One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Since Christian is gone this week, I decided to take my vacation from work and have a little "Staycation" with my little man. My dad decided to come out for a few days and enjoy some fun with us. We headed to the New England Aquarium the first day he was here; we saw penguins, sharks, sea hoarse, turtles, toads, seals, jelly fish and lots of cool looking fish.

Berkeley had a blast looking at all the moving creatures.

It was fun for us to get to spend Father's Day with Papa Taft; Berke just loved having him around. It was fun to see the two interact.

After the Aquarium we headed to the Christopher Columbus Park, were Berke spotted some more fountains. Once this kid spots water, there is no stopping him from playing in it. We were not prepared with swim gear, however, we stripped him down to his onsie and let him have at it. He loved every minute of it.

Fountain Fun

Saturday Berke and I met up with our pals the Gillespes downtown. We initially planned to go to Frog Pond, but when we got there it was an empty pit. So we traveled a bit and found some fun fountains in the North End. Berke LOVES water! He splashed in the water and got sprayed by the fountains for two hours. We also stopped at Haymarket and got a cantaloupe and some bananas for $1.50; cant beat that.

Norfolk, CT

On Saturday, Berke and I drove Daddy to Norfolk, CT for a new music festival. He will be staying in this cute cottage for the week.

Surrounded by this beauty

We will miss him. Who will Berke play with now? We do plan to have a little fun while he gone.
That does mean we wont get to spend Father's Day with him. We are sad about that, however, we hope he knows that we think he is the best daddy in the world.

Hope you have fun babe, don't get eaten by any bears!

Can you Believe It?

Can it be that this handsome boy is 5 years old?

We bought McDuff just 2 days after moving to Louisville. The deal I made with Christian was if he moved me across the country away from family, he had to buy me a dog. We did research on the breed and decided on a Westie due to low shedding, cutenessability, size, etc.
McDuff has brought so much joy into our lives. He is such a lazy, easy going and fun dog. He loves to go in the car, chase squirrels, EAT, go on walks, snuggle with his mommy, play fetch with his squirrel toy, visit with Bob, and wait next to Berkeley when he is eating (best vacuum money could buy).

This was the first day we got McDuff, he was 8 weeks old. He was pretty tuckered out and just fell asleep in his water bowl.

We thought he would grow into his ears, but he never did. I have never seen a Westie as big as he is or who has as big of ears, but it is easy to fall in love with those adorable things.

He has had his fair share of getting into trouble.....

but perhaps it is payback for all the torture we put him through.

We love you Mr. McDuff. Happy 5th Birthday. You are officially older than your parents in dog years.

Sometimes you feel like a NUT!

....we may feel that way a bit more than most

Take it or leave it

Just wanted to share with ya'll a few things we've been enjoying at the Gentry house:

1. Yummy Bowls

This is a super "yummy" vegetarian dish we have been enjoying at our house.
To start you layer brown rice, black beans, salsa, Cheddar cheese, diced tomato, fresh avocado slices, sour cream, back olives and cilantro. Then top with Yummy Sauce.

YUMMY SAUCE
Serves 8, 4 cups
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup almonds
1/3 cup nutritional yeast (available at Whole Foods)
1/2 cup chickpeas or garbanzo beans cooked
1/4 cup soy beans (cooked) (we have used silken tofu before)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cilantro

1. In blender or food processor bean almonds, beans and oil
2. Add other ingredients and puree until creamy and smooth
3. Cover and let stand in refrigerator for one hour
4. Don't cover to tight, remember the yeast

It is quite tasty and usually a lot of sauce left over to put in other recipes as well, like burritos, stuffed peppers, etc.

2. An interesting read

Christian and I have not been eating meat for the past 6 months. We recently read Eating Animals and it has reaffirmed to us why we made this decision. I used to be the type of person who knew the meat industry wasn't the best, but didn't care to learn about it because I knew I wouldn't want to eat meat if I did. Now that I am learning about factory farming and the animal slaughter houses I can say this is true. If you are interested in learning about the meat you feed to you and your family I HIGHLY suggest you read this book. We all want to make sure we are taking care of our bodies and I really feel like we should be educated about what we consume.

3. A great series

Christian and I have decided we don't want to watch TV this summer, get addicted to more stupid shows; lets face it, nothing too great is on in the summer anyhow. We will watch movies and what not however. If you are looking for something entertaining, well written, well acted and just super creative, we suggest you Netflix the series BREAKING BAD.

We just finished season 2 and we always find ourselves talking about it. Such a great serious that I highly recommend.

Family Time

This weekend we really needed to have some family time. Life gets so busy that C and I often find ourselves living in a parallel universe. We took a spontaneous trip Friday after work and headed to Portland Maine. We stayed at a nice hotel with a pool, so Berke could have his first experience in a pool. He really liked it, but wanted to be free and swim on his own.

The next day we walked around the city, window shopped and had some yummy lunch.

We headed back and stopped in Kittery to do a little shopping at the outlets and gets some candy at Yummies. We then decided Berke needed some freedom, so we stopped at York Beach for an hour to let him play in the sand.

Berke loved playing in the sand; he was in heaven. He was throwing the sand in the air, rolling around in it, and digging holes. I guess we'll be making a few trips to the beach this summer.

We had a wonderful time. It was nice to not have anything planned and just go have a good time. I love being able to spend time with my wonderful family.