Disappointing.

I left over half of Marc's birthday ice cream cake out overnight. Ugh!

Summer Vacation

Not that I have a job to take a vacation from, but this summer truly does feel like one long vacation. Trips to the UP, trips to Ohio, an upcoming trip to Iowa, visits to the Gardens, the splashparks, the playgrounds, to friend's houses, boat rides, etc... We haven't stopped. And the last five things we fit in just the last week... sometimes more than once.

Monday we hit the Gardens with an ex-coworkers, it was really nice to see her and her daughter. Tuesday, I had one of my college/career ladies come over to hang out during the day. Wednesday, a Dr. appt. in the morning, grocery shopping the afternoon, and a date night in the evening (which was really nice, by the way - I loved the movie and the company.)

Thursday, we walked and worked around the house and hit the splash park in the late afternoon. We all ended up out on the boat after dinner. Friday we were at home mostly, however, we hit the lake again in the evening. We even tied the boy's toy boats to the side of the boat with fishing line so they could throw and retrieve them. I think it bought us a little more time out on the water.

Saturday, I was able to head out by myself a bit in the morning to do a little garage sale-ing, grocery shopping, and hit CVS. It seems silly, but it was really, really nice to be out by myself for a bit. After naps, we headed to friend's house to celebrate Marc's birthday. It's not until next Wednesday, but we will be gone then in IA. So we grilled and gave him his presents and had cake. I thought I forgot my camera, so I have no pictures of it all to share (however, when all was said and done, I realized I had my camera with me all along... shoot!).

Today is mostly packing up and getting ready for our trip. We head to friend's house tomorrow to spend the night and then we hit the road early squirrally Tuesday morning for Des Moines. I don't think I will have any internet access for the week, so the blog will be quiet. We are looking forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa and I am pretty sure they are excited to see us.

I better get packing. Have a great week.

My Debut

I don't think he believes us...

Tonight at dinner we had a great dinner of ribs, corn on the cob, grilled sourdough bread, and oriental salad. However, the boys kept referring to the meat as chicken, which they often do and often we don't correct them. Shame on us, but it gets them to eat whatever meat we are serving if they think it is somehow related to a chicken nugget.

However, tonight, in the middle of the dinner, Marc leaned over close to Andrew and whispered, "Do you want to know a secret? It's not chicken, it's pig."

I wasn't sure how it was going to go over telling Andrew the truth about what he was eating, but he just kinda sat there with a funny grin on his face. So Marc continued...

"And do you want to know another secret? When you eat a hamburger, that's a cow?!"

Again, the funny little grin. Not much said and well, we ended up letting it drop and continued on with our dinner.

About 10 minutes later, long after we had forgotten about what animals we were eating, Andrew leans over to Marc and whispers...

"Do you want to know a secret? When you eat french fries... that's ZEBRA!"

This stuff is hard to find!

Up and coming - Date Night!!

Marc and I are having a long overdue date night tomorrow. We are having a one of our college/career young ladies come over to feed the boys dinner and put them to bed, while my hubby and I go out to dinner and see a movie. We are heading out to an early dinner then going to see the new Batman Movie. Very exciting.

Summer Salads

Here are two of my favorite summer (or anytime) salads. I can't take credit for the original recipes, I just tweak 'em a bit.

Poppyseed Cranberry Salad (this is also good in a wrap)

• Romaine Lettuce
• Sliced Deli Ham
• Cashews
• Chunked Apples
• Dried Cranberries
• Poppyseed Dressing

Oriental Chicken Salad

• Coleslaw
• Toasted Sliced Almonds
• Sunflower Seeds
• Raman Noodles
• Manderin Oranges
• Leftover Burbon Chicken (a favorite in this home).
• Oriental Dressing (Made with vinager, oil, sugar, and the oriental seasoning pkts. from the raman noodles)

Enjoy!

