All Finished

Before we left for Indiana I managed to get the last two hats done. The blue one is for my daughter while the orange one is for my friend Wendy's daughter. (Wendy happens to love orange.)

If you are wondering about the tent, it's in our backyard. We've been using it as a play house / fort this summer. I bought it years ago to use for reenacting but it hasn't seen much daylight since I got married. Hubby thought it might be fun for the kids to use outside. My son has loved having the tent. All kinds of bugs have moved in and they are quite easy for him to catch against that light canvas background. I've been working on a bug house for him to keep them in so they can stay safely outside.

Drum Roll Please

The new bike rack is finished, painted, and by the side of the house keeping track of all of our bikes. I can't believe I've lived on Mackinac Island for almost 17 years and never had a bike rack, but I must admit that this one was well worth the wait! I just love it A, thank you. Be sure to add that forge and anvil to your Christmas list. I have a feeling you are at the top of Santa's "nice" list.

Highlights

Our recent little vacation revolved around the little ones. In addition to spending lots of time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, the kids and I:

went to Chuck E Cheese's for the first time,

caught lots of tadpoles,
(She'll hold tadpoles in her hand but is terrified of spiders.)

got flushed down the gigantic toilet at kidscommons,

ate yummy ice cream

here,

spent an afternoon at the county fair,

munching on this,
(It's my favorite.)

and this,

because we wanted to see this.
(My nephew's ribbon-winning entry in the fair.)

But what a great trip - now you see why I needed a rest! I am so impressed by my mother-in-law; she's always got great ideas for fun things that all the grand kids (ages 3-10) love. My two are already asking when we are going back to see Grandma and Grampie. When you're only three or four, next summer seems like a lifetime away. Thank goodness for the telephone...

There's No Place Like Home

(Near Anne's Tablet, Mackinac Island)

The kids and I made it home safely. It feels good to be home on the "rock" - to be back in my own bed and to take it easy. We packed so many fun things into our trip that I think we all need a few days to recuperate. Once I get the pictures off of my camera I will be sure to share some of the highlights of our trip.

New Parking

My uberhandy husband is currently building us a bike rack. I'm so excited - the front of the house will look so much better; no more bikes scattered willy-nilly. He was lamenting the fact that he didn't have his own forge and anvil, but I am quite impressed. He liked the bike rack at the post office so he took measurements, ordered the steel, built a bending jig and started work on this six-bike beauty. I can't wait till it has a coat of paint and can use it. Perhaps when I get home.

The kids and I are down in southern Indiana visiting Grandma and Grampie, so I may be missing in action for a while. I've got mending to work on, curtains to line for Grandma, and a stack of books from my friend Kelaine just itching to be read. It's going to be a wonderful trip.

Stopped to...

My husband's family came up for a visit recently. We packed a lot into a few days. We stopped to:

smell the roses,

to throw rocks and enjoy the shore,

to watch the kites,

and to check out every geocache we passed by.

Such fun. The kids are still asking when their cousins will visit again. Their little brains just can't wrap around the fact that the boys live eight hours away in another state - they just know they are a lot of fun to have around. As are Grandma, Grandpie, and Aunt Kafie (K doesn't pronounce "Kathy" quite right yet.) I am so thankful to have such wonderful in-laws. I know not everyone is as lucky as I am in that department!

Simple Mathematics

Ephriam
(my cousin)

plus

Marita
(the newest member of our family)

plus

music provided by her grandpa
(who happens to be a master flamenco guitar player)

plus

fireflies
(about a zillion of them)

equals

one wonderful party - perfect for both the young and the not-so-young.

A marriage...
makes of two fractional
lives a whole;
it gives to two purposeless lives
a work, and doubles the strength
of each to perform it;
it gives to two
questioning natures
a reason for living,
and something to live for;
it will give a new gladness
to the sunshine,
a new fragrance to the flowers,
a new beauty to the earth,
and a new mystery to life.
-- Mark Twain

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. McNair.
May you have many wonderful years together.

For Grandma

The kids and I had a nice visit with my grandma yesterday. We are so lucky to get to see her regularly. In fact, of her approximately 30 grand and great-grandchildren, my children and I are the only ones who get to see her with any regularity; everyone else is too far away. (Japan, Ireland, Oklahoma, California, and Arkansas to be exact.)

Grandma knew that we had all gone camping over Fourth of July weekend and was frustrated that I hadn't posted about it. I love that my grandma reads my blog, so G-ma, this one is for you...

We met friends here on Thursday. Picture 1950s Florida - complete with lots of seniors and golf cart traffic jams. My husband's idea of camping does not include playgrounds, a water park, heated pools, or anything else this place had to offer, but the kids loved it. My children ride in a car once a month, so you can imagine how much fun it was for them to get to cruise around in a golf cart all weekend. Our group ended up being four families - eight adults, eight kids and a dog split between three tents, and a camper. Oh yeah, and four golf carts.

