Seeing Double - Halloween 2015

This year both kids wanted to be Pikachu for Halloween. It seemed odd to me that they both wanted to be the same thing, but when it came down to it, all I wanted was happy kids, so I made two Pikachu costumes.

I actually ended up making three Pikachu costumes. The first on I made for my daughter was huge. When she tried it on the crotch was down by her knees. Needless to say, I ended up making another one. The first one was so gigantic, it almost fits me. 

The biggest challenge for me this year was making those those tails. I ended up using foam core board and covering them with fabric. (Which then attached to their backs with velcro.) The spray adhesive held great until we got home; it finally gave way when we walked in the door after trick-or-treating through town. Talk about perfect timing!

I hope you and yours have a wonderful time tonight. We're just hanging out waiting for dusk before we head out to trick-or-treat...

Autum

Fall on Mackinac Island, is by far, my favorite season. It may have been chilly and wet today, but with umbrella and rain gear in hand, I still enjoyed my time outside...

In Case You Were Wondering...

Mackinac Island kids love field trips. Off Island adventures are probably a little more challenging for us than they are for mainland schools, but we still take field trips when we can. We just have to plan around the boat schedule when we are thinking about a trip.

Believe it or not, the Mackinac Island Public School owns a bus. Well, we own half of a bus. We bought it with the St. Ignace schools - they use it most of the time, but when we need it, it's there. Occasionally parents will drive for trips, but more often than not, we take the bus.

I took this picture on Friday when we took the 4th, 5th and 6th graders to Palms Book State Park near Manistique, to visit the Big Spring. It was a great learning experience or the kids, full of words like topography, sink hole, spring and hydrostatic pressure. After visiting the spring, we stopped at the Cut Rive Bridge for a picnic and a few more geology lessons...

You can read about two of our other field trips here and here.

Pikachu Pants

My son loves Pokemon these days, so I shouldn't have been surprised when he asked to be Pikachu for Halloween. I love that he had a very clear vision of what he wanted to look like, "I don't want a Pikachu suit. I want normal clothes that make me look like Pikachu. And I want ears; ears on a headband, not on a hat or a hood."  I kind of got the vibe that he wanted to look cool. He is 11 after all, and I have to remember that when you're 11, you often worry about what your friends think...

I knew he didn't want a pajama style pant, but I had never seen a pattern for blue jeans. Until, I found this Skinny Jeans pattern. It was perfect, but the only fabric I could find was lemon yellow. No problem... 

A packet of this in the kitchen sink and I was good to go. The best thing about this kind of pattern, is there was no trip to the fabric store. Go to Patterns sells downloadable pdf patterns that you buy and print out at home. Let me tell you, that's a wonderful thing when you live on an island and the nearest fabric store is a 30 - 45 minute boat ride and then an hour drive away. So, once my fabric was the perfect Pikachu yellow, I just printed out my pattern and got to work. Sure I had to cut out the pieces and tape them together, but it was super easy, and it took a whole lot less time than a trip to the store.

I quickly sewed up a pair and S tried them on. He loved the pants, except he didn't care for how low cut they were in the front. As you can see, the front was two full inches lower than the back, and he didn't like how his underwear was visible over the top of the waistband. (Plus he is so thin, he has no behind to help hold his pants up.) I was surprised when he asked me if I could just add in more fabric to make them come up higher. Thank goodness I bought more fabric than I needed and I had enough to make a second yellow pair. (Yet another instance where being a fabric hoarder has been a good thing.)

In about 15 minutes I drafted a new pattern piece to raise the front up so it was about equal with the back. (I had to alter the shape of the pocket inside too, so if you want to know more about that email me, and I can go into more detail for you.) 

Just to be sure that the pieces all worked together, I made a second pair out of denim I already had stashed away.  It ended up being a really good thing because S told me those were his favorite pants ever and that he was never taking them off...

That was, until he saw the pocket on the next pair I made. As soon as he saw that pocket, the denim pants got demoted into second place and he christened these his "Pikachu Pants." Thank goodness my daughter will not wear jeans, because if she did, I'm sure I would not have been allowed to sleep until she had a pair as well.

If you're looking for a jeans pattern, Peekaboo Pattern Shop's Skinny Jeans pattern is a dream. The instructions are incredibly clear and it sews up fast - with a serger I made the third pair in less than four hours - including cutting the pieces and all the top stitching. You can find the pattern at Gotopatterns.com or just click here. 

I'm glad my son thinks it's cool that I make things for him and I think he'll get a of use out of these, (even if they are yellow!) Sometimes it can be so hard to sew for boys. 

Do you have any boy patterns you love? If you do, please let me know...

I was given this pattern at no cost, but the opinions presented in this post are my own.

October

October is here. 

Finally. 

