Aunt B's Special Lemonade

We are about to head out to our family annual Coast trip. My job is to cook each meal and plan a little entertainment. Whenever we have a family gathering, my niece tells me, "Aunt B, to make my special lemonade." I always bring the ingredients with me to the coast and prepare this drink which is perfect while sitting on the beach. It’s easy to feel special drinking this lemonade because you can tell it was prepared fresh with love.

Aunt B’s Special Lemonade

(2 quart recipe)

12 to 16 lemons (need 2 cups of juice, in a pinch you can use lemon juice from a bottle)

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ cups water

32 oz bottle club soda (this is my preference but the store was out and I used sparkling water and it                                                           

                                          Worked well)

Juice lemons to get 2 cups of juice, and set aside. Use your hands or favorite juicing tool. Put sugar into large pitcher. Boil water on stove top or microwave and add to sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add lemon juice to pitcher and stir. This is the time to taste and adjust sugar or lemon taste. Add club soda to top of pitcher and stir. Serve over ice. This drink is light and delicious and sure to make anyone feel special.

**** For you adults out there on the beach, a shot of vodka in your glass of Aunt B’s Special Lemonade makes a refreshing cocktail.

Tacky Souvenir

We like to vacation to Port A which a small island on the gulf coast. The island is a tourist community and has many souvenir shops filled with the usual pirate, shell, and shark tooth souvenirs. I offered a challenge to my family on our last trip to buy the tackiest souvenir they could find for under $5.00. On our last day of vacation we all sat together and voted on the tackiest souvenir. This was a fun game that all ages could play and I’m definitely using this one again.

Scavenger Hunt

Our youngest child in our family is now 10 years old so we all have cell phones and the ability to take photos. I thought it would be fun to create a scavenger hunt with photos as the proof, either by camera or cell phone pictures. These are some of the items I came up with for everyone to find over the 3 day vacation. These are all things we usually do or see while at Port A.

1.       Getting a sample of fudge at the candy shop

2.       Standing in the large shark mouth

3.       Worst person wearing a thong picture

4.       Best sand castle

5.       Most painful looking sunburn

6.       Coolest kite or windsock

7.       Prettiest shell

8.       Most elaborate snow cone

That’s the idea. Last night of the trip we can see who has found the most items and give away a small prize. Maybe the winner will receive the tackiest souvenir. Have fun creating your own scavenger hunt for a home party or on your vacation.

Remember attention to food and planning a few simple activities can make a family reunion even more memorable.