Outdoor fun and a little ice cream

We had the girls overnight this weekend.  It had been a while because of my trip to Texas, they had a vacation, and I had a few on-call weekends, so we were really looking forward to it.

Laura, Aaron and girls had been on vacation  in northern Michigan and they had such fun!

Alaina had a bag of shells and stones for us, that she found by Lake Huron; shells, sea glass, a Petoskey stone and Charlevoix stones.

 When we got to our house, there was time to play on the swing...

a walk around the yard...

and a little bike and scooter riding.  That was fun until the mosquitoes started attacking us!

 It was a hot night, so we went out to get ice cream.  Ruby had to have Superman ice cream.  This is a kiddy cone!

 Alaina had hers in a bowl, she looking and acting older all the time.

Unfortunately, Ruby's face wasn't all that got dirty!
But, they enjoyed the ice cream and we all had a fun night.

Friday Funny

Cooking Thursday

This is not a recipe to look at if you are dieting!  But - it's great for a special treat.  Laura brought it when we celebrated Bob's birthday.  It's so good, looks special and is very easy to make!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups (about 18) crushed Oreo's
1/4 cup melted butter
3 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup miniature chocolate chips
1 teaspoon flour

Preheat oven to 300 degree. Combine Oreo's and butter; press into 9" springform pan.
Beat cream cheese until fluffy, add condensed milk and beat until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Toss together 1/2 cups chocolate chips with flour to coat. Gently stir into cream cheese mix.
Pour onto crust. Sprinkle remaining chips over top.
Bake for one hour. Cool to room temperature, then chill.
Keep refrigerated.

Wordless Wednesday

Bob's latest project

Bob loves gardening and is always working on something in the yard.  Before I show you that, I want to show you some things that are blooming right now.

This is a Wine and roses weigela.  It's full of these flowers that start out pale pink and get darker the longer they are blooming.

 I love these!  They are Siberian Iris and they are such a striking color.

 Our clematis is loaded with flowers, and it looks so pretty behind the iris.

This is a miniature lilac.  It blooms after the regular lilac and it smells just wonderful.

 Here's the latest - it's a woodland garden.  Bob cleared out an area in our side yard.  He built the bench several years ago and moved it here, edged the area with tree branches, made the entry pillars and put in some wood chips.

He planted impatiens, azealeas, hydrangeas and hostas.

Along the other side is this area with different hosta varieties and ferns.
It's such a pretty spot to sit in the shade!

Car show!

We had a car show at the Nursing Center where I work last week.  It was a nice, sunny day, which hasn't happened often lately.  Most everyone likes to see these old cars, but for our older residents there are memories attached to them too so they really enjoy this.  They can't get out to car shows, so it was really nice of these car owners to come to us.

Here's a few of the cars that came.  I like the older cars best, but some people enjoy the cars from the 60's.  There was one car that was built in 1989.  If that's an antique, what am I?  :)

Our residents had such fun.  They had popcorn and lemonade, and many enjoyed just being outside and watching the activity.

Friday Funny

Cooking Thursday

It was Bob's birthday last Sunday and I wanted to make a nice dinner for him.  We had the kids coming for a light supper, so I was looking for something I could do in the crockpot to have ready when we got home from church.  I found this recipe for a pork roast that I started on Saturday and then started again on Sunday morning.  It was delicious - very tender and had great flavor.  The gravy is also good,  without doing anything more to it.
You can add carrots if you like, or you can serve it over egg noodles.  I made mashed potatoes and carrots separately and it was a very good meal.

Crock Pot Pork Roast and Gravy

3 lb. Pork Shoulder, give or take in size
10.5 oz. can cream of chicken soup
10.5 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
.87 oz. packet pork gravy mix
1 yellow onion sliced
2 cups carrots, optional

Seasoning:
1 tsp rosemary
3/4 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp thyme
3/4 tsp sage
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp pepper


Stir soups and gravy mix together in crock pot.  Add onions and carrots if desired.
Stir spices together.  Pat roast dry with paper towel and rub spice mix onto roast.
Place roast in crock pot, cook on low for 10 hours.

Wordless Wednesday

More birthday fun!

Our kids and grandkids came over to celebrate Bob's birthday and Fathers day.  We had such a fun evening!
We had supper together and then Bob got some fun gifts.

You all know how much Bob likes to garden.  Laura and Aaron gave him some plants to add to a new area he is working on.


Heather, Andrew, Andy and Nikki  had come up with a fun gift.  Earlier this year, he had posted something on FB about a site where you could purchase land in Scotland and receive a title of Laird, thinking it was pretty funny.  They decided to go ahead and do it.
This site sells the land, which is 1 square foot of land.  The land is actually part of a conservation project, making this area a nature preserve that can't be developed.  Once you have become a "land owner" you are a Laird or Lady of Glencoe.

 Here he is opening the gift, with his certificate stating he is a Laird.

And here is the certificate.

