Life and Randomness

So glad I finally got to sleep in today! I had to go into work yesterday...But we still went to the drive-in for a double feature the night before! Ha. Yep, we got home at about 1:20 am or so, then I had to get up 5 hours later for work Saturday. So I was a little tired yesterday, but I got off a little early, came home, helped Trent weed the garden, then went for a dip in the pool and we went back home and watched The Sitter. And today I finally got to sleep in and was really productive! I cleaned the house, did two loads of laundry, washed a load of dishes, and dusted the living room! Now I'm finally relaxing. :)

I haven't had much time to go shopping and get some craft supplies I need, or work on a project in a while since we've been pretty busy the past few weeks. Lake Geneva, baseball game, golf tournament, drive-in...So here's a little photo dump for ya from the past week or so.

Went to the John Deere Classic last weekend (the local annual golf tournament). Technically you're not supposed to take pictures there, but we got a little sneaky with the cell phones!

It was a good time hanging out on the course - Trent had worked Security there in the past, so he knew quite a few of the security guards working there, and people from the college where he works now. It was a hot day, especially when we were walking around on the hills!

We took the picture below while the golfing was wrapping up for the day. We rode the whole course on a golf cart with another couple we knew, searching for the perfect photo spot :)

After a day at the golf course, we ate by the river in Port Byron at one of our favorite riverside restaurants called It's on the River. We hadn't been there for a while! It's a pretty view from the patio.

The next day we had free tickets to the River Bandits game. Even though it was another hot one, we tried to stay cool by hanging out under the roof. Of course we had to walk out by the river a little, though.

Friday night was the drive-in. It was pretty much perfect weather to watch a movie outside. There were chances of some rain, but for the most part it stayed away from us. Just a little sprinkle toward the end of the second movie. We saw Turbo and The Internship and liked them both.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend! Despite working yesterday, mine has been pretty good! Can't beat relaxation at home Sunday night after a super busy week. I'm hoping to go into town sometime this week and get a few craft supplies I've been wanting for a couple of projects. Hopefully I can get those done soon and post the results on the blog!

Foundation News

Well, it's official. We're getting our foundation fixed! But the catch is that it's not going to be until October. Since the company we went with is pretty busy through the summer months, the guy told us that he'd give us a 10% discount if we waited until October. The guy was really nice and friendly and the project seemed a lot more reasonable than the other quote we got. This company is able to do everything - mortar work, rebuild...and it will probably take about 3 days or so. There's no set date yet, but we signed the papers and put the deposit down yesterday. We're really excited that it's finally being done! This means we can redo the kitchen - get new floors, cabinets, etc. I can't wait!

Tonight Trent and I are planning on going to the drive-in. I've been wanting to go all summer. We haven't been in so long. It's a double feature, Turbo and The Internship. Hoping for nice weather! It'll be nice to get out after working and watching Hallmark movies all week. Seriously, the Hallmark movie channel is addicting!

Canada: Another Long-lost Vacation Gem

So excited! I found my 7th grade journal. And in it was my account of our Canada vacation! One of the many vacations that I failed to remember almost anything from. What does help, though, is 1.) Seeing pictures, and 2.) Reading about it from old journals. And this one was pretty cool to read, because it is really detailed. (Even though I was only 13 years old.) Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures at my house, but I did throw in some random (but relevant) ones I found here and there to keep things interesting. Sound good? Ok, so without further ado....

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Sunday, June 24, 2001 (Canada vacation, 13 years old)

"I'm in Michigan! Right now we're in the car on our way to Toronto. We just left our hotel in Dexter, Michigan. Right now it's 9:00 am."

"Yesterday, we left our house at about 8:00am, and went to Muscatine, Iowa to pick up Grandma George. Then we started off to Dexter. We went across a bridge from Iowa to Illinois, so we were in Illinois once again. We went through Geneseo, but that's the only city I actually know where it is. We didn't really go through other towns. We stayed on highways all the time! Whenever I would ask where we are, my mom would always be like, "We're not in a town." So that really helps!

Once we got out of Illinois we went into Indiana, and it was the same kinda thing. Only when we first came over to Indiana, we were around Gary, which is a pretty big city, so we were barely moving sometimes. It took us like a half an hour just to get out of that part! We stopped to eat by the highway at Denny's. I had club sandwiches with french fries. It was like 1:00 when we finally got to eat, but we had a few snacks along the way. (It's really bumpy. Right now we're in a suburb of Detroit! There's a taxi right in front of us!)

It took us a few more hours to get to Dexter, MI, but we also lost an hour when we crossed over to Michigan because of the Eastern time zone. We finally arrived in a small addition-like place in Dexter, where David and Stephanie lived. That's where we dropped off Grandma. (Right now we just crossed over the bridge to Canada! It was really pretty. You could see big buildings in Detroit. Right now, we're in some town. It looks just like the United States.)

Image from here

We went to Stephanie and David's house. (Stephanie is Mom's cousin.) Their house is really big and nice. They built it 5 years ago, and it has lots of pretty woodwork and big windows. First we took this little tour of their house. They have this little living room, then if you go up a stair, there's a little table, and there's a desk by it. Then by that, there's a little kitchen area. To the left, there's a hallway with a pantry, a closet, and a guest bedroom and bathroom where Grandma George is going to stay. If you go back down to the living room and go left, there's another living room with a fireplace that's really nice. Above that, there's a balcony that's to the upstairs. Next, their master bedroom is to the left of the living room. The bathroom has 2 sinks right by each other; one for Stephanie and one for David. Then there's a big whirlpool in the corner, and a shower on the other side. In the basement, there's another guest bed and bath. There's also Stephanie's office where she works. She has a blue iMac computer! Next to her office is her workout room. The upstairs has another living room thing, and David's office! He also has a computer. Then, right next to that is a library! All along the walls are bookshelves full of books! There's also a dining room in the main level.

We stayed at Stephanie and David's for a little while, and we ate dinner. We basically had appetizers. There were cheese rolls and meat rolls (I had a cheese roll). And there were also veggies. When we left Stephanie and David's, it was only about 20 minutes to our hotel.

We got to our hotel at night; it was probably 8:30. We mostly just watched TV the rest of the night. This morning we woke up, got ready and went to a continental breakfast. I had milk, a glazed doughnut, and a banana.

