As I mentioned before the girls have been away visiting some Minnesota relatives. I was hoping to complete a lot of projects on the want-to-do list, but it wasn’t to be. Instead Vi and I have really bonded this week. She figured out pretty quickly that she had me all to herself and has demanded those exclusive rights most of the day. Let’s just say that Vi’s favorite place to be is on Momma’s left hip preferably being walked around. This doesn’t leave much time for crafts, but I do love me some Violet.

In other news, you may notice a few red marks on Violet’s nose and upper lip. That would be my fault. While picking tomatoes with Mike the other night I unwisely thought Vi could hang out in one of the girls’ folding chairs. I mean, c’mon, it’s only 4 inches from the ground. Nope, Vi took a nose-dive into the stone patio floor and scraped up her lip and nose. Chalk this one up as realizing a 1-year-old is not coordinated enough to sit in a big kid chair yet.

While at the zoo this past weekend I made it a point of sneaking off with Vi to do a little photo shoot. I figured since it was her first birthday and we were in a outside setting that it would be a great opportunity. The most beautiful spots were out in full sun, so I had to settle for a grassy nook.

I was waiting with Vi on a park bench because she wasn’t big enough to go into the free-flying bird zone, and it occurred to me that I could get a cute shot of her on the bench. Glad I tried it.

Growing up the city girl that I’ve been my entire life and having parents who think vacations are only to be spent lounging on a tropical island, I didn’t think I’d ever enjoy camping or being outdoorsy in the least. Then Mike entered into the equation, and I had to throw all those notions away. The first time we went camping together I really didn’t enjoy myself, and I think it mostly boiled down to not having the air bed. I know, it’s stupid, but it really has made all the difference (even though I really don’t ever get much sleep while camping). Now ever since adding the air bed to our tent furniture I actually enjoy the whole camping experience. Turns out I CAN deal with the constant application of bug spray, smelling like a campfire, and possibly not bathing for more than a day.

When the Johnsons mentioned that they planned a camping trip with Mike up in Door County without my knowing I acted all surprised and as if I dreaded the camping experience. In reality though, I looked forward to the adventure. Someone had told me about Door County before, and I have wanted to go since then. It was decided that camping up there would be a money saver but also fun for the kids. We arrived Thursday night. The men immediately started a fire and set up camp while the ladies got dinner going. The next morning we got up and made doughnuts and then ventured our way over to our first stop at Cave Point Park. We were amazed at how crystal clear the water was there, and the rock walls and shore were stunning. We spent a good chunk of time just frolicking and exploring.

Next on our agenda was to visit the Cana Island Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1869 and boasts 96 steps up to the top. They restricted access to 42 inchers or taller, so we had to leave the babies behind which meant splitting our group up into 2. It was pretty spooky going up to the top and seeing how steep the steps were, but we made it up without any drama and got to experience such the beautiful view up at the tippy top. The Johnsons have a different story to tell with Julie and the kids scaling the walls and fearing for their lives. Wimps!

Violet decided she would stand up for a few nanoseconds.
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The last part of our day was spent exploring the shops of Fish Creek and attending the traditional fish boil. Julie and I were skeptical about the fish boil, but it was actually quite delicious and provided an entertaining show.

Of course, we couldn’t leave without getting the kids a wearable souvenir and even more fun to match your best friends.

We had to head out a little earlier than originally planned because of the funeral, but we did manage to squeeze in some fun in the morning. The Johnsons were able to spend the rest of the day in Door County exploring some other sites and also made it for tailgating in Green Bay for the Packers’ Game.

I’m so glad we did this before we move away next year. It would even be fun to make this a yearly or every-other-yearly thing to do.

Tomorrow come back to meet Russell.

There has been so much on our agenda lately that I’ve still got stuff from last week to post about.

A neighbor told me about how the local bowling alley was offering a “kids’ club” which basically allows kids to bowl on weekdays for free. I’ll tell ya, this is a brilliant marketing tactic on the bowling alley’s part because the place was packed with kids and adults all bowling with a waiting list for lanes. I wanted to try out the deal at least once this summer, so I invited the Johnson kids to tag along with us. It was actually a nice break from the high heat we’ve been getting this year. The kids had a blast, and we may just have to go again before the summer is all gone.

The girls each tried bowling with and without the ramp. Annie gave in and bowled with the ramp most of the time, but Mimi kept up her endurance and bowled without the ramp the entire 2 games. And don’t ya just love Annie’s crazy outfit. I’ve long since given up on assisting them with their outfit choices this summer? At the end of the game the “winner” was Chloe the 2-year-old wonder bowler with a score over 100. Granted, none of the kids were actually bowling, or really paying attention, and the bumpers were up.

Violet was content to sit and watch and eat a whole bag of Cheez-Its all by herself.

Mike’s work had a family picnic the week before, and they had some fun activities for the kids including a bouncy house, an obstacle course, and jousting. I think the jousting was actually intended for older kids and adults, but we let our girls give it a go. It was funny watching them because they were barely strong enough to hold up the jousts and couldn’t even reach other. Oh well, at least the girls got a chance to try it out. In the 3rd picture it looks like Annie knocked Mimi’s joust out of her hand, but it was actually just Mimi dropping it on her own after tiring out. And, I must say check out that beautiful sky. You gotta love the midwest because we never saw skies like that in D.C. or even in N.C. or S.C. Gorgeous!

