Are you talking to me?

Yesterday I was in the guest room on the computer copying some recipes from books I had checked out of the library onto the computer, and I heard a call outside. A call that sounded familiar, as I had heard it at lunchtime. I remember thinking at the dining room table that the call sounded familiar, but wasn't immediately known. Of course at lunchtime it was quickly forgotten since I had to move on to the whole why don't my children EAT ANYTHING thing. So at the computer I would occasionally glance out the window, yet not see anything. I was halfheartedly looking for a cardinal, but it had been so long since I'd seen one, much less heard one, I was not diligent about it. After a while, Ava came in crying. It seems that Dad had instructed her to march back upstairs to bed since the length of her nap was completely unsatisfactory, and knowing there was no way she would be going back to sleep, and also knowing poor sleepy Dad was probably trying to take a golf nap, I told her she could climb into the guest bed and spend quiet time instead of going back to her room. She excitedly complied. After a couple more recipes, I hear the call again, and again, quite closely, and glanced out the window. In the middle of our next door neighbors huge maple tree in the back sat the first blue jay we have seen all year. I scooted Ava out of bed quickly so she could see him before he made his mad dash. Thankfully she did make it before he was gone. We were both so excited! I don't favor the blue jay as a bird (nasty things, they eat other bird's eggs and trash others nests-very rude!) but I do find them quite beautiful. And although the bird book shows quite a lot of beautiful birds that make their home in our region, we have been quite limited in what we have seen. (this is strange to me too as our next door neighbor has a few feeders for the birds?!) Aside from the spring robins and the summer sparrows and an occasional finch, the only colors we have seen so far are the yellow of the goldfinch and the red of the cardinal. I have been asking (hinting, really) about PJ for a shepherds hook on which to put my birdfeeder. I want a 2 prong one so I can put out the hummingbird feeder too- I have seen far too few of these as well. With the bird food you have to be careful or those crafty squirrels will raid it, but perhaps a trip to the local bird store would have some great solutions. Lucky for Ava and me that our next door neighbor in the meantime attracts some birds for us to watch to her big maple tree.
(photo courtesy of birdperch.com

St. Peters Fall Carnival

Last Friday was Ava's schools fall carnival. Last year we were not enrolled (or even living here as a family!!!) so we didn't do the fall one but caught the spring carnival. This fall carnival was like the spring carnival only there seemed to be more games. And James was on foot. We had a blast- Ava played games like Secret Key, What's behind the Door, Soccer Kick, things like that. You pretty much bought tickets on the way in and the games cost a certain amount of tickets. At each game you got a prize, and Ava had her loot bag. We ended up with a few tickets left so got a couple of lollypops on the way out the door. When we got there, first things first we got her face painted. Then we played some games, PJ bid on some IPFW basketball tickets for the silent auction, went outside to play a couple of more games, played on the playground, then back into the cafeteria for some food. It's the only time I eat Chick Fil-A sandwiches. It's a crying shame there are not waffle fries too, but what can you do? After dinner we played a couple of more games and got out of dodge. The kids had a great time and it was nice to see people that we have met before, and some faces that look familiar. It's ironic that part of my reasoning for liking that church is that it didn't seem so big, but in reality it's huge! So we are slowly but surely becoming more a part of it. And I almost forgot- Ava's school pictures are tomorrow!

Can I Get an Amen?

Okay so this morning at church the wee boy was being soooo good. Every time there was a prayer and the congregation said "Amen" the boy joined in and said "Ehm!".

Eating at the Festival

And then there was the food... While Ava and I got her face painted, Dad and James went on a food recon. They came back with a barbecue sandwich, some tips (it's a total midwestern thing-I still don't get it but the tips are a Big Deal out here!) and an apple yam crumble thing. We were starving and it was super yummy so it didn't last long, but there was room saved for the piece de resistance, the CORN. On our way in we saw a stand selling sweet corn, and it was unanimous that we had to have some. So on our way out we found a shady place to enjoy it. The weather was so perfect that it was warm in the sun and as PJ put it, a perfect Arizona winter day. Nice in the shade, almost cool, and warm in the sun. Anyway, the corn was probably the best I've ever had, which could be due to the fact that they dip it into a vat of butter and my true love remembered I love the salt too. It was unbelievably delicious!

