Theatre Under the Stars - Moonlight Celebrates 35 Years

Last week we took the kids to enjoy "All Shook Up" at Monnlight Amplitheatre.

Image via Moonlight Production

This year marks 35 years of magic on the outdoor stage. If you can believe it, I grew up in Vista and never had the privilege of going to Moonlight. Ever since high school I have loved live theatre! When the characters perform live before your eyes there is an added connection to the story line that cannot be fully described. I couldn't wait to share this love of live theatre with the kids!

After picking up our tickets at will call we walked through what felt like a little slice of summer with these beautifully lit arches. As the sun went down they became even more beautiful. This picture is not representing the full romance.

And on the ground there are these timeless quotes about the arts.

 

Next time I plan to ask the kids to read them and find out what they think the meaning is for each one. I love finding interesting quotes like this out in our communities. They can be great conversation starters whether on a date or to inspire your kids to embrace their creative side.

We planned to get there a little early to eat dinner before the show. As luck would have it we were running a little behind but still got to our seats with enough time to eat before the first set. Just one of the many benefits of outdoor theatre.... eating in your seats is totally allowed! Many people in the lawn seats both in front of us and behind us had either blankets sprawled out or what I call wine and cheese tables.

I pointed out to the kids that behind us that there was a lighting crew that would help set the mood for each scene.

I was delighted with our seats even if we were near the back row. As you can see there's not a bad seat in the house.

All Shook Up was a great show! I was toe tapping and singing along to Elvis classics like Jailhouse Rock and Blue Suede Shoes.

The summer show schedule has something for everyone

The kids saw that Shrek the Musical is in August and want to come back for that one!

Moonlight offers fabulous family night ticket pricing on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights. Adult tickets are $24 and kids 15 and under just $10 each. These are good for lawn seats, don't worry, they provide the chairs! This makes picnicking before the show a perfect pair. This time we had reserved seats but the kids already declared that they want to do lawn seats next time.

If you have not added theatre to your summer bucket list, I highly recommend it! If you live in San Diego, the drive to Vista for this truly unique experience is worth it. If you happen to live outside of San Diego, I encourage you to see if there is an outdoor stage somewhere in your vicinity, it truly adds a little bit of magic to summer.

Disclaimer: I was provided tickets in order to share my experience. 

Regardless, all opinions are my own. 

Organic Strawberry Lemonade and Summer Service Project

My kids did a Lemonade stand last summer with the baby sitter. They asked me if they could do it again and I've been looking at ways to help them be more successful this time around. So today we played with the idea of having Strawberry Lemonade.

Now, I have to tell you that I'm not interested in squeezing a bunch of fresh lemons to make it homemade. But, I do like to buy organic lemonade so we are serving up something without pesticides.

This lemonade is definitely on the sweet side so I added water. This will also cut down on the sugar content per serving.

Organic Summer Time Strawberry Lemonade

2 cups organic lemonade
1 cup water
10 strawberries hulled

Super Simple!

Everything goes in the blender for a minute on high speed.

Another reason I now love my Vitamix.... those strawberries become totally incorporated into the lemonade. No chunks at all.

Pour into tall glasses and garnish with a strawberry or slice of lemon.

So, now we have one good recipe ready to go for our summer lemonade stand. We might still offer plain lemonade. I think I have an idea brewing about how to have the kids turn this into a service project! This will help them plan ahead and feel successful and do something for their community at the same time.

Our local playground has been working to raise money for the past 2 years to rebuild the playground in memory of Sienna Palkovic. It has been really special to watch our community come together to support this cause. It has really been a grassroots project. I encourage you to read the story of Sienna's Play Garden and the amazing things her mom is doing by spearheading this project and if you feel compelled to buy a virtual lemonade, simply use the donate button on their website.

S'mores 21 Ways Summer Bucket List

We look forward to National S'mores Day (August 10th)  every year and have a tradition of setting up the fire pit and roasting marshmallows to celebrate. In fact we love it so much that we break out the roasting sticks about 5 or 6 times each summer (you know for practice). It is a great way for us to enjoy our backyard, spend time as a family and really create simple memories for us to look back on. This year as we started working on our Summer Bucket List, I got the urge to see other ways we could incorporate s'mores into other recipes that are fun and give us a taste of those delicious flavors of chocolate, marshmallow and graham cracker without firing up the fire pit. I had no idea what a variety of S'mores recipes I'd find. What started off as an idea of finding 3 or 4 ways to mix it up quickly became a list of 21!

Many of these are super easy and will be perfect for getting the kids involved to do on their own like S'mores on a Stick. The S'mores Trail Mix is perfect for taking a snack to the beach, which we plan to do a bunch this summer.

