Catching Up

We're approaching the end of our month+ in Fort Collins and while home sounds good, we've enjoyed a relaxing visit--just the right amount of activity, family, eating in new restaurants, entertaining...

We've spent most of our time planning for, shopping for, and feathering our nest.
We waited a bit for chair #3 to arrive...

And then, the first time we had guests for dinner, we decided we need to occasionally fit a fourth chair around our small table. We decided to order a variation of the Corvus Madonna (Overstock) so that the chair acts as a side chair next to the shiny red media cabinet.

We're feeling comfortable these days, realizing our next visit can be about exploring, adventuring, and meeting new people. 

This clock just arrived and will hang on our very blank wall above the couch. 

We've done a bit of entertaining--my niece and her husband visited from Chicago. We put together a huge Mexican feast and enjoyed that meal together at D+Ms. Only pic I managed to snap. 

The Fun Kids spent an overnight with us their last day of school before Summer break. We had great pizza at Cozzola's and on Saturday morning we made our first visit to the Old Town Farmers Market. Happily, we found some small radishes--memories of French markets.

The very best way to enjoy radishes--salt,  good butter, and a fresh baguette. 

On Memorial Day D+M hosted an indoor picnic and invited some international students. We ate All-American food, finishing off with an all-time favorite. 

CA and I are benefiting from our DILs garden. Sautéed Spinach is a family favorite--based on a Macaroni Grill version. 

We made Pasta Carbonara the same evening--using a technique we experienced first in Cagne Sur Mer near Nice. No worries--the pasta is very hot. The egg is rapidly stirred-in and creates a TDF creamy sauce. 

We spent some time with our niece JF and her newish (10/17/15) husband Cameron. Such great people. JF's  birthday was the day before they visited us. 

For dinner, our version of Georgio's (Crystal Lake) antipasta salad. 

O.K., so maybe I went a bit overboard on the cake! But, we rarely see JF and I can count on one hand the number of birthdays we've celebrated with her. D+Ms family stopped by mid-afternoon for a visit. 

I ordered a white cake (her 2nd choice), frosted simply in white, and took it from there. Since her favorite cake is carrot (not so much the Fun Kids fav and I made her one 5 years ago when we last celebrated with her), there were also Carrot Cake cupcakes. 

Plenty left to share with work friends. 

Our second Farmers Market visit. 

D+M's family spent several nights in the Black Hills right after Memorial Day. Loved everything--scenery, food, Mount Rushmore, wild animals... 

This purchase has already paid for itself. Car-to-elevator-to-flat; or reverse. Huge help. 

And finally, gorgeous roses from a DIL who shares generously.

Red Pears

These proved irresistible today.

When my red pears ripen, I'll make this
Williams Sonoma Taste recipe.

-source-

I love my Williams Sonoma Taste email subcription. Especially because they recap every weekend and give me a second chance to spot a great recipe

The Fun Kids Club: Chicago Adventure

J. Seward Johnson bronze outside of the Four Seasons Chicago.

 

Two bakeries-lunch-a church-American Girl Store. A full day. The rain didn't deter us, and was never a problem. We walked, we drove, we shopped, we ate. Fun. MK loved seeing the fashionable residential near north neighborhoods. Fourth Presbyterian Church on North Michigan is a splendid and sensational example of Gothic Revival. Very European, which pleases the very European MK.

 

Bridal shower petit four samples led us first to the Swedish Bakery on North Clark, then on to Bittersweet on West Belmont for lunch--quiches, salads, sandwiches, soups. Divine sample bites of some brownie-ganache-mousse treat. YUM! Then, free cupcakes for the girls--just mention Bittersweet on Facebook. We bought a Cubbie baseball cookie for DM and an orange Goldfish cookie for NJ, at home.

 

 

After parking behind 900 North Michigan, we strolled past the Four Seasons, through the hallowed halls of Fourth Presbyterian, and across the street to the American Girl store. Both LG and KF decided that they each wanted to select a doll most closely resembling their own features, and chose one for NJ, too. We were just looking. The dolls are to be Christmas gifts. LE hadn't yet arrived from Cincinnati, so JE, LE, and grandma have a special date planned for the Fall at the American Girl Store in Columbus.

 

By the time we got home, all 12 of us had assembled, and joined together to prepare a dinner of pulled-pork and corn-on-the-cob.

 

The Fun Kids Club 2013 Summer Sleepover has begun...

 

 

 

Fun Kids Club : Headquarters

 

Our family consists of two parents, a son and a daughter, a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law, and 6 grandchildren--three per. How symmetrical. Count them--12 humans. Sleeping for 12. Our villa (townhome) has three generously-sized bedrooms--besides the master (which has a king, but is not open territory) each bedroom has a queen-sized guest bed. One guest room has a crib, and the other has a roll-away in it's walk-in closet. (What can I say? Our oldest grandson has some mild sensory issues and loves that small, quiet space.) That's sleeping for 8, not 12.

 

JE suggested the older four grandkids (8-6-5-4 years) could sleep in our very unfinished, but large basement.

 

 

That set my creative juices flowing and CA wasn't far behind. This is what's evolved. A few hundred dollars, some re-arranging of storage shelves, a bit of drywall under the stairs, inter-locking padded floor squares, a bit of paint, and our creative minds with limited skills. (Drywall to be painted in the Fall when upstairs rooms are scheduled to be refreshed.) We also purchased 4 Coleman camp cots, camp mattresses, fun fleeces blankets, and colorful pillows. We sectioned off a 15'x15' space, which includes two window wells, with limited light, and one overhead light. We were able to easily add outlets as the wiring and blanks were already roughed-in.

 

 

 

Amazingly, the rest of the stuff was already ours--stored unused in some instances--in this very basement. Toys were in one of the guest room walk-ins, but now reside in two large storage trunks which until recently housed an unused artificial Christmas tree.

 

We added a doorknob to this chalkboard as its positioning implied a doorway.

 

Night- night, Fun Kids.