Indiana Day Tripping

With camping season right around the corner and the urge to seize the day on any free moment available, we decided to take a road trip over to Elkhart, Indiana (where 80% of the campers in the USA are made, FYI) to the RV/MH Hall of Fame.

 Its a pretty fascinating place to visit.  Seeing the evolution of campers, the unique designs, and the different ideas of necessities while camping from the beginning of the era are pretty interesting.   

The key word in the following pictures is 'mansion'.

  

I'm sure camping in the 1950's was not quite the fast pace, pick 'em up and go lifestyle that it is today.   Probably because with a 42 foot beast like this and the boat of a vehicle that hauls it isn't going anywhere fast in the first place!

And I am all about the comforts of home while traveling as well as being known to bring a project/book with me to help pass the time.  However, I have never, not once, thought..  Hmm..  I wish I could bring my sewing machine with me.

Actually.... that probably not true...  

Anyways,

 While in Elkhart, we headed over to the Hall of Heroes - a superhero museum.  

The Hall of Heroes is truly a gem of a place.  This is someone's personal superhero collection.  Housed in a two story garage that was built to mimic the Hall of Justice from the DC world.  In his own backyard!  Pretty cool, huh?

Even more awesome is the owner runs the museum himself!  He welcomes you upon entering and gives you a brief explanation of how it all started.  From his work as a comic book illustrator to being in the army as a Marshal Arts instructor thus propelling him into the Hollywood scene and being one of the top 5 finalists to playing Robin in he 1997 Batman & Robin movie to hosting local Comic Cons with real celebrities.  His celebrity wall of fame (pictures taken with all the celebrities he has met and the autographs) is ridiculously impressive.

His personal collection and part of the museum contains things like Sheldon's Green Lantern t-shirt,

the actual Captain America shield used in the movie...

...and its signed by the entire cast!

He owns Adam West's Batman costume,

the green lantern movie prop ring, and the Deadpool mask complete with white dots used for CGI editing.  But thee most coolest thing that he owns, that was actually donated to him....

The 1965 Shelby Cobra that Iron Man crashed into during the first film!

And if you ever find yourself in Elkhart, Indiana, that close to South Bend, stopping into the University of Notre Dame is a must. The viciously strong and wickedly cold wind stopped us from exploring the campus like we would have liked to.  But that's okay.

We spent the first two hours of our road trip watching 'Rudy' so it felt like we had been on campus all day anyways.

Finishing watching Rudy in our fancy new van while waiting for the RV Hall of Fame to open.

First Friday

Cod...  Tilapia....  Mahi Mahi....  

Copycat Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti....

The first Friday of Lent calls for a fish fry and it always tastes so much better with cousins.

And nothing goes better with cousin time and fish than a ridiculous amount of ice cream.

With His wounds, we are healed.  

Isaiah 53:5

Happy beginning of the Easter Season!

Seeing Spots

The previous owners of our home had young toddling children.  In order to prevent horrendous accidents, they made a padded bench covering to go over the brick fireplace hearth.  Its quite nice built in seating, but I've never been fond of the yellow and red material they picked.  But apparently its never bothered me quite enough to replace it.  Until now.

The Before:

The After:

Before:

After:

It wasn't until after we searched for this material, both agreed on it, brought it home, recovered the bench, and put the bench into place that we discovered a new theme taking over our living room....

Gray swirly dots will be defining the year of 2019.

Cliches

A picture is worth 1,000.... cliches.  Which one to pick?

"True friendship isn't about being inseparable.  It's about being separated and nothing changes."

Getaway

After spending hours filling out sports forms and filling in the spring/summer calendar, I may have had a little mini panic attack at the fullness that lays in the months ahead.  I'm the kind of person who needs a little more margin in my calendar.  Too many commitments and obligations make me feel smothered.  I need the freedom to be spontaneous - whether that be to do nothing or to say "Hey!  We've been talking about this Superhero Museum for over a year now.  Wanna go this weekend?"     

Filling Up

The Spring sports form packet has arrived and its time to start filling up the summer schedule.  Two kids in soccer, another two kids in Track and Field, all three kids in Baseball...

I am ready for warmer days, being outside, bonfires, and camping.

I am not ready for clock wielding schedules... even more so than I have ever known before! 

Prerogative

A free hotel room...

No kids....

All the HGTV I can handle...

My latest crocheting project....

