Catchin' Up...

We have had a packed schedule the past few days. On Friday, Colin and I went to a "summer lunch club" we decided to do with some of our friends. We are going to be trying out recipes on each other and "letting the kids pummel each other" so they'll all nap in the afternoons! This first week was Jamaican-inspired. We did a jerk chicken salad, a mango salsa, some black bean pasta salad, and I tried my hand at making bananas foster (which were not nearly as difficult as I had imagined AND I didn't set the house on fire!). Everything is really yummy and we're planning to do it every Friday this summer.
Unfortunately, I will be missing next week.
The reason though is worth it: Joe and Laura are here!!!

Of course, they had to bring Paul's Bakery cookies for Michael to let them in, so here is Colin eating his specially decorated one (didn't get a pic first...maybe next time!).

Colin is also going home with them for a week ~ WOW! You guys ROCK! He's got a full schedule while he's up there and I've got a full list of things to keep me busy here while he's gone! :)
He has a new obsession to go along with his vacuum cleaner one: shoes, particularly flip flops. He tries to wear mine around the house all the time and is actually getting impressively good at getting them on and getting a few steps!
Dinner was ribs, onion rings and corn on the cob. My food pictures Friday were all horrible, so I didn't bore you with food from our lunch. This one isn't much better. Not sure, maybe I was just having an "off" day.
I spent yesterday qualifying for my CCL (which Michael has been hounding me to get for the past few years). One of his coworkers offers a 10-hour qualification course/exam. There were two other people, another girl my age from the squadron and her father. We had a lot of fun together and I passed (got 100% on the written bit). Here they are shooting and the targets.
Here I am shooting.
Please don't be too critical. I shot in the center for the first two stages, then knew I'd already passed before I had to shoot from farther away (at which point I wasn't as careful or accurate ~ thus the ones below the line, but which are still worth points)!
Church this morning was great. I'm so proud of Colin, who makes it longer and longer through service each week. This week he was absolutely fascinated by the soloist too!
The garden is moving along wonderfully. We've still got more jalapenos than we can safely consume. The okra is getting taller every time I look at it and the zucchini and carrots are keeping pace. We've got some sweet peas about ready for picking and the squash is looking good and growing fast.
We are headed to the beach tomorrow and Tuesday, but Laura and I already have a new recipe picked out to try with our first summer squash. I'll let ya know how it turns out.
We had to run to the HEB Plus this afternoon. Not only did we need some groceries, but Laura has apparently been telling Tammy about their huge sections for cheese, meat, seafood/sushi, and bakery. So here we are (or at least Laura is) outside.
A quick shot coming in.
The next shot I got and I was going to get a shot where you could really see all the variety in the store, but Tammy, you're gonna have to enjoy this one because after this we were asked (by the lady behind the counter) to stop photographing.

Then a short little Mexican man (shorter than I am) came up to us all huffy (don't think he realized Michael was with us) and I'm pretty sure he was going to ask to see the camera, but just relectured us about taking pictures.

Then Michael pointed to a set of keys (obviously lost) sitting by some bread and suggested (rather politely, I thought) that the man do something useful like finding the owner of the keys. :)
Note the looks on the faces of the three women behind the counter. We're thinkin' maybe we weren't supposed to be taking pics of illegals...

Grumps. No longer sure it's my favorite HEB.