We split meals and each family took a turn supplying and preparing a meal. Well, except for us. Everyone took pity on us since we had so far to come and our trip included hauling everything by bicycle and ferry boat, so all I had to do was write a check. (Thank you Rachel!) Plus our tent was already set up when we arrived. (Again - thank you Rachel.)

The kids slept remarkable well considering it was the first time they camped outside in a tent. Night number one was a bit rough, but after that all went well. Nap time, however, was another story. My daughter must nap; no discussions, no debates - unless you want a moody grumpy obstinate little girl who believes absolutely everything is a huge crisis worthy of a screaming crying fit. Sleeping in a tent where she could hear everyone else discussing how they were going swimming or to the playground, didn't work very well. But we managed as best we could. Nap time ended up being a "quiet-in-the-tent-time" until everyone left and then K could usually fall asleep.

The night of the Fourth was fantastic. The younger kids had a great time with glow sticks, the older kids had a blast with sparklers, the fireworks were great, and the sunset was amazing. (The science geek in me loved the sun pillar.)

On Sunday we didn't even have to take the tent down. We had to get an early start (so we could drive north and stop to buy groceries) and our friends wanted the tent to stay up to dry for a bit longer. While it didn't really fit my husband's definition of camping, it was a great weekend with good friends who we don't get to see often enough. I'm thrilled that we've already decided to do it again next year. Now that we have gotten the lay of the land, next summer we're going to be prepared to enter the parade. My son thinks we need to decorate the golf cart to look like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Won't that be fun...

Nice and Cozy

Do you remember I said that I had been crazily sewing tea cozies?

That's because this summer I've been selling them in a shop downtown. They've sold fourteen of them so far. (I've delivered eighteen, but four of them are less-than-traditional so they may not sell.) Material Mart just sent me some more lilac fabric in the other day, so I need to get busy and make more. The Material Mart ladies were great! I bought some fabric there back in early May so I called them, described it (because of course I had stupidly thrown away the selvage,) they found it and then shipped it to me. How cool is that?

Good Bye

My Great Aunt Ruth died last week. She lived a long and full life in her 88 years. My heart breaks for my Uncle Don and my cousins; they've lost so much - a wife, a mother, a grandmother. Somehow they're going to have to find the strength to go on without her.

Ruth left us a wonderful legacy - through her example we all saw the importance of organization, dependability, helping others, and being true to one's self. I will always remember knowing that if Aunt Ruth could be the first woman to earn a Ph.D in chemistry from the college she attended back in the 40s, that I could achieve anything I wanted to. Thank you Aunt Ruth, you will be sorely missed.

Pillowcase Bag

In anticipation of an upcoming camping trip, I was lucky to find two child-sized sleeping bags at one of my favorite thrift shops a couple of weeks back. Two identical sleeping bags so there won't be any arguments and I managed to get both of them for a grand total of $5.50. I was worried that they would get dirty if we just threw them in the back of the car, so today I made storage bags for them out of old pillowcases. They were a breeze to make and each bag only took about an hour and a half.

They took so long to make because each one has twenty buttonholes and I don't have an automatic buttonhole foot for my machine. I'll be adding that to my Christmas list...

I think this would make a great laundry bag too.

Everywhere

The hawkweed has bloomed on Mackinac. It's everywhere and it is absolutely beautiful. Whether you call it a wildflower or a weed, the sea of yellow it creates in the woods is breathtaking. The path from Cass Cliff to Anne's Tablet is stunning while the hawkweed is blooming. If you are going to be on the island in the next week or so, I highly recommend you take a stroll out that way...

It is raining here this morning, so we won't be going out walking today. I'm not complaining mind you, we desperately need it. While we were out walking yesterday we noticed that almost all the lady slippers are gone now. So sad - I just love them. Guess I'll just have to wait until next year...

Cloudy

These were the clouds above Market Street on the other day. Interesting, huh? I think they are mammatus clouds, but I'm not sure. They were there and then 20 minutes later we had beautiful blue skies.

Art & Nature in the Park

Hooray! Arts and Nature in the Park started this week. Now each Wednesday morning the kids and I will head of to the park for some crafty fun. This week's project - rock creatures.

What fun. These two are now residing on our coffee table.

We owe a big "Thank you!" to the Mackinac Island Recreation Department and to Mrs. B for this and all the other fun things she has organized for the island kids this summer.

Shirt Dress Shirt

Remember I said that I had another dress shirt in a pretty mint green? It was a boy's XL so it ended up being too short for a dress, but perfect for a summery shirt! I think it is a smidgen short (when K raises her arms we get a big helping of tummy) so I'll have to make the next one a couple of inches longer. Oh yes, there will be a next one - I am addicted! The best part is - K actually wore it today. Yippee.

What do you think?

Brenda shared this tutorial with me the other day. K may have to get ones of these too!

Eeek!

