Monday, August 18, 2008

Grandma's Trip to Michigan

I left for Michigan early Friday morning, August 1, 2008. It was my second round-trip by myself. It's a ten-hour drive, no matter what, and the part that has caused me trepidation is driving around Chicago via I-80.

The first few years we drove there, I-80 was under construction, which often meaning a slow crawl (at best) to the tune of adding 2 - 3 hours to the trip. I didn't want to have that happen while driving by myself.

However, I-80 has been trouble free for some time. Thus, my renewed encouragement to travel by myself.

The Burlington, IA bridge across the Mississippi
Friday, August 1, 2008 around 7:00 a.m.
I made it!!! :-)
This is looking towards the street from the front door.
Notice what once was a huge yucca blossom!
On Saturday morning, the girls and I visited Home Depot.
We found out that they have free workshops for children
on the 1st Saturday of each month.
Making Flag Holders



Saturday's produce from the garden!

Sunday, August 3, 2008
Ready for Church

Look what Maya made!

Let's all go swimming, shall we?

Splashing party!

On Monday, we decided to make a birdbath!
We got the sand ready...
Found a great squash leaf in the garden...
Covered it with concrete and left it to cure.

On Tuesday morning, the girls and I went to a park.

Izzy slides

Maya swings

On Wednesday morning, we took off for the public library.










There was good pedaling to
the library! Hayden was
strolled by Mommy
and Isabel and I
walked and ran! :-)










On Thursday, August 7, we had showers and "Grandma's Beauty Shop!" ;-) Soapy hair makes funny shapes! We had fun and what beautiful girls we had afterwards!


We got to uncover the stepping stone and the birdbath.

First, we must peel away the leaf, if we can.

We needed a break from all that hard work...
a wagon ride sound like just the ticket!

On Friday, we got back at it with toothbrushes.
It's the best we could do.
Here's a scrubbing video!


You surely were curious about their garden, weren't you?


















Sunday, August 10

On Monday, August 11, we went to the zoo!



Digging for dinosaurs!





Taking the train ride!


Tuesday... after breakfast.
I had to say goodbye.
Isabel hugged me at the table. That was good enough for her. ;-)

While the rest bid me farewell from the front porch.

It was hard to say goodbye.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ten hour ride? Congratulations on a successful round-trip. So much of interest, here. Enjoyed all the activities - from the Home Depot workshop and poolside venue, to "Birdbaths 101," the various trips on wheeled vehicles and zoo visit (loved the horses!), seems like fun was had by all.

Question: Does Maya have another pair of "Crocs" just like those (1 green/1 yellow), or are they selling mixed pairs? Loved the green t-shirt... no danger of outgrowing that one for quite some time.

That squash leaf birdbath looks neat - did they ever get off all the foliage remnants?

What a fine, productive looking veggie garden. Now that's a proper sized plot, with lots of sun. I grow just a little green with envy, when viewing such nice flat, sunny land.

Great photos! ~ Deb

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Deb! There's never a dull moment! ;-) Maya has another pair of crocs to match at home... in fact, the two of them often wore contrasting colors! Someone has outfitted them in crocs... The t-shirt was mine... a giant "apron."

The birdbath turned out very well. Yep, it took awhile, but the leaf came off. I really liked the leaf in there... if you could just keep those colors!

Don't they have a wonderful garden? They're sharing the produce, as well as the work, with another couple. Great way to do it.

I appreciate that you visit here.