Cooking and Crafts - Ltd

Not many crafts/cooking out of the generic scope!

So, Julie's BFF's mom messaged me about getting Juliet some croutons for her birthday gift.  Juliet was super amiable to this notion, which is awesome, and ironic.  A few years back, Billy told me that he preferred my homemade croutons, so any occasion for which we've needed them, I've just made them from leftover bread!  So, after her message, I made them, and she was super happy. But she was also super excited to get them as a present, so she got double croutons! <3

Speaking of Kennedy, Juliet also made her a painted stone figure.  It was not super sturdy, and fell apart the day she presented it, but it was cute before she gifted it!

I feel like our crafting and cooking game is on par, but maybe above and beyond, since I have enough to make specific posts!

later days

78 Michigan Parks: Highland Recreation Area #64b

After Pontiac, we were settled in for the drive home, when we saw another state park!!!  Obviously, we had to tie the 3 parks in one trip record!

Another bathroom break was in order, and all we found was a port-a-potty, but it helped us reminisce about our rustic camping trip.

The sun had practically set by the time we left, but the sky sure was pretty!

Ford sure did pick a pretty place for a country retreat!

We were all very tired and ready to be home after this stop, so thankfully, it was our final stop before we made it home at 930, on a school night!

Our state park map is looking more and more complete!

later days

If you want to see all the ones we've visited so far, here are the links to the posts:

Tahquamenon Falls #15
Keith J Charters #33
Silver Lake State Park #49
Muskegon State Park #50*
Newaygo State Park #51
PJ Hoffmaster State Park #52
Grand Haven State Park #53
Ionia State Park #54
Sleepy Hollow State Park #55
Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area #56
Seven Lakes State Park #58
Holly Recreation Area #59Algonac #60
Holland State Park #61
Island Park State Recreation Area #63b
Pontiac Lake Recreation Area #65

Dodge #4 State Park #66a
Bald Moutain State Recreation Area #66b
Fort Custer Recreation Area #69
Waterloo Recreation Area #70a
Pickney State Recreation Area #70b

Belle Isle Park #72
Van Buren State Park #73
Sterling State Park #78

78 Michigan Parks: Pontiac Lake Recreation Area #65

We opted to take the backroads home, after our unpleasant experience on the interstates, and happened across another unvisited state park!!!  It took two U-turns to get there, but we made it!

Pontiac Lake was super pretty, and we hit just as the sun was setting, and the clouds were moving in!  None of us felt up to exploring much, so we took a few pictures, then headed out.  We did see a few nifty dog runs near the entrance though!

William did his best to capture the surreal light on the lake as we left, but pictures certainly do not do it justice!

We were all getting tired at this point, but enjoyed checking another park off of our list!

later days

If you want to see all the ones we've visited so far, here are the links to the posts:

Tahquamenon Falls #15
Keith J Charters #33
Silver Lake State Park #49
Muskegon State Park #50*
Newaygo State Park #51
PJ Hoffmaster State Park #52

Grand Haven State Park #53
Ionia State Park #54
Sleepy Hollow State Park #55
Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area #56
Seven Lakes State Park #58
Holly Recreation Area #59
Algonac #60

Holland State Park #61
Island Park State Recreation Area #63b
Dodge #4 State Park #66a
Bald Moutain State Recreation Area #66b
Fort Custer Recreation Area #69
Waterloo Recreation Area #70a
Pickney State Recreation Area #70b
Belle Isle Park #72
Van Buren State Park #73
Sterling State Park #78

78 Michigan Parks: Algonac State Park #60

William, Grace, and Juliet had a dental cleaning down in Ann Arbor last week.  We brought empty batteries, ink cartridges, and writing utensils to recycle.  There was a moment of panic, because they moved the recycling container!  Thankfully it didn't move far, and we were able to drop off all of our empties.

UofM has a very dynamic campus, so we were 'up' on the bridge, and the kids thought it was pretty cool.  They were not allowed to stand on the ledge, so here they are kneeling and squatting.

Watching Kung Fu Panda while waiting.  William brought his dentist a chattering tooth toy, she was very excited!

I love this clock tower (possibly a carillon?) and should any of my children attend UofM I hope that we can recreate this picture when they are a little older! 

After their appointment, we took a vote and 3:1 decided to go on a state park adventure!  Today, when I started to blog about our adventure, I realized that we hadn't added to our state park list since November!!!

On the way there, William made an excellent navigator, but we ended up in the worst traffic that I've been in since we moved up here!  For some reason, Google took us through Detroit, instead of around it.  It was standstill traffic for 2-3 minutes at a time, which is something I don't miss about Houston at all.  When we started flowing again, there were no signs of the hold up, though William said the app had reports of 'an obstruction in the road.'  

Either way, we finally made it to the Eastern edge of Michigan, and even got to see the varied waters of Lake St. Clair!  

The first order of business was a bathroom, but sadly this one was locked!

William and Juliet wanted to try their luck without the bridge...

