Waffles, Camera Decisions, and Other Random Things

I ate a waffle for breakfast this morning. I really need to start eating healthy again...and I really need to get my behind back to the track in the mornings too. BUT we watched the Office last night and there was a bit about hotel waffles that really made me want waffles....so I made myself a yummy waffle for breakfast even though I probably should have just eaten an egg or some yogurt! 

We have been working full speed ahead on the Airstream. And we have been buying stuff like crazy too.

flooring, a sink, butcher block counter top, leveling jacks, a new tv, a battery

Amazon has become our friend lately! They have a ton of great deals and the deals are even better when you can get free shipping. We ordered a sink a last week that cost about half what the ones at Lowe's cost and we got free shipping too! It just came in yesterday and it is perfect. I'm ready to get all the necessities taken care of so I can start looking for fun stuff like decorations:)

March is always fun for us money wise. Besides getting our tax refund {if the IRS would ever deposit it...we filed three weeks ago and we still haven't gotten our refund!}, March is also when Jason gets his bonus at work. We usually have a few bills here or there that need to be paid or something big that we are planning to buy, but this year the only thing we really have on our list is Airstream stuff. That means we will be able to spend a little bit of fun money and then still put some in savings.

I have been planning to get a new camera this spring {with some of that fun money I was talking about}. My Nikon D40 has served me well, but I want to upgrade a little and maybe get a new lens or two. I have been comparing a few different cameras and I have sort of decided what I want, but I'm still not really sure. I can't decide if I want to go with the D5100 because that is really all I need...or if I want to spend a little extra and get a more professional camera like the D7000.  It's hard to decide if the increase in price is worth it, but I hate to save a couple hundred dollar and then not be happy with my decision. Any camera advise is welcomed!

I have been busy planning our trip the past few weeks. Making reservations at campgrounds can be kind of scary especially when you don't know anything about where you are going. I have been researching trying to find us nice places to stay. So far it's been pretty good, but I'm having trouble with where to stay when we are visiting Yosemite. The campgrounds inside the park are all booked, which means we have to find a private campground. I found one that is really close, but it has some terrible reviews...and the next closest place is almost 30 minutes farther away from the park. I have to decide if we want to tough it out at a not so great campground or waste an hour of our day driving to and from the park. I'm going to research it a little bit more, but I have to decide soon so that everything doesn't book up!

Soccer season is in full swing, and I am loving it! The boys are really enjoying it, and they are actually pretty good too! I feel like they get so much more physical exercise playing soccer than they ever did during baseball or football! Plus soccer is way more fun to watch too:) Eli has been loving soccer season too....he especially loves the soccer socks!

Homemade Mini Moon Pies

Mardi Gras is a fun holiday for us. I know that it's not as big of a deal in other parts of the U.S., but we are right in the middle of  Mardi Gras country! To our east is Mobile, the official birthplace of Mardi Gras, and  to our west is New Orleans, the place best known for it {sometimes} wild Mardi Gras ways! It is such a big holiday were we live, that the kids get three days out of school for it!

We usually celebrate by going to a local {very family friendly} parade. The boys love all the decorated floats, catching beads, listening to the marching bands, and eating yummy Mardi Gras snacks. Besides the traditional King Cake {which must be from the fabulous Paul's Pastry Shop} that we eat every year around Mardi Gras, we also LOVE a Moon Pie. These sweet treats are so yummy, and they are even better if you catch them at a parade! Unfortunately we missed our usual parade because of storms that came through on Saturday...so no parade caught Moon Pies for us! I decided making some homemade ones would be a fun replacement, and I'm sharing the step by step for those of you who can't get your hands on a store bought Moon Pie!

 Start with some really easy ingredients: graham crackers, marshmallow creme, and chocolate. 

 There technically isn't any cooking in this recipe...just melting and assembling:)

Start by using a small round cookie cutter {mine was 2 inches in diameter} to cut your graham crackers into circle. Each cracker should make two rounds.

 Put a good dollop of marshmallow creme on one graham cracker round and then sandwich it together with another cracker. This is easiest to do if you put the marshmallow creme into a ziploc bag and then squeeze it out onto the crackers! Place them in the freezer to chill while you melt the chocolate.

 Toss the graham cracker sandwiches into the melted chocolate and use a fork to turn and coat them. Lift them out of the chocolate and tap off any excess chocolate then place them on foil to harden.

 These aren't exactly the same as a traditional Moon Pie. The crackers are a little bit crunchier, and the chocolate isn't quite the same but they are a pretty close match without a whole lot of effort...and they taste really yummy!

How do you celebrate Mardi Gras?!?

Linking up here..
Tatertots and Jello
Serenity Now
Someday Crafts
Skip to my Lou

Planning is Half the Fun

We are 98 days from our BIG TRIP! It doesn't seem possible that in less than 100 days we will be off on a journey to see parts of the world we've only ever seen in pictures {and on the Brady Bunch}. All kidding aside, we are SUPER excited about our trip! Jason and I sat down and mapped out a tentative course. We've made a few reservations at campsites, but the whole trip isn't set in stone just yet. This is a map that I used to figure out how far we will be going on our trip. In total it will be over 5,000 miles! That is a long way to drive...and a really long way to pull an rv! There are some definite stops on our trip, and I've included most of them on the map below. 

We are still looking for great places to visit along the way, so any and all suggestions or links are welcome! I picked up a few books at the library yesterday so that we could start looking for some "off the beaten path" types of places and make sure that we hit all the "must see" sites too! I would love to take the boys to some fun "kitschy" places along with all the great wilderness & learning things we are planning to see!

We are pretty set in our plan up until we leave the Grand Canyon. We have either made reservations or called about places to stay up to that point, but after the Grand Canyon it gets a little complicated. Apparently Yosemite & Kings Canyon can get a lot of snow in the spring so they don't always make reservations for their campsites until they know they will be able to open. I get that...but I also don't want to drive more than halfway across the country without a plan of where we will be staying {I'm not very spontaneous, can you tell?}. And after we leave Yosemite & Kings Canyon we are moving on to big cities...while pulling an rv. I have to say that is just a little bit scary! But we want to see San Francisco{which btw is totally spelled wrong on my map!} and our plan for heading home is to drive through Los Angeles and hit 1-10 and come all the way back to Mississippi {with a couple of stops on the way}.  
Even though we have a map, some reservations, and sort of a plan, we still have a lot of planning to do....and planning is half the fun:) Oh and we have still have a TON of work to do on the Airstream too!