Our week in five

// ONE //

I’m running a bit behind on the weekly update this week because–this!

For the first time since The Dot was born, we went on vacation.

I suppose I’m sort of strange because there are a lot of beautiful beaches out there, but my favorite place to go on vacation is Port Aransas, Texas. I love the beaches, the laid-back atmosphere, and, most of all, the people.

When you drive up to a Texas beach, the pressure is off. You don’t get the Restoration Hardware outdoor furniture with a cutesy umbrella, and you don’t have to buy designer swimwear and shoes for your day at the beach. Instead, you get people living out of their cars for a day–but in a good way.

You drive down the beach, find a spot, open your tailgate, set up your canopy, put your cooler under the canopy, set up your chairs, then start having fun. AND YOU ACTUALLY GET IN THE WATER.

The kids had tons of fun playing in the sand and hunting for shells. This was The Dot’s first time at the beach, and I was worried she would be afraid of the waves. No. Such. Thing.

Neither she nor Little L minded the salt water. I actually had to stop The Dot from crawling into the water every time I set her down. She was fearless. The above photo is from my attempt to do a photoshoot of the kids on our last day there. I had a five-minute window before they both ended up in the ocean. That girl can crawl fast.

// TWO //

It rained every day during our trip, but mainly in the afternoon when The Dot napped. During a rainy period, we went to the Corpus Christi aquarium.

If you haven’t been and have kids, this is the place to be. A lot of the fish tanks are at kid-eye level, and the animals are adorably interactive. I particularly enjoyed watching the dolphin play with his basketball.

There are also a lot of hands-on exhibits like touching sting rays, jelly fish, sharks and hermit crabs.  Most of my enjoyment came from watching Little L’s face light up every time we went to a new exhibit and from hearing The Dot say “wow” because that was what Little L was doing. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if the kids weren’t there. But it was the perfect way to spend two hours on a rainy vacation day.

// THREE //

My favorite spatula finally bit the dust. I’m not sure why I didn’t think to look at Amazon first, but I scoured Williams Sonoma, Sur la Table, and grocery stores to try to find a replacement. I guess I was thinking I needed immediate gratification because searching for a replacement for three weeks is soooo much easier than waiting two days for the Amazon order. Ha.

But my day for finding my spatula in person finally came when I found a perfect knock-off at a HEB Plus in Corpus Christi. And for around $6 it beat the $10 price on my original spatula. Mr. L raised his eyebrows when I happily stashed my Corpus Christi souvenir in our suitcase.

// FOUR //

I bought this swimsuit coverup a few weeks ago off of Amazon and tested it out at the beach.

It is AWESOME. I save so much time wearing this shirt because I can just pop it on when we go swimming, and I don’t have to worry about putting sunscreen on my arms and chest. It also keeps me modest when I’m chasing after the kids because I cannot find a high-neck swimsuit that works with my obnoxiously long torso. The little cinch at the side can be pulled up or down so that it converts into a tunic. The price point is less than $30, which is pretty good for a sun protection coverup. I’m hoping it goes on sale during Prime Day (today!!) so that I can pick up a few more colors. Do note that it runs very small. I usually wear a medium, but the XL in this fits like a medium.

This Lilly Pulitzer one is still calling my name, though. If I didn’t have a budget, a long torso and kids that like to eat colored snacks during safety break at the pool I would order it in a heartbeat.

// FIVE //

I wanted to share this salad that I made and took with us when we went on vacation.

I’m pretty sure I mention Trader Joes all of the time, but here I go again. In addition to the plantain chips and wine, my other obsession is this cruciferous crunch salad mix:

To be honest, I’m actually not a fan of kale, brussels sprouts (I don’t care how much you slather them in bacon grease), or cabbage. But I like this mix for some reason. And I feel super healthy and slightly pretentious (but in a good way) when I eat it. The best part about it is that I can have a big salad for lunch, and I don’t feel hungry again until dinnertime.

The dressing and julienned apples make this salad, though. For the dressing, I start with my everyday oil and vinegar mix:

Then I take about a quarter of the bag of cruciferous mix and put about a tablespoon of this eggplant hummus on it:

Then I peel and julienne (think matchsticks) half of a Fuji apple and throw that on top. I douse everything with my oil and vinegar mix and mix it all together.

I will sometimes add baby carrots (quartered lengthwise) and cherry tomatoes on top. It’s also really good with a slice of lunchmeat (we like the Boar’s Head Blazing Buffalo Chicken) if you want extra protein.

For our trip, I pre-made a bunch of salad to keep in the ice chest and divided it between tupperware containers. The cruciferous mix held up really well and didn’t get soggy like traditional lettuce. I did pack the tomatoes and lunchmeat separately and added them later. I think I’ll keep making the salad this way at the beginning of each week so I can just grab it and go.