Day 2

It's been another crazy week since I last posted! Friday I didn't have internet. I couldn't figure it out... I rebooted everything... my computer, the signal extender... everything but the actual modem :-) Jeff came home and pointed that out and within minutes I was back in business. Saturday, a photography friend was in from Montreal and we spent the day wandering around Chicago, talking and taking photos. I have a ton from that day! We had so much fun! This week I got called for jury duty on Tuesday. I got called in to a courtroom for jury selection for a case (attempted first degree murder of a child under 13... yikes!), but thankfully they found their 12 and two alternates before they ever got to me. I did spend pretty much a whole, stressful day there though. Yesterday I got a massage and was pretty much worthless the rest of the day :-)

Now back to the photos of our Crystal Mountain trip!

On day two we got up and out the door early. It was supposed to rain so we wanted to get to the river to play for a while before the rain came.

This is my one and only photo...
(I do have some video though)

The storm was rolling in so it was blowing sand like crazy! I just hated having my camera out, so I put it away. It eventually started to rain, so we packed up and headed back to our townhome.

After the rain, the kids wanted to go to the main pool for a while. As you can tell, we were some of the first pioneers to go there after the rain....
Clara has discovered an interest in basketball. She really wants to try it out.
She may take a class through the afterschool program to see what she really thinks of it.

Yes, Alex was there too. He was just being less than cooperative when it came to photos....
... he's that blue blob under the water on the left.

After a while we decided to head back to the townhome to get ready for our evening. The kids had been wanting to challenge Jeff to these mini games that were in our unit...

Then it was time to head out to the drive-in movie! However, we had no clue what time the gates open and we were entirely too early. We decided to wait it out at the ice cream place the kids had spotted earlier....
Clara was having trouble keeping the sprinkles on her cone...
All of the treats...
Clara - a vanilla cone with sprinkles, Jeff - butterscotch sundae, Alex - watermelon glacier (slushie with soft serve vanilla - blended) and Me - cherry glacier (I got mine as a float). YUM! They were so good! I took a ton of photos at the drive in, so those will be in the next post!

Crystal Mountain Day 1

Last Thursday we left for one last trip of the summer. This time it was just the four of us. We went to our favorite getaway spot... Crystal Mountain in Michigan.

We didn't get a very early start and stopped to get groceries on the way, so by the time we got there it was about dinner time. We decided to go ahead and have dinner and then let the kids swim. We stayed on the mountain top this time and those condos/townhomes have their own pool.

They had it to themselves...


Once Jeff joined us at the pool, they started a new game. Jeff threw the basketball and the kids tried to catch it as they jumped in....







Needless to say, no one ever caught the ball! They had a blast though! I have some video but I haven't transferred any of our trip video to the computer yet.

The view from our unit was beautiful! Here are the kids on the balcony...
You can't really tell how nice the view was. After they showered and got into their pj's, we had our first game night of the trip. No photos, but some really crazy videos to come once I get them transferred!

first day of school....

Today was the first day of school for the kids! They were both very excited! Alex was excited to be starting his new school and Clara was excited to see all of her friends again.

Alex was out the door first...
His school starts an hour before Clara's, so I have photos of just him since Clara wasn't out of her pj's yet.

It was chilly this morning and he was trying to stay warm as I took the photos...
One last shot as he headed out the door with Jeff...
And he's off....
Next it was Clara's turn to go to school...
That is the only photo I got of her! Her friend came around the corner as we were taking photos and she ran off to walk to school with her. Oh well :-)

Both kids had great first days!! Alex has a lot to get used to... being in school for the first time, a new school with a new concept, and changing rooms for all of his classes. He loved every minute of it though. Clara had a great time seeing her friends again and getting to know her new teacher. She's very excited about this new year!

how it's made...

Alex loves that show. He loves watching the manufacturing process and seeing how things are made. On the last day of our trip, he got to see how things are made up close and personal!

On Friday morning we went to Sheboygan, WI to tour the facility at VPI. My parents buy from them for their business and they offered to give us a factory tour since we were in the area. Alex was beyond excited...
Here we were watching vinyl floor tiles being made....
The whole process is fascinating! Alex loved it! We also got to see how vinyl wall base was made as well. It was a great tour. The man giving the tour gave us such detailed descriptions of the process that even Alex didn't have any questions!

After the tour we went to the conference room to meet with the president of the company and some of the other employees. They gave the kids some goodies which was totally unexpected!

On our way out, the kids posed with the sign and some of their new goodies...
The president of the company also owns a restaurant in Sheboygan, so although he wasn't able to join us, he arranged for us to have lunch there.

It was probably a good thing he didn't join us as Clara was having a pre-lunch food crisis meltdown...
The view from our table...
The Duke of Devon....
It was really good! Dad and I had sandwiches, but everyone else had the fish and chips. They said they were really good. And the weather was beautiful... such a great place to eat outside!

See... a little food and she perks right back up...
From there, it was time to say good-bye to grandpa and grandma and thank them for such a wonderful trip!

We had arranged to catch the train back to Chicago to save them the trouble of fighting their way into the city and then back out, just to drop us off. It worked wonderfully! The train ride was so quick! We were back to the city in no time!

Here are the kids hanging out, waiting for our train...

And a photo of my dad being a photo ninja...
... sneaking around taking the last few snapshots of our trip!

Thanks again mom and dad for such a wonderful trip!

the jelly belly tour....

We're back from our final trip of the summer! But before I get to those photos, I thought I had better finish up the ones from our trip to Wisconsin. :-)

Thursday morning we loaded up the car and left Door County. But before we did, I took a couple of quick photos from our patio....

Such a nice view!

We had other plans for the day, but things changed. So we ended up at the Jelly Belly warehouse a day early.

Here are grandma and the kids going in for the tour...
No photos of the actual tour because they aren't allowed. But to be honest, there wasn't much to take photos of. It's a warehouse. You ride around on a cute little train and watch videos about how Jelly Belly jelly beans are made. Very informative... but not much to photograph.

The highlight of the trip is the Jelly Belly store...
The kids had been planning this stop the entire trip! They had a couple things planned out that they wanted to get, but then found so much more at the store...
So many decisions!!

the fish boil...

Wednesday night we headed to Ephraim for the fish boil at the Old Post Office.

Adding more wood to the fire...


Throwing the kerosene on...
and WHOOOOOOSH.....


... the whole thing goes up in flames! :-)

Everyone said the fish was really, really good. I'm not a big fan of fish, so I had fried chicken instead. But I can say that the potatoes and onions that were in the pot with the fish were very good! It was a fun experience to watch!

Here's the video (warning... the fish boil part was shot by Clara so it can meander a bit at times)...

Egg Harbor Fun Park

Wednesday morning my dad went to play golf, so my mom and I took the kids to play some golf of our own... mini golf! You'll have to trust me that we did it, because I don't have any photo/video evidence of the event. But that's what happens when I'm actually playing too and there are a couple of groups right behind us waiting for us to finish each hole.

After mini golf, Alex wanted to ride the go-carts...


After witnessing his driving skills the night before on the video game, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how he did in an actual vehicle.

Next they played some trampoline basketball (a little footage of that in the video below).

And, finally, they ended up at the arcade.

Clara decided to take a spin on the big wheel and won the jackpot....


ONE THOUSAND TICKETS!!!

It took them forever to pick out their prizes and then we were off to the hotel for an afternoon of swimming at the pool!