I love October. September is always such a hectic month for me; it's not a bad month, it's just an incredibly busy month. September means the kids and I all head back to school. All three of us do well with the routine of school, but sometimes it takes  a few weeks to  adjust to the new normal, that's all. I always feel like I can slow down and breathe again once October hits. Plus, by the time October rolls around fall is here: the nights are getting cooler, the  leaves are starting to change, and that lovely earthy leafy smell is in the air. I would have to say that October is probably my favorite month on Mackinac.

Those are Jim's pumpkins, growing near where the Carriage Tours' horses get their daily showers. They always seem to grow well there. Every day, as we walk home from school, S and K marvel at how big they grown and contemplate which lucky island kids will get to carve faces into them for Halloween...

It's the Little Things

Happiness is a bike basket that makes me smile every time I see it. There's something about sunflowers, even the artificial ones, that just makes me happy...

Feathered Friends

As crazy as it sounds, we borrowed three chickens from some friends of ours. They have 40 or so chickens and were thrilled to give S and K a tiny taste of farm living. I had romantic visions of throwing corn out for them and then singing quietly to myself as I brought two eggs back to the house each and every morning. (In my day dreams I was always singing this song from Beauty and the Beast, but I suppose that really isn't important to the story.)

Henrietta, Fudge and Big Mama were ours for the summer, so of course we had to name them. 

The girls have only been with us for a short time, but we are quickly learning that chickens, do in fact, have distinct personalities. Fudge, the youngest of the flock, is by far the most inquisitive. Henrietta is standoffish and Big Mama rules the roost (pun intended.) Both Fudge and Big Mama (so named because she is considerably larger than the others) will eat snacks right out of our hands. Their current favorite snacks are dehydrated meal worms, followed by sandwich crusts and weeds from the garden.

The coop use to be the kids' playhouse. They hadn't used it in several years and our friend thought it would make a perfect place for hens to roost and nest. (Thank you Rick.) Except...

In the three months since the girls arrived, we'd only gotten one egg. Yep. 

One. 

Stinking. 

Egg. 

One lone egg was waiting on the coop floor the morning after they arrived. I've read several books and have joined the forum at BackyardChickens.com, but I was at a loss.  Our theory was that they thought they were on vacation - they were on Mackinac Island for the summer after all. Allen even started calling them "The Freeloading Slackers" and occasionally referred to them as "Sweet, Sour and Teriyaki," much to the horror of S & K.

No big deal, I felt like even if we didn't get any more eggs, we learned a ton and that made it all worth while. But then a miracle happened. OK, maybe it wasn't a miracle, but it was darn exciting. We'd really given up on actually checking for eggs when we went out to get the girls up and put them to bed. (Not literally; that's just what we call opening the coop door in the morning and then and closing the coop up at night.) On Saturday morning we found three lovely brown eggs in the nest. I was so excited I forgot to snap a picture! We had another egg on Sunday and yet another today.

We're not sure which one of the girls is leaving the eggs for us, but we suspect Fudge. She sexually matured in August, so we're thinking it's most likely her. Go back and look at that first picture - that was what Fudge looked like in June while the picture below was taken today. Just look at the difference in her comb and wattle between June and September (the comb is on top of her head and the wattles hang down.) It amazes me just how much she's grown.

Now that we're actually getting a few eggs, it's going to be a lot harder to send the girls back home this fall...

Note to Self

I think I should head home, like now,  it just might rain...

Lasagna Sauce ??

My daughter's tomato plants are loaded with delicious looking tomatoes. I can't wait until we have enough to make a batch of "lasagna sauce." Of course, she won't eat "spaghetti sauce" - heaven forbid her noodles be desecrated with a something as awful as a vegetable.  In fact, I'm not quite sure just how my husband convinced her to grow them. But, since she loves lasagna her tomatoes can go into a sauce for that.  Right now she doesn't need to know that they are actually the same thing, right?

Yum

Thanks to Ken & Deb's cucumbers

 and Rick's Grandma's recipe,

we now have jars and

jars of bread and butter pickles.

Excursion: Marengo Cave

Last summer, while we were down in Indiana visiting Grandma and Grampie, we were lucky enough to visit Marengo Cave.

We got our tickets,  

and were very impressed by the numerous formations we saw in the cave.

For me the coolest part of the cave was the story of how it was discovered. After over hearing some kids talking about exploring a sinkhole, a fifteen year old girl and her eleven year-old brother grabbed some candles and decided they wanted to explore it first.

I can't even imagine exploring a very wet cave with nothing but candles! Plus, they didn't tell anyone where they were going. Heaven forbid something had happened, no one would have come looking for them.

The kids reported their discovery to the property owner, and in just a few weeks the cave was opened to the public. Because of this, it's always been protected, so the formations are in amazing shape.

