On the island

We are down on St. Simon's for a short bit to celebrate fall birthdays, GA/FL weekend, Halloween, and whatever else we find along the way.

Wesley is a bit under the weather with lots of congestion, fever, and restlessness. He spent last night in bed with me tossing and turning without finding much comfort or relief.

Clare enjoyed a spectacular Trunk or Treat celebration at the local Methodist church. She came home exhausted from collecting her potty treats and bouncing in the jump castle. This morning she got some one on one mama time watching planes take off and land at the airport. Brisk, blue, and beautiful wrapped up into one morning.

And this afternoon I am loving a bit of respite during nap time. I sipped Georgia Bulldog Bloody Marys at one shop in the village, sampled tea at the new Serenity House Tea Society, and knit in the rocking chairs while gazing at the ocean.

Happy Thursday to you! What brings you peace today?

Encore Worthy Peanut Noodles

I actually managed to make something that I saw while flipping through a magazine. A minor miracle: 1. to read an entire magazine, 2. to see something worthy of trying, 3. remembering I wanted to try it, 4. finding it 2 weeks later in a pile of magazines by the bed, 5. ripping it out, 6. holding on to the recipe in my carpet bag purse and 7. having enough stuff on hand to make it.

But it is good. And easy. And marketed as a lunch to make ahead and take to work. We only had frozen peas and carrots on hand it was STILL good. Try it...you'll like it too.

Cold Peanut Noodles

Whisk together 3 TBS of smooth peanut butter, 2 TBS soy sauce, 2 TBS rice wine vinegar and 2 TSP of toasted sesame oil or peanut oil. Then add 2 TBS of water and 1 TBS of orange juice.

Toss in 2 cups of cold cooked noodles (we used spaghetti), 1 cups of cooked broccoli florets, 1/2 cup of cuke slices, 1/2 cup of snow peas and 1/4 bell pepper sliced thin. Add pepper to taste. Top with shredded chicken.

(I put the noodles, sauce, and veggies in a Tupperware and shook it up a bit to mix it evenly.)

Wesley even liked this and ate a ton.

*Recipe from Five Fast Brown Bag Lunches by Susan Spungen in the November 2008 O Magazine.

36 years ago

Gallon of milk: $1.33
Loaf of bread: 25 cents
New car: $3,100
Gallon of gas: 53 cents
New home: $46,000
Average income: $9,385
Dow Jones: 1020.02
Derby Winner: Riva Ridge
Popular songs: American Pie, Ben, Black and White, and I am Woman
Super Bowl Champs: Dallas Cowboys
World Series winner: Oakland
Wimbledon champs: Billie Jean King and Stan Smith
and Mario arrived!

Happy Birthday Mario! We can't wait to eat your carrot cake and sing to you at your party.

Sibling Love

on the hayride today

James' 3rd Birthday

What fun to be turning three! Our kids had a blast running around fellow WM Alumna's farm, Country Adventures, this morning. I am pretty sure that Wesley is destined to terrorize his sister for a long long time, that Clare will wake up tomorrow and want either 1. a horse or 2. a bunny, and that they both have lots of amazing child friendships. Thanks for a great morning James!

$13 Yard Sale Love

This morning I found the mother load at a yard sale with Stacy. I got everything in the above picture, plus 2 pairs of pajamas, another one-piece outfit and the cutest shoes for just $13. The woman hosting the sale sold me all of the above overalls/jonjon's/longies/shortalls for $1 each. Yup...a whole dollar for reversible Bailey Boys, smocked longalls, corduroy Kelly's Kid's, and more. I could hardly believe my luck! 2 of the outfits are monogrammed with Alex but not anymore. A half hour with my seam ripper claimed them as ours and they are ready to be worn plain or re-monogrammed.

Why post about it? It gave me a great high and I wanted to share. Wesley is going to be super cute this fall.

My favorite picture today

*Thanks to Susan for sharing!

Apples with Friends

1 We met to pick apples at Niven's Apple Farm just outside of Spartanburg. Learning from last time we opted for the 1/2 peck size bag ($4). We took a hayride around the farm ($4/each) and learned about the history of Niven's.

