Not much to report here we have been soaking up the last bits of Fall sunshine.
We went to a Northwestern soccer game the other night. It was good fun. We had a thermos of hot cider and some Cracker Jacks. During the game Bea would look at various players and asked over and over and over “what that man doing?”
Thanks for the Halloween socks Grandma – Bea didn’t take them off for two days (and nights) straight.
Here’s the soaking up the sunshine part of the post – just some photos from a warm afternoon at the playground. I’ll never get tired of seeing her baby shaped legs in tights. I’m so glad she is liking the tights too.
I’ve been a little bit more motivated to do some crafty stuff lately. Here’s one of the necklaces we made the other day out of straws and paper. This is what she did when I said “let me take your picture with your necklace”.
So why can’t I get photos of her like this. These little girls are so beautiful and so photogenic. I’m starting to think that Bea is cursed with my extremely not-photogenic genes. She has also inherited that mighty cowlick – it’s in exactly the same place as mine. I look over at Bea all the time and think why can’t I capture that lovely face – and then I get photos like the one above. I must get serious (now that I have a new charger for the good camera) about taking some nice photos instead of taking just a bunch of photos.
Not sure why I’ve been so absent from my web site lately – I think I need a photo project. Trying to think of something while I wait for my new camera battery charger to come in the mail. I lost ours on the road trip to Wisconsin. Or maybe it’s somewhere in my cluttered house. Chances are good it will show up right after the new one arrives. Here are some random thoughts and some random photos.
– she’s into families lately and saying this is the mommy and this is the daddy and this is the baby when referring to anything from buttons to apples to chairs. She’s also into this odd thing where she assigns names to Brian and me and herself at dinner. She informs us that I am the apple mommy and Brian is the apple daddy, but sometimes she is the apple mommy and then she switches to the apple baby. It makes no sense but she seems to do it at dinner all the time lately and Brian loves to play into it and ask who is apple mommy, etc.
– Not feeling craftily inspired lately but I must get going on her Halloween costume. She’s going to be a butterfly – it was decided a long time ago when she saw two boys running around the park with butterfly wings. She didn’t even know what Halloween was but she was enamored with those butterfly wings so I suggested it and she’s been latched onto the idea since. I’ll be using foam and felt and today we bought some sparkly gemstones to glam it up.
– I sing The Bear Went Over the Mountain most days before I say goodnight to her. I strongly associate that song with my Grandpa Dice. I think we sang it in Grandpa’s big old Suburban on camping trips. I have vague memories of bouncing along with cousins on the bench seats. Grandpa would wiggle the car a little or we would go over those little hills that make your tummy go woooeeee. So anyway – I think of Grandpa for a moment while I sing The Bear Went Over the Mountain.
These are from a year ago – oh how my little pumpkin has grown.
And here’s her reaction when she saw me taking the guts out of a pumpkin last year. I’m so glad we captured this funny moment. Hopefully she’s not quite so horrified this year.
Brian finished his first marathon yesterday. He chose a big one for his first time – The Chicago Marathon. He had a very respectable time of around 4:05. What a spectacle it was. Bea and I didn’t do such a good job of finding him along the way. We showed up too late at the first planned spot. Even if we had been on time, being 5’3″, I didn’t have much chance of spotting him through the crowd. 45,000 people run in the marathon and over a million people come out to watch. I was bummed that I couldn’t cheer him on a little. But I was glad we went down to watch – It was an amazing flow of runners that seemed to go on and on and on. We managed to meet up with him and give him a big hug at the end of the race. Good Job love – what an accomplishment!
Here’s what my view of the race was like:
Here’s Bea’s view:
And Brian wouldn’t let me take his photo at the finish area. Not a great photo day.
Here’s my round up of our little road trip last week. I was pleasantly surprised at all the fun and different things we got to do. For a last minute trip with very little planning our week was full of great little surprises, gorgeous scenery, and Wisconsin nice.
We started out our visit to Door County with the quintessential Door County tourist meal. A fish boil. It has a historical basis so we thought we’d check it out. You sit around a big fire with a cauldron on top and Earl gives you the run down while he tosses in the potatoes, onions and white fish. Then when the show is almost done he pours some fuel on the fire and a big huge fire goes up causing the fish oils and scum to boil over. Voila – then you all go inside and eat your good but not extraordinary meal. The fish was pretty good, the cherry pie was not homemade as advertised. I didn’t have big expectations so I wasn’t a bit disappointed in the whole thing. Brian however was a little under-whelmed.
