Penelope's bento today was filled with PB&J sushi, cheddar cheese flowers and crackers. She also had strawberry sauce and two GinnyBakes Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

For the "sushi" take some bread and remove the crusts. Then flatten the bread, spread the peanut butter and jelly and roll up into a log. Slice into rounds. Your kids will be so impressed!

Last year on my birthday Chris surprised me by booking us a room at the Hotel Del Coronado. It wasn't just an ordinary staycation though, no we stayed in the room that is supposed to be haunted by the infamous ghost of Kate Morgan. He even bought me my very own ghost detector.


You can read more about the history of the Hotels resident ghost here. So did we experience anything "ghostly"? Well that depends, if you consider clothes that were hanging in the closet swaying with absolutely no wind present, lights turning off and on by themselves, late night banging and footsteps, ceiling fan spinning while off, and being accosted in your bed by something unseen, ghostly. I will not go in to the part about being accosted but let's just say Chris made us leave the hotel room at six in the morning the next day.



This year on my birthday Chris booked us a room at The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town which is another supposed haunted spot in San Diego. It was even featured on an episode of Ghost Adventures. This time we did not stay in the room that is supposed to be the paranormal hot spot of the hotel but instead stayed in a room down the hall. This hotel is pretty awesome, it is 10 rooms that have been renovated to look like it did back in the 1800's complete with a pull chain toilet. The hotel completely shuts down after 10pm and guests are given a key to enter a locked gate making the experience pretty surreal and the perfect setting for a horror movie. It is also located in Old Town, home of the Whaley House, considered one of the most haunted places in America. You can read more about the history here. Old Town also is home of the oldest cemetery in San Diego, El Campo Santo Cemetary, and much of Old Town has actually taken over the once larger cemetery.

Our tour guide was awesome, he did a great job at telling us the history about all the places we visited while being entertaining and I thought funny. Our first stop was the above mentioned Whaley House.


We then hopped aboard the ghost bus and headed to Villa Montezuma.


This Victorian Mansion is unfortunately currently closed to the public and looks quite different with a bunch of scaffolding and fences warning you to keep out. The history behind this mansion is pretty creepy and interesting though. You can research it online if you like.


From what our tour guide told us there is a possibility that this home may open up again someday soon and allow public tours. Could that be a ghostly orb I caught on camera?

We then headed to the Gaslamp District of San Diego alive with bars and restaurants in what was once the red light district of San Diego. You can read the history on that here. While there we entered the Horton Grand Hotel which is another hotel that is supposed to haunted. You can read some of the theories behind that here.

A short walk later we ventured into the William Heath Davis house which is actually a museum that is open daily to the public and is said to be so haunted that many professional "ghost hunters" investigate regularly. We were told that Haunted San Diego Tour was the only tour that had nighttime access to the museum and in the evening when the last person locks up they make sure to turn down all the lights, rope up all areas where guests are not welcome and lock all doors that are not meant to be walked through. Which was a little strange because when we walked in several of the ropes were not up, a light in the hallway was on and a door that can only be accessed from one side was wide open. This place really gave me the creeps especially after hearing the history of a mass amount of dead bodies or ash filled urns to be exact that were found on the property. Eek! I took several pictures in this place that captured what some people may be believe to be "ghostly orbs".


The rest of our tour was also given a Ghost Meter and we were set to tour the home on our own. Here is my meter spiking and beeping erratically informing us of some visitors.


After this we headed back on to bus and made our way to El Camp Santo Cemetary,


where we learned the history of some of the residents. We also learned that although it contains about 400 grave sites this is only a fraction of what it was in the 1800's. This cemetery once included the area that is now the commercial district of Old Town. Many paved areas/buildings located near or around the cemetery have graves underneath them, that can't be good...

This was our final destination and the place we finally got proof that, yes people, ghosts do exist.

The weekend of my birthday we went over to my parents house and had a party celebrating not only my birthday but also my stepdads and my twin nieces. We grilled up some ribs, steak and hotdogs and ate some sides including this Mexicorn Pasta Salad I made that everyone loved.


Mexicorn Pasta Salad

1 lb. cooked Rotini pasta ( I used Dreamfields low carb pasta)
3 cups of roasted corn kernels. You can first roast the corn ears over the grill with a little olive oil and then scrape the kernels off. 3 to 4 corn ears should produce 3 cups of kernels.
Mayonnaise
Cotija cheese
Handful of chopped cilantro
About 4 green onions chopped
Tajin
Lime Juice
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together and enjoy. You can use as much mayo and cotija as you like. Same goes with the Tajin and lime juice. Tajin can usually be purchased in the Hispanic aisle at your local supermarket.

It is a combination of chilies, lime and salt and is used on everything from fruit to beverages.

This Mexicorn Pasta Salad is made like you would make a Mexican street corn with the addition of pasta.

Top Tier: Rainbow Trix cereal, turkey and cheese sandwich, mini rainbow chip cookies.

Bottom Tier: Fruit roll up, gummy vitamins, Cuties and watermelon.

I can't believe that in just a week Penelope will be entering 1st grade! I am so proud of the super smart, especially creative, totally sweet, and amazingly cute little girl she is. While I am a little saddened that she is growing up so quickly I am filled with joy to see how excited she is to go to "big kid school". Yeah!

I made this chorizo scramble for breakfast when Chris was home and it was sooo good. It tasted like my chilaquiles without the tortillas. YUM!

Chorizo Scramble

Eggs
Chorizo
Chopped tomato
Chopped cilantro
Sliced Green onions
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream

I fried up about 1/2 a link of pork chorizo. Once it was cooked and starting to get crispy I added the eggs, between 4 and 6 depending on how big they are and how much scramble you want to make. When the eggs are still a bit runny add about 1/2  a chopped tomato and 2 sliced green onions. When the eggs are cooked through add a small bunch of chopped cilantro and stir. Finally add some shredded cheddar cheese and melt. Serve topped with sour cream.