What would be a vacation without some pictures?

Here are 10 of my favorite snap shots from our vacation to OBX last week. As most of you know Irene tore through and really left some people and businesses hurting, but our amazing rental company, Sun Realty, managed to move us from our original condo to another condo and didn't charge us any extra for the upgrade and we got an extra day. Such a wonderful company!

So this was the boy's first BEACH vacation. We were so excited. I used to vacation down in OBX every year until I was 18 or so, because my grandparents owned a vacation home down there. Stephen and I tried to honeymoon there in 2003, but Isabel had other ideas. We did make it down for our first anniversary though. :)

There are so many good memories associated with the OBX that I wanted to share them with the boys, so here are the pictures. They're in no particular order either. :)


These pictures were at the Wright Brothers Memorial. Harrison and Steve got to spend more time there, because I had to take Devlin to the Outer Banks Hospital, because we thought his pinky was broken after a gust of wind slammed the car door shut on his hand, but thankfully the pinky was not broken, just very badly bruised. The bruise did not stop him from enjoying the park though.

Here is the view of the Atlantic from the top of the hill at the Wright Brothers Memorial. Love the salty sea air and the breeze we had all week, but I'll tell you what - it did nothing for my very curly hair. :)


This was taken from the car while leaving the waterfront of Manteo. This boat is usually about 50 yards back in the parking lot of one of the stores. There was so much damage in this section of town. Only two businesses were open on Tuesday after the hurricane, and both were restaurants. We ate at  the Full Moon Cafe where I had the best sandwich of the week. Yay for French Dips!


 Here's Harrison at the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island. I don't think he's too sure about the alligator behind him. :) The aquarium had a really nice exhibit on Sea Turtles that the boys enjoyed. It was really interactive and they had fun toting their 'turtles' around for examination and recovery.

 We saw this little guy at the entrance to the Queen's Rose Garden at the Elizabethan Gardens. Love all his colors!

 This was also taken at the Elizabethan Gardens. They had a fun Garden Detective activity for the kids to do, which Devlin really enjoyed. There is also an ancient living oak in the garden that was alive when the first settlers arrived which would make it over 400 years old.

 This is by far the best  picture of the trip! We went on a Dolphin Tour and during the trip Harrison came up behind Devlin and hugged him and rested his head on his shoulders. They stayed like this for a few minutes.

 Here's one of the dolphins we saw! We saw a ton of them, including a new one that was just born in May. Baby dolphins are more adorable than full grown dolphins. We took our tour through Kitty Hawk Kites, which experienced a lot of damage in their store in Manteo (it had to be gutted) and at their store just before the causeway to Roanoke Island  from Nags Head. The dock was destroyed, but they were very courteous and went with the flow and had all of the the tour customers drive across the causeway to the public boat launch on Roanoke Island. They were even good-natured when Harrison went nuclear because he was tired. :) Good thing the motion of the boat put him to sleep pretty quickly.

And finally, one of our only beach pictures! Harrison was chilling up with Stephen on the dunes, while Dev played in the surf and tried to convince me to roll around with him. That did not happen, but Devlin had a blast taunting the ocean, and then the ocean tumbled him up the beach and stole his sunglasses. Dev learned that it might not be a good idea to taunt something so much larger than you, but that didn't stop him from playing in the waves and surf. :) Harrison was a little nervous of the waves, but as long as he was on our laps he pretty cool with the water coming up and getting us every so often.

I'm sad that our vacation is over, but oh so happy to be sleeping in my own bed again!

See you guys tomorrow!

My baby went to school today. For the first time. EVER.

It was hard on me. I cried all the way to the gym after watching him board the bus this morning. Then I cried a little more after Harrison asked where Dev was when we were packing up to leave the gym. I had to give him Dev's blanket, and that seemed to quiet him down.

Then Dev came home and asked to play the Wii. Before he headed down to the basement - he asked Harrison if he wanted to come, to which Harrison said, "uh-huh".

"Did you miss me today Harrison?"  "Uh-huh"

"I missed you too, but now we're together so its ok."

Isn't that enough to melt your heart?!?!? I mean - seriously?!?! My 5 year old has the sweetest, most kindest and sincerest heart that I know. He's such a good boy, an amazing big brother and one of the apples of my eye.

I love you so much Devlin!

Here's the big guy on his first day of school. He was very coordinated. :)

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled continuation of "The Baker's Quest" for a colorful and cultural culinary conquest to conquer a new challenge: Kheema.

I have mentioned many times that I do not do spicy food. Thanks to some good friends, I have gotten better, branched out, and toughened up my taste buds a bit. I still don't really enjoy that sharp, stabby type of burn, though. I do, however, love learning about and exploring other cultures. Food is obviously a great way to do that. Needless to say, Indian culture is a bit of a double-edged sword for me.

Firstly, I love all the bright colors in Indian culture. My friend Nova is Bangladeshi, which I know is not the same thing, but the dress is very similar. Sarees in every color of the rainbow as far as the eye could see at her wedding reception. I also think Indian women are quite possibly the prettiest in the world, and the strong family values are to be admired and appreciated.

So much Indian food, however, is spicy like lava. Remember Nova's wedding reception I just mentioned? Again, I know Bangladeshi is not the same, but the food was similar enough for this example. Mike and I specifically asked what wasn't spicy, and some very nice women directed us to a few particular dishes, so we loaded up. I thought I was going to die! I don't think I touched anything like that food for three or four years after that.

All of that to lead up to last Sunday. I was watching Aarti Party (yes, I DVR cooking shows and I am fine with it). Aarti was making some of her favorite dishes from her childhood, which included this intriguing looking dish called Kheema.

Kheema
From Aarti Sequeira

3 Tbsp canola oil
1 med onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (1" thumb) fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp store-bought or homemade garam masala
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne, optional
1 lb ground beef
2 med tomatoes, chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shucked fresh English peas or 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tsp malt vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus a few extra leaves for garnish
4 chapatis or pitas, warmed

In a large skillet, warm the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until golden. Add the garlic and ginger, and saute for another minute. Stir in the coriander, paprika, garam masala, cumin and cayenne, if using and cook for 1 minute.

Add the beef, breaking up lumps with a spoon, and saute until the meat is no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, 1 cup of water and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the fresh English peas. Stir well and simmer, partially covered, about 10 minutes or if using frozen peas, add them now, and cook another 5 minutes, partially covered.

Stir in the vinegar and chopped cilantro. Garnish with torn cilantro leaves and serve with warm chapatis or pita bread.

Long story short, it was awesome! The spices are warm and cozy and had just enough heat. It's also familiar enough as well that your kids will like it! It was exotic and new and exciting. I say "was" because it's now gone and it didn't take long. Everyone else at our Sunday night get-together loved it too. Add this to your repertoire and impress all your friends with your culinary cultured...ness.