Living Our Dream

Pittsburgh Botanic Garden

Berlin, OH/Pittsburgh, PA - Events of Tuesday, September 20 to Saturday, September 24, 2016

One reason Paul worked so hard to complete the play kitchen set he was refinishing for Lydia for Christmas was we were scheduled to go to Pittsburgh last Tuesday for several days for our annual physicals. We wanted to take the finished kitchen with us this trip so we wouldn't have to store it outside under a tarp any longer than necessary.

Paul loaded the kitchen set into the back of the truck on Monday afternoon, and we headed for Lora and J. Michael's house on Tuesday morning. During Lydia's nap, we carried the kitchen set down to the basement and covered it up so she wouldn't see it if she happened to be down there.

Our physicals were scheduled for first thing Wednesday morning. We both got in and out in fairly short order, and we both got good reports.

On Thursday, we took Paul's step mom out to lunch at Atria's Restaurant in Gibsonia near where she lives.

Atria's Restaurant

Most lunches cost $12 to $15, and the selections include half-sandwich and soup or salad combos, lunch salads, burgers, sandwiches, wraps, and several lunch entrées. Atria's celebrates Oktoberfest during the month of October and they feature a number of German dishes. Paul's step mom had sauerbraten, and the rest of us had half sandwich combos. Lora had half a Reuben and crab bisque, Paul had half a Santa Fe chicken wrap and crab bisque, and Margery had half a Reuben and a Caesar salad. Everything was delish.

Lydia, Lora, Paul's step mom and Margery at Atria's

Lydia understandably gets a little restless after she is done eating, and she has trouble sitting still while the adults visit. We don't get to see Paul's step mom all that often, so we wanted to take time to visit with her, especially since the restaurant wasn't crowded. Therefore, Lora had to resort to drastic measures by finding an episode of "PAW Patrol" online to stream on her phone to keep Lydia occupied while we chatted. "PAW Patrol" is Lydia's latest, favorite, animated TV show replacing her previous favorite, "Bubble Guppies."

Lydia watching an episode of "PAW Patrol" on Lora's phone

On Friday, we headed out to the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden. The garden is a tract of approximately 460 acres that is only a few minutes from Lora and J. Michael's house. Development of the garden started in 2011, and it opened to the public in 2014.

After parking, we headed to the welcome center, which is located in a renovated 1870s barn. Admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for kids from 3 to 18. Kids under 3 are free. There is a $1 discount for Allegheny County residents.

Margery, Lydia and Lora outside the Welcome Center

Coal was once both deep mined and strip mined from the land on which the garden sits, so there was (and still is) much restoration work to be done. Invasive plant species have been removed from approximately 60 acres, and thousands of trees, shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs have been planted. Most of the garden is woodland, and much of the planting has been done among the existing trees. There is about a mile of wide, gravel, ADA-compliant (Americans with Disabilities Act) paths and several miles of smaller, steeper paths that wind through the woods and through a meadow. Lydia rode her stroller on the smoother paths and walked on the steeper paths.

Grammy and Lydia walking one of the garden paths

A passive facility to treat acid mine drainage was constructed making it possible to restore a pond that existed on the property. The Lotus Pond, as it is called even though there are very few lotus plants at present, was stocked various aquatic plants and with 500 native fish.

Lotus Pond

Water lily in the Lotus Pond

There are a number of things along the paths that are of interest to kids, one of which is a giant bird's nest. We stopped for Lydia and Lora to sit on eggs. Fortunately, no giant birds were hatched.

Lydia and Lora sitting on eggs in the giant bird's nest

The meadow, which has dozens of dogwood trees that bloom in spring, is covered with golden rod in the fall. Golden rod frequently gets a bad rap from allergy sufferers; but the real culprit is ragweed, which happens to bloom at the same time. Since golden rod is much more visible, it gets blamed even though it causes far fewer allergy symptoms than ragweed.

Meadow with golden rod

Rustic birdhouse in the meadow

There are more things for kids along the trails like a fairy village and a storybook section, and there is also an old log cabin with sheep and chickens across the road. However, by the time we got to the meadow, Lydia was starting to show signs she was getting tired so decided to skip the rest of the garden and head back to the car.