Then another first – we went to a drive-in movie. We saw Julie and Julia. Again I didn’t have big expectations for the movie so I enjoyed it even though it was not the best movie ever. I was just excited to be at a drive-in. We had thought Bea would fall asleep peacefully with the cozy bed I made for her in the back seat – nope. She wiggled and chatted the entire time. You know that over-tired manic energy that kids can get when they should have gone to bed two hours ago. Let me tell you – that energy is ten times more annoying when you are confined inside a MINI Cooper. Oh well. Now I can say I’ve been to a drive-in movie. Here’s the photo Brian took.
More riding on Daddy’s shoulders. Bea was running on fumes even on day two of our vacation.
Beautiful pumpkins and gourds everywhere.
The Inn where we stayed was nice. It was set up to be romantic but worked for entertaining a toddler too. There was a gas fireplace that Bea loved to look at while she (didn’t) fall asleep at night. And there was a big whirlpool tub in the bedroom. Ooh that was exciting for her – and me too since I could just laze around in bed while she was on the other side of the room splashing around.
More driving on a rainy day. We went further up the peninsula. And enjoyed the scenery.
Ran across this sign.
We had dinner one night at a funny swedish restaurant. It has a grass roof and I guess goats can be seen grazing up there sometimes. The waitresses wore traditional swedish outfits and swedish meatballs were popular on the menu (just like IKEA). This time the cherry pie tasted like homemade.
The next day it wasn’t raining but there were was a high wind warning. We rented bikes and a pull-behind for Bea. It was chilly and extremely windy, but we had a great ride through the state park. We stopped for some quick photos at the lighthouse (built in 1868). Bea was smiling most of the trip until the end when she got a little whiney and complained of cold fingers.
Did I mention it was windy?
On our way out of town I snapped a photo of a type of vending machine that we just don’t have around here – Live Bait. Not sure how that works? Is it a joke?
Next we were off to The U.P. to see Michigan Tech. Brian (and I) had not been there since he graduated thirteen years ago. Wow thirteen years!. The drive was beautiful with the quite a bit of fall color. We stopped at Burger King.
Michigan Tech seemed reassuringly the same. It was quiet. Here’s the big bridge that goes from Houghton to Hancock.
I remember wanting to stop and take photos of the copper mining ruins when I saw them thirteen years ago. But I never did until this trip. These ruins remind me of these Detroit photos only they aren’t so depressing.
We stopped at a playground while driving up the Keweenaw. You can take your kid to all sorts of new places and have brand-new experiences but sometimes they just need a playground. This one had a merry-go-round. You never see merry-go-rounds. I guess they must have been dangerous. This one was the same model that they had at my elementary school. Good fun.
On our last day it was one of those fall days when the sky is blue blue blue and the leaves are a perfect complimentary orange and you can’t open your eyes wide enough to soak it all in. We walked back to Hungarian Falls. Where we had hiked way back when I visited Brian at college 100 years ago when we were twelve. It’s a big beautiful waterfall that is totally unmarked – you just go down some random dirt roads and hike back on one of the many trails and you can hear the water falling before you see it. So funny to be back there holding hands with our daughter.
Oh and look thimbleberry plants.
I’m surprised I have so much to say about a trip that I thought would be so low key. I guess it’s that we don’t get out into those close-to-nature little towns enough and everything felt nicely nostalgic. Thanks for taking us on a great road trip Brian.
So much for getting my vacation photos up in a timely manner. I’ve been completely useless the last few days with a relentless sinus headache. I’m really hoping tomorrow my head will be clear so I can feel human again. The other great news – our fridge and freezer decided to stop making cold. While I’m feeling ill I’ve been ignoring the fact that we will probably have to throw out a ton of food soon. The not-so-cold feeling in the fridge is making me squeamish and the repair person that promised to call to confirm tomorrow’s appointment time did NOT call. Uhg.
Here’s Bea feeling proud of the pumpkin she picked out on Sunday.
We just got back from our road trip up into Wisconsin and the U.P. When we left we were wearing short sleeves and I packed two pairs of shorts. Now we’ve returned with Fall. It’s time for sweaters, hot apple cider and soup-making.
More photos tomorrow.
P.S. Is it me or does it really look like she’s bare-foot in that photo? She’s not.
I had time to make four flannel nighties for Bea when I was in Midland. I used simplicity pattern #5695. She is such a big girl wearing nighties and all. Unfortunately it’s almost impossible to get a photo of her wearing one of them between the light conditions and her inability to hold still shortly before bedtime.
Enough of that scary photo. Here are some photos from our week with Mom. She came through her second hip replacement surgery with flying colors. By the end of the week she didn’t even need us so we have come back home to Daddy.
Bea had fun putting her blanket on Baxter and making a fort out of Grandma’s walker.
Laowai 