Wholesome Entertainment

I was talking with someone tonight and somehow we got on the topic of what someone had been wearing. I said "I don't know, it might have been a skirt or culottes". After his initial outburst of laughter, he asked me "What did you just say?", "What are culottes?" I should take it as a compliment that in the 13 years that I have known this person, I have never said the word "culottes" or more importantly worn them. I then had to explain the meaning of this word. His smart remark to the explanation was "And how many pairs do you own?" What a funny guy. Is this an article of clothing that is only known to the fundamental group of churchgoers? I thought that this topic definitely called for a revisit to our favorite swimwear site. Don't forget to check out the "Slimming Swimmer" link. Can't help but laugh. Hey Abbie and Ang, buy 2 or 3 suits and you get a percentage discount!

A Good Long Weekend

With my last post I was dreading the birthday party at the house of bounce, as it turns out it was not bad. It was this warehouse that had huge inflatable slides, obstacle courses and more. We spent about an hour bouncing, sliding, and racing through them and then we had pizza and cake. As far as kids birthday parties go, it was a lot of fun. It could have been in a windowless Chuck E. Cheese...scary! After that we came back home and visited with my aunt and uncle who had come in from Michigan. We hadn't seen them in awhile, it was good to just sit and talk. I think it had been a year since they had seen Logan, so they were, of course, amazed at how much he's grown. Sunday was another beautiful day, John and Logan came over and we went for a bike ride to the lake. On our trip we were treated to a few visits from the local wildlife. A deer walked beside us on the trail, stopped to check us out and then slowly trotted across the road about 10 feet in front of us. Then down by the lake, John found a small goby that had been washed up on shore but was still alive. We played with him for a little bit (aka. let him nip at our fingers) and then we threw him back in. On our bike ride home, the tiniest painted turtle I've ever seen was crossing the path. We stopped to look at him and decided that Logan could have another pet. We were able to recycle a container that someone had so thoughtfully left (littered) beside the lake and they took it back to John's house. Logan thinks its very cool. Not ready to put an end to the fun, we decided to take a drive and go see "Pirates of the Caribbean 3". It was really good. While it was no Spiderman 3 (wink, wink), it still was good. : )

Today I woke up in a very industrious mood and had my car washed before 10 a.m. Felt very accomplished after it was done. Then I tagged along with John and Logan on a fishing expedition. Their usual spot was packed due to the holiday so we went "old school" and it was a lot less crowded and, again, great weather. I had my camera this time. We caught a couple of bluegills, chased some minnows and were wow'ed with John's bullfrog catching ability. After we got home, Logan found a great new game to play with Wrigley. It wears out both the boy and the dog! Logan had two tennis balls and he would keep them in constant play while Wrigley would run back and forth fetching the balls as Logan batted them up. And the winner got an early bedtime! So that makes me a winner too : ) ...Just 4 more days of school!!!!!!!

TGIF

Today was a good day. Spent a lot of time outside with my class, the weather was beautiful. Didn't get a whole lot of learning done but it is the last Friday of the school year, so I don't think that I should be expecting much from them. They are so far ahead and have worked so hard that they deserve a relaxing end to the school year. I started to get a sore throat in the morning and it just got continually worse so that by the end of the day I was more than ready to escape for home. I decided to put my new hammock to good use and took a nap in it. Probably not the best idea. The lobster is only a little more red than I ended up, oh well, it was very relaxing : ) This weekend is turning out to be much busier than I expected. A couple birthday parties, relatives visiting from out of town and anything else that comes up. Hopefully I will be feeling better by tomorrow. One of the birthday parties is a combined one for two of Logan's cousins at "Bouncers 'R Us" or something like that. Definitely better than Chuck E. Cheese but still sounds a little scary. Maybe I will be able to use my still sprained ankle as an excuse to sit out of the 'fun'. They had a party at this place last year and their mom hurt her foot/ankle so badly that she eventually had to have surgery. How's that for a party favor?

Pictures, as promised

Our Weekend - by Abbie and Rachel

Starting from Thursday, we will BOTH explain our fun filled weekend! It was a blast!

