...6.27...Over the Weekend...a Family Visit...

...OK...so...there are about 100 photos in this post...

...and we didn't have Dinner and a Movie...because...my sweet nephew and his family were here for a visit...

...of course we had dinner...and I did a really bad job of documenting that...but before they arrived...I searched the interwebs for "Kid Friendly Dinners...and I found this recipe for (Vegan) "Cheeseburgers in a Cup"...so I mixed up some biscuit dough...

...and pressed that into a pan buttered with Earth Balance...

...got some beefless crumble out of the freezer...

...and just spooned that onto the little biscuit muffins...the recipe called for adding things like onions, garlic, worchestshire, ketchup to the burger...but I just left it plain and everyone added what they wanted at the table...

...topped with some vegan cheese...and baked...

...while they were in the oven I chopped up some 'adult' toppings...and got out mustard and ketchup...

...and I made some vegan mayo...and used half of it to make some vegan Ranch dressing...and my little jar of Ranch dressing mix is almost empty...so I'll need to make some more of that soon...

...and here the photo documentation of the dinner sadly ends...haha...I didn't take a single other photo all evening...but we all enjoyed the little muffin cups...and sat around the table talking until after dark...which is pretty late this time of year...

...Saturday morning...I made our favorite Banana Bread...

...it turned out pretty perfectly...

...and so I ate the 'heel' while I was waiting...

...on everyone to get up at "at 'em"...as Mom used to say...except I thought she was saying "Adam" when I was little and I couldn't quite figure it out...haha...

...the kiddos slept on camping pads in the living room...

...and then again...no other photos of brekkie...

...but right after breakfast we headed over to the Church to play on the playground and ride NEW bikes...

...in total...we probably rode bikes for about 3 hours on Saturday...but the nicest time was this one...in the morning while it was still cool...

...and we also played on the playgrounds...both of them...a LOT!...

...so much fun...and so many improvised games by these too...most of them too dizzy-ing for me...haha...

...next...we piled in the car...and headed to one of the small mill towns not too far from our house...because they have a Historical Museum...and I thought the kiddos might enjoy seeing it...me too...of course...

...you can see that the building was built in 1853...and established as a Lutheran School...(a really good article about Lutheran Schools in North Carolina)...but it's had many uses before it became a museum in 1973...it's only open one day a week on Saturday...and staffed entirely by volunteers...

...on the first floor...there was a history of the telephone...from the very beginnings to the modern day cell phones...the kiddos loved the "dial-y" phones...

...AND...the docent told us that unless something was labled DO NOT TOUCH...that touching was totally OK...WHAAAAAT...when have you ever been to a museum like this that you could actually touch things...

...the kiddos are going to have a BLAST!...

...I don't think they've ever even seen an actual phone booth...

...also on the first floor was a general store...

...the kiddos played a quick game of checkers...with bottle caps for the pieces...

...I was wandering around the general store when I heard Nephew shout "King ME"...haha...I'll have to look for this book...it looks like an interesting read...

...there were three floors of museum-y goodness to explore...

...probably my FAVORITE room of the museum...the Hand Textile Room...

...a couple of old sewing machines...this one a lot like the one my sweet Grandma used...

...and this much older hand cranked version...amazing...

...Niece loved this little dress...it looks like it would almost fit her...

...BUT...you're not going to believe all of the hand knit socks...I've never really seen a pattern like this vertical two toned stripe...

...and these ones with the stipes placed below the calf...kind of an odd placement...but I love the colours...

...anklets with the stripe placed at the top...

...and I loved these neutral toned all over stripes too...

...basically I think...I just love STRIPES...

...more stripes...in a pretty blue...and I love the way the stripes wrap the heel section...and the rounded toe...

...but...WOW!...these lacy 'stockings'...embroidered and dated...I wonder if they were for a wedding?...

...a loom set up and in progress...

...the kiddos loved it...I tried to explain how it worked without actually making it work...it didn't say "do not touch"...but I didn't want to go as far as an actual weaving demo...haha...

...and a hand-woven bedspread in a pretty intricate pattern...

...another pretty...and pretty small dress...

...the Mill Room...probably my second favorite room...

...there was a big walking spinning wheel...

...and a stocking knitting machine...with a gazillion tiny needles...can you imagine setting that all up...

...but it was able to knit some amazingly sheer stockings...

