Let’s Call Him Steve!

Little kids crack me up.

I find myself laughing uncontrollably at some of the things my campers say more often than not, whether its talking about the “UNORMOUS” spiders on the trees, the “skeetoes” that are everywhere at the forest preserves, playing at the “butt washers” at the pool (those vertical squirting fountains), or today, when we met our new friend.

My girls wanted to go on a nature walk today, which I was quite thrilled about, as I’ve been feeling like a potato lately. So we set out on one of the paths at the forest preserve this afternoon, and stopped to look in this pond:

Hmmm... who's hiding?

I know that many bullfrogs live in this chain of ponds at this forest preserve, so I told my girls to be very quiet and look carefully. Suddenly, a little gasp came from one of the girls. “Eyeballs!” she said, pointing at the space between some of the reeds. “It’s  a frog!” As a group, we promptly decided that this frog was going to be our new friend, and we’d come visit him every week that we’re at this forest preserve. “What’s his name?” I asked. “Mr. Toady!” said one girl. “That’s not a toad, thats a frog!” said another. “I know,” said one of my smartest girls. “Let’s call him Steve!” So Steve it was. Steve has a friend, MaraFrog that lives down the pond. It was an eventful day in the Duckie group today!

After a relatively long commute, I came home to a package on the counter. I quickly took it off the counter and put it on a chair, because I knew what was inside. Why the chair? Well, the package contained these:

new kicks!

These are not for working out. These are simply “I wanted them so I had to buy them” Nike Shox. And why did I move the box to the chair? Family superstition! No shoes on the table! As far as I’m concerned, that counter is a table, so for good luck, I had to move it. Do you have any funny superstitions like that?

After trying on my shoes (they fit!) I set out to cook dinner. I made some simple meatballs, Smart Taste pasta, and sauce. This was not just any sauce though! A while back, the lovely people at Dei Fratelli sent me 2 jars of their pasta sauce, and we’d been saving the jars for an after-camp meal! I would recommend this amazing tomato basil sauce without hesitation! It really tasted fresh, like I actually made it.

Thanks, Dei Fratelli!

I made a great bowl of pasta and sauce with 3 meatballs (yes, I was hungry!) and some fresh mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It was just what I needed after a day full of skeetoes!

Why yes, that IS a lot of balls (TWSS!)

Tomorrow, we’re heading to Brookfield Zoo for a day full of monkeys, snakes, lions, tigers, bears, and dinosaurs! Are you ready for more animal pictures?? There may be a giveaway tomorrow too

Tagged as: beef, camp, Italian, simple recipe