I can't wait to mix up movie night with the S'mores Caramel Corn and surprise the kids with S'mores Pancakes or S'mores Crescent Rolls one morning! They are always asking if we can get donuts and I only say yes a couple times a year because we try to eat a healthy breakfast so this will be such a treat!

I'm a big fan of no-bake options so the No Bake S'mores and No Bake S'mores Protein Cookies are right up my alley. Plus I can get the kids in the kitchen with those too.

For particularly warm days we'll be cooling off with S'more Popsicles or S'mores Milkshakes... heck we may even pretend it's a really hot day as an excuse to make these!

The S'mores Brownies and the S'mores Cheesecake are sure to be a hit because the kids and I have a thing for brownies and cheesecake.... I have no idea why.

And on those evenings that we do roast marshmallows in the backyard I plan to relax and enjoy S'mores Martini or Toasty S'mores Shot.

See what we came up with for our S'mores Summer Bucket List and leave a comment below telling me which one you plan to try! Don't forget to pin this post so you can easily refer to it when you get a s'mores craving. Fair warning, looking at these scrumptious treats is going to make you hungry!

1. No Mess Indoor S'mores via Fabulous Farm Girl

2. No Bakes S'mores via Crazy for Crust

3. S'mores Cheesecake Recipe via Will Cook for Smiles

4. S'mores Trail Mix via The Sensible Mom

5. S'mores Caramel Corn via Your Home Based Mom

6. No Bake S'mores Protein Cookies via The Big Man's World

7. S'mores Puppy Chow via Sally's Baking Addiction

8. S'mores Pancakes via Bombshell Bling

9. S'mores on a stick via Family Spice

10. S'mores Popsicles  via Love Grows Wild

11. S'mores Brownies via Simmworks Family

12. S'mores Cookie Cups via Fabulously Frugal

13. Smore's Cupcakes via Sally's Baking Addiction

14. S'mores Baked Alaska vi Baby Bird's Farm

15. Crispy S'mores Bars via Busy Mommy Media

16. Toasted S'more Martini via The Cookie Rookie

17. S'mores Bark via Tonya Staab

18. S'mores Yogurt Parfait via Mommy's Slice of the Pie

And a few more you ought to go check out:

19. S'mores Milkshake

20. Toasty S'mores Shots

21. S'more Crescent Rolls

So which one of these delicious S'mores concoctions are you going to try? I'm wondering what I've gotten myself into by setting up this challenge.... I guess I'll find out soon enough as the countdown to summer has begun. At least we are one down since #18 S'mores Yogurt Parfait is what we created the other night!

7 reasons I love my backyard

I used to think a backyard was overrated; we lived in a condo for the first 5 years of my parenting journey. Even though it was a spacious 1750 square foot 2 level condo - there was something clearly missing, and it wasn't just "more space" as I thought. When it came time to move we decided the move would be to a house, where the kids would have the pleasure of a backyard to play in finally.

At first it took awhile to get the kids to find creative ways to play out there, but with some diligence on the part of my husband mostly, the kids have been out there a little more each day this summer. And get this.... they haven't played video games in more than 6 weeks! Serious. They still are watching tv but not near as much as before. Ever since Amberly learned how to use the remote control, it has been too easy to let the kids be entertained by the television more often than coming up with planned activities or outings. That is one of the reasons we now do an annual Summer Bucket List. It keeps me present to getting us out of the house. But, there are times when the house really needs some attention, or I have to get caught up on work and we're at home a good portion of the day. So, for that I am grateful I have a backyard to now send the kids out to play.

What I love about our backyard:

1. It is big. Not huge. But big enough.

2. We have bunnies. They're not ours, but with a yard that they apparently call home, it feels like they are.



3. There is a garden box. Not that I garden, but I want to... I've been talking about it since we picked this place. It's been 7 months now. Who knows, it could happen.



4. We can roast marshmallows in our backyard or have S'mores Night. Enough said.

5. We don't have to go to the pool - we can turn on the sprinklers on a hot day or better yet, seet up the Slip 'N Slide!



6. There's blackberry vines! They are kind of taking over the whole side of the fence. They're awfully prickly too. But it is fun to have something to go harvest every week.



7. It is saving me from cleaning up graham cracker crumbs and sticky floors from Popsicles.

What do you love about your backyard?

Summer Bucket List 2012

We're already full swing into Summer!

Last year we started a new family tradition by creating a Summer Bucket List and we're keeping it going. It took a few visits to complete it. Kids have short attention spans and mommy has constant interruptions.

One good way to get ideas of what to do is to have your kids sit down with you to create it - pretty much every idea on the list was theirs. I also asked for suggestions on Facebook from friends. It is amazing to me how many ideas you can really come up with to make summer special and meaningful.



For some afforable family summer activities check out The Pinky Project! She had a lot of good ideas she shared with our local news.

Do you have any suggestions for us to add? Summer traditions you loved as a kid and have passed onto your kids?