Fab 5 Friday

Oh, another Friday...another Fab 5. I'm contemplating doing away with the Fab 5. I think maybe it's had a good run and it's time to find something new to infuse into the blog. Who knows? It's not a decision I need to make today. If you have comments or suggestions on the blog - please let me know! I'm always open to changing things up a bit! Or if you want the Fab 5 to stay - you can let me know that too!

Okay, but for now...Fab 5 stays. So here we go!

1. Date Night. Blaine and I had date night last Friday. We headed out with Phil and Kara to a back to school party at a local restaurant called 1899. It was a very fun night meeting some new people, enjoying some drinks and dinner, and even dancing a little. Dancing, you say? Yeah, and I wasn't even drunk!

Blaine and friends sporting their new Aperol fedoras

2. Caleb's Field Trip. Caleb left Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. on a train for Lopuszna with the entire 5th grade class. He will return tonight at 11 p.m. and I can't wait to see him. I missed my big little dude this week. But, the pictures from his trip are amazing! He's been doing some awesome teamwork activities. hiking, ziplining, rappelling, learning fire and rescue skills, visiting castles, taking boat rides...it's completely awesome!

5 a.m. at the train station

Team building activity

Learning about fire and rescue

Getting ready to go hiking

Ziplining

Yes, that's Caleb rappelling down the side of the cliff.

Ski lift

Caleb with the walkie talkie

3. Polish Lessons. I continued my Polish lessons this week. It was reassuring to hear my teacher say that I have "real potential" to master the language. (I would hope so as in my former life I was a French teacher, but that was many moons ago.) But, mastery is not necessary...I'll be happy with advanced survivor skills!

4. Cooking and More Cooking. I've had lots of time to chef up some new recipes this week. The cooler days make it ideal for spending time in the kitchen. This week had me trying Cabbage Roll Soup, 30-Minute Dinner Rolls, and Apple Fritter Bread. (You can click on the names to be taken to the recipes.) They were all a big hit with the family and very easy to make.

5. The Department of Foreigners. We spent part of Thursday at the Department of Foreigners getting fingerprinted so that we could receive our residency cards. Cargill arranged to have "some guy" stand in line for us downtown and we arrived at noon. (Why is there a plethora of "guys" who do stuff for you while you are abroad? All I can say is that I appreciate these "guys" because they sure make navigating the inner workings of each government much easier.) Anyways, we were fingerprinted and then sent on our merry way - which left time for a quick lunch and the chance for us to help bolster the Polish economy by purchasing fall/winter clothing for our boys. Whoa! That was an expensive afternoon and we didn't even buy them boots yet. Oh, well...the little monkeys needed the things we bought and it will save me a visit from DFS if they were caught wearing shorts in December.

Grayson chose burgers and Belgium fries for lunch

And, I will conclude today's blog with a tribute to all who lost their lives on September 11th. Whether near or far...we will never forget.