Back To School

First day of school! These pictures didn't come out too clear. Plus I had to crop Jeanie's as her first and last name were showing on her back pack. The middle/high school bus was 30 minutes late and the elementary bus was 5 minutes early!

Now what to do?......clean?sew?pick raspberries?exercise?wash windows?paint?........Actually after I do a few things on this computer, I think I will organize the old toy room into a sewing room and get started on a couple of aprons.

The kids were all pretty excited for school. I think even the big ones, although they probably wouldn't admit it. A couple days ago if you asked Danny if he was excited for school he would cover his ears and say, "No! It's not even in my vocabulary!" But this morning he kept saying, "I'm so excited!!!" Hopefully we're off to a good year!

Apple Pie Slices

This is my Mom's recipe. It is one of my favorite apple desserts. Served warm with ice cream.....(I refrigerate the leftovers and then "sliver" it the next day cold out of the fridge! For some reason if you eat a row of "slivers" all day, it doesn't seem like it's as many calories as if you would eat a whole row in one sitting.) I don't have measurements for some of the ingredients. I just cover the crust with the rice crispies. Then I use my Apple/Peeler/Corer/Slicer to slice the apples and layer then to the top of the pan. Then I generously sprinkle cinnamon over the apples and quite a bit of sugar. (Maybe a cup?...)

APPLE PIE SLICES

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
rice crispies, corn flakes or wheaties
apples
cinnamon and sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water

Mix flour, sugar and salt and then cut in 1 cup shortening. Beat 1 egg yolk. (save white)
Put in cup and add enough milk to make 2/3 cup. Add to flour mixture. Divide dough in half. Roll dough to fit cookie sheet. Cover with corn flakes, rice crispies or wheaties. Put apples on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Put other half on top. Brush with beaten egg white. Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour. When warm, glaze with 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of water.

Jeanie Turns 10....NOT!

Jeanie had her 10th birthday party yesterday. She wanted to have a pool party for her 10th birthday so we had it early. My kids only get one birthday party with friends and that is for their 10th. Although, I'm not sure why, but Jeanie did have a birthday party last year with a few friends.....hmmmmm.......I guess things like that happen when you are the "baby" of the family!

Boring!!!!

Danny converstation while camping:

Danny: When I grow up I'm not going to have Down Syndrome anymore.

Me: Why not? What don't you like about it?

Danny: It's so boring!

New "Do"

Molly got her haircut. The lady cut it about three inches shorter than Molly asked plus she didn't want it shorter in back but this is what she got!

Now That was a VACATION!!!!

We arrived home last night at about 8:45. It was a 12 hour drive. It was the BEST vacation. Pure relaxtion! I'm pretty much a "homebody" but this time I was not ready to come home to "reality". We had perfect weather although for the first time ever, there were mosquitos!! Here we are on the Trans Candian Highway "almost there". We stayed at Neys Provincial Park for the first time in 2001 when we went around Lake Superior. We fell in love with this area and have been back almost every year since.
Truthfully......below is the reason Dad takes us back so often. The fishing is phenomenal! You don't get many Brook Trout this size in our state. Brett and Wade came up for five days to fish. Dad caught his 17 inch brookie and was pumped! A short while later, Brett "stoled his thunder" and caught a 20 incher! (Brett also caught a 12 inch and Dad a an 11 inch on this same night.)
The girls went fishing quite a bit with Dad. Here's one of the two clam's Kaitlin caught. (She did catch a few fish also.)
Wade got hims self a nice size Pike.

The girls got to be pretty good fishergirls. Notice, Amanda......no pliers. They got to be pretty good at baiting their own hooks and weren't afraid to handle the fish. We had several delicious meals of fish. Two meals of brook trout and three of Perch. Dad and the girls caught 7 perch one night and 10 another. Dad, Brett and Wade caught 16 Perch one night also. You can't beat that fresh trout or perch!!
The sites at Neys are the best! This is our site from the road.
Here is our site from the back of it. Total privacy. We couldn't see our neighbors on either side.

The kids spent a fair amount of time on the beach. The water wasn't the best this year. Some years are better than others and this happened to be the worse we've had as far as wood chips in the water. They still swam as it cleared up away from shore. The beach is real shallow here so they could go way out and it still wasn't deep. It was perfect for the evenings when there were big waves. I didn't get too nervous watching them.
Of course we had our share of smores.