Tastefully good times! - Part 2

We had such wonderful food at Darin and Tinna's house during our family vacation. They treated us to some of their favorite Maine specialties. My favorite was the soft-shell lobster. Their neighbor brought them up straight from the ocean. So we got to see them before entering the lobster pot and after. I had lobster eating lessons from the pros! Kailyn and Javin even liked the lobster. It was awesome!

Darin showed us how to make Maine Bean Hole Beans. He made a fire in a hole in the ground and then put the kettle of beans into the hot coals and covered it with more hot coals and then topped it off with dirt. It cooked like this overnight and we had them for lunch the next day. Javin was the official Bean Hole helper.

One night was Mexican food complete with sombreros for all and fresh guacamole and fajitas. Tinna is a wonderful cook!! We were spoiled rotten!

We also learned all about making maple syrup and how they tap their maple trees. We got a tour of the sugar shack where the neighbors congregate to boil down their sap into syrup in the spring.

First leg of our vacation - Part 1

I have so much to write about our vacation that I have been putting it off!! So here goes. We loaded up my car with all our stuff and Pampaw and Grandma's things as well and hit the road. We drove out to the Pocono Mountain area in eastern PA. There we visited the CamelBeach Water Park. The weather wasn't the greatest, but much better than the rain that came the next day. It was in the low 70's, cloudy and a cool breeze. So we were a bit cold when we were out of the water. But that didn't stop us from enjoying the slides and cool rides. Kailyn loved the water slide in the kiddie area, jumping over the waves at the wave pool and the tube slides. Javin loved all the slides, even the Triple Venom super steep and straight body slide (The one that Mom will not do.) He had a great time in the wave pool with Pampaw and found the best way to go down the kiddie slide was on his stomach.


The next day we drove up to Hartford, CT and stopped at a Children's Museum to play for awhile. Children's Museums are one of our favorite things to do!! This one had animals on exhibit as well as a planetarium show. We learned all about the planets. Some highlights were the bubble ring that Pampaw and Javin tried out, the Lego building area complete with Lego car racer and earthquake-proof structure tester, and a cool sports exhibit. Kailyn played a bunch in the preschool area too.

From there we drove on to Mass. and stayed the night. The kids traveled so well. The last leg of our trip was spent in Maine and included a stop at the outlets in Freeport for a bit of school shopping. Then we finally arrived at Darin and Tinna's house. The last few hours seemed to take the longest. I got a GPS program activated on my phone so we had turn by turn directions to guide us. However, it led us on a wild goose chase trying to locate a Wendy's off an exit. We never did find it. So much for all that useful information! ;) The rest of the vacation report is still to come.

July update

July is flying by and I have not had time to update my blog lately. So here is a quick overview. After we recovered from the birthday party fun for Javin we dove right into a garage sale!! It went pretty good and we sold a bunch of stuff. But somehow there was still a lot leftover! Oh well. I love to clear out the clutter in my house. It makes me feel lighter! We had quite a few Amish buggies stop by. It was interesting to see my stroller hanging out of the back of buggy as it drove out the lane. :)

We made our annual trip to Orrville for rides at the carnival and fireworks. Not as good as Red, White and Boom, but worth the trip for around here. Javin can't wait for his trip to the big amusement park. This kid loves fast rides!

My parents took the kids to the zoo in Cleveland. Kailyn was so excited for this trip and would ask me eveyday if it was time to go. They enjoyed seeing all the animals. It was a hot, hot day but they all survived the heat.

We tried out the canal tow path at the Cuyahoga Recreation Park near Cleveland with the Bichsel family. We boarded a train and rode a little more than 6 miles on it, then rode our bikes back to our car along the tow path. It was a beautiful day and we had a fun time.

This week the kids have been at the Millersburg pool for swimming lessons. They both have been doing awesome! The water is usually pretty cold but they have been able to just get right in and practice. Javin is in an advanced class and Kailyn is in a beginner class.

We got some unexpected tickets to see the Indians play baseball this week. That was real treat! The seats were fabulous and we had an awesome comeback game to watch. The Indians won it in the 11th inning! Broken bats, homeruns, booing fans, double plays - fun times!

Sheriff Javin had a wild and fun birthday this week. His kids' party was filled with play time, games, and cake.

The cake story starts the evening before the party. I made Javin a Sheriff Badge cake in the shape of a star. I had it all frosted and partly decorated when I took a break to put him to bed. I left the cake on the counter. When I came back down awhile later. Molly had ate one of the star points off the cake!! Thankfully, I was able to use leftover pieces to make another star point. That dog loves to eat cake! At least it wasn't chocolate this time!

Mimi got to take him out for breakfast to start off his birthday celebration and then the party began.

The kids played outside on the swings and with the outside toys until lunch was served. Pizza does the trick with little party goers.

Then came presents. He got such nice gifts from his friends. He gave the biggest reaction to his sister's gift of a jump rope. He has been jumping rope like crazy now. We saw the movie Jump In and he was inspired to learn how to do it. He also got a Slip N Slide which we promptly got out and set up for the rest of the party. The kids had a great time sliding on it. After they dried off a bit, they played a few party games. The human tug of war at the end of London Bridges was quite funny and water balloon relays were bursting with fun. For his Sheriff theme he had handcuffs and sheriff's badges for all his friends. Ben's wondering when Javin is going to get those handcuffs off his arm! Happy 7th , Javin!

Camp Fire Recipes

I got some of my camping recipes from Allrecipes.com. They had a camping recipes section with some interesting ones. Here is the banana concoction.

Peanut Butter Banana Melties

INGREDIENTS:
4 large bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
Leaving the peel on the bananas, slice each in half lengthwise. Smear the inside with peanut butter, and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Place the two halves back together and wrap each banana individually in aluminum foil.
Cook in the hot coals of a campfire until the banana is hot and soft, and the chocolate has melted, about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the heat of the coals.

Here are some pictures of our Shrimp Boil and more camping fun:

Camping capers

This weekend was a fun adventure in camping. We had great fires to warm up to in the evening and beautiful mild weather. Morris even brought his own fire barrel for cooking and heat. Javin made several new friends while riding his bike around. They were up at 7 am riding bikes. Hope no one was planning on sleeping in around there! It was a bit chilly for swimming but Javin didn't seem to mind. He got his fill of water slides for one day at least.

The resident raccoon came to visit us one night and stole our bread and made a hole in the graham cracker box. He had no interest in the coffee, picky eater I guess. Here is a picture of Dad holding the remains of our box.

And the food...That was the best! We had all kinds of tasty treats to roast over the fire like smores and apple pies in pie irons, and bananas filled with peanut butter and chocolate chips. Mmm. Yum. We ended the weekend with a grand Shrimp Boil that included sausage, potatoes and corn on the cob. It is all prepared in a turkey fryer and then spread out on the table that is covered in butcher paper. Everyone eats it all up with their hands. What fun! I'll have to post pictures later of this annual tradition!

Molly went along with us. She did wonderful. She just got her summer haircut which helped keep her clean and tidy. But at night it got cold and she was shivering on the bed, probably wishing for all her hair back.