Thursday Evening: We had an impromptu "The Office" season finale party with Abbie's mom and her friend Michelle, complete with yummy apple raspberry crisp (compliments of ALDI, believe it or not) and lactose-free vanilla ice cream (compliments of Abbie's mom!). We heard tips on how to enrage a police officer when stopped for improperly wearing a seatbelt and what happens when you mix a 90 lb girl, an empty stomach and an undisclosed amount of Mike's Hard Lemonade. Never a good idea.

Friday: We had a great idea of getting yummy food from a yummy restaurant in Racine but when the wait was super long, we had to settle for terrible food from a scary restaurant in Kenosha. After trying a couple different restaurants but finding long waits at all of them, Mark remembered this place that he had been to before and it had just changed ownership. We sent him in to check on the wait. He came out and excitedly gave us the thumbs up to come in and sit. As we walked in the door, we immediately knew that he had made a bad judgment call. In the entryway there were signs posted that the entire establishment was under video surveillance and no gang attire would be permitted. Abbie and I looked at each other doubtfully, wondering if this was really a place for children to be. The bunny coloring pages taped to the wall of the bar only assured us that kid HAD at one time been there, not that they really SHOULD have been. Only after walking through the smoky bar, complete with electronic gaming machines, were we able to get to the eating area. A poor paint job and a grumpy waitress awaited us once we got there. A sad menu offered us gizzards for an appetizer and schnitzel for a main course. We decided against those, some of us opted safely for the soup, others were more brave and ended up with chewy fish. After dinner, the boys had a bonfire and the girls went out to shop to get supplies for Saturday's excursion. A friend of ours had just made this yummy strawberry pretzel dessert and we thought that we should try out the recipe to have at our Starved Rock picnic...sounds easier than it really was. Once we put the kids down to sleep, we were already past our point of exhaustion but we decided to make the dessert. It all started very well, breaking up pretzels and melting butter is not that difficult. But spreading cream cheese/sugar mixture over crumbly pretzels without mixing the two layers...not that easy. The hysterical laughter began when we were faced with the reality that we were sadly unequipped with the skills to make this jello dessert. Upon pouring the jello on top of the pretzel/cream cheese glob, we created the bloody, maggoty mess that you see above. Much more hysterical laughter followed. We finally fell asleep on the couch, unable to last through the riveting "Dreamgirls" movie that Mark had rented.

Saturday (Pictures to follow): The next day started off wonderfully with kid-free coffee and breakfast at the table outside. We had a lot to get ready before our day trip to Starved Rock, so we got ready, packed and were on our way. But not before a foul pop-up from the boy's batting practice in the front yard put a nice crack in Abbie's windshield. Oh well, it only partly enters into driver's field of vision. Our drive to Starved Rock was filled with laughter as we learned of a new country song about checking someone for ticks...yes, this is a real song. After the drive took a little longer than we thought it would (Mark was driving), we stopped for quick energy food (energy bars and hummus...yum! but not together) and then went on to Starved Rock. The day could not have been more beautiful. Abbie handed out some fun scavenger hunt questions that she had prepared for the kids to keep the hike interesting (pictured above). They were a big hit! The kids even found some bonus items: snakes, centipedes, and bird skeletons. We hiked for almost 3 hours and explored amazing canyons and bluffs. The kids were unbelievably great the whole time. Jerred only needed to be carried once at the very end of the trip. After a quick stop to pick up forgotten lighter fluid, we headed to the picnic grounds. We had packed the travel hammock and chairs, which we immediately put out to relax in. The boys played baseball, Kate read books, Abbie grilled food and Rachel was a lazy bum. There was a park nearby, so after dinner the kids ran around and used up whatever energy they had left. The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, the food was delicious, even our bloody strawberry disaster and our time together was wonderful! With the sun setting, we drove home with the windows down, for as long as Kate would let us, the boys slept peacefully in the backseat, and we endured endless radio channel surfing as Mark drove home, a little faster this time. This day was exactly what we all needed and will definitely be remembered happily.

