By The Way....

You might have noticed that everything is rather askew and overlapping on this here blog.  Please forgive the horrendousness of it.  I changed it one day (thinking I could easily switch it back to what it just was) but alas, that was not the case.   

Of course, as life would have it, I haven't had a bit of time to really work on it, aside from some messing around with the design that made it look even worse.  It takes skill to be this bad of a blogger, lemme tell ya (a skill I have in spades, apparently). 

Anyway, I'll change it soon enough, as soon as I get a chance, so please forgive the wonkiness and overlappingess in the meantime, mm'kay? 

Thanks.

Leif's First Jet Ski Ride

More Photos/Explantion in the Post Below!

Leif's First Jet Ski Ride

A few weekends ago, Leif had his first Jet Ski ride. Needless to say, he loved it. (We were also admiring that sailboat in the background - nice!)

All these photos are of Leif and Mr. Chris cruisin' around.

If the images are still too small on your screen to see his face, click on them to enlarge.

Leif was waving everytime he went by us on the dock, which was cute.

Doing big zooomey circles in the water.

He had no fear (and oddly, neither did I) and loved every second of it.

Good News Update:  Grandmom and I spent a few hours the other day searching through our stored boxes in the shed (for Winter clothes, as the temps are creeping down!) and in one of the boxes, I stumbled upon the cord for my camera battery charger.  I still haven't charged my battery or taken new pictures, but I can now, and that is wunderbar.

So, expect more bloggage and pictures in the near future (although Blogger has been giving me a hard time with posting pictures and all lately - grr.... - things seem to be going better in that Dept. today, so there is hope!)

Happy Days to you!

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that we've been enjoying very fine weather lately (ooh, Sense & Sensibility line!).  The weather is crisp and cool, and the high today is 80.  I cannot tell you how giddy that makes me.

The bad news is not making me giddy.  I recently discovered that our camera battery is low.  And when I went to get the charger, I realized that the cord to said charger was packed away.  In a storage shed that is jammed full of all of our material possessions.  And I have NO IDEA which box it is in, not even the faintest hint of an idea.  Which means that I can't charge my camera batteries.  Which means I can't take pictures, because my camera batteries are so low.  Which means that this post (as you might notice) is horribly picture-free.  And that all future posts will be picture-free, too, until I get my grubby little hands on that cord.  And really, who wants to read picture-free posts?  Not me!  Which means, there probably won't be any posts for quite a while. 

Unless, of course, I have a brilliant stroke of genius and figure out a way to charge my ailing battery without that cord.  Honestly, though, strokes of genius have been most rare for me (for the past 30 years or so) but especially of late.  For example:  Yesterday, as I was scraping the dishes into the trash after dinner, I realized I was dumping a plate full of silverware into the trash.  I knew I was doing it, but was too insanely slow to stop it.  The weirdness continued the morning when I went looking for ice for my ice water in the cupboard beneath the sink.

So, frankly, I see no brilliant strokes of genius in my near future, just rampant idiocy.  And that doesn't mean good things for pictures appearing on this here blog.

But I like to focus on the good things, so instead of moping about a pictureless blog, I'll be out enjoying this very lovely weather and feeling a crisp breeze on my face.

All of the windows are open and the breeze is bringing fresh air into every room. 

It's a good day.

Slaw-makin' and Other Fun Stuff

 

Leif and Jason making cole slaw.  We make it the old fashioned way - graters, slaw boards.  Not a Cuisinart in sight.

Cheeks with one if his creations.  He's been building a lot with these things lately (not even sure what they're called).  He even stays up late at night, building.

 

This is why he was wearing those big ear muff things in the last post: mowin' the lawn with Granddad.

 

One of the last pictures taken at our old home: Leif with my first pineapple upside down cake - made in a cast iron skillet.  Yum!

A Few Photos

Leif and his cousin Sophia read books together in the sun room.

Leif adoring Sophia while she tries to eat yogurt.

