Teeny, Tiny

Ah...summer. It is here in all it's glorious splendor.  Filled with bright laughter of the kids as they rush in and out, in and out, AND in and out of the house.  The Hot, Hot Sunshine, that radiates off of everything causing sweat to pour off of small, and not so small faces as they run in and out And in and out of the house. The bold colors of summer that stick to the feet and shoes of the kids as they run in and out, in and out of the house. (Shut the door Already! Were you born in a barn?!)

And with the arrival of summer comes the arrival of Vacation.

One of the things  I took with me on vacation was these tiny little paper hexagons.   170 tiny little hexagons.  Let me explain.  I saw a pattern in the August 2012 issue of American Patchwork Quilting for a scrapy little hexagon pieced bag.  How Cute!  The idea of a hexagon piece bag has been in my mind for almost a year.  Just hanging there.  Bugging me.  Suggesting ever so politely, that it be made. Pestering me. UGH.  The problem was that the Pattern in the Magazine called for 1 inch hexagons.  Which, let's be honest, is CRAZY!

Mine are a more reasonable 1.5 inch hexagon...definitely sensible. HA!

So I've been stitching, and stitching and stitching red fabric to the tiny little hexagons.  And guess what?  Now I have 170 teeny tiny little hexagons.  Ta-Da! Now it's time for more Stitching, but the fun part...stitching them together.  Where will this lead?  Most likely to the UFO pile, but hey! I have all summer to play with them.

2 down...168 to go.

Great American Game

Last weekend Grandma and I took the kidos to the ballpark.  It took some time to recall but the last time we saw a game was in 2002!  It was then that we took the oldest to his first game, he was five and a half!  We were down at old Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, just a year before they tore it down.  I remember this because they were letting the kids run the bases before they tore it down.  OH! How times have changed!  

Our seats were quite high but the kids could have cared less.  The first two innings were touch and go and I wasn't sure if E was going to last! She entertained herself with the binoculars for a while, then the vendors started!   That kept her busy. Boy there is nothing like ballpark food!  Why do hot dogs always taste better there?

They stuffed their faces with it all!  We had hot dogs, bratts, peanuts, cotton candy, pizza, soft pretzels and nachos!  Yummy.  

We waddled out of there with a win! Go Reds!  This fortunate event entitled us to yet another Cincinnati favorite... LaRosa's Pizza! All in all a great day and a wonderful memory, even if it came with a little heartburn.

Disney Days

I am just about recovered from my trip to Disney with the middle school honor band. A weekend filled with 80 teens, 14 adults, 2 nine hour bus rides and only about 15 hours of sleep total just about drove me over the edge.  But isn't that the stuff that memories are made of?

  While there the band participated in Disney's Magical Performing Arts.  A 4 hour extravaganza where the kids learned the music, performed the music and then watched as their music was put to animation.  How cool is that?!  Although their ideas of fun may have differed, kids and adults all had a wonderful time!

It was weird to walk around without the rest of my family.  I was amazed at how much the kids have grown since our last Disney trip.  I looked around and realized how many of the rides they have outgrown.  Wasn't it only yesterday I waited in line with Emma for Dumbo?  Now there is no way she would be caught dead riding it with her 'Mom'!  Looks like we may have to schedule one more Disney trip with the kids while they still want to ride with us.

Inspired.

What wonderful weather we are having!  It has been in the high 70.  The breeze is warm and it is just cloudy enough to keep the hot sun at bay!  (Not to rub it in)  But it is Gorgeous!  The family took this weekend to explore some of the natural beauty around SC.  We gathered up the kiddo's,  forced them into the back seat of a small 4 door, and headed out.  We kept the drive short, for our sanity and found a very rustic trail in the Sumter National Forest.

Even though the weather was warm it was still very much winter in the forest.  We saw only a few squirrels and not much else.  Although that could be because of the 3 very loud children we had with us.

The trees were still barren, some still with withered brown leaves still hanging onto the branches.
There were a few signs of life such as lichen, mushrooms and moss.  That didn't stop us from having a wonderful hike.

