatever soda you want. Our pizza was really good as well and we had lots left to take home. I kept trying to dip my crust in the dressing but Eric was a bit protective of it. LOL 

We really enjoyed the brown paper covering for the kids on the table and the bag of goldfish crackers to help the kiddos take the edge off while waiting on food. That is REALLY smart on their part. Also they give you CRAYOLA crayons. That just says so much to me. I hate restaurants that give you crappy crayons that barely color. I know it is a silly thing to obsess over but it is my silly thing. So the nice crayons was a plus in my book. We ended up coming back one more time when the boys came back so they could try it out as well. Everyone was a fan. 

Eric ordered it thin crust. He does love me. 

The fun coloring sheet, GOOD crayons, and goldfish.

The soup before Zoey stole it and our onions.