Slumpy in a chair.

Listening intently to Granddad, although I'm not sure if he could hear a word with those bad boys on his ears!

The Same Old News All Over Again :)

No, we don't drink that much Canadian Club (whatever that is).

We've moved.

Again.

That's Leif sitting atop the first bit of book boxes getting ready to move.

That picture was taken in July.

Now it's September.

We moved at the tail end of July back to our old stomping grounds, in the hopes that the better economy/employment rate there would provide us with employment. 

So far, nothing full time, but a few part time gigs for Jason.

So, that's good.

Leif has done pretty well with the transition (although this was the first move where we had any transition issues - he is getting older!)

He got to ride in a big yellow Penske truck all the way up here, so that was a big thrill for him. :)

It's funny what you miss when all of your stuff is in storage (aside from a few clothes and toiletries).

I find myself missing my books.

Every day, I need to reference something, and every day, I have to remember that my books are buried deep behind tightly packed furniture and kayaks.

Other than that, I don't miss much.

My craft materials would be helpful, too, but I don't miss them per se.

I miss my books. :)

But there is always something good that comes from going without:

We've discovered the Library.

Now, that may sound like the silliest thing that's ever been said, but it has still been a bit of a revelation to me.

I eschewed libraries for a long time because I felt that the children's books were, (and I say this from experience) covered in that icky plastic (covered in fingerprints and grime and who knows what else).  And I just wasn't down with that.

But with almost all of Leif's books in storage, we were desperate for more reading than the small bag I'd brought for the truck ride up here.

So, we went to the library, chose a bunch of books (none that were nasty) and we've been reading lots of new books together, which is fun.

I took out Willa Cather's "O Pioneers" which I'd never read, and I sat down and read it in two sittings, which felt great.

I was also shocked at the movie selection at the library...my memory of the video selection was a sampling of old British whodunnits (and indeed, they were there, too), but there were also new comedies, classics, and all sorts of good things - lots to choose from!

Anyway, we've have limited internet access since we moved, hence our bloggy disappearance for such a large amount of time.  But now we have our computer hooked up, so I can start blogging again regularly.

In the meantime, if you have our house phone number, delete it, please!

Our cell phone number is still good...for now.

And our emails are always the same.

For some reason, this picture won't enlarge, so you'll just have to squint ;)

Anyway, happy days! :)

PS - I rolled out of bed and wrote this post, so please forgive any typos, incoherent ramblings, and purposeless drivel that might have escaped me in such a state.  Thank you.

Ebleskivers

Leif is happy to see a plate heapin' full of Ebleskivers (filled pancakes) on the table for breakfast.

We've recently acquired a cast iron Ebleskiver pan, and have fallen head over heels for these little filled pancakes.  Ebleskivers (say it with me: able-skeever) are a Danish breakfast treat made of light fluffy pancake surrounding (or dipped in) a tasty sweet (or savory) filling like Jam, Nutella (stars align, angels sing), or even ham and cheese.  If you drool over the Williams-Sonoma catalog on a regular basis like I do, you're well familiar with them.

This was my first attempt making them.

Hmn...Not so pretty.

They really aren't as burnt as they look - the Black Raspberry jam oozed out of them and created that mess (and a huge mess in the Ebleskiver pan, which I then burned myself on trying to clean!  What I go through for the love of a filled pancake!  Luckily, a dab of Magic Medicine administered by Leif made the pain (and the scar) fade quicker than you can say, "Danish Filled Pancake!")

This was my second attempt:  Better, but still not pretty.

This was my 3rd attempt: Much better!  You can see little ones in the mix there - Leif likes his food "Leify-sized" :)

Sorry for the lack of bloggage lately.

We've been crazy busy on numerous fronts, and I am going on a mad decluttering spree the likes have ne'er been seen before!

The AC on the one side of our house finally kicked it the other day, so I'm sitting here pouring sweat (TMI, anyone?) at 9:15 at night because it is 90 degrees in my living room!!!

