Our New Favorite Cold Side Salad - Quinoa Edamame

Our favorite food right now is quinoa with edamame. This has a bright flavor and is good the day after too!

Ingredients

½         cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

1          cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed

1          cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed

½         cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

¼         cup chopped fresh cilantro

¼         cup lime juice (combine with olive oil)

2          tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1.      In a small saucepan combine quinoa and 1 cup water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover; simmer for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat; set aside.

2.      Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the edamame, corn, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro. Add quinoa; toss to combine. Add lime juice and olive oil; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Nutrition Facts (Edamame Quinoa Salad)

• 229 kcal cal., 10 g fat (1 g sat. fat, 2 g polyunsaturated fat, 6 g monounsatured fat),
• 0 mg chol.,      7 mg sodium,
• 28 g carb.,       5 g fiber,
• 3 g sugar,         9 g pro.

Jacksonville U. S.Kids Summer Tour Continues - Cimarrone Golf (St. Johns County) and EAGLE!

08/24/14 Sunday - I have so many photos of "golfing" that I rarely take any photos until the last hole, the hand shakes and the award ceremony. 
AA did make her second eagle, this time (she has made two during unofficial rounds of golf, so she is up to four!) on the fourth hole (#4). So exciting as she had a double bogey on the previous hole. Her playing is very inconsistent right now as the distance she is hitting with her irons is getting longer, so her Caddie and her are having to change club strategy. What used to be perfect as a second or third shot to get to the green, now sometimes sails over the green. All part of learning this fun game (and growing up)!
The ninth hole was a par three:

The flag is straight out, a very breezy day which helped with the hot day (a cloudy front was moving in, hoping the temperature will drop to the mid-80's tomorrow).

AA played with Sammy and Olivia today:

First Place!!

Two more tournaments to end the Summer Tour!

Hole In One - Second Plaque Honoring the Accomplishment!

We already posted about the wonderful, fun, exciting event when AA got her first hole in one at Eagle Harbor Golf Course (in July, posted here) and when the plaque arrived from Callaway (posted here). This is the plaque from the Golf Course, which included a photo of the number 6 hole. You can barely see the hole flag, which is left of the middle home in the photo. Congratulations again to AA! 

Happy girl!

More tournaments, lessons and practices - a great sport to get children involved in!

Bowling - Annual Event

We love to bowl but don't go very often due to the large, heavy bowling balls. I wrote about bowling last year here; describing the candle-pin bowling I was used when growing up in Maine.
It is always hot, very hot when school starts so one afternoon, we went (with Daddy too) and enjoyed a cool hour of fun. AA had the lightest ball of six pounds.  It was still too heavy for her, but she wanted to manage.
The fun stopped when I paid the bill - over $30+ for six strings (three people, two games each). Plus we bought sodas which was another $10+. Now, I know why families don't bowl anymore!

AA didn't use the bowling ball slide so we had her in a separate lane with the bumpers up.

Daddy bowls very well and beat us both games!

The least expensive item was the 50 cents to win a stuffed giraffe for AA! She loves her stuffed animals!

Nibbles the Giraffe getting to know new friends on AA's bed:

Maybe this will be an annual event; then again, maybe not!

Hole In One Award from Callaway!

08/18/14 - A friend, at the River House told us that we should let Callaway know that AA made her hole in one with her Callaway golf ball. So we sent Callaway an email telling them where and when AA made her hole in one. We received a kind reply congratulating her. Today, she received a package in the mail. Yep, a plaque that honored her! We posted about her hole in one here, back in July.

So sweet!

Orlando Summer U. S. Kids Tour Championship 2014

08/17/2014 - AA won the Summer Orlando 2014 Tour series, but we already decided to play in the Jacksonville Local Tournament on August 10th and for-go getting her trophy in person at the Orlando Championship (all explained in a prior post). The Fleming's were kind to suggest/offer and bring AA's trophy (and Phillip's) to today's tournament (Marsh Oak - Amelia Island).
So a bit belated, congratulations to AA for her wonderful summer of golf!

 Phillip, also number one boy golfer in the world, with his Orlando Trophy:

It was a great time traveling to Orlando, the tournaments are well run with friendly families. We will not miss all the traveling, though, so will stay close to home this Fall!

Oak Marsh Amelia Island - Another Win!

Another Jacksonville Local Tournament has finished; AA won, so we are all happy (even though her score was a bit off/high for her).
The last time we played here, AA's Uncle Bill and Aunt Joan came to watch her compete.
We were paired with sweet Hannah, so played through without any issues.

We enjoy the ninth hole, on the marsh and finishes at the Club Pro Shop/Cafe building. It was a hot day (94 degrees) but an occasional breeze and the shade of the side path trees, kept me (a spectator) a bit more comfortable than the players.

Ninth hole handshakes:

Director Matt always chats with the players, puts them at ease:

The awards - always a big, happy ceremony:

Three more tournaments for the Jacksonville 2014 Summer Tour!

PGA Drive Chip Putt - Sub-Regionals

We were very pleased with AA's effort at the Drive, Chip and Putt (PGA) Competition. Her score of 93 improved over the score she had in the local win. We stayed at the Reunion Resort in F Building near the Tennis Courts, it was a wonderful place, wish we could have stayed longer!
We arrived early as she was in the first group at 8:00 a.m.

Waiting to start with the Drive competition:

AA did well with her three drives (just around 100 yards each drive):

Chipping was pretty good; good enough to place second in this category overall:

Putting is usually her best, but only scored one point on the third putt; as AA said, the greens got faster and it kept rolling!

AA with her second place in the chipping:

AA with her third place overall with a score of 93:

We have always said that Florida is one of the toughest States to compete in golf. To give you some comparisons, at the 2014 sub-regionals, she would have won in Alabama, Missouri and South Carolina; would have been second in Texas; would have tied for second in California; those are tough States (most of the Southern States and California where one can practice year-round). If we had signed up for the other Florida sub-regional, she would have placed first.
Also, she would have placed first in the New England sub-regions (the winner scored a 67) - which is all the States combined! We will look into the rules, but it seems sad that AA is missing out on the next step when some girls are going to the regionals with scores in the 50's - 70's and we missed with a 93! These are identical competitions with scoring of nine balls from the exact same distances.

Back at home with her two medals:

Goofy smiles.......

Maybe we will try again next year!
Back to our drive to Reunion for this event, we decided to stay at the resort and enjoyed a large villa that overlooked one of the courses. A beautiful place just like a condo. It was dusk, so these are a few photos taken on the iPad:

 Hope we can go back someday and enjoy all the amenities!

School - First Art Project - "Get To Know You" Box

08/15/14: AA's first assignment was to create a photo box (from a tissue box) that told about herself and her summer. I gathered some material and AA cut out pictures of dogs from magazines. Her Daddy and she cut and glued. Simple, we are not the most creative crafters! After I saw the finished box, realized no photo of her Daddy (and Caddie!). Two sides were her golfing, two sides were Maine photos (both with me, kayaking and on her Nana's Sea-Doo), one with her nieces and one with her hopes to be a Veterinarian or something to do with dogs and horses!

First week of school is in the books!