Flashing Back to Spring Break: Iced Tea with Popping Boba

Soooooooo it's been a while.  Which is not to say there wasn't anything going on over here.  There was...a lot.... More than I could handle really.  And it didn't really put me in the mood for writing, or sharing, or doing much of anything.

But let's back up a bit, to where we left off.  Which would be spring break - back in April.

As usual, we used the opportunity of Thatkid's school break to visit ToxicEsq in Scottsdale.

We stayed at a new hotel that Thatboy was not thrilled with, as it was basically an homage to the influencer lifestyle which he considers the lowest common denominator.  

I, however, used the opportunity to capture some fun shots.

While in Scottsdale we took advantage of some of our old favorites.  Like the train park.  We've really gotten into the routine of letting the kids sit inside the boxcars while the adults enjoyed the kid-free open air cars.

And of course, there was daily swimming.  (It's not really a vacation without pool time, is it?)

And a stop at the Sugar Bowl for ice cream.

But one of my absolute favorite parts of our trips to Scottsdale, is that ToxicEsq always takes the reigns on the planning, finding the absolute perfect activities for us.  I mean, she's the one who introduced to the train park AND Sugar Bowl after all.  This trip she suggested visiting CrackerJax, a "family fun and sports park."  It was a surefire hit.

We played a couple of rounds of mini-golf, although Thatbaby decided it was not his favorite part.

Go-carts for the big and little guys.

But their favorite were the bumper boats.

We also tried out some new restaurants this time around.  One of the more...interesting was Hash Kitchen.  It was one of those places that you probably don't need to go to more than once, but was certainly fun.  

The breakfast offerings were those oversized plates no one can finish.  I had the Huevos Rancheros Hash, with carne asada, black beans, potatoes, and eggs. 

Thatboy had their avocado toast.  Which definitely had more than avocado.  It also had braised pork, bacon jam, and eggs.

Thatkid had smores pancakes, while his brother stuck with regular chocolate chip.

We also started with some really fun drinks.  Like  Thatboy's coffee in a cone.

And the boys continued their smores themed breakfast with smores hot chocolate.

And I had strawberry mimosa with strawberry popping boba.

The boys and I are suckers for popping boba.  It's one of those things we always get on top of our frozen yogurt.  So of course, they were all over trying to share mine, from the drink, with me.

Which made me realize it would be just as easy to make boba-filled drinks at home.  They're easy enough to order online as we discovered during Thatkid's Shrek birthday party.  And they work really well for a lot of summer drinks.  Add them to your lemonades, or fruit punches, or in my case - ice tea!

I always have a pitcher of iced tea in the fridge during the summer, because it's easy enough to make and for me it's the perfect summery drink, cold and refreshing.  As a quick note - I have made the mistake of trying to pour the boiling water into a plastic container.  It was, to put it simply, not a good idea.  Make sure you use glass, metal, or some heatproof material I'm not aware of.  I like to use growlers we pick up from breweries.  You can transfer it to something prettier once it cools.

Iced Tea with Popping Boba

1 gallon water

sugar

6 tea bags

popping boba

1. In a kettle or pot, bring one gallon of water to a boil over high heat.  Pour the boiling water into a heatproof container (one that won't melt).
2. At this point, add your sugar if you wish.  This is one of those "to taste" things.  Sometimes I add no sugar at all.  Sometimes I make sweet tea, by adding 1/4 cup of sugar.  If you like it lightly sweetened, somewhere in between would be your best bet.  Remember, you can always add more sugar later, but you can't add less. 
3. Place the tea bags in the hot water.  Personally, I wrap the tea bag strings around a wooden spoon to make them easier to remove, but this isn't necessary.  Let tea bags steep for about 5 minutes, until the tea looks nice and dark.
4.  Remove tea bags and let cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate for 4-6 hours.
5. When ready to drink, grab a spoonful of boba and place in the bottom of a glass.  Pour ice tea over.  You shouldn't need any ice since your tea is already cold!