Travel Log

Whew....the summer kicked off with a big trip for me and a couple of the kids! Rachel and Ethan and I left at 7:30 on Friday morning and drove to Ron's sister's house. We got there at right around 7:30 that night. What a LONG day on the road! The kids did great. It was wonderful to spend Friday night and Saturday at Martha's! We ate, we shopped, we laughed...what fun! Later on Saturday, Gene's family joined us, and then chaos reigned supreme for the rest of the evening. The kids were all SO happy to be together again! We were all sad that Caleb, Cameron and Ron couldn't be with us!

On Sunday morning (after a late Saturday night!) we drove down to Danny's for church at Logan, and then ate a quick lunch and headed to the high school for Jenna's graduation. A nice ceremony! Then we went to Danny and Val's for the graduation party. More playing, laughing and LOTS of delicious food!

We left Rachel with her cousins, and Ethan and I headed towards St. Louis. We stopped late at night, and got up and finished the trip on Monday. We met Ron at the Arch, and had an enjoyable afternoon going up in the Arch and touring the museum. Then we headed out for a very enjoyable evening visit at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Schulz.

After another night in a hotel, we spent most of Tuesday at Grant's farm. It was fun to spend the day with Ethan that way...he had so much fun feeding the baby goats and the camels and petting the huge Clydesdale horses. Of course, Ron enjoyed the free beer at the end of the visit :-) We drove home from St. Louis, arriving back here at around 10:30.

Last year's vicar, Philip was here when we got home and we visited til almost 2. It was great to visit with him again!

Here are a few pictures of the busy weekend!

Rachel and her cousin and her second cousin...they were buddies this weekend!Ron and I at the arch (thanks, Ethan for taking our picture!)Ethan loved the Clydesdale horses at Grant's Farm!Feeding the baby goats was a HOOT!Of course, Ron's favorite part of the day was the free beer! He discovered a new favorite kind!

School's Out For The Summer!!!

And I have some wonderfully excited children! Exams are finished and projects are all done. Ethan is done with 2nd grade, Rachel is finished with 6th and Cameron finished 8th grade today. Cameron and Rachel both did well on all of their exams...A's and B's on them all! We're so proud of them!

Tonight was spent cleaning out bookbags, and organizing all the "stuff" that came home. Rachel and Ethan and I packed for a trip to Ohio for Jenna's graduation on Sunday. Road trip time again!

Summer is HERE!

No Longer a Sophomore

Well, Caleb is celebrating tonight! He finished his last day of his Sophomore year today. Because his grades were high enough, and he scored above the 90th percentile on his ITED's, he doesn't have to take semester tests tomorrow and Thursday. So he's done.

I asked him "Did you have a good year?" "yep" was his answer. I asked if he had any regrets, or anything he'd do over if he could and his answer was "nope". (he's a man of many words, LOL)

He had a busy weekend this past weekend. He attended a lifeguarding class at UNI. Friday from 4-10, Saturday from 8-8 and Sunday from 8-10. There were 3 high school kids and 18 college kids. And there were 5 guys, and 16 girls...he liked that part :-) He passed easily, and came home exhausted, but happy, and ready to go to work at the pool!

So, Caleb...we're PROUD OF YOU! Hope you have a great summer!

Strawberry Margarita Dessert

mmmmmmmm......this was the dessert at the golf course tonight. It was DELICIOUS! VERY light and tasty.

Strawberry Margarita Dessert

CRUST:
1-1/4 cups finely crushed pretzels
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

FILLING:
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup orange juice
(OR--can substitute 1/2 cup frozen concentrated margarita mix, thawed instead of the juices)
10 oz. pkg. frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed
1 cup whipping cream, whipped (or substitute cool-whip)

DIRECTIONS:
Combine crushed pretzels, sugar and melted butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of ungreased 10" springform pan and chill. (or press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan).

Combine sweetened condensed milk with juices (or margarita mix) in a large bowl and beat until smooth.

Add strawberries and mix until combined. Fold in whipped cream, then pour over chilled pretzel crust. Cover and freeze until firm. 8-10 servings.

Remove from the freezer about 30 minutes before serving. May garnish with additional cool whip and fresh strawberries.

Cameron's final track meet

Well...so much for having two track meets left...Thursday nights meet has been canceled, so tonight was his last meet. We didn't go because it was over an hour away, and we THOUGHT we would get to go to a home meet on Thursday. So, we missed his final meet. He called a few minutes after his race, saying "I beat my time! I ran the mile in 5:43!" Way to go Cameron.

He also won the 800 meter tonight, too! What a great finish to the season!

Ethan's quote of the day

So Ethan walks into the kitchen after playing outside this afternoon. He says, "Man! I just wish I could say "thanks" to the person who invented duct tape!" And he walks back to his bedroom to play.

Blooming Flowers

My newly planted rhododendrons had beautiful blooms and flowers this spring, and I LOVE my new weeping pea shrub!

Cameron the Miler

Cameron has done really well at track this year. He runs the mile and the open 800. He's BEAT by the end of the night, especially after meets where the coach also puts him in the 4 x 800, too! So far, his fastest time is 5:51. He still has 2 meets to go to beat that time. I'll be sure to let you know if he does!

Party Reubens

Been a while since I posted a recipe, hasn't it? Ron and I were at the golf course for a little party tonight, and these yummy little sandwiches were served. EASY to put together, and oh so yummy!

Party Reubens

1 loaf of party rye bread, sliced thin
Thousand Island dressing
dried corned beef
sauerkraut
swiss cheese

Assemble the sandwiches by putting a spoonful of thousand island dressing on each slice of rye bread. Top with a folded up slice of the very thinly cut corned beef. Top with a plop of sauerkraut. The final layer is swiss cheese. Bake at 350 til the cheese is melted, and they are heated through.

ENJOY :)

Making BEAUTIFUL Music

Rachel had her annual piano recital on Sunday. As usual, she did a super job playing her songs. After it was all over with, Caleb said to me "Wow! I didn't know she could play that well!" I made sure he said it directly TO Rachel, too! She just grinned. She played 2 songs on her own, and then she played a duet with her good friends Katelyn and Alexis. They did GREAT!