Finding Luker

The highlight of the weekend for me was picking up Luke from camp. Saturday morning we woke up early and the whole family made the hour trek to camp and got there before 9 am. We were excited to see him but had to look hard to find him....Can you find him????
There he is!......in the same outfit that I've seen him in photos on the internet all week. Hmmm, very interesting!!
Oh were we happy to see him....but I was happy to HUG him!!!
even if he looked like he had been eaten alive by a million mosquitoes....
More tomorrow....... Jill

A Girlie Day

Well, it was certainly a "girlie Thursday" for Anna and I. We met some friends at the "Kit Kitterich" movie and then went out for lunch with them. The boys didn't care much--they were busy with friends!! It was a great day!! Jill
P.S. I can't wait to pick up Luke from camp tomorrow!!!!! I miss him so much!!!

Tasty Thursday

Just had to include the recipe for a favorite drink of mine...especially on a hot day....and it's a lot less expensive than Starbucks. :)

Mocha Cooler
1/3 c. instant coffee granules
1 c. sugar
1 c. nonfat dry milk
1 c. non dairy vanilla or caramel creamer (powder)
1/3 c. baking cocoa
1/4 t. salt

Crush coffee granules into a fine powder. Add, sugar, dry milk, creamer, cocoa and salt. Store this mix in an airtight container until you're ready to make a mocha cooler.

When ready to make a cooler, combine 1 1/2 cups of crushed ice , 1/2 c. milk and 1/2 c. of the mix in a blender. Cover and blend on high until smooth. Enjoy....and stay cool!!
Jill

Wordless Wednesday....Summer Color

A new friend??

We've discovered a new friend in our garden...actually we found 3 new friends last night...that brings the total to over 20 now. Hmmm....these little buggers are eating our tomato plants like nothing I've ever seen. John picked up the worms and put them on the bird feeder hoping that some bird would get a tasty treat but.....
they just climbed right off of the feeder and fell to the ground-- and headed right back for the garden. Rats!!! That required us to use another method of removal....squish.

Our cucumbers are doing great...don't they eerily look like my new friends???Kinda freaky. Jill

It's All about Luke, Weekend...

There's this boy in our family who played his last baseball(U9) tournament this weekend. We'll just call him Mr. Homerun.
Mr. Homerun actually hit a homerun in the first game(noon) and their team defeated their first opponent 20 to 2. After a short rest time at home, Mr. Homerun played a second game at 4:00, but his team lost by 1 point...bummer. We took our family out for dinner following the 2nd game and Mr. Homerun wasn't feeling so good.
He had a huge headache, tummy cramps and practically fell asleep at the table..... Hmmmmm...this Mom was a bit worried about heat exhaustion and dehydration..... We quickly wrapped up his food and drove home. Just as Mr. Homerun went to go lay down, he made a pit stop in the kitchen and "lost his belly contents"...ewwww, really causing Mom and Dad to worry, because a neighbor of ours had been taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion just a few weeks ago with the same symptoms. After keeping down some Motrin and having a 45 minute nap, Mr. Homerun felt better and proceeded to take a shower and then scarfed down his wrapped up food. Hooray!!

But....we had more questions to ponder... He had more games on Sunday. Should he play in those? Was it going to be too hot for him?

What about camp?? He was scheduled to leave for a week-long overnight camp the next day. (Sunday) Should he go somewhere and stay without air conditioning all week?? If he did go, would he recognize the signs of dehydration?? Would he keep drinking water???

Reality is, he did play in the 9:00 game on Sunday morning...and lost....but he felt GREAT!! So we continued with the "camp" plan and got him there by 1:30. Here's Mr. Homerun, excited about camp....
Yes, check out those bunks.....makes me thankful for my cozy bed. When we left the camp I took a few shots of the scenery.... here's what Mr. Homerun was very excited about....
I was awake this morning at 5 am because a storm with hail and high wind was coming through. I can't help but wish my little buddy, Mr. Homerun, was here, all safe and sound tucked in our little nest.... He'll be just fine, I'm sure.... Jill

A Little Vacation

We aren't the kind of family that has a new vacation spot each summer. Our "getaway" is a place northwest of us about 2 hours or so. We built a home on a golf course and share it with 2 other families which relieves the guilt of not being there every weekend and helps to split the cost :)

The big green van left first on Monday, carrying all Males in the family plus 2 extras....oh yes, Bella the female dog went with them. Anna and I followed about a half hour later because we were making a stop at the outlet mall to visit the American Girl Doll outlet....

Some friends came up to vacation with us. While their Dad was traveling for work, my friend brought her two boys up to hang with us for a few days.

The boys played lots of card games in the sunroom....
We had LOTS of fort building...an obsession, you might say....
and lots of swimming in the pool....not the lake, thankyouverymuch.
hitting some golf balls.....
and when our cable tv didn't carry the most important baseball game...there was lots of checking of the blackberry to get the score......(John and Mrs. W)
oh yes, the little girl had a good time too....don't you worry.....

Like Andrew said as we pulled into the driveway......."This is the best part of the trip... coming back home." I agree...... It is nice to be away, but there's no place like home...... Jill