Sunscreen – Keeping your kids – as well as yourself, protected from the sun will help ensure that everyone is healthier and able to play outside everyday. A severe sunburn is not something you want getting in the way of your summer fun.

Lifeguards – While it may not always be optimal to try and find swimming spots with lifeguards, it is definitely safer to swim in a place that has professionals on duty. If this is out of the question, then make sure you are knowledgeable about first aid.

Bug Spray – Keep the kids and yourself free from harmful bug bites on your camping and/or hiking adventures. Remember, if someone is bitten severely, it can halt all your summer fun.

Playground Safety – When entering any playground area, make sure there are safety mats to cushion falls, as well as rubber safety grips on all the equipment. If any of the equipment is rusted out, stay off of it. These and other summer safety tips will allow you and your family to enjoy a summer full of fun.

Written by guest blogger Taylor Fener

I grew up just like any other kid playing outside with kids, running around the neighborhood, enjoying a bath in the rain and most importantly going to school and meeting new friends there. I can proudly say my childhood was great and I'm very thankful to my parents for that. They gave me all the chance in the world to enjoy being a kid.

I have many fond memories in school and can still clearly remember the good times. I can say that I am fortunate enough to be sent to private schools. My parents really worked hard for all of us. My life may not be how it is now if I never went schooling. Being exposed to many people back then helped so much in my social development. I don't think I'll have the same say if I did homeschooling instead of being enrolled to a regular school.

I am not against homeschooling or what they refer to as K-12 here but personally speaking, I prefer to send my kid to a regular school where he can have classmates and get the opportunity to be more exposed than being confined at home. I think you'll grow more when you get to experience more things. Maybe that kind of schooling can work for other people but not for me.

K-12 was derived from shortening Kindergarten all the way to 12th grade. It's an online system wherein a student undergoes schooling through online lessons. Sounds fun but it's also not as easy as it sounds. Discipline is very important with this kind of thing. But believe it or not, many people are doing this kind of schooling. Well it's not that impossible considering everything can be done online now. Take for instance if you are taking Algebra 1 or Algebra 2, getting Algebra 1 help and Algebra 1 answers can be through the aid of online tutoring. A student gets to be taught one on one by a highly trained professional. Same thing goes for Algebra 2 help and Algebra 2 answers. This I think is the edge of homeschooling, the convenience of learning and doing things right under your roof.

Thanks to Reed Fowler for the guest blog entry

Chicken Afritada Ingredients:

• 1 kilo chicken, cut into pieces

• 5 pieces potatoes, peeled and halved

• 1 red onion, diced

• 1 head garlic, minced

• 1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips

• 1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips

• 2 cups pork or chicken stock (broth)

• 1 cup tomato sauce

• 2 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)

• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil

• In a cooking pot or wok, heat oil.

• Sauté garlic and onions.

• Add chicken and slightly brown.

• Pour the tomato sauce and stock. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is almost cooked.

• Add potatoes and continue to cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.

• Add the green and red bell peppers, simmer for an additional minute or two.

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Serve this chicken recipe hot with steamed rice.
  

One night after cleaning up the table and doing the dishes hubs went to the living room to watch America's Funniest Video. We love staying for a while in the living room after dinner to watch and relax before we retire for the night. I was tidying up the kitchen so I started preheating the leftover Afritada. I was just looking and watching from the kitchen then hubs called me and made me stay there and sit with him. At first I was hesitant since I was still doing something in the kitchen and I might forget about it. Eventually I gave in and just watched with him there and about 30mins later we started smelling such savory food. Our door was partially open so I thought it could be the Filipino family downstairs cooking some roasted chicken.

It's been a while and still the aromatic smell of that food was getting more and more. I was complementing how good it smells and that they must've marinated their chicken so well to roast with that smell. That's when I blurted out, "damn that roasted chicken!" as i was starting to crave and hate the fact that we already ate dinner and it felt like a torture smelling it the whole time we were in the living room watching. Hubs was just laughing because he too admits the it smells so so good. Later on hubs went to the kitchen to get some water, then busted! He asked me if I'm cooking something and he smells like something's burning. Then it got back to my senses that I was preheating my Afritada and totally forgot about it when I sat and watched with hubs. Hubs was bursting out of laughter and said "there's your roasted chicken!, to think you're even accusing the Filipino Family downstairs of roasting such delicious smelling chicken this late at night!". Oh well good thing I put the fire very very low when I left the kitchen to make sure it won't burn without constant stirring. I hurriedly checked the pan and see if it's really burnt and good things it was just the sauce and we're still able to have the rest of the Afritada the next day.

Moral of the story? If you want your home to smell like savory roasted chicken, leave your afritada to burn =P hehehe of course I'm kidding =) But seriously, that accident also taught me how afritada could taste if I use fire roasted tomatoes instead of just a regular tomato sauce. By the way, you can also use pork or any of your desired meat for this dish.

How about you? Any cooking "blooper" experience too?

Enjoy your weekend!!

There are many things that you can do to stay safe this summer but one of the most important safety measures you can take is to remember that even while you are out having fun in the sun there are also lurkers out there who are scoping out your home to see when the best time is to rob it. Not to rain on your parade for the summer festivities, but these people do exist and in order to prevent them from coming to your door or window and climbing right through to rob you blind it is important to have your home security alarm. I got mine from atlanta adt security systems.

Having a security alarm installed does not take very much time out of your busy summer schedule at all and can usually be done in a morning or afternoon. It is only one day out of your summer schedule so it should not be a terribly difficult appointment to schedule. This will only take a few hours and it will save you the worry of leaving your house unattended while you are gone for long weekends visiting family and at your friends beach house in July for the fourth of July BBQ party.

Guest Post by Marshall Stuarts