While Lora and Margery got Lydia into her car seat and packed away the stroller, Paul lingered behind for a few minutes to photograph the wedding venue behind the welcome center. In addition to a seating area with a stone wall backdrop for the ceremony, there is a wrought iron gazebo and and several picturesque paths for photography.

Wedding venue behind the welcome center

Wrought iron gazebo

Back at the house we had a quick lunch and finished packing up the truck. Then we said our good-byes and headed back to Scenic Hills.

Saturday was Paul's birthday, so we decided to go to Der Dutchman for the breakfast buffet to celebrate. Our stay in Ohio is nearing an end so we wanted to have the breakfast buffet at least one more time before we leave, and Paul's birthday was a perfect excuse. Everything was delish!

Since we'll be heading south soon, there are several more eateries we want to visit one more time, and we also want to stock up on some meats, cheeses, bulk spices and a few other goodies from local stores. In addition, we have a couple of minor projects to finish up before we hit the road, and we still want to take time to enjoy the fall scenery. We'll let you know what we got into in our next update.

Making the Old New Again

Berlin, OH - Events of Wednesday, September 7 to Sunday, September 18, 2016

It's been a while since we have posted an update. The reason is Paul has been quite busy with a project to refinish a play kitchen set for Lydia. The kitchen set is one Paul made for Lora for Christmas back when she was three years old.

Lora playing with the kitchen set Paul made for her when she was three

When Lora outgrew the kitchen set, we gave it to Margery's college roommate, Marilyn, who had a daughter who was a couple of years younger than Lora. Margery and Marilyn have kept in touch over the years. In fact, she lives in Ohio about an hour and a half away from Scenic Hills, and we have met her for lunch quite a few times over the years when we were at Scenic Hills. A couple of years ago when Marilyn heard we had a granddaughter on the way, she mentioned she still had the old kitchen set stored in her basement and asked if we'd like to have it back for Lydia.

Lydia will only be about 2½ this coming Christmas, which is a little younger than Lora was when Paul made the kitchen set. However, Lora thinks Lydia will be ready for the kitchen set soon, so we decided to give it to her this year for Christmas.

The week after Labor Day, we went to Marilyn's house for lunch and we brought the kitchen set back to Scenic Hills. We knew it would be a challenge doing the refinishing outside in the open and protecting the set from the weather without the benefit of a workshop or shed, but we wanted to try to get it done while we were in Ohio. That way we could take it to Lora and J. Michael's house and keep it under wraps until Christmas so we wouldn't have to take it all the way to Florida and then have to cart it all the way back at Christmas time.

As you can see from the photo above, Paul originally painted the kitchen set avocado, which was fashionable back then, but which is very dated now. In the meantime, the kitchen set had been repainted white, but it was in need of repainting again. Therefore, the first thing Paul did was to take off the doors and trim pieces and start to sand down the finish to smooth it up a bit and to give the new paint more "bite."

Paul sanding the kitchen set

Paul was planning to paint the kitchen set metallic silver to simulate stainless steel. The paint Paul bought said it was fast drying, which is usually a good thing, but fast-drying paint combined with the breeze outside meant the paint dried MUCH too fast, especially for a metallic paint. The color was extremely blotchy, and the surface showed every brush mark. Paul stopped after painting one side of each piece to see what the paint would look like after it dried hoping it would look better. As he feared, it actually looked worse, so he had no choice but to remove the silver paint.

When Paul started scraping off the silver paint, he was dismayed to find he was also scraping off much of the old white paint as well. Since the white wasn't adhering well to the original avocado paint, Paul made the difficult decision to also scrape off all the loose white paint. Suddenly, a relatively easy repainting job became a major refinishing job. It took three days to get down to the original finish.

Fortunately, the original white paint on the inside was in pretty good shape. It had yellowed quite a bit, but it was well-adhered. As soon as the outside was scraped and sanded, Paul scuffed up the inside surfaces for good adhesion and repainted them white.

