Summer is on it's way!

Really I should be outside right now because it is gorgeous and 80 degrees! What a glorious day the Lord has made! But I will take a few moments to blog since I have some time to write. This past weekend Mark and I decided to have our first camping adventure and head out towards Lancaster, PA, and then continue on to Gettysburg. My husband was a History major in college and has never been to Gettysburg! Since we've been married, he has been quite absorbed in reading about survival skills in his spare time. (A side note--he was able to teach a short survival skills class to some seventh graders here at camp. He was beyond excited!) We have acquired a large amount of camping equipment and sharp objects...that are necessary in the wilderness to survive, of course. So we loaded up the Jeep and left after church. We decided to drive through Philly. Bad idea. That was probably a 45-60 minute delay just crawling along 76. We finally broke free and continued towards Lancaster and got on 30. Well at some point, there are two 30s, the "Business 30" and the highway. We took the Business 30 West, and then got on the highway...but we got on highway 30 EAST. Yup, we landed back at the same Wawa we stopped at on the way! After that slight setback we were good. I think it took a total of 4.5 hours to get out to Codorus State Park, but it was worth the drive. Such a beautiful place! Mark had been there when he was probably 12, and funny thing is, we ended up at the campsite directly across from where he last camped! We got our little Kelty tent set up in minutes. It's a backpacking tent, so it's really small.
As Mark once said,

"Well, it's really a one-person tent. Unless you're married. And you really love each other."

Here's a visual:
After setting up camp, we hiked around a small portion of the park. It is BEAUTIFUL! There is probably the biggest lake I have seen around here and the water was so clean. I definitely would have swam in it, had I known. Did I mention is was amazingly hot? Guess who didn't bring towels for a shower? But that's ok, because after we made dinner, (easy foil meals that cook on the coals) it started to rain. And continued to rain all night. Thankfully the tent had this awesome little rain cover and we didn't get wet, but there was going to be nothing to do the next day, so we decided to leave at 6:30 a.m. the next morning! We spent the rest of the day driving home, and then relaxing, and then having dinner at our favorite place, The Bonefish Grill. A marvelous weekend, if you ask me.

I have off today, (Wednesday,) and tomorrow, also, so I can spend some extra time being domestic. I can't wait for dinner tomorrow though. I am making shrimp and pineapple skewers! The best part though, is that they will each be marinated all day in something delicious! Whenever I'm on register at work, I always ask customers what they are making with the food they buy. One day this woman told me the most glorious recipe for grilled pineapple!

All you need is: Pineapple, cut into spears or cubes; 1 can of Trader Joe's Light Coconut Milk; 1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar.
Whisk together the coconut milk and brown sugar. Let pineapple marinate 4-6 hours, (or longer) and then skewer the pineapple. Set marinade aside. Grill the pineapple ( not sure how long, but probably until you see grill marks. With reserved marinade, heat in a small saucepan on low heat until you form a reduction. Drizzle over pineapple and serve!

How heavenly does that sound?!! So to compliment this delicious-ness, I'm going to make grilled shrimp with the pineapple using a recipe from "Cooking With Mickey":
24 shrimp
Marinade: 1/2 cup pina colada mix; I tablespoon olive oil; 1 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped.
3 tablespoons pina colada drink mix
2 tablespoons sweet shredded coconut
S&P
Mix marinade ingredients together and let shrimp marinate for at least six hours. After marinating shrimp, soften butter and mix with drink mix and shredded coconut. Blend together well. Skewer shrimp and cook over an open flame 3 to 4 minutes each side. After turning once, brush with butter mixture. Continue cooking until done. Season to taste, if necessary.

I'm going to go enjoy the rest of this beautiful day now and take my charming little sixteen year old brother out for a drive!