For our Labor Day weekend we visited a couple new places that are close to home. First we went canoing at the Skokie Lagoons. File this under why didn’t we do this sooner. Skokie Lagoons is a nature preserve that has man made ponds winding through it – and it’s only about a five minute drive from our house. We rented a canoe and had a very nice time. Lots and lots of birds live in and around the lagoons. The girls enjoyed the duck weed and other mucky green plants that we paddled through.
Then we went up to Wisconsin and spent one night in the town of Kohler. We didn’t see the wall of toilets but we did get to visit the Kohler-Andrae State Park. We hiked a couple trails along Lake Michigan and got to see some snakes and turtles at their nature center. I forgot the camera so I only have a couple shots from my phone. It was a good and easy trip – I enjoyed the dune landscape and the lovely lake breeze. I’d love to go back for a little camping trip at the park soon.
Every time I start complaining about the inconvenience of my kitchen remodel I get a wave of guilt. Because, HELLO SELF – YOU ARE GETTING A BRAND NEW KITCHEN!!!
But what the hell – here are my complaints:
It’s getting tiring having strange men in my house – aka contractors. They are mostly nice and professional (aside from the cursing electrician) and they all do great work, but…
I have no privacy – strange men mentioned above come and go at a (almost) all hours.
Contractors act like men.
I have no stove, I have no oven – well I do have a stove and oven but they are currently sitting in my garage.
You can’t make noodles in the microwave unless it’s pre-packaged frozen mac and cheese.
We’ve been eating SO MUCH prepared food and I’m loosing all self control trying to fill the void of home cooked food with junk.
Nothing is where it belongs because I decided I needed to redo the floor in, not just the kitchen, but in the mudroom, bathroom and sewing room. So good luck finding a pair of scissors, any crafty supplies, your raincoat, matches or anything else that used to live in those rooms. All those things are stashed in boxes and random places around the house.
There is a toilet sitting in my living room. Yeah at least it’s a clean new toilet. The girls find it sooooo funny.
There’s a toilet in my backyard – that’s the old blue one – and the sink is still there too.
I have a temporary kitchen in my basement. It seems like every time I do dishes in my utility sink the contractors start banging around upstairs and dust and chunks of stuff falls from my old basement ceiling all over anything that I was trying to keep halfway clean.
The girls are back to school and it’s killing me not being able to bake bread and cookies to put in their lunches.
Not only can I not bake – I can’t sew – Halloween is coming up and I am itching to get started on some costumes.
I don’t like paper plates.
Ok that’s enough now I’ll show how it’s looking.
This is the area that has the most change. Before, our giant fridge was next to the doorway and it blocked any good happy flow and open feelings for the kitchen and hallway area. Now our (more appropriately sized) fridge will go to the left in the picture below.
I am stupidly picky and we need a custom size table for our existing banquette area. Now I fancy myself a table designer. What have I gotten myself into? I hid from the contractors and sketched tables in my bedroom today.
Earlier this week I picked out soapstone and went to the fabricators to lay out which countertop goes where. The fabricator shop was not in the nicest neighborhood in Chicago – I’m pleased I didn’t get shot.
This is what my bathroom looks like – that’s all I have to say about that:
This is my sewing room – that’s all I have to say about that:
The floor was installed in the kitchen today:
Every night I go in my kitchen and just stand there by myself for a good half hour. All complaining aside, I know I’m fortunate to be doing this and I think I might just maybe possibly be in love with my new kitchen!
It’s the time of year when the prairies of the Midwest shine with color and life. We all went for a hike and a picnic over the weekend and then I took the girls for an early morning walk on Tuesday – both trips to see lovely prairies.
The weather cooled and the humidity dropped and I felt like I could breath in the open space of the prairie. The hectic pace of summer cannot last forever and it always feels good to sense the seasons changing little by little. Today the girls are starting school and with a little luck our kitchen project in nearing an end. Our Fall routines have begun and our happy, busy summer is done. Sigh.
Here we are at the little prairie at Fort Sheridan:
And here are some photos from our walk through the prairie area at The Chicago Botanic Garden:
We are two days away from the first day of school, but I still have some fun pictures to post from our trip to Florida. We went down to join the family part of Brian’s annual company meeting. I am so glad Grandma C. was able to join us. They alway choose a nice resort for the meeting and I get to feel a bit spoiled. The pool was fabulous and I think we would have had a fantastic time just hanging out there – ordering drinks and snacks and cruising down the lazy river. But… we were in Orlando so we had to take the girls to Disney. It’s true Disney makes you look around and smile, but I did have a few minutes of thinking this is the most miserable place on earth. It was busy and it was hot. But now our girls know what it’s all about – they got their mouse ears and we all had fun.
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, & the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play; Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free, The breezes so balmy and light, That I would not exchange my home on the range For all of the cities so bright.
The girls and I had a wonderful vacation in the land where the buffalo roam. We joined Mom and Dad and saw all the out west sights that you just must see (and smell in the case of the geysers). We flew from Chicago to Bozeman and as we got on the plane the kind pilot invited the girls to check out the cockpit.
At the Bozeman airport we hugged a buffalo and we also noticed that we had been riding on the plane with our great Governor of Illinois Bruce Rauner. He was waiting for his luggage with his wife and his sweet dog. I learned that he owns lots of land in Montana and Wyoming and he’s very interested in the conservation of wide open spaces. I resisted taking his picture because I think he deserves a vacation and some peace from Illinois politics.
