The Homestead

So our family needed a little get-a-way around the middle of summer, so we went a spent a night at the Homestead in Midway. We only went up for one night, but we packed a bunch of things in. Since it was Pioneer weekend, we arrived just in time to make homemade ice cream the "pioneer" way which meant tossing a bag containing ice, salt, and ice cream flavoring back and forth to each other to churn it up. The girls had a fun time tossing it around and the ice cream tasted delicious (it was tricky to eat it out of the bag though). After that we found our room, went for a ride on a carousel, played a game of mini-golf, snuck up on a deer, got a free pizza dinner (because the service was horrible), went swimming, and finally crashed into bed. We got up the next morning and ate pastries for breakfast on our deck, checked out the gift shop, found the horses, and played on the pioneer scenery! It was fast trip that was a lot of fun!

Summer S'mores!

In June, we spent all of our spare time prepping our yard for sod. We pulled weeds, raked dirt, hauled rocks, raked dirt, planted trees, raked dirt, put in curbing, raked dirt....you get the idea. I'm probably exaggerating the raking dirt part, especially since my father-in-law did most of it because none of the rest of us had the patience to do it! Finally, at the end of June we were able to lay sod down. Also part of our landscaping idea was to put in a gas fire pit. So before we even started raking dirt, we had a gas line run out to the corner of our property where they built a nice rock fire pit. The great thing about gas is that we just have to flip a switch to turn it off and on, plus there is no smoke blowing in your face. I love it! (It was also my idea, so I take credit for that too!) We had a lot of fun inviting our family and friends over for BBQ's followed by some s'more making. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep roasting through October. Don't they look delicious?