Living Our Dream: Labor Day Weekend

September 13, 2016

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.

Posted on September 13, 2016 | Permalink