Vacation... All I Ever Wanted

Really, what can you say about a car trip with your 2 children, your parents and your ex-husband? Surprisingly, it went better than expected and we all had a good time-- except for when I was suffering from food poisoning in Denver. That was not so much fun.

I worked on my Lucy bag when I wasn't in charge of driving. That bar across my mom's dash makes a convenient skein holder!

We started our Colorado Springs sightseeing with a visit to Garden of the Gods, which never fails to amaze me.

The family at the Nature Center.










Kissing Camels Rock. I love this one!


The kids of course were completely intrigued by Balanced Rock and we had to take the obligatory "holding up the rock" pics. There is actually one of me doing this-- taken when I was about 10 on our first visit to Colorado.

We also visited the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. It's hard to believe the ancient peoples lived in these. They seem so tiny! My mom got a little
claustrophobic touring them.












































We saw many deer. This one was on the hill just above the Nature Center at Garden of the Gods.

We also saw some beautiful wildflowers.(This one didn't live in the wild so much as it had been planted at one of the sites we saw!)

 We walked some good distances, got sunburned and had a great time. Then there was the Greek Yogurt incident of Vacation 2010, which doesn't merit writing about except to say that having food poisoning in a hotel room may be the worst way to be sick EVER!

Why I Love to Travel!

Yarn, yarn, yummy yarn! At home there is no LYS, but as we are traveling through Colorado, I've been to 2 LYS and  have been reveling in just touching all the soft yarn and drinking in all the awesome colors. I haven't bought alot, but I did pick up these goodies.

This is Ella Rae 75% Acrylic, 25% wool. The lady at the yarn shop assured me it was very soft when worked up. It was only $5 for 100 grams. I will let you know how it works out. I have no idea what I'm going to do with these 3 skeins, but the price was right and I loved the bright colors!

My Cascade 220 Superwash for my African Flower Hexagons! I love the feel of this and the colors are scrummy. I think that just working with them will make me smile :-)








Well, it's been a long day of sightseeing, so I'm going to get some rest now, but I just had to share my awesome new goodies!

Busy, Busy!

I promise there is hooky-ness in this post!

The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind of activity! First there was getting out the June issue of Red River Family, which can be viewed online at www.redriverfamily.com

Once that was done it was "all systems go" for end of school activities and the 5th grade promotion. 33 pizzas (thank you Little Caesar's) and 200 cookies (made by me and my mom!) later, 80 5th graders were enjoying a field day that was fun, fun, fun. Kickball, disc-throwing, tree-climbing and food. They were in heaven :-)

Zoe enjoying one of the cookies.














Zoe with 2 of her friends.









On Tuesday evening, in a small auditorium full of 400 sweaty people, there was a lovely promotion ceremony for the 5th graders. Zoe got awards for her reading and made Honor Roll. Yay! It was a little bittersweet. I was doing pretty good until they played that Rascal Flatts song, "My Wish." Talk about turning you into a blubbering twit!

Zoe with Grandma.

Zoe and friends.












Earlier that afternoon we had an Awards Assembly for the lower grades and Bubba also got awards for his reading.

Zac showing off his awards with Grandma and Poppy.

Then there was Beach Day. 3 sweltering hours on the school playground with 428 kids (thankfully sent out in smaller groups) where it was hotter. than. the. face. of. the. sun. There wasn't enough water in the state of Oklahoma to keep everyone cool. 

The "Big People" aka 5th graders, were in charge of the "Little People" aka K, 1st and 2nd graders. These 3 were leading the volleyball games. Thankfully, this was the last day of school because I don't think I could have taken any more fun :-)

And now on to hooky-ness! Here is the first potholder I made for the Dazzling Dozen Swap--

This one I called my English Garden potholder.

And this is the first 12 inch square for the Baker's Dozen swap. It's called the Parrothead Square. It's a combination of 4 different 6 inch squares from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eation. I used the patterns for Begonia, Quartet, Candy Stripe Bobble and Star Flower. 

Well, I must now be off to pack and get ready for vacay! Colorado here we come!

Wonderful Mother's Day Weekend!

So, I'm a little late in posting about last weekend, but I can assure you it was WONDERFUL! My cousin owns a house at Grand Lake in northeastern Oklahoma and 11 of us gathered there to relax for the weekend and celebrate Mother's Day. We had only one bathroom, so there were a few dicey moments, especially early in the AM, but we managed and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

A walk across the street and between 2 houses took us straight down to the lake. This is where the kid's Dad showed them rock skipping....

And acted goofy with them...

We got there late Friday afternoon and watched "The Blind Side" until quite late in the evening. After awaking at 6:30 a.m., we all got ready and went into nearby Grove, OK where we went shopping at the "Cheapo Depo." (No, that's not a typo!) That is where I picked up this bright, lovely (complete with votive holder) to hang on my patio!

We ate ALOT over the weekend. Shelley and Lauren rocked the cooking and no one went hungry.

There was also some awesome grilling going on!

But first it was necessary to shuck the corn...

The kids played and played.... with the dogs...

and on bikes...

There was a feisty, 3-hour long game of Phase 10...

Which was repeated on Sunday morning...

There were ball games...

And my beautiful girl even posed for me!

I crocheted and crocheted and made quite a bit of progress on my Babette blanket. Pics of that will be coming soon. And did I mention that not too far up the road is an Alpaca farm where they sell Alpaca yarn? Oh yes, yes, yes! I didn't make it by there this time, but I will on the next trip, which I'm already looking forward to.

Finally we were on our way home Sunday afternoon with a very tired crew...

It was a wonderful trip and when I got home I was treated to the arrival of my Mother's Day gift on Wed. My new dishes! Aren't they amazing and bright?

The Winners

Woodland Hills Lady Woodsmen win their first softball game of the season-- 23-1! So proud of all our girls, but especially my sweetpea, #1.

Eco-Friendly Magazine Holder

It seems like most of my crafting these days is for work. This time I made a magazine holder using an empty cereal box and fabric scraps. The tutorial is on the Red River Family Magazine site.

And here is what it looks like!

Vintage Crochet Pic

So, are you digging that cool crochet hat I'm wearing? That is me, thanking my cousin for the doll she gave me on my 4th birthday. You may notice that my arm is broken and tucked up inside my dress. There is a vital lesson here. Don't jump on the sofa!

I am sure that the hat was made by my grandma as a gift to me. It's amazing how everything old is new again. That hat looks like something my daughter would wear (albeit in a different color!)

Of course, we should all take a moment to revere that orange/gold shag rug. It goes quite well with the orange ottoman in the background. And yes, there was a club chair that matched that.

I plan on photographing my grandmother's afghans soon and posting them here so that everyon can see the amazing works of art she created. I am so glad she shared that art with me.

ETA: In case you were wondering...1972!