Kitchen set sanded down to original finish outside, inside repainted white

Since Paul ruled out silver for the outside because of the difficulty in achieving a uniform metallic color, we consulted with Lora on a new color and ended up deciding on black for the appliances and tan for the sink cabinet to simulate wood.

Paul painting the sink cabinet tan

"Cutting in" the separation line between the black stove and tan sink cabinet

Painting of major components complete

After completing the inside and outside, all that remained was to paint the smaller parts - the knobs for the stove, the door handles, the trim on the stove and the faucet for the sink. When the paint on all the smaller parts had dried, Paul assembled everything.

Assembled kitchen set

Paul wrapped the kitchen set in a plastic tarp and stored it under the front overhang of the 5th wheel to wait for our next trip to Pittsburgh.

Labor Day Weekend

Berlin, OH - Events of Saturday, September 3 to Monday, September 5, 2016

On Saturday of Labor Day weekend, we went to the breakfast buffet at Der Dutchman Restaurant with Lora, J. Michael and Lydia. Even though it was the second time we had gone in less than a week, we were all hungry again for the yummy goodies they have on their buffet.

After the buffet, we went to Walnut Creek Cheese to pick up a few items then headed a little farther west to the Walnut Creek Amish Flea Market. This time Lydia decided she wanted to ride rather than walk like she did the previous Saturday when we went to the Holmes County Flea Market. Pushing the stroller is work, but it's actually easier for Lora because, not only can the other adults take turns pushing, but Lora has to spend less time chasing Lydia.

Lydia, Lora, Margery and J. Michael at the Walnut Creek Amish Flea Market

From the flea market, we went across the road to Scenic Hills Furniture. We had stopped at the store a couple of times in the past when they were located right next to Scenic Hills RV Park, but we haven't yet been to their new, larger store across from the flea market since they moved this past spring. Their wood furniture is beautifully made, and their new location gives them the opportunity to display a lot more of it. After looking around inside, we went outside to see their patio furniture.

We have always admired the look of Adirondack chairs, but we find them to be somewhat uncomfortable. Not only are they low to the ground, but the seat slopes steeply toward the back, and the back rest reclines a little too far to suit us. It's hard for us to get out of an Adirondack chair, especially as we get older. However, Scenic Hills Furniture has some Adirondack-style chairs that are much higher and more upright. They were very comfortable and easy to get out of. They also had nice, swing-out cup holders on the arms. We liked them so much Paul is thinking it might be a fun project to build a couple of this style Adirondack chair when we're in Florida for the winter. We would just store them in the shed when we leave Florida next spring.

Margery trying out a tall version of an Adirondack chair

From the furniture store, we headed back to Scenic Hills by way of a produce stand where we got some corn for dinner. Paul set up the smoker when we got back to smoke some apple-juice brined, apple-wood smoked pork tenderloins. We served the pork with an apple-barbecue glaze. The pork and the the corn were both deliciousness.

On Sunday afternoon, we all headed to Canton, Ohio where we made a quick stop at Sam's Club. However, the real reason we went to Canton was to go to Smoke: The Burger Joint for a late lunch. Smoke serves delicious smoked burgers and hot dogs with all kinds of creative toppings. They also have build-your-own versions where you can add whatever toppings you want. We love the burgers at smoke; but to make things even better, we had just gotten an email coupon for $5 off, and Lora and J. Michael got a coupon for free fries for downloading the Smoke app. The burgers and fries were as delicious as they always are.

We headed back to Scenic Hills for Lydia's nap and for the adults to relax. Since we had a late lunch, we just planned for everyone to have a snack or a salad on their own later on if they wanted one. Then around 7 p.m. someone got the bright idea of going to the Dairy Queen in downtown Berlin. Margery and Paul had cones, Lora had a small Blizzard and J. Michael had a small sundae. Lydia had a kiddie dish of vanilla.

Lydia at Dairy Queen

After our sweet treats we stopped outside in the parking lot for a group selfie.

