Last Day of "Summer"

The weather here feels much more like early Fall, but today was really nice for an "early Fall" feeling day. And it also happened to be the last day before Ella starts her first day of Kindergarten!

We started the morning off with a preschool dance class that I teach. The kids (my kids) were pretty good considering they had to stay in the corner and watch DVDs and color. The students were good overall, except for the one who cried and wouldn't participate. I really felt for her though and wished I could have done more to make her feel better, but I had to give most attention to the rest of the class that was participating. Hopefully she'll be better next time... It was nice for me to be back in the swing of things teaching dance again.

We came home to the carpenters still working on our house (more on that to come). But much to my surprise and delight, they were finished early! So I scrambled to think of something fun to do on the last day before school.

First I took the kids to the Lake County Discovery Museum which is situated on a Forest Preserve. It is a small but nice museum for both adults and kids and mainly presents the history and nature of Lake County.

As I mentioned, it is situated on preserved land, so there was lots of space and beauty to play in and explore.

The buildings are so simple but beautiful in this landscape.

The Mastodon was a big hit.

She was very patient letting the kids climb all over her.

This is a sculpture of a tree marker used by Native Americans to mark trails. The trees were tied to the ground as saplings causing the trunks to grow in a bent shape which was recognized as a trail marker.

Thistle was scattered around the perimeter of this bog pond.

At home, the fun continued. I bought two small mixes of muffins (kids choice of flavors) and they used their mini-muffin pans I bought for them at a garage sale.

After the prep, they watched the muffins cook. Doesn't hurt that they learned a bit about what goes on during baking from a Magic School Bus book.

While waiting for the muffins to cool, I took the kids out on our paddle boat. I think it must be the first time we took it out this year. What a shame, we really need to take better advantage of the boat and the pond behind our house.

The day ended with dinner, baths, choosing clothes for the first day of school and a few snuggles.

Tomorrow is the BIG day!

In Progress

My second attempt at painting my sewing cabinet is underway.  I now have the first attempt stripped off, along with some of the original finish which I thought was supposed to be taken care of by the liquid sandpaper that I used during the first attempt.

This is taking a ton of time.  I still want to sand it all before starting the painting process.

I won't lie, I'm not feeling very confident about painting it right now.

At least we had a good dinner.  Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Michigan Vacation

Last week we went on a vacation in Cassopolis, Michigan.  Where?  Yes, where? is right.  Not much going on in Cassopolis.  But we were in a very cute lake house, on a... lake. 

And most importantly, we were amongst good company.  Friends that we love and don't see nearly enough. 

The weather didn't cooperate the entire time, but that did give us and excuse to get out and some other areas such as South Bend, Indiana (home of Notre Dame University),

Shipshewana, IN (tourist trap and Amish country)

 

and Elkhart, IN home of the RV Hall of Fame (yes we visited it).

We were also within walking distance of a farm stand which was open every day.  Peaches were in season and were enjoyed by all.  I love the country, because it reminds so much of my grandparents who were farmers in Missouri.

The kids all seemed to have a great time and it was wonderful to watch them interact.

We had a great time, but I was exhausted and we didn't get a ton of family time like we have been spoiled enough to have on past vacations.  But I'd do it again, maybe not every year, but I'd do it.

 

Ella lost her first baby tooth early in the week!

Bowling in South Bend on a rainy morning.

  

Large hibiscus in Shipshewana.

A walk and silly fun after some fine dining.

All the kids.  Well we tried to take a picture of them all.

I can't believe that just next week, the kids will be back to school and that Ella will be in Kindergarten in an all day program.  I've also got them signed up for plenty of other activities...

Wednesday Thursday

It was like a weekend, in the middle of the week. My parents watched the kids while Jason and I embarked on a midweek excursion of music and fun.

To try and keep a long story short, try to follow me here.  We had tickets to see Jason Mraz on Thursday night.  His best friend and fellow musician, Bushwalla  (Billy Galewood) was on tour with him.  Every year for the past five years a group has flown Billy out (independent of Jason) for LRC's (Living Room Concerts).  We went to our first last year which was held in a forest preserve.  We got to know the fans a bit and found them all to be really friendly.  The organizer, Rikki, has kept in touch with us through various social networking sources.  Since Billy was out with Jason this week, she set up an LRC for Billy and a few other local musicians on Wednesday night at Schuba's in Chicago in the small upstairs room.

I had the Grayslake Farmer's Market on Wed. until 7 pm, and we set out for the city right after.  We missed the first act but did see:

Anthony Bagnera of Makeshift Prodigy.

A bandmate who did a song.

Todd Carey

And of course Bushwalla (pictured here with Rikki).

 

Jason and I also invited Scott to the LRC.  I think he had a really good time.  He also let us crash on his floor.  Complete with Aerobed!  The next day, the three of us took a bike ride along Lake Shore Drive.  It was an amazing day.  Perfect weather.  We rode from his place on Montrose down to Fullerton by the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is where he'll be moving soon.  (To the area, not the actual zoo).

Could we ask for a better day? 

 

Great brotherly bonding.

No, not another member of the family, but one of the primates we saw when we took a quick walk through the zoo (it's free - so not like we are not getting our admission fee's worth by just breezing through).

When we went back up north, we went out to an Ethiopian restaurant called Demera.  I missed Ethiopian food and the food there was great.  Even Scott was making "yummy" noises the whole time!

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Did I mention that we got an email last week saying we'd be getting line jumper passes with our tickets?  We got in 15 minutes earlier than non-line jumper pass holders.

We ended up basically in the second row, surrounded by people we saw at the show the night before.

I really like one of the opening acts K'Naan.  A Somalian rapper.

Did I also mention they were taping this concert for Jason's next DVD?  So that was pretty fun.  The camera guy near us was really having a good time.

Yes, this close.

We were in a lot of the crowd shots.  We may end up on the DVD, who knows?

Look close, Jason's on the left and I'm on the far right.

How tired do I look?

 

Singing "Lucky" with Colbie Callait... for the third time.  Really!  He messed up the first time.  Not sure what was wrong the second time, but perhaps third time was a charm?

Bushwalla performed with Jason for the final song.

A very gracious Jason and his band.

Between Farmer's Market and 2 concerts, I think I may have gotten very close to winning a record for standing the most hours within a 2 day time frame.

Now to pack for our next adventure!

New Items

Here are two new casserole carriers that I will be offering at the Farmer's Market today.  

This one was inspired by the colors of fall.

The newer items are Gift Recipe Books.  The have a blank label on the front for you to personalize a book.  They are meant for gifts for say, a bridal shower.  All the guests could submit a recipe to add, or a family member could add family favorites into one book.  They could also be used as party favors to give all your guests a book of recipes.  Or even a blank book to fill.

I once gave away similar booklets at a cookie exchange for people to tape all the cookie recipes into.

When we are back from our trip, I'll put these in the Etsy shop and I think I'll offer sets of 5 random booklets at a bulk discount.  What do you think?  Good idea?