And then there was face painting!

There was a place where the little chickens could have their faces painted, and of course we hopped in line. Ava was so excited. I watched with trepidation as we got nearer the front of the line as the number of pink feathers was dwindling and I knew she would be so disappointed not to have PINK, but alas we were in luck and a happy painted girl was had in the end.

Johnny Appleseed is buried in Fort Wayne

Here lies Johnny Appleseed. Ava is learning more about him in school this week. I had forgotten till this week that he is here. The park is lovely, such a nice resting place for him.

Our First Trip to the Johnny Appleseed Festival

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Every year, Fort Wayne has a festival honoring the late Johnny Appleseed (who happens to be buried up the street at Johnny Appleseed Park). This festival is the talk of the town, and we decided we would be disappointed to miss it. So made it to early church, came home and changed and off we went. We parked at Dave's house, and walked the rest of the way. There were tons of people there, and as soon as we entered the park I knew I would like it as there was a group playing the bagpipes! They finished suddenly, though, to my disappointment, which didn't last long since there was another band gearing up! The next band marched along and it was quite lovely. I am not sure what (beyond my Irish roots) makes me verklempt at the sound of the pipes, but I truly do love them. I told PJ that the only thing missing from our wedding was a piper. Anyhoo, Ava claims to love it too (my girl!) and I said perhaps we could learn together and form a band with Didi who wants to learn the accordion and Daddy who wants to learn the banjo. Yikes!!! In addition, there were 2 revolutionary war bands (groups?) playing- one was British and one "american". It was all exciting, especially the cannon that went off and scared the heck out of us! People were selling wares and foods, some of which we consumed. We walked around quite a bit till we became tired and then took the kids home for a nap. Which I should be taking now. Hmmm....

Avas Pictures

One lovely September afternoon we decided to take a walk. Ava likes walking in the autumn as there are a lot of twigs and leaves and acorns to find. We took the camera, and the pictures are what we found. The picture of the big nest I took- the one Ava took didn't come out. BUT the other photos are ones that our girl took herself, after a brief tutorial on the camera. And Mom's hand covering her other eye so she could see out the viewfinder. I think she has quite an eye!!!

More please

Wherein we eat a yummy salad filled with orange tomatoes from the garden.

Yet again

Wherein Daddy shaves off the mustache (!!!) (with the caveat that there might be a beard on the horizon depending on how cold it is this year. Hey, a fella's got to stay warm, right?)

Next again

Wherein the boy is currently as tall as Fred.

Next

Wherein the boy jams a whole ritz cracker into his mouth.

We interrupt our vacation blogging for some miscellaneous posts

Wherein the boy helps to feed Fred at dinner time. (Seriously, he went into the other room and brought out Fred's bowl. He is so helpful!)