Group selfie - Lora, J. Michael, Lydia, Margery and Paul

We had one or two campfires during the week Lora, J. Michael and Lydia were visiting us; but as we said before, Lydia is at an age where she doesn't really understand the dangers of a campfire yet, so she is a little hard to supervise around the fire. Therefore, when we got back from Dairy Queen we all decided to hang around outside for a while without a fire even though it was a little chilly. Lora got out a fleece for Lydia.

Lydia putting on her own fleece

The first attempt at putting on the fleece wasn't quite successful as you can see from the photo above, and Lydia certainly seemed to be aware that something was wrong. J. Michael helped Lydia put it on correctly.

J. Michael helping Lydia put on her fleece

A while back, J. Michael picked up a Chinese sky lantern, which they brought with them to Berlin. The weather on Sunday evening was was cool and calm - perfect for lighting the lantern. Sky lanterns work the same way as a hot air balloon. The heated air inside is lighter than the cool atmosphere, so the balloon rises.

Paul and Lora holding the sky lantern waiting for the air inside to heat up

Releasing the lantern

Up, up and away!

The lantern got quite high - probably several hundred feet - before it burned itself out. We were a little worried about setting something on fire, but the sparks that fall from the lantern are part of the show, and they burn out well before they hit the ground. When the main fire begins to die, the air in the lantern cools and the lantern collapses in on itself and also burns up well before hitting the ground.

Watching the lantern rise high into the night sky was the perfect ending to a great week. On Monday morning, Margery made breakfast for all of us so Lora and J. Michael could get a head start on packing. After breakfast, we watched Lydia while Lora and J. Michael finished hitching up before pulling out around 11:00.

The Farm at Walnut Creek

Berlin, OH - Events of Thursday, September 1 to Friday, September 2, 2016

One of the advantages to having Lora, J. Michael and Lydia spending a whole week in the site behind us at Scenic Hills RV Park is we get to see Lydia every day, and we get to do lots of fun things with her. The Farm at Walnut Creek, which is only about 10 minutes away from Scenic Hills, is host to over 500 animals from all over the world including many exotic species as well as more common animals such as horses, goats and cattle. Visitors can hand feed animals from their own cars or from a horse-drawn wagon. Like most kids, Lydia loves animals so we headed to the Farm at Walnut Creek on Thursday.

Admission is $11.75 for adults, $8.75 for seniors and $8.75 for kids ages 2 to 12. Kids under 2 are free. Wagon rides cost $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and kids. We opted to drive through rather than ride the wagon because, although the wagon gets you closer to some of the animals, we decided we would rather go at our own pace. Not only that, but we just missed the 10:00 wagon, and the next one wasn't for almost another hour.

The animals roam free in the drive-through section. The whole area is enclosed by a fence with cattle guards at the gates where the cars enter to prevent the animals from getting out. Shortly after we drove through the gate, numerous deer came right up to the car looking for food. You can buy buckets of food for $3, but we got two buckets for free by liking the farm on Facebook.

Fallow deer from Europe

Another deer sticking his head into the car

Aoudad from northern Africa eyeing us from the rocks

A word of warning - if you stick the bucket of food out the window for the animals to eat, many of them have learned how to strip the bucket out of your hands. They will stick their noses into the bucket, and instead of just eating, they will abruptly lower their heads and rip the bucket away from you. Guests are prohibited from getting off the wagon or out of their car for any reason so you can't retrieve the bucket. The best way to feed is by hand, but you need to be careful to keep your palm flat and keep your fingers tucked in so the animals don't accidentally nip you.

Paul found out the hard way about the animals stripping the bucket away when a deer attempted to do just that. Paul managed to hang onto the bucket, but when he jerked it away from the deer, he spilled half the contents of the bucket into the back seat of the car.

Several emus were wandering about in the vicinity of the deer. The emus are tall enough to get their heads into the car. Emus are rather ugly, and having them walk along side us sticking their heads through the windows kind of freaked Lora out. She has a thing about emus - kind of like the fear of spiders or snakes.

