Moving again, but just Digitally

So, Gmail has been fussing at me for a few months now, that my storage is almost full.  Since I download all my pictures to my computer and then upload some to my blog, but I think that maybe my blog is what is filling up my storage. = (

We've had this blog for 6 winters now, so I guess it's time for a new one!  

You can find all of our new adventures at:

https://crockstars.blogspot.com/

Same old us, new address!

Hope to see you there!  

later days

The Other Part of the Day

We had an appointment in Ann Arbor, for William, Grace, and Juliet.  William's was actually a double appointment, because his orthodontist requested that he have 4 baby teeth removed before his next visit to their office!  So, when I made his tooth extraction appointment, they were able to bump his cleaning to an earlier time slot, and keep the girls at their same time.  

Grace and Juliet slept with twisted hair so that their hair could be 'curly' for the appointment.  It was certainly curly first thing in the morning!

When we arrived the parking lot was close to full, but we were plenty early, so we were able to wait for someone to leave, then we were able to park and went to check in.  Grace was able to go back earlier, since her dentist had an opening, and William's dentist was right on time.  Poor Juliet, her dentist had a patient right before her, and the patient was checked in, but in the wrong clinic.  So not only was she not able to go early, by was actually delayed. = (

William and Juliet both have to go back for treatment in November (and William will be going on a back to back Friday/Monday. = /  I may see if I can move his ortho appointment, because I don't want him to miss that much school in a row.)

We enjoyed a nice lunch in the atrium, William was only allowed to eat joghurt, so we gave him all that we brought, poor guy!  Grace found a cute little 'pig' marshmallow cookie!

After our 'detour' to the park, we headed home.  About 20 miles from Lansing, my car hiccoughed a bit, then the radio went out.  After about 5 more miles, my speedometer panel (gas, rpm, speed, etc.) also went out.  At the next hiccough, I made the decision to pull over at a rest stop, instead of trying (and possibly failing) to make it to the mechanic.

I turned off my car for a few minutes, then attempted to restart it, but it wouldn't even click over. = (

So, I called AAA, Billy, and the mechanic (in that order!)

AAA was out pretty quick, but we had access to a bathroom, water fountain and all the food we'd brought for our lunch, so we were pretty content while we waited.

Such a sad sight. =- (

Once my car was on the truck, Billy headed our way (there was no sense in him joining us to wait for the truck.)

One of our primary forms of entertainment was bottle flipping.  William got pretty accurate with his sprite bottle!

The 'pose' is staged, but the success was real in the same flip for both William & Juliet!!

All in all, I'm thankful that since my car did break down, it went out on our way home, close enough to home to be 'local', at a location with a bathroom and water source, that we didn't have a car full of camping supplies, for AAA, and for the sweet families who saw our car loaded up and made sure that we were okay and had help coming!

And while I'm in a reflective mood: a quick shout out to my sweet little garden, we had our first cucumber heartvest yesterday!!! <3

I hope the repair on my car is quick and relatively inexpensive, but Billy googled the symptoms and thinks it's the alternator. = (

later days

78 Michigan Parks: Island Park State Recreation Area #63b

Today, after our morning dental appointment for WGJ, we were heading home when construction detoured us a few miles off our regular route.  Since we were already detoured, when I saw a sign for another State Park, I told the kids "let's do it!"

It was a nice park, the kids liked the beach and playground.

Grace and Juliet liked the muddy beach, and said the water was pretty warm!

As we walked over to the playground, we saw a couple of sandhill cranes.  They let us get really close (though my picture doesn't do it justice.)  The birds were leery, but didn't run or charge, so all in all a win in my book!

On our way to Kent Lake, we'd passed a sign for Island Lake (the namesake of the park) so we wanted to hunt it down.  Well, after a long, long 25mph drive we found the Island Lake, but there wasn't a sandy type beach, just lots and lots of lily pads!

I saw a couple of frogs, but only as they were jumping.  I was finally able to point this one out to everyone, so that we could be on our way!

After a long, long drive back out of the park, I wanted to take a picture before we left.  I told William that I wanted a picture of him on the rock.  He was showing his confusion.

Then, as we approached the sign, he figured out why we were getting out of the car.

The park was a nice one, and I'm really glad we detoured from the detour to visit!

Once we got home, and I was going to add it to my checklist and blog, I found out that the checklist doubles up some of the closer state parks as a single dot.  So, this park actually shares a number with another nearby state park!!!! Way to mess up my 'challenge!' So, in order to remedy this, I've added a letter a/b to each of the parks that share a number, but I will end up with more than 78 parks!  At least I found out kind of early in the game. = )

later days

With the new numbering system, I'm renaming the posts so that they can align with the checklist, but these are the visits so far!!

