The Foods of July 2017

When we went blueberry picking, the kids discovered just how patriotic a fruit it is, appearing white, red, or blue depending on ripeness. Fortunately, they mostly picked blue ones.

While passing through Ohio headed west, we discovered a White Castle with self-service ordering!

They offered fried pickles, too, which we sampled.

Lest you think we ate nothing but junk food all month, behold this produce feast we enjoyed at Grandmother and Grandfather's table:

We tried rock candy from Connor Prarie:

Mom made her obligatory visit to Fazoli's, this time sampling at long last the famed pizza baked spaghetti she heard about on the radio years and years ago. The fettuccine alfredo was good, too, as usual.

On the way through Ohio heading east, we stopped at Culver's. The Wisconsin Big Cheese Pub Burger Mom tried was ridiculously good.

Our nice hotel in Pennsylvania had some fun offerings at breakfast:

Pennsylvania also offered much Tastykake goodness:

Back home, Mom successfully brewed a batch of homemade fettuccine alfredo:

She also whipped some cream as topping for hot chocolate:

Dad and the kids made lemonade one day, from real lemons:

Last but not least, Mom and Lydia concluded that happier hour shakes at Arby's are a nice deal:

New England Adventures in July 2017

Since many of our July 2017 adventures happened while visiting Grandmother and Grandfather, we'll give those that happened closer to home their own post. The biggest non-grandparent adventure was a trip to an amusement park for Mom and some of the kids. Here's Jared getting ready for our first ride to start, on the Tilt-a-whirl.

This ride was one of Jared and Amanda's favorites. Note that the people are at the top of the picture, upside-down. They also enjoyed the main roller coaster at the park and rode both rides many times.

Lydia preferred more low key rides, like Mom, and enjoyed the carousel and the teacups.

Lydia and Jared also had fun at the mini bumper cars, which were just like the big ones, only slightly smaller and with far fewer people waiting to use them.

Thanks to Dad's vision of bringing back family game night, our board game collection got a boost in July.

We had a bit of home improvement done, in the form of new glass for our back door.

Our day-lilies bloomed:

And at the very end of month, we had a nice family outing to enjoy nature a bit:

July 2017 Adventures with Grandparents Part 4

A few more photos from our visit to Grandmother and Grandfather. We saw a lovely pond:

Clarissa had fun visiting the bank with Grandfather and collecting goodies:

Mom found a lilac in bloom . . . in July!

We did a lot of swimming, sometimes with cousins:

We visited a playground and found new things, like wild flowers and a splash area:

Mom and Amanda visited the Indianapolis temple:

On the way back, we stayed at a fancy hotel, in a room with a kitchen:

We also had an unexpected guest on the way back, a shiny bug who crossed much of Pennsylvania with us:

July 2017 Adventures with Grandparents Part 3

One day Grandmother and Grandfather took us to Connor Prairie, a living history museum. The kids spent a fair amount of time in the entry section, little knowing what lay beyond.

There was a hot air balloon, not running that day, but still impressive.

There was a barn, with farm animals to pet:

There was a cottage in which people wove and spun. In the garden outside, there was a place for people to do their own weaving.

In another section, it was the year 1836 as far as the staff members were concerned.

 1836 style fun: stilts!

 In the tree house section, Amanda made herself a copper bracelet:

Clarissa enjoyed the drums in that area:

Curtis and Jared had fun excavating and building:

In the 1863/Civil War section, Lydia enjoyed the water table (not quite an 1860s thing, but nice on a hot summer day):

The oldest kids, including Curtis, got to throw hatchets:

The other kids found a canoe while Amanda took her turn with the hatchets. Quite a day!