Hamburger update #1

This is the Homemade burger, showing signs of mold growth...

This is the Mcdonald's hamburger, still good...  The Rocket doesn't want to eat this particular one anymore!

It's been a week, and already my thoughts are being proved...  Stay tuned!

McDonalds' "Food"vs Real Food

I have a son that is a junk food junkie.  I mean, he would choose any fast food restaurant over a home cooked meal ANY DAY and EVERYDAY!  So I am going to do a little experiment, one I have seen the pictures from before(so I guess I am stealing the idea), but I want to experience it first hand in the hopes of curbing the monster within him.  Here goes:

First, the McDonald's hamburger.  Regular, nothin' special about it.  Ketchup, mustard, little chopped onions, pickle, what they call "meat", and a bun.

 Now the real hamburger, ketchup, mustard, little chopped onions, minus the pickle, 100% pure beef, and an organic bun.

They will be kept in identical containers on my kitchen counter for however long it takes to show some major degradation.  I labeled them and dated them.  This started on the 22rd of March.

I have been thinking of doing this for a while and the bread I needed finally went on sale at a time when I was contemplating the experiment.  When my neighbor brought the McDonald's hamburger over(bought on his way home from work. Thank you, Mark!), my junk food monster came running in and exclaimed " Is that for ME???"  Dear Lord, he is disappointed I am wasting this burger on an experiment!  The next morning, he said "Can I have it now?"  After learning it had sat out all night on the counter and would continue to do so until it rotted, he didn't want it anymore. 

My kids have watched most of Food Inc. and Sweetie Pie is not a fan of fast food anymore.  The Junk Food Junkie(otherwise known as The Rocket) on the other hand is only mildly deterred.  Zman is indifferent, and S just rolls his eyes.  My work is cut out for me...

I will be posting pics(I will try for weekly) on the progress of the experiment.  My hypothesis is that the regular hamburger, made of real food, will degrade(rot) faster than the McDonald's hamburger, because of the lack of preservatives in the ingredients.  My hope is that my Junk Food Junkie and his father will learn something about the "food" they love so much, and it will be burned on their minds, so as to never forget it. 

Is that too severe?   Naaaaa

Stop the clocks!!!

This has been my plee as of lately: Stop the clocks, PLEASE!!!!!  Usually, things tend to slow down a bit after the holidays and kids go back to school.  Not this year!  It seems we have been going non-stop for the last two months and I am tired.  Camping trip, visits to Naples, homework(good Lord the homework!), and just everyday life has been hectic! I am ready for spring break, and the brightness of summer vacation is coming into view...

The Rocket practicing his flying skills in a jacket he wore when he was 3!

And now for our camping trip photos: 

Gathering place of our campsite, filled with good food from the breakfast the campground put on.  $5 for all you can eat, the women were all smiling- no cooking or cleanup! : )

Now, what to do for the rest of the day?

How about the pool?  While the men went grocery shopping(how we lucked out with that one I'll never know...) we girls took the kids swimming:

The pool was shaped like the state of Florida, and they had kareoke on Saturday afternoon.  We did not participate(I know you are dissapointed), however the kids enjoyed the show while trying to warm up in the sun after swimming in the frigid waters for about 5 minutes.

The kids spent most of the day going back and forth from the playground to the campsite by any number of different ways they found.  The playground was fantastic!  It was old fashioned with a METAL slide, and the kind of merry-go-round that really gets going good!  Here's how good the merry-go-round was, one of the kids actually threw up after getting off of it! Now that's a GREAT merry-go-round! 

Later that night they had a race party as it was the weekend of the big race and the campground was PACKED!  It was a grill out, with 75cent hotdogs and $1.50 hamburgers(with or without cheese) and all the fixin's, including chili and cheese for the hotdogs! This campground does things like this on special weekends, a nice touch and it cuts down on the cooking and cleanup(always a dreaded thing) while camping.  All those groceries the men got, we came home with alot of them...

At the race party, they had contests for all ages.  Sweetie Pie ran up when they announced the hula-hoop contest!  She didn't win, but for all who participated there was free ice-cream or a candy bar from the general store.  Everyone was having a great time, there was dancing and music and tiki-torches and lots of smiling faces! 

Campsite by dark, ambiance provided by about 5 super long strings of white christmas lights strung up by Brian( Thank you Brian!!). 

Yes, that is a refrigerator you see there.  All I have to say is- It's good to go camping with the Bagley's! : )

It was a bit chilly at night, and with the heaters warming the insides of the camper and tents, we had to have something to warm the gathering spot with...  Good thing Brian brought the gas grill...

Sunday Morning.  Sorry boys, no breakfast buffet today. It's poptarts and bananas and boxed cinnamon rolls(YUM! Thanks Denise!)for you today. 

But for the girls, we will be having champagne cocktails!

We decided to visit the beach Sunday.  It was really nice after it warmed up and the sun felt wonderful!  The kids all played in the sand for hours(no-one got sunburned!) and only went in the water to wash off as it is still very cold!  What am I saying?  It's the Atlantic, it's always cold!

The trip was great.  Everyone had a really good time, all the kids got along really well and were able to be rather independent in their wanderings.  They stayed together in a group and included Sweetie Pie most of the time.  I felt bad for her being the only girl, but she worked it just fine.

The name of the campground we stayed at is Sugar Mill Ruins, in New Smyrna.  You can visit their website here.

Back at home...

Here's some of the neighborhood wildlife:

Hehehe, just kidding Mark!  Although he is wild about the Packers!

Spring time planting has started, and I need to get moving on incorporating the compost into the beds.  The Spring Master Gardener plant sale is tomorrow, and I need to have the areas ready as I never come home empty-handed from it!  I have already started my tomatos and several veggies.  I also got a bunch of flower seeds from the catalog as well, and am looking forward to the bouquets that Sweetie Pie and The Rocket will be bringing me!  Last fall, I sprinkled out packets of wild flowers(mainly coreopsis, the Florida state wildflower), I can't wait to see if they cover the areas.  Photos of the garden will be coming...

What are you planting this year?