O, Canada!

Vancouver, British Columbia has been at the top of my bucket list since the Winter Olympics were held there in 2010. This summer the stars aligned and we went late last week to visit Steve's brother Pete and his family who are living there as well as attend the wedding of a dear friend and former roommate of mine. As expected, Vancouver is beautiful! The landscaping is amazing and everything is so green, including the people I learned. They take "going green" to a whole new level. Each home has multiple recycling and compost bins, and limited trash can space. Every utility box in the city is wrapped with a nature scene and the streets are impeccably clean. I also observed that there are coffee shops, sushi bars, and boutique clothing stores a-plenty, along with natural food markets. Our first activity of the trip was going to John Lawson Park (very cool park!) with our cousins. Once we'd tried all the park activities and equipment we walked down to the water to throw rocks--a favorite activity of boys large and small.

Our First Texas Fourth

This is the tenth summer I've spent in Texas and this was the first year I've been here on the 4th of July. We had a low key holiday that started off with a family run, then swimming in the community pool, a family picture on the porch, and a BBQ with Mark and Amy. Following the BBQ a storm rolled in and brought plenty of lightning, wind, and rain. The excitement at home kicked up a notch when the power flickered on and off multiple times. We went to the church for root beer floats, despite the weather, and the rain slowed down just enough for us to enjoy the neighborhood fireworks show from the comforts of our hot and humid car. 

One of the funniest parts of my day was when I was telling Clark the story of why we celebrate Independence Day. When I got to the part about the colonists not wanting to be governed by the king of England he told me, "He was a good king, just a little bit because he told everyone to repent." 

Blank Slate W Shorts

I wanted to make Lana a pair of red bermuda shorts, so when I saw that Blank Slate Patterns was running a promotion in May for a discount when you made+shared your creation using one of their patterns, I was ready to go! I printed the W Pants Pattern and went straight to the fabric store and picked out this red bottomweight sateen. Then I had the biggest outbreak of poison ivy I've ever had and couldn't do much for about three weeks, let alone work on a sewing project! With a few days left in the month, and feeling a bit better, I hastily went to work on the shorts. But on the last day of the month, almost done, Lana tried them on...and I had made them way too big! I measured incorrectly. Back to the drawing board. And back to the fabric store. With my new measurement in hand I had to grade the pattern down about 1.5 sizes since the smallest size was still too big for my petite lady. I decided to take out the "W" yoke and insert welt pockets instead. I love how they turned out so much that I want a pair to match!

Also, I've been practicing braiding Lana's hair. Not that I need practice doing the actual braiding, but rather braiding while my subject is in constant motion or shaking her head side to side. 

What Cereal Should be Called

Nearly every morning after Clark finishes breakfast he asks for a handful each of multiple cereals. Since getting out four boxes was too many I now limit him to two each day. The names he calls them are so funny I wanted to document them here to remember.

From left to right: Yellow Dad Cereal or Yellow Cereal, Cheerios (sounds more like cheer-yo's), Tiger Cereal, Yes Milk Chex, and Not Milk Chex

Blueberry Picking

We picked blueberries this morning. Last year I remember being enchanted with the rural surroundings of the blueberry farm. Country roads and farmland were a refreshing sight to a city gal. Now that I live somewhat out in the country myself the scenery didn't seem to possess the same amount of magic. But the blueberries sure did! Clark couldn't help but sneak a few. handfuls. I was surprised at what an industrious little picker he was, but he and his cousin disappeared out of sight for awhile and when I went to check on their progress they had ditched their buckets and were eating blueberries straight off the trees. I had to laugh at those funny boys. Lana got into the picking as well--blueberries...and greenberries...and pinkberries. oops.

Does that look like a tired little boy or what?!