Friday night after work and school we headed to the airport. There aren't many long weekends between now and the baby's arrival, and less when I'm not in trial, so we decided to take advantage of this one for a last minute trip to visit my grandmother.
Thatkid hasn't seen her since his first birthday, so we were well overdue. Before Thatkid, Thatboy and I often jetted to the East Coast on redeyes to make the most of the weekend and not lose a full day in travel. This was our first time doing it with a small child. And it actually went surprisingly well. He slept on both flights (although he was up and crazy from 2am to 4am).
We arrived in New Jersey around 9am and headed over to our hotel for a quick shower and change before heading over to Nana's.
It was a different Valentine's Day for us, but perfect in that we got to spend it with the ones we love.
Thatkid had a great time with his Nana, She spoiled him rotten, but his favorite part of the visit was playing games with her.
One of my big tricks with traveling with a toddler is bringing snacks with us. This is especially important when you have no idea when you're going to be doing breakfast or lunch. Dried fruit makes a very easy, very packable snack. Coated in sugar makes it one of those treats you just mindlessly snack. I made these with grapefruit, but any citrus will do. I think we are just about at harvesting time for our orange tree, so I'm looking forward to the orange version of this very soon!
Candied Grapefruit Peels
1 grapefruit
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp light corn syrup
- Peel the grapefruit in large strips. Put in a pan, cover with cold water, and simmer 30 minutes.
- Drain, cover with cold water, and simmer until tender.
- Drain and cut the peel into small strips, about 1/4 inch wide and 2 inches long.
- Mix 1/2 cup of the sugar with the corn syrup and 1/2 cup water in a heavy saucepan and stir over low heat until dissolved.
- Brush down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water.
- Add the peel and cook gently over low heat until most of the syrup has been absorbed. Cover and let stand overnight.
- Reheat and bring to a simmer again, then cool and drain.
- Spread remaining sugar over paper towels and roll the peel in it. Let them stand until they are dry enough to handle.
I'm impressed that Thatkid made it through both flights so well! I would be pretty cranky too...red-eyes always seem like a good idea to me as I'm buying tickets, and then I feel terrible after!
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