...some wooden stocking lasts...

...in the hallway there was this amazing time-clock...for punching in at your textile mill job...it was fascinating...

...Weaving and Home Textiles...another room devoted to textiles...

...a pieced quilt with just a simple double cross stitch...a simple but pretty effect...

...pretty embroidered towels...

...and an adorable little crib pillow...

...there were a bunch of pretty little clothes...many smocked and embroidered by hand...

...and a couple more treadle sewing machines...very 'homey'...

...the building was the Mount Amoena Seminary...

...they had several dorm rooms like this one...

...and I loved the little needlepoint covered brick they used as a door stop...

...the rooms each had a little sign telling about the contents of the room...

...and for a while the building served as the North Carolina College...

...I gave up trying to read them to the kiddos...haha...they were much more interested on what was actually in the rooms...

...I loved the trundle bed and the two hand-woven bedspreads...

...and look at this amazing vest...

...at some point the school became a Military Prep school...

...a uniform...

...the kiddos were so interested in everything...and so many things they could open and touch...you can see the class pictures on the wall in this room too...

...the School Room...

...Nephew commented that a lot has changed...and he prefers his modern classroom...haha...

...the Church History Room...

...Niece commented that this stone church looks like the one where she went to preschool...it's actually

...the Medical Room... a replica of this Church that I posted about before...

...we all thought that we are grateful that going to the doctor and dentist are not as painful as they once were...

...the Old Time Kitchen...

...and a farm room...

...the Pharmacy...

...with all the weird chemicals and bottles and 'remedies...

...the soda fountain section was the most interesting...the table with the attached chairs that swing out for seating was the most interesting...

...Nephew said..."Why did they ever stop making tables and chairs like this...it's genius..."...haha...

...the kiddos also loved the Photography Room...

...so many neat science-y and chemical-y things...so interesting to see how photographs were made...now that everything is all digital...

...and they loved looking through the old camera...and the upside down image...relfected from a mirror...that would become a right side up photograph...

...the Children's Room...

...the kiddos probably spent the most time in here...

...a sweet little dolly...

...and so many interesting toys and games...

...and so many dollies...

...the little doll house was so much fun...

...and so was the little grand piano...

...some sweet little children's clothes hanging in the closet...

...the Boy Scout room...

...of course I loved this one...I had almost the exact same Cub Scout leader's uniform...you can see me wearing it here...I wore it every week for years as a Cub Scout Den Leader...I loved it...

...and the last room we visited...the Art and Music Room...was definitely a favorite for everyone...

...a Parlour pump organ...

...and the Dollar Method book...

...all the 'hands on' opportunities were awesome...

...there was this fancy gramophone...

...Nephew turned the crank and placed the needle and we got to hear a 1920's gramophone record play...it sparked a discussion about music and how we listen to it today...and how before this gramophone was invented the only way to hear music was to have it played live...like on the parlour organ...

...and it also apparently gave Nephew an idea for a game we could play when we got home...basically he'd find a tune on the ipad and we would try to guess the artist and title...sort of like the old SongBurst game we played so much with our friends in North Dakota...

...it was a really awesome museum and we all thoroughly enjoyed it...

...on the way home...we switched front seat passengers...haha...and stopped at the Dollar store for some candy...but specifically for some flowers...to decorate Niece's basket...it's my old basket that I replaced when I did the big Moutain Bike Conversion...luckily it was still in the GoodWill pile in the basement...

...so when we got home...we just popped the flowers off of their little green plastic backs and stuck them through the basket and reattached the back...adding a drop or two of glue to make sure they don't come loose...

...we made pretty quick work of attaching the pretty aqua blue flowers to the front of the basket...to match her new bike colours...

...photographic proof of the candy we bought...haha...piggie and bunny...

...then we went out and attached the basket to the bike...

...it's PERFECT!...

...then of course we went for another hour long bike ride...and played on the playground until dark...past dark really...it was kind of spooky...haha...

...then Sunday morning I made French Puffs...and it's a variation of my favorite Blueberry Muffin recipe...that I've never made before...

...basically...you make a plain muffin...and then when it's done...you roll it in butter...but I just slathered on some Earth Balance while they were still hot...

...and then you roll it in brown sugar and cinnamon...

...the recipe is here...just omit the bloobs...

...so we gobbled those up before Church...and everyone packed up to leave...

...I miss them already...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!