Herbie

My boys have a new movie they l.o.v.e! Herbie: Fully Loaded. They are kinda picky with their movies and really don't want to watch anything else other than CARS. But my mom brought Herbie to vacation with us in June, then we were able to record it with our DVR. Maybe it's the racing theme, but they think it's awesome. I kinda like it, too... but then again, It's something beside CARS.

Summer Lovin' had me a Blast.

Recent Reads

I recently finished a couple books. I find that I read more in the summer months than winter. I'm not sure why that is, it just seems to be that way. So, I grabbed a Grisham before vacation.

This was a good book, it was.... but for a Grisham book, I was a little disappointed. I have come to have high standards for his books. It's okay, John, I already have another one of your tales checked out of the library.

The last book was one that had been sitting on my shelf since Andrew was born. A woman from our very first small group brought it too me and it never got read, but it never got officially moved or thrown away. So it sat on our main floor book shelf staring at me for over four years. I finally picked it up before we headed to Ohio last week. Wow - once I picked it up and I couldn't put it down. I am not sure how to even describe it. Weird, captivating, thought provoking. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

Home Makeover

I have to give major props to my hard working hubby and his friends, Ryan & Steve. They put in a lot of time and effort this past weekend working on our main floor. And what an amazing job they did. They painted the walls and ceiling and laid new flooring along with all the other odd and end jobs that comes with those chores. Here are a few before and after pictures. (Excuse the funky chop job on the panoramic photos - but you get the idea).

BEFORE

AFTER:


I love it! Thanks guys!!

We're back...

We're back from Ohio after leaving Marc and his posse here for an extreme home makeover. They did amazing, I am so thankful, and pictures will be posted soon.

This will be short as it is late, but we had a great time at Grandma and Papas. We hit Walmart, visited friends, went swimming, hit Walmart, saw Rocky (remember him?), went to church, went to VBS to see a funny illusionist, took walks, and I think we might have hit Walmart, too. But, never-the-less, it is good to be home and see my hubby. Man, I missed him. Ok, well, I will at least post a picture from our long weekend.

The boys shared a bed part of the night (until one of them ended up in bed with me). I checked on them one night before I turned in to find them in the exact same position. Brothers.

Whirlwind...

Man, I feel like the last two months have been a blurr. Marc and Dad had his MN trip and mom came up. Shortly after that we left for vacation for a week. We get home long enough to deal with a tree down and insurance and celebrate the holiday weekend (and sneak a trip in to the Garden's yesterday), just to up and leave again.

We are going to be doing a little home makeover and decided this weekend was as good as any. And since it means working on the main floor, it will just easier without myself and the kids around. So we will be leaving tomorrow for a long weekend and leaving Marc and his "posse" to work on the house. Maybe I'll have before and after pictures to post when I get back.

So, I take a deep breath and pack up again. Maybe I should just stay packed, because I then we turn around and head to IA for a week at the end of the month. This summer is f.l.y.i.n.g!

Good Trade

Last evening I made three loaves of sourdough bread. Andrew I took one loaf over to our neighbor shortly before dinner. A few minutes later, their daughter knocked our garage door and delivered beautiful huge cherries they had picked the day before. They were so tasty and juicy... I think I could have sat and ate the whole lot with deep purple juice running down my chin. AJ thought the "purple grapes" were really good, too. Considering that I still had two more loaves of sourdough to enjoy and now cherries... I would say that is the kind of deal I like!

These are not stock photos... the food was that pretty.

We had a great holiday!

We had a really nice Fourth of July. It started out with the local parade. Lots of firetrucks and lots of noise and lots of candy. We ran into some friends of ours there and shared our little plot of land. We came home for lunch and naps before heading to some other friends for amazing BBQ and play time. The kids had a blast in their kiddy pool with slide, their "roller coaster" (a wagon rolling down a plank of wood), and their Bounce Around.