2. We ate apples/crunchers. Picked them off of the tree, rubbed them on our jeans for a good shine, and chowed down. Later in the afternoon we shared a picnic spread. Pasta salad, bread, hummus, jelly sandwiches, cheese, pumpkin spice bread with frosting, grapes, fruit kabobs, and more. Apparently Jennifer and I are very serious about our food for play dates and are sick of child fare.

3. Romance blossomed. These two are becoming fast friends. And now thanks to Jennifer they have matching pumpkin shirts. Could it be more real?
4. Cate and Wesley were there too...stroller pictures are hard to compare to live farm action shots, but both of them enjoyed being out, munching on some apple goodness, and each other's company.
I am not sure when my high began with this season. It might have been seeing Sarah at the Farmer's Market or the weekend at Ton-A-Wandah. Somewhere in there we started spending a lot more time with friends, being outdoors, and taking mama time outs.

I feel connected, grounded, and very happy to be in the middle of so many unique starting friendships. In the past I have relied on long distance friends to keep me afloat and for the first time I feel like I am finally making stronger friendships.

The change? Maybe being more open, choosing to devote time to new local friendships, letting a lot of little things go in the name of play, realizing that Mario cannot possibly give me all of the social interaction and understanding I crave, and making things as simple as possible. All of that plus pumpkins and apples.

Child Torture

Wesley has some breathing issues. I'm not exactly sure what they all are because I'm in a 'he will be fine' state of denial. Yet we have had a nebulizer and medications under the sink for over a year to help fight awful coughs, crackled breathing, and middle of the night terrors.

Lately giving Wesley the treatments with the nebulizer is total torture. For him. For me. For Mario. And for Clare. Until today.

I finally called a mama in the know and asked her for advice on administering the treatments without going insane. She made me feel so much better and assured me that at least when he was crying he was sucking in lots of the medicine. Most importantly she pointed out the obvious. Distract the child during treatments.

Translated: TURN ON THE TV GWEN! So tonight we tried it and after a bit of fussing and crying he finally relaxed. He glued his eyes to the set, pointed to it, and said "Dora!"

After the show and treatment ended we shut down the television. Clare looked at Mario and asked "Can Wesley have his medicine again?"

May cause cravings

Yesterday afternoon I read a blog post about a new coffee shop that recently started serving toast. Just about 5 seconds later I found myself wanting toast. Specifically: toast with butter, a bit of my mother in law's homemade black raspberry jam, and tea.

I love it when I read other blogs that inspire me to do something...especially when that something is so easy and enjoyable. And that I all of the things on hand to make it happen without a run to the craft store or market.

So this afternoon during the kid's naps I made toast. It was tasty, simple, and just toast.

Value Added Mom

For her MBA my mom is taking Authentic Leadership, a leadership elective at Simmons School of Management. As part of this course, she is required to complete the Reflected Best-Self Feedback Exercise. This exercise is designed to help my Mom learn more about her best-self, so that she will be able to leverage her strengths and make positive contributions within and beyond her work environment.

My task: Provide two or three stories of when your Mom was at her very best in your eyes.

1. One of the greatest ways you add value is: providing perspective. For example: whenever I call about some new mothering or marital challenge she does a great job talking me back down to earth. She reminds me that whatever the current drama is it will pass soon enough and more than likely really isn't that important in the first place. She shares her experiences with me as a mother, reminds me that I somehow survived without eating peeled grapes, playing with plastic toys, and primitive car seat protection. And more than likely my kids will survive too.

2. One of the greatest ways you add value is: research. For example: when my parents offered to take us on an Alaskan cruise to be part of a family vacation and BOTH my brother and I had the gall to tell her that we weren't really interested in an Alaskan cruise she regrouped. She asked what we were interested in doing as a family and somehow with the power of Google put together an amazing option that tied together my request to go to Turkey with Michael's request to go to Italy. She can Google and research anything: the best price on picture prints, vacations, how to can applesauce, and especially real estate. Each time my brother and I purchased homes she acted as our personal coach because she quickly researched our local housing markets, listened to our descriptions, and really probably