This is something I only get one week a year — and ONLY if we pass through Calumet while Carmelita’s is open!
Thimbleberry Margaritas
The thimbleberry is a berry unique to certain areas of the US — and the upper peninsula is one of them. And they’ve gone and turned it into a delicious drink! (They also make jam but give me the margarita!)
If you’re ever in the area, please stop by and try one! We even get two pitchers to go to enjoy throughout the week since it’s an hour round trip to get them!
We have to stop for Thimbleberry margaritas.
Well, getting the first nap in before we leave… They were up often throughout the night barking at every noise they heard.
Watching me go into Walmart. They’re always very concerned when one of us leaves the car.
And Ivy having to touch Olive…
We stopped at A&W about an hour out of town. They asked if we wanted pup cups. Why sure!!
Watching and waiting…
We decided to stay the night in Lansing on the way home so we wouldn’t have to drive the full 6 hours at night…plus we’d get a chance to stop and visit with Beth and Jim and shop at our favorite Horrocks in the morning.
And then we noticed this when we were heading to dinner. Ughhhh. It wasn’t like that when we left Reese… So in the half hour we were in the hotel room, this happened in the hotel parking lot.
AND THEN! I realized that someone stole my unicorn magnet, too! Like, seriously?!
It’s now just a gathering with food (lots of food!) and catching up…and euchre!
Plus we get the chance to get the kids together for comparison pics!! (They were all really good sports about it, too!)
This is the back yard I grew up with — mostly. Some trees and stumps have been removed over the years and there’s more green now…but it’s the place of family picnics, birthday parties, campfires, s’mores, reading, croquet, sun bathing, the tree swing, kiddie pools, leaf forts…and tons of photos.
My mom and I went out to see what we could see—I love that our street is basically a Dark Sky park! It was my first attempt ever at seeing if there are northern lights… I changed my phone’s camera settings, and maaaaybe I see a little bit?
Tom took the kids to the army base gym to work out!
Stopping at Tasty Treat in Lake City…
The view from the deck…before finishing packing and heading to the airport.
We were up early to start the day at Weeki Wachee State Park — we were planning on hitting the waterpark and the live mermaid show (which they are famous for). But unfortunately, Linda and I BOTH read the information completely wrong in the exact same way…so the actual waterpark (slides, lazy river, etc.) wasn’t open. There were some birds wandering around but other than that it was pretty dead.
We did stay for the mermaid show and though it was neat it wasn’t super exciting. I guess it’s a cool “Hey we did that” time!
So then Lin wanted to head to another park—Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. We stopped for lunch at a random pizza place I found on Yelp and had to laugh when it was right next to a Marine Corps recruiting office!
I can honestly say I’ve never seen this sign before:
Then we stopped for ice cream on our way home…because how could you NOT stop at this huge ice cream cone?!
And then it was time to go home…which the kids were excited about because Grannie said we could go to the pool and promised Owen he could drive!
It was pretty dead when we got there around 6. I actually went in the pool and underwater with Katie! She was impressed I could do a front and back somersault — and she finally did a back one on her own. When Owen and Grannie came back about an hour later, the pool was empty except for my two.
Sidenote: The yacht-rock-esque station is playing Soldier of Love by Donny Osmond. It’s from 1989. GET OFF MY LAWN.
Then Katie and I sat on the back of the golf cart for our final ride…and had some fun as we rode over some bumps and Owen took some corners a little crazy.
Linda surprised us and told us she wanted to take us swimming with the manatees! So, being in a wetsuit was a first for me and the kids!
Unfortunately, this time of year is the end of the season — most manatees have already begun the trek to warmer waters — so we actually had to hunt for them a bit. We eventually found this mom and baby and followed them, hoping they’d go into calmer waters…which they did, but they didn’t really go to a place we could easily get to them.
We did eventually get into the water but it was hard to see much since the water was so cloudy. That said, at one point, a manatee swam directly under me! Like inches below me!
The guide was taking photos for us so that was nice not to have to worry about…but the manatees weren’t very calm today so we didn’t get pics of us with them underwater. This is about the best we got of us in the same photo:
The kids loved the guide’s description of them as “2000 pound sea potatoes!”
Back home, we completed the beach glass puzzle with one day to spare!
Owen was serenading us with his snoring.
Today we went out to eat a late lunch with Linda’s Aunt Carol (who lives about 30 minutes away) and then went back to swim in her community pool! The kids loved the indoor pool!
Once again, Grannie and the kids went to the village square to listen to the live music while I stayed home and worked!
We started the day with a delicious breakfast at The Flying Biscuit and then did some souvenir shopping.
On the way home we stopped at a farmer’s market to get some Honey Bell oranges (omggggggg they were super juicy and delicious) and couldn’t resist taking a pic of this gigantic carrot!
Then we went home and went to the pool again for a bit.
