Other Fun Activites

My usual hodgepodge post that has other fun things we've done that don't fit in with the other posts this round.

Avia came back for a little while!

Grace was patiently waiting for her to come over.

She treated us all to ice cream one afternoon, but Alice and I had to hustle away to get her to driving school.

And just like that, it was time for her to leave again. = (  (And despite how the tree in the picture might look, it's still summer here!)

One Saturday Emily, William, Grace and Juliet comprised a large percentage of the youth group trip to ZapZone.

While I was in Oklahoma, Billy dropped Alice off at Comicon to meet up with some of her friends.  She had an excellent time.  She spent hours sewing and crafting her dino mask upgrades!

Billy signed us up for new internet, because it was cheaper and faster than what we had, but it has been an annoying transition.  They installed the router on the opposite wall from our old one.  I had to install a shelf to get it off of Grace's computer cabinet, so that it wouldn't accidentally get knocked off.

My favorite upgrade is that we finally got to take down the ethernet cable for William's computer (3 years later), since we could now attach him with a shorter cable!

We found some Lincoln Logs at the rummage sale here in the village, and William and Grace really enjoyed creating with them!

At the robotics rummage sale, that I ended up at alone for some reason, I was so late in the sale that everything was free.  I spent a long time going through the miscellaneous toy box, and picked out as many calico critters from the set that I saw.  I also found lol doll pieces and a few other fun items that made me think of my children.

Grace combined the calico critters with the Lincoln logs for even more enjoyment! 

I sent Haley's crew (and Avia) a set of cool postcards that we got on our most recent Ann Arbor visit.  I took some pictures, just in case one of them failed to make it.  Since then, they have all arrived, though over a week apart!

The goslings were growing so fast, now they are totally indistinguishable from the other adults (at least to me, a layman.)

I bought what I though was a Germany eraser for Emily, but it turns out it was a Germany flag made from grease!  Emily and I tried it out, it was pretty cool!

Lola Rennt was rereleased for its 25th anniversary in limited theaters.  It just so happened that the theater closest to us was one of the participating theaters!  I invited Alice and Billy (I couldn't remember why it was rated R, so didn't want to bring William or the twins along) but they both declined.  

The only night we were available was a Sunday, so on a school night, we went and watched a 25 year old German movie.  I was excited that it was German audio with English subtitles.

I took only a single picture, and caught Emily with her eyes closed.  It's okay, we were pretending like it was the 1990s anyhow.

I saw a bunny from the window of the dentists' office!

Grace and Juliet wanted to use some of the color street appliques that we have squirrelled away in the bathroom, when I changed out my toenail design.  We all felt quite pretty.

Speaking of pretty, Juliet felt quite pretty in her new nightgown from Avia.

Emily and Grace picked out a popcorn maker at the rummage sale in here in the village. It makes excellent popcorn, but it's so big and is a bit difficult to clean.  I made a home for it, and as long as the girls take care of it we'll keep it.

We found a battery powered vehicle in a free pile, and Grace was super upset that I wouldn't let her take it home.  I told her that we could take a picture that makes it look like she's having a fabulous time, so that she can remember it fondly, without having to take it home.

The cloud formation looked a bit like North America!

Sarah brought back some boxes of office supplies from Grandma's house.  Among them were a few pages of copy paper.  Grace and Juliet thought it was pretty cool!

Also among the things from Grandma was the album that she had from the time she took me to German for graduation (my first trip to Germany.)   I found some pictures of me and Christin!!!

The kids created a tent city in the girls' room!

Our neighbors had such pretty flowers to look at on our walk to the bus stop for Emily and William's summer camp.

Juliet watching her tablet in a very unconventional resting position.

Juliet with her heart shaped m&ms!

The clouds were so pretty, but it was quickly blown away, my family barely had time to make it to the window to see it!

Grace made a playdoh 'Avia.'

We found a tiny frog while setting up for the murder mystery party!

Just before leaving for Oklahoma, Billy and I went on a last minute date to Mitchel's seafood restaurant in East Lansing.  I ordered the lobster, which was okay, but I loved the butter set up.  So much so, that I have two pictures of it, and none of Billy or the lobster or even the fountain! lol.

One of Sarah's neighbors had a trash bag full of cell phone covers on their curb!  While waiting for Alice to finish up band camp on Thursday, I opened and sorted the cases into clean/needs to be washed piles.

 It must have been close to 50 cases!  I'm so excited.

Hopefully in the future, I'll get to enjoy these stories again, since I'm sure many will be forgotten (at least by me.)

later days