I ain't complainin' though (well, okay, maybe I was, but I'll stop now) because the other side of the house has a finely functioning AC unit, and that is where we sleep.  That's all I care about.  I can swelter all day, but when night comes, I want to be cool as the cucumbers that I used to harvest.

Speaking of cukes, I pulled the majority of the cukes, all the zukes, and all of the squash plants and threw them into the compost.

They had completed their lifecycle (in part due to my sudden desire to NOT water them due to an unfortunate mishap the week prior (long story, don't wanna get in to it now!)) and in part due to the fact that they were getting old and not producing as much.

The volunteer tomato seems to be coasting in to her final days, although with those things, you never really know.  They're uber-producers and could keep on producing late into the fall if I let them...But I don't feel like letting them.  I'm in a root-rippin'-up kinda mood, if ya mean what I know.

We've been spending some good time at Nana & Papa's, lazing in the pool for countless hours.

Well, not lazing exactly...more like an intense workout for hours on end, swimming with Leif on my back, pounding the water with my hands to give him a "jacuzzi" and tossing him countless times into the air.

We have a lot of fun, though.

He likes to straddle a noodle and I lift him up and down around the pool, like a carousel seahorse ride.

He loves it and I'm pretty smitten, too.

Anyway, I'm going to stop my suffering and go to the cool side of the house now.

I guess that ends your suffering too because you don't have to read anymore boring rants from me.

Guten Nacht!

Our Summer Trip

Leif and Jason with the RV.

Leif and Mallard Duck chill in the backseat of the Honda Element. 

We worked as Transporters for a week, driving a brand-spanking new Honda Element from Merritt Island, Florida up to South Bend, Indiana.  Then we drove a 40' Fleetwood Storm RV from South Bend to Merritt Island.

The drive up was quick since we had to get the car up as soon as possible.

The drive back was lazy and fun!

And we've become addicted to RVing!

It's like sailing, but on land.

Jason was Captain, Leif was 1st Mate, and I was Navigator.

On the way up, we went through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana.

One the way back, we went through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

Leif has now been through Kentucky and Indiana (those are firsts for him, the rest he's been through many times!)

 

This was the view through almost all of Indiana.

(This was our first day with the RV and the windshield was filthy.  We discovered that it got dirty quickly on the road, so at every gas station, we washed it until it was sparkly clean!  Leif helped.)

Indiana is just like I remember it with a few exceptions.  (I lived there for 5 years as a child, for those of you that don't know that, but this was my first time back in the state since then).  

It was cornfield after cornfield after cornfield, just like I remember.

What had changed, though, was the amount of chain stores and restaurants.

They weren't there when I lived there! 

 

We saw lots of Round Barns like this one and Jason explained the benefits of a Round Barn vs. a standard Rectangle Barn.  He is full of bizarre info like that. :)

 

For a large part of the way back, Leif got to ride shotgun up front.

He loved being up there with his Daddy, pointing out things, talking, and taking in the view.

I think that picture was either Southern Kentucky or Northern Tennessee.

Even though the RV had a TV and VCR, we didn't need to use them once.

Leif loved RVing - it was so much more spacious than a cramped car! 

 And the view from so high is great!

Leif climbed the rock to watch the choo-choo-ing train go by.

We stopped at a place called Amish Acres in Nappanee, Indiana.

We didn't get to go in, because they didn't open until 10, over 2 hours after we arrived (and we couldn't wait).

But Leif at least got to run around and watch trains (that's where the above photo was taken).

 

Checking out some things on the RV.

We got to stop and visit with Oma Ru and Aunt Nancy in Tennessee.

We stayed with them for two nights, but for some reason I didn't get any pictures of them!

 

They took us to Fort Loudon, an historic fort from the French and Indian War.  Leif loved this model cannon in the visitor's center.