With all of this wonderful color how can one not be inspired?!  You can't.  That is why I am entering my 9 color selections for Stitched in Color's and the Fat Quarter Shop's  Emerald Mosaic Contest.  These are my selections. If you would like to make your picks or just browse through the beautiful fabric selections of other's head over to Stitched in Color.

Traditions

Traditions are great!  There is no time like the Christmas season to bring out the traditions.  Like many families we have our traditions.  Getting together with family, playing with cousins, and baking cookies are some of the traditions our family upholds over the holiday season.

Some of our traditions are long standing traditions that we enjoy year after year, while others are traditions that we have only just started, perhaps without even realizing it.  One such tradition is our annual Rocket Launch.  The boys and dad, although more recently Emma has been included, build a rocket and we launch it over Christmas Vacation.

We have our own make shift launch pad (C-B antenna and old license plate) and our ignitor (a rechargeable battery from one of the boy's remote control vehicles).  We head over to the soccer park on a day that has reasonably calm wind (or no wind) for the official launch.  The kids are always excited and this year was certainly no exception!  In fact, another tradition usually involves Emma becoming injured in one way or another.  Usually this is due to a rowdy brother. AH! Feel the love!

Once the rocket is set up the official countdown can begin. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF!!

This year we launched a two stage rocket, something we have never done before.  Boy did that go HIGH.  For several second the rocket was lost in the cloudy sky.  We followed the rocket for at least 10 seconds as it descended through the troposphere.  As it got closer Mark took off to see if he could, get this, Catch IT!  HELLO? it is falling to the earth without a parachute, please don't impale yourself on the nose cone.  As I screamed at Mark let it hit the ground, I noticed that the rocket, despite our best efforts to launch on a calm day, was being blown into a stand of trees. Uh-Oh.

Yep, another tradition, the annual search the woods for the rocket.  Sadly this never ends well.  While living in South Carolina we have yet to recover a single rocket!  Ah.. nothing like a good tradition.

I mustache you a question...

But I shave it for later. LOL!
Last weekend at my sisters wedding we had an invasion of sorts.  A mustache invasion!  I purchased 6 of these peel and stick felt mustaches for the photo booth.  Boy were they fun.  The kids had a blast posing with their mustaches, even the adults got into the fun.  Here are a few pictures to enjoy.

With a great mustache comes great responsibility.

I'd rather be growing a mustache.

I'd love to stay and chat but really I mustache.

My mustache brings all the girls into the yard.

Yellowstone.

As I mentioned in the last post we took off to Yellowstone 3 weeks ago (can that be right?)  This had to be one of the most wonderful family trips we have taken.  We flew into Salt Lake City and then had to make the 5 hour drive to West Yellowstone.  As we pulled into our cabin on Tuesday night snow had just started to fall.  Yes, I said Snow!  June 5 and it was still snowing!  It was no surprise when we woke Wednesday morning to find just enough snow to make a little snowman.  The kids loved it.

 (Believe it or not this was the first snow we had encountered this year. HA!)

We took in every thermal feature, waterfall and geyser they had, and I have the 460 photos to prove it.  I believe some editing will be required prior to making a photo album of this trip.

 We were lucky enough to see a ton of wildlife.

Bison, Pronghorn, Elk, Coyote, Bear, Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goat, Bald Eagle, Raven, Trout, and Osprey were among the animals we watched.

The only animal we did not see in the wild was the Wolf.  Emma had hoped to spot one out but we never did.  Emma and I did make it over to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center to see some of the captive wolves.  While the girls learned about Grizzlies and Wolves, the guys headed out to learn to fly fish.  They had a wonderful trip and learned a great deal.  If you are ever in West Yellowstone we highly recommend The West Yellowstone Fly Shop.

  Between the 3 guys they caught 20 plus fish, both rainbow and brown trout.  Just when we started to tire of Bison, if you can imagine that, we headed over to Grand Teton National Park.  It remained cool, snowy and a bit cloudy, throughout the trip.

 But at 8000 feet above sea level you take what you get.  We did several day hikes and saw some really beautiful scenery.