Emu looking into the window

As we drove along, we came to an area that had half a dozen llamas, which are also tall enough to get their heads into the car. The good news is Lora was fine with the llamas. The other good news is when the animals have their heads in the car, they can't lower their heads to strip the bucket of feed out of your hand.

Llama with its head in the car

One thing you have to be careful about is to not run over any of the animals. The smaller ones are hard to see when they are right in front of the car's grill, especially if you're driving a bigger vehicle; but if you drive slowly and are careful, the smaller animals somehow seem to get out of the way. That's not necessarily true for the larger animals like the Highland cow in the photo below who was right on the road. It never moved. Fortunately, there was enough room to squeeze by.

Highland cow on the road

The farm has several giraffes. Unlike most of the other animals that can wander right up to the cars, the giraffes are separated from the road by a fence. They are one of the species to which visitors can get closer on the wagon ride.

One of several giraffes in an enclosure

Zebras are another species to which the wagons get closer. The farm has several Grevy's Zebras, also called Imperial Zebras, which is the largest species of zebra. They come from Kenya and Ethiopia.

Grevy's Zebras

At the end of the driving tour, there is a parking lot that marks the start of the walking tour. There is a large, Amish-style farmhouse, which is also part of the tour. The main house is on the right in the photo below, and the "grandfather house" is on the left. The Amish don't believe in retirement homes or nursing homes. Instead, they believe in taking care of their own. An addition, or in this case a whole house, is built for the aging parents. The eldest son and his family take over the main house and the parents move into the addition.

Amish-style farmhouse

The basement of the farmhouse has a large, summer kitchen that is used for canning demonstrations. One wall is lined with jars of pickles, peaches, apple sauce, tomatoes, beans and more.

Shelves full of canned goods

Upstairs, there is another large kitchen that would be used for everyday cooking and baking. Notice the gas lights hanging from the ceiling. Since Amish homes don't have electricity, many Amish use propane for lighting. LED lighting with its very low electrical usage has also made battery powered lighting popular with the Amish. The batteries are recharged by solar panels during the day.

Upstairs kitchen

The farm house also has a large room that is used for quilting demonstrations.

Quilting room

Continuing the walking tour from the farm house, visitors pass more animals.

Lora and Lydia feeding a young Pygmy Zebu

Margery feeding an adult Pygmy Zebu

The walking tour continues through an attractive, terraced garden with a couple of ponds and waterfalls.

Terraced garden between the farm house and barn

Also in the garden area are several cages with exotic birds.

East African crowned crane

Golden pheasant

There is also a shelter surrounded by a moat containing a troop of ring-tailed lemurs.

Ring-tailed lemurs

The barn is located at the far end of the terraced garden area. This is where visitors board wagons for the optional wagon ride through the farm. We walked to the barn to have a look around then headed back to the car for the drive back to Scenic Hills.

We all gathered for dinner after Lydia's nap then had a campfire in the evening. 

J. Michael with Lydia enjoying a chocolate chip cookie around the campfire

On Friday, we all kind of did our own thing. Lora, J. Michael and Lydia went out to visit a couple of area furniture stores, and we made a quick Walmart run to pick up some groceries. Lora made burrito bowls for all of us for dinner. It was cool enough in the evening for another campfire, but since Lydia is at an age where she really doesn't understand the dangers of a campfire, she is a little difficult to supervise so we opted for some TV instead. PAW Patrol is Lydia's latest, favorite show, and we had recorded several programs earlier.

The Labor Day weekend was just getting started, and we had more activities scheduled. We'll tell you about them in our next post.

Fun and Food

Berlin, OH - Events of Tuesday, August 30 to Wednesday, August 31, 2016

On Tuesday morning, we headed out to Der Dutchman Restaurant in Walnut Creek for their breakfast buffet. Their buffet is one of our favorites anywhere. The buffet includes scrambled eggs (with numerous toppings like cheese, mushrooms, onions and peppers), two kinds of potatoes, fried mush, pancakes, French toast sticks, sausage gravy and biscuits, grits, two kinds of sausage, bacon, fresh fruit, jello and/or pudding, cold cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, fresh fruit, frozen fruit slush, cinnamon rolls, donuts, coffee cake and more. Yum!

