Fall Camping

We spent the weekend at Indiana Dunes State park with friends and in spite of the gloomy forecast of all rain, it turned out to be beautiful.
On Saturday we hiked one of the longer trails out to the Beachhouse blowout and found out it was recently voted the top hike in Indiana! It takes a long portion along the dune ridge so you can see the forest down on the south and the lake/beach down on the north, it is outstanding. Douwe was a trooper and probably walked on his own for 2 of the 3 hours it took us. . .

4 years old

Douwe had a wonderful time celebrating his 4th birthday with such activities as a
outside marching band, beanie-bag toss (using beanie babies as the bean bags), flower scavenger hunt and bozo buckets . .(and we sang happy birthday to Jeff as well!)

Afternoon visit

The three of us had a little excursion this afternoon to a beautiful spot just south of the Museum of Science and Industry. . .
lagoon, and a little island with the Osaka Japanese Garden. Douwe biked from the parking lot to the garden. It is one of my favorite spots on the south side!

On the lakefront in three states

This week turned into a bit of a mini-vacation without really planning on it. On Sunday afternoon we spent some time in Michigan city at the beach, zoo, and lakefront park having a picnic. The wind was coming strong from the north and huge waves which were fun to watch, and great view of the windy city from the top of the lookout tower at Washington park zoo!

On Monday we met my friend Amy and her children for a day at the St. Joseph lakefront. This is a wonderful spot for a summer excursion as they have recently improved their lakefront and filled it with children's activities: like a playground on the sand, an open splash pad, a carousel pavilion which includes free access to sidewalk chalk, checker boards and hula hoops, and a pizza restaurant in the Amtrak station. We also enjoyed a few hours in the Curious Kids Children's Museum, which is one of our favorites. We had perfect weather to be outdoors and it was so nice to catch up on the past year.

Jeff had to spend a few nights in the city for work, so we spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the city and did a few excursions: riding the redline CTA, a couple trolley rides to Navy Pier, and brunch at Toast followed by playtime at Oz Park. An almost four year old loves experiencing the thrill of moving objects, so South Shore train, ferris wheel, little Thomas train ride, and taxi rides all were included in the fun. He was amazed by the noise and speed of the underground train, and couldn't believe that some people get to ride one of these every day! I was impressed by the upgrades and improvements to the Grant, Belmont and Southport stations, everything looks so much nicer than when I was a CTA commuter ten years ago.

Summer eating

Been putting in a lot of kitchen time the last two weeks, mainly to keep up with our little backyard plant plots and make the most of the summer produce that is abundant right now. Tomatoes are reddening and yellowing faster than we can keep up, so lots of tomato/pesto sandwiches, bruschetta, pico de gallos, caprese salads, red tomato sauce being prepped and devoured around here.
Jeff just roasted a bunch of tomatoes and peppers to make his annual double batch of salsa for camping this weekend.
I prepared an enchilada dish earlier this week that used four ingredients from the back yard. . .tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, onion.
Today my lunch and dinner included some basil, beets, tomatoes, an orange pepper, and cucumber from our back yard.

We also went twice in the last 5 days to the Hobart farm (Johnsons) that is offering raspberry and blackberry plants for u-pick, so two special desserts came out of the oven this week featuring those berries.

This is my favorite time of summer . . I don't really eat fresh tomatoes or raspberries all year and then when this month comes, they are abundant and I can eat them right off the plant and keep on eating them . . it does not get any better than this!

I am so glad for people who grow food for others to buy and eat . . I was in the raspberry field on Saturday morning having more fun than ever and imagining a day when berry-picking drew as many enthusiasts as those spinning rides at the county fair that was so so crowded the other night. There are going to be zillions of berries on those plants in the next couple weeks and I hope the market demand is worthy of the value and abundance that is ripening on those bushes!

Bike ride

We never get many bike rides in mid-summer because it is so hot! Well we picked a great day to meet Uncle Steven and Aunt Ashley and their girls for some riding in Chicago along the lakefront. Tom Skilling announced that this day was going to be: meteorological perfection. It was. North breezes, sunny, 78 and clear views of skyline, lake . . it was absolutely gorgeous. We met near the Aquarium and biked to the Bird Sanctuary and the "waterfall" near McCormick place old building, then back north to some nice playgrounds for the kids: Daley Bi-Centennial plaza and Lake-Shore East I think they are called. Douwe and the girls had a great time on the bikes and off.

Lake County Fair

I don't think I have been here for several years. It was a mild night, so everything is more pleasant at a fair when the evening is not so hot. . some highlights were:
The pig barn, seeing a sow with 11 or 12 babies, climbing tractors/excavators, etc. , the remote control car dirt track, the ferris wheel, the climbing obstacle course "ride" which Douwe did about 6 times, and the elephant ear at the end of our visit.
Very fun.