Watching TV, Anna and I got all the dogs…
Couch cuddle dogs!
Category Archives: Friends & Family
Cookies with Papa!
Jack O’Lantern World
AN INCREDIBLE WALK THROUGH THOUSANDS OF HAND CARVED JACK O’LANTERNS (Link)
Of course they weren’t all real pumpkins since the exhibit lasts all month…but they were still hand-carved. It was definitely neat but something we probably don’t need to do again!
Most of the pics are Anna’s because mine didn’t turn out as good.
Alton Brown Live!
Earlier this week we grabbed free Alton Brown Live tickets thanks to Vet Tix! Anna and David were actually going to Milwaukee as well to see a comedian so we met up for dinner first at Capital Grille! We hadn’t eaten there in years and it was better than I remembered!
Ted Lasso biscuits!
They aren’t in a pretty pink box but we ate Ted Lasso biscuits tonight. Super easy and super tasty. We’ll be making these again!
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 ⅓. cup confectioner’s sugar
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 ¾ cup ap flour
- ½. (scant) teaspoon kosher salt
Step 1: Heat the oven to 315F and pan spray an 8×8” baking dish.
Step 2: In a medium bowl, mix the butter and sugars together vigorously until smooth.
Step 3: Stir in the egg yolks.
Step 4: Add the flour and salt, mix just until the dough comes together. The less you mix the dough, the more posi vibes your biscuits will have.
Step 5: Press dough into an even layer in the pan and bake at 315F for 45 minutes until a thin, golden brown layer forms on top.
Step 6: Cool completely before cutting into 2 even columns and 6 even rows.
Loving on Pepper
Katie really misses our cats so she always loves on Pepper when we go to Anna and David’s.
48th Birthday Adventures
As you just saw, my birthday started with an amazing rainbow eye look to match my tie dye outfit. Plus the crown of course.
But the actual adventures actually started with heading with my bestie to pick up my other bestie and then head to Kenosha!
Trying to find catchers equipment for Owen and backup mitts for Evan at Play It Again Sports. What you do when it’s your birthday and wearing a crown and a mask.
Next birthday adventure stop: lunch at Frank’s Diner! It’s been two long years since we’ve been here and it was as delicious as we remembered!
Next? Crumbl—this will be birthday desserts for us with the kids instead of cake. They didn’t have my fave cornbread ones this week, though. And yes, we ate a few bites straight from the trunk!
I caught Anna sneaking some bites in the car!
Now birthday adventures are on a hiatus but I’m cuddling with my doggo so all is well.
Birthday adventures, mom style: taking Katie to physical therapy! Ha.
Birthday adventures, kid style: watching a movie!
The last birthday adventure! A margarita by the fire…with Tom and Anna and David. With an Ozzy Man Reviews topper. It was chilly so I had my sweatshirt on and they thought it looked like a queen’s cape!
All in all, a great 48th birthday!
Crumbl!!
So after seeing Crumbl cornbread cookies mentioned TWICE yesterday on my Facebook feed, when Heidi and I found ourselves right down the street from one (by Costco in Kenosha), we had to try it. Some other choices jumped in the box, too.
Of course we dug into them as soon as we got to the car. And um, holy shit. The cornbread cookies are TO DIE FOR! They suggest eating them warm and I can agree wholeheartedly. The churro was good but REALLY sweet.
I posted on Facebook and guess what? I learned that Gurnee is getting a Crumbl, too! This could be dangerous!!
If anyone wants to check it out, grab the app!
Apple picking!
Katie was invited to go apple picking with Sophia and her family. Look at the size of that apple!!
They all had a great time!
Baseball friend vs friend
I’ll take a selfie with my boy whenever he lets me!
Owen was pitching and Evan was batting! I don’t even remember what the outcome was!
Smoked cream cheese? Yes, please!
OMG Y’ALL. Smoked cream cheese.
- Spicy Lime Chili
- Brown sugar/smoked paprika/smoked garlic
- Everything bagel seasoning
Needless to say they were delicious and the five of us finished off all three bricks. My fave was the everything bagel.
The recipe is easy: coat a brick of cream cheese in your favorite rub/flavorings of choice and then put on the smoker at 225° for two hours.
Brad Paisley!
This is what friendship and love is all about. My friend Cheri invited us to a Brad Paisley concert (at the Hollywood Casino Ampitheatre) because she got four free tickets via VetTix—and Tom isn’t a country fan but he loves me and we all get along so…it happened!
The ride down took forever since it was a Friday heading toward the city, but the time passed quickly and we picked a super delicious place for dinner—Siam Marina. We all shared the:
- Roll Me Out Crispy Platter — Two of each: Asparagus, Avocado, Crab & Cream Cheese, Seafood, Shrimp, & Thai Chicken Eggrolls
- Signature Fish Cakes Delight — Chilean sea bass, mahi-mahi, salmon, panko, & served with mustard sauce
- Calamari Tempura — Calamari rings dipped in tempura batter, served with sweet & sour sauce
I’m apparently an old fogey because it makes me insane that everyone stands up when the concert starts…so you can’t see anything unless you stand up. I don’t want to stand up for that long, thanks. And we were far enough away that you could barely see him on stage anyway…so I just stayed in my seat and watched him on the video monitors! Seriously, I only stood up for the last song and the encore!
After the concert we got a pic in front of the tour trailer.
As a sidenote, we decided to leave the kids alone all night for the first time (4:30–??). We had a neighbor on alert plus the kids had Anna’s number plus we told them they could have unlimited screen time so we felt pretty good. (It turned out fine! They followed the rules, went to bed when we told them to, and were asleep when we got home at 12:30.)