We watched a movie on the Fort and after it was done, Leif climbed off my lap and said, "Well, that was fun," which made us all laugh.

 

Jason sweeping out one of the barracks.

He's always sweeping at State Parks!

After our visit, we drove on down to Georgia, where we frolicked at Vogel State Park.

 

This is where we frolicked.

 

One of my goals for the trip was to play in a creek.

We got to do that here.

We all loved it, especially Leif.

But when it came to leave, Leif and Jason were calling me out of the creek.

I didn't want to leave!

 

The water was co-old!

 

I took a ton of pictures from the banks of Jason and Leif, but my camera is having a focusing problem again, so most of them didn't turn out.  These are the few that kinda did.

 

Leif scampered over rocks and fallen trees like he'd been doing this all his life.

Even though neither Leif nor Jason had shoes on, we couldn't keep up with Leif!

He's taken to climbing trees in our yard since we've gotten back home.

I rather dread his teenage years where he might start looking to taller things to climb, like cliffs and mountains (says the pot about the kettle).

 

After Leif was warmed up, Jason bought him a tangerine lollypop. 

It nearly took him all day to eat!

Then we got back on the road again (naturally to Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" which we played every time we got back on the road.)  Leif has been singing it since we've been home.  Last night, he ran in circles around the house with his banjo, singing, "I like making music with my friends" etc.

 

As chief navigator, I tried very hard to keep us off of scary roads like The Tail of the Dragon and the Cherohala Skyway.  I'm not sure, but we may have ended up on the skyway anyway.  It may be fun on a bike, but in a giant RV, it's downright terrifying (says Wimpy Me).  You see the road curving around and down?  Yeah - miles and miles and miles of that.  I think I said "Are you in a low gear?" and "Slow Down, Jason!" around every five seconds for around 15 miles.  Jason, I'm sure, appreciated my concern. ;)

Leif in the doorway of the RV, putting on his shoes.  (Doesn't he look just like a little Jason here?)

  

Finally, we were out of the heavy mountainous area, and we stopped to refuel.

Leif loved helping with that!

Even though the RV only got 8 miles to the gallon, we didn't have to stop that often for fuel, and it didn't cost much more overall than taking a car on the same trip.  I'm not sure how that worked out, but it did. :)

After we dropped the RV off in Merritt Island, we drove home (not a short trip in itself!)

We stayed at home for a day, and early the next morning, drove to Jacksonville (also not a short trip) to meet Grandmom and Granddad, who flew in for the day to visit.

We went to the beach and Leif played in the waves with his grandparents, and Jason and I went on walks down the beach.  It was beautiful....rough seas, but not very many people because the beach was at a Naval Station. 

 

Leif playing in the waves (and no, he wasn't all alone...Grandmom was just outside of the picture).

 

It was a great day for the beach - slightly overcast, so no beaming sun making it too hot to handle. Hot, but not sweltering, with a nice breeze.

 

It was weird to be at the beach (skin cancer and all) but I wore my big sunhat, long pants (which got soaked and started falling off - not so fun) and a shirt with sleeves to my elbows.  Every exposed part of me was slathered in sunscreen, and we were only there for an hour and a half, so that was good.

 

Jason watching Leif and Grandmom from the shore.

 

Leif and Grandmom watching a plane fly overhead.

 

Leif in the surf with Granddad.

 

Out of the waves to rest a bit.  But he still didn't want to let go of that noodle!

 

Grandmom washing sand off of Leif with her ingenious little bag o' water. :)

 

Once more into the fray!

The conditions were right for the kite to take flight. 

 Jason set it up as soon as we got there and Leif had some fly time after he was tuckered out by the waves.

We're back home now, all tuckered out from a few crazy weeks.

Why is it that sitting in a car for 18 hours straight is so tiring? :)

We had lots of fun, and it was just what we needed - a change of scenery and a chance to relax!

Here's to unplanned Summer Vacations!

I'm going to go eat some crab now.

;)