Yum

Thanks to Ken & Deb's cucumbers

 and Rick's Grandma's recipe,

we now have jars and

jars of bread and butter pickles.

Excursion: Marengo Cave

Last summer, while we were down in Indiana visiting Grandma and Grampie, we were lucky enough to visit Marengo Cave.

We got our tickets,  

and were very impressed by the numerous formations we saw in the cave.

For me the coolest part of the cave was the story of how it was discovered. After over hearing some kids talking about exploring a sinkhole, a fifteen year old girl and her eleven year-old brother grabbed some candles and decided they wanted to explore it first.

I can't even imagine exploring a very wet cave with nothing but candles! Plus, they didn't tell anyone where they were going. Heaven forbid something had happened, no one would have come looking for them.

The kids reported their discovery to the property owner, and in just a few weeks the cave was opened to the public. Because of this, it's always been protected, so the formations are in amazing shape.

We loved it!

Many of the formations were amazing, 

and apparently Indiana takes great pride in protecting its caves. I searched and couldn't find a similar law in Michigan. I wonder if it's because we don't have nearly as many caves? 

Of course, when were were done, we had to "mine" for gems. The kids loved it when we were here, and they were willing to spend their own money, so how could I say no?

Plus, it's just fun!

And the geek in me adored how both of them spent a good twenty minutes with their identification cards to make sure they correctly identified each and every one.

Hanging Around

As I was leaving school yesterday, I noticed this little guy hanging around near the door. (I've been back at school this week working on getting my classroom ready.) Usually there is a little group of 10 or so bats that roost up under the entryway at school, but not this summer (due to white-nose syndrome.) I know lots of people don't like bats, but the do eat an incredible amount of bugs. Plus, they really are kind of cute - well, as long as they aren't flying around inside your house.

Some People

Not the best morning when you head over to the mainland to go shopping and find the side of your car looking like this. Ug!

Perhaps karma will even the score at a later date...

Mad Skillz

OK, to be honest no one in my family has "mad skillz" when it comes to sports, but the kids sure did have fun with out at Wawashkamo this summer. Each week Chuck, and a few helpers, worked to teach over 20 kids the basics of golf. 

Wawashkamo is such a beautiful course. It's kind of sad that I've been on Mackinac Island every summer since 1989, and I'd never actually set foot out on the course until this year. (Yes, I am hanging my head in shame.) 

Chick was really good with the kids. He taught them the differences between the different kinds of clubs, and helped them learn how to stand, swing and putt.

The best part was, for the introductory group, they never kept score; the class was about learning and having fun rather than who was the best player. Both S & K really enjoyed golf lessons - so much so that they've asked if we can go out to the course and play one day. I really appreciate the thinking that goes into golf - and since our school has a golf team S & K may want to play on the team someday. It's not a sport I have any interest in, but I'm glad they've had some exposure to it.

Jumping for Joy

My daughter has been sleeping on an old mattress. And when I say old, I mean really, really old. My husband and I got the bed, mattress and box spring as hand-me-downs, from my parents, when we got married - almost nineteen years ago! The bedroom furniture had originally belonged to my grandparents and had been handed down to my parents, when they got married back in 1965. (Yeah, it's old, but it's in really good shape.)

As soon as we took her new mattress upstairs and brought the mattress downstairs, the old one immediately became a trampoline. Because, I mean, who can resist jumping on a mattress? Not me. A half-hour or so later, after the old box spring made its way downstairs, the mattress was repurposed into the floor of a pretty amazing fort.

The trampoline / fort will remain until Monday when we can get to the DPW office to purchase item-removal stickers and arrange for the dray to haul them to the dump. Until then, feel free to stop on over if you feel like jumping...

Good-bye July

Dang! I can't believe July is almost over. We've been busy - really really busy. Being busy has been good, but I haven't had much time to stop and write about it...

Of course we celebrated the Fourth. But this year we were lucky enough to get to do it with one of our exchange students from year's past. Ying Ying and her fiance, Miguel, spent a few wonderful days with us. Catching up with Ying Ying and meeting Miguel was fabulous but somehow I managed to not get a single photo of either of them, though I did manage to capture the island's fireworks display.

A week or so later, we went camping with Allen's family up in the UP. Nine of us camped out in the middle of nowhere along the banks of the Carp River. Despite the mosquitoes and the lack of running water, it was a beautiful spot.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the Boat Building contest. Each boat had to be made out of 100% natural-found-at-the-camp-site materials. 

Everyone let them go at the same time and the first one over the falls won.

Even though the kids enjoyed the boat race, hands-down their favorite thing was spending time with their cousins. I just love how they all get along so well. 

A little later in the month, K got to go away to camp. It was her first time being away from home.