Our Day at Starved Rock

My son and I went to Starved Rock State Park yesterday. The weather said that there would be scattered thunderstorms and that the temperature was going to be a little cooler, so we went prepared for rain or whatever the day brought. We started out our trip with breakfast at an oasis, which probably would have been enough excitement for my son but we continued on our way. Driving there, the skies looked a little threatening but by the time we arrived it had turned into a beautiful, sunny, warm day. We hiked for about an hour and a half. Its a great place to go with kids: the trails are all well marked, there's a wide variety of scenery (forests, rivers, rocks, canyons, caves, etc.) and the terrain is fairly level (when its not, there are stairs - LOTS of stairs, according to my son). My Aunt Janna lives just a few minutes from Starved Rock, so she met us up at the lodge and treated us to a very good lunch, that probably undid all the good of the hike, oh well : ) After lunch the three of us headed over to Buffalo Rock State Park and walked a few of the trails there. Then Logan rode his bike around, which he had been wanting to do all day. I was so happy that we were able to see my aunt and just hang out for a little while. We will definitely have to do that again. While my son did great on the hike, he started to slow down towards the end. So when asked what his favorite parts of the hike were, here is his list:

1. Seeing the end of the trail
2. Walking through the parking lot, back to our car
3. Eating lunch

Isn't he funny?

On our drive back, we decided to take a different way home, instead of the highway. We ended up driving by lots of farms and fields, which quickly turned into subdivisions and strip malls and then we were home. After all that driving and hiking, I was exhausted. I collapsed into bed at 8:30! Here are some photos of our day. Please excuse the Sox shirt, he's 8 and doesn't make the best decisions : ) Also, I think he put it on to spite the Cubs shirt that I was wearing.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue

I am unbelievably happy that we are almost to the end of a very long week. The kids have been stir crazy, I have been irritable and the general feeling around the school seems to be one of anxiousness to be out for summer. My back is not in as much pain as it was at the beginning of the week, and for that I am very thankful. I have been able to see the witch doctor (little inside joke) twice this week and that has helped my back SO much. It had been 3 years since my last visit and all the biking, tennis-ing...oh, and sleeping on a friend's couch, did not help at all. But I am almost back to being pain free. Hooray! My son and I celebrated the fact that we are done with AWANA for the summer by going to play tennis. It was a beautiful evening and he is getting so much better at returning serves and volleying, that it made it that much more enjoyable. I am praying for nice weather this weekend, as I have lots of plans for hiking, biking, good food eating, and anything else that may come up and I would love to be able to have beautiful, sunny weather for all of that. I should probably plan to do yard work: planting, mowing, etc. but I am so bad at that. It just overwhelms me. Sounds so much better to just drive off, leave it all and find a nice trail to hike. I think thats what we'll do. I will post pics and let you know how it goes!

Against the Wind

It has been a busy weekend but, thankfully, the weather was beautiful! I went for a bike ride and was very proud of myself when I saw that I had made good time on the first leg of my trip. But when I turned around to head back, I was met with the realization that my great time was due in large part to the fact that I had been riding with the wind. Needless to say, my trip back took a little more time and a lot more effort.

Then on Saturday night, a friend and I were able to see a folk duo that I have known about for several years. It was such a great night. The music was comforting, the coffee was good and the conversation was entertaining, as always. How's that for alliteration, Abbie? I cringed just writing it, but I couldn't resist.

The rest of the weekend went by uneventfully...then came Monday. While the warm weather weekend reenergized me for the week to come, it seems to have insighted some sort of riot in my students. I don't remember the summer craze to have ever started this early. They usually are kind enough to give me another couple of weeks of good work but I guess I'm not that lucky this year. I will pray that the weather stays nice so at least I will be able to let them run around outside when the classroom cannot contain them any longer.

And now for my "I'm so blessed" moment of the day. With all the stress of students, school and just life in general, I am so thankful that God has given me the unbelievably wonderful friends that I have. I find it very hard to be sad or down with these few special people who understand me and love me anyway. : ) Its so great to be able to talk to them about nothing in particular and have the greatest laugh of the day doing it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.