A book I've been meaning to finish...

Who needs to gamble at a casino?!

Skyline

One of our life's simple pleasures is hopping across the border to Caesar's Casino in Windsor.  Due to life with three kids and a strike that resulted in the casino closing its doors for a while, it has been over two years since we last visited.  

At long last, we finally made it and it feels good to be back!

(Our room with a river view of Detroit's skyline)

Make it stop!

Slime, slime, oh the slime....  

When will it end?!

Treasure Box

I'm not sure who loves this Potato Chip of the Month club better.  

Me - who anxiously awaits this box every month, giddily brings the box inside, and curiously stares at it, unopened, until Jim gets home to pulls out the treasures inside.

OR

Jim - who get to eat the chips!

I guess that means its a gift everyone can enjoy!

Sprinkles

Holly asked for Build-A-Bear gift cards for Christmas.  She had serious stuffed animal envy after Bree came home with hers from a birthday shopping trip and carried the brochure around for weeks showing people what she wanted.  So every Christmas list passed out, every email, every response of 'What does Holly want for Christmas?' contained Build-A-Bear gift cards.  Finally the schedules worked out, the weather calmed down, the time was right to head to the mall and the Build-A-Bear Workshop!

Of all the animals, of all the TV show or movie characters, of all the choices and varieties to pick from, Holly wanted a kitty.

She was being incredibly shy and I could not get a genuine smile of out her during the whole process.

Had I been thinking, we could have discussed names on the hour ride there, but I didn't.  So we stood forever at the counter trying to come up with a suitable name that Holly would remember and that had some meaning.  Ironically enough, the dress she had picked out for this kitty had ice cream on it.  To say Holly is constantly asking for ice cream is an understatement.  And in her world, you cannot have ice cream if you don't have SPRINKLES!!

Sprinkles all packed up and ready to go home.

In light of savoring these preschool days and seizing the "last" moments with her, it was a no-brainer that stopping at McDonalds would seal the cap on the best Monday ever.  

Remedy

Bree was complaining - legitimately complaining - that Jacob got to make dinner the other day and she didn't.  That is a problem I would love to help remedy.  

We found a new chili recipe that was an instant hit with everyone and was only enough leftovers for a single bowl.  My biggest dinnertime win was the lesson in responsibility of cleaning up after your mess - dishes and all!

Flashback

Recently, a fellow book lover mentioned wanting to start up a book group and was wondering if anyone would be interested in joining.  The concept is pretty typical - a book would be decided on, we'd read it on our own, and meet at a winery, coffee house, even their own home to discuss together.  

Sounds.  Like.  Heaven.

Sign me up.

However....  Apparently....  not much has changed since High School as the book discussion day was upon us and I had 2 and half hours to listen to 5 CDs of said book, with each CD being an hour long barring any interruptions.  Where's the cliff notes?!

At least now as an adult, cramming is much more enjoyable with books on CD, cup of coffee, and crochet hook in hand.

Dinnertime

I have a blog post about a 6 and a half year old Bree making sandwiches for lunch and even using the stovetop for scrambled eggs.  Awesome.  Great.  However, I'm not really sure where I went wrong that my almost 9 year old son struggles to smear cream cheese on his bagels and is constantly asking me to make him snacks instead of just doing it himself. 

 

Things are about to change.  One dinner at a time.

 

 

 

From start to finish (aside from browning the hamburger and pulling the dish out of the oven), Jacob was in charge of making Amish Noodle Casserole, salad complete with diced eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers, and rice krispy treats for dessert.  During the entire prep time he kept saying

 

 "I wasn't hungry when we started but now I'm smelling all this food and I'm so hungry.  When will it be time to eat?"  

 

Story of my life kid.  Heck, story of any chef's life. 

Hazard of the job.

 

Spring Change

9.5 years ago we bought this corner TV stand. 

 

With the way our living room is designed, it was (and may still be) the best option for furniture arrangement and TV viewing. 

 

Feng shui, you know?

 

But the 7 year.... or maybe 9 year... or maybe the Spring Cleaning bug has bitten and has me yearning for a little bit of a change.  Luckily for us, we just so happen to have a new TV unit sitting in our living room, waiting for new owners, that just happens to be us!

 

More useful storage.  1950's vibe.  TV sits higher so there is less complaining from children about someone being in their way....

 

What's not to love?