We're in Canada. Now, it's pretty much all highway, open land, and trees. It's pretty boring. Plus, there's pretty bad radio stations. We passed a mall in the town in Canada that we went through that had a Guess store, a Tommy Hilfiger store, and a Nike store, but it wasn't open yet! I wanted to go there!

When we get to Toronto in a few hours, we're going to the CN Tower, but I don't know what else!"

Wednesday, June 27, 2001

"I'm in our hotel in Niagra Falls, Ontario. I'm actually bored right now! This is the only thing to do. My dad's resting, my mom's lying in bed watching her "soaps," and Haley's resting on the floor. She has the whole comforter down there. I'm under the covers. I don't want to watch Mom's stupid show. I think it's like 3:30, but I'm not sure. There's not even a clock in this room! Pretty soon we're gonna order pizza from Domino's, or eat at Pizza Hut or something.

Niagra Falls is pretty cool. This is our second day here. Tomorrow morning, we're leaving for Hershey, Pennsylvania. It'll take about 8 hours to get there.

Niagra Falls has lots of souvenir shops, but they have the same stuff in each one. There's other attractions on these streets also, like the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, the Wax Museum of the Stars, the Haunted House, the Fun House, Dracula's Haunted Mansion, the Guiness World Records Museum, Ripley's Moving Theater, the Adventure Dome, and more. There's also restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, and Rainforest Cafe. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe yesterday.

We also saw the Falls. We took lots of pictures. It was pretty. We went on Maid of the Mist, which is a big, 2-story boat, and you wear this plastic, garbage bag-like blue raincoat, and it takes you around one side of the falls and back. If you want, you can put your hood up because you get really wet, but I didn't! It was cool! I didn't care if my hair got wet! I mean, c'mon! We also went in this tower by the falls called the Skylon Tower. It looked kinda like the CN Tower, only it was a lot smaller. You could see the whole Niagra Falls area. We had to wait forever to go back down in the elevator, though.

Niagra Falls - Image from here

Today, we slept in a little later than usual, which was good. Then for breakfast, we ate at a restaurant right by our hotel called Wimpy's. I had toast. Then we went to this butterfly observatory by Niagra Falls, and a butterfly landed on the back of my leg, and it wouldn't fly off! They said not to touch them, because the scales of the senses on the legs could get damaged, so I couldn't even touch it! There were all different kinds of butterflies flying all over, in this big, glass building, and a whole bunch of plants. We also walked around outside through these gardens. It was really hot, so I got ice cream. Then we shopped around a little on the streets, and went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. Then we went back to the hotel...Tonight we might take a walk, and Haley and I might go swimming. The indoor pool is right by our room.

A couple days ago, we went to Toronto. I think that was my favorite place just because it was cool to see the liveliness and all the different people of a big city. There was even a little Chinatown. We went to a mall, but we didn't know hardly any of the stores in there. The two big department stores, Eaton's and The Bay, I've never even heard of, and they're pretty popular in Ontario. Eaton's was three stories! I got jeans, and so did Haley. Then we both got this jacket to match (and to share).

Image from here

In Toronto, we also went up in the CN Tower, the tallest building in the world. It was really high! You could see all of Toronto! Before we went up, we watched a video about it, and we rode two motion simulators. One was about wildfires, and one was about war planes. I didn't like them that much, but they were fine, ya know? Right next to the CN Tower was the Sky Dome, the indoor arena that the Toronto Blue Jays play in. It has a retractable roof! There was a gift shop in our hotel, and me and Haley both got a beanie baby. Haley got a bear named Cheery, and I got a dog named Regal. He's really cute! I also got another dog named Tricks, at the Rainforest Cafe in the mall we went to in Toronto. Also in Toronto, we went to Planet Hollywood, where I got a green shirt. That was the first time I've ever been to a Planet Hollywood. It was pretty neat. Outside on the walls, there were handprints of different movie stars. I put my hands in Sandra Bullocks'. The last day in Toronto, we went to a science museum. We didn't get to see it all, but we wanted to leave because we wanted to go shopping.

Our hotel was really nice in Toronto. Both nights we stayed there, me, Haley, and Dad went swimming in the indoor hotel pool. It was small, but it was really nice. The water was really comfortable, and you didn't even have to get used to it! There was also a whirlpool that was hot, but it was comfortable. You could make the water bubbly for however long you wanted between 3 and 15 minutes. The only thing is, there was a pop machine in every level, and none of them had pop in them! It sucked because we wanted pop, but oh well! There was a parking garage under our hotel where we parked! It was cool. Our hotel was right in town, too, but it had a really good alarm system. The traffic was really busy in Toronto, and there were lots of people on bicycles!

This is our second night in Niagra Falls, and our last night. Tomorrow morning, we're leaving for Hershey, Pennsylvania. The first day, we're going to a chocolate factory, and the second day, we're going to an amusement park, and I think we're staying all day. Then after that (Saturday), we're leaving for home! But we might have to stay the night in a hotel in Ohio or Indiana another night, because it'll be a really long drive.

I'm anxious to get home, because I want to play outside and play Sims and stuff. All the souvenirs I've gotten so far are a green Planet Hollywood shirt, a blue and white Niagra Falls shirt, two dog beanie babies, a fuschia ring, and a candle. Things are pretty expensive here, but they're cheaper in U.S. money. That's good."

Saturday, June 30, 2001

"Right now we're somewhere in Pennsylvania. We're finally coming home! But we're in the middle of 15 hours coming home. We'll be lucky if we get home at 11.

Yesterday and the day before we were in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Thursday, when we got there from Niagra Falls, we got our hotel (which, by the way, didn't even have a pool), and then we went to the chocolate factory. We rode through all these rooms inside and took like, a virtual tour of what a Hershey's chocolate factory looks like, and how they make Hershey candy bars and Hershey's kisses. Then we went in different souvenir and candy shops inside the building. Next we decided to take this tour on a bus all through the town of Hershey. On the bus, it was really hot. We saw the Hershey school, the butterfly conservatory and Hershey gardens, the Hershey cocoa factory, Zoo America, Hersheypark, the Hershey mansion, and some other Hershey landmarks.

