Birthday Trip for Bianca, Part 1

I celebrated a very special birthday this month and—as usual—we celebrated with a family birthday trip! I will let my pictures do most of the talking for me, but here’s a little introduction to our trip:

We left our house around lunch time for a friend’s high school graduation party in town. We spent a few hours there and enjoyed a delicious taco salad lunch before hitting the road again. Then we headed north!

Around dinnertime, we stopped in a little town near Cadillac, at a quaint little pizza place. Here are all of us kids in the booth.

Mmm, the amazing pizza we enjoyed!

We kept driving and driving, and finally, I began to realize where we were going. Our very dear friends have a cottage near a camp on Lake Michigan. My jaw dropped when I realized that we would be spending the weekend with them, in their cottage, on Lake Michigan!!!

This is the view from their cottage. Isn’t it breathtaking?!

Rubia and Roma down on the beach in front of the cottage.

Josiah and his friend enjoying the hammock in the yard. Just about everybody who sat on this hammock ended up flipping it over a few times before they got the hang of it (myself included! J)

After arriving at the cottage and settling in, we walked down to the camp to look around. Mr. and Mrs. M spent summers here while they were growing up, and their kids are the 4^th generation to be a part of this camp and cottage! As I’m sure you can imagine, they have great memories here.

The birthday girl in front of the lodge.

All of the girls getting ready to head out for a sunset beach walk.

I think the sunset we witnessed was one of the most beautiful that I have seen in my entire life. It was incomparable.

Roma and our friend K enjoying the walk.

Daddy and I walking hand-in-hand.

The group making its way towards the south pier.

In the middle of the rock pier was a bush of flowers growing. I tried to capture the bush with the sunset in the background.

Everyone enjoying the climb. But we all look concerned here because just before this picture was taken, Ben fell on a rock and scraped his shin very badly. Thankfully, there wasn’t much blood, but he did get quite bruised.

The south pier with the lighthouse at the end.

After our walk, we went to the Trading Post which doesn’t open until 9:00 p.m. We went there because. . .

We had to end the day with ice cream!

Several of us enjoyed cherry fudge ice cream with all the toppings on it. It was delicious!

This was the ladder to where the girls slept.

We slept in the attic! Just like the “Little House on the Prairie” movies!

Lights out around 12:00 a.m.! We had a great day and an even better next day. Come back tomorrow to hear about it!

The Essence of Michigan Summer. . .

Northern Michigan is truly an amazing place to spend summers. We were blessed to spend a short weekend with friends at their cottage on the lake, and it made me think of the essence of Michigan summer. Below is just a preview of our weekend and a “snapshot” of what Michigan summer means:

. . .staying in a cottage with a view of the lake. . .

. . .after-dinner beach walks with friends after soaking yourselves in the lake. . .

. . .incomparable sunsets. . .

. . .cherry fudge ice cream at 10:30 p.m. . .

. . .early morning devotions in the yard. . .

. . .worship service inside a cozy cottage, where you can hear the waves crashing on the shore. . .

. . .picnics. . .

. . .strawberry shortcake. . .

. . .floating on the waves on a tube. . .

Ahh, just a glimpse! Check back tomorrow to hear more about our trip.

More Deep Cleaning

Last week, we deep cleaned another room in our house! Our task on this day was the living room. Thankfully, it was much easier than the kitchen. Here are some photos and “job descriptions” of our deep clean:

Josiah helped by cleaning all of the baseboards and vacuuming the couches, inside and out. He did a great job!

Rubia helped deep-vacuum the living room. She moved out end tables, couches, and make-shift bookshelves to vacuum under them. She also changed out the dog’s bed and cleaned off all the fur. She and Mommy wiped down walls, especially behind the furniture.

Josiah and Mommy worked on organizing his toy bin and cleaning out all the dust and dirt. Mommy also vacuumed the window screens, and boy, do they look a whole lot better!

Roma helped out with the deep-vacuuming, which included cleaning the lampshades.

Benjamin wiped down doors, dusted our fireplace and ivy border thoroughly, cleaned a kitchen light fixture left over from last time, and set a date to shampoo the carpet.

And I washed the windows, inside and out. You would not believe how much dirt gets trapped in between the screens and the glass! It took a lot of elbow grease, but there was a noticeable difference!

Two rooms down and plenty more to go! Which room will be next? Oh, the suspense! J

McSabbath

“McSabbath is here—worship services that are quick, easy, convenient, and user-friendly. No muss, no fuss. Little or no sacrifice required. Consumers can be in and out in under an hour. McSermons may not be as nutritional as the real thing, but, like Big Macs, they have a predictable quality that fills a void at least for a while. The question is, however, do they fulfill the purpose of worship, which is to please God?”

