Dinner with the Williams

I finally got around to looking for a grilling recipe online for Mahi Mahi filets today and, well, one thing led to another and this is what we ended up with. It's not often that we BOTH pitch in for dinner (usually one is cooking while the other is kid-wrangling); but tonight was an exception, so I thought I'd share.

I grilled the Mahi Mahi and vegetables (both brushed in a special sauce I found online) on the charcoal grill while Mel fried some okra and prepared some special cilantro-lime rice. The idea for cilantro-lime rice came to us while eating lunch at Chipotle, a new Mexican restaurant here in Greenville. That's what they use in their dishes and we figured it couldn't be too hard. Everything turned out really well and we both agreed these recipes were keepers.

Of course...

...the only problem with a big, awesome dinner is the big, not-awesome cleanup afterwards. Oh well, it was well worth it.

Toddler 1 Fieldtrip to Jump Zone

A few weeks ago, Bailey's Toddler 1 class at daycare took a fieldtrip to Jump Zone for one last hoorah before moving up to the next class. Jump Zone is a warehouse that holds a few large inflatable slides and moonwalks as well as some playsets (which you can purchase for the low low price of $3,200). It took Bailey a little while to get warmed up to the place; in part, because of a 20ft tall Batman staring down at her from the front of one of the inflatables. Once she got going, though, she had a good time.

Here, Bailey is posing in front of all the different things to play on at Jump Zone. As you can see, the place is packed pretty tight. Luckily, no one else was there besides Bailey's class so they had the run of the place.

Bailey showing some skills by climbing the ladder by herself while smiling for the camera. She's a natural.

Ms. Cindy (one of Bailey's teachers) helping her out of the moonwalk.

Bailey diving headfirst into the Snow White inflatable. This one was pretty cool for the little-uns b/c it had a small jumping area inside as well as a short ladder up to a slide.

Bailey careening head-first down the aforementioned slide. Maybe we can find her a Cracker Jacks tatoo that reads, "Ain't skeered"!

Feeding the Ducks

This past weekend I realized we had some old frozen hamburger buns in the freezer that we weren't going to eat so I decided to take Bailey over to the lake to feed the ducks. We've never tried feeding the ducks before so I was interested to see whether she would feed them herself or simply watch me do it. We started off with me holding Bailey and letting her throw food to them from the safety of my arms. Surprisingly, when I asked her after only a few minutes if she wanted down she said yes! We made it through with no incidents or newly embedded fears of quacking animals so I the trip was definitely a success!

Here come the ducks! You'll notice that this white duck (we'll call him Bob) seems to be in almost every picture. That's because he had no qualms about letting us know he was hungry and wanted food.

Here, Bob was employing his strategy of getting as close to Bailey and the food as he possibly could to try and take the food out of her hands. He also tried a few sneak attacks from behind. Luckily, I'm smarter and quicker than Bob so I was able to prevent him from nipping her hand.

Bailey smiling for the camera with, guess who...good ol' Bob not far behind.

Bailey and Bob just hangin out. Bailey was out of bread at this point, but Bob stuck close by just in case.

Bailey waving bye to all the ducks once they finally gave up on the possibility of more bread.

Here are some baby ducklings that we tried to feed. We decided it would be in their best interests to stop b/c they got trampled by all the other bigger ducks every time a piece of bread landed near them. And, yes, that's Bob in the background.

Mr. T Starter Kit

I PITY THA' FOOL THAT...

Doesn't do exactly what "The Bae-Bae" says.

Makes "The Bae-Bae" eat all the food on "The Bae-Bae's" plate before giving "The Bae-Bae" yogurt.

Makes "The Bae-Bae" go to bed when "The Bae-Bae's" not ("yaaaawn") tired.

Takes "The Bae-Bae's" juice away just because "The Bae-Bae" threw it at Duncan's head.

The list goes on and on and on...