Silly Saturdays

Last year Chris and I started a new tradition...Silly Saturdays. We picked a couple of Saturdays in the summer to eat outside and let the kids stay up later than usual and do silly things (like paint their feet and the deck!). It was a hit. During the winter, Silly Saturdays morphed into Family Movie Night and we'd watch a kid-friendly movie Ben and Izzy picked from the library. We don't do it every Saturday, mostly because the kids are tired (hockey/skating in the winter = early bedtime), but as the kids are getting older we've been able to manage a few later nights this summer without too much trouble.

Last night was a Silly Saturday. Grammy Jan left earlier this morning for Edmonton and we were all a bit lazy. Chris took the kids down to the pond, giving me a much needed day off from the sun, and I went to the store, and puttered around the house. I decided to make a tortellini salad with some wonderful colorful veggies--shredded carrots, yellow pepper, peas, and grape tomatoes--and used a yogurt based-ranch dressing. While at the store I picked up some wild sockeye salmon for myself as Chris and the kids had already decided they were having cheeseburgers (good for them; bad for me!) Isabella, who doesn't eat either burgers or salmon had a dilemma; she needed to pick one. She ended up eating a half of a cheeseburger -- her first and she LOVED it. She has officially joined the adventurer club! The only criteria to being a member is the willingness to try new things (food, activities, etc.).

We ended up with a lovely dinner on the deck, complete with Palomas, my new favorite drink. I had never grilled salmon before (I know, I must live under a rock...) but it came out perfect. I sprinkled some cumin, salt, southwest season from Penzey's spices, and some sugar, with a squeeze of lime and just let is cook for about 12-15 minutes. Then served it with another squeeze of lime. Quite tasty!


This morning I'm off for a long run; trying to find the motivation to train for my half marathon in September. Then it's off to Sandy Pond for a family swim. and steak tacos for tonight -- perhaps another Silly Saturday on Sunday?