If you are a veteran, you can grab cheap tix to events like this! Sign up here!
First responders, we got you, too!
Katie’s good at cookie decorating!
The girls are out walking!
While the boys are practicing baseball, the girls are out walking!
Anna’s birthday lunch!
The boys went fishing again!
A visit from old friends!
Monique and I haven’t seen each other in person since we left Jacksonville in 2014! They were delivering their son to college in Wisconsin just about an hour away so they had to stop in! (Our hubbies actually saw each other once while they were both deployed in Afghanistan!)
Chinese Sauerkraut or Pickle Fish?
Soooo on our anniversary we stopped at an Asian grocery store and I splurged on like 10 different bags of awesome sounding potato chip flavors. Except… Some don’t have names on them—just photos.
We tried this nameless flavor tonight that we decided was some type of soup with broth and mushrooms and peppers…? They were definitely yummy but I really wanted to know the flavor. I reverse image searched and googled to no avail so finally went to friends on Facebook and learned that the translation must not be exact because it was listed as both Chinese Sauerkraut and Pickle Fish. But others translated the actual language on the bag and got salted fish and Laotian pickled cabbage fish flavor.
Then there was this exchange:
Lordy, taking a closer look—no, those definitely aren’t mushrooms!
But I liked them so all was well, whether they were salted fish or Chinese Sauerkraut!! I can’t wait to taste the other flavors!
Driveway Bellinis after the kids were gone!
Kim was the only neighborhood mom available for (leftover party) Bellinis this morning!
Kayaking for almost all of us!
Anna wanted to take a guided kayak tour at Starved Rock campground and invited us. I know my limits and Katie’s limits (after her kayak meltdown at Grannie and Papa’s earlier this summer) so I passed…but Tom and Owen went. They had a great time! (And I had a good time taking Katie shopping!)
And lunch!
20th Anniversary Date Night
Heading out for our anniversary dinner at — you guessed it — Primo!
With Anna and David of course! We can’t imagine celebrating big moments without these guys. They are the family we picked!
Sunday morning slide!
Epic Paloozafest Blowout
Y’ALL, IT’S TIME TO PARTY!
We’ve all been cooped up with Covid and missed ALLLLLLLLLL the excuses to party…and you know we like to throw a house party…so we’re doing them all at once!
- Post-Covid Celebration
- Cascade Housewarming (7/2020)
- Tom’s USMC retirement (6/2021)
- BFF Anna-versary (8/2021)
- Our 20th Anniversary (8/2021)
- End-of-Summer/Back-to-School
Saturday morning and the Jello shots are here and ready thanks to Angela (she took the assignment when I ran out of time). But look at how well they fit in our garage fridge? It’s like it was meant to be.
About an hour before the party and I wasn’t even dressed yet. You think “Oh there’s only a little bit to do” but all the little things add up! Angela came over to help with a bunch of it and I’m eternally grateful. (Anna was picking up my kids from a class and getting the cupcakes.) It takes a village to throw a big party!!
Getting closer—getting the mixed drink dispensers ready! Peach Bellini, Rum Punch (empty), Vodka and lemonade, Beergarita, Bahama Mama.
David making his famous Trinidad rum punch! Yes that’s two full bottles of rum going in.
I forgot to take a pic of the food table but the dessert table was insane so I did takes a pic of that! We wouldn’t have needed to buy cupcakes at all! We had a few different kinds of cookies, two smoked cheesecakes, a German chocolate cake, a white cake, mini cupcakes, and Sam’s Club cupcakes!
Local-ish TiVo peeps!
We had to do at least one LipSense selfie!
The ribs were a hit. The pulled pork was amazing. And we have a ton of leftovers!
The only pics I snapped outside during the party!
The slide was a huge hit as expected. A few adults did go down towards the end of the night—butb it was actually cold by then so it didn’t last long.
David ended up making drinks for people at the bar…
And as we were saying goodbye to people, I discovered someone left a fern in our empty pot! (I had wanted to get succulents planted in it but never got to it with all the house stuff.) Turns out it was Ava, one of my gardener friends!
We just have great friends—from everyone who offered to help to the ones who loaned us things to the ones that jumped in to help before, during (putting away leftovers and doing the first round of kitchen clean up, and after (cleaning up the yard and house)… Thank you. We had a great time and I think everyone else did, too! Now to clean up some more and relax…
Phew, the slide fits!
This yard is much smaller than the one we had at the rental so we were worried the waterslide wouldn’t fit…but it did!
We invited some kids over to use it and they had a blast!
Kid retrieval!
Lunch and kid exchange, goodbye hugs, and proving that Owen is officially taller than Grannie now!
The pontoon experience!
Owen got to drive for the first time!
Katie got a chance, too!
The family house on Eagle Harbor
Linda’s Aunt Carol’s house right across from Eagle Harbor. The kids have been there more than we have!
The little house for changing and showering.
Eagle Harbor Light House
Last time at Mark’s!
Last time the kids went swimming at Mark’s!
Owen swimming under the dock.
Last time in Mark’s hot tub.
Katie almost fits in Grannie’s shoes.
I know someone else who loved shoes…
Hiking with Papa and Grannie
From Linda:
North point outer shore on the Big Lake (Lake Superior). The day before Owen and Grannie kayaked from south shore, around middle point, through the channel between outer point and the island. On to two more islands and between those on the Big Lake. A little fish was jumping out of the water around the bow of Owen’s kayak. Also saw two loons. Great ride. Owen is stronger than Grannie.
