Hanging on to Summer

Summer is still here, despite the cooler weather, and the kids got in the pool today to prove it. I'm not sure who they were proving it to (the water was freezing!), but they enjoyed themselves. I spent the better part of this afternoon tackling the weed garden I have been growing all summer in the front of my house. Some of the weeds were as tall as the roofline...WAY OUT OF CONTROL!!! Anyways, as I was clearing I found two baby turtles, which we promptly removed to the garden since I uncovered all of their hiding places. Plenty of rotten tomatoes in the garden for them!

We also found several praying mantis and one female (who has a brown back instead of green) who had just laid her egg sac! Cool!



And nothing says summer like homegrown tomatoes for dinner. Check my other blog for the rest of the meal if you are interested!
We're getting all set for our big camping trip, so the blogosphere may be a little quiet till we get back.

I'm throwing in one more miscellaneous shot of Bay and Leah at the local Marine Museum from a couple of weeks ago. They are in the discovery room in a miniature sailboat...the way they put on those lifevests and took to the helm, you'd think they had been on a sailboat before!!! wink wink

Dress #2 Finished

I finished Leah's second dress with the same basic pattern as the first. I actually finished it last week, but am just now getting pictures of it. It is cuter on her than on the hanger, but you get the basic idea. My favorite part of these dresses is the tiered ruffle in the back, so girly :) Maybe you'll get to see it on her in some other picture later on! I got a new pattern for a fall/winter jacket to make for the kids here and it comes sized for all 3 kids! Amazing! So I need to make a trip to a better fabric store than our sad Joanne's for some jacket fleece and contrast fabric.

Summer Sailing

We took a spur-of-the-moment weekend sailing trip with Heather's parents. It turned out to be gorgeous, considering it is August. We sailed up the Bay to the Little Choptank River and anchored in Madison Bay for the night (get out your map and find it!). The wind was perfect (8-10 kts) and the temperature was in the low 80's. After last summer's trial run overnight with the kids, we dared to go a little further and they did great. It took about 7 hours to sail to our anchorage on Friday, and about the same time to sail home on Saturday (there was no wind for about 2 hours so we motored a bit). Bay is becoming quite the seaman. After quizzing him at the end of the trip, he picked up on several things...he knew port and starboard, stern and bow, jib and main sail, and of course, he always knew when we were in the Chesapeake BAY :)

Heather at the helm with first mate, Leah in the jump seat!

Dinner at sunset : hot dogs, bbq and chocolate chip cookies.
The grown-ups got to enjoy the sunset while the kiddoes chilled out with a movie (Finding Nemo) down in the cabin.
Doesn't Leah look awfully grown-up in this picture?

My gracious parents who are always so happy to take us and the kids out on their boat. It sure is lots of fun!

As a side note, my mom is laughing because I told her she looked old in the first picture I took, then I took this one. She definitely doesn't look old here!

Waiting for students!

I said that I was working on re-organizing and re-arranging the school room and here is proof that it actually happened! It looks quite different from last year. I am disappointed that I didn't take a before-shot, but it was really depressing anyways. The biggest change is the computer nook in the first picture to the left. That is actually a doorway that was unused space until now. We shut the door and put in a piece of formica Dennis found at the dump. Now Eric's computer is there and we can monitor all of his online and computer use from most places in the house. He put up a few shelves above and the space is perfect! The other big change is that we got that round kitchen table out of there and picked up one of those rectangular tables from BJ's that the legs fold out. It will serve more kids at once and it will also be great for crafts and art projects. The bookshelves were moved and stacked even higher on top of each other. With the added storage above the computer nook, I have just a little bit of EXTRA space which I am sure will not go unused for long!

I took some ideas from other homeschooling friends and got a large basket for each child. I put each of their curriculum for the year (core stuff, not supplementary reading, etc.) in the basket so we can just pull out the basket for the day instead of pulling books off shelves, trying to reshelve and then making a grand mess of it all. Hopefully this will work better. I also put up a strip of wood with 2 clothespins on it (in the top picture on the left) to hang our maps and other posters. Instead of permanently tacking them to the wall, i can cycle in/out the ones we are currently using and easily hang several posters at once and then switch them with ease. I think this will work better too.

Sewing Binge

I've been making up for lost time I think. I had two dresses cut out for Leah at the beginning of the summer and that is as far as they made it for several months. So I put them together the past couple of days and dress #1 is finished. Dress #2 is very similar and is just waiting for buttonholes tonight and it will be done. They turned out pretty good. So far no major mistakes which is monumental for me :) And of course, Leah loves her new dress.