We loved it!

Many of the formations were amazing, 

and apparently Indiana takes great pride in protecting its caves. I searched and couldn't find a similar law in Michigan. I wonder if it's because we don't have nearly as many caves? 

Of course, when were were done, we had to "mine" for gems. The kids loved it when we were here, and they were willing to spend their own money, so how could I say no?

Plus, it's just fun!

And the geek in me adored how both of them spent a good twenty minutes with their identification cards to make sure they correctly identified each and every one.

Hanging Around

As I was leaving school yesterday, I noticed this little guy hanging around near the door. (I've been back at school this week working on getting my classroom ready.) Usually there is a little group of 10 or so bats that roost up under the entryway at school, but not this summer (due to white-nose syndrome.) I know lots of people don't like bats, but the do eat an incredible amount of bugs. Plus, they really are kind of cute - well, as long as they aren't flying around inside your house.

Some People

Not the best morning when you head over to the mainland to go shopping and find the side of your car looking like this. Ug!

Perhaps karma will even the score at a later date...

Mad Skillz

OK, to be honest no one in my family has "mad skillz" when it comes to sports, but the kids sure did have fun with out at Wawashkamo this summer. Each week Chuck, and a few helpers, worked to teach over 20 kids the basics of golf. 

Wawashkamo is such a beautiful course. It's kind of sad that I've been on Mackinac Island every summer since 1989, and I'd never actually set foot out on the course until this year. (Yes, I am hanging my head in shame.) 

Chick was really good with the kids. He taught them the differences between the different kinds of clubs, and helped them learn how to stand, swing and putt.

The best part was, for the introductory group, they never kept score; the class was about learning and having fun rather than who was the best player. Both S & K really enjoyed golf lessons - so much so that they've asked if we can go out to the course and play one day. I really appreciate the thinking that goes into golf - and since our school has a golf team S & K may want to play on the team someday. It's not a sport I have any interest in, but I'm glad they've had some exposure to it.

Jumping for Joy

My daughter has been sleeping on an old mattress. And when I say old, I mean really, really old. My husband and I got the bed, mattress and box spring as hand-me-downs, from my parents, when we got married - almost nineteen years ago! The bedroom furniture had originally belonged to my grandparents and had been handed down to my parents, when they got married back in 1965. (Yeah, it's old, but it's in really good shape.)

As soon as we took her new mattress upstairs and brought the mattress downstairs, the old one immediately became a trampoline. Because, I mean, who can resist jumping on a mattress? Not me. A half-hour or so later, after the old box spring made its way downstairs, the mattress was repurposed into the floor of a pretty amazing fort.

The trampoline / fort will remain until Monday when we can get to the DPW office to purchase item-removal stickers and arrange for the dray to haul them to the dump. Until then, feel free to stop on over if you feel like jumping...

Good-bye July

Dang! I can't believe July is almost over. We've been busy - really really busy. Being busy has been good, but I haven't had much time to stop and write about it...

Of course we celebrated the Fourth. But this year we were lucky enough to get to do it with one of our exchange students from year's past. Ying Ying and her fiance, Miguel, spent a few wonderful days with us. Catching up with Ying Ying and meeting Miguel was fabulous but somehow I managed to not get a single photo of either of them, though I did manage to capture the island's fireworks display.

A week or so later, we went camping with Allen's family up in the UP. Nine of us camped out in the middle of nowhere along the banks of the Carp River. Despite the mosquitoes and the lack of running water, it was a beautiful spot.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the Boat Building contest. Each boat had to be made out of 100% natural-found-at-the-camp-site materials. 

Everyone let them go at the same time and the first one over the falls won.

Even though the kids enjoyed the boat race, hands-down their favorite thing was spending time with their cousins. I just love how they all get along so well. 

A little later in the month, K got to go away to camp. It was her first time being away from home.

She spent a week down in Lapeer, MI at Lions Bear Lake Camp. The coolest part of the whole week was every camper and many of the counselors wore hearing aides. It was a wonderful opportunity for K to get to know other kids with hearing issues. She loved it, and has asked me to post more pictures, but it will have to wait for another day...

While K at camp, S got to go to "Camp Grandma," down in Southern Indiana.

She enrolled him in daily swimming lessons and made sure he got ice cream every day. (Sometimes twice!) Plus I think they went to see three movies during the week. He was thrilled and didn't want to come home when the week was over.

On top of all that I've been volunteering at the Governor's Summer Residence, the kids have been taking golf lessons and we've all been working together to care for three new pets. Not to mention I've been catching up on all those little jobs that I seem to be too busy to get to during the school year, such as washing the wool rugs, taking my wedding ring in to be repaired, cleaning out the car, etc. But tomorrow my brother arrives so we'll have several quiet days with him. And then: August...