Cold Season, Running Club and Peach Mojitos

Really, how is that so many of us have summer colds. It just seems so utterly wrong to have a runny nose, sore throat and headache when it's sunny outside. What I really want to do is curl up in bed with a movie and some tea, but it just seems wrong to do that when the kids want to swim in the sunshine.

As most parents are this time of year, I am ecstatic that school is about to start and I'll get at least 2 days of week of me time (for three hours a day anyway) to volunteer at the school, workout and shower (not necessarily in that order). If I haven't mentioned I volunteered to be a Dolphin Deli Director (our hot lunch program which raises over $50,000 for the parents club - our 2nd largest fundraiser). As I go a little crazy here making sure we have enough volunteers to run the program and training all of the said volunteers I am optimistic that we will be able to execute this program as well as our predecessor. In addition to this I have decided rather recently to coach a Mini-Mermaid Running Club team. I am so excited about this I can barely contain my enthusiasm. So far I have 3 girl's confirmed, 2 more possible waiting on fall schedules. My goal is to have between 5-10 girl's for the 6 week program where at the conclusion they will run the Mermaid SF 5k run. More then just hopefully instilling a love of running in these girls we hope to help build their self esteem, teach them to set goals and teach them about proper nutrition for fueling their active bodies. This program is offered at no cost to the children because we want every girl to have the opportunity to participate in this amazing program. I will spend the next month fundraising for our club to cover the costs of the materials for the program, t-shirts and journals for the girl's and entrance into the 5k. If you would like to make a donation to our team it is 100% tax deductible and I can forward that information to you to support our team. I will also be selling coffee and cocoa to raise money for our team as well. If you would like to support us that way, please let me know. Our coffee and specialty beverages will sport the Mini- Mermaid Running Club logo on them to remind you of our great little team.

Lastly, I believe I promised you a peach mojito recipe. We are lucky enough that my in-laws have lots of peach tree's and recently I received 2 huge bags of frozen peach slices. Lucky me, I didn't even have to peel them myself! The only change I make to this recipe is that I I prefer to have my peaches not purree'd in the blender, I've tried it both ways, but I prefer to muddle the slices with the sugar, lime juice, etc.

3 cups coarsely chopped peeled ripe peaches
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
1 cup of fresh lime juice (about 4 large limes)
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of packed mint leaves
2 cups of white rum
4 cups of club soda
crushed ice


Blend peaches until smooth in either a blender or food processor. Press peach puree through a fine sieve into a bowl and discard solids.

Combine rind, lime juice, sugar and mint in a large pitcher and crush the mixture with the back of a wood spoon. And puree and rum to the pitcher, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Stir in club soda and serve over ice.

I personally add the soda water to each individual glass so that the soda does not go flat if the pitcher is sitting out. But in my experience if you are having a party, these will go fast and go ahead and mix the soda into the pitcher.

Enjoy!

Lawrence Hall of Science and Veggies

As you know my quest for the summer was to find inexpensive and fun things to do with the girl's. Today, we went to the Lawrence Hall of Science where they currently have Dinosaurs Unearthed, a very cool exhibit you should catch while it's here. As Lindsay members we receive a 1/2 off discount but since the girl's also participated int he Summer Reading Program through the library we also had a free youth admission and much to my surprise they let us use both together, so it was only $14 for all three of us. It's been  along time since I visited the Hall of Science, but the girls were like wild banshee's so excited by all there was to see and do. The moving and roaring dinosaurs were a huge hit but they also loved the sphere that showed our earth with locations of volcanoes, weather patterns and then turned into the sun and other cool things.

We packed lunch and enjoyed it outside looking down on a great view of the Bay Area. The girl's are already begging to go back.

One thing that I'm not sure I shared is that we built a vegetable garden for the summer. Last year we did most of our veggies in planters and this year Scott built us an actual bed to have fun with. While Kylie is a great eater and loves veggies and fruit I was hoping that the process of watching your own veggies grow would encourage Sydney to try some things. We were probably a little excited and planted too soon but we started with a wide range of tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, corn, celery and carrots.

Pretty soon our garden started to grow

Well, one side of garden started to grow
 

We saw great growth in our corn, celery, carrots, squash and green beans. Sadly, critters started eating our corn, but left everything else. The celery has grown some amazing stalks, more than I can eat!

The carrots are so good! And to think all we did was toss a  bunch of seeds to get such a great bounty of yummy carrots. The squash sort of took over so we know for next year to give it it's own bed. It was difficult to see when to harvest the squash because the leaves covered up all of the veggies, but I think I have a handle on it now.

I was going to share a new recipe with you but I need to go cook some veggies! Next time I'll share my peach mojito recipe!