Summer 2k15~ Day 57

When you hear the words "free" & "chocolate" together in the same sentence, a person would be crazy to pass an opportunity like that up. And we may be a lot of things in Hosmerville, but cray~cray we are not!

The kiddos & I headed out to the Sander's & Morley Chocolate factory to get a behind the scenes peek at their chocolate production lines. 

We didn't see any Oompa Loompas but we did see lots & lots of ahhh~mazing caramel & chocolate going down the belts. 

Drooling. 

After a quick video on the history of chocolate, we were treated to chocolate cream drops & chocolate blueberry granola snacks. 

Chocolate {& ice cream} for breakfast.... not a bad idea at all. 

Summer 2k15~ Day 56

My little sous chefs wrapped up a busy week at cooking school in the PCS kitchen. We enjoyed the fruits of their labor every nite~ mini pizzas, no bake cookies, applesauce, quiche, honey cinnamon butter, French toast roll ups, chocolate pop rocks bark, banana muffins and the finale of their week..... burger & fries cupcakes~

They can cook for me anytime.

Summer 2k15~ Day 53

Y'all should just know that if you ever text us an invitation to the pool, we will be cannonballing into the deep end before our response even dings as an incoming text on your cell. 

You've been warned. 

We spent our afternoon {& the next} poolside with sweet friends. I got some "mom chat" time. The kiddos got lots & lots of water time. 

Summer 2k15~ Day 51

With Tom still in Denver & the promise of extra adult reinforcements still several days away, we busted out of Hosmerville for the afternoon. 

My sanity was restored {if but for a few hours} as my little animals were so engaged with the zoo's exhibits that they momentarily forgot to pick. poke. pester. tattle. be obnoxious. irritate each other. 

We can all just consider the zoo membership an investment in this momma's mental health. 

And that is money well spent. 

Summer 2k15~ Day 48

Another nite, just me & my boy. Tom was in Denver for work, the girlies at VBS again & I was going thru a major book withdrawal. With the promise of a pit stop  for another slurpee, I lured little man out for a bike ride down to the library. 

I got books. He got sugar. We both got happy. 

Summer 2k15~ Day 47

What spells "summer evening" better than s~l~u~r~p~e~e? While the girlies did VBS with a neighbor friend, my favorite furry man & little man {although from our shadows, "little" not so much} walked down to the 7-Eleven for an after dinner, blue raspberry sugar rush. 

Summer 2k15~ Day 45

What can I say other than, when days like Summer 2k15 Day 43 are so golden all a person can do is stage an encore performance. 

We were practically walking out the door for church when Tom & I decided instead to pack up the kiddos & head to Jackson once again. 

Friends. Food. A gorgeous afternoon on the water. It's the epitome of "fabulous summer afternoon". 

Seriously. Look it up in the dictionary & y'all will most likely see pics from our day under "fabulous summer afternoon" on Webster's pages. 

But I'll save you the effort of a dictionary search & just show you myself.

Summer 2k15~ Day 43

After some morning crafting fun with friends {I forgot to take pics of the girls & their projects} we headed to Jackson to roller skate with the cousins. 

The skating rink has been around since I was a kid {& it's pretty much exactly the same since I made many childhood memories there myself}. 

Some things never change. 

I got in some chat time with my sweet SIL & MIL in between hysterically laughing at the kiddos' attempts to stay upright & on all 8 wheels and watching them make their own fun memories.

After surviving our skating experience with only minimal bumps & bruises to show for our time in the rink, we caught up with friends we hadn't seen in 2 years. 

It took exactly 2 minutes to make up for time lost before I heard giggles from the girlies and, well..... Austin disappeared upstairs with the other guys before I was barely in the back door. 

Later, we headed to a local lake for some swimming, knee boarding, & kayaking. The kiddos left the water long enough to inhale their pizza while the adults enjoyed a front row seat to a gorgeous summer sunset. 

As we lingered at the beach I caught myself thinking. These are my people. 

And it's good to be back. 

Summer 2k15~ Day 42

This girlfriend finished a week of basketball camp. Despite the sore muscles & exhaustion from working hard in the gym, she looked forward to camp every morning.

And Ed didn't mind sharing his space when she collapsed on the couch for an afternoon of cartoons after her final day of camp. 

Bring on the 5th grade basketball season~ our little player is ready!!!

Summer 2k15~ Day 39

When her sister is at basketball camp & her brother is hanging out with friends for the day & the baby wants to take an impromptu trip to the zoo to check on her penguin friends, well..... that's what you do!

Yup! They're still waddling in circles. 

Made it just in time for the penguin feedings. The man in the enclosure was handing out fish to the penguins. How he could tell who had been fed & who hadn't, I have no idea. That is why he is the penguin feeder and I am not.

The lily pads were in full bloom. Beautiful!

I just love her!!!

Summer 2k15~ Day 37

Wouldn't ya know that the house we're renting right now happens to be about 6 miles from where my grandpa was first posted with the Michigan State Police! Considering we never knew this part of the family history & the fact that we looked all over the greater metro Detroit area before settling on our current Hosmerville, this is a crazy coincidence!

My mom brought my grandpa over to his old stompin' grounds for the day & he was able to see our home & take us on a personal tour of our present surroundings. 

This was the house my grandpa had built for the family. He & my grandma had 5 kids in this cute little home. He was able to reminisce over some of the house's features with the current owner after we reassured her that we weren't crazy psychos to call the police on. 

This house was the former post for the Michigan State Police. It was just a couple blocks north of my grandparents' family home. 

My grandpa rented the upstairs space of this house right next door to the police post after he was first assigned to the area & was waiting for the builders to finish the family home. 

Wedding crashers! We tiptoed into this church just in time to catch the bride's procession to the altar. Gorgeous wedding ceremony aside, we were able to peek into what is now a prayer room to see the space where one of my aunts was one of the first babies to be baptized after the church was built. 

Grandpa hasn't been back to the area for a good 50 years so it's safe to say that things have slightly changed over the years. His memory, though, is solid and Tom & I both enjoyed our trip back thru time with him. 

Summer 2k15~ Day 36

Holy raspberries, batman!!! Our raspberry bushes are abundantly producing yummy fruit & this was the first of many successful pickings. We were so excited over our harvest that we counted each one. 

And then promptly ate them all. 

Summer 2k15~ Day 35

Took my farm fresh peaches, tomatoes, & cilantro and chopped them into this awesomeness~

And although all the prep time was TOTALLY worth the explosion of flavors {seriously, I could have easily made this & some tortilla chips my dinner. Oh, yes, it was all that AND a bag of chips} I've gotta find a more efficient way to dice~n~slice the produce next time.