Spring Break-Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Friday was another disappointing and cold day at the beach. The moms (along with Kara for part of it) ended up staying out at the beach for probably about 3 hours while the kids went parasailing. After laying on the beach for awhile we ended up going back to the condo and watching some tv and reading. It was a pretty uneventful night-we watched the ISU game and they won so that was excited. We all also dreaded packing and leaving Florida for cold Iowa. We also had a little birthday celebration for Carina since her birthday is Saturday when we'd be in the car.

Saturday we all woke up got ready and packed up all of our stuff. We were all disappointed to be leaving and really wanted to stay. We ended up leaving the condo around 10 and were on the hunt for a waffle house for some brunch. We didn't have much luck finding one as the first one we saw a sign for was torn down and being rebuild and then the 2nd one was really busy. So we ended up going to cracker barrel instead. It was really good and I had some biscuits and gravy. Then we really hit the road and had an interesting car ride. At one point there was a lot of traffic and so we were stopped in the road. Our cars ended up entertaining fellow travelers around us and we also took some nice selfies in the backseat. The weather ended up not being as bad as our parents expected and there was just some rain in spots and snow in other spots, but nothing too bad. We ended up getting to Des Moines around 9 am.

Spring Break-Thursday

Thursday was another beach day. It was pretty nice out, but was a little chilly since it was pretty windy. When we left the beach for the day there was sand everyone. We then headed to a restaurant called Friendly's Tavern and Courtney, Carina, and I got the endless crab. I've never had crab before so it was an interesting experience for me. It was pretty good, but not my new favorite food. I probably won't ever order it again--I think I prefer it in things like crab cakes then by itself. I am glad though that I tried it since I was on the coast and that is really where it would be the best. I forgot my camera in the room when we ate the crab so I don't have any pictures of me eating it, but know that I did! After supper we then headed to the beach to take some pictures and watch the sunset.

Spring Break-Wednesday

On Wednesday we headed to a shopping area called Johns Pass and shopped for the afternoon. Most of the stuff was the typical touristy things, but there was also some neat shops that had jewelry and purses that were really cute. I didn't really end up buying anything but ice cream and a wine slush, but it was still fun to walk around and see everything. We also were on the boardwalk and saw some dolphins swimming in the ocean so that was pretty exciting.

Spring Break-Tuesday

Tuesday was the nicest day while we were in Florida. After running in the morning we headed straight to the beach and spent the whole day at the beach. It was really nice and I think we all got a little burned, but we didn't care since it was sunny all day. We then all headed up to the condo and got dressed up to go out for supper. We went to a restaurant nearby called the Conch and it was really good. I got crab cakes and coconut shrimp so was very adventurous for myself since I don't normally like seafood. It was really good. Here are some pictures from the day since there isn't really much more to say about laying on the beach.

Spring Break-Monday

Megan, Courtney, and I attempted to go to the beach, but it was really chilly out and the girls decided they wanted to go to the Clearwater Aquarium so they came down to the beach to ask if we wanted to go. We decided that it sounded like a great idea and so we all headed to the aquarium. If you've seen the movie Dolphintale this is where the dolphin Winter lives and where they rehabilitated her. We listed to the trainers talk about Winter and another dolphin Panama and they told their stories as well as showed some tricks. We also got to touch some sting rays and walked around the rest of the aquarium.

We then rode a trolley to downtown Clearwater and saw the displays from the movie. They have some of the props and sets from the movie so it was very cool to see all of this. I think it was better for the group that have seen the movie which was the minority, but I think everyone enjoyed their time.

After that we started a theme for our group of attempting to find a place to eat. The first few restaurants that we went to were closed or not at the address the gps lead us to. We eventually found a bar and grill place and ate there. It was really good and the also had karokee so the girls enjoyed that quite a bit. We then went back to the condo and hung out for a while before going to bed.

Spring Break-Sunday

On Sunday we woke up and went for a run. We weren't quite sure what running on the beach would be like so we ran on the road. It was really nice to just run outside and be in shorts and a tank top and be really comfortable. Carina and McKenna ended up running on the beach and they said it was really packed down by the water so it was really nice so the rest of the week I ran on the beach, which was amazing and much nicer than snowy Iowa.

After breakfast we headed down to the beach and spent the day working on our tan. The girls played with a football and did some other random things. I mainly read my book and slept. It was a really nice day. For supper we made tacos and then hung out in our condo for the rest of the night.

Spring Break-Friday and Saturday

I'll give you all a break down of our spring break festivities and a few pictures since I won't be posted the majority of the photos to facebook until after Easter. So stop by the next few days to find out what I did on spring break in Florida.

After we were all done with classes and work on Friday we met at Courtney's house and loaded up the cars and headed to FLORIDA!!! We drove 2 different cars in the lead car (grandparents) was Courtney, Megan, Carina, Nicole, and me and in the second car (courtneys) was McKenna, Nicki, Kara, and Carly. We ended up leaving around 3 pm and drove all through the night switching drivers about every 4 hours. It actually wasn't as bad of a drive as I thought it might be and we ended up getting to our condo in about 22 hours, which was very nice. I only ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep throughout the night so was a little tired when we made it to our destination as was everyone else.

After we got to the condo we unpacked, got on our suits and headed to the beach to catch some sun since it was really nice outside. Then Courtney, Megan, and I (the moms as I will probably refer to us the rest of the posts) headed to Winn Dixie to get some groceries for the week for the group and we also ordered some Papa John's pizza for our supper. Then the moms headed to bed around 8 pm and ended up sleeping until around 8:30 the next day so we got a solid 12 hours of sleep.

The group at the start of our trip

After the drive at our condo

The kids

The moms

The "sisters" some of Courtney's roommates thought Carly was my sister because they thought we looked alike

"sisters" Kara always wants to be a part of the Hanson family

Cooking At Courtney's

Today for supper we decided to be adventurous and instead of going out to eat we decided to eat make supper at Courtney's house. She chose the daring recipe of baked chicken stuffed with pesto and cheese and so we went to work on making it. Here are the steps that we had that include wonderful pictures.

First Courtney (and Mandy for 1 chicken breast) pounded the chicken so it was as thin as we could get it. This was a little bit of a challenge since we didn't have the tool to pound meat so instead improvised with a can of pineapple and Courtney's strength.

While Courtney was doing this I made the pesto (from a packet) and then made the stuffing of sour cream, cheese, and the pesto. Me being the brainiac I am decided to put the warm pesto in with the sour cream so it got quite runny. We are so very smart though and put it in the freezer for a bit to thicken it up and then added a little more sour cream and cheese once it was colder.

Courtney then spread the stuffing mixture (in the green bowl) on the chicken and rolled it up using as many toothpicks as necessary. Then she handed the chicken breast off to me.

Then I coated the chicken in egg and then moved it to some seasoned bread crumbs and parmesan cheese mixture. (I would say that I was pretty much an expert in this)

Then they were placed in the pan (that Courtney had previously sprayed with non-stick cooking spray) and Mandy took at picture with it so it looks like she helped out a lot. She was the official photographer of the cooking experience though so that was a pretty important job.

We then placed them in the oven to do the baking so we didn't have any raw chicken because I wouldn't want to have to interview us all with some campylobacter.

This is what the finished chicken breast looked like (after it was cut to make sure it was done)

And here is everyone enjoying their chicken (and loving that I decided to take their picture)

Overall it was a very successful recipe and tasted really good. We are now culinary masters I would say ;)