We also caught a glimpse of a Moose, Beaver and Marmot. Overall it was a wonderful trip and one we will remember for years to come.

A lesson in a,b,c's and 1, 2, 3's

This past holiday weekend the Family and I set out for the city of New York.  I had been there once before, about 15 years ago, to watch my brother graduate from college.  Since he still resides in Brooklyn, although now with a wife and child, I decided it was about time to revisit.

Empire State Building viewed from Bryant Park

Now the first time I went, I went with my parents, my sister and a baby.  I didn't drive, ride the subway, bus or  do any type of sight seeing.  We were there strictly for one purpose...graduation.   This time our intention was to visit and to get out and see the sights. Boy was I in for a surprise.

My brother and his wife live in Brooklyn in 2nd story apartment.  To get anywhere in New York or any of the 5 boroughs the subway is your best bet.  Our first day we slept in, had a late breakfast and started out late morning.  Our destination... The Museum of Natural History, which I would learn later was at the corner of 79th and Central Park West.  Maggi and my new nephews had every intention of accompanying us, of course that was before the temperature dropped and the wind picked up to 45 mph.  Being only 3 months old my nephew decided there was no way he was going anywhere in those conditions and promptly let us all know it!  We were on our own, no map, no knowledge of the city or it's transportation. As she headed back  Maggi yelled, "Go 2 blocks to the 86th street platform, Get on the D train, change to B train at Grand St., get off at the national history museum. It's Easy."  Easy?.  HA!

Okay, step 1. find subway station
step 2. pay for metro pass
step 3. find map
step 4.  find D and B train.

Fortunately, we were able to find the subway station.  The large street sign that read "SUBWAY--->"  helped.  Once there, we had to use our higher math skills to figure out how many metropasses we needed and how much we needed on each pass.  We had 5 people, each way was $2.25,  no charge for transfer unless it is outside the 2 hour window, each metropass can only be swiped 4 times at one stop and one credit card can only be swiped 2 times before you are locked out.  (Got it?)  I remember why my son hates algebra.

We were able to find the D train, board and it transfer to the B train.  Having only 3 days in New York City we decided to get off at Central Park and walk the 5 blocks through the park to the museum.  We followed the people out of the subway tunnel to 72nd street and entered Central Park.  The wind was cold and the temperature had plummeted far from our 70 degrees in South Carolina.  We didn't so much as walk through Central Park as R.U.N  because no sooner did we enter the park than it started snowing!  Totally a tourist mistake.  Had we taken the subway to 81st we would have entered directly into the warm Museum.

Central Park in the Snow.

After we had eaten lunch and warmed up we had a wonderful time at the museum.  The place is HUGE.  4 floors and hundreds of exhibits, we hardly scratched the surface.  The kids loved it.  The life size Blue Whale was Amazing.  Then as we started to get tired we realized that we had to find our way back to Brooklyn.  Okay, we got here didn't we.  We spread out the subway map and planned our attack.

1. take elevator to floor 1 entering the subway inside and avoiding the cold.
2. take B train to D
3. exit at their stop.
Wait their stop closed for construction.
3. reviesed. take train to end of route.
4. get off D train.
5.  get back on D train going other direction.

Our first mistake, The elevator we choose exited no where near the subway entrance.  We were herded out into the cold, where we had to walk around the museum to enter the subway.  Now the train was packed.  Right. Rush hour.  We crammed ourselves onto the subway,  got nasty looks as we blocked traffic while we studied our map.  Made it to B train back to D train.  Their stop fortunately was not closed.  Okay back to back to plan A or was that step 3.  No I think it was Train D.

Time Square

We did indeed make it back safe and sound.  Saturday, Maggi and Dom gave us a guided tour of Grand Central Station where we had lunch, yummy.  Time Square which the kids thought was and I quote, "Totally Wicked!"  We walked through the giant Toys R Us, an experience I will never repeat.  Saw lots of tall buildings, including, the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, The Chrysler  Building and Rockafeller Plaza.  With them leading the way it seemed easy. It was easy.  We had no problems making the 1 hour and 10 min subway ride.  Even the baby was happy. Well, as happy as you can be at 3 months when you are not at home and are forced to be out in the cold.