Image from here

Yesterday we spent all day at Hersheypark. Most of the time it was fun, but it got up to around 95 degrees! It was so hot! I think we bought like 4 waters and a lemonade altogether! Some of the lines were pretty long, too, but we never had to wait that long. We saw three shows: A dolphin and sea lion show, and short little musicals: So Fine! The Sequal, and Girls Night Out. They were all pretty cool, but I didn't like the dolphin and sea lion show that much because I've seen so many of those kind of shows already, and also I was really thirsty during that show! Hersheypark has eight roller coasters, and I went on three of them. I went on this one really short one; I forgot what it was called, though. And I went on the Wild Mouse and Lightening Racer. I like Lightening Racer the best, because it was really fun. There's actually two trains on it. The red one is called Lightening, and the green one is called Thunder. The whole time you're on the roller coaster, the two trains race each other! It's really fun! You also go under this cave, and mist sprays in your face. And when you're in there, they take your picture. At the end of the ride, you go past the finish line, and you find out who won. We found out that Lightening usually wins. I was on Lightening once and Thunder once. On the Wild Mouse they also take your picture during the ride, and we thought it was good of most of us (not Mom!), so we decided to get it. It was a really good picture of me! We went on other rides too, but we mostly spent our time there walking around trying to find things and going to shows. I liked the water ride we went on, because the water felt so good! It was like the log ride, but I think it was called The Flume, or something like that. I was in the front, and I got the most wet!

While we were in Hersheypark, we crossed over to Zoo America, which was right by Hersheypark, and you could get in it free with Hersheypark tickets. The zoo was really small, and didn't have much. I thought it was pretty boring. The coolest thing was the Albino alligator. It was white! We didn't spend much time there, and we went back to Hersheypark. Then we went to Pizza Hut to eat, and when we got back to the hotel, it was 8:30, and Making the Band was already starting the second show! I was mad because I wanted to see the first one, because it was a really good one.

We're in Ohio now. We just got here from West Virginia. We only went through a teeny part of West Virginia, though. I wanna get home! I'm sick of riding in the car, not going through any towns, just highways, and I'm tired of my ears popping!"

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So that's my full account of our Canada trip! I think I confused a "highway" with an "interstate," but then again, I was 13, so I'm sure I didn't know the difference. :) That brought back a lot of memories that I had forgotten! I wish I had some pictures with me to post from this trip, but we did get some of the falls, and some of us in our Maid of the Mist ponchos. And I remember photos of us at the CN Tower and Hersheypark on our refrigerator. I will have to look for those sometime!

Garden Update, and One Giant Cucumber!

I'm happy to report that we're still keeping up the garden for the most part. Nothing has really died yet, which is always good. 

Roma tomatoes on the left and a watermelon growing on the right. 

Some vegetables haven't sprouted at all, I think because of planting the seeds too late in the season that they got taken over by weeds. But most of our vegetables are still alive and kicking, especially those that we bought actual plants of, that had already been planted and were sprouting.

One of these is our cucumbers, which are doing awesome! I had cucumber slices with my lunch the other day - we've had at least 4 ripe ones so far. Here's the biggest one we've found in the garden:

It was HUGE! As Trent was slicing it, he was like, "Look at these huge slices!" Haha. We couldn't believe how big this one was. 

We've had lots of tomatoes start to turn red already, too. I can't wait to get sweet corn starting to grow - the plants have started growing, but we planted those a little late, so I'm hoping they still make it, and that they taste yummy!

Black-eyed Susans

My Black-eyed Susans have bloomed! Another pretty pop of color out front.

Did you know that....

• Black-eyed Susans can be either annuals, biennials, or perennials.
• They are one of the most common wildflowers grown.
• They attract butterflies.
• Black-eyed Susans grow to be between one and three feet tall, and can spread 12-18 inches.
• You should remove dead flowers to prolong blooming.
• If you cut back Black-Eyed Susans after they bloom, a second, smaller bloom may occur in late fall.

(Info from here)

Ours are perennials. I believe this is the second year we've had them. Our front flower garden is pretty much complete I think! Now, I really want to try to make it out to the store soon to get some plants for the side yard. I think I may make that a priority this weekend....

My Last Family Vacation: Florida, Age Seventeen

When I was 17, the summer before my senior year of high school, I went on my last annual vacation with my family. You can see some of the other years here:

• 2002 - Branson vacation, age 14
• 2003 - Tennessee, age 15
• 2004 - Chicago and Milwaukee, age 16

Yep, this time, in 2005, we went to Florida (Disney World and Daytona Beach). We had actually gone to Florida before - I believe I was in 5th grade. Except we flew that time. And it was one of my favorite vacations. This time, we drove the whole way there and back. From north-western Illinois. Talk about long hours in a vehicle...I actually don't want to relive that again. But here we go. Some passages from my journal on our Florida vacation!

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Saturday, June 4, 2005

"So it's 1:08 right now. I'm pretty much sitting in the back of the van, listening to Fall Out Boy. We left for vaca this morning at 7:45...so we've been on the road for approx. 5 hours I think? And we stopped at Arby's for lunch (somewhere). I think we're still in Illinois. Tonight, we'll stay in a hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Then tomorrow, we'll drive down to Orlando...We're in Salem right now, wherever the heck that is!"

Sunday, June 5, 2005

"Ho-hum....it's exactly 12:00 eastern time (noon)....we're in Georgia, in a very LONG traffic jam on the interstate. It's taking forever. I think we're just outside of Atlanta. We left our hotel this morning, I think a few hours ago. Last night we ate dinner at Shoney's in Kentucky, then we kept driving to Tennessee and stayed at the Sun Inn in Chattanooga. We drove to two other hotels before we found that one, because like all the rooms were taken in the others...I guess there was a big golf tournament in town or something. Anyway, we just watched SNL last night, and I took a shower, did crossword puzzles, and ate my peanut butter M&M's....I have no idea when we're going to get to a city or town, but we're probably going to stop at a restaurant before we get to Florida, then we're going to drive to Orlando and stay there a few nights I guess....Well, maybe I'll update tomorrow or the next day..."

Saturday, June 11, 2005

"Well, I know I said I'd write more, but there was just no time. So we're coming BACK from our vacation now; we're in Daytona still, and it's POURING down rain, most likely from Hurricane Arlene, which is west of us, but it has been causing a lot of rain and wind in Florida. Luckily, this is the first day of our vacation that it's actually raining. We just happened to miss out on all of it. If it did rain, it was at night, so that was good."