To make things even better, Laura made him a kilt and sash, and they ordered a Scottish hat online, so he could really look the part.  Unfortunately, the hat had some very questionable hair attached!

How do you like that hair?

 Alaina thought she would try out the outfit too.

And she made him this sweet card.

We had such fun, and so many laughs!

Happy Birthday!

Last week we celebrated my step-moms birthday.  She turned 90!  She has been a big blessing to my Dad, but also the rest of us.

Ann's kids set up a party in the park and lots of family and friends came.

Here's my Dad greeting Alaina and Ruby. he's always happy to see them.

Alaina looking cute in the sunshine.  :)

Ann has good genes in her family!  Here she is next to the lady in the pink jacket.  These are her sisters, brother and a couple of cousins.  At 90 she and Dad still live at home, she bowls 3x a week and usually is top scorer, she is frequently outside gardening and keeps an immaculate house.  When the girls come over, she's on the floor playing with them!
Happy Birthday Ann!

Coming home!

All good things come to an end, and that means vacations too.  We were ready to get back home to our husbands and families.

We were scheduled to fly out of Waco, and wanted to get there on time.  We have always been told to be there two hours early, so that was the plan.  Our flight was to leave a little after 1, so we got to the airport shortly before 11, so we could turn in our rental car and then go through security and be ready to go.

We turned in the car with no trouble, but then went into the airport itself and realized just how small it was.  (When we flew in, we went right from the gate to the car rental and out, and didn't look around).  Anyway, the security area was closed, so we sat down to wait.

 Here's the airport - 2 desks and only American Airlines uses it.

This is the extent of it - on one side is the American Airlines desks I showed you, on the other end is the car rental, and the seating area here is all there is.

There were only 2 other customers there when we arrived.

To make matters worse, we soon realized that we were there on Michigan time which was an hour earlier!  We had all looked at the time on our computer not realizing the time was different.  So, we had a long wait!

About 10 to 1 a local police officer came to assist with the security check for boarding and we finally got on the plane.

We flew into Dallas with no troubles and had a short turn around before getting on the next plane which would take us home.

However - there were storms...  We ended up sitting on the tarmac for quite some time.  When we finally took off, the pilot said to prepare for a bumpy ride and also said it would take longer because we had to fly around storms.

The clouds were beautiful from above.

It was quite a bumpy ride though.  The stewardesses attempted to pass juice and had to quit, and the fasten seat belts and stay in your seat sign came on numerous times.  We were glad to land in Grand Rapids and find our husbands waiting for us!

It's fun to travel but so good to be home.

Waco and Magnolia!

My sisters and I have been fans of the Fixer Upper show and were sad when it ended.  We like the ethics and style of Chip and Joanna Gaines, the hosts of the show.  We also like the way she decorates that looks homey and classic at the same time.  So when Cheri came across a great deal to visit, we were all excited.  We love to spend time together anyway, and going here was an added bonus.

We got there shortly before 9.  The main market opens at 10, but there were other things to do before that.

 Here's the Market, all quiet before opening.

And the area by the Silo's, soon to be filled with people.

 We started in the Magnolia Seed and Supply which opens early.  The gardens around it are very well kept up.

Inside the Seed and Supply.

 A wall near the Silo's.

They have free shuttles; one takes you on a tour around Waco, the other takes you to different Magnolia sites.

We took the shuttle to the Magnolia Table, a restaurant formerly known as the Elite restaurant.  Elvis used to visit it when he was stationed near here in the army.  It had fallen into disrepair when Chip and Jo bought it and renovated it.  They did a wonderful job.  It's a beautiful place now.

We had a 45 minute wait to get it, but were able to sit on a covered porch with tables to wait.

Here's my yummy breakfast, eggs, bacon, biscuit and tator tots.  I only ate one tot - this was filling!

We had something cool happen here.  We were seated at one end of a big table, and on the other side was a group of 8.  We ended up praying with them and then talking together.  We met so many nice people from this area; everyone was very friendly, from the workers to the people visiting.

After we ate we got back on the shuttle where we met more nice people, on a church trip from Alabama.

Then it was back to the Market, where there were many more people than earlier.  We had fun shopping here too.

There is a large area outside with bean bags to rest on, games to play, a few large swings, a covered pavilion and a lot of food trucks.

Even the bathrooms are beautiful there!  Every place we went was clean and very nice.

We stopped at a few other shops, including Joanna's original store which is now used for damaged and sale items.  Then we stopped at this ice cream place, known for it's homemade ice cream and ice cream sandwiches.

Last stop - the famous Waco Suspension Bridge.

 This bridge was built in 1870 and is still in working order.

It's also the site of this well known sculpture, commemorating the Chisholm Trail and all the cattle that crossed the bridge.

The sculpture consists of 28 head of cattle and 3 wranglers on horses.  It is set up under the trees, down the street and is really amazing to see in person.

This was our last night, we left Waco the following morning.

What a fun time with my sisters!  We had fun and lots of laughs - and ate too much!

Now it's back to the real world.