Summer Vacation in Volusia County, Florida

This trip was hosted by SeaWorld and the West Volusia Tourism group.


Well, I needed a summer vacation so, my wife and granddaughter ventured with me to Volusia County near Orlando. My wife, Bohemian Babushka, has some connections and she got us a two day stay at the Deland Hampton Inn, yes amazing. This was great, because not only do you get a great room, with a pool and gym, but you get the-all you can eat breakfast and can go back and have a little bit more later. They also have 24 hour coffee bar and 8 pm is time for fresh baked Cookies & Milk. What a great place to stay and relax!

Before checking into the hotel, we went to a "splash party" at Sea World with our granddaughter La Princesa and she had a great time. I didn't do the splash party, but got soaked anyway with a torrential rain and thunderstorm. Didn't help with my cold, but it did make for a wonderful family memory.

Next up was the St. Johns eco riverboat tour, which was a beautiful and relaxing ride where you could see some creatures that make their home here, like these Barred Owls.

La Princesa got to drive the riverboat and she did very well.

La Princesa needed a summer trip as much as we did and she wanted pizza and had it twice. 

Now you know you have to please royalty, so pizza at Flippers and at the Family Fun Town.

                               

                              

Besides the awesome pizza, the Family Fun Town, has miniature golf, arcade games, batting cages and go carts.  We did almost all of it and had a good time. They have great family packs and options to make it a truly fun place for full days and parties.  They picked their name perfectly; we could have stayed there the whole day!!

The go carts were fun for both of us; they were fast. 

We had a fun and relaxing vacation and looking forward to going to Destin next month, thanks to my Babushka!  I just love being married to a travel blogger, hope to become one myself soon; it's a great gig if you can get it!

Where would you love to go if you could travel anywhere?

So long for now,

Sweetie

The Super Bowl is More Than Just Football

If you watched the Super Bowl, chances are you did more than just watch the game. Friends and family gather to enjoy this football game, but some may have no real interest in the game. The Super Bowl has become an annual ritual,celebration, and party for a lot of people.

At my house we enjoy the game with some original dishes along with some traditional American food. The game is so much more enjoyable with some good hearty fare. Below is some of the good stuff we enjoyed during this year's Superbowl. But before the spread, you have to make the playing field (serving table) look good. It's not a party without decorations and a theme.

First are the chicken wings. You HAVE TO have chicken wings. Now in our house, we give them a tropical taste.  My wife Babushka loves VivaMejor and always looks for recipes with that Latin touch. The recipe is Spicy Cilantro Chicken Wings and since BB doesn't do much spicy we changed it up a bit, but you can get the full recipe on that link.  For our version we:

1.  Baked up the chicken wings nice and crunchy.

2. Put together the sauce-

• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp. grated lime peel
• 3 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp. Knorr® Chicken flavor Bouillon
• 1/4 cup Country Crock® Calcium plus Vitamin D, melted

and pour it over the wings.

But you can't have just that at a Superbowl Party, let's bring out some seafood!

Coconut Shrimp Minis with Tropical Sauce

Yes, we know it isn't coconut shrimp, but we wanted something a bit bigger than shrimp

 so we used fillets and it was just fine.

Of course you have to have chips and dip, but in our house it goes tropical too.

Avocado and Mango Salad

Up where we are the avocados aren't the best so instead of salad we made dips. Again, it was just fine.

Now THAT's how you do a SuperBowl Party!

Of course there were drinks, and my wife's favorite, Mountain Dew had one of the weirdest commercials during the Superbowl.  That's another enjoyable thing that people watch the Superbowl for is the commercials, which can be very entertaining, or just plain dumb. How weird was the "Puppy Monkey Baby" commercial for Mountain Dew Kickstart! Here, I'll let you decide for yourself. 

No matter what you think of the teams, the Super Bowl is always about more than just football.