A Cool Coastal Vacation

Early this month the boys and I traveled to San Diego for a little vacation. We met Keith's parents there who had planned a fun week with Ethan. Keith parents have a great tradition of taking each one of their grandchildren on a trip sometime before they turn 12.This is quite ambitious of them considering they have 17 grand kids!  It was Ethan's turn and they chose to spend their week with him in San Diego. Ethan was thrilled to take his trip there since he was born in southern California and has wanted to visit again for sometime now.

Mac and I flew out with Ethan so that we could stay for a few days and  visit Sea World. My company gave me a season pass for Sea World which means that my family and I can visit any one of the nine Sea World parks for free, as many times in a year that we want. A very generous gift that we all enjoyed tremendously.

Our first stop upon arriving in San Diego was the Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma. We had a nice walk down the coast and the kids enjoyed the tide pools. The weather was fabulous, a cool 64 degrees with a nice ocean breeze. A nice break from the hot Midwest summer in the middle of July.

The kids enjoyed exploring the tide pools and stacking rocks.

Taking a little break with Grandpa and enjoying the ocean view.

Next stop Sea World.............

The Quarry Men

Guest post by Keith

 

A friend of mine from WFHB had long ago extended an open invitation to us to come swim in the limestone quarry on the property she and her husband rent. Last weekend, we finally got our schedules aligned and took the plunge. What an awesome adventure!

Fans of the 1979 film Breaking Away can attest to the lure of quarry swimming. The water is typically very clean as most of it comes from underground aquifers. But some quarries receive nutrient-rich surface runoff, and can become overgrown with algae. The quarry used for filming the Breaking Away movie is about five miles south of the one we visited.

Limestone mining was once the major industry of south central Indiana, and it is still important, but the demand for limestone has diminished steadily over the years as other, less expensive building materials have come on the market.

Bloomington-area limestone has a long history for its quality, and limestone from this area has been used in the construction of the Empire State Building, the Pentagon, the National Cathedral and various other monuments and buildings in Washington, D.C. Indiana limestone was also used extensively to rebuild many Chicago buildings after the great fires of 1871. And of course, Indiana University features local limestone in nearly every building on campus.

There are literally hundreds of abandoned quarries in this area, and nearly all are considered accidents waiting to happen by their owners, as quarry swimming can be very dangerous. Extreme caution and skill is necessary before jumping into the clear, cold water. Most have fences and/or security patrols to keep out trespassers, but determined swimmers usually find their way in, as evidenced by their graffiti. Limestone mining is also very dangerous, as it takes a special kind of skill and bravery to wrangle three ton blocks of stone out of the earth, without getting crushed.

The Lazy Days of Summer in Wisconsin

We were fortunate to spend a week with my parents at our annual vacation spots in Wisconsin. Thankfully my dad was feeling well enough to travel via car all the way from Arizona to Wisconsin. We had a great time as usual and were happy to get to spend time with not only my parents but aunts, uncles and cousins too.

When we arrived in Door County grandma had a birthday cake waiting for Ethan. After taking a swim in the pool we all celebrated with cake and ice cream.

 

Our first day there, and our only rainy day, the boys and I walked to downtown Egg Harbor. We had to visit their favorite fudge shop, Gomy's Goodies, and I took a few pictures of the very Cape Codish looking town.

 

The small little town even has a natural foods store, Greens N' Grains.

On our walk I found several tea related goodies like these teacup and teapot planters.

And this cute little tea store, the Harbor Tea and Spice shop where we stopped for some black currant ice tea. This tea shop carries mostly Harney and Sons tea.

We had dinner with my parents, uncle and my cousin and his family. The kids got their own table and seemed to entertain each other.

 We also took some time to go mini golfing which I hadn't done in a very long time. It was fun and a great day to be out side.

My aunt bought kites for the kids and the green space behind the condos along with lake breeze made for great kite flying conditions!

Ethan was the first to get his up and flying high.

Notice how the kite matches the kid.

Right next to the condo was a cherry tree orchard. The cherries weren't ready for picking but the orchard provided for some pretty scenery

After our four days in Door County we headed up north to the cottage on White Lake. On the way the boys and I made our annual stop at Bay Beach. We had fun riding the scrambler, bumper cars, and the Tilt-A-Whirl.

The boys also rode the super slide.

Once at the cabin, Grandma and Grandpa treated us to a good old fashion fish fry at the local corner bar. We ate some yummy local perch and then back at the cottage the kids got the fire pit ready to make s'mores.

Ethan stoking the fire.

Roasting marshmallows

The grandparents relaxing, and trying to stay out of the smoke!

We spent most of the long weekend on lake. The kids enjoyed taking out the paddle boat. We also took several trips in the pontoon boat. Ethan even got a chance to drive.

We even played Sequence with my aunt and uncle on the pontoon.

And enjoyed beautiful sunsets on the lake! Life doesn't get much better than this!

The hazards of living in a neighborhood with mature trees

This car belonged to our neighbors across the street. They had only parked it in their driveway 20 minutes before this huge cherry tree toppled on top of it. Thankfully no one was in the car when the tree fell. The tree had decay at the base of the trunk, and  that along with the wet weather might have contributed to the fall..

Keith went over and helped cut some of the limbs off the tree, which provided us with plenty of wood for next winter. The rest of the tree had to be professionally removed. And the car was obviously totaled.

More Sweet Little Dresses

These are two more dresses, from the Lelia and Ben pattern, that I made for my niece, Madelyn. The pink is a made from an eyelet seersucker-type cotton, and the blue is made from two coordinating fabrics. The main bodice fabric has little birds and the sleeves match the print in some of the birds.

Of course the model and recipient, Madelyn,  is even cuter (and sweeter) than the dresses!  I was glad to see that they fit her since I had to guess on the size which was tricky living 2000 miles away!

Pink eyelet dress

Blue birdie dress

Recital Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream that I made for Mac's violin recital.  I made the dark chocolate treble staffs with a chocolate mold, and sprinkled them with sparkly silver sanding sugar. Simple yet elegant. 

Garden Strawberry Jam

I recently made two batches of strawberry jam with strawberries that came from our garden. A couple of years ago we received some strawberry plants from Steph and her DH which Keith planted in our garden. Since then they've multiplied and even started popping up outside of the rock bed.

This year the plants have produced plenty of strawberries for eating, plus enough to make two batches of jam.