Things to Do - Grateful List (August 2011)

ARTS
1. Listening to Coconut Records' Nighttiming
2. Reading Life by Keith Richards
3. Reading Melissa Coleman's memoir This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone
4. Streaming Winter's Bone through Netflix
5. Watching Bridesmaids at the Cinema Drafthouse for date night (so so funny!)
6. Streaming Exit Through the Gift Shop (a documentary about Banksy and street art) through Netflix
7. Wyatt Cyrnac's live stand up at the Cinema Drafthouse
8. F's love of Wildkratts TV show on PBS

FOOD
9. Harissa Ravioli from the cookbook Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen
10. Veggies from my mom's garden
11. Raspberries straight from the vine at Great Country Farms

PLACES
12. Blueberry picking in South Haven, MI and T saying "I like this" over and over again
13. Kids' Corner Playground in South Haven, MI
14. Swimming at Warren Dunes State Park with the girls
15. Visiting Nicols Arb as a family of five
16. Playing tag and chasing seagulls on the lawns at Mission Point Resort (Mackinac Island, MI)
17. Bike riding on Mackinac Island and F riding behind Dan on the tag along
18. An afternoon next to the baby pool at my aunt and uncle's cottage in South Haven, MI
19. Grayline's Hop on Hop Off DC bus tour and riding on top of the double decker bus (the "bus roller coaster" as the kids called it)
20. Visiting the brand new Martin Luther King memorial
21. Visiting the FDR memorial for the first time

ETC
22. T trying to jump while following the Elephant Trails path at the zoo

23. The kids adopting my old Barbies and Cabbage Patch Kids (thanks mom for saving them!)
24. Visiting and crashing with friends in Cleveland on our drive to Chicago
25. P telling F "you can think what you think and i'll think what i think, okay?"
26. F giving T a rest stop "nature" tour ("this is a mushroom, don't eat it, okay?" "this is a tree? it's big, do you like trees?")
27. P always saying "you have to be kidding me!"
28. R and C visiting us from CO
29. A day all to myself!! (thank you to my in-laws for taking the kids for two nights!)
30. Decluttering (6 bags to goodwill, 2 bags to garbage and I'm still not done)
31. Celebrating Dan's birthday during hurricane Irene - a homemade cake, homemade birthday "shawls", and Star Wars - Episode VI, Return of the Jedi [VHS]
32. A week of perfect weather before school starts (sunny 80 degree days)
33. T and his light saber protecting our house from "bad guys"
34. An entire day of playgrounds and sunshine
35. F's excitement about kindergarten starting soon

F's list - making my bed, my family, losing my 1st lost tooth, going on vacation, Cybil Lily, the playground [in South Haven], my aunt and uncle [her great aunt and uncle], seeing where you and daddy met, a bicycle built for two, drawing pictures, hanging out with friends, when E [her good friend] and I cooperate, R visiting with her mom and brother, raising our hands on the bus [during the double-decker bus tour]

P's list - dollies, my friends, my cousins, art projects, my family, F loosing her tooth, Sabrina [her doll], the toys in grandma's attic, everything in our whole house, vacation, riding behind you on a bicycle, R visiting, princesses, my friend E

T's list - baba [bottles, which he's not allowed to have anymore], "key in pocket" [putting room keys in an out of daddy's pocket], dada, ride bikes, money [???], light saber, "get bad guys!"


Dan's homemade birthday cake (the girls decided to add the strawberries) during Hurricane Irene