Mom and Dad had their car so we loaded up and headed straight to Yellowstone. The girls were excited to get to vacation with Baxter.
What an odd place Yellowstone is. Not just for it’s unique land features and geysers, but just how it works. People getting in and out of their cars to see the attractions, the animals that you are very likely to see, the warnings and the ignoring of warnings about wildlife. We had a fantastic time… but I would really like to see it in the off season someday. Seems like it might be easier to focus on the wonder of it all if it wasn’t quite so busy and hectic feeling.
Bea and I pretended to be park rangers. We saw buffalo (babies too) and elk and pronghorns. We learned that the proper word is bison – but I like to say buffalo. And we learned that the antelope are actually called pronghorns and they run fast. Zoom. As much as we were hoping to we did not get to pet a bear or ride a moose. Ha.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was the guided tour of The Old Faithful Inn. We learned all about the history of the building – about how it was built in just a year and how it was so, so close to burning down in wildfires not too long ago. It really feels like you are in a fort made of logs. I hope it can be preserved forever.
On our way out of Yellowstone we stopped at a quiet spot to cool our feet off. The girls had fun finding bits of obsidian with grandpa.
Next we went to Jackson, Wyoming and stayed at nearby Wilson. Here are some photos from our ride up in a chairlift and then our little hike at the top. It was a beautiful day with a strong breeze. We had a great view to The Tetons and Jackson Hole below. After this day we didn’t see the Teton range much because it was covered in a haze from some wildfires in Montana.
It was hot and sweaty and I just about melted, but we had to explored Jackson and take a stage coach ride.
The next day Bea and I did something that I had been dreaming of doing for a long time. We went horseback riding together in Grand Teton National Park. Not only was it a fun and beautiful ride, but it was something I don’t think my Bea would have been brave enough to do in the past. I delighted in her smile the whole time.
Bea’s horse was named Lucky – mine was Cream Soda. After the ride we got to give the horses some treats and pet them. Our guide was super nice; she took a photo of us on the trail after my phone died and she even sent us a picture of Lucky as a colt. We learned that white horses are not born white (aside from albinos). So Lucky doesn’t look like herself in the photo but she sure looks cute.
The night before we had to leave we did one more super fun Western thing. We went for a chuck wagon ride. You ride out in a covered wagon, have a simple cowboy dinner on picnic tables and then you get to watch a cowboy show. Lots of slapstick humor that the girls loved and some great music too. On our way out we sat in the back of our wagon and I had a great view of the big strong horses pulling the wagon that was behind us. I want to be a cowgirl!
There’s mom in the photo above enjoying that silly cowboy humor. Mom was our guide on this trip – she knows the area really well and she took us to all the most fun places. I’m so thankful that we got to go with her and make so many great memories.
And now I just have one more summer vacation to report on before I’m caught up. Stay tuned for some Disney photos.
It’s happening – the cabinets are installed. I’ve chosen my stone for countertops and the flooring will be started on Monday. In the meantime we are watching the Olympics and getting ready for school to start next week. I’m a little frustrated that I have vegetables coming from my garden but no way to cook them. And I can’t wait to get back to baking in my new kitchen.
Yay – it’s time to pick tomatoes. I had the most delicious tomato sandwich yesterday. A slice of white bread, some mayo, a whole juicy tomato sliced thick and some salt and pepper. What could be better?
I also spied some goldfinches eating from my purple coneflowers. That means summer is coming to an end soon.
OK – this is the last of my Switzerland posts – then I’ll try to catch up with some posts on our Out West vacation.
For the last part of our trip we stayed in Appenzell – it’s a town in the east of the country. It’s well known for the way it preserves it’s history and cultivates it’s handiwork traditions. I took lots of photos of the pretty decorated buildings.
We visited their cultural museum and I was fascinated with all the traditional hand crafts the people of the region do. Things like the primitive painting, woodworking, paper cutting and especially the traditional costumes and lacemaking. The crafts have their origins in what the peasant farmers were making and wearing a long long time ago but when visitors started showing an interest they were influenced to put more time and refinement into their traditions. It seems so very Swiss – the way the farmers capitalized on the interest in their land and traditions to lift themselves up.
Also, interestingly, this region was the last to allow women to vote in 1990. Yes 1990! They are very attached to tradition.
We had a nice walk and picnic through the rolling farm land one night. All the neat little old farms have the farmhouse and the barn built so they are connected.
There are lots of higher quality handicraft souvenirs that you can buy in the pretty little town. Or you can get a t-shirt like this:
Or how about a gnome? I almost brought one home.
And now I’ll wrap up this long series of photos with one more. Brian and the girls at the grocery store in the Zurich train station. In the chocolate aisle – we had to load up on chocolate before we headed for home. What a wonderful trip!
Here are some pictures from another hike we did on a popular mountain called Ebenalp.
We went up 1640 meters in the cable car.
The trail circled the top of the mountain and along the way went through a cave. There was a little museum house built at the edge of the cave – it told about the early people that lived in and around the cave.
After we came out of the cave the trail hugged the side of the mountain and revealed the Aescher Guesthouse.
The little guesthouse and restaurant is built right into the rock. When we used the bathroom we noticed that one of the walls was rock. We had the most pleasant coffee and ice cream break on the outdoor patio. It really felt like an amazing spot.
Laowai 