Tomorrow's August!

Drew came home from school today, and said "Tomorrow's August!" as soon as he got off the bus. He's very excited because he knows that August is his birthday month, although he can't quite remember the day. It looks like we are having a Cars themed birthday again, as much as I tried to talk him out of it. I'll be making another Lightning McQueen cake per his request, and Adam has requested that Lightning not be pink this time. Very funny.

We've been busy since my last post. Drew and I spent Saturday with Grandpa, and we got to tour Bass Pro Outlet as I reported. Drew had to show Grandpa his favorite party boats which he kept calling the door boat, because they have the little door on the front or to be nautically correct, the bow, if a party boat is considered to have a bow. Anyway, we finally dragged him away to look at the giant catfish in the aquarium.

After church on Sunday, I called to see when Andy and Carole and the kids were getting back from the beach and they were already home. They decided to beat the thunderstorms that we were supposed to get all day, and that turned out to be a smart plan. I stole this picture from Andy that was taken while they were in Ocean City. Don't they look like they're having a good time?

Today, Drew and I went to the pool with Hailey and Alex and then we had Lasagna for dinner with Aunt Carole and Uncle Andy. We had dinner there last night, as well--I think we better give them a break for a day or two. However, this weekend Aunt Carole is having a DECADE birthday, so I know we'll be spending some time with her to help her celebrate.

Strange Meeting You Here

Adam has become a big fan of the Beer Can Chicken ever since we had it at Uncle Jack's for the 4th of July. Today's effort is our second attempt (the first time our chicken got a little overdone), and the results were fabulous! We decided to go with 2 chickens since it really doesn't require any more effort, and I think they look pretty funny on the grill in a burning at the stake sort of way. Uncle Jack had a special device specially made for Beer Can Chicken, but we went with the standard charcoal grill method (using the Cooks Illustrated recipe). This chicken is actually Limeade in a Diet Coke can chicken, but the idea is still the same. We've decided that we need to put this meal into regular rotation around here.


We enjoyed our chicken with Grandpa, who is making a quick visit this weekend (unfortunately, Nana couldn't make the trip with him). Drew got to give him a new fishing reel which he had insisted on buying for him at Dick's a month or so ago. Hopefully, Drew will get a chance to go fishing with him before the summer is over.

Adam has to work tomorrow, so Drew and Grandpa have big plans to play soccer and then go to Bass Pro Outlet together (Drew loves to climb all over the boats and the ATV's). I don't think we'll be spending too much time outdoors, since it's supposed to be 90+ degrees and humid. What do you expect in Baltimore in July?

Back to Normal

Well, it's taken me over two weeks to recover and finally finish my posts about vacation. It seems like we've been really busy since we got back, but I don't have a whole lot to report. I've been working a little bit, and Drew is in a summer school program until August 2nd. We're both really enjoying that. Adam is working hard at work and on his senior thesis so he doesn't have a lot of free time at the moment.

We did manage to get on the bikes yesterday since we've had some beautiful weather this week. Unfortunately, we're in the midst of a drought, but we have had some low humidity/comfortable weather days to enjoy anyway. We took a short ride into Patapsco State Park (one of our favorite rides) and stopped at the purple playground (explained in an earlier post). On the way back we took a couple of pictures by the Swinging Bridge.


When we were almost back to Ilchester Road, we stopped on the new bridge and watched a girl riding her horse in the river. The horse didn't seem to be too happy when she made it go in almost all the way to its head, but seemed pretty calm in this picture I took where only its legs are covered.

After the bike ride, it was time to get a haircut. Adam and Drew go to the same barber on about the same schedule, although Drew is not always thrilled about getting his hair cut. We went with #3 clippers this time which seemed too short again for me. Next time, we're going with #4 on top and #3 on the side. As much as Drew doesn't like the process, he absolutely loves the result. Hair care becomes a 20 second job.

The End of the Vacation

I'm going to finish this story about our vacation, if only to have a record of it for later. I made it up through Mackinac Island, so that leaves the rest of our time in Michigan.

We stayed at Saginaw Valley State University again this year -- you can't beat the price and the accommodations are great since we get an apartment with a full kitchen and 2 bedrooms for a little over $200 for a week. Drew does much better when he has his own room -- no more driving around until 11 pm!

