Sleeping on the cold, hard ground...

...some people call it camping, but we call it like we see it! Tony and I have been pretty lazy about camping with the children, but we're trying to turn over a new leaf. Tony picked out a tent that actually fits our entire family. He makes the kids help put it up and take it down. (...but I still don't know how to!)


To break it in, we went to a local state park. Familiar. Close enough that we could bail if needed to.


It didn't come to that, but we did have to retire to the tent for the evening once the mosquitoes got active. We read The Lone Hunt by William O. Steele. It's about a young teenage boy whose Mom doesn't give him enough freedom and makes him do too many chores....so he sneaks out and hunts a buffalo. Did I mention that it takes place in the late 1800s?...because I think Odie could relate (not about the buffalo - just the rest).

My favorite part: eating roasted marshmallows.

My least favorite part: Sleeping on the cold, hard ground....with a cranky toddler.

Still, I think we'll go again.

Transportation

I have a new mode of transportation. Well, I already had the bike. It was just hard to use when I have so many little non-riders at home. So, I was thrilled when I found a bike trailer at a garage sale for $30! I'd been envying my neighbor's bike attatchments and thinking how fun it would be to take the littles for rides together...and now we can! Hooray!

Quilt Camp

The girls are doing quilt camp this week. Yes - I know - too many camps (the kids are starting to whine about having to wake up early in SUMMER), but I just couldn't pass this one up...because I wish I could go to quilt camp for Mommies. (If I could bring my own fabric....I'm just not into kitties, pansies, other non-graphic, realistic prints.) Of course, I am also selfishly grateful that I don't have to share my pretty fabrics with the kids.


...not because I don't like to share! (I don't.) Mainly because the kids and I have some serious creative differences. Insurmountable ones. Based in laziness. (Theirs! More specifically - Sofi's!) She has rushed through her projects and is insisting on tying both of her quilts. Stinker. The things kids do to rebel!

Annika has finally turned a corner, and is sewing 1/4" seams without having them drawn on with a ruler first! Yea!

I know - I'm like a stage mother for sewing.

Pretty Good So Far

Being thirty-four is pretty good so far. I think it helped that I started out on the right foot.


Eating lots of Boston creme pie...and gelato...and whatever else I wanted to. Hey! It was my birthday, folks! My Mom and cousin drove over and took me out to lunch. Lunch without kids - it tastes yummier somehow.


They left me with some lovely quilt fabric...


...and a lush mystery plant from my sister. Anyone know what this is?

So, in spite of being too busy/lazy to throw a party this year (or maybe because of!), it was a delightful day.

In a moment of weakness, I gave way to peer pressure and signed the girls up for Irish Dance Camp....70 miles away. You can't exactly drop them off and then drive back home, so, even with carpooling, we had a few days when we were stuck in North Bend...looking for stuff to do.

The first day, we went to the outlet mall (to escape the heat), but you can only shop for so long - especially with kids. We tried a couple parks, but didn't find anywhere stellar.

An entirely new approch was needed for day two: sight-seeing....and train-chasing.

We drove over to Snoqualmie Falls.


The kids wouldn't look at the camera...


....because they were too busy looking at the waterfall. It's amazing that you can feel the spray from that far away!

There's a train that runs between North Bend and Snoqualmie, but that wasn't an option - it was "A Day out with Thomas", requiring reservations and line-waiting abilities (neither of which we had). Still, BooBoo was thrilled to see Thomas thru the chain-link fence (I know, hard-core security!), and, since the road runs right along the tracks, we "raced" Thomas the Tank Engine. Thrill of thrills! ( -if you're 4.)

I have picutes...but they're trapped on my phone.

I guess dance camp paid off. Sofia came home from her first feis with two gold medals, one silver medal and a second-place trophy. Shiney things!

Progressive Me (But NOT in the yucky FDR way.)

So, I didn't quite accomplish my goals, but progress is good, right?

The rundown:
- doll quilt #1: top sewn together
- doll quilt #2: half of the top pieced
- sham: quilted and ready to be assembled
- bird pillow (Yes, I know that wasn't on my list, but it was calling to me!): quilted and ready to be assembled
- baby quilt: not even remotely begun

As you can see, I was working on things, and then driving to North Bend and back for the last two days has somehow interfered. ....more about that fun trip later...

The other thing that slowed me down was this lovely little project. A doll quilt. I've been dying to do a "Tokyo subway map", ever since I saw it on Oh, Franson! I probably should have put it together like Elizabeth did. Maybe then it wouldn't take FOR-EV-ER...and my seams might have lined up?


It's also not as scrappy as Elizabeth's...since I didn't have enough scraps. I had to buy some quarters with this and a few other projects in mind.


Still....I love it.

Catch-up Time

I'm so behind on doll quilts...and not finishing much of anything else either. I think it had something to do with driving to Silverdale twice a day all last week. That sucks up a lot of your spare time. Tony thinks Frontierville is to blame. Maybe....but I have to make 2 doll quilts, a baby quilt, and pillow sham this week - or else!

We're Lucky Ducks...

...because when we can get loaner-ducks from my parents.


Why would we do any such thing? Well...Cozy finds chasing them super-entertaining, but I honestly was getting just fed up with those slugs. Since ducks think slugs are a tasty treat, I thought I was pulling out the big guns by bringing a couple in to de-slug my garden.

That sort of back fired. I think they ran out of slugs to nibble on and decided that the new starts in my garden were much yummier that what I was trying to feed them.


When they ran out of vegetable starts, they ate the leaves off of my grape vine.


On the up-side, it was lots of fun to have them waddling around the back yard AND we even found an egg on the last day they were here!


Bye-bye, ducks!

Someone Else

Sewing camp is over...for now. (They're going back for quilt camp - so they have a couple weeks to learn to sew a 1/4" seam!) I like to do projects with my kids, but every once in a while it's nice to pass that privilege on to someone else.


The girls each made a shirt and belt...and I think they look fantastic!