Asparagus Friday, broken window motors and driving

We let Skylar sleep in and when she finally woke up, U.B. (as she has started calling him) made her eggs and asparagus. Plate-fulls of asparagus. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the pure joy they shared.

We got the car packed up, and as Bill's ocd kicked in and he started cleaning his door, he put his window down. That wouldn't be out of the ordinary if someone hadn't broken into his car two years ago. Ever since then his window controls have been slowly failing. The door lock has broken too. And it squeaks like it's about to fall off its hinges.

Today, the window wouldn't go back up. No matter what he did, it wasn't happening. So we switched cars and were on our slightly less than merry way.

We made dinner when we got to mom and dad's. Rollatini. That's rolled pasta, filled with spinach, ricotta, and prosciutto. It makes two rolls, so one was covered in marinara and the other in alfredo. I made more of "the bread" too and we had salads. It was delicious and even though "the bread" started smoking, it was the "flavor". Everyone enjoyed it and there are no leftovers.

Alisha is on her way, so that I can french braid her hair for the triathlon tomorrow.

Adventures in Michigan... America's other roller coast

We went to Michigan's Adventure!!!

That was the big surprise. Skylar was thrilled.

The park did not allow photos to be taken on rides and in certain areas, so I just left the camera in the car. I tried taking a picture with my phone to send to Cyndi, but then the phone promptly died. At least I got this one.

We rode every roller coaster the park has to offer. And we even rode the typical amusement park rides (the Scrambler and the Tilt-A-Whirl). We hung out in the water park and went down the lazy river three times. We rode the three water slides that used the single tube. We went to check out the Cyclone of death or whatever it was called, but the line was super long. So we skipped that. Skylar went down one of the slides, that doesn't require a tube, by herself. Then we ate the most expensive dinner known to man. Well, it was inside an amusement park, so it shouldn't have surprised me.

Skylar's favorite rides were the Mad Mouse, Shivering Timbers and the Thunder Hawk. It was a fun day... now it's time for bed.

Wednesday gelato, gardens and a good summer meal

Skylar and I went to Meijer Gardens this morning.We learned what thicket is:
a dense growth of shrubbery or small trees

Here are a few pictures (speaking of which, I do have the rest of pictures from workcamp on my computer, they will get posted next week when things are quiet and boring and I have nothing else to share, or look at them on facebook).


Skylar is looking at the water sculpture in the Volunteer Garden

The daisies were beautiful!

so were the Cosmos



posing for some pictures


holding up the arch


in the field of wildflowers

while at the waterfall, the sun decided to come out to play

one last photo before heading to Robinette's for peaches. Then we went to Russo's. We were there yesterday and while at the checkout I noticed a gelato case. They are selling fresh made gelato! Yum!! We went there today specifically for the gelato. It did not disappoint.

Then we came home and had lunch. We shucked corn and I made corn dip while Skylar watched "Jaws". I had my HPC meeting. It lasted less than an hour. I came home and we got dinner going; hamburgers (on the grill by Bill), corn on the cob and homemade onion rings. Yum!!! Are you hungry yet? Our fall schedule is wide open if you'd like to visit.

Tomorrow is a big surprise. We aren't telling Skylar where we're taking her, but I don't think she'll be disappointed. Hopefully we'll be home early enough for me to blog about it.

can't figure out what day it is Tuesday

I'm still playing catch-up on my sleep. It's just how it is after a week with Jr. High youth.

Skylar and I had a busy morning. We got up and headed out for a morning of shopping. Errands, not the fun clothes kind. We started at the Farmer's Market. I'm sorry to say I got jipped by the guy who sold us our cherries. We only bought a pint and his sign clearly said $3.00/pint. Just for clarification, the other sign said $5.00/quart. We bought the pint, I paid with my $20 and he gave me back $15.00. I stared at both signs for a minute. Waiting. Waiting to see if he would catch his error. He didn't, so we walked away. I decided he needed it more. For as much as we bought there, I don't feel too bad. We only spent $20.00 total and got: a baker's dozen of corn, carrots, green beans, 2 lbs of blueberries, four tomatoes and the cherries. I find that fantastic.

Then we headed to Target, Meijer and Russo's. It was exactly noon when we walked through the door. We unloaded the groceries and had lunch.

Then it was time to bake! First we made the chocolate blueberry cake for dessert tonight (more on that in a minute). Then we made fresh squeezed lemonade. Then we made the pesto for the main dish for dinner.

We invited the Red Shirts from last week to dinner. Why? You may ask. They are here in Grand Rapids helping out with this week's Week of Hope. They are bringing the two Red Shirts from here. Jason and Chandra are joining us too. It's a dinner party! We're having the bread, salad and the fresh pesto pasta with tomato. Then for dessert we have chocolate!! Yum.

That reminds me, I have to go get Pioneer Woman's recipe for the bread. (I share because I love. Seriously, check out that recipe and the story behind it. My stomach is growling!)

Monday's adventures

Today we ran to Meijer for some food and we bought food for Pablo (crickets, he's a tree frog. it's what they eat). Lunch was nothing spectacular. But dinner was...

Fried Corn Cakes with Cheese and BLT's. Yum!! Of course we took a trip to Jersey Junction. The picture turned out okay, it was taken with my phone. I'm actually impressed!

We made some friendship bracelets too. Nothing special, a more relaxing sort of day.