When we got to Uncle Jack's on the 3rd, he and Betty made a delicious fish dinner for us and we got to watch the Bay City fireworks from his back yard. They're probably 10 or so miles away, but Michigan is pretty flat so we could see them pretty well, except for the stuff right near the ground.

On July 4th, we all gathered at Uncle Jack's for our annual reunion. We had a pretty big crowd even though we didn't get any West Virginia attendees this year. Between Jack and Betty's extended families, we had plenty of kids running around, and they all had lots of fun. The kids had pools, a seesaw, a trampoline and a ton of toys to play with in the house and the yard.

Of course, eating is a major part of the day. This year Uncle Jack made beer-can chickens (along with lots of drumsticks for the kids), plus we had green beans, corn, scalloped potatoes, jello fluff, and several salads (I'm sure I'm forgetting something). Plus for dessert, we had a yummy chocolate pudding dessert (sort of like dirt cake), banana pudding and grilled banana splits (the bananas were grilled not the ice cream). Carole wound up doing most of the dishes afterward (hmmm - where was Andy?) and everyone was exhausted by the end of the day.




We did manage to get our family photo. Every year, it's like pulling teeth to get everyone to stand together for the photo, but they're all happy to have the picture once we're done.

On Thursday, July 5th, the men had their annual golf outing--Adam's only golf game for the year. He did pretty well this time too, and said he could understand how people get addicted to the game. Meanwhile, Heidi, Carole and I took the kids to the movies. Most of us saw Ratatouille, but Carole and Alex went to see the Transformers movie since they had already seen Ratatouille. After the movie, Heidi, Carole and I tried to do some shopping in Midland, but the weather wasn't exactly cooperating. Still we had a good time walking around and checking out the stores. Dinner was ham, kale, mac & cheese, salad and rolls (thank you Heidi, I used your blog for reminders).

On Friday, July 6th, we headed to Zehnders Splash Village in Frankenmuth for a morning of slipping and sliding. Adam, Drew, Hailey and I went last year and we were all looking forward to going again. Drew has been talking about it all year. We really thought that he would go down the big green and blue slides this year (they're the bigger, faster slides), but he hasn't lost his fear, although he did go down the yellow slide over and over again. I think the difference to him is being enclosed - the green and blue slides are tubes, but the yellow slide is open. Anyway, everybody had a good time (Avery had some issues with the noise at first, but she got over it). At 2pm, it was time for us to go, and we had to say goodbye to Scott, Heidi, Quinn, Avery and Kaleigh. They had their big 1 hour drive home to Saline.


The rest of us headed over to Tom and Joan's to visit and to have lunch/dinner (there was some confusion about which meal we were going to have). Their house is as lovely as ever, and the kids really enjoyed watching Carole try to catch frogs in the pond (a little country for the Jersey girl, isn't it?). Unfortunately, Adam, Drew and I had to cut our visit a little short, because we headed into dangerous meltdown territory and decided to head out before things got worse. We headed back to our apartment, then Adam made one last trip to Meijer to stock up on Ruby Red Squirt.

On Saturday, July 7th, we headed home. We had a fairly uneventful trip, other than our portable DVD emergency. Apparently, our car adapter received a fatal injury which rendered the DVD player useless. I do have to say that Adam almost lost it over this turn of events (almost, more than Drew), but we managed to find a Radio Shack in Akron (we were actually headed to Wal-Mart to buy a whole new player) and fixed the problem for around $30. We love the DVD player.

We avoided the PA turnpike and took the scenic West Virginia route through Morgantown. We tried this route 2 years ago in the midst of horrendous thunderstorms, but we had beautiful weather on this trip so it didn't take us much longer than our normal route.

We had a great trip, if a tad ambitious. It was so good to get home and sleep in our own beds!

Happy Birthday Andy!

Today, Andy is 44 years old. I can't believe it. He's old! Of course, he's my older brother (is my nose growing?) Carole fixed a very nice london broil dinner and Dad, Melva, Drew and I all celebrated with the Ferguson family. I had to include the pictures of Andy with Annette since I got them together at Uncle Jacks on the 4th. The other picture was taken in Grandma's front yard in either 1965 or 1966.

