Road to Utah

Earlier this summer, a dear quilting friend invited many of us to her home in Utah for a retreat. We are having a great trip, with many sights along the way. It has been filled with many interesting road names. A few extremely slow construction zones, and some very curious prairie dogs. All in all, it has been wonderful so far. More to come!

Goodbye Mount Prospect

Officially my parents have moved 2 1/2 miles NW of their home of 46 years. They no longer live in Mt. Prospect, now residing in Arlington Heights. It is difficult to get used to a new address and a new telephone number. THAT hasn't changed for as long as I can remember.

I had to take a few last pictures. My bedroom, which is bare down to the wood again, and Door County rocks along side the garage, which have found a new home in my Minnesota garden.

I am hoping my parents will love their new home and be able to enjoy the activities that are offered there.

Afternoon games

Not to be outdone by his big sister, Lucas had a great afternoon at the tournament, and scored his first soccer goal. I didn't get a picture of the actual goal being scored, but did get the kick and the celebration that followed.

Tonka Blast

Soccer season over for another year. Each year there is a tournament after the regular game schedule. Luckily the weather cooperated this year. We also lucked out, and grandkids games did not overlap. Girls' teams played in the morning, boys' in the afternoon.

Coach Jim talking to the girls about strategies.

Trying to take away the ball and SCORE!!!!

Watching sis play.

More groovy photos

At the request of some friends, I have added the last few photos from the parade yesterday. Hoping to get one photo of the entire group on stage from someone in the audience. Then will post that one too.

Color me Groovy

Our daughter Jen and her hubby happily joined us in the parade.

Lucas didn't want his picture taken, but smiled his toothless grin once while carrying the sign.

My better half in his garb.

A perfect smile.

Can't believe I walked around the neighborhood looking like that!

The reason for our craziness

As mentioned in yesterday's post, this year's theme was based on one of our more colorful residents. His family chose to have a parade of shoes this year. Here is a sampling of Warren's more colorful loafers.

Tie dye

Each year our neighborhood has a July 4th parade with a theme. This year's theme was "Color me Groveland". One of our colorful members was remembered this year. He would dress in very colorful clothing. It was not unusual to find him in a kelly green sport coat, green golf shirt, green plaid slacks with a green leather belt, with a pair of green leather loafers. Like I said, a very colorful man.

Each family in our neighborhood tries to come up with their own "take" on the theme. I decided to tie dye t-shirts. Did I realize it would take me nearly a week to do it? No.

Nearly 30 years ago I did learn to dye wool using koolaid products. That was fun. About 20 years ago I ventured into marbling fabrics. I looked online, and found a great site with great directions. Check them out at: http://www.madebyhippies.com/howtotiedye/

Here are photos from this past week. A drawn out process with amazing results.

More Zoo- Guess what is in the first photo?

Can you guess what is in the first photo? Everyone that walked by this exhibit thought it was floating plants, until they started moving!! Sea horses. Pretty cool.

Minnesota Zoo

Yesterday was a perfect day to visit the zoo. Weekday, so not as crowded. Warm but not humid. We took in the butterfly exhibit, bird show, and checked out the underwater exhibits. Such vivid colors. Would love to incorporate all of them in a quilt some day.

Father's Day at Stanton

Able to meet up with GGrandfather Jim at the Father's Day Fly In at Stanton. Always fun for kiddos and adults to see all the airplanes.

Lionsgate Academy bike ride

Jim offered to sponsor a motorcycle ride for Lionsgate Academy in Crystal. We had never been on a ride with this many bikes. Not what we usually do. Didn't count how many bikes there were, but I would estimate close to 100. We are new to the Harley scene, and definitely not used to riding in such close quarters or stopping at so many bars along the way. I did try to take photos a few times, even over my shoulder looking behind us. Sometimes they were great shots, sometimes not so great. But with digital, it doesn't matter. Keep the good, delete the bad!

For those that want to know which bike is ours, it is to the right of the lady walking in front of all the bikes. Dark blue one. And in another photo you can see Jim in the middle of the photo by the bike. We are getting ready to leave from the bar where we stopped for lunch. Overall a great time driving from Castle Rock near Northfield, across into Wisconsin and Pepin, back up the river and west through Hastings, returning to Castle Rock for dinner, raffle and fun.

Minnesota Quilt Show

Spent the day viewing some wonderful quilts and checking out the vendors. Always inspiring. Two of my favorite quilts were our guild's 2010 raffle quilt and an antique quilt called French Star. Our guild quilt won in the Group category!

Last day of school

Last year we had 90F temps for the last day of school. This year the opposite. Cold and rainy.

Dance Recital time

Dance recitals are always fun. This one was no different. Only wish the weather had cooperated. Luckily the rain storm didn't affect the show or straighten the hair!