Film at 11!

My hats off to Walgreens, they came through and this morning we were able to pick up our film without any problems.  (But dang is it expensive to develop real film!)   The kids were over the moon.  Not only did they love the pictures (though they learned the hard way about the use of a flash in some of the pictures.  Honestly they were so excited it didn't really phase them) but they thought the negatives were about the coolest thing ever.  They spent quite some time holding them up to the light and determining which picture they matched up with.

Our found letters came out great!  I helped the kiddos cut them and lay them out and then let them go to town on the rest of the poster board and with the rest of the pictures.  I have to say that I had a couple of other New York related projects in mind for the week that have gone by the wayside because of how much they were into this, and I'm completely OK with that.  They have had quite the conversations with me and each other about their intentions to go tour the Statue of Liberty and Niagara Falls and Noah was very interested in the video Grant found with a time lapse traveling down the Erie Canal.  I'm glad that they're taking away plenty this week.

The photo project and all in encompassed took pretty much the whole morning and after an early lunch we dashed off to the mall for a concert from Copper Tom.  This month 12 Oaks has been putting on a kids program on Thursday's at 1, and this is the first one we've been able to make it to since we were gone.  Had lots of fun and the kids are really excited for the next two weeks, when the Ann Arbor Kid's Hands on Museum comes and then a bubble guy!  Plus they got coupons for free ice cream (good today only, of course!) so they even ended up with a sweet treat on top of it.  (Many thanks to Tess for snagging us ice cream coupons as well)

Later this afternoon the kiddos worked on their coloring pages.  Noah informed me earlier today that when we are finished with all the states he is going to put all of his pages in a book so he can remember all the states and why they were important to him.  He makes me smile.  I'll let you check out below what they ended up coming up with.

I mentioned yesterday that tonight's dinner was yet another recipe that had been sitting in my fridge for a few days before I could actually make it.  I can honestly say I'd never heard of it before, but tonight we tried a New York staple, Spiedies.  A little research shows the Spiedie originated in Endicott, New York and even have their own festival in Binghampton!  With them I made a dish from Syracuse (The Salt City), these Syracuse Salt Potatoes.  According to the recipe Salt potatoes date to the 1800s, invented by local salt mine workers who created a simple and inexpensive lunch by boiling small potatoes in brine.  I read plenty of people that said they always enjoyed these two dishes together so it was the perfect choice for dinner here tonight.  Every asked for funnel cakes again, but instead tonight I paid tribute to a treat that was the official drink of the 1964 New York World's Fair the Orange Julius. I found a copy cat recipe for this mall staple and figured we had to give it a go.  I will admit that after reading the reviews I did make it 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 water.  The crew RAVED.  I love thumbs up all around at dinner time.

Busy weekend coming up!  Grant's Dad and brother are coming in tomorrow afternoon for the weekend.  Tomorrow night we are checking out one of my favorite local events, the Dream Cruise Parade which is part of the the Woodward Dream Cruise weekend.  We took the kids last year (remember?) and we all had an absolute blast and are glad that the others will be able to join us this time.  Then on Saturday we have tickets to the Tigers game!  So excited since we're going to get to see David Price make his Detroit debut (though I'd still rather have Austin Jackson back.  Sorry dude) and it will be Mikayla's first trip to Comerica.  Also hoping to get a trip into one of my OTHER favorite local happenings, the Howell Melon Festival.  (Remember that?)  Plus tomorrow I'm going to treat the kids to a picnic movie for lunch with a pretty iconic New York movie (any guesses??) and you can't go to New York without sampling the bagels and provided I can track down one last ingredient (malt syrup, really??) we're having those too!  So until then...

Pictures and negatives

I know it's kind of hard to see, but this one's the Bean's

And Noah's

Checking out the negatives

Hard at work constructing

Kayla's finished project

Noah's finished project

Loved his picture of the family and the rainbow

Dancing at the concert

Working on their pictures

Mikayla's New York

Noah's New York (the far left is Niagara Falls complete with the Maid of the Mist in the water, then the Statute of Liberty, then the top right is a camera, then a picture of his 'tee-tee' (blanket) who was helping him color New York

Spiedies cooking

Salt Potatoes

Orange Julius