Day Five: Lake Country

In the spirit of "It's a good idea in theory" we had planned a drive to lake country (i.e. around syracuse) and a picnic lunch. Given that there were 4 adults and 2 small children to get out of the house, the picnic got the kabosh. But lake country did not! We took the 30 over and the 13 up so we could go round about a few different lakes. We went to Dewart, but didn't quite make it to the lake. Just as well, as Pebbie's place isn't where you can really drive around the lake. (it's location is actually better as it's right by the girl scout camp!). We drove around a little of Tippicanoe, then headed on into Syracuse. Our original plan was to go to the public beach at the park there in downtown, but unfortunately the weather cooled off for the first day of the season that day (it had been in the 90's earlier in the week!) so there was no swimming to be had. Instead we found a sweet little park at the public access site and got the kids out of the car to play. After we put long sleeves on them! There was a man and his son fishing off the pier, and a truck putting their boat into the water. (three young boys, teenagers who were probably on their way to do some skiing). The public restroom, at least the womens, was exceptionally clean. No doors to the stalls, but really you can get someone to stand guard. Clean?! Amazing! Ava and James went up and down the slide several times, and Ava and Daddy played on the swings. James crossed the little bridge several times, and Papa chatted up the guy and his son fishing. After a while the skeeters got to be a bit much so we headed on in search of lunch so we could get the chickens home to nap.
After we got home and got the kids to bed Deb and I went to lakehouse.com and searched for our dream cabin. It needs to be on a quiet nonsporting lake so that Papa can do some serious fishing. We found a few possibilities- now we just need to win that crazy lotto!
Ben, Katie and Marybeth came for dinner that evening, and we made homemade pizza. Deb had found a recipe for pizza dough in the bread machine book we got at the library and we had made 2 batches the night before. We had the sauce and cheese, and we made 4 pizzas- 1 cheese, 1 tomato (from our garden of course), 1 mushroom, and 1 green pepper (from the csa). They all turned out great, and Marybeth loved it! Isn't that the true test- if the little ones eat it, then it must be good? For dessert we had the cookies Katie brought from the Cookie Cottage- unbelievably yummy- and we were all stuffed to the gills. PJ and Ben had some work to do so Didi, Papa, Katie, the kids and I headed into the living room for a little Lawrence Welk. Ava and James were dancing, and it was quite hilarious. I think Katie thinks we are a bit strange. (Thinks? No, she already knows...) At some point James started getting fussy and I announced that I was taking him up to bed. Katie could not believe it. MB doesn't go to sleep that early. I said it's his way of helping with my sanity! So up he went to bed, and did not seem to mind the continuing hubub downstairs being serenaded by the Champagne Lady.
After Ben and Katie left (MB was getting tired too, or tired of Lawrence Welk?) we headed to bed because we knew that the next day was going to be a big one with Deb and Tom leaving Monday. Church PLUS. Deb and I had originally planned to go to the West Central Home and Garden Tour, but we knew as much as we would enjoy it, the kids would enjoy the zoo even more. Stay tuned for more!

Day Four: Amish Country

Didi, the kids and I took off right after breakfast and headed over to Shipshewana. We stopped at a couple of cute shops, and at the first one there were some bonnets that Ava found. She put one on and it was ALL over. The world stopped for a minute she was so cute. So we had to have it. Grandma Artis sent some funds for the kids and Ava's bonnet was the third purchase. (the first 2 were books at the used bookstore- a wildflower book for this region, and a kids picture dictionary that is so great!). Ava wore her bonnet, and got a lot of smiles. We noted that there were a lot of people in town, and a lot of people from out of town! North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan (that one almost doesn't count as its about 10 minutes south of Michigan!) and several other places. Even though it was windy and rainy, no one seemed deterred. We found a place that was one big building with several shops in it, and went in there so James could wander the halls while Didi looked around. Needless to say he did not like being cooped up in the car, videoplayer notwithstanding. So we wandered, found some supercute Red Wing shoes that they did not have in either of our size and that they don't carry at our local Red Wing store (of course we checked!) and found some other cute stuff. It was getting late, though, so we decided to mosey on over to Elkhart and have lunch at the Farmers Market there. Talk about AMAZING! The first floor was food, the second floor was goods, (furniture, lotions, yarn, etc etc) and the third floor was offices. We ate barbecue sandwiches and corn dogs (James strangely enough did not dig the corn dog but enjoyed part of my sandwich) and apple fritters. Yummmmm. Then we wandered around building checking out all the wares for sale. I saw shops that I recognized from our time in South Bend. People were there on tour buses from Louisiana, too. It's quite a big deal. Great products too. I think if there is not a superlocal option for chicken etc I may go there for meat every couple of weeks or so. Cheese too. Again, mmmmmm. Then the kids needed to run around so we went outside and let them at it. At the back of the parking lot a gentleman had a petting zoo set up. There were miniature horses (I asked, and the one Ava is petting is 14), a llama, sheep, goats, and bunnies. Ava got to pet the bunnies and one of the horses, and James stood wide eyed at all the animals. We piled the kids back into the van for the trip home (which was not fun because the snacks that could have fed 43 football players were all consumed by my children before lunch and James totally missed his nap and threw anything I gave him to quiet him down and the movie didn't help and oh my goodness) and got a call from PJ wanting to know how much longer we were going to be. I got out of him that the weather was good for them and they were done playing their round and what he really wanted to know was if they had time to squeeze in another 9 holes. They did, so bonus round for them! We all arrived home tired at about the same time, and I made a quick dinner. We all passed out, ready for the next day.
Ava is awake and so now I am not going to be able to continue. Maybe tomorrow? Because there's more, folks, there's more!