Sunday Maggi and Dom decided to stay home.  The windchill was 8 degrees, who could blame them.  With all 8 of us in a tiny apartment we decided to take the kids to the Aquarium at Coney Island.  After a hardy lunch we planed our attack.

Yes, we drove.

t-shirts for 10

Every year when we get together with the Pierce family we have a general birthday celebration for all of the kids.  It works out great for the moms.  Not only are we freed from the responsibility of remembering the birthdays, thereby remembering to ship off a package, but we also are armed with a new and exciting toys for keeping everyone occupied.  bonus!

t-shirt design 2011

This year I decided to mix it up a little.  I decided to make t-shirts for all.  I used this technique on one of the teacher bags I made.  It is easy and inexpensive.  After purchasing and washing all 10 t-shirts, I created a design in power point.  I am sure there are many other design programs that could be used to make larger or smaller template designs.

I made several copies of the design using various fonts and sizes.  I do not have a light box so transfer of the design can be a challenge.  I have found that certain fonts are easier to see and therefore transfer.  I also flip the design over, using a Sharpie I trace the design on the back to darken the image.  It is still a bit of a free hand project. As a result the designs are a bit different from one t-shirt to the next.

I taped the design onto a piece of cardboard.  I used a cereal box I had collapsed.  Once the design was taped onto the cardboard it was placed into the t-shirt, centered and traced onto the t-shirts.  I used Tulip brand Fabric Markers to draw the design onto the shirts. The kids t-shirts have the design on the front of the shirt and the adults are on the back.

the sensational six

The next part of the t-shirt plan was not thought through as well as it should have been.  I purchased a tie-dye kit from the craft store with the intention of having the kids tie-dye their shirts.  Let me just say this was not the best plan. Okay so I really didn't have a plan, or a clue as to how to tie-dye at the time the purchase was made.   I also failed to see the possible disasters that could result from 6 kids ages 14 - 4 using the tie-dye kit.

Mom's t-shirts

On the third day, we pulled out the tie-dye kit and had the children pick designs and tie up their shirts.  This was a hoot.  It was amazing to watch the different approaches the kids took to making their t-shirts just the way they wanted.  Each child's personality really shined through in the creating of their shirts.

silly faces

After a successful tying and rubber banding session, we moved outside to dye.  Let me just say that hindsight is 20/20 and my tie-dying idea could have used a more well thought out plan.  I however tend to be more on the free and creative side.  One child at a time we let them squirt their shirts and supervised the amount of dye used.  Oh, what a mess we had!  It could have been much worse, but fortunately our kids did a fabulous job of listening. We only ended up with a couple of kids with dyed fingers, faces and knees. The 24hour waiting period was excruciating.  Fortunately we had boating, skiing and jet-skis to keep us busy.  After rinsing, washing and drying we have 10 tremendously terrific t-shirts.

We all donned our t-shirts the last day of boating fun.  Sadly the weather did not cooperate and the storms rolled in at the same time we did.  We still had an awesome dinner and made some unforgettable memories!

Knee deep.

This week is our annual Hoog-Pierce week of sun, boating and fun. To commemorate this event, this year I made everyone t-shirts. (more on that in the next post, but here is a preview.)

 Every year for the past 15 years we have gotten together to enjoy boating together. Every year the fun grows right along with the children.  This year is certainly no exception, and the week is not over.

Rock on Emma

Jack trying out some moves

Yesterday, I watched in amazement as my two youngest jumped on the knee-board and took off.  Not only did they take off but they started doing tricks!   It was a huge day for knee-boarding.  The kids really enjoyed the challenge of learning something new.

Abby ready for Knee-boarding

Ellen getting pointers

  The fact that it was an easy thing for the kids to pick up made it that much more fun.  Mark did very little knee-boarding due a knee injury he is still recovering from.  Don't worry he found plenty to keep himself occupied.

Namely the Jet ski!  He spent much of his time ( just about 90%) driving, jumping and splashing in the wake of the boat.  He loved every minute of it!