Amy Artisan

Family | Travel | Craft | Life | Books

Month: August 2014

Currently…August

As August comes to an end there are all sorts of signs to remind you that fall is just around the corner…my sister began her 16th (!) year of teaching early in the month…dear kids are heading back to school…here and there you see a few leaves that are starting to change…there have been some crisp breeze moments…pots of mums are at the store to bring home…in the midst of it all, these are the some of the things that filled my August days…

Summer reads

Summer reads

Reading…an eclectic assortment…more details in a September twitterature round-up…I maybe got carried away with library requests & my appetite of books to read is out-pacing my ability to read them within the due dates…Rules of Civility had languished on the Kindle for so long – it was the perfect read for my “Meet Me in Milwaukee” travels…among the other reads: The Lincoln Myth and The Energy Bus

Listening…Packers preseason games on the radio online (if only it would stream through iDevices)…enjoying the One Republic iTunes Session (in addition to their current album)…a couple of audio books have also been coming through the earbuds…

Watching…Mercer’s first football game of the season – thrilled that all their home games will stream on the Watch ESPN app…enjoying The Honorable Woman mini-series on the Sundance Channel….The Lumineers Live at Red Rocks was a fun find while browsing the channel guide…

Crafting…I’ve called a “do over” on my Brewers Crackerjack – the reality is that 4 rows per game was too much, the scarf would end up being way too long…so I’m starting over – this might be football knitting for a while but I definitely do want to see this to completion

Browsing…a few good reads online this month: the story of a Korean KC Royals fan traveling to Kansas City and capturing the hearts of everyone; on becoming a London cabbie; on ending the round the clock attachment to work email; Ralph Waldo Emerson on friendship

Simple & Satisfying Supper

Simple & Satisfying Supper

Cooking…A bit late to the party, I finally tried the “Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Spiced Yogurt Sauce” recipe that has been floating around – delish! A simple & tasty baked eggs & roasted tomatoes dish is a great “any meal” option.

Sipping…Adding a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon to my coffee as I cold brew it…

Preserving Summer

Preserving Summer

Preserving…a bit of summer sunshine is neatly tucked into jelly jars for holiday gifts…Spiced Honey Tomato Jam & Vanilla Cantaloupe Jam

Dining where George Washington dined

Dining where George Washington dined

Noshing…quite a bit of frozen custard…enjoying simple meals of local farm fresh produce…a delicious grilled pork chop with grilled peaches at a local tavern where George Washington dined…

Traveling…2 trips to Wisconsin for some family summer fun

Remembering Grandma

Remembering Grandma

Remembering…Grandma would have turned 100 this month. On the day after her birthday, we noticed that the bing homepage featured the beautiful floral carpeted hills where Grandma & Grandpa posed for one of my favorite pictures. We all agreed that it was a delightful way to remember a delightful woman!

Looking Ahead…a quick business trip to Florida is coming up soon…are you ready for some football?…attending a Mercer away game…figuring out what Packers game to attend…planning holiday gift knitting…

Linking up with Leigh Kramer for the monthly “What I’m Into” round-up.

What are you into these days?

Meet Me in Milwaukee

This last weekend was “Part 3” of summer fun with my Wisconsin family.

Part 1 & Part 2 were on the calendar from early in the year. Of course, both of them were originally meant to be longer adventures before life & work caused the plans to change. So…as Part 2 was being shortened by work requirements we quickly decided to add a Part 3. Our plans were to meet up in Milwaukee for a long weekend of baseball, museums, frozen custard and all around fun as a bit of a back to school blast. Once the dates were confirmed, points were used to grab hotel rooms for us and we began to add possible activities to our TripIt itinerary to fill our days with fun.

Miller Park Memories

Miller Park Memories

Baseball…Our only “definite” for the weekend was a Friday night Brewers baseball game. The giveaway for the game was a Brewers t-shirt sponsored by Kwik Trip – we all chuckled at the appropriateness of that for us. We got to the stadium early & had fun checking out the kids zone activities before settling into great seats along the right foul line. While we weren’t thrilled with the outcome of the game, we cheered heartily throughout.

Museum Moments

Museum Moments

Museums…On Friday we experienced the Milwaukee Public Museum – Ry’s excitement of being at a museum was palpable as we walked up the stairs towards exhibits. We wandered through exhibits of dinosaurs and butterflies and rain forests and scientists at work and old Milwaukee and so much more. On Saturday we headed towards the foggy lakefront and the Discovery World Museum – what an incredible collection of science and technology to explore. From interactive models of the Great Lakes to an aquarium that included “petting pools” to hand powered toys and machines to the techno jungle to a Les Paul’s House of Sound – each exhibit was designed for plenty of hands on interaction. Without a doubt, I think the adults had as much fun exploring as the kids in Discovery World.