"...Sunday driving to Orlando was THE WORST. It took for-ev-er. I think it was longer than the day before, actually. Well it definitely seemed like it because we didn't eat dinner until around 9:00! Our hotel was just a 15-minute walk from Universal Studios, and there was a bunch of other hotels, too. It took forever to find our hotel. We went in circles, and it got dark, plus we were hungry. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, because the way there was like all interstate, and we got in two huge traffic jams, because of 2 wrecks. So then, when we finally got to our hotel, we wanted to eat, so we went to Denny's, but it took forever to get a table, so we just decided to go back to the hotel! Me, Mom, and Haley all wanted to order Domino's pizza, but Dad didn't want to wait, so he just went next door to Burger King. We ate Domino's, and it was yummy! So, that was the rest of Sunday!"

"Ok, Monday (the next day), we walked to Universal. It wasn't that bad, actually. We kept seeing these little lizard things on the way (I think they were geckos). 

At Universal Studios

It was hot, of course, in the late eighties to mid-nineties. We went on The Mummy Returns twice, it was definitely the best ride ever!! We also went on Back to the Future, Twister, Earthquake, and I don't really remember what else. I get Universal confused with Islands of Adventure! I think the Terminator Ride was somewhere in there too...and the E.T. ride....we went to some shows, too - The Animal Planet show, and Fear Factor Live. We ate at Hard Rock, and then we walked back to the hotel."

Eating at Hard Rock by Universal

"The next day we went to Islands of Adventure, only we decided to drive that time. I think that might be where the Jimmy Neutron ride was, and the Spiderman ride, which we went on twice and was really cool. There was also a stunt show, and a log ride-type thing that we went on, but you didn't get that wet. Dad and Haley went on these Thunder and Lightening roller coasters, and The Hulk. Me and Haley went on this river ride where you get soaked. We were drenched! Especially our denim shorts! It was so bad! But it was really hot outside, so it felt good. We went to a show that was like a tour, it was about the gods and stuff where you go to different rooms. There was a lot of pyrotechnics and special effects. We left later (actually I think the night before we drove to another hotel in Kissimmee - yeah, it had to have been Monday night - that was the best hotel ever!), then we went swimming in the pool, right outside of our room! We layed out, too. Then we ate at Cracker Barrel, and me and Haley each got these mushy pillows at the gift shop."

In front of the Dr. Suess place at Islands of Adventure

"Wednesday, we went to Magic Kingdom. It was probably the longest, hottest day! We were all like dying, and it was SO crowded! We had to use the fast passes for a couple of rides. We went on Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Mickey's Philar Magic, Buzz Lightyear, Snow White's Adventures, and the Haunted Mansion...I don't know what else! It was so crowded, we couldn't even find a place to eat. We finally ended up grabbing something, actually twice. I had grapes, chips, and fries. I drank a lot of water too! We left at like 3 or 4 (It was 103 degrees when we got into our van!), then when we got back we watched TV for a while, and Mom and Dad went out and ate at an Italian restaurant while me and Haley took showers, and Mom and Dad brought us sub sandwiches from Subway with chips and cookies."

"Thursday, we checked out of our hotel and drove to the Florida Mall. It was really nice and huge! There were a bunch of stores I liked....we didn't get to go to all of them, though. I bought a watch at Nordstrom's, a bracelet, belt, and necklace at Forever 21, and a shirt and flip-flops at Hollister. After that I had like $60.00 left. Then we drove to Daytona Beach, and our hotel was right on the beach. It wasn't the greatest, though. We were on the 3rd floor, but it was facing the parking lot, not the beach. We ate at Denny's for dinner, and then we walked along the road our hotel was on and saw the shops and stuff. We went into Maui Nix Surf Shop, which was really cool."

"Then yesterday (Friday), we walked along the beach, but we didn't swim in the ocean or lay out, because it was cloudy and we were all super sun burnt...Then we decided to go mini golfing. It was pretty fun....We ate at Pizza Hut after that, then we went back to our hotel to get some coupons, and we walked to all of the souvenir shops and stuff. There was a lot of crap! I was going to get a keychain but decided not to. I got a pink lei for my car though, and I spent $45.00 at Maui Nix. I got two tank tops (they're surfy/beachy), and a free purple mug, lol. (The night before, I got green shorts, a pink Daytona Beach tank and a bracelet at the other Maui Nix.) So, now I only have $15 left! :( We went back to the hotel and watched TV. I was bored and wanted to go back to the beach again, but no one else wanted to. For dinner, we ate at Steak 'n Shake, and Mom wanted to drive to a mall, so we went to like, Vescola Mall or something like that. It had pretty cool stores too, but since I only had $15, I didn't buy anything. Me and Haley went off and got Dippin' Dots, though! It wasn't a very productive day...."

Haley and I walking along the beach. Unfortunately we didn't have the nicest weather
for enjoying Daytona Beach!

"So then this morning, we got up, checked out of our hotel, and it was pouring rain. It's 10:30 right now, and it's still raining and overcast. It looks like we're stopping at McDonald's....It's only been 2 hours...."

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There was another entry after we got home, but it was just about the 2-day drive back and was pretty boring. I do remember the last hotel we stayed at though, on the way back, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I remember it after I read that last entry because it was a newer hotel, and our room was literally brand new. I said that it smelled new, and some furniture and things weren't even in there yet. There was no bedside table, no pictures on the wall or headboards for the beds, and there were just 2 lamps for lighting. Other than that, it was nice, though!

That was the last real vacation I went on with my parents and my sister. I think we took a little mini trip to the suburbs of Chicago to go to the mall one time, but that's about it. Luckily, I've been able to continue to take little vacations with Trent now that I'm older, and we've been able to experience even more awesome stuff. Trent has never been to Disney yet, so hopefully one day we'll get to go together.