It was nicer outside than in so I did my reading thang on the porch (yes, with sunglasses and reading glasses).
Grannie and the kids went to the village square to listen to the live music while I stayed home and worked!
Grannie surprised the kids with a longer golf cart drive…for Johnny Rockets for brunch — somewhere we ate on the cruise! They loved it! Grannie and I enjoyed adult shakes.
Then we walked around a little, Katie named two turtles in the bay, we got some souvenirs, and then went to another pool.
I had this exchange with the waitress:
Waitress: So that's a strawberry daiquiri.
Me: Margarita.
Waitress: Yes, daiquiri.
Me: Not daiquiri, margarita.
Waitress: Yes I know what you mean.
Aaaand it tasted like a daiquiri to me! (Not bad but…not a margarita!)
Back to the pool after dinner…
Unfortunately someone got a little too much sun…
Soooo happy to be able to wash my face tonight!
Welcome to creepy crawlies!
First practice session driving the golf cart! Grannie is brave!!!
Driving all of us to the pool!
My view today from the shade of a cabana at one of the “executive” pools.
Katie: I haven’t put sunscreen on in a long time. This feels weird to be doing it in March.
The kids immediately disappeared in the pool. Grannie was in the sun. The music was great. I read my Kindle and hit the adults-only hot tub — then ordered a frozen margarita!
Of course I was 100% in my element—so the kids didn’t want to stay too long. (I thought we’d be there all day like we are when we go to our pool…but we were only there like 1.5 hours!)
It only took us about 15 minutes from Tom dropping us off to sitting at our gate!
I gave the kids mini lessons on how to navigate in an airport—checking boards for gate info, following signs, using the moving walkway, how to take your suitcase on an escalator, etc. Gave them my credit card and told them to go buy their own lunches.
This was the biggest gate I’ve ever been at—an entire room!—which makes sense because it was the biggest plane I’ve been on (3/4/3 seat configuration)!
Aaaaand I realized halfway to the airport that I forgot my cleanser! If you know me at all, you know I’m crazy about my skincare regimen!! So it was INSTANT panic! So I asked in one of my distributor chats if anyone happened to be close to where I was staying…thinking someone could mail something and I’d maybe get it next day. And a handful of ladies volunteered to ship something but someone was actually in the same area! And she’s dropping off some skincare samples for me tomorrow!
It was hard saying goodbye because we had soooo much fun and soooo many laughs and we all get along soooo well.
But we’re counting the days until Kelly hopefully comes back to Chicago this ssummer—and we have a birthday girls weekend to plan for September!
Our friend Kelly really needed our support during a rough patch so we decided a girls long weekend was in order!
Somehow we managed to have the only empty seat on the plane in our row! We definitely took advantage!
We were up early this morning to hit the Ukrainian Museum Archives in Cleveland. Surprisingly the bathroom lighting was pretty good—I love Hampton Inn!
I bought a new necklace there (because I broke my necklace on the way here).
With my mom at the museum.
Then it was off to State Meats and eating lunch at Mama Maria’s Ukrainian Kitchen!
Then we visited a Ukrainian cathedral (to see the gold spires in the sun), grabbed a donut across the street, and then some ice cream at the Honey Hut!
Then it was back to the hotel to grab our stuff to setup for the event!
OMG all the “naked eggs” for sale… Typically you’d have to blow them all out yourself and it’s not complicated but it is a lot of work. These were already blown out and cleaned! And on sale! For less than it would cost to even buy them in the store! Turns out the vendor was getting out of the egg business and just wanted them gone. Stay tuned to see just how many I ended up buying!!!
And then I bought my Christmas present! A goose egg from Pysanky Master Lorrie Popow! It’s absolutely stunning. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it!
I asked her how she could even see to do that and she said “When my eyes were younger!” I eventually looked through her Facebook page to see if I could find it to see when she did it…and it was 2012!!
Lorrie Popow: LorriePopow.com and on Facebook
A few months ago my mom asked me if I’d go with her to a 4-day Pysanky Retreat in northern Ohio. I jumped at the chance—I think I said yes even before she finished asking! I’ve long been wanting to get back into Pysanky—and I never get to spend any alone time with my mom—so it was a no-brainer!
So this morning I was in the car and on the road by 9am (in a super quick and easy road trip look) to Middleburg Heights/Berea!
Tom always does the driving so it kinda stunk not being able to work while on the road, but I did listen to an audiobook (which eventually made me sooo tired I took to eating popcorn to stay awake)! But I made it!
After we got settled and visited for a bit it was off to find dinner. I found a local Chinese place with really great Yelp reviews (Little Hong Kong) about a mile away…where we had some of the best General Tso’s chicken I’ve ever had. Highly recommend!
Then it was back to the hotel to make 65 goodie bags for the event…
And take a Covid test to be able to attend.
