Celebrated the Fourth of July again this year with some of my “adopted family” of friends from college. They live in a small little town in central Illinois called Chenoa. They have the best “Norman Rockwell-esque” holiday celebrations in town. Including the annual “House Decorating Contest”. My friends won 2nd Place!!! But in my completely “non-biased” opinion… they shoulda won FIRST!!! They lost out to the house that won last year too… with just a couple patriotic inflatables… probably “Made in China!” Nothing as cool as all of the handmade, hand-painted & cool decorated efforts that my friends put in for their first entry ever! They even had Rosie hand-painting the stairs!!!

Yesterday we had a great adventure… kind of a SAFARI ADVENTURE!!!

My cousin Kim, niece Taylor & my sister Jen and I went to a drive-through animal “safari” park in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. You drive through the park with animals all around… coming right up to the car for a snack… and INTO the car for even more snacks!!! They give you the animal feed when you enter… and it’s obvious the animals know the drill. At times it almost felt like one would block the car so the others could come up to the windows!!! Too much fun… and great to see these animals so close-up & wandering free. As “we” were the ones in the “cage” of our car!!!

Tonight was another night of fun at IKEA BINGO in Schaumburg! Lots of numbers called… always more exciting when five of them line up!!! “BINGO!!!” So… “someone” may have finally won at bingo… and it wasn’t my sister Jen or niece Taylor!!! Just sayin’… any guesses???

Last night was another fun night of live theater. Celebrating with my niece Taylor home from college for Spring Break… and for what we found out was my Cousin Kim’s first Broadway musical?! Wait, what?! We had no idea… and she LOVED it. Thanks to a fun production of JOSEPH by the Marriott Lincolnshire Theater. Now we need to get Kim to even more live theater! She had no idea of what she’s been missing!!!

My cousin Kim went hiking at Illinois Beach State Park and found a couple fortune cookies along the way! Braving the bitter breeze & bone-chilling temperatures to play along with my silly little game. So fun to see people enjoying the scavenger hunt & kicking off their New Year searching for fortune… cookies!!!

So typically I’m the “dessert guy” at my family holiday gatherings. But this year my sister Jen mixed it up and I became the “two side dish” guy. New culinary terrain for me to tackle. As our family meals are frequently a bit “beige”… I decided to go with a colorful & loaded kale salad! Full of yumminess like grilled chicken, roasted sweet potatoes & brussel sprouts, wild rice, apples, goat cheese & nuts!

Looks like it went over well with my family… healthy & beautiful in a handmade pottery bowl!!!

This Fall my cousin Kim came over & we planted a LOT of new plants in my front garden. This is my first time trying hellebores & I’m kind of excited to see them flowering at the end of Winter. But I just saw these cuties this morning. Are they going to bloom too soon?… or are they just getting ready to impress me in very Early Spring?! Novice gardeners want to know!!!

So close… but no wins for us!!! Last night was the final game of BINGO at IKEA for the year. I went with my niece Taylor with plenty of daubers in-hand. We had a great time despite not winning a round… but, we did each get a fun IKEA bucket hat made from recycled IKEA big blue shopping bags. Only after chatting & trading with IKEA Amanda! Happy holidays at IKEA!!!

Welcome to December!
Time to start the advent calendar that my Grandma Kitty made many years ago.
And so it begins…

More Autumn Fun at the orchard! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Indian Corn… or I think we now appropriately call it Ornamental Corn… still on the corn stalk?! Plus a lot of apples no longer on the trees!!!