Trip to Ohio

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Ohio while Ben and Dad went to a Promise Keepers conference. The rest of us stayed with my grandparents and spent time with my cousins. I’ll let Ben share about the conference, but here are some pictures from our visit with my grandparents:

We were a little squished in the car because we tried to fit 7 people and all of our things into a Tahoe. But everyone tried to make the best of it (and we took lots of stretching breaks to flex those cramped legs. J)

Daddy and Ben preparing to leave for the conference Friday afternoon.

We had my aunt, uncle, 2 cousins, and one of my great-aunts over for dinner that night. As you can see, my cousin is quite a ham in front of the camera! J My Grandma provided the food, he provided the entertainment.

Speaking of food, we enjoyed a delicious Puerto Rican meal of rice and beans, pork stew, cantaloupe, rolls with butter, avocado wedges, maduros, chips and guacamole, and my Grandma’s homemade punch.

My cousin and Roma enjoying the meal out on the deck.

My Abuela getting ready to serve dessert.

We had Tembleque, chocolate hermits, and coconut cookies. If there’s any possible chance, you need to get yourself a Puerto Rican Grandma so that you can enjoy meals like this! J

After dinner, J and I chilled in the living room and watched a movie. He’s at the stage where he wants to do everything the big kids do. So he was careful to arrange his pillow just right and watch the movie even though it was more of an older-person movie. So cute!

Next morning, Josiah woke up early so that he could go to karate with our cousin. He really enjoyed watching!

For breakfast that morning (Saturday) we had bagels, omelets, hashbrowns, and pineapple-orange juice. It was quite the feast!

While the boys were gone at the conference, we made coconut ice cream! Here, my Grandpa pours the salt into the ice cream maker. He looks really serious, but we were having lots of fun!

Meanwhile, Rubia played with J outside. It was a beautiful day!

Have any of you heard the phrase that “such-and-such has my name on it?” when referencing food? Well, this ice cream literally has “my name on it!” J

While I waited for the ice cream to churn, I amused myself by taking photos. Here, J and Rubia intently watch a movie together.

I believe the scene they were currently watching was when the cowboys are rafting down the Colorado River and the boat flips. Thus the serious faces.

Finally, the ice cream is ready! It was out of this world! This was made with real coconuts that my Grandparents bought and cracked open themselves. You should definitely try making coconut ice cream from scratch some time!

For lunch we enjoyed rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, cantaloupe, sweet potato casserole, bread with butter, and chips with guacamole. Yet another feast!

Dessert was German Chocolate cake with the coconut ice cream. What a treat!

J cuddling with his Mommy after lunch.

After we had digested all of that food, we went to the neighborhood pool to burn off some calories. Here, the kids play a game in the kiddie pool.

They decided to dry off by swinging on the swings at the playground.

The boys arrived while we were at the pool, after being at the conference all day. We showered and ate a light snack before returning home. We all really enjoyed our time together and look forward to visiting again soon! Stay tuned for Ben’s post from the conference!

Car Cruise

One of our favorite summer traditions has become attending a car cruise! There is something quite enjoyable about eating a good meal, watching classic cars roll by, while basking in the warm August evening. Here are some pictures from our night:

Enjoying KFC as a family.

One of the highlights for our family was being given a mini-tour of the fire truck. I could not imagine driving one of those big trucks!

Looking inside the cab together.

Several places were “official” sponsor sites and had cars out on a lot. We enjoyed browsing through the many beautifully maintained cars.

A lovely mint colored Thunderbird.

I would love to ride in a car like this! Cars really were a work of art back in the mid- 1900’s.

All of us kids in front of an Electra 225. My Grandparents used to have a car just like this one!

After watching cars we treated ourselves to ice cream. The place we went to is notorious for large portions. The above cone is a size small! But the strawberry cheesecake ice cream was refreshing!

Ben enjoyed a “small” ice cream sundae This is definitely a treat!

We really enjoyed the car cruise and are already looking forward to next year’s event!

Mommy-Daughter Date

(Posted by Rubia)

A few weeks ago, my Mom and I got to enjoy a fun Mommy-daughter day together!

Usually, my Mom or Dad will do this with each of us kids in the summer, because we have memorized a whole kit of Bible verses. Spending a whole day together is our reward.

We got up early, and headed for Bob Evans to have breakfast. Mommy had eggs, sausage, and fruit. I had cinnamon pancakes! They were delicious! After that, we ran a few errands together to buy some things.

Enjoying breakfast at Bob Evans.

Then we decided to go to Frankenmuth! Frankenmuth is a place here in Michigan, with a bunch of stores and fun places. It’s supposed to look like a German village.

When we got there, we went to the The Wilderness Trails Zoo first. We ate lunch at a picnic table under the shade of a tree.

Then we walked down the trail to look at the animals. We saw swans, turtles, and ducks. There were farm animals too, like goats and hogs and chickens. After that, we went to my favorite part—the reptiles! We saw alligators! I didn’t know that alligators could survive where we live! There were also huge lizards and iguanas that we actually got to pet! Their skin felt rough. It was cool.

The alligators.

Another one of the reptiles we saw at the zoo.

Through the rest of the zoo visit, we saw anteaters, reindeer, bears, fox, bobcats, birds, donkeys, and lions. We also went inside a butterfly house! It was lots of fun!

Then we decided to go tour some of the shops in Frankenmuth. We went into a cheese shop, a fudge shop, and some other shops. Before we left, we decided to get ice cream. I got mint chocolate chip! Mmm!

Enjoying our ice cream together!

We had a really fun time on our trip! I enjoy spending time with my Mom, and I will always hide God’s Word in my heart!