Bay's New Robe/Cover Up

I finished Bay's robe after making a trip to the local lame fabric store and picking up some terry cloth. I was really hoping to find something more brightly colored (royal blue, red) but my only choices were baby pastels. The olive green and cream were THE only viable option, so that is how it turned out. It ended up turning out pretty good after all. Not what I had envisioned, but nice and just what Bay needs for his shivering little body when he gets out of the pool!
I added rows of stitching along the belt, hood and front and bottom band for interest.
Here he is in Leah's bathroom trying it on. Now Eric wants one too...go figure! Anyone know how to adapt a pattern to fit someone 8 sizes larger?

Fishing with Gramps

One of the really great things about living near family is the kids' opportunities to spend time with Grandparents. My dad has been purposefully taking the kids fishing one at a time as often as possible this summer. They usually just go down to the water's edge and stand on the bulkhead and cast. Usually they catch something in the shady areas under the trees. I have yet to actually get down there and photograph them actually fishing (don't want to break the Gramps magic!). Last evening it was Bay's turn and they evidently did well.

Poor fish...all Leah had to say was that now our picnic table is all yucky!

100th post!!!

Wow, it's my 100th post and I can't believe it's taken so long :) Well, I think it is fitting for this post to share pics of my newest sewing machine creation for my little sweetie! A robe/cover up for getting out of the pool on cool afternoons. I modified a pattern to include the hood, and since I didnt' have enought pink terry cloth, I used a white towel for the main part of the robe. Turned out pretty darn cute and she really likes it! That's all folks for this one!

Visit to Uncle Andy's!

Today we went to visit Heather's brother where he keeps his sailboat/house. He just recently got transferred to the East Coast and this was the first time in, well.....ever...that we (meaning just our own family) have been able to hang out with Andy on his own turf. It was great fun! The day was non-eventful and totally relaxing. Enjoy some selected shots from the day!

When we arrived at the yacht club, Bay saw this written on the parking lot and made this face. Perfect! Flush!
Lunch (kabobs and dogs) on the grill on Andy's sailboat, aptly named "Barefoot"

View of the Patapsco River from the yacht club playground.

Hanging out in the pool (what we spent most of our time doing)

Bay is always silly

Heather hangin' out...something that doesn't happen too often :)

On the way home it stormed, and then there was a beautiful rainbow that arched across the entire sky. I stood out our sunroof to photograph this, but only part of it would fit in the camera frame. For a little while it was actually a double rainbow all the way across!

Endless Summer.......

There is something comforting in rituals...both for us as the parents and also for the kids. I think they signal something in our brains that help us cope with time and transitions. At the end of the swim team season every year for as long as I can remember has been our Volunteer Fire Department's Carnival. Every year it is the same, every year it is different. The rides are the same. The kids are different in how they react to the rides, the people we see are different. But one thing that stays the same is the signal that summer is coming to an end...it is kind of the last hurrah of the season, kind of hard to explain.

I'm not sure how all other fireman's carnivals are run, but our fireman have purchased all of their rides, and store them, service them, paint them, set them up and run them themselves. It adds quite a local touch. We know many of our fireman and enjoy seeing them each year at the Carnival.

If you read last years post on the carnival, you may have noticed that Eric's expression on this ride was markedly different! I'm not sure what happened this year, but he was very cooperative to ride with his siblings and even enjoyed himself from the start of the ride!

Leah and her Granni on the carousel. After the first two rides she finally let go of Granni and held on by herself! Lessons in bravery :)

Dennis took Bay and Leah on the kiddie rides for awhile while I went on the Tilt-A-Whirl with Eric. One time. That was all I could handle. What happened to my body when I turned 30 that I can no longer tolerate rides that go around and around? Poor Eric, I was his last hope of going on those rides with him. He'll have to convince his brother to be brave I guess!

Oh look...he did convince Mr. Brave and Daring that the Tilt-A-Whirl would be fun! Last year Bay went with a grown-up, this time just the two of them had a blast together.

Each child got to spend $1 on treats...that is the other amazing thing about this carnival...it doesn't break the bank! The concessions are dirt cheap! Eric chose a sno-cone, Bay chose green cotton candy, and Leah chose chocolate ice-cream. After a few tastes, they all ended up trading !!! You can see what Leah got her hands on!