...it was a muddy success.

En Route to the next camping area, we spotted some archery targets!

The second restroom was operational, Juliet was able to wash her shoes, and there was a small play area nearby!

Using some limestone rocks as chalk!

The opposite shoreline is Canada, which the kids thought was pretty cool!  We saw so many border patrol cars (and boats!) during our short trip here.

While William was navigating, he spotted an ice cream shop, so we stopped to get some ice cream before heading home!  When we walked in, we were all taken aback by the candy displays. = )

So, once we ordered our ice cream, we shopped to get Alice, Emily, and Daddy some candy, since any ice cream we might get for them would be melted by the time we arrived home!

We found a lovely park with a bench to enjoy our ice cream and watch the fisherman navigate the tiny strip of water marking an international border.

While waiting for my dear ones to finish, I took a tour of the park.

On our way out of town, I wanted to glance at the map, so I pulled over into a neighborhood, which happened to be "fourth" street.  During our trip, we found "William," "Crocker," and "Fourth" streets!  No Grover this time though.

It was a truly beautiful day to pick back up our state park checklist!

later days

If you want to see all the ones we've visited so far, here are the links to the posts:
Tahquamenon Falls #15
Keith J Charters #33
Silver Lake State Park #49
Muskegon State Park #50*
Newaygo State Park #51

PJ Hoffmaster State Park #52
Grand Haven State Park #53
Ionia State Park #54
Sleepy Hollow State Park #55
Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area #56

Seven Lakes State Park #58
Holly Recreation Area #59
Holland State Park #61
Island Park State Recreation Area #63b
Dodge #4 State Park #66a
Bald Moutain State Recreation Area #66b
Fort Custer Recreation Area #69
Waterloo Recreation Area #70a
Pickney State Recreation Area #70b
Belle Isle Park #72
Van Buren State Park #73
Sterling State Park #78

Easter 2025

This year Easter was a little busier, but in the best of ways!

Easter baskets were much the same, with toothbrushes, roblox, and candy.

It was a little different, in that Emily, Grace, and Juliet were baptized! (many of these photos were taken behind the scenes and given to me second or third hand!)

It was such a celebration day, full of baptism, tales of old, and music!

At home we had some silly pictures.

And my favorite!

We had our usual color-coded egg hunt!

Afterward, we also had Easter dinner, varied only in that I used a turkey, that I did not use for Thanksgiving, as our primary protein*! Despite the odd dinner, it was a lovely day.

He is risen indeed!

later days

*Back in November, when Billy was in transition between jobs, Sarah, sweetly, offered to cover Thanksgiving dinner at Bob Evans, but I had already tried to spread the cost of our meal into several months, so had purchased a frozen turkey.  After her purchase, the turkey just sat in the basement freezer.  I was excited to use it for a meal!

4-26-25: backdated for continuity

Grace and Juliet 11th Birthday!

This year Juliet referred to 'her' birthday more than year's past, but aside from that, we had a typical build up to their birthday!

Grace painted some 'unicorn' rocks to pass out as favors.

They agreed on passing out 'dirt cups' for class treat on their birthday, for a second year in a row!

The worms crawling out of the 'dirt.' lol

One final picture as 10 year olds!!!  They started short, for Aunt Rocky's benefit, but then showed just how tall they actually are!

After the twins were in bed, Emily helped me make a bubble solution that I found online.  Alice came out and asked why I would make bubbles for them, then proceeded to be entranced by said bubbles for 10 minutes! lol.

The next morning, so incredibly early, the twins were also entranced by the bubbles, and excited to celebrate their birthday before Alice left for school at 6:40!!

Their birthday fell on a Wednesday, so they were dressed in matching shirts for talent show practice.

Grace gave Juliet a magnetic heart necklace as a gift, and they wore them the following day!

We managed to land a party date really close to their birthday, at FunCity!  As I hung the unicorn banner, Juliet mentioned, offhandedly, that this would probably the be last year that we would need that banner. = ( ::sniff:: ::sniff::

Tiny unicorn favor boxes with erasers and candy and tattoos! 

I was so excited to reuse the streamers that we hung on their bedroom door for their party decor!

We also used some fresh decor, but the tablecloths were provided by the venue!  They just happened to pick the perfect color scheme!

I had time to take a few action shots!

I actually ended up making two cakes for this party. The first cracked when I moved it to the serving tray, and continued to crack after frosting it. eek!  So, I made the orange cake, and it was super well received, so it was probably for the best!

We stayed just a bit after the end of the party, since the guests all left, but everyone  had a good time, I think!

When we got home, Grace and Juliet sorted through and played with all of their new gifts!

I had no paper to write the gift list on, so ended up using a paper plate to record the gifts!  The twins did a pretty good job of filling in the blanks, since they opened their gifts out of order of giver, and I had a hard time keeping the record straight!

Not long after their birthday, I read a book about twins, and must whole heartedly agree, twins are a "very nice arrangement!"

 later days

4-26-25: backdated for continuity.