May trip to Chicago

At the beginning of May, we headed up to Chicago so that Zach could go to a work conference. We went early in order to visit his sister and her family over the border in Indiana for a few days. Here are some photos of our adventures.

Our first visit to Lake Michigan. The Boogedy couldn’t believe that water got that cold without being ice.

Zach and The Boogedy and Cousin J jumped all over the giant dunes at Indiana Dunes State Park.

We went for a short hike at Coffee Creek, where we found an earthworm and offered Zach’s sister Sarah $50 to eat it. She declined on the grounds of being vegetarian. Later, though, she confessed that worms just give her the heebie-jeebies and it was all she could do not to gag at the mere thought.

I picked dandelions during a walk through the neighborhood and braided them into a sticky crown for Prince Charming.

The next evening we went back to the lake with the whole family and searched the pebble zone for perfect “skipping stones.”

I can do it:

But Zach has better…style:

After Zach left for the Windy City, that left me and the Boogedy with a few days to spend with the cousins.  We went to iCream, where you can design your own ice cream. You choose your base (ice cream, non-fat, soy, yogurts), your favorite flavor, your favorite color (it’s very popular to choose the “wrong” color for a familiar flavor), and toppings. Here is the Boogedy, and cousins S and J, waiting for their treats. The little boys are thrilled. Anyone with a teenager knows that the big kid is playing video games.

Here the worker is adding the custom mixture to the Kitchenaid. On the left you can see the vapor from the addition of Liquid Nitrogen (!), which freezes the ice cream fast.

I chose Key Lime with graham crumbs on top, dyed purple. You know, because that’s just not right. I got the serious jitters from this snack. And I mean bad. I wonder how much sugar or chemicals this had! Aside from the fun-factor, I wasn’t impressed at the deliciousness.

After the treats, Sarah and I took the boys to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which was very nice. I loved taking a spring vacation. Before I moved to the tropics, spring was always my favorite season. Nowadays, I don’t get to see tulips, daffodils, and chartreuse willow trees. It was lovely!

Sarah drove us home via the scenic route, along Lakeshore Drive. She used to have an apartment in the John Hancock building, the one with the two antennae.

These boys are the giggly-est, and did great on all car trips.

Sarah, Todd, and I hung around drinking Lattes (from Todd’s super-fancy espresso machine) and Greyhounds (fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice and vodka) and letting the kids play. We’ve known each other for about 18 years, and it’s always fun to catch up.

On our last day of vacation, we all headed back into town to meet up with Zach and walk through Chicago. We loved The Bean, though I kept losing track of my kid. It was very disorienting.

Then, we walked along the Magnificent Mile to the John Hancock building, where we rode the elevator to the 96th floor for drinks! I look relaxed in this photo but I was WRECK. I don’t care for heights and the view was, literally, breathtaking.

I love visiting family. Thanks for hosting us Sarah and Todd! I am looking forward to a big family reunion in scenic Southern Utah later this month, and short jaunt afterward to Texas to visit my sweet mom and sisters.

Chicken Fight at the Blue Angels!

Here we are: me on Zach’s shoulders and the Boogedy atop Diana a few weekends ago at the Blue Angels Air Show!

The air stunts were awesome and amazing and superlative, but my camera was no good at capturing them. If you want to see great shots, try this facebook link for the Key West Naval Air Station. The views of the Keys from their planes are the best!

After watching the show, the Boogedy and I jumped on the bungee trampolines. Back flips! Double back flips! This was great fun. Then I got off and realized I was a little dehydrated, overheated, had craned my neck to the sky for the last hour, and hadn’t done any situps in…um, forever.  My head and abs were so sore.

The kid figured out how to do flips immediately and had a blast. HE never complained about any pains at all.

Key West Winter 2013

Some random photos from, oh, the last few months…

I volunteered to go to Key West Botanical Garden on a kindergarten field trip with my kids’ class. I didn’t realize we were going so the children could look for and identify native SPIDERS. I found one with the back of my neck. *shudder* I hope you’ll forgive my shaky camera work.

