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I hinted last week that I’d come with lots of fun pics from our trip to Alabama, and I stuck to my word. Please forgive me for making this a long post, sometimes it’s hard to restrain myself.

Lake Martin in Alabama is one of our favorite annual trips – there is so much to do, to see, to drink, and to laugh about together as a family. When you marry someone, you marry their family, and I’m so fortunate that I found a group of people who are so incredibly fun-loving and warm-spirited.

It’s trains, planes and automobiles to get to Alabama every year….

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….but to fend of the relentless “are we there yet” questions, I just remind the kids that their favorite long-haired cats are waiting for them.

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For them, Alabama is about cat love. For me, it’s everything else…

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golden beets_FeedMeDearly

Since I cooked the red beets last time (a mystery food failure), I thought I’d try the kids with golden beets. And this time, I’d be a little more strategic and make them into something that’s a little more familiar…chips. The kids love kale chips, so I figured this wouldn’t be too far removed. Their response was lukewarm – initially positive, then we trended hard and fast to the dreaded no way, no how, never again territory. Fortunately peas came to the rescue.

ME: Hey guys, guess what I made?

LAUREN: Beets.

ME: Yeah.  They’re chips I made with beets.

LAUREN: Ok.

ME: Do you want to try them?  Because you didn’t love beets last time, but maybe you’ll like beets this time if they’re in a chip form.  So Lauren’s eating the golden beets.

SAM: Me, too.

ME: Yeah, I’m going to have one, too.

[tasting the chips]

ME: What do you guys think?

LAUREN: Yummy.

SAM: Yummy.

ME: Yummy?  No, way! 

SAM: It tastes like real chips.

ME: It tastes like real chips?  Pretty awesome, right?  And, they’re made from beets.  Emma, do you want to try?

LAUREN: I like the red one more (I threw in a few red ones for comparison).

ME: Yeah?  The golden ones are bigger so they’re a little chewier on the inside, but they’re pretty good right?  Would you eat a whole bowl of those?

LAUREN: Of the red ones.

ME: Of the red ones?  Guess how many beets are in this.

SAM: Eleven.
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lawn_FeedMeDearly

This is a shorter post this week as I just got back from a busy few days at a family reunion in Alabama. Looking forward to sharing those pictures with you guys next week, but until then I wanted to fill you in on a recent visit to a secret spot near our house on Greenwood Lake, NJ.

We’re lucky enough to live in a lake community that offers a great summer camp for the kids. They’ve been doing archery, cooking, pioneering, and have been taken on some fun local field trips. One of their field trips was to the Botanical Gardens in the Skylands area of Northern New Jersey, which is only a few minutes driving distance from the lake.

The kids came back with so many great stories about our visit that I wanted to see it for myself. So we found some free time on a Friday afternoon and made our way over to the gardens. I wasn’t expecting much more than a few beautiful lawns, but was taken by surprise when we walked into a nearly-private 90-acre wonderland.

We entered the gardens near the teensiest little hut that was apparently going to be used as one of the supplemental film locations for The Lord of the Rings.

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Once we were inside the gardens, we discovered miles of manicured lawns….

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…and fields of wildflowers.

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