Chicago, Chicago

Beautiful day in Chicago.  We had perfect weather for the day.  We drove into the city and walked around Millennium Park, Michigan Avenue and took a boat tour down Chicago River and out onto Lake Michigan. We need to visit again real soon.

Apple Pickin'

County Line Orchard, Hobart, Indiana

We visited County Line Orchard.  It is a really large orchard and a lot for families to do.

Kristopher ready for the tractor ride

We took a tractor ride to the orchards and picked gala's, golden crisp and jonathon apples.

Several apples were ate along the way but the orchard encourages that so we know what we want to take home.

It was a beautiful, sunny day.

Cora and Olive taking a bite of apple

Beach Time

Cora playing in the sand

The first part of the week was sunny and so we swam and played in the sand.  The last part of the week was windy, rainy and cool, so we still played in the sand.  The waves really got high on the windy days and the water pretty cool, so we didn't swim after the first few days.

On clear days you could see Chicago in the distance.  Beautiful lake, sand and skies.

Cora and Olive really have fun playing on the beach.

How high can we jump?

Olive leaving her footprints

Vacation on Lake Michigan

Buckley Homestead

We vacationed in NW Indiana in Ogden Dunes.  The house we rented was a couple blocks from Lake Michigan.  Besides playing in the sand, we took day trips around Lake County, Indiana.  We lived in this area for ten years so we did some blast from the past   touring.

Deep River

Deep River Waterpark

My husband use to work for Lake County Parks and   here are some pictures from a few of the parks.

My next few blogs will be about our vacation.  Chicago, Apple Picking, Bowling, and Beach Time.

Our daughter and her family and our son were able to join us on this vacation.  We had a wonderful time together and not every family can find the time to be together or get along together ... we are blessed.

Missions

Our church had Missions Sunday today.  This video is from the Kenya Trip that my husband led.  Our church has mission opportunities locally, nationally and globally.  We have adopted a local elementary school, our youth went to Joplin Missouri to help with the tornado cleanup, and besides Kenya we also work in the Dominican Republic.  It was a blessed day.

Yo-Yo

These are called yo-yo's.  Sew a button on top and put a barrette on the back for a cute child hair clip.  I use my scrap material and use a Clover Yo-Yo Maker.  Very fast craft project.

Check out this link that shows how to make a yo-yo purse.  http://www.craftstylish.com/item/9596/how-to-make-a-yo-yo-handbag