2017 Blue Jeans Week 34

First full week of school, and we had a guest from Japan staying with us.  Enjoyed the Eclipse--we were in a 95% location which was pretty awesome.  Kids all got glasses at school and got to watch it.  Last day of work for Miss A and then my kids spent the weekend with my sister in the city as a last summer get-away.  Take a look at our week. . .

Mr J and Miss E Teaching our new Japanese friend how to play checkers :)  Takumi is visiting us from Japan for this week.  He is in college and majoring in social science teaching and wanted to see what schools were like in the U.S.  His family and ours have been friends for many years, so he came to stay with us.  It has been fun having him here to experience small town USA :) 

The Great American Eclipse---pretty awesome!  We were not in the path of totality, but 95% and it was pretty cool to see!  The lighting was awesome!

Boy Scouts court of Honor--the 50 miler award goes to these guys after their amazing 55 mile canoe trip beginning of the month.  Pretty awesome!

Takumi showing us some Japanese calligraphy.

Us showing Takumi some very American things to do---like make a bonfire, roast marshmallows and make smores!

Miss A has been working full time this summer in the advertising department of a local company.  It has been an amazing experience for her!  They have been soooo good to her!  Today was her last day as she heads back to college next week.  

My sister sent me this-- curry dinner with my kids at her house this weekend.  Yummy!  They sure get spoiled when they go to their aunt and uncle's!  

Hope you all had a great week!  Thanks for visiting!

2017 Blue Jeans week 33

Good-bye Summer, hello school!  School started for us officially on Thursday last week.  We have a senior, sophomore and 7th grader plus a sophomore in college who still has a few more weeks of summer left.  New school year here we come!  We tried to enjoy the last few days of summer this week and then headed into the school year pretty excited, except I have to freely admit I am not ready to do another senior year again.  One of my least favorite things, but I am going to try and enjoy every minute of it because it goes by way too fast!  Take a look at our week. . .

One night Ben decided to make pancakes for dinner.  I had an old box of pancake mix that he used, turns out it was really, really old and the pancakes were gross!  So Miss O put them to good use and made some art (after going to several art museums this summer and seeing some pretty interesting stuff) she made her own and called it "Fire Engine #6."  We all loved it :)

There is a little zipline at a park we had heard about that we tried on one of our last days of summer.  It was pretty fun!

And to celebrate the official last day of summer we went to A&W for lunch.  Root beer floats make everything seem better! 

Mr J's last day of sleeping in (and on the couch downstairs).  It is going to be a hard thing to wake up early again!  

Hello school!  Miss E ready to be a sophomore in high school!

My senior---Miss O ready to go!

And my boy ready for 7th grade with his saxophone all ready for jazz band and band, here he comes!!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope your back to school went well, and if you still have some summer left at your house, enjoy!!!  Now we just want the cool fall weather to come and get rid of this hot and humid summer weather already!!

2017 Blue Jeans Week 32

Summer is officially over here.  School has started.  Last week we had one last get away before the chaos starts :)  We went to St. Louis to explore and also attend our nephew's wedding reception.  It was a really fun time, very busy, and we did a lot.  There is A LOT to do in St. Louis, and so much of it is free!!  A great place to visit!  Take a look at our week. . .

These three things have gone with us on all 3 of our summer mini-vacations this summer.  Girl scout cookie knock-offs.  Love them!  Wouldn't be a proper get away without them!

Got to St. Louis in time for lunch and went to the Nathaniel Reed bakery.  Wow!  It was yummy!  I knew croissants were good, but these were really good!  He is a world renowned pastry chef and it did not disappoint.

Forest Park in St. Louis is huge and is home to many wonderful and free things--like this awesome St. Louis art museum which we enjoyed visiting.

Forest park is also home to the free St. Louis zoo which we enjoyed visiting too!

Our nephew and his new bride. It was nice to see some family while we were there!!

When in St. Louis, you need to visit the Gateway Arch.  Pretty impressive.  Mr J and I don't do well with heights or enclosed spaces (the tram car going up is really small) so just Ben and the girls went up to the top.  Mr J and I enjoyed the downtown while they were up in the arch.

The St. Louis Gateway Arch

Downtown St. Louis has some pretty parks and is fun to explore.

We went to the St. Louis City Museum which was just bizarre--climbing stuff, 9 story slides, like a 9 story McDonald's play place on steroids.  Wow!  the kids loved it.  A very unique place!

When in St. Louis you need to get Ted Drewes frozen custard, a St. Louis tradition since 1929!  So yummy!

Also in the awesome Forest Park is the outdoor Muny theater.  It seats 14,000, and each performance they give away 1,400 free seats!  First come, first served, so we got in line and got in one night and saw Newsies.  It was SO GOOD!!!  The weather was not your typical August weather either--but cool and so nice!  A perfect evening!

Another day and another section of Forest Park (seriously this place is huge with sooo much to do) this is the Jewel Box.  Forest Park was where they had the 1904 Worlds' Fair.

Then near Forest Park is the amazing Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis which we went to see and had a tour of.  Amazing!!!  So beautiful!

We felt like we were in a European Cathedral---so huge and so beautiful!!!  We got there at the end of mass and heard the organ being played.  Wow!  Loved it!

Hope the beginning of your school year goes well!!!  We are not ready for early mornings, but here we come!

2017 Blue Jeans Momma week 31

Ben and Mr J had an amazing adventure this week.  Mr J's boy scout troop went on a 5 day, 55 mile canoe trip.  It was his first experience doing something like that.  Normally the first week of August is triple digits and extremely humid, but the boys had amazingly beautiful weather with highs in the low 80's and low humidity.  Amazing!  They slept along the river on sand bars and had to pack all their water and food in the canoes.  What an adventure!  So glad they could do it together!  The girls and I had a fun week at home and enjoyed the nice weather here too!!  Take a look at our week. . .

I love Costco!  Whenever I get up to the city I try to stop.  It is probably a good thing I live a few hours away from one because if I lived closer I would spend way too much money there!

National Cheesecake day!  We got a cheesecake from Costco to enjoy today!  Yummy!

Tuesday the boys headed off on their canoe trip.  They went on the Kansas River.  These are the boys and their dads and scout leaders.  Adventure here they come!

Some pictures Ben took on the trip.

Each night they would camp on the sand bars in the middle of the river.  Ben said it was so nice--no bugs :)  Looks beautiful to me!

The girls had the job this week of watching our neighbor's dogs.  They enjoyed walking them during the week.

And we enjoyed the cooler weather and walking on the trails.  Such a pretty place!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you had a great week!!!

2017 Blue Jeans Week 30

Hot, busy week.  Miss A was in Washington D.C. serving as a counselor for the American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation program this week.  She had a great time!  We worked on some summer bucket list items and tried to stay cool!  Take a look at our week. . .

Miss A and the junior counselors at Girls Nation this week in Washington D.C.

Miss A and her group of Girls Nation Senators that she was over for the week.

Miss E got the top of her t-shirt quilt done!  Yeah, now just the back, quilting and binding to do . . . fun stuff!

We made freezer jam this week--our traditional strawberry and this year we branched out and made strawberry-blueberry too.  Yummy!!! 

Keeping cool on a hot summer evening and playing Clue!

One of my bestest friends and I got to the city and went to my favorite ice cream place.  Yummy!  I got key lime pie and queen of hearts (which was chocolate and raspberry--divine!)

Miss E and I got out on a cooler evening and played some outside checkers at the park.  Lots of fun! 

Hope you had a good week!  Thanks for visiting!