And in other news, we have a possibly permanent houseguest living on our tomato plants. Mike discovered this little guy during one of his incessant pruning sessions. At first he was just as excited as the girls were to have a new friend. I gently interjected that he may want to move the little fella to another home so as to not ruin his prized cherry tomatoes. I was dismissed. The next day Mike griped that his “friend” had taken a bite out of almost every single tomato on that plant. I had nothing to say. Mike did find what kind of caterpillar it is, some sort of moth, but I can’t remember or find it. If you have happen to know, then please feel free to offer that information. I’ll add it once I talk to Mike again. ETA: The caterpillar is a Waved sphinx caterpillar – Ceratomia undulosa and will look like this when he/she becomes a moth: http://bugguide.net/node/view/22529/bgimage

Our church congregation had its annual Pioneer Day Picnic (a holiday which commemorates the Mormon pioneers’ trek west into the Salt Lake Valley) this past Saturday. I’m on the activities committee, so I had to help run the event and not get to take many pictures. The weather had been rainy the previous night which left the ground soggy, so it was decided to have the event at church. I think it actually worked out better that way because it was hotter and more humid than hades that day.

There was a fabulous spread of food for us to eat and numerous events for the children and adults. The primary kids got to play stick pull, cornhole, doughnut on a string, use can stilts, and try to eat pudding while having arms attached to people on both sides. It was fun watching them especially seeing them try to eat doughnuts on a string. Apparently, Mimi was quite determined to eat her doughnut and was flailing all over to get at it. The adults did tug o’ war and our 2nd annual Mens’ Pie Baking Contest.

Many of the men really take the event seriously and even won’t reveal the flavor of pie to each other until the day of the picnic. Mike and I were discussing possible ideas for his pie, and we both remembered that last year the pies that got 1st, 2nd, 3rd places were the non-technical and un-traditional pies such as Blue Moon Pie (which I think was a mishmash of puddings to get to blue dumped onto a pie crust). So I jokingly said to Mike that he should make S’Mores Pie, and he actually thought that that would be a good idea. I quickly found a recipe for him to use, and off he went to make it. The final step right before serving it was to brulée the marshmallow topping. Of course, Mike was not lacking in brulée-ing tools and pulled out his torch for the job. Mike’s pie didn’t win, but it sure was yummy. Good job, Mike! The other pies in the contest were apple/peanut butter, pumpkin, shoo fly (which was the winner), key lime (made by Seth), watermelon (?!?), and flan. Now I’m totally not being biased here, but I honestly think the that either Mike’s or Seth’s pies should’ve won because those are the only pie flavors I would have been able to stomach.

Seth’s pie looked delicious, and I’m still surprised he could create such a beautiful product on his own (Julie swears she didn’t help and didn’t even know he was doing the key lime).

I had been in the process of making the girls some new dresses. The original pattern has an attached apron on the skirt of the dress. I never intended to do the aprons and was just going to make a tie belt instead. However, once Annie saw the picture of the pattern she begged me to make the aprons with it. I conceded but chose to make the apron detachable and also make the tie belts so that the girls can get 2 dresses in one. Mike suggested that since I was making the aprons that I should try to have the dresses done in time for the Pioneer Picnic so that they’d look like little pioneer girls. Of course, I wasn’t completely done on the eve of the picnic day still needing to sew the aprons. I sewed like a mad woman Friday night until 2 a.m. to get them done skipping a few steps along the way and making a handful of miscalculations, but I got the dresses “done enough” in time for the picnic. I’m actually going to re-do the belt strap on the aprons because they weren’t wide enough (one of my miscalculations), and I also want to add an embellishment on the corner of the aprons.

Here are the quick pictures I took of the girls in their dresses which don’t do them justice at all, but you get the idea. Once I re-complete the aprons and make the tie belts, then I’ll have a mini-photo shoot with the girls to get better captures of the dresses.

Julie got some great pictures of my girls in their dresses and participating in their games, so I stole them off her site. Thanks, Julie:) Their family had visited the Nauvoo Temple a few weeks ago and acquired some pioneer bonnets/hats for their kids. I should’ve asked them to pick some up for my girls, too. Very cute.

Alyssa and Annie playing stick pull.

Mimi working on getting that doughnut off the string.

And here are the girls trying to eat pudding while tied to their neighbors. Good idea to use vanilla pudding:\

We were wiped out at the end of the picnic and came home to take naps. The Johnsons called us on the way home to ask us to meet up at the beach. Without being too rude I replied, “Are you nuts? We’re on our way home to take a nap!” We did still get together with them but much later. They brought over some of Tenuta’s paninis, we provided root beer floats, and we played cornhole and bocci ball outside. When it got too sticky outside the activities were moved indoors to play Spades while the kids watched “Nacho Libre”. Good times.