Grits are... gritty

Growing up in a West Indian home, we ate many interesting things for breakfast. We had everything from sardines, fried eggs, channa (chick peas), toast and sometimes even crepe-like pancakes. Our breakfast food was far from the traditional American fare. When I moved out on my own I learned a lot about American breakfast foods including grits. I had never even heard of grits to say I grew up in the states. My husband grew up on them and it was the daily breakfast staple for him. I remember tasting it for the first time. I was very disgusted and blurted out that "grits are gritty!" Since my husband has grown up eating grits I figured I better learn how to cook them so I did not take away from what he was used to. It took some practice and it turns out that I am an excellent grits cook. I cook them low and slow. Although I am still not a big fan of grits, I will eat them on occasion if I have something yummy to eat along with it. My family loves them and little William recently discovered his love for grits with cheese. I prefer to cook it on the stove-top but since he wants to eat it every day I am going to try him out with the instant kind. Knowing him he will prefer the slow cooked type. My kids are mini food snobs like their mommy :-)

What about you? Did you grow up eating grits? Do you like them?

Our trip to the Magic Kingdom

Last week, the Ismail family packed up the car and headed down to the happiest place on earth...Disney's Magic Kingdom. The drive was great up until we were 8 miles from our destination. We were stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours! Thankfully we had plenty of fuel in the car and made the best out of that time. It was actually fun although I don't necessarily think I would want that to happen very often! We stayed in a nice resort with some family members.  We really loved that we had all the conveniences of home so that we were able to cook family-sized meals which really helped out a lot.

When we were driving to the park we were all so leery of the cloudy sky. There was good reason for all those clouds. More on that later in the post.

Those clouds really had us in a panic.

We took the Ferry boat over to the park since the clouds started to break. Boy was it windy though! We all wore short sleeves. Hey, it's Florida. That's the norm right? 

We wore our "I'm Celebrating!" buttons that we got from the ticket booth just to be festive. 

Of course the teenagers were freaking out over their hair getting wind-blown!I admit I might have secretly been going through that myself!  

William really enjoyed the ferry boat ride and got to throw coins in the water. He was all smiles! Of course he did not cooperate to take photos. The sun started peaking through the clouds and we were all super excited to have some fun. Well, our fun turned into soaking wet fun. Yep, you guessed it. Rain. Not just rain, cold and windy kind of rain. We all looked a hot sloppy mess but put a smile on our faces and kept it moving. I am so happy I packed a back-up outfit for Will so at least he did not have to wear a wet shirt. Man, did it end up getting cold though!

Dwayne kept William since he is not a ride person and I went with the girls and a couple of our cousins. We met up here and there to eat and check on each other. The food was way over-priced and not all that great. You better believe that I made everyone eat every last bite!

Somehow Dwayne and William got to do way more than the rest of us waiting 2 hours to ride Space Mountain (which was totally worth it). They got to get a photo with Mickey and Minnie and our boy William was NOT feeling it! He was so afraid of them I think because they were so big. He looks like he was trying to leap out of Dwayne's arms! 

He did LOVE LOVE LOVE the castle. He is still talking about it and asks if we can go back again. I can't believe that Dwayne actually went on rides with William. I guess Disney really is a magical place after all :) 

Pure happiness :)

He was taking it all in.

We were able to catch a few parades and shows as well as get on some of the rides. Everyone had the best time and we made some great memories. We do plan to return again for sure. I wish I had more photos to share but they did not come out all that great after we got rain soaked! William had the most fun and behaved perfectly. Come to think of it, he did well from start to finish. No complaints, no mischief, no potty accidents, no foolishness. I am the luckiest mom on the planet! 

Now this sight was worth every drop of rain we encountered. I did not even have to edit this photo.  It was very cold at the end of the night but at least we caught the magnificent fireworks display. Truly amazing!! 

I'm back!!

I just wanted to post a quick update to explain my absence. Our family went away on a 4-day vacation to Orlando, Florida! I have tons of photos and stories to post but I am trying to get back into the groove of the everyday since we got in at the wee hours of the night. I did not do any Facebooking, blogging or Tweeting while we were gone and I actually survived!! It was a much needed break and I can't wait to share some details. Now I'm off to unpack, do laundry and get my house cleaned up for the New Year. I promise to catch up on blog reading this weekend. I wish everyone a happy and safe New Year's weekend! :-)

Wordfull Wednesday | A priceless keepsake

Growing up as a child was not very easy for me. I had a very different upbringing from my peers and had a lot of self-esteem issues. Honestly, a lot of my days were very sad. I had this sheet I slept with every single night since I was very little (maybe  4 or 5). There was nothing glamorous about it. It was just a simple light blue bed sheet with butterflies on it.

There was something so special about this sheet though. Over the years it had become so worn that you can practically see through it. It feels like silk and has not one single hole in it. I left my parent's home when I was just 17 years old. I was not allowed to take anything with me but I did manage to grab my "blue sheet". I went through so much over the years but always had my sheet to comfort me. I still have this special sheet after all these years and have even put it in my will for Briahnna to have when I pass away. She has always had a thing for butterflies and it seemed fitting for her to have it. I no longer sleep with my sheet but I do keep it around the house to remind me how much I have grown as a person. 

Do you have a special keepsake that you won't let go of?

Why didn't I do this sooner?

It just dawned on me a few days ago that William's bedroom is a lot bigger than my office. Both rooms are next to each other and they used to be the girls' rooms before William was born and then they moved into bedrooms downstairs.  He only goes in his bedroom to sleep at night. How did I let a little kid get the bigger space? He doesn't even have that much stuff! It is also the one room in the house that is coldest in the Winter and warmest in the Summer. A light bulb went off in my head. I grabbed the girls and we switched rooms. Yep, I kicked the boy out of the big room with a full-sized closet and put him in a smaller, cozier room. Would you believe that now he wants to hang out and play in his "new room" all day long? It was a very smart move. It took me 3 1/2 years to think of it but at least it's done. I am loving my new office space and William is enjoying his new bedroom. We both win! :)