Next up, Didi and Papa!

On the 4th of September, Deb and Tom flew into Indy and then drove a deluxe minivan up here to the Fort for an almost weeklong (yet still too short) visit. We made blts and relaxed the first night, but the boys were gearing up for the first of their 2 scheduled golf games! Ava had school, her first full day, on Wednesday, and she was so excited that Didi was there to go with her! So Wednesday a.m. the boys took off bright and early, and Didi, James and I took the little Miss to school. She said she felt a little nervous, as there was only one of the same kids in her class from last year. But we talked about it on the way there, and I think all her fears were gone because there was not one look back from her once she got into her classroom! And there was a positive report when we picked her up a couple of hours later. We had a nice dinner that night, and got the kids bathed and in bed. The next day, Dad took Ava and picked her up, and while the kids were napping, Didi and I took off for a little adventure. We went to Concordia thrift shop, where we each found something we NEEDED. (she really needed her cd holder, my book? not so much, but it will come in handy! It's a how-to bhg sewing book, pretty great!) Then we were off to the library to pick up a cd they had on hold for me and get a book of recipes for the bread machine. Of course there was coffee to be had, and then we were off to yet another bookstore, where she found a couple of treasures. I was scouring the cookbook aisles, but found nothing I couldn't live without. After that we were off to the co-op to pick up the weekly csa bounty. There were beautiful beets, lots of tomatoes, still mores squash, mysteriously disappearing kale (seriously I was going to make it last night and it is NOT in the fridge, weird!) peppers, broccoli, etcetcetc. All yumminess. All this took longer than expected (hellooo, we were in the BOOKSTORE!) and an awesome PJ had dinner started when we got home. Salad was prepared, and potatoes were in the microwave (to be finished on the grill with the steaks) and beers were opened and dinner was awesome! And there were brownies for dessert, but they took a backseat to the Red Vines that were brought all the way from Costco!
Friday the boys were scheduled to golf again, but the weather looked iffy. We took off anyway in the minivan and headed toward Amish country, for a few stops (few because we had both kids) and then off to the Elkhart Farmers Market. More on both later... Saturday we went to Syracuse to see lakehouse country, and Sunday was church, zoo, Bob Evans, and Baskin Robbins! Monday they had to go back, but not before we went to get Master James some new kicks. He walks great in them, and they are fun! There were many tears shed as Didi and Papa drove away, but we all were grateful they were able to come!

First Things First

Okay, my uncle was in town for his high school reunion a couple of weeks ago, and he swung by the Fort for a visit. He was on the Midwestern Tour, so our visit was brief, but very nice indeed. He came on Sunday afternoon, and we had a lovely visit here at the house. He brought some things for me, some photos, and a couple of watches, and a couple of other things. One of the watches he bought for my Dad when he was in the Navy. It was Dad's favorite, and I am so thrilled to have it. I've been wearing it off and on, but it drops time, so will take it in and have it checked out. Then we went to dinner at Casa, which was awesome, the service was superb. They even bring MagnaDoodles out to keep the kids occupied! The food was great, and everyone was satisfied. (thank you Dick!). He insisted on not staying with us, (what, 2 kids under 5 and you don't want to stay???) and we completely understood and sent him on to a place not far at all. In the morning the kids and I picked him up and took him on a big driving tour of the Fort. We drove around in a lot of neighborhoods in which we had looked for a house, but the big treat was a tour of Renaissance Pointe. The models were up and a lot had been going on since I was last down there for the groundbreaking. It was awesome! It's very exciting to see things happening, and hopefully the market will find an interest in it sooner than later. It's a great opportunity. After the tour we came back to the house and had some lunch, and sent Dick on his way to the next stop in his Midwestern Tour. I think he was maybe headed back to South Bend? He should be home by now, and we all hope he had a good time. We did while he was here!

Blogstravaganza!

We just spent a wonderful week with Didi and Papa, and PJ even got time off of work to play. We all had a wonderful time, and extremely soon I will post some photos of our time. There was golf, Amish country, lake towns, more golf, and the zoo! And Bob Evans!! And 31 Flavors !!! Too much to do, and naps to take, and things missed, but we did also fit in our 2nd attempt at homemade pizza which was a raging success. More to come!