A Staycation State of Mind
Staycations always sounded fun in theory but we never really committed because our family loves to travel so much. Well, this year we bit the bullet and planned a 4 night 5 day staycation at my parents new house in Gruene, TX. This seemed like the perfect solution for gas prices being so crazy this summer, a 2 month old member of our crew, and a reason to enjoy our parents newly built house.
We decided to share all of the details from the menu to our agenda and encourage you to try out a staycation too! It's such a great way to save money and enjoy maximum time with your family.
Meals
Every night each couple took turns creating and preparing a meal for all of us. We got creative with this and wanted to make it special since we were eating in every night instead of going out to eat.
1. The first night Erik and I prepared the meal. We chose to go with an Italian theme. Our menu consisted of a blistered tomato and goat cheese spread on grilled rosemary bread for the appetizer. For the main course we made Braciole, lemon-garlic broccolini, and lemon-parmesan and garlic pasta topped with parsley. We topped it off with an orange cake with a butter cream and white chocolate chip icing.
2. The second night Gracie and Michael were the chefs and went with a "Not your mama's steak night" theme. They started with sweet potato and apple bacon fritters with your choice of maple butter or honey butter sauce to dip. Then moved into a main coarse of smoke reserved seared fillets, truffle-parmesan risotto, and balsamic glazed brussle sprouts. For desert they served homemade peach pop-tarts with a sweet cream glaze and served with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.
3. The third night our mom and dad were in charge of the meal. They chose a cajun theme, starting with boiled shrimp and cocktail sauce for the pre meal snack. They cooked panko-parmesan fried tilapia, cajun style coleslaw, homemade hush puppies, and jambalaya.
4. The fourth night it was all hands on deck to help for the final meal. The boys woke up at 7AM and put the brisket on the Green Egg to smoke all day. We had a southern BBQ theme for the final night and served potato salad, brussle sprouts, and french bread.
Agenda
The main goal for this trip was to relax so we spent most of our time in the pool or by the river. The first day we all got to our parents house our mom booked everyone a massage at the Gruene Day Spa to kick off the trip. We made mimosas and bloody marys every morning, of course as the day went on being poolside we had to make pina coladas.
The house is in a neighborhood next to downtown Gruene- so driving the golf cart everywhere was a must. The town has great shops and live music everywhere and of course cute spots for cocktails.
This was truly such a special family trip and although it was out of the ordinary to stay in town for a vacation, it felt like we traveled far and wide to be there. It's all about how you make it and we left feeling refreshed with these special memories.
Happy Hosting,
G&G