Tahquamenon Falls #15

Keith J Charters #33
Muskegon State Park #50*

PJ Hoffmaster State Park #52

Grand Haven State Park #53

Ionia State Park #54

Holland State Park #61

Waterloo Recreation Area #70a
Van Buren State Park #73

*this post marks the start of the project, and as such, has information about what I hope to accomplish! 

A Glimpse into the Other Activities (Fun and Otherwise) in Our Lives

While most of the past few weeks have been chores, party prep, summer camp and gardening, we did a few other things that were worthy of pictures too!

One day, we lost power for two hours!!!  It was hailing and storming for a short time but had long cleared by the time we had power again.

During the outage, Emily, William and Grace played Nerts with me!  (William had already left the table by the time we took a picture.)

When the power went out, we were in line for getting Grace's prescription, but that's when the power went out!  We saw the 'lightening' like flashes from when the tree branch struck the electrical wires.  

When the power came back on, we got a notification that her prescription was now ready, but when we made the trip back by, they were still closed (I mean, how much can you really accomplish in a dark, hot shop?)  So, I went back a fourth time, and finally got to start Grace's Swimmer's ear regimen! 

William ended up at the dollar tree with me on many of my runs to complete my projects.  He was a good companion for sure!

On the trip to our closest one, I also wanted to get some Hoisin Sauce from Bo Bo, who is next door.

Once inside, I asked him to help me find it. Halfway down the sauce aisle, William confusedly, and totally non-accusingly asked why I needed "Poison sauce." Oh, my sweet boy.  We use it for dumplings and egg rolls. = )

We were invited to a party that took place yesterday, and I wasn't sure if we would be able to go, with our party being the night before (and I just can't leave my house in a sad state and have a good time.)  But, luckily, were able to go and hand out with oodles of children and good company!

William really enjoyed the zip line!

I think my kids' favorite part was the silly string fight.  

But Emily definitely lost. lol.

The twins also enjoyed the motorized car (that they pushed each other in, just like when they were little!)

The food was amazing, and our hosts were gracious as always!  It was a fun time, and we were able to just walk home!!!

later days

Knocking out Chores Using Some Pre-Party Energy!

For the past two weeks I've had so much 'pre-party' energy, that I've painted and improved and vinyled and swept and cooked!

Grace was my helper when it came to painting the back porch, basement door, and shed entrances!

I found a hat for my costume, but it was blue, and when I attempted to dye it, the dye destroyed parts of the netting, so I had to find something else to use as a veil. = (

I recruited Billy to help me assemble the pergola that we were borrowing from Sarah.  Once we had it completely assembled, it would have been a beast to break back down and put into her truck, and Billy liked it well enough to want to keep it.  Since she was not quite ready to add it to her yard, it worked out perfectly, and we were able to buy it off of her!

With all the extra party food, I really needed room in the refrigerator, so I made some off-season St. Lucia cakes to get the jar of molasses off the shelf!  They were tasty, even in the middle of summer!

I attempted to replace Billy's grill cover last year, but neither replacement was as good as his original.  I bought some tape to repair the old one, and it did give us one more winter, but it was starting to come apart around the mesh, and the material was stiff and brittle, so it was time to replace it for full price.

But the new one is quite an improvement!

Over out time in this house, the upstairs sink has sunk just enough to separate from the paint.  I didn't care for the chipped paint look, and so I thought I'd try some of the stick on wall stickers from the dollar tree.

First, I bought some silver, to match the faucet, but It didn't look good at all!

The second was a mixture of silver and gold, and looks much better, and way better than the chipped paint too!

I repaired maps and scrubbed walls in the guest bathroom, washed rugs, scrubbed tubs, cleaned out the vacuum cleaner, dusted, swept and vacuumed the mud room, and just put all my anxious energy to work!

I've been paring down one of our medicine cabinets for a while now, in anticipation of getting a basket for each child. (And, of course, I didn't take a before picture.. = ( ) Once I saw how cute their baskets looked, I decided to improve the other containers as well.

The last few items were too big to fit into the tiny buckets, so a third trip to the dollar tree was in order.

Project complete!

True party prep started two days before, with dish washing and making cold dishes.  This was 3oz of grated dark chocolate!

For the Riccota Mocha cake!!!  (It was really good, but between the (tiny bit of) espresso powder and dark chocolate I was a little concerned about it messing with my sleep. lol.)

And the day of, made up caprese salads for everyone!  (But we had a salad bar, and people could make up their own salad!)

I wanted to have a record of the recipes that I made this year, and instead of including them on the party post, I'm hiding them away here. = )  As always, their recipes were delicious!

As the summer winds down, we have a few dentist appointments to get through next week, but then we have Bingo Week Camping at Jellystone, just before the twins start back to school!!!  

It was a fast, but lovely summer!

later days