The Great Milwaukee Frozen Custard Tour

The Great Milwaukee Frozen Custard Tour

Frozen Custard…As we were starting to plan for this weekend, I came across an article about the best frozen custard places in Milwaukee. I added the details into our TripIt itinerary and we joked that we would see how much custard we could enjoy. Turns out that we managed to make it to 3 of the 6 custard stands in the article – each day we did a late lunch at a stand – first burgers and then the custard. Our approach to evaluating each stand varied among the group – some went for hot fudge sundaes, malts, flavors of the days. A few of us went with a standard baseline – vanilla frozen custard in a waffle cone. On Friday, we started with the oldest stand, Gilles. It was a tasty start to the tour. The “first time visitor” packets they handed out where a fun introduction to their history. On Saturday, as we left Discovery World we headed for our second stand. In the “serendipity way” that sometimes transpires, as we were nearing our destination, Chris comments about how he used to go to a place called Oscar’s in this area when he was a kid…and just like that we were turning into the Oscar’s parking lot. I do believe that someone was transported back to happy childhood memories with the burger & custard. On Sunday, we concluded this portion of the tour with a stop at Kopp’s on the way to the airport. The outdoor eating area of benches by a huge water wall was a nice change-up from a “traditional” sit down area.

Family Fun Times

Family Fun Times

All Around Fun…Beyond the baseball, museums and custard we had plenty of fun, no matter what we were doing. Thursday kicked off with lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings – with Ry challenging me to the lunchtime trivia game. Our hotel was a great base camp – for R&R whether it was a good nap, pool time for the kids or lounge time for the grown ups. One evening we browsed through a local mall and enjoyed dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Another evening, we invited cousins over for an impromptu pool & pizza party at the hotel. Through it all, there were plenty of moments of fun just because we all were together.

On Sunday afternoon, it was time to say our goodbyes & “see you soon” and head back to the non-vacation life. But never fear, we are already talking about what our next “meet me in…” vacation may be – we all agree we need to do this again.

Birthdays and Baseball

This past weekend was a “quick trip” to Wisconsin for a family birthday celebration. While the time there was short we packed a whole lot of fun and more into the few days…

Friday was for an early morning flight into Milwaukee…which means a bit of a road trip to get home…When we road trip in Wisconsin, we stop at quite a few Kwik Trips – the kids roll their eyes as we pull into the parking lot – we try to explain that road trips are meant for stops like that…(and a huge thank you for the crew that came to pick me up – suggestions that I drive up there on my own were met with loud and emphatic no responses)

Ready for a Birthday Bash!

Ready for a Birthday Bash!

Saturday was for the Family Birthday Bash…since all 3 kids have birthdays within a couple of weeks of each other there is “1 big party” to celebrate them…the adults in the house were up early to get a jump start on the party prep – finishing some food prep, getting the outside area ready for the party – yard work and decorating were on tap…Grandpa arrived to setup for a Wisconsin fish boil (salmon and rainbow trout that he caught)…cakes were picked up…kids were excited…family arrived and a party was had…kids squealed with delight as gifts were opened…it was early to bed for all of us after a busy and fun day…

Take us out the T-Rats!

Take us out the T-Rats!

Sunday was for Baseball…if you do something two years in a row that must mean a tradition is forming….this year the baseball game was the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers down in Appleton…a bit of a road trip (including Kwik Trip stops)…standing in line for the gates to open and get a bobblehead…a beautiful day for a game…the fun of minor league stadium entertainment…Ry asking players for autographs on the program…meeting Bernie Brewer…just as the game was headed into extra innings, a heavy rainstorm opened up over the stadium…a mad dash to the covered concourse…then a mad dash to the van as the rain let up a bit…stopping at a local burger & custard stand for supper and sweets on the way home…a beautiful rainbow seen through the van windows as we drove through more summer storm weather to get home…

The original plan for this trip was for me to stay for another week – work for a couple of days and then a long weekend of additional summer adventures. A project at work changed those plans and so Monday was for flying back to PA…but in a couple of weeks we are meeting up in Milwaukee to “finally” enjoy the rest of the summer adventures we were planning…

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