Here I am, out for a morning ride last week or so. Gorgeous weather, getting my thighs tan again…

The Atlantic Ocean was like a lake that day. Here is the view down into the rocks of the White Street Pier. I saw a dad with a little boy; the kid  was on a cell phone telling his mom about all the kinds of sea creatures he could see from the pier today.

Winter means that Debby comes down from Maryland and gives me classes in glass beadmaking! Here’s the view of my workspace with the blowtorch, mandrils, glass rods, and all kinds of cool supplies she was showing off!

Unrelated: somehow I blew a blood vessel in my eye. Didn’t hurt, but it looked like it did.

The Boogedy rides for joy, now, and wants to use the bike to go everywhere. He got this new big-boy bike for xmas and I just bought him his own rear- and headlights as well as a cable lock. He was thrilled that he got to choose his own combination.

 

 

I made a delicious braided bread braid filled with sweetened cream cheese and homemade lemon curd a few weeks back. I shared some with Paige because it was too pretty to keep to myself. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite websites for great food.

Here are the spotty orchids currently in bloom by my front door.

I took the kid and dog to the playground 3 or 4 nights ago and stood on a fire ant hill. Fire ant bites form pustules that sting and itch like mad; if you scratch them, they pop open and spread sticky gold fluid all over and they just itch more. Look how far the redness extends…you should see the toe with FOUR bites on it!! Fire ant stings peak at 48 hours for me, so 6 hours after this photo was taken, I was begging Zach to PLEASE find the anti-itch spray so I could get some sleep!

This is my Sunday view. Looking at the washing machines, and eating bread and butter from Sandy’s Cafe.

This rainy day photo was taken back at the beginning of the rainstorm that caused the flooding. We were tired of being cooped up inside, so we took our umbrellas for a walk to the pier.

Despite the rain, the water was crystal clear, and we could see Parrotfish down amongst the rocks! Hmm, he is hard to see in this picture. Click here for someone else’s better photo.

I pulled over on my bike to take a photo of this glorious passionflower vine in a pot.

The Boogedy went to the new office with dad to help run network cables after Goombay Festival. This activity was deemed more fun than the festival itself, so much so that he forgot his tummy ache, which he’d had for days, and which the funnel cake and hot dog did nothing to stop.

 

 

April Adventures with an Injured Foot

For months now I have had an injured foot. On my second visit to a foot doctor, I was given some good taping techniques that are finally helping me to heal. Before that, I was sticking REALLY close to home, except when Zach was available to push me on the tricycle. Here are some of the things keeping us busy.

For Baby Claire, born a few weeks ago, I knit a tiny baby chick hat in the softest wool! I hope to have pics of the baby wearing it soon. Hint, Hint, Sunshine!

Boogedy earned a sticker for learning to make his own bed.

A shot of our house gecko before he gets spooked and runs into his hole. Is it a coincidence that this photo has cheerios for scale, or is that why he is here?

Forgetting that mommy is the Red guy and HE is the yellow guy.

The octopus-and-squid-painted stump in my neighborhood.

Watching the man at the softball diamond drive the tractor in ever-widening circles to smooth the red dirt. This activity (includes climbing up and down the bleachers) is good for 15 minutes of entertainment.

A special treat: seaweed salad from Faustos and some pesto tortellini.

New Games to Play

I spotted this game while looking for parking the other night. It was displayed on a table for FREE! This is a product that has been “girl-washed”…a toy that I’ve only ever seen in bright primary colors is now being marketed to the princess set. I found this a little bit gross, but will admit that I LOVE valentines day colors.

Prickly Pile Up is a game we’ve had for a year, but the Boogedy is just now getting enough fine-motor skills to enjoy it.

The game of setting these dice into patterns was good for a full hour of play. He got really upset if I messed this up. So I couldn’t help but make some of these “twos” when he wasn’t looking, just to see if he would notice.  He noticed.

This is not what the health department means when they offer free safety checks for carseat installation.

All of my neices and nephews should recognize this type of two-string pull-toy. Mom and Dad made chunky wooden ones shaped like stars and other fun stuff. This is a light-weight fairy at my friend Miss C’s house!