I was going to try to finish the postings about our vacation here, but I'm so far behind I'm going with what I have here.

Two Day Fudgies

On Sunday (July 1st), we (Adam, Drew, Andy, Carole, Hailey, Alex and I) headed up to Mackinac Island for a two day stay at the Mission Point Resort. We started out a little later than we had hoped, but with the pace of the last few days it couldn't be helped. We drove over the Mackinac Bridge (which caused Carole quite a bit of anxiety) to St Ignace to catch the ferry over to the Island. Since we were (barely) in the UP, I decided that we should eat like the locals so I stopped and picked up some pasties for us to eat on the boat.

We arrived on the island just before 2pm and we called Scott and Heidi so we could met up with them, and they had already rented bikes and headed to town. While we were sitting on our taxi waiting to go to the hotel, Scott, Heidi and the kids rode by, so we agreed to rendezvous at Mission Point. The island was just as quaint, but beautiful as I remember from 20 years ago. The main drag was pretty crowded by the dock, but it sort of cleared out on our drive to the hotel (a whole 1/2 mile from the dock). The kids loved the "horsey" taxi and Drew kept asking to go back on the "horsey ride" every time we went out.


After we got checked in, we all headed out for a walk (except for Andy who was busy doing schoolwork on his computer) to Arch Rock which is a common stop on any Mackinac Island tour. As you can tell from the pictures, it was a beautiful day and I don't think it was even 70 degrees. We all had dinner together in the hotel (party of 12, 6 adults and 6 children--at least we weren't outnumbered) and then all of the kids went to the pool for a while before bed. Heidi and Scott invited Drew to watch a DVD before bed with Quinn, Avery and Kaleigh so Adam and I got to take a walk downtown in the evening.

On Monday (July 2nd), we all rented bikes for a ride around the island. We learned that we'll definitely bring bikes next time because the rental fees add up quickly. We started out with a tandem bike with a burley attached (I'm sorry that we didn't get a picture), but after a short ride, we went back and got two 3-speed bikes and kept the burley for Drew. It's only 8 miles around the island, but that was enough for us. Andy, Scott and Heidi wound up keeping their bikes and riding up in the hills -- they got some beautiful pictures which you can see on Heidi's blog.

Drew and Adam made another trip to the pool, and then all of the kids went to Kid's Club at Mission Point from 4 - 9 pm. They had lots of fun -- they did crafts, played putt-putt golf and went to the Butterfly House before going back to watch a movie. The adults REALLY enjoyed it. Adam and I wound meeting up with Carole later in the day for a round of putt-putt golf (she and Adam tied so this strange competition goes on) and then had dinner at Bistro on the Greens. While we were at dinner, Carole spotted the kids walking down the street, and Drew and Alex even came over and went to the bathroom a few feet away from us. We tried to hide from them, but they were oblivious anyway and they continued down the street to wherever they were going without giving us any notice (I guess that I should mention that they were being supervised).

After we retrieved all the children, I took Drew to Scott and Heidi's room, so that they could go hang out with Andy and Carole in the great room. I think I sent Drew back with Adam around 11pm and the Quinn, Avery and Kaleigh and I all fell asleep watching Dora the Explorer. I'm telling you--we're all living on the edge.

This was the view from our room. You can see the steeple of the Mission Church and then a little bit of Lake Huron just beyond it. I didn't think we would get a lake view room so this was an extra treat. Plus, you can see the little road right outside where we could hear the clop clop of the horses hooves going by early in the morning.

In the morning(Tuesday, July 3rd), it was time to pack up and leave the island. We got a few t-shirts, but no more fudge (we actually only bought 1 slice). Adam and I agreed that we could have stayed for a week. Being on the island with no cars and the laid back attitude really forces you to slow down. We'd like to visit again, but we'll probably wait 5 years or so until Drew is old enough to really enjoy it.

International Travel

We wound up leaving for vacation around 2:30 pm on Wednesday, June 27th because we decided that we wouldn't have enough time to see Niagara Falls if we waited until Thursday morning to leave. Our early departure caused some grief for Carole, and she wound up doing a lot of running around at the last minute. All who know her are shocked!

