the unlikely orange

what a summer! i wrote in june about our annual tradition of making a summer bucket list of things we'd like to accomplish in the fleeting months of summer each year, and i must say that we did pretty good this year!  we had ice cream for dinner.  we played frisbee golf. we went to vbs and music camp. we celebrated quin's birthday with an epic harry potter party. we went to ocean city (twice!). we went to wesley forest for summer camp (well, three of us did). we made a sand sculpture (several, actually). we made orange julius-es.  we did cousin week (again, some of us did...the rest of us were preparing for the aforementioned epic party) we picked fruit (blueberries). we ate at hofbrau pizza. we made a movie. we made donuts. we built a fort. we made a summer cd. we went to seven springs (champion, pa, actually) we hiked the alan seeger trail (along with many other trails!) we watched avengers: infinity war. we went to the flight 93 memorial na...

it's summertime, baby!  the sun is out (nope), the kids are home from school (yay.), and it's time to relax a little bit (yeah, right.).  just kidding!  rain or shine, it's time to have some fun with the kids at home, with the extra sunlight, and with the opportunity to make some more memories before these days are gone.  so, once again, Shannon (dang, she is talented!) has designed our family's annual "summer bucket list," complete with all sorts of things we'd like to accomplish in the next couple of months.  we have some of our annual stand-by's, like playing in the rain, having ice cream for dinner, vbs, summer camp, etc.  But we also have some things that will be unique to this summer, like making donuts, playing disc golf, and celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, just to name a few.  we've got high expectations for the summer, and we know the only way to do it is to say "yes" to life, and to make it happen, so here we go!  ...

my mixtape for the next 10 days.  pay no attention to the fact that i cannot spell....i apparently was half asleep and in much need of a vacation as i typed it.  norcal, baby.  here we come.

today is labor day, the official end of summer, and so i find myself reflecting today on the summer of 2016.  as different as this summer was, we still did our annual tradition of making a summer bucket list, which i wrote about here , back in july.  shannon designed the bucket list with a patriotic theme, knowing that we would be vacationing in washington dc this summer: and as awesome as that week in dc was, it certainly wasn't the major event of our summer.  no, without question, the mark of summer 2016 for the milinovich's was moving.  everything was either leading up to the move (putting all of our possessions in cardboard boxes) or resulting from the move (unpacking all of aforementioned boxes). but we woke up the first day after moving out of our home for the last 6 years, a place that had become home to us, with great friends at a great church, and this is how that first morning greeted us: and somehow, we knew everything was going to be ju...

last week we had the opportunity to visit the turkey hill experience near Lancaster, pa, and part of the fun of that experience is designing your own imaginary ice cream flavor, packaging, and commercial.  they boys and I worked together to come up with a  brand new flavor called "MILINO-NUT," and it is a coconut ice cream with coconut chips, pretzel bits, and fudge swirl.  I know, right?  you want some in your belly right now.  well, perhaps you could call or write to turkey hill and demand that they start production of MILINO-NUT right away.  look for it on the shelves of your local grocery store soon.  here is the commercial we made...we were trying to hypnotize you into buying our ice cream.  let us know if it worked....

this was our final day of vacation, and really a travel day home, but we weren't in any hurry, so we decided to make one final stop, since we were so close.  but before we went there , we had to go somewhere else.  everyday as we traveled to the metro station, we passed krispy kreme donuts, and since the boys had never been there, dad just had to make a stop to get some fresh warm donuts.  the kids loved watching them come down the "assembly line" and "get saucy" as quinton called it (the icing is poured all over them to glaze them).  a delicious start to the day! then we went to mount vernon, since we were staying literally a few miles from it.  and boy were we so glad we did!  it was a little bit of a shock to the system to pay for entry after doing so much free stuff through the week, but you can tell that they put the admission price to good use, as the home and grounds and museum were in incredible condition, and truly made for a great exp...

for our last day in the city, we had some time to kill before our appointment in the national archives, so we began in the east building of the national gallery of art.  while the boys thought this might be boring at first, they ended up loving the art museum, and were amazed at the size of some of the paintings, the realism in others, and the incredible color, creativity, and diversity throughout.  the museum really captivated their attention.  we didn't see the whole museum, by any means, but the impressionist rooms won my heart, as always.  i am always stopped in my tracks by van gogh, and i just can't stop gawking.  we were very glad we took the time to go to the art museum. when the time for our appointment arrived, we headed over to the national archives so that we could get a look at several important documents. first, we saw an original copy of the magna carta (700 years old!) in beautiful latin script.  then we made it to the rotund...

after so much walking the day before (14 miles!) we slept in a bit on day 4, and got off to a late start. we began the day with a trip to the white house. we didn't have tickets to go inside, but we were able to stand at the front and wave at the first family.  it is an impressive looking edifice, with even more impressive security.  Shannon and the boys went in the white house visitor center, to learn more about the white house and see some old presidential ephemera and pieces, while i stayed outside with the stroller. while waiting, i made plans to head over to the old post office pavilion, where you used to be able to go up into the clock tower for a great view of washington.  however, when we got there we found out that good ol' donald trump has bought it, and is turning into a hotel, so no more clock tower for the public.  thanks for making our nation's capital not quite as great, donald. after that we went to lunch at the ronald reagan internation...