 --Bruce A. Ray, “Celebrating the Sabbath”

(posted by Betsy)

Recipe--Triple Chocolate Cake (without frosting!)

Although our family has undergone a diet overhaul, we do enjoy an occasional treat, especially on birthdays. This recipe has come back over and over as a family favorite. It is rich and moist and satisfies chocolate cravings.

We discovered recently--due to an emergency culinary situation--that if you lack a chocolate cake mix, you can substitute a butter/yellow cake mix, if you add ½ cup of cocoa powder and a little extra sugar to the mix. Another tip from a dear friend of ours is that if you are in need of a really chocolate-y cake, you can drizzle your slice with chocolate syrup. But for me personally, triple chocolate is enough!

Triple Chocolate Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix with pudding in the mix

4 eggs

½ cup oil

½ cup milk

8 oz. sour cream

1 box instant chocolate pudding

1 cup chocolate chips

Powdered sugar

Grease Bundt pan. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and powdered sugar. Mix with an electric beater until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into pan (it will be thick). Bake at 350°F for 45-52 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pan. *Tip:* When taking the cake out of the pan, first run a table knife carefully around outer and inner edges of bundt pan to loosen cake. Then put a plate on top of the pan and slowly flip the cake onto the plate. Cool completely. Sprinkle top of cake with powdered sugar before serving. Enjoy!

Something you know you do differently than most people

All of us have something that we tend to do differently than others, whether it be something we eat, or how we do a regular job. Here are some of the things that we do differently than most people:

Mark—I eat my corn on the cob in neat rows, left to right, and leave the cob squared off, not round. Also, my family tells me that I change the lyrics to all songs.

Betsy—I clean the kitchen backwards. After a meal, I wipe the table, chairs and countertops, and all the appliances; put away all the food, and the very last thing I do is wash the dishes. When I read, I never use a bookmark to mark my place. I just remember where I was, even if I’m reading several books at once. I also use my feet like hands, and am pretty good at picking things up with them.

Bianca—I eat my cranberry sauce separate from my turkey! J And I LOVE to eat chickpeas all by themselves. I take them out of the can, drain and rinse them, and then eat them like popcorn or peanuts. No spices, no nothing, just “naked beans.”

Ben—As mentioned in a previous post, I have to touch everything an even number of times. I also eat the skin on ham.

Rubia—I hold my pencil differently than most people. I cross my thumb over my index finger when I write. But I have nice handwriting!

Roma—I add lots of extra stuff to my checklist every week. I draw pictures, write down other things I did, make lots of notes about things I’m looking forward to doing, and sometimes I do this to other people’s lists too. My Mom would prefer that I just check off what I did.

Josiah—I eat marshmallows every morning when I wake up. I also eat my carrots with mustard on them. And I write with my left hand.

Garden Update

The garden is growing quite quickly with all of the warm temperatures we’ve been having up here in usually-cold Michigan. After being on vacation for a week, my garden did need quite a bit of attention, such as re-trellising wayward plants, separating vining plants that always want to grow together, WEEDING, and watering. Here are some pictures after all that work was done: J

My zinnias and nasturtiums are coming up nicely (bottom left.)

Left: “The Jungle.” Right: the tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce

All of my tomatoes have little fruits on them! I am REALLY looking forward to homegrown tomatoes. They are one of my favorite vegetables! (or fruits, depending on who you ask!)

I have tiny gourds growing on my 3 massive plants. They are so cute!

My summer squash is coming in nicely and I have several fruits that are 3-4 inches long.

I haven’t harvested any zucchini yet, but soon!

My very first cantaloupe-in-the-making! Does anyone know when to harvest them and whether or not they need curing like some other vining plants?

My cucumbers (on the trellis) and my cantaloupe (to the right) do not get along that well. I feel like I’m always separating them; it’s like trying to break up a wrestling match between two octopi! J

Tiny cucumbers growing slowly but surely.

This is my little visionary-plot. We have a huge mess of wild raspberries/blackberries, but they don’t seem to produce very well considering that we probably have hundreds of canes. Any suggestions?

We have harvested a few blackberries that we are freezing and saving so that we might accumulate enough to make something.

And that’s about all the garden news for now! Oh, if any of you need herbs, please, come and help yourself. Because we are losing our deck to a bunch of bushes. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but they are definitely thriving! I suppose I could start drying and freezing them. Maybe I should go do that right now before we lose someone out there. . .