After breakfast, we drove a few miles south to Keim Lumber in Charm, OH. In addition to the usual lumber and building materials, Keim has many types of exotic hardwoods, unique home improvement items you don't normally see in the big box stores as well as lots of hard-to-find hardware.

Keim Lumber

Like the last time we were at Keim with Lydia, the nice lady at the information desk near the entrance gave Lydia a balloon. The balloon came in handy to keep Lydia entertained while the adults were looking around the store.

Lydia with her balloon

From Keim Lumber, we headed up the road to Hershberger's Farm Market where they have a rather large petting zoo. We usually go there on a Saturday when Lora, J. Michael and Lydia are at Scenic Hills for the weekend, but it was really nice to go to Hershberger's on a Tuesday when there was hardly anyone else there.

J. Michael supervising Lydia while she pets a goat

We're not sure who likes the petting zoo more - Lydia or Lora.

Lora and Lydia feeding a miniature horse

Lora and Lydia feeding a foal

By the time we were finished at Hershberger's, it was time to head back to Scenic Hills for Lydia's lunch and her nap. For dinner, J. Michael grilled up some yummy burgers. It was too warm for a campfire, so we all just hung around after dinner. Lora, J. Michael and Lydia headed back to their trailer when it was time for Lydia to go to bed.

A couple of posts ago, we told you about taking Lydia to Planet Bounce in the Pittsburgh area. Well, Margery found another similar place in nearby Wooster with what looked to be more things to do for younger kids like Lydia in addition to bounce houses. We headed there on Wednesday morning only to find they didn't open until 3 p.m. Apparently they had just changed to their fall hours since the local schools were back in session and hadn't yet updated their website or Facebook page, both of which still said they opened at 11 a.m.

We had a very disappointed little girl on our hands, so Margery did some fast research (gotta love smartphones) and found the Kiwanis Christmas Run Playground was only about 10 minutes away. It turned out to be a great playground that had just opened earlier this year. The playground equipment has a nature theme with rustic trees, logs and rocks made from fiberglass for the kids to climb on and through.

Kiwanis Christmas Run Playground

Lydia started out on the small slide.

Lydia on the small slide

She quickly graduated to the roller slide right next door. Lydia, and a great number of the other kids, really liked the roller slide because not only is it fairly fast, but it also gives you a bumpy ride.

Lydia on the roller slide

Lydia wanted to cross one of the rope bridges and much to her parents' dismay, Grammy let her go for it. It took a good bit of adult supervision to make sure she didn't fall through, but Lydia loved it.

Lydia crossing a rope bridge

Lydia and Lora up in the tree house

Lydia and Grammy on the swing

The playground turned out to be just as good, if not better activity than the bounce house. Not only did Lydia have a great time, but Lora didn't have to do quite as much work to help Lydia like she did at Planet Bounce. Best of all, the playground was free.

On our way back to Scenic Hills, we took a slight detour through Millersburg to stop for a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant Margery had found online recently. La Palma has been in downtown Millersburg for around 11 years. Because La Palma is located just past the main intersection where we always turn to go to Walmart, we never drove past the restaurant and didn't know it was there. La Palma gets pretty good reviews, and good Mexican restaurants in Amish Country are pretty few and far between so we decided to give them a try. 

La Palma Mexican Restaurant

We started off with the traditional corn chips and salsa. The corn chips were pretty good - warm and fairly crisp, and the salsa was excellent. It was nice and chunky with plenty of fresh cilantro and with just a little bit of a kick.

La Palma has a variety of lunch specials for around $8 and dinners for around $11 to $13. Most of us got lunches and added an a la carte item for variety and for a little something extra to eat since we didn't plan to have dinner later. Everything was delish!

Paul with his burrito and chili relleno with Lydia in the background

With our bellies full, we headed back to Scenic Hills for Lydia's nap and for an evening of relaxation. We had another interesting outing planned for Thursday. Stay tuned.