Sunday Nap

“It is vain for you to rise up early,

To retire late,

To eat the bread of painful labors;

For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.”

Psalm 127:2

(posted by Betsy)

Recipe--Berry Pie

One of our favorite summer treats is berry pie. This recipe allows you to use whatever type of berry you want, but we usually use blueberries. The pie isn’t super sweet, and that really allows the flavor of the berries to shine through. But I personally enjoy a dollop of homemade whipped cream on top to add a little flair. J Make sure you try this while the berries are in season!

Berry Pie

4 cups fresh berries

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 ¼ cups unsweetened juice concentrate of juice (we use apple)

¼ cup water

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 pre-baked pie crust

In a saucepan, stir together all the ingredients EXCEPT the berries. Bring to a light boil, stirring about 5 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in fruit. If using large berries, such as strawberries, they should be sliced first. Pour into baked pie shell. Chill. May sprinkle toasted coconut on top or serve with whipped cream. Enjoy!

VARIATION: Substitute chopped grapes mixed with unsweetened white grape juice concentrate. Grapes may be chopped by hand or chopped briefly in a food processor. Drain off juice if using a food processor. Measure the grapes as 4 cups after chopping and draining.

(Recipe taken from “Of These Ye May Freely Eat: A Vegetarian Cookbook.”)

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty pleasures are something that we all have. They aren’t necessarily bad or wrong things, but perhaps not always the best for us. Or maybe it’s something we do too often. So please be understanding when you read ours! They’re not necessarily things we do often, so keep that in mind!

Mark—I like to eat chocolate chips when I get home from work. I also like Frosty's from Wendy’s. If Sunday afternoon naps count, then I take one of those.

Betsy—I like to eat peanut-butter and chocolate chip sandwiches for lunch! At least I sometimes add raisins, too—those are healthy, right? I sometimes enjoy re-reading my favorite children’s books, instead of the more instructive and edifying homeschool books I should be reading. And if I could, I would spend a whole day lolling around in my pj’s. That’s one thing I love about New Year’s Day…it’s Pajama Day!

Bianca—I have a rather guilty pleasure of splurging on $4-$5 smoothies at Tropical Smoothie. I really love the Bahama Mama and Sunrise, Sunset smoothies. But I don’t do that very often! I also enjoy sitting and reading for a whole afternoon. That’s a guilty pleasure because 1) usually there’s some other work that I could/should be doing and 2) I usually binge-read novels (good novels, but still novels.)

Ben—My guilty pleasure is reaching into the chocolate chip container and tossing a bunch of yummy chocolate chips down my throat. J I get this from Daddy! I also like playing Madden (a computer football game) almost every day, but only for 15 minutes. When I go down to practice drums, I end up spending an hour down there reading books from our various shelves.

Rubia—Sometimes—like the others—I snack on unhealthy things when I should be avoiding sugar. I also read longer than I’m supposed to (especially with interesting books! J)

Roma—Sometimes I read dog books, when instead I should be doing my devotions in the morning (oops! J) Other times I get chocolate chips from the cabinet also like Ben and Dad.

Josiah—I like to eat marshmallows before breakfast with my juice. I also like playing computer games as Ben does. Mom only lets me do that twice a week.

One Last Park Day

Last week, we went to our last homeschool park day for the summer. L We were sad that it was our last one, but we enjoyed the fellowship with friends immensely!

Mikey thought he was going to get a seat to himself on the way to the kennel. He was sorely disappointed when Ben showed up and demoted him to the floor.

Rubia and Roma enjoy lunch with their friends and pen-pals, who are also twins.

Our friend S, who asked me to take his picture. We missed his family very much as we hadn’t seen them since my birthday the month before.

“Wait, I’m on the wrong end of the camera!” J Mom borrowed it to take a picture of me during lunch time at the pavilion.

A large group of the kids played "monkey in the middle." At one time there were 3 or 4 monkeys who were desperately trying to escape the middle of the circle!

The parents enjoyed talking about curriculum among other things.

Roma, our friend K, me, and Rubia posed on a log in the woods for a picture. We all wanted to get a group picture and resorted to using one fallen log as our seat, and another log as our tripod.

A slightly different perspective. It was interesting for me to try to set the camera self-timers, run into the photos, and jump onto the log in less than 10 seconds. Several pictures didn’t turn out because I didn’t quite make it before the timer went off! J

Mommy took this picture of all of us on the slide at the playground.

After the park day, we went home with some friends of ours to meet their kittens. They were so adorable and playful!

Zephram enjoys Roma’s hug as much as she does.

We really look forward to going to park days again next year! They are a highlight for our family every summer!

Emergency "Surgery"

Last week, Lewis needed a bit of emergency treatment. He came home after being gone for about 24 hours straight, and his ear was bloody and oozing. We called our (amazing) neighbor who is a vet tech and she came right over to look at him.

She determined that he had most likely gotten into a cat fight and was bitten on the ear, and it was getting infected.

In order to clean the wound, she needed to shave off his hair with a razor (WAY easier said than done.) She ended up swaddling him in two towels because he was so fidgety. She said that a stray cat can actually do more harm to a human than a pit bull because of their claws and teeth and the fact that a human can contract an infection from a cat bite. So we were as careful as possible not to get hurt!

After she shaved the hair off his ear, she cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide several times to get all the gunk out. Then she slathered on an antibiotic cream before letting him go.

Right now we are trying to keep the wound clean and medicated and hoping that the infection will clear up. Otherwise we will have to probably take him in to see the vet and have them clean out the wound again. The Lord knows we love animals, because He seems to bring us the “problems.” J But we know that Lewis will make a very good pet for someone, someday, when he is better!