My Babies

They are watching Puss in Boots for the second time this weekend and I am feeling blessed to witness them growing up.  They've been in the pool most of the weekend hopefully getting worn out (because their mama sure is!)...

I am so proud of these babies...so hard to remember how things were before them...

Roast Host

So I mentioned a couple of posts back that we were going to roast a pig this weekend. The first time I had lechon was back in April 1999 at my mom's house in Florida. Scott, my sister and I drove to Pinellas Park to pick up a pig that someone else had roasted for us.

It was definitely a fun occasion...

Trying to get out of the box...

And no part of that pig was wasted.  All family members left with baggies full of pork to enjoy in a another meal or two.

Uncle Pete (RIP) was joking about using the pig's teeth to replace some of his own!

Peace

The first pig roast we did ourselves was back in February 2008 when my mom and sister got back from the Philippines. We were celebrating our birthdays (mine and my sister's) in the typical Filipino fashion, by roasting a pig and inviting a bunch of people over to eat.

Emi decided to try a pig's ear...I believe they call it Chicharrón...

[Note: This was David's first experience with lechon and he wasn't as adventurous as his big sister (no surprises there). He saw the pigs on the pole and opted not to have any pork at all.]

We did the roasting in our fire bowl and had a hard time keeping the temperature consistent and at one point the pig's sutures came apart and emergency surgery was performed. But the pig turned out wonderful and we sent everyone home with lechon after the kids had scavenged parts like the ears, eyeballs and brains. Kids are gross!

The next time we roasted a pig was in April 2009 for Scott's birthday.  We thought that the pig would be done by 2:30 pm, so friends and family came by early to have a drink or two and check out the pig.

This was 2 hours AFTER the pig was supposed to be done...

Pork was finally served around 7:45 that evening so you can imagine what shape our guests were in...




So this time the guys got busy prepping the pigs early in the day Friday. They decided to get 2 pigs as they were deemed a little on the small side and they also decided to build a pig pit this time.

My brother-in-law, Gabe, with the piggies.

My man having a turn turning...

Shortly after this picture was taken the guys had an emergency situation (as per usual) in that the pole broke in the middle. They had to run to Home Depot to make repairs.

I didn't capture a lot of pictures that day as I had to be at Emi's school (her last day of 4th grade!) to run the Sundae Bar after lunch. And then later I was busy playing host in the back yard. It was a very nice time with my family and friends. Loved seeing the kiddos running around making new friends and catching fireflies!

It was a great start to a summer filled with promises of more fun with family and friends!

Table Time

Back in November I really wanted to paint that table in my sun room.  Many things have happened in the past 6 months (new job, travel for new job, random kidlet activities) so I finally got around to it on Friday night.

I didn't spend a lot of time on it. I just sanded off most of the paint/finish/residue and then I wiped off the top and applied tung oil.

Smoothing the top a bit (and removing some art project residue)

After the tung oil soaked in a bit, we hauled the table back into the sun room where I painted the base a pretty Jamaican Sea Blue. While I like the progress I've made, I don't feel that the table is complete.

Not Quite Done

I think the base needs to be distressed a bit and the top needs another coat of tung oil...

This was sort of what I was going for...

Maybe I should let the kids knock around a bit with it before I try my hand at distressing it?

She's Back!!

We got Salty back from the shop Tuesday and she looks so much better than she did last month.

Welcome Home!

Remember this?

No way that just happened!

Well she has a brand new windshield, repairs and fresh paint on the hood and roof, new headliner and some sexy raised lettering.

Rowr!

This is what she looked like before...

And that oxidized spot is now gone! Yay!

Looking forward to tooling around the town on this long Memorial weekend, running errands and hitting some yard sales...

We're hosting another roast at our house (lechon) to start off the weekend (my nephew is graduating high school!). In addition to the fun family celebration time,  I'm hoping for some quality time in the pool and finishing my book (11/22/63).

I hope you guys have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!

Poolside Progress

Several months ago we began the task of removing the hot tub.

September 2011

Scott removed the last remnants of the hot tub while I was at work yesterday. And today we tamped down dirt, rearranged flagstone and added pebble. It's almost like the hot tub was never there...

What hot tub?

We are not going to build a cabana this year but we may construct that pergola. Right now we are concentrating on utilizing the space we have without breaking the budget. And I've got flower beds that need some attention... and if things go right tomorrow, I might get that table in the sun room painted...