House Update

Hello again! I'm back with some actual house stuff today! I actually have some new news about the foundation. As of a few weeks ago, we had gotten a quote to fix our foundation from one company that was ridiculously high. We had almost lost all hope altogether for getting the foundation fixed. And it's a really crucial step in the house improvement progress, because it's holding us back from doing a lot of things, like fully remodeling the kitchen, and even finishing the hallway. We're afraid to finish the hallway, because once the foundation is fixed and the house is level, it will just need fixed again. But anyway, the good news is that right before we left last weekend on our vacation, we finally got the second quote from a different company, and it was MUCH more reasonable. We're thinking we may even be able to do it around September. It will be so nice to have this done - that's one less major structural issue to deal with. We still haven't made any commitments yet, but I will update on what happens!

In the meantime, the front of the house is still looking cheerful with lots of flowers on (and around) the front porch. I snapped this photo right before we left on our Fourth of July weekend trip.

Looking at this picture reminds me of another thing I can't wait to do, and that is get a new roof! Our roof is way too old and too flat, and not to mention, it leaks pretty badly in the back! One issue after another I tell ya...

We haven't really been doing much with the inside lately. Right now our focus is on structural issues like the foundation, outdoor improvements like possibly a new basement door and planting some new bushes and plants on the west side of the house, and things we need to finish up before winter. So not really too much in the "fun" category, but they're things that need to be done. And saving up for the foundation getting fixed is of course our top priority at the moment.

So that's my little house update for today I guess! I have a few more little posts planned for this week..hopefully some more travel-related stuff, maybe a craft, some more garden stuff...we'll see what happens and how much time I have. :)

Chicago and Milwaukee Vacation at Sixteen

Hello! If you haven't visited the blog the past few days, I have been going back and revisiting the yearly family vacations I took as a teenager. Read 2002's and 2003's if you missed them. Today I'm back again with more family vacation adventures! In 2004, I went to Chicago and Milwaukee with the family. I was 16. This trip was not the most exciting, just a small little getaway (with lots of shopping of course). The pictures are not my most flattering, but I'm baring all for the world. So get ready for another vacation flashback. And witness the adventures of visiting my great aunt (who passed away shortly after), my dad's obnoxious snoring in the hotel, and lots and lots of Chicago-style shopping:

(Image from here)

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Wednesday, July 7, 2004
"We left for vacation on Monday...we're in the van right now going to Chicago. It's 10:30 am, and we just checked out of our hotel in Milwaukee."

"Monday morning, we left at like 8:20 am. At like 11 or so, we stopped at Aunt Mary's house. It was the first time she's seen us since we were really little...We thought we had better go there to see her, because she's not doing very well, and she might not make it very longer..Billy was there too...the whole thing was kinda weird. There was this girl that takes care of her, and she was Polish. She understood English but she was a little weird. Aunt Mary gave Mom an opal ring, and then there was a little diamond ring too, but she didn't know who to give it to, so the Polish lady put it on my finger. So it's mine, I guess. We stayed there until about noon, and we were getting kind of hungry, so we stopped at an IHOP to eat lunch in Gurnee...When we finally got to our hotel in Pewaukee, which is like a suburb of Milwaukee, it was 3:00. We just watched TV and went swimming in the pool. For dinner, we walked over to the Wisconsin Machine Shed by our hotel, and I ordered the Caesar salad with no chicken and potato wedges. Well, what I didn't know was that the freakin' salad was the size of a freakin' turkey! It was huge! I was like, "Yeah, I don't think I'm gunna be able to eat my potato wedges!" Well, anyway, I ate almost the whole salad! And I only could eat one potato wedge! So we took them with us in a box, and I have no clue where they are. Oh well. The rest of the night, we watched the finale of For Love or Money and Who Wants to Marry My Dad?. We went to bed at 10:30, but I don't think I fell asleep 'til like 1:00. Nobody could fall asleep, because Dad was snoring so bad! It was terrible!"

"Yesterday we ate breakfast and then went to the mall and shopped. It wasn't a huge mall, it was just like North Park or South Park. I got these really cute flip-flops and a silver heart chain necklace. We ate in the food court, then we went back to our hotel and basically watched TV until we left for the game. At like 5:00, we left and ate at Culver's...Then we went to Milwaukee for the Brewers/Cubs game.

At the Cubs-Brewers game in Milwaukee.

The stadium was awesome. The roof was up, so it was like we were inside. We sat on the top, but there were still a lot of people behind us. We sat above Right field. The game wasn't too exciting, but it was cool to see Sosa, Alou, and Prior. I'd say about half of the fans were Cub fans. Unfortunately, we lost 2-4. Well, we're heading to Chicago right now. It looks like it might rain, though."

Friday, July 9, 2004
"Right now it's almost 3:00, and we're leaving Chicago. And it's raining! We got here Wednesday, checked into our hotel, etc. Then we went to the Field Museum. There was A LOT of stuff there, but it was really boring. It was like, rocks, fossils, gems, animals, and ancient artifacts, and stuff like that. My favorite part was this dark room with display cases all around that were lit up, and they were full of different gemstones. There were diamonds, opals, and all these really pretty gems. There was a McDonald's inside the museum, so we ate there. That was actually my favorite part of the museum!"

"Wednesday night, we left our car in a parking garage next door to our hotel, and we walked to a few stores and looked around, and then we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. I got the veggie sandwich with carrots and celery and Ranch dressing. Then we just went back to our hotel and watched TV. Our hotel was the Best Western Inn of Chicago. It was downtown, and we stayed on the 18th floor. It wasn't as nice as our other one, though. It was a lot smaller (Well, the room anyway)."

Me in our hotel room in Chicago

"Yesterday morning, we walked across the street and ate breakfast at a little cafe. I got the fruit plate that had watermelon, cantaloupe, bananas, apples, oranges, and strawberries, and raisin bread. We went shopping on Michigan Avenue all day. There were really nice stores (and really expensive!) There were cool stores like Forever 21, Wet Seal, Rampage, and Sephora. I liked Nordstrom's, too. It had really expensive stuff, though. I got this $12 Hard Candy lip gloss at Sephora, a black and pink mini skirt and 2 camis (black and pink) at Forever 21, and earrings at H&M and Claire's. We ate cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. They had SO many desserts and cheesecakes! We had to wait a half-hour, but it was really nice and sunny outside, so we just sat out there on the steps and waited. We ate outside, and I got the chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake. It was really good! I couldn't eat it all though.."