After all that exercise (and little down time with Curious George), they still made it up late enough to watch fireworks. We hit a different set of fireworks this year and we weren't real sure where to park ourselves. Unfortunately, we picked a poor spot and only witnessed the really high fireworks. But I think the kids enjoyed it anyway and over all it was a great day.

(Of course, Saturday consisted of nice long naps for everyone.)

I can't believe...

...I just spent a good portion of my morning on the telephone with different schools discussing kindergarten options for my Andrew. Yikes!

Vacation Post - III

The closest thing I got to a group shot.

Friday, we packed up the entire gang and headed to the beach on Lake Michigan (to experience saltwater and see the whales). It was wonderful. Like I mentioned previously, we were blessed with amazing weather. We all splashed around and played in the sand a good portion of the afternoon. We headed back in to St. Ignace for a fish fry for dinner. There was also a car show going on while we were there. Andrew and AJ spotted Doc Hudson, Lizzy, Ramone, the Sheriff, etc…

The grownup boys took the big boys back to get in one last night of fishing, while us ladies and the little ones stayed to explore St. Ignace a bit more. A highlight of the week of when Lucy, the pretty princess of our bunch, came across the Queen and Princess of the car show. She was in princess heaven.

Saturday, we had to pack up and hit the road. The vacation was a fabulous. So great that we are signed up for next year already and I can’t wait. I’ll end the vacation wrap with some beach pictures and a crossword that was created on sands of Lake Michigan with the names of our whole troop.

A slideshow of Marc burying AJ in the sand.

Happy Independence Day!

Vacation - Post II

The shoreline by our cabins were so shallow that I was able to let both kiddos run free without feeling like I needed to be right next to them. They had a ball. The shallowness also allowed the water to be fairly warm as well. The kids were swimming most day while us grown-ups waded around in it keeping an eye on the children and our tans. However, there was one occasion where Marc and I had a little throw down that resulted in both of us walking away completely soaked.

We took rides in Marc’s boat. AJ constantly asking to “Go fast!” Andrew got to do a little fishing with daddy. Daddy got to do a lot of fishing with Papa. We had access to a pontoon boat which was nice for after dinner strolls around the lake. The kids would each get a turn to be “Captain” and we would find the daddies out fishing and make them keep waving at us in order for us to stop yelling “Hi Dad!” at them. We also had access to a paddle boat. The boys got to go out a few times, but I only had one attempt at it. A miserable failed attempt. A borderline scary attempt. But we are all safe and sound and enough said.

One afternoon we headed into St. Ignace for something to do. We found a playground for the kids to pee play on. They got to throw rocks in Lake Huron. We found a boardwalk and another lighthouse to explore before heading back for dinner.

We really did enjoy ourselves despite this grumpy picture.

We ended one evening attempting to feed the deer. We saw quite a few, but none took us up on our offer.

Vacation - Post I

We arrived at our cabin last Saturday and was very pleasantly surprised! It was on the water with it’s own dock and it was much less a cabin and much more a small house. Three bedrooms - one for my parents, one for Marc and myself and one with two twins for the boys. Totally ideal.


We even had a tub (which wasn’t expected at all). Now, we did not have water pressure and it was easier to fill a cup and dump it on you than take a shower, but since that’s was the only thing, I really can’t complain.

We ate great. There were five families, so each took meals and cleanup. We dined on things like enchiladas, grilled chicken, ham, pork, and eggs. We even held our 3rd or 4th annual rib-off while up there. The weather was amazing! Amazing-amazing. And our prayers were answered as far as mosquitoes, as well. They were present, don’t get me wrong, but they weren’t horrid.

We headed to a lighthouse one day named Seul Choix (pronounced Say Shwa - thanks Taryn). Andrew Myers Dykstra became an Official Junior Lighthouse Keeper. I also introduced the family to Dance, Dance, Revolution and I am kicking myself for not taking my pictures or video (although the family is rejoicing, I’m sure). We had a riot and dance-danced in the wee hours of the nights.