Our only stop on the road Wednesday was at the Fruit Stand in Hancock, Maryland. We hung out in front of the store and had a snack before taking off again for our lovely evening in Altoona, PA. We had a decent dinner at Joey's Seafood and Grill (which I didn't realize was a nationwide chain) and stayed at the Super 8 Motel which I would not highly recommend. But, what do you expect from a Super 8? Unfortunately, Drew could not settle down when it was time to go to bed. I guess he was a little excited about being on vacation especially because Hailey was with us. Adam wound up putting him in the car and driving around until he fell asleep sometime after 11 pm.

The next morning (June 28th) was kind of rainy and nasty, and we hit the road after breakfast at Cracker Barrel. The drive from Altoona to Niagara Falls is pretty much back roads until you get to the outskirts of Buffalo and seemed to take forever (to me, anyway). We stopped for lunch in Bradford, PA for lunch, and finally got to Niagara Falls around 4 pm. Since it was a weekday, we got right on the Maid of the Mist which was a lot of fun. Adam's comment was that it was just a cheesy as he thought it would be, but I know he enjoyed it anyway. Hailey took lots of pictures with her waterproof camera, and she had to keep her trash bag, I mean raincoat, as a souvenir.


The falls are so beautiful, they almost don't look real to me. We walked around in Niagara Falls State Park for as long as we could after the boat ride, but Drew was not cooperating with the walking plan (he started with what became a familiar refrain as the trip went on -- "I feel sick!") and Hailey was about to die of thirst so we headed for the car and Canada. We didn't really have any trouble getting over the border, the guard just wanted to make sure we didn't have any weapons. Luckily, Hailey didn't mention the (chef's) knife until after we were through the checkpoint.

After we checked into our hotel (the Country Inn and Suites, which we highly recommend), we headed out to get some dinner. We had what was probably the worst meal of the trip at the Rainforest Cafe on Clifton Hill. Hailey and Drew enjoyed the atmosphere, but, as I would have expected, the food was overpriced and bad. At least the service was friendly. After dinner, we walked along the promenade almost all the way to the Horseshoe Falls and back which was just one gorgeousl view after another. The people watching was pretty interesting as well -- it was a very international crowd. I really wanted to see the Falls illuminated at night, but we just weren't able to stay out that late. The kids really wanted to get in the pool (who cares about a bunch of waterfalls?) so we headed home for the night.

On Friday (June 29th), we had breakfast at the hotel and Adam, Hailey and Drew went for a swim before we packed up and headed for Toronto. We took the scenic tour, stopping at the Floral Clock and then driving through Niagara-on-the-Lake which seems to be worth a trip all by itself. We did our drive-by gawking, but didn't stop except for lunch at the Harvest Barn Farm Market where we got to try some Ontario cherries. Hailey and Adam were quite happy since they are both love cherries (Hailey still talks about her 140+ cherry day last year at the National Cherry Festival).

When we got to Toronto, both Hailey and Drew were asleep so we drove around for a while just to let them sleep a little longer. Toronto is very easy to navigate so we had no trouble finding our hotel. We stayed at Ryerson University International Living and Learning Centre in what is basically student housing. We lived and learned that we didn't want to stay in a space that small again. However, the price and the location were fantastic. We didn't really have enough time in Toronto so we just picked a couple of things to do First, we went to the CN Tower where you can see Drew and Hailey had no problem lying on the glass floor 80 stories up. Then, we went to the Harbourfront Centre where we walked along the water and stopped to listen to some music that was part of the Canada Day weekend activities. If we had it to do over again, we probably would have stayed 2 days in Niagara Falls instead of going to Toronto. Another live and learn experience.

On Saturday (June 30th), we went to the St. Lawrence Market for breakfast. The place was fabulous, and I could have stayed there all day, but we needed to keep moving to our next destination. However, our breakfast was great. We each had "Breakfast on a Bun" which is peameal bacon (they don't call it canadian bacon in Canada, imagine that), egg and cheese on a kaiser roll. It reminded Adam of a New York "egg special". Then it was back to the hotel to pack up and hit the road again.

We had a fairly quick trip to the border until we got about 3 km out and then it took us 2 hours to get through the security checkpoint at Sarnia. Things got a little testy, but we made it back to the U.S. in time for a late dinner -- Uncle Jack's beans and cornbread!