Door County Visit

Last weekend we had fun visiting Karen's family in Door County, WI.  We found cars for Kris and Katie. Rain and a few harmless landspouts in central Illinois today, see: http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140528/NEWS/140528939

Back from Door County

I'll post more pix later, but here are some of the rainstorms we dodged and drove through on the way down to Peoria.  Also, I saw about 4 fireflies tonight - let the season begin!

Steamy Family Pictures

It has been warm lately - we were pushing 90 yesterday.  Today was Kristine's last day of 9th grade and Katie's last day of 2nd grade.  This evening I brought home a little liquid nitrogen and we added marshmallows that were cut into quarters.  The marshmallows soak up a little liquid nitrogen and become crunchy, almost like the marshmallows you find in cereal.  When you bite into the marshmallows, their coldness causes the moisture in your breath to condense and produce the appearance of steam as you chew them.  No need to use a full-sized marshmallow or just liquid nitrogen itself.  Too much cold shock to the mouth could crack a tooth.

More Fossil Hunting

Bradley University's spring semester wrapped up with exams and commencement this past week.  May Interim starts tomorrow.  The weather has been kind of chilly, but it is warming up now.  There is a baby cardinal at our neighbor's house.  We had some family friends sleep over last night and today I took some of the kids fossil hunting in the woods.  We found a good "hot spot" with lots of good fossils  - what a great experience for the kids (maybe they are good luck).  We also saw: half a dozen species of flowers, a live bat that was uncovered when someone brushed aside a pile of leaves (THAT was creepy), a Hot Wheels car that seems to be about 40 years old (it had a root growing into one rear wheel well and and out of the other rear wheel well), the old Oldsmobile (full sized), and a rickety footbridge.

Happy Mother's Day!

Breakfast in bed, church, swimming and Culver's with the Blands, shopping, and a movie at home.  There are worse ways to celebrate Mother's Day.

Flower Petal Fight!

I think Katie won (despite the fact she was battling a fever from a cold).  Our hot water heater got replaced tonight.

A Visit to Washington, IL

Yesterday the Bradley University Chemistry Club Demo Crew visited Washington Intermediate School.  The school itself got relatively little damage from the tornado that struck nearly 6 months ago (November 17), but was right next to a very heavily damaged area.  Having seen damage from a long track tornado near Mountain, WI, years ago and lots of pictures from this event, I had a rough idea of what to expect, but seeing it in person hit me harder than I expected. On the plus side, there is lots of rebuilding going on and very little debris left.  A friend's house that took a hit from the tornado but still stood is coming along quite nicely.  The demo show itself had a big, enthusiastic crowd and was crazy fun.

'Nother Concert

Water heater started leaking yesterday evening and we are working on getting it fixed.  Last day of classes for this semester. Katie's class had a concert tonight and it went well.

High School Musical and First Communion Weekend

Kristine did a great job singing at her three high school drama shows plus her choir concert this past weekend.  Katie did a great job receiving First Communion. It was a little disconcerting to see both of my girls in white wedding-type dresses, but they both looked pretty.  We saw lots of friends/family, too.  I got a picture with both of my godsons.  Karen did a great job coordinating the whole weekend.  We are tired.