Laowai

We've ended up doing a few things in Chicago recently.

First up – we went to the Museum of Ice Cream – another trendy spot that Claire discovered. It was very pink!

They had lots of fun wallpaper.

It was a hot and busy and beautiful day in Chicago. We stopped for hot dogs before we went home.

A couple days later we were in the city again for some kayaking. I've wanted to do this for a long time – you can kayak right on the Chicago River in amongst all the famous skyscrapers. 

Kayaking was so neat because the river was peaceful and relatively uncrowded but all around you the city is noisy and bustling. You do have to avoid big tour boats and it's strange to go under the bridges with the traffic rumbling above you. I found the different perspective of the city super interesting.

Above you can see our view of the opera house from the kayaks. Later Brian and I went down to see an opera on a beautiful evening. 

We saw Ernani. Brian bought me a cookie. 

September always surprises me – it surprises me how summer-like it is. Even though Fall is setting in there is still lots of life and lots of interesting stuff happening in my garden. So many plants seem to wait 'til the end of August and the beginning of September to put on their show. But it's hard to remember that in mid June – hard to be patient and trust that they will do their thing in their own time. 

Here are some random photos taken in the last couple weeks of August.

Creatures in my yard: I bought a fennel plant this spring thinking it was dill. I decided to leave it to grow as it wants. It's big and wild and covered in it's pretty flowers and the wasps just love it. And below: I found a baby goldfinch who had fallen out of his nest. I saw his parents coming down to feed him but I'm not sure he survived the night.

 

A big grasshopper has been hanging out in my sage plants. I like him… as long as he doesn't eat too much of my garden.

I'm looking forward to painting my dinning room soon. It's going to be all green. I decided to bring in a bunch of my hydrangea flowers – big green blooms to go with the theme. Not sure what I'll do with them but they are drying now and making me happy.

Here is where I spend most of my time.

My begonia is finally filling out.

It's the harvesting time of year. Mostly green beans and tomatoes.

I tried a new bread recipe and I think I like it. It gets baked in a particular size of Pyrex bowl and makes a different type of loaf from my normal no-knead recipe. More of a soft white loaf without a thick crust. It comes together quick and easy. 

A few photos from the Chicago Botanic Garden

I picked raspberries earlier this week. Pie is cooling right now.

Evening walk to Lake Michigan.

And I'm back to work on another window. It's Bea's bedroom window – one of the worst ones. This window really needs some love.

 

Claire is invited to a friend's bat mitzvah next month so she needs a party dress. After shopping around, we decided to make one based on a dress that she tried on at J. Crew. She wanted a green dress so I ordered some beautiful Robert Kaufman lawn and I modified a Simplicity Cynthia Rowley pattern. I'm so pleased that she let me make a dress for her. After a few starts and stops and three muslins (!) it's finally almost finished.

It's a three tiered dress with SO MUCH GATHERING! I've never done so much gathering! I think the distance around the bottom ruffle was over 200 inches. That makes for some long distance sewing. 

It needs some ironing and a hem and then it will really be done. We're looking forward to shopping for some shoes and maybe a cardigan for the synagogue part of the day. The green that Claire chose is going to look so pretty with her blonde hair. Hopefully she will be in the mood for a photo when the day comes.

I proposed a Vermont vacation so that Brian could ride his bike on some nice mountainous roads. By the end of our trip I think we all ended up getting to know and loving Vermont. I took lots of photos.

Other than eating some yummy food and swimming a bit we mostly hiked. The Vermont woods are so pretty. Full of moss and rocks and ferns.

I didn't get any photos, but I saw lots of pretty old windows in pretty old building. I did lots of oohing and aaaahing from inside the car while the family rolled their eyes. Everything was very charming. 

The hiking was actually quite hard. We didn't go all that far but we went up up up. 

While Brian went on a long bike ride the girls and I went to a very popular swimming hole in Warren. The water was very cold and we did a bit of swimming. We also lounged about on the rocks. Claire read her book and Bea found all the tadpoles and frogs. I was entertained with people watching.

Vermont has lots of small breweries – so Brian was happy. Bea was happy with her big (Chapman) glass of milk.

And I drank some maple syrup.

On our last evening we had dinner at a pretty little farm.

Didn't realize until I got home that the next three photos taken at the farm have a visual theme. Oink.

We finished off the evening with a delicious blueberry shortcake. The next day we explored Burlington before we flew home.

A great trip! A great way to finish off the summer.

We got home from our Vermont vacation yesterday evening.

This morning I puttered around my garden and then sent the girls off to their first day of school. Claire to 7th Grade, Bea to 10th grade.

Both my girls had their game faces on. I rode my bike part way to school with Bea. On the way home I heard a little kid as she was getting buckled into the car – she was having a complete meltdown. She moaned, "I don't want to gooooo!!!"

Sigh. 

We went to Midland to help my mom after her back surgery and also to celebrate my mom-in-laws birthday. We had a great trip. Mom is doing great and we had so many fun days.

We started off in downtown Midland at my Aunt Garlene's apartment. Mom stayed with her after her surgery and we took advantage of all the summer stuff happening downtown.

We got to have a nice visit with my Uncle Doug and Aunt Judy.

Swimming with Jenna

Escaping the heat at the Midland RollArena. It hasn't changed at all since I was in 7th grade.

Bea taught both her aunts (!) how to solve a rubik's cube.

We visited Dow Gardens. I have no idea what Phillip is doing.

Bea drove Grandma – a first.

We went to a Loons baseball game. Claire got to sit next to her most fun cousin – Ryan.

Sophie teaches aerobics (called Hi Fitness). She tried to kill me but somehow made it fun too.

At the local Ace Hardware you can buy doughnuts… and guns. Kim and I got to laughing really hard when we realized there were so many guns (!) around the doughnut case. Yikes.

We went to the farmers market.

I love how Dave and Kim's family is always playing games. And I was so happy that we got to meet and get to know the new in-laws – Cameron and Garret. 

We were going to go kayaking but the weather didn't cooperate so we went back to the roller skating rink.

On our last day in Midland we celebrated Gramma C's 80th birthday.

We had a big pizza dinner and then came home for birthday cake. We surprised grandma with confetti on her way inside.

Love that smile!

Dave and Kim got the most beautiful and yummy cake.

There's the birthday girl – she's a star.

I didn't get a photo but Cameron (Sophie's husband) played his violin for us – it was so special and a perfect gift for grandma.

What a great trip! I needed a big nap to recover from all the smiling and laughing.

The girls and I spent last week in Midland and then Brian joined us at the end. Now we're home and summer feels like it is wrapping up. I'm enjoying my garden and the girls and I went for a swim last night. And we're also getting ready for school to start in just a week.

Yesterday, we celebrated Swiss National Day, a few days late, with a big feast of raclette.

Seems like a very long time since we were in Switzerland. I expect we will go back next summer and it will feel nice to be at our other home.