Sofi's Room

...is still a work-in-progress by any standards.


Still, a bed and a bookshelf went a long way toward making it nice...and it's at least livable in the mean time.


We're planning a new quilt for her bed, out of these Joel Dewberry? half-yards.


I can't remember where on Earth I saw this picture (and I feel terrible reposting it without giving credit, at least)....but this is the approximate quilt pattern Sof and I have settled on.


I'm looking forward to having time to do a fun project!

Cozy and Dah-Dah's Room

Dah-Dah is the nickname Cozy gave Annika. Now I think it's developed to "Annituh", but we still like to use Dah-Dah.

Their room was pretty easy to put together. We already had curtains from the last house, and it was one of the rooms Tony and I managed to paint before the movers got here. Annika chose gray. I was so pleased - there was no negotiating needed! Part of me wishes I'd chosen a darker gray...but the pastel nature of this gray seems well suited to their other colors.


Annika is the perfect big sister to share a room with. She's very patient, reads lots of books to her little sister, and fetches Cozy down to her Mom whenever she's sad.


Cozy has been camping out on her mattress, since the hardware for her bed was MIA until this weekend...and her bed half-painted. If it stops raining, I'll finish it and put up a picture later this week.


Until then, Cozy and I will continue to play this goodnight game, as I cuddle her to sleep:

Cozy: (Plays piano with toes.)
Mamalia: What was that!?!
Cozy: Nufing. (tee-hee-hee!)
...and repeat...

Once the Coze-bed is put together, there will only be one thing left to change in that room...

Strasburg Nostalgia

Chocolate World wasn't the only nostalgic trip we took the kids on...while avoiding our house. We also wanted to let Boo ride a train with an authentic steam engine. This time the trip was optional for older kids (...because it's expensive...and we didn't want to pay for whiners), so, of course, everyone was eager to go. I should really try reverse psychology some time.


...and here we are, all happy to be on a train! (Except Cozy. Can you tell she's screaming?)


The fit continued for probably half of our trip, and then she decided that Sofi's lap was more comfortable than the floor.


If you're ever in Lancaster, PA, this train has the best views ever. Amish farms and cornfields.


It's a round-trip journey, so, once you reach the "destination", they move the engine from one end of the train to the other. It pulls you backwards on the way home. That was easily Boo's favorite part, since you got to see the train that had been pulling you all that time.



Doesn't he look pleased?

Once we got off the big train, Jon and Boo took a turn on the "cranky cars".


...and the big kids tried out the pump car.


Tony and Annika had to show them up. Annika thought she doing such a great job...I just couldn't break it to her that Dad was pulling up when she was pushing down.


Someday...when I have my dream house...with a grandparent cottage thru a picturesque wood...I think we need to have a cranky car track running through that little wood. Little people could take the train to Grandma and Grandpa's - wouldn't that be a fun adventure!

The Trek

Leaving all of this prettiness was super-sad, but I think we were all in the mood for a road trip. The driving was all very stress-free. The car was comfy and sunny. (Though I hear Tony's car was sticky, hot, and sunny. People without air conditioning are such whiners. :)


Our two-way family radios were awesome for "Take the next exit! People need to pee!" emergencies. It was our way to avoid breaking cell phone usage laws while driving, but it was also a rare oppportunity to chose call signs. After Sofi chose Psych-Girl, the rest of us decieded to use "Gus" nicknames from Psych.
Tony = Hollabackatcha
Me = Mrs. Wittleberry (Tony tried to get me to chose Felicia Fancybottom...but I didn't.)
Anthony = Homeskillet
Annika = Clementine Woolysocks
Jonny = Magic Head
Listening to Sofi and Tony banter back and forth was hilarious, but just using the names was fun.



I have to admit that the scenery got boring in a couple of spots.


By the second day, Cozy figured out she could make a very entertaining umbrella out of a Coke cup. "Only boring people are bored." Right?


On this trip, I decided that Montana is now my second choice of places to live. Beautiful, mountinous views. 50-cent Cokes at McDs - so, basically everything a girl could wish for. There might not be a lot of opportunity for us to live there, being that Tony is in the Navy, and will be for the next 14 years(mountain views - not ocean views), but....maybe we'll vacation there?


The big sacrifice Tony and I made this trip was swimming at the hotels every night...when we would rather have been sluggishly lounging and tv-watching. It was worth it, because, instead of kids crying when they see we still aren't "there" at the end of the day, they cheer, "A hotel! A hotel!" Boo still wonders when we'll be so lucky as to stay at a hotel again. :)

The Finale

Parents were invited to end-of-camp show, where we got to hear lots of fun camp songs.


There's always the camp theme song to look forward to. It's different every time.



...and there was the universal favorite....



...Ghost Chickens in the Sky.

We were happy to have all of our littles back - missed them!

The camp, continued.

The last time my parents held cousin camp, they took the kids on all kinds of field trips - the lama farm, natural water slides, the Pilchuck River. I didn't expect them to have any outings this year, without any real transportation for all of the grandkids. But those smarties thought of something!

Everyone got out their hiking sticks and they made a trek to Blackman's Lake, only a mile away. The canoes were already staged and waiting.


We all met at the lake to watch the groups of cousins paddling around the lake...



...and getting muddy at the shore. Boo had fun swinging his water lily out into the water and reeling it back in. Flower-fishing?...it worked for him.

Because

My bedroom still looks like this...


...so that my flowerbed could look like this...



I know that it isn't uber-impressive yet, but trust me. Those Russian Sage will be huge and gorgeous some day. AND it's so much better than the mixture of weeds and gravel that was in those beds before. ...and sapling trees. WARNING: Don't ever let saplings spring up in your flower beds. I dug over two feet down to get those evil roots out.

Next year, when all of those plants come back bigger (and with no effort on my part), it will feel totally worth it.