The Cooker and Baker

When summer started, I had dreams of making a grocery list and having the boys do the shopping.  That has not happened.  But, what has happened is a treat.  Peanut helps us out with food/meal preparation.  A few weeks ago, he used leftover bananas and whipped up banana bread.  It was quite yummy!

He's used up old strawberries and made strawberry muffins.  He makes cookies and brownies.  He made a special batch for his grandpa's birthday.  AND, he willingly gets dinner going.  He'll put everything in the crockpot.  Or, he'll make the salad.  In my opinion, a salad made for me is much better than anything I could make.

I've enjoyed the time he's spent in the kitchen this summer.  We are winding down heading into the last full week (bummer.)  I am going to miss having him to rely on.  This is the first summer that I've worked.  It's sure been nice to have him help me execute the meals.

Farkel

This summer, we've enjoyed playing the game, Farkel.  On this particular night, the Big Guy claimed it was all about using the placemat.

 See the finger brace.  It came off after three weeks.  Finger was good as new for the swim championship.  More to come on that in another post.

The placemat just might have worked this night.  Too bad nothing helped at the Hampton Inn in Knoxville as I pulled off a big 'ol win!

This mini sized game is perfect to drop in my purse.  I can pull it out anytime we need some dice action.

Deer Crossing

Last spring when we had lots of rain, part of the boardwalk at a nearby park washed out.  They repaired it and made a deer crossing.  I saw it the other day and thought it was so funny.

Do the deer communicate with each other say, "come cross here?"

National Ice Cream Day, July 15th

The Big Guy was out of town on National Ice Cream Day.

I could not pass up the opportunity.  We don't have the best choices in our area, but settled on some Baskin Robins.

My two, chose shakes instead of scoops!

Is that sacrareligious??

Splash Contest

On the 4th, we went swimming at my sister's community pool.  Pumpkin and the Big Guy participated in the splash contest.  It was fun to watch and I am thankful my sister grabbed her phone and snapped these pictures.

Neither won, but the Big Guy did get the judges wet!

CMU, Dennison, & OSU

We changed up our annual trip to Cincinnati - just a bit.  After a few family parties, we headed toward Pittsburgh to tour Carnegie Melon University.  After seeing red brick buildings at other schools, it was refreshing to see the yellowish brick.

We met with the swim coach before our tour.  Impressive!  I really liked him and would feel comfortable having my son swim for him.

CMU was my first choice in high school, but I did not get accepted.  Things all worked out for the better as I have to say Vanderbilt more than exceeded my expectations.

I love this sculpture they added to campus.

This is my favorite view on campus.  It is from what was the women's college.  Don't let it fool you.  We brought the hot weather with us.  It was warm!

After the campus tour, we checked in to our hotel.  Gotta love Hampton Inn!  They comp'd us an adjoining room.  The boys were thrilled to sleep in their own beds.  For dinner, we headed to the touristy Primanti Brothers for sandwiches.  

The guys had a great time talking about all the athletes faces on the wall of the restaurant.  Growing up, Pittsburgh Steeler's were the Big Guy's favorite.  I don't know how that came about, but it did.

The sandwiches are big.  They come with fries and cole slaw on the sandwiches.  The Big Guy and I shared one.  It was perfect.

Pumpkin had to get all the slaw off the sandwich.  Who knows what his stomach would have done if he ate it.

After dinner, we walked round Pittsburgh. They were hosting a regatta.  We missed the racing, but enjoyed this sand sculpture of our founding fathers.  I have to look up the company sansentional.  That would be an interesting, creative job.

We did not do the infamous incline.  It was hot and the cars are not air conditioned.  The boys were not interested.  Touring colleges really zaps you of energy.  The boys just wanted to hang out in the hotel room.

On our way back to Cincinnati, we stopped in Granville to look at Dennison.  It is beautiful.  Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone there as they were closed for July 4th.  Pumpkin would be honored to swim there.  I'd be honored to go up there in the fall and see the beautiful trees.

Of course, we swung by OSU too.  We were so close.  We did not tour.  We ate lunch and walked around.  Pumpkin thought it was nice, but huge!

We've got a few more to check off our lists.  The college decision will be upon us quicker than we know!