Thanksgiving Pies

My mouth watered the day before Thanksgiving as pie after pie appeared from the oven.

Mom made pumpkin, cherry, apple, blueberry, mincemeat, and pecan, and Betsy brought custard pie.

Though most of us have inherited Grandpa's love of two kinds of pie (hot and cold), the top family picks of the Thanksgiving selection were pumpkin, custard, and cherry.

Of course the pumpkins, apples, cherries, and blueberries were all grown in Michigan-- that's probably part of the reason the pies were so delicious :).

ooolala.yum.

Mom's pies on the buffet

Sister time is Best

Earlier this month, Amy, Libby, Naomi and I spent a weekend together in Stow, Ohio, halfway between Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Amy brought tea cups and an electric kettle, and we bought treats at a local bakery.

In addition to drinking tea in our hotel room, we spent the weekend exploring the area, touring glass-work craft shoppes, hiking trails along the Erie Canal, and stopping for photos at two popular waterfalls.

veggies

there's something photogenic about fresh veggies

Leaves

During my recent visit home I raked a considerable number of leaves. Even with all the hours of yard work, our side lawn remains covered with dried maple leaves. At least the front lawn is now completed.

The Saturday Evening "Pose" (Thanksgiving)

I flew home just in time to join Amy and her English Language Program coworkers in hosting a Thanksgiving dinner at SVSU. It was a pleasure to help out with the event for approximately 150 guests. My job in the serving line was to offer "glops" of stuffing, which, by the way... is definitely an "American dish," and... also looks a bit sketchy if you don't know its contents! My standard explanation was that "stuffing is made out of bread with spices."

One of the evening's activities was a Norman Rockwell photo booth complete with an inflated plastic turkey!

Crayola Day

wrapping personalized crayons

Two weekends ago, Joel and Judith invited me to join their family for a day at the Crayola Experience in Easton, Pennsylvania. The littles had a grand time engaging in countless creative activities on all four floors of the building.

Two of my favorite activities were the crayon dance screen, and the screen that took your picture and printed it as a coloring page. The melted crayon art was also super cool. 

Austin loved the story-high climbing room, a photo/foot jumping pad, and the water room.

The girls really enjoyed coloring electronic pictures in a computer tablet room (a projector ran continuously, projecting the artwork on the wall for all to admire).

a tiny bit of the huge wall of CRAYONS

After a few hours of art exploration, we concluded our day with a meal at Friendly's :).