Six Flags

This weekend the kids and I went to Georgia to visit my seester and ride the roller coasters at Six Flags. We managed quite a bit in the six hours we were in the park: (The list is not in order)

Goliath (x5) - Twice in the front, and twice in the back. I even got hit in the head by someones cell phone.
Batman (x3) - This is my second favorite roller coaster at 6F. Goliath is my first!
Mind Bender (x2) - Old school
Scorcher (x1) - This is a standing roller coaster. We should have ridden it again.
Acrophobia (x2) - I skipped this one! Fear of heights you know.
Mine Train (x2) - Old school. This one jerks so much it was almost painful.
Superman (x1) - "I am, I am superman, and I can do anything." Wow!
Monster Plantation (x1) - For the A/C!
Dare Devil Dive Coaster (x1) - This was the newest coaster so we had to ride it. Other than the first hill which is 'more than straight down', this one was a bit disappointing.

When it was over, we were all beat! Eighteen rides in 6 hours was not bad, and that includes two brief rest periods to fill up on frozen lemonade and pretzels.

The only two coasters I know of that we missed were the Scream Machine and the Georgia Cyclone; both of these are the old wooden type coasters. I would like to have ridden them both at least once but it wasn't really in the cards. Maybe next time

Mmmm, Okra!

The garden is mass producing okra at this point. This evening, after dinner, I took the time to prepare a couple of skillets full of fried okra. The okra is now resting gently in the fridge awaiting tomorrows feast.

In other cooking news, earlier this week I tried out a couple of new (for me) recipes. Monday I made guacamole using 2 avocados, onion, lime juice, and fresh cilantro from the garden. I also made a big bowl of salsa using tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro (all from the garden), and onion, with a splash of lime juice.

Wednesday's kitchen experiment involved homemade spaghetti sauce. Again most of the ingredients were from the garden: about 30 Roma Tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and jalapenos. Yep - jalapenos - I removed all the seeds so they were not hot - this turned out to be roughly the equivalent of using bell peppers. The sauce turned out pretty awesome, especially after it had a chance to rest in the fridge overnight. I will definitely be making this again.

Happy Birthday Captain

Jordan and I drove to Rogersville this evening to help Danny celebrate his 60th birthday. After Jordan coerced him into a boat ride, we went out for a nice steak dinner, at least I had steak. I good time was had by me. Hopefully Jordan and Danny enjoyed the evening as well. To top it all off, Jordan and I had a very pleasant trip back to Huntsville in the Miata - top down of course.

Garden Update

I finally picked my first two tomatoes yesterday, each slightly larger than a baseball. It seems like someone told me I could generally expect the first tomatoes around the 4th of July. I guess they nailed it. I have also had several cherry tomatoes already but they don't really count.

Only two squash plants remain. I removed the other 3 after things started getting really crowded. I also removed one of the cucumber vines. As it was I was bringing in more cucumbers and squash than I could give away.

The peppers are still looking pityful. I have picked a few jalapenos and two banana peppers.