The joyful smiles of vacation!

 

Miss Jean and her jelly beans.

One of the most wonderful parts of going to the cabin in Wisconsin each year is getting to spend time with the neighbors. Miss Jean, in particular, is a crowd favorite. She is witty, brilliant, reliable, kind, thoughtful and never afraid to say what is on her mind. She doesn't hesitate to pop in with a funny story or drop off some "extra" produce and cookies.

One tradition she has established with the kids involves dolling out handfuls of jelly beans. As soon as Addie would see her each day, all we would hear is ,"Miss Jean, jelly beans!" Now Miss Jean is very generous with her jelly beans, but she is careful to make sure the kids have eaten their lunch/dinner and taken care of any responsibilities they had for the day. What mom wouldn't love her for a neighbor?








The kids were peaking over my shoulder as I was posting this and they are all dreaming of next summer and Miss Jean's jelly beans!

Home!

We are home! We arrived yesterday and already missing the lake, the lack of humidity and the pines (among many other things!). *sigh*

When I finish unpacking and a few other pressing projects, I'll be sure to update with photos and stories of our fabulous time up north!

Talk to you soon.....

Yes, I am that nerdy.

And to prove it:

These are the snacks I bought for our upcoming road trip:

This is what they look like after I used my scale to put each portion in individual snack bags:

They all fit neatly back into their bag/box and are ready to go. It's so much easier than doling out handful after handful and waaaay cheaper than buying them in the "snack size". So there, I am a nerd, a kitchen scale using kind of nerd.

OK, I'll also admit that I did the math on the number of servings that come in each box so I know exactly how much each person gets, even down to the food I am bringing to the cabin. They may have this snack X number of times per week and that snack X number of times per week.

Hey, don't knock it until you have to travel with four hungry children and stay away from home for three weeks.

We need to make this food last people.

Last of the pictures (that I have done, anyway)

Ryder throwing rocks into Lake superior!



Ashlynn teeing it up.



Dad enjoying the view.



Gage's 1st b-day celebration-he enjoyed the cake, can you tell?



Golfing with the boys-I beat Randy on hole 14, again :-)!!

Pictures

Ashlynn "holding" up the bridge.



Gage, with a Coast Guard ship going under the bridge, checking out Lake Superior.



Ashlynn, working hard again, "holding up" a rainbow (the first she remembers seeing!).



Ryder throwing rocks (very intently!).

Some pictures of the trip

Ashlynn's view of the lake.



Mom, Gage and I at the lake.



Randy and Jeff taking a game of horseshoes very seriously.



Ryde's view of the lake.

Home, Sweet Home

We made it back! We rolled in about 8pm last night. We had a blast, with the exception of a few minor hiccups (my back went out on day two and Ryder was wheezing so bad from a cold we took him to the ER last week). Will be unpacking/doing laundry/cleaning out the truck today. I will try to post some pics tonight and the rest of the week!

Outta Here

We're headed north for three weeks! Going to spend some time fishing, swimming, canoeing, enjoying the family and the great outdoors!

See ya later.........