Yesterday the kids, my friend Wendy and her daughter, and I all went swimming at the pool. We rode our bikes, so S and K were riding in the Burley behind my bike. All of a sudden I heard a panicked, "SPIDER!" followed by blood-curdling screams. I stopped, opened the Burley and managed to use K's hat to scoop out this guy. At first glance he just looks like any old spider, doesn't he.

Now look at him again with my foot for a size reference.

No wonder they were screaming bloody murder. I would have been too! That is one hell of a spider - and the scariest thing is, he is the second one we've seen this summer. I'm hoping he's also the last, because while I like bugs - I do not like spiders.

Fathers

Anne Sexton said, "It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was," and I completely agree. I am lucky enough to have had three "fathers" enrich my life: two grandfathers and my dad, and I have wonderful memories of all three of them. (My grandpas are both gone, but thankfully my dad is still alive and kicking.)

Above, in the yellow shirt, is "Grandpa from Florida;" he taught me to always hold my family dear. He didn't always have one - his mom died when he was young and his dad was a traveling salesman, so he spent a lot of time as a child in orphanages waiting for dad to come back from sales trips. I remember getting letters from him often. They always reminded me to remember other people's special days (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) and while I found it silly as a child, it was an important lesson.

"Grandpa Bill," my other grandfather, lived in Michigan so I saw him often as a little girl. I remember he use to take a nap and I would sneak upstairs and yell, "Boo!" to wake him up. Little naive me actually believed I scared him awake - it wasn't until I was an adult that I learned he always heard me coming. I remember being scared of him too- he was a big man - but I always knew he loved me.

This handsome fellow is my dad - circa 1959.

That's his high school graduation picture, so I never knew him when he was that cute. I love science fiction because of of my dad. We use to sit on the couch and watch Star Trek together. He also taught me to love the natural world, science, and always made me feel intelligent. My dad (and my mom) are ham radio operators. I remember coming home from school one day and telling my dad we learned about Ohm's Law that day and he asked me to explain it to him. (He was also a high school science teacher.) After I did he put his arm around me and told me, "That's the hardest part of the amateur radio license test! All you need to do is learn Morse Code and you'll have your license." Not that I had any desire to get my license, but it felt good to believe that I could if I wanted to.

Now I'm wondering what my children will remember about their father...

I'm sure their fond memories will include hunting for mushrooms in the woods, feeding fish, The Land of the Lost and other Sci fi on TV, and helping them create their invented recipes in the kitchen. He seems to understand, "a dad is loved because he gives his children the one thing they treasure most - himself," (Author Unknown) and it is a wonderful thing.

Wishing you and yours a happy Father's Day...

The Shirt Dress

Dana over at Made posted a tutorial on turning a man's dress shirt into a dress. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make one. It just took me forever - she posted it back in April! It has taken me this long to collect some decent thrifted shirts, and given that I only get to thrift about once a month, I suppose two months isn't so bad after all. I had so much fun with this project - and it went quickly once I actually started cutting; I had the entire dress done in an afternoon.

Now I just need to get K to actually wear the darn thing. Except for about 10 minutes immediately after I finished it, she has refused to wear it.

I used a different sleeve than Dana. (I used See & Sew B5119.) That blue plaid was so institutional I thought it needed a bit more pizazz. I also left off the belt, though I'm sure I'll try one with it eventually.

After I was done I decided to reattach the pocket. I mean what little girl doesn't need a pocket for her treasures, or in my daughter's case - her rocks. This plaid was my least cute shirt - I was worried that I would futz it up on the first try and I didn't want to spoil the beautiful robin's egg blue shirt with the shell buttons, even if it was only $1.00. I also have a boy's XL in a lovely mint green that will be too small for a dress, but will make a cute shirt. Hmmmmm, I bet I could get that done tonight...

Tomorrow I am heading off the island to shop for groceries, thrift, return cans, and to pick up more fabric for tea cozies - which I realize I haven't told you about yet. Soon, I promise...

One Down...

Two to go...

My son chose this cute turtle fabric for his new hat. I love it and it fits perfectly. He specifically asked for, "No Velcro," so this hat is currently strap free. After wearing it to the parade and having it blow off a time or two, he's decided that a chin strap might be a good idea after all. As soon as I get a few minutes I'll be adding that.

We went to the Medical Center earlier this week after S had complained about a headache, and now he has an ear infection and is on antibiotics. Jeez! The doctor also tested him for mono but thank goodness he came back negative! So we are all taking things pretty easy this weekend. How about you, what are you up to?

I Love a Parade

My favorite part of the Lilac Parade is always the Scottsville Clown Band.


S giggled and pointed as they walked past while K covered her ears. (She did as every band passed.)
"Too woud!" she'd say.


They may have been loud, but there's nothing like people having fun to put a smile on your face.

We liked these ladies, too.
The Northern Michigan Beach Queens.

Too funny.