More camping

Our home for the weekend (comfortable, spacious, and no set-up or take-down required!)



Breakfast of champions

More from Buffalo Ridge

Visiting John and camping for the weekend (in a teepee!)

I have snacks, a stack of magazines and books, my camera, laptop and a wireless connection - maybe I'll just stay up here forever ;)

What I did during the summer...

And the final summer list looks like...

Picnic at the lake
Wash car with hose
Pheasants baseball game
Go to Farmers Markets
Watch fireworks
Use fire ring/bowl
Go canoeing
Make popsicles
Make ice cream
Go to an outdoor concert
Go camping
Visit/photograph a winery
Play frisbee golf
Visit Palisades
Go to an auction/garage sale
Ride whole bike path
Go to a you-pick-it fruit place
Host grill-out at our house
Make banana boats on the grill
Eat corn on the cob
Go to a drive-in/outdoor movie
Look at stars (through a telescope)

Now time for the Fall list...

Mmmm....

Made Lemony Goat Cheese Zucchini Pizza for dinner (finally! I've been planning to make it since I made the grilled pizzas). Delicious (and if I made it about 10 more times, we might use up all the squash we have)!

Earlier today I went to the Steam Threshing Jamboree at Prairie Village with my Dad. He was on a mission to find a few house things at the flea market, and I just wanted to take some pictures.



A portrait in the Wentworth Hotel (love, LOVE the wallpaper!)



Rolling pins in the Old Madison Hotel--I'd been in both these buildings before, but more of the Madison Hotel was open to walk through. Very neat to see!

We also went to a few garage sales (mark that one off the list!)...didn't find anything that I had to have, but it was still fun (and Dad got me a mini Blizzard at DQ)

And another one...

because I used my fire ring tonight =) Would've been a little easier if the dogs hadn't kept stealing my sticks...and now I totally smell like bug spray and campfire (so I really need a shower before bed). There's just something about a campfire though...

I ALSO made grilled pizza for the first time (and I used all veggies and herbs from our garden - zucchini, yellow squash, orange and yellow tomatoes, onion, banana peppers, parsley, and basil) - so, SO delicious. Now if there were just a pizza recipe that called for pickling cucumbers...



A couple websites I used to make sure I didn't mess up too much ;)
http://annies-eats.com/2010/06/24/grilled-pizza/
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/grilled-veggie-pizza-recipe/index.html
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/08/grilled-eggplant-and-olive-pizza/

Cross another one off the list...

because yesterday we went to the Palisades!! We took the backroad/scenic route, but once we got there, WOW! It was beautiful, pink cliffs rising up from the river - totally not what you'd expect for Southeastern South Dakota.



Yes, that's John...

Does this make anyone else a little nervous? Just me? (At the time, I was also thinking, "not enough life insurance not enough life insurance not enough...")



John and his friend Peter on more solid ground



Wildflowers growing up through the pink rocks

Definitely going back--I'm thinking a picnic or a camping trip would be perfect!

Ice cream success!!

Honey Buttermilk Ice Cream with Homemade Strawberry Topping

Make it. Right now. Recipe at Eat Make Read.

Also--rode the whole bike path today. Great day for a ride and exactly what I needed after a harrowing morning at work.

=)

4th of July

We spent the 4th at my parents' house--they grilled out (burgers and brats), and John made strawberry and cherry pie (the cherry was his BEST pie ever--incredible).



I documented the crazy pie action...



The dogs were also paying very close attention

For the party, I made David Lebovitz's Chocolate Banana Ice Cream (I also crossed it off my summer list - yay!). Easy to put together but didn't freeze as quickly as I hoped (recipes says "at least 4 hours" and I had 4 hours and 15 minutes--not enough time). We ended up putting it in our ice cream maker to speed the process along, and by dinner it was fine. It tasted a LOT like the generic Bailey's irish cream (not necessarily a bad thing), but I'm not sure I'd make it again. I've marked it off my list, but I'd like to try a couple more recipes before the summer is up (mint chocolate...candied bacon...avocado coconut...etc)

After dinner, John and I (and Callie and Cooper) went out to the lake to watch the fireworks. Despite the smelly lake and swarming mosquitoes (thank goodness for bug spray!!), I'm glad we went out.



When the firework pictures weren't working out, I gave up and took pictures of the tree we were sitting by instead.

Take me out to the ball game!

Last night, we went to the Sioux Falls Pheasants game. We had seats in section S (upper level behind home plate). It was a great night for a ballgame--not too hot, not raining (and just a little windy). The Pheasants beat the Sioux City Explorers by one run--and we had a great time sitting outside, eating peanuts and a hot dog, and taking pictures.



While we were there, John bought raffle tickets to win one of the player's jerseys from the Disabled American Veterans, and he WON! After the game, he went out on the field and got a jersey from #9 - Brian Flores. So cool! There were also fireworks after the game.



Me on the ride home--after an awesome evening. Now I can scratch Pheasants game and fireworks off my summer list (but we're still going to watch the fireworks at Lake Herman on Sunday).

Plans for the rest of the weekend--making ice cream (!!!), grilling out at my parents' house, fireworks, and sparklers (a must). John's going to make a cherry pie (I'll just be supervising--my last pie adventure was a disaster)

Chalkboard Chevrolet

Tonight was the White Night celebration put on by the Madison Area Arts Council. I took one of my pictures to display and brought my camera to get a few more.

I had a great time--I saw a lot of people I knew (always makes me feel good) and met some new folks. I enjoyed the music, watching the kids play (even got in on two games of X's and O's in chalk on the middle of the road) and loved, loved, LOVED the chalkboard Chevrolet.

I spent some time talking to the owner, Cheryl. She loves Cavaliers (says they run forever) and she got this one for $500. It only had 78,000 miles on it, but the paint was all rusty. So she sanded it down, planning to spray paint it, but thought of chalkboard paint instead. She just painted it on Tuesday, so this was the first night it had ever been chalked on.

How cool is that?!?!



They also had bands playing-so I can take outdoor concert off my summer list!

My Summer List

I came across this blog post on Make Grow Gather yesterday and decided to make my own summer list.

The past few summers have just flown by. Then suddenly the air is cooler, the leaves are changing, and I've missed out on a bunch of summer-y things I wanted to do. Not this year!



My list so far:

Picnic at Lake Herman
Wash car with hose
Pheasants baseball game
Go to Farmers Markets
Watch fireworks
Use fire ring/bowl
Go canoeing
Make popsicles
Make ice cream
Go to an outdoor concert
Go camping
Visit/photograph a winery
Play frisbee golf
Visit Palisades
Go to an auction/garage sale
Ride whole bike path
Go to a you-pick-it fruit place
Host grill-out at our house
Make banana boats on the grill
Eat corn on the cob
Go to a drive-in/outdoor movie
Look at stars (through a telescope)