She spent a week down in Lapeer, MI at Lions Bear Lake Camp. The coolest part of the whole week was every camper and many of the counselors wore hearing aides. It was a wonderful opportunity for K to get to know other kids with hearing issues. She loved it, and has asked me to post more pictures, but it will have to wait for another day...

While K at camp, S got to go to "Camp Grandma," down in Southern Indiana.

She enrolled him in daily swimming lessons and made sure he got ice cream every day. (Sometimes twice!) Plus I think they went to see three movies during the week. He was thrilled and didn't want to come home when the week was over.

On top of all that I've been volunteering at the Governor's Summer Residence, the kids have been taking golf lessons and we've all been working together to care for three new pets. Not to mention I've been catching up on all those little jobs that I seem to be too busy to get to during the school year, such as washing the wool rugs, taking my wedding ring in to be repaired, cleaning out the car, etc. But tomorrow my brother arrives so we'll have several quiet days with him. And then: August...

My Singing Monsters Birthday

Back  in April my daughter asked for a My Singing Monsters themed birthday party. The only bad thing was up until she asked, I had never heard of My Singing Monsters. (She played it on a friend's mom's phone.) So, I started researching and discovered that it is a game about monsters that make music. Sure, there's a whole lot more to it, but I had enough to work with...

I started with the napkin fabric. It's usually the easiest place to start since the fabric usually determine the color palate for the party. Next came downloading images of the different characters from the game. There were a ton of them out there that I used to make the place cards, 

drink labels and the banner. (Which I may still have saved on the computer, so if you'd like the word file, drop me an email.)

For the table, I made a runner out of white faux fur (because of this character and because I can repurpose it at Christmas time) and we sprinkled little music note confetti all over the table. 

And, of course we gave everything eyes. 

The cups, the chairs and the food were all covered with eyes.

Even the fruit salad and the cake watched us as we were eating. (I must admit the fruit salad was more for my benefit - I don't think my daughter ate a single bite of it.)

(The cake was super easy - just Oreos and junior mints.)



And, of course, who can resist sticky googly eyes?

I still can't believe  my youngest is nine. And next year, my son will be old enough to drive a snowmobile. Where does the time go?

I found the monster plush shown in the first picture here, He was so cute, I had to make one for my daughter. He may not sing, but he is super snuggly...

Inspired

As I've been blog hopping lately, I've fallen in love with these. There's just something about them. (Perhaps they remind me of the good-old-days when I use to sit in the Indian Dormitory making coiled raffia baskets for the island tourists.) As soon as I saw Maya's baskets, I had to try it. I had some laundry cord on the shelf in my sewing room and beads left over from a few years ago. 

The whole process was easier than I anticipated, but I think I need a heavier cord - the basket isn't as sturdy as I'd like. Plus the upper edge is a bit wonky and I think with a larger gauge cord it wouldn't be as noticeable.

All in all, not a bad first try, but I think the next one needs handles...

Mackinac Moment

It's been a busy week; wonderful but busy.

Today I can slow down, put my feet up and relax.

The day's off to a great start - 

I didn't wake up

until 8:30...

Back Again

Living on Mackinac Island, rain boots have always been a necessary component of my childrens' wardrobe. However, they seem to get much more use for exploring than they do for actually keeping off rain.

Our yearly trip to Wilderness State Park, was as always, wonderful. The only damper on the weekend was the midges.

They were everywhere; and I mean everywhere. We had to walk through clouds of those little buggers. Luckily they don't bite and are more of a nuisance than anything else. Thankfully, the kids were more interested in watching the birds enjoying the smorgasbord than complaining about walking through the giant swarms.

Speaking of the Community Foundation...

This winter they sponsored the coolest field trip ever. Thanks to grant money from the Mackinac Island Community Foundation the 4th - 7th graders went dogsledding! Of course, since it was February, there was only one way off the island. The plane could only carry four passengers at a time, so it took a little over an hour to shuttle all of us over to St. Ignace.

Nature's Kennel is up in McMillan, about a hour and a half north of the Straits. It was a long bus ride, but it was worth the trip. Tasha and her staff were amazing. The kids all got to visit with the dogs and then after a quick lesson, help harness their teams.

My son fell in love with one dog - Snickers. (He wanted to call dibs on her when she was put up for adoption - three years from now, and was devastated when we broke it to him that a sled dog was not a good match for our family.)

All the older kids (and the adults) actually got to drive teams. The number of dogs you had depended on your size; some of the kids only had two dogs, while the adults all had five. Driving a sled team is harder than it looks; those dogs take off so fast that you'll topple off and fall backwards if you don't have a tight grip. Luckily only one student was left behind but he managed to run and catch up with his team. He was no worse for wear and we all had a great time! 

We never would have been able to give the kids this amazing experience without the help of the Community Foundation; they are so supportive of our school. Thank you MICF and YAC (the Youth Advisory Committee) for supporting this amazing trip.