Tuesday, August 25, 2009

how can you not smile...

Alright.


So I've been a bit absent lately (that seems to be a recurring theme this summer...)


But as I've said before, I've had a bit of blogger's block.


Then I remembered that some of my favorite posts aren't about an event or happening...


but are instead just about our daily life.


And all the fun we have.
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Friday, August 21, 2009

Farmer's Market


A few weekends ago we had a great time when Jim and Bev (Kent's parents) visited us. My kids have been going through grandparent withdrawal this summer, and it was great to have Jim and Bev here so Meredith and Jesse could get their grandparent fix!

For once we didn't really have an agenda for the weekend. Usually our weekends with Jim and Bev are full of ballgames, work projects, birthday parties, or other things like that. But this time it was nice to not have an agenda the whole weekend. On Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market in Iowa City.


Have we been hiding under a rock because we had never been there before?


Not only was it fun to see what was there, but what a great place to get locally grown produce and locally made things.


Let's see...

what all did we enjoy there...

scones,

cookies,

coffee,

the live music,


and seeing all the good looking produce


and flowers.


What did we enjoy after we left?

Meredith loved her yummy cupcake


(it even came with a ring on top!)


fresh sweet corn grown just a few miles from where we live,


apple pie,

and yummy homemade bread (both pumpkin bread and jalapeno cheddar bread.)

Can't wait to go back!

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Friday, August 14, 2009

My kind of camping

A few weeks ago we decided to go camping. This was all decided on, I believe, a Thursday night or Friday morning, and we went on Friday night. So there was a lot of grabbing and dumping into the car when we came home from work on a Friday night ! As we were driving out of the driveway, it started to sprinkle...which meant tears from the back seat because I had previously told Meredith that the only reason we would stay home was if it rained. We kept on driving and were out of the rain almost immediately.

It was during a cold spell (yes, in JULY) so there were still many spaces left in the campground (we went to Kent Park.) Of course, we had to drive around at least twice to scope out the best campsites. Does anyone else do that or is it just us?? We found a really nice spot with enough space for our very large tent. Jim and Bev gave us a tent last summer but we hadn't used it yet. It was great! So Kent and the kids got the tent set up right away,


and I got to work building the fire.


Once the tent was set up, it was big enough that both kids had plenty of room to play in it.


After our supper of tinfoil dinners, (which were so yummy, why don't we make those at home on the grill for a change in pace??) Kent and the kids left to go get water to wash the dishes while I cleaned the other supper stuff up.


Later, after the kids both had fun making faces for pictures,


we had what we called hand pies. I don't know what they are really called, but that's the name we gave them. Basically it's 2 buttered pieces of bread with pie filling in the middle. You cook it in the contraption below that is shown sitting in the fire.


Meredith had a horrible time trying to remember what to call these things. She would think and think, and then call them hand cakes. And then 2 minutes later she would call them finger pies. Finally, after the millionth time of telling her what they were called, she would remember.

Now, there is a trick to making these hand pies. For example, don't do what I did for the picture above: I let the pie maker sit in the fire while I retrieved my camera and took a few pictures. Then I tried to open it and one of the pieces of bread was stuck to the top. I do remember Kent telling me that it needs a bit more time...so I put it in the fire a little bit longer.

And what happened?


Yeah, the black thing that is on top in the picture is actually bread. Bread that is so charred that it isn't even recognizable as bread! I think I tried to make another one and it burned too. After that Kent was in charge of the hand pies!

So anyway, this post wasn't meant to be so long, but I'm sure you're wondering about the title. My kind of camping is leaving the campground at 9:30 with Jesse to go home and sleep in my own bed...all the benefits of camping without using outdoor facilities or sleeping on the cold, hard ground!
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

What?


What? There's nothing wrong with making my own seat on a storage box and eating pretzels...why is everyone laughing at me?



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Awwww...


Isn't brotherly and sisterly love cute?

Meredith was singing a song to Jesse about how she
loved him to the moon and back.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

To Alaska, with love

I miss my mom and dad!

They are in Alaska. And have been since June 1. And will be until the middle of September.

(Mom and Dad, I'm still holding you to your word that you are coming home in the middle of September...)

If you want to see what they've been up to, check out their blog (Litwiller Travels) that is chock-full of wonderful pictures...a few of which are below.


Mom and Dad, I miss you and can't wait to see you again.
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Monday, August 10, 2009

The little things





It's the little things in life that make me smile. Like going for a walk in the evening with my family.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Oh Ikea...

...how I love you!

(Please leave a comment if you can't see the pictures. Sometimes I can see them on my computer and apparently you can't...)