Backpacking 2013

Daddy took the 3 big kids backpacking on the Appalachian trail for 2 nights.  It was Munchkins first trip and she did fantastic. The kids came home smelly and filthy but they had a great time.

Daddy's pack is huge, each kids pack is weighted for them. Munckin carries her water, her snack and a raincoat.  And then as they get bigger they add more stuff in their packs, clothes, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, food, eating utensils..etc.  Daddy carries the tent and everything else, for this trip is was about 10 pounds of food for 4 people.

 I don't know the details or stories behind most of the pictures, and the possibility of Daddy writing more is slim, so  you just get a long string of pictures.

 Love the cool stance in this picture.

 I have no idea what is behind this pose, but I love it.

 Thousands of Centipedes that they thought were cool.

 I love her crazy hair.

 I think this id dipping their hair/heads into the water in an attempt to cool off. 

 Following the long green tunnel...

 I love all these kids and their unique personalities.

Summer Swim 2013

Summer is here again and back to swimming lessons.  I think that after the older 2 kids graduate this class they will just get to have fun and swim some laps during Munchkin's swim lesson.  Munchkin still needs them, but Princess doesn't really and Buddy could use them, but I promised that if they graduate this class they don't have to take the next one.  (It usually take several sessions in each level to pass it.)

My sidekick on the side of the pool.

 Munchkin in her lesson.

 Buddy and Princess listening to instruction,

 and then swimming away.

Tripod Lamp

I have seen some of the tripod lamps in home decor magazines and I love them.  Part of them makes me think about a surveyors tripod, but I think they are pretty cool.  However they are also very expensive.  But I just made one for less than $15 dollars.  Plus the cost of a shade that I haven't bought yet.  Still super cheap.
We found this at the side of our street with a free sign on it.  We grabbed it and walked home.

 We couldn't get the telescope to work and I didn't want the telescope anyway.  However, I took it apart.  The kids took the little mini-telescope as a toy. (it works and is cool) and I got my lamp.  I bought a $10 lamp kit and a $5 harp kit from Home Depot. I followed the directions on the back of the package and now I have a fantastic new lamp.

 

The shade is from the lamp that was in this corner and I don't really like it. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to run to the store and find a drum shade.  Even with the bad shade, I love my new almost free lamp.

Red Solo Cup Rockets

 Sometimes the things I find on Pinterest save a rainy afternoon. 
When the day looks like this.

sometimes it helps to use simple Red Solo Cups to have some fun
We found these at Frugal Fun For Boys

Simple Red Solo Cup and some tape and rubber bands. Take another cup and push down... Turns it into a nice little rocket.  We used the smaller cups and the bigger cups.  The smaller ones seemed to work better.

 

Sorry, but all the pictures are a little blurry, they were moving fast.  I finally managed to upload a video, so you can check this one out.

Annapolis Quilt Show

Sometimes I am completely spoiled.  It is Fathers Day weekend and I am the one getting spoiled.  Daddy took all 4 kids to Grandma and Grandpa's house so I could go volunteer at the quilt show.  It is great to volunteer at a show, especially to be a white glove attendant.  You get to wear white gloves and walk around lifting up the quilts to see the backs.  You get to talk to LOTS of people and learn about lots of different quilts.  Plus you get into the show for free and at this show you get free lunch and snacks.  It could not be much better for someone like me.

Check out some of my favorites.This is a cool Log Cabin and in the 1st pic you don't see the houses stand out. 

 Then you take a step back and they pop out at you.  This quilt was hand quilted.

 This year's challeng was Quilt me a song. There were some very cool entries.  This is Raindrops.

 Abbey Road

 Fireworks inspired by her grandson's picture.

 I loved this quilt, it combined beautiful piecing with wool applique.

 This pineapple quilt was beautifl, the picture doesn't show it best, but it was beautiful.

 This was a wedding quilt where all the guests at the wedding signed the squares and then they were used as a border of the quilt. 

 I am usually not a big fan of thread painting.  It is making a quilt with different color threads, but this one was AMAZING.  Those leaves are appliqued on in a solid color and then they are detailed with hand embroidery.  Then the whole thing is hand quilted.  I was very impressed.

Look at the tip of that one leaf, thousands of tiny stitches.

 This type of family quilt is becoming more popular, with the ability to print on fabric you can add lots of pictures to your quilt. However this one is unique on the back.

 The creator added a block that shows each persons name and the details of the quilt.  In another 50 years you will know the names and the story behind the quilt.

 One of the best things about this quilt show is the country store.  All the quilters in the guild. (this guild has more than 100 members)  go through their stash and sell anything that they don't want.  So you can get lots of stuff for REALLY cheap.  I found some fabric I could use, but my best find of the day is this.

 Simple metal case, but open it up and there is 140 wooden spools of thread.  All for the bargain price of $10. 

 Look at those cool labels.

 Then for 50 cents I got all these cool spools of Belding-Corticelli pure silk thread.  I did a Google search and found this.  This thread was sold door to door in the 1920s and 30's, so cool.

So now that I found this treasure do I finally create the wreath I want? That has empty spools with paper wrapped around them and would be a waste of all the beautiful thread.  I don't know.  I am counting on my sister to give me some fantastic ideas about this one.

Watkins Park

  We met some friends for a playdate at Watkins Park and it was a lot of fun.  The park is free and the Carousel and train are only 1.25 each when you buy 10 tickets. I can handle that, plus the playground is huge with lots of room for the kids to just run and play. 

Scout was scared of the carousel horse.  He didn't stay on this horse for long.

 Princess looks so much like a big kid here. It surprised me.

 Princess on the kangaroo,

 Buddy, loving the tiger, cheetah or panther, or whatever that thing might be.

Scout was fascinated watching the animals move up and down when the music started and we started moving.

 But only from the safety of my lap.

My 2 beautiful girls on the train ride.

Cork Canoes

The first of many summer craft projects was making cork canoes.  These were really in-expensive ($2.38 for 4 canoes plus paint I already had) and the kids love them.
I followed the tutorial at Apartment Therapy  It was a 2 day project because after soaking it takes a long time to dry before you can paint.  We started by cutting, soaking and forming.

It was a very wet day and the kids took the scrap pieces of cork out to play in the street.  They were floating lego guys and playmobil people out in the road.

 

Since they were already wet I let them walk around the block in the rain where they promptly found LOTS of mud.

 The next day after gluing and painting we got to test them out in the creek, yet another excuse to get wet.

 Buddy also took out his remote control boat and had lots of fun driving that around the little boats.  Of course after the storm there was also a lot of weeds that kept getting caught around the prop, so we had to pick it up to clean it fairly often.

 This is my boat being swamped by the waves.

 The girls with their boats.

Daddy and Scout had a chance to drive the boat, Scout didn't like the ideas of the cork boats in the water.

 

The 3 kids with their boats... not a great picture, but I was trying.