The summer field trips continue with a trip to Alpaca Art. It’s a paint-your-own-pottery studio, and they offer 1/2 off the studio fee for kids on Wednesdays. The Johnsons have been wanting to try this place out. I’ve been reluctant to go because in the past I’ve had bad luck with these places in which I broke my painted pieces both times on the way home from the shop. However, I decided to give it a go, and I’m hoping this time will be different. We met up for lunch first at Trolley Dog, and then headed on over for a day of painting.

I thought it would be fun for the girls to each have their own fancy, dinner plates, so I “forced” them to paint a plate. Annie was really drawn to the fairy, princess, and animal figurines, but I vetoed all those **hideous** ideas and stuck to my guns to have the girls paint those durn plates. Mimi could have cared less what I gave her to paint, so no arguments with her (yet).

After many re-do’s (thank heavens that you can wipe those plates off to a clean slate which we did numerous times) the girls finally decided what designs they wanted on their plates. Annie wanted to do something French/Paris-themed, so we came up with the poodle idea for her plate. Mimi agonized over what she wanted, and after I suggested the princess crown idea a dozen or more times Mimi finally gave in to that concept. All in all, I think the plates turned out darling and will be even cuter once the bright colors show through. It was a very chaotic afternoon with a squirmy baby and toddler, but the kids still had a lot of fun and will certainly be pleased once they get their projects back.

The artistes.

The artwork. Julie and I ended up having to commandeer Alex and Mimi’s plates because they both kind of gave up and the work involved was a little too intricate for their chubby fingers.

Chloe did surprisingly well considering she was made to sit in her stroller much of the time. She got to paint two magnets, an ice-cream cone and a puppy dog.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and yes, I gave Violet her own lollipop. Poor Violet had nothing to do other than be patient for 2 hours. When she’s old enough I’ll take her to make a project.

Good times!

E.T.A.: The girls insisted on wearing their crocheted hats after they dug them up from the basement. And they also kept saying they wanted to be twins today.

I jokingly asked Sara a few weeks ago when she and her family were coming for another visit. Imagine my surprise and delight when she answered with plans to come see us this past weekend. We couldn’t have been more thrilled, and the girls were even more so excited to get some cousin time again. Sara and I made a list of things to do for their visit, and we managed to squeeze in everything including a Jelly Belly tour, a meal at Organ Piper Pizza, an inspection of a grave site of Grandma’s grandma, a visit to the totally rad park, and an excursion to downtown Kenosha and Lake Michigan. It was a busy weekend, but we had lots of fun, good laughs, and way too much to eat. Sara was a lot better about taking pictures, but I did manage to pull out my camera when we went to Jelly Belly and downtown Kenosha.

Jelly Belly time.

Of course, we couldn’t pass up another opportunity to get a picture with the VW Bug. The girls are now avid players of the “Slug Bug” game and call out “SLUG BUG JELLYBEAN” (two times since there are 2 of them) every time we drive by Jelly Belly.

Our trip to downtown Kenosha also included a trolley ride.

And piggyback rides.

Sadie also got lots of cuddles from all the Evans. They aren’t used to being around a kitty that enjoys being held even though they have 2 pet cats, Servo and Magic Marker.

We are so glad the Evans took the time out of their hectic schedule to come see us. It was a great time, and hope they had fun.