Last week when I went to the laundromat, I heard an adolescent chicken outside, in a panic….sqeaking for his mama. I found her inside, atop the laundry cart. Was she trying to teach him a lesson about staying close? She flew back out to lead him around a moment after this photo was taken.

Miss P got a package from her mother while I was at her house…a childhood Sunbonnet Sue quilt her late grandmother made. Now it will rest on the bed of one of her adorable girls!

 

 

 

Matchstick Garden

Last night we went to the MARC plant store and bought four empty little pots  and a small watering can (and another 5-dollar orchid, truth be told). Today we set about planting the Matchstick Garden, a present from “Alexis!”

Rocks for the empties:

Scoopin:

Rippin:

Plantin:

Waterin:

The Boogedy was so excited about dousing things that we filled up the watering can and went for a walk, sprinkling plants along the way. When we got to the Key West Cemetary, he spent a bunch of time climbing on the cement graves and tossing the watering can off for the hollow boing-bonk sound. The fog was rolling in, and we spotted these curled up poinsettia leaves that the Boogedy thought might be bugs.

Children’s Day

At the tail end of all the festivities that make up Fantasy Fest, there’s an entire afternoon for Children in the Bayview Park. This was great old-school carnival fun, with games and prizes, rides and fried food.

The first thing we did was take a free ride on the Keys Electric Company’s cherry picker. We had to wear our safety harnesses, and we were as high as the trees. It’s amazing what you can pretend not to be afraid of when you want to keep someone else happy.

We bought a hotdog and then waited in line a good 20 minutes in the 85-degree heat for the carousel swings, but we were under the trees and luckily not on a fire-ant-hill.

At this point I was hungry, so I ate a hotdog, and he had a second. Then we went on the Tidal Wave. This is a back-and-forth, round-and-round sort of thing that Zach would get sick just looking at. I had my doubts about doing this right after eating hotdogs, but the little guy would not be swayed.

Turns out the kid inherited my rock solid stomach. We added “look at your feet! Look at the sky! Look behind you!” to further improve the ride.

Then he got to hit the hockey puck into the net. The dollar we spent supported the Junior Hockey League of Key West, and I wondered where they put an ice rink here…roller rink, maybe?

I somehow resisted the temptation of fresh, hot cotton candy, and I kind of wish I hadn’t, because I don’t know when I will get it again.

The next day we walked to the beach and found a box of giveaway books on the curb. He took this one to read under the palms. We put it back in the box on the way home.

End of Season Fun

We decided to go have some fun this Labor Day weekend, as we understand it’s the last hurrah before the tourist season ends here. We stood in line for half and hour to do something I’ve never tried, bungee trampoline. It was so cool, and nauseating, and exhilarating, and giggle-inducing, and made my palms all clammy.

But I learned to do a backwards somersault!

Zach was able to go frontways and backwards, but I couldn’t get my camera to get him in action.

We convinced the Boogedy to go on a bouncy, inflatable slide. He kept asking if it would pop, so we told him it was a pillow and pillows don’t pop. He eventually got spooked and wouldn’t go any more. He’s spent today talking about how he doesn’t want to go in bouncy castles again. We praised him for being brave and conquering his fear, rather than dwelling on the 12 dollars we spent for him and Zach to go down a SLIDE.

And for Alexis, pictures from Oishi Thai, our favorite local restaurant, where everything is good. So good, in fact, that we order something different each time (managing to branch away from my standby…green curry).

Bottomless Iced Tea

Tom Yum

We ran through the sprinklers, too.

People berries or bird berries?

We distinguish edible from inedible by naming their intended eater. These purple berries were so pretty, I had to take their picture for my sister, Jeaka.

The Boogedy loved the opportunity to use a real needle to thread buttons on a string.

And I brooded and pondered and thought while sorting my button collection.

A little boy did some dancing.

And I burned my hand royally while trying a new recipe. I picked up a skillet that had been preheating in a 450-degree oven. I’m lucky I got off so easy, with just some patches of puckered skin and three blisters.

On the up side, the No-Knead Bread Recipe lived up to it’s fantastic reputation. I have not had sourdough bread this good since I lived in California. Seriously, make some for yourself. It is amazing. Just don’t burn  your hand on the skillet.