"Then last night we went to Navy Pier. It was really cool, but I had been there before on my 6th grade field trip. We went in the shops inside. I got a gray and pink Navy Pier sweatshirt and a crystal necklace. We ate dinner in the food court. Mom and Haley had McDonald's, and me and Dad had deli sandwiches."

"This morning we ate doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts. Then we went back to Navy Pier and went on an architecture boat tour on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It lasted like an hour, and it was actually pretty cool. It was sunny and really nice. Then we went inside and ate..and me and Haley bought Cubs shirts....Now we're here in traffic moving really slow...We should get home tonight around 6 or 7."

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I can say now that I have gone back to the lovely city of Chicago many times, and whether it was seeing a concert at the House of Blues, taking a boat cruise on Lake Michigan, riding the giant Navy Pier ferris wheel, going up in the John Hancock Building, or seeing a Cubs game, it has always been a great time! I have also gone back to Milwaukee since then and made a trip to the amazing art museum! Definitely one of the best I've been to, besides the Art Institute in Chicago. Lots to do in those cities!

Well, I'll have a house-related post up tomorrow with a current update of where we are with renovations and all that. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Family Vacation in Tennessee, Age Fifteen

So since it's July (my favorite month), and the month of summer fun and getaways, this month's posts are seeming to have a travel-oriented theme. And I'm ok with that. :)

Yesterday I shared some journal entries I wrote on vacation with my family in Branson when I was 14. Today, it's time to share my adventures in Tennessee a year later. (Warning - It's kinda long!) It's actually pretty fun for me to look back at my travel experiences at a young age. I only wish I wrote this stuff when I was much younger (like 9 or 10)...that really would have been interesting!

And now I present to you, my family vacation in Tennessee at the age of 15 (Complete with trip photos this time!):

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Sunday, July 20, 2003 (Tennessee vacation - 15 years old)

"We left for vacation yesterday morning at 8:00 in the morning. We ate lunch at Steak 'n Shake, and in the car I pretty much just listened to Good Charlotte and Eminem...I did lots of word searches and I looked at my magazines...We went through Illinois and Indiana. Oh yeah, and I also made 5 bracelets with my beads, and they're really cool. We got to our hotel in Elizabethtown, Kentucky at around 5:30 eastern time (In Kentucky, the clock is one hour ahead). We checked out our room and the pool and stuff. Our room was okay, but it did have a whirlpool bath, a microwave and a little refrigerator. The pool was only 3 ft. on one side and 5 ft. on the other! We didn't go swimming though. We ate dinner at Cracker Barrel. It was right next to Comfort Inn (our hotel), so we just walked there. Then we looked around in the Cracker Barrel store and went back to our hotel. After that we decided to go on a drive and see if we could find Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home or his birthplace. We found his birthplace but it was too late, because it was closed. We drove like everywhere to get to his boyhood home. We had to stop a couple of times because we were lost. Some of the houses were really nice, and there were some super nice additions, too, but there was a lot of like trailer parks and stuff. When we found his home we just kinda looked around and took a couple of pictures and stuff. There was nobody else there...Then we went back to our hotel and watched Trading Spaces and went to bed."

My sister Haley on our visit to Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home in Kentucky.
We look so thrilled to be here. This is the place we drove forever to find, apparently!

"This morning, I was the last one up (as usual), and we had to hurry up and get ready because it was about 8:30 and the continental breakfast ended at 9:00. We ate at the continental breakfast and then packed up all our stuff and left. Right now, it's 10:00, so we've been on the road for about an hour. We're going to Nashville, Tennessee. We'll probably be there in about another hour or so..."

Monday, July 21, 2003

"We got to Nashville yesterday a little before 11, but that was in the central time zone. (We've been back and forth between time zones constantly!) When we got there, we went to Gaylord Opryland Hotel, or something like that. It wasn't the hotel that we stayed at, but we just went there to look around, because it's a really, really fancy hotel. It is really cool! I wish we could stay there....We walked through all the sections of the hotel. There was a lot of greenery and plants and waterfalls.

My sister, my Mom and me inside the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN.

We took some pictures and then a little while after 11, we went to Opry Mills Outlet Mall...When we got there we ate at Rainforest Café, and then shopped. The mall was awesome! It was one of the coolest malls I've ever been to. It was an outlet mall, but it was indoors. It had a million stores, I swear! Plus like every other store was a shoe store! Me and Haley got a lot of stuff!...At a Claire's store, me and Haley each bought 10 jelly bracelets that are rainbow colors and glow in black light, and at this one novelty store, Mom bought me this tin Marilyn Monroe lunch box that I want to put my make-up in. Then we went back to our hotel, which was Best Western, and watched tv for a while, and then we went to Hard Rock Café to eat. I got a Hard Rock Café tank top. We walked around downtown Nashville and looked at all the shops and stuff..."

"Right now, it's almost noon, but I don't know if that's central or eastern time. We were in central, but we're going to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and that's in the eastern time zone. We're going to stay in Pigeon Forge for three nights, and our hotel is supposed to be pretty nice, I think. It's pretty cloudy right now, and it's supposed to storm tonight. We've been watching the Weather Channel, and it's been rainy and stormy back home but really nice here. Yesterday it said it was 100 degrees in our van...I think it's supposed to rain maybe tomorrow too, but I'm not sure..."

"I don't know what all we're doing today, but we'll probably just swim and order pizza from the hotel or something. We might look around Pigeon Forge or something, too. We're going to Dollywood tomorrow or the next day, and we also might go mini-golfing or to a water park. Then Friday, we're going to Santa Claus, Indiana to Holiday World, which is a theme park, and I guess it's kinda like Adventureland only a little bigger, and it's supposed to have a couple of huge roller coasters."

Wednesday, July 23, 2003
"Right now it's 10:00 am, and me and Haley are in the hotel. Mom and Dad are talking to time-share people at some condo place or something. They probably won't get back until about 11 or so."

"Yesterday after breakfast, we went to Dollywood, even though it was cloudy and was supposed to rain later. We went on a motion simulator ride and the log ride. Me and Dad did the bumper cars, too.

Driving bumper cars with Dad

We mostly walked around and looked at shops and stuff. After we ate, we walked around a little and it started to rain.  We were about to go to a show, but they weren't opening up yet, so we started to stand in line, but it was like pouring outside, so the people let us in. We watched the show, and it was about the Sixties and Bandstand. It lasted about an hour, and it was cool. There was a girl in the show who looked exactly like Reese Witherspoon, too! After the show we went back outside and it wasn't raining as hard, but it was still raining. Everyone had bought yellow rain coats, so we were walking around looking for a store that had raincoats. Finally we all bought them (except for Dad) and then we looked at more gift shops.

With our rain ponchos in Dollywood. Mom cracks me up in this photo!

Dad and Haley went on a really big roller coaster, and then we all went on this one ride that was like an indoor roller coaster in the dark. It was pretty cool. We got a little wet, too. Pretty soon it stopped raining and we took off our rain coats. We rode the train, and I bought a butterfly candle. We also got a souvenir butterfly mug that says "Dollywood" on it. We left at like 6. Then we went up into the Smokey Mountains. It took forever to get there, though. It dropped 13 degrees, too. We also crossed the border into North Carolina.

The Smokey Mountains..They really do look smokey!

On the way back, we ate at Shoney's at like 8:00...Then we went back to our hotel and watched Paradise Hotel and The Real World.

"Monday, when we got to our hotel in Pigeon Forge, it was like, super nice...The pool outside has a huge slide and a fountain that's a mushroom. There's an indoor pool, too. Monday night we went swimming in the indoor pool, and for most of the time we were the only ones in there. Later, we went swimming in the outdoor pool, but we didn't stay in there for very long. We went back to our room and ordered pizza from Pizza Hut. We ate and watched tv in our room."

Haley and I swimming under the "mushroom" waterfall in the hotel pool

"Our hotel is called Music Road Hotel. We have a little balcony with patio chairs, and there's a view of the mountains and a river. We're on the fifth floor."

"Today, when Mom and Dad get back, we're going to Gatlinburg, I think, and maybe a mini golf course. Then tonight we have to go to this show, but I don't really know what show it is or anything."

Thursday, July 24, 2003
"Yesterday after Mom and Dad got back to the hotel, we went to Hardee's to eat. It was just down the road from where we were. Then we went mini golfing at Lost Treasure Golf. Dad got 1st place, I got 2nd, Haley got 3rd, and Mom got 4th. After we played golf, we drove to the trolley station and waited for the purple trolley to go to Gatlinburg. We got on the trolley, and it dropped us off at the aquarium in Gatlinburg that was right by all the shops. We looked around the shops on both sides. At a magnet shop, I bought a little license plate keychain with my name on it..I also bought a Strawberry Shortcake keychain at this one cool store. We got ice cream at Baskin Robbins, too. I got a scoop of chocolate-peanut butter ice cream in a sugar cone. It was really good. We went into the Guiness World Records Museum, and it was pretty cool. Then we went back to the aquarium to wait for the trolley, and we took the trolley back to the trolley station..."

"At 7:00 we left for the Dixie Stampede show. When we got there, they took pictures of us with different backgrounds, and then later during the show, we bought them both for $30. There was a pre-show in this one room, and these guys played guitars and sang country songs. We got to eat peanuts and popcorn, and we got pop in these boot-shaped glasses. Then we went to the main room where the actual show was. It started at 8:30 and we had a meal with it, too. I got the vegetarian meal, and it had a whole plate of fruit and veggies and dips. It was pretty good. The show was cool. It was like, the North versus the South, and there were like competitions like pig races, horse shoe contests, ostrich riding, and chicken races. They also rode horses a lot, and it was kinda like a rodeo or something."

"Today we checked out of our hotel and played mini golf again, and I got a hole-in-one. Then we ate at the Alabama Steakhouse. The meal was really filling! Right now we're on our way to Louisville, Kentucky. We're in Kentucky right now, but it's 3:00 right now, and it'll probably be a few more hours."

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That's where my Tennessee vacation passages ended! Bummer - I wanted to read about Holiday World. That actually may have been my favorite part of the trip. I remember some of it, and it was a good time! Apparently the only adjectives I knew back then were "cool," "pretty cool," and "pretty good."

That's all for today! More reminiscing of trip adventures to come!

Branson, Missouri Through the Eyes of My 14-Year-Old Self

I decided to do something fun and a little different today. As I was writing my post about our Lake Geneva trip, it got me reminiscent of some of the little trips and vacations we took every year as a family when I was a kid. I mentioned some of these in this post, and I don't know about you, but I only remember little bits and pieces from these family vacations, so it's cool to look back and look at photos and other mementos from these trips.

Starting in about 7th grade or so, I kept a journal all through junior high and high school. I'm not sure why, but I have just always enjoyed writing and thought it would be fun to look back on when I was older. So the other day, I decided to flip through and find some passages from my old journals that I wrote while I was on vacations with my family.

In this post (and in more to come soon!), I'm going to be sharing some of these passages with you all. I warn you - I was a young teenager. And when you're young, you don't always appreciate traveling and vacations like you do when you're an adult. At least that's how it was for me anyway! Some of the journal entries are hilarious to me looking back.

So without further ado, here are the first passages. (I'm leaving out some irrelevant parts at times, but you get the idea. Warning - the second passage is long and detailed. Who needs to remember, when you have the entire trip written down? I'm talking to you, Mom and Dad, who say I never remember our family vacations.):

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Monday, July 8, 2002 (Branson vacation - I was 14 years old)
"Hello!! I'm in the back seat of the van right now and I'm super bored. It's almost 2:00 pm and we've been on the road almost 6 hours now, I think. When we first started out, we were in Iowa for a little while, now we're in Missouri, and we've been in Missouri forever. Branson is at the very bottom of Missouri, so we're basically going though the whole state. A little while ago, we stopped at this one town in Missouri where Mark Twain was born, and we ate at McDonald's...."

"Right now we're in the capitol, Jefferson City. We just passed the capitol building. We're on a very bumpy road, and it sucks. (There's a whole bunch of old people in cars. They were probably here when the capitol building was built!) - Just kidding!.."

"So far, Missouri is SO boring! (OK, I know I've been here like 4 other times before, but hey!) HOW MANY MORE HOURS?"

Image from here

Thursday, July 11, 2002
"Sorry, I didn't really feel like writing every night. We finally made it to our hotel Monday night. We went to the Grand Palace for dinner. We ate at this diner place where the waitresses sang old songs. We were going to look around in the Grand Village shops, but they were all closed by the time we got done eating. We met these two ladies from Springfield, and they said that the Oakridge Boys were filming at the Grand Palace that night at 8:00 for their Christmas special, and they were giving away free tickets. Me and Haley and Mom didn't want to go, but Dad made us. We went to the ticket booth, and the man said it was sold out. So we went back and started walking to our car, and these two ladies went up to us and asked us if we wanted 4 free tickets. They were waiting for some people, but they didn't show. So we watched these old guys sing. We were in the 12th row. They sang mostly Christmas songs, and they had different Christmas backgrounds behind them, and trees covered with fake snow, and fake snow was falling behind them. Since they were taping, they had to do every song 2 or 3 times, and we had to clap A LOT. Somebody said it might last until 11:30, but I think we left around 10, while it was still going on.

The second day (Tuesday), we went to Silver Dollar City. It opened at 9:30, and we got there right when it opened. I liked the first water ride we went on the best. It was called American Plunge, and it was like a log ride. We got really wet on it! It felt good, though. I wanted to go on it again, but nobody else wanted to so I couldn't. We didn't go to any shows there, but we did go on this Marvel Cave tour. It lasted like an hour. There were over 700 steps, and it went down like 500 ft. At the end of the tour, you took a 3 minute trolley ride to the top. We only saw one bat the whole time we were in the cave. We left Silver Dollar City at around 4:00. When we got back to our hotel, we watched tv and ordered pizza from Pizza Hut. Then me and Haley went swimming at the hotel pool..."

"Yesterday we went to Tanger Outlet mall...then we ate at Denny's. After that, we went back to the Grand Village and looked around at the shops. There was this huge Christmas store that was really cool. There was a garden store that we went to, and a toy store, a Coca Cola store, a teddy bear store, and some jewelry stores. After we looked around a little, we had to head back and go the Jim Stafford Theater. At 2:00, we watched the Jim Stafford show. Jim Stafford was this comedian who sang and danced, and he was pretty funny. His two kids performed, too. There was a boy who was 9, and a girl who was 5. They played a whole bunch of instruments. There was also a 3-D little film-type-thing. It was about 4:00 when we got out. (It was super hot). Then we went back to our hotel, and then decided to look around at this other outlet mall called 90 Outlets....when we got there, it started to get really windy, and it looked like it was about to storm...the mall had really bad stores, and we decided to leave and go eat somewhere. Well, when we got back on 76, it was really crowded, and we couldn't find a restaurant. We pulled up in Golden Corral, and it started pouring rain. Mom looked inside to see it it was busy, but there was a really long line, so we decided to find somewhere else. All we could see was a Taco Bell, so we ate there. Then we headed over to the Remington Theater to see the magic show, but we were a little early so we stopped at this $5/t-shirt store...they didn't have very good stuff, but then we saw rows and rows of porcelain dolls - they were only $5! Mom said she would buy me and Haley each a doll...Finally I decided which one I wanted. Her name is Barrette...she has blonde hair with a Victorian dress...At 8:00 we saw the magic show with Kirby Vanburch. It was really cool. At the end, he made a helicopter appear right on stage, and it was kinda cool."

"Today...at 9:00, we had to go to this timeshare meeting that lasted like 2 hours. Me and Haley waited in the waiting room while this guy talked to Mom and Dad about condos. We took a tour of a model condo, and it was REALLY nice! It had a big whirlpool bathtub, a really nice kitchen, a leather sofa, a master bedroom, and a big TV! It was awesome! It was cooler than our condo in Orlando! There was also a view of the lake, and a huge pool with 2 big slides! I wish we could've got a timeshare condo, but they were like $3,000! At the end of the meeting, we got these Chinese acrobat tickets. We're going to that tonight at 8:00. We went down to Arkansas earlier, and there really wasn't much in the town were we went down to. There was a Wal-Mart and some souvenir shops, and stuff like that. We decided to just get something to eat and go back up to Missouri. All the restaurants we could see were Wendy's and Shoney's, and we decided to eat at Shoney's, this buffet place..."

"I don't know where we're going today. We'll probably look around downtown Branson or play mini golf or something."

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Reading that now actually makes me remember that trip more. And I WOULD think the most exciting thing we did the whole trip was touring a condo. :)

Antiquing in South Beloit, Illinois

As I mentioned yesterday in my Lake Geneva trip recap, on our way back from Wisconsin we got to do one of my favorite things - antiquing! A little town in Northern Illinois called South Beloit had two huge antique stores right across from each other. Trent and I both found a few things to take home. It was a great way to end our trip!

The first store we went into was called Roscoe Antique Mall of South Beloit. I think we were both confused and thought the town we were in was called Roscoe after we saw this sign. But maybe this is just a chain of antique malls?

Nonetheless, this was one of the coolest antique stores we've been to yet. Between this one and the one right across the street, you could really find anything you're looking for! There was such a variety of stuff at these stores.

I of course was drawn to the plates. I stopped and looked for plates at pretty much every booth! Most were too much for what I wanted to pay. I don't like to pay more than $15 for a plate, even though I've seen some for $20-$40 that are gorgeous!

I got two pieces of China from this store - here they are already in my China hutch (The little bowl on top and the plate right underneath it):

I can't remember the exact amount, but they were each under $10.

The second store was another huge antique mall right across the street, in a building that looked like a huge barn attached to another more normal-looking part. haha.

The rooms in here wrapped around forever - it was like a huge maze! This place was big, and there were lots and lots of antiques! Even more variety. Like these awesome pig book ends:

I totally would have bought them if they weren't $39.50. That's a little too much for pig bookends when I wasn't really looking for any in the first place! They are cute though, in an ugly sort of way. :)

I saw TONS of mason jars, especially the blue ones. I regret not buying a couple now - some were actually really cheap, about $4 or $5.00. The blue mason jars are really trendy right now too, with the 100th anniversary of the Mason jar, or something like that! I still need one for my Lake Geneva beach jar, too.

 Here are my finds from this store:

I'm in love with my gold owl. I think it was $15.00 but I honestly didn't care because it was love at first sight. Another awesome owl to add to my collection. The mushroom shells in the bag were around $2 for the whole thing, so I picked them up for my vacation jar. Still totally regretting not buying one of the mason jars there! Oh well, what can you do! :)