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Friday, March 5, 2010

Bummin' it at the beach

We're here at Avila Beach and have so far avoided the rain and "severe weather alerts" that the forecast promised (fingers crossed that our luck holds for one more day). We drove here without one single pee stop. Now I know you're probably thinking, "Ack—TMI!—why on earth would you write something like that?" But it is truly remarkable. The girls have always had GI issues and I swear I have a bladder the size of a two-year old—most roadtrips involve many, many, many stops, much to TubaDad's chagrin. Anyhow, for some reason, this trip: not one single, solitary bathroom break. Woohoo, that was one fast drive! Anyhow, moving on to the pictures and leaving bathroom talk behind... we arrived in Avila, spilled out of the van, sent TubaDad to get the beachhouse keys, and immediately started playing in the sand. We set up camp near some huge driftwood and the busy bee girls thought they needed to make it into a "house": IMG_0478 IMG_0482 I asked Ro to take a pic of Maggie and I, and then gestured quite vehemently (and in vain) for her to actually point the camera at us, rather than off to the right, and here's what she captured.Oops: IMG_0484 We did get things straightened out for the next snap, see?: IMG_0485 Little sun-baby Ree: IMG_0486 The girls found big, huge unweildy sticks and wrote their names in the sand (and, luckily, avoided clubbing us in the process): IMG_0494 We soaked up every last ray of sun, then came back to the beachhouse and scarfed down some pizza and baked the new dessert I made up. No name for it yet, can anyone think of a good one? Basically they're oven-baked s'mores in cupcake papers. IMG_0511 (Ro left, Ree right) No-Fire S'Mores Recipe: Put cupcake liners in your cupcake tin, cut graham cracker squares in circles (it's really easy if you use kitchen shears), and place a graham cracker circle into each cupcake paper. Place two hershey's chocolate squares on top of each graham cracker. Lay a marshmallow down on its side on top of the chocolate. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Enjoy your s'mores! IMG_0513 IMG_0516 (Note: Originally I did this by cutting the marshmallow and putting it sticky side down, but later testing—mmmmm—showed that it worked just as well, and was less sticky to eat, if I didn't cut the mallow.) DSC_2284 DSC_2297 Mmmm, yummy campout s'mores, without the bonfire. These are good to sneak for breakfast too, if any of them survive that long.

15 comments:

  1. Yum! I'm freezing in Chicago and haven't had dinner, so I'm drooling over the beach as well as the dessert. Sigh.

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  2. I think we will be trying this dessert soon- maybe tomorrow. Wish the beach was close to us.

    Love to you,
    Deb

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  3. Aaah, to be at the beach!

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  4. Is it warm down there? The kids are in shorts so I'm guessing it is. If so, I'm JEALOUS! I've not seen my kids' knees in 6 months!

    Have fun!

    :)

    Donna
    Our Blog: Double Happiness!

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  5. I SO miss california!

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  6. Golly, it's too cold to beach it here, but I need to try that "S'more Muffins Please" recipe.

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  7. Love the no fire smores. Try it with a banana slice next time. We use to bake bananas with some scooped out and fill it up with choc. chips and mini marshmellows.

    Love Availa Beach and was just there last week. (I live in Oregon.) Have you gone to the Sycamore Springs resort? Lovely massages and then a long soak in a mineral springs hot tub. It is like the best.

    Enjoy your vacation with your sweet girls.

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  8. Curse you, M3, for posting a no-fire s'mores recipe.

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  9. S'mores in the oven? Do them in the micro and you can start eating them in 10 seconds and no mess!
    Enjoy your weekend, the weather should be nice!

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  10. Anonymous3/06/2010

    Love the toastiness of oven baked smores without the fire. BTW, my youngest calls these 'Snores'. LOL. You have the best ideas and your girls are Adorable..yes,with a capital A.
    I'm wondering how you keep up with the house et. all. Do you have help?
    You are such an inspiration, all the way around. I want to be just like you when I grow up!
    Have fun...
    Jen

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  11. smores cups.....

    Will have to try this recipe...
    Sounds Wonderful.....

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  12. Yum!! Gonna have to try those, for sure!
    Looks like a great time is being had by all :)

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  13. Tried these last night! Terrific! One change I did was to take the graham cracker crumbs from the trimming and crushed them and put them on top of the marshmallows. Mostly so I didn't feel bad about wasting them. :)

    Caroline is always asking for s'mores and I don't want to roast them over our fake-log fire so this was a great alternative! Woohoo!

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  14. My Grandpa lived in Avila for almost 30 years, and I grew up visiting him there almost my whole life. That whole area is spectacularly gorgeous, and despite the CHILLY weather and water that you also experienced, is probably some of my favorite beach-land anywhere. I hope you guys go back again and again ... what a fun place for kids to experience, and even if you're running after little ones, SUCH a pleasure for Moms and Dads too.

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  15. S'mindoors?
    Cupmores?

    I am revelling in your willingness to cut graham crackers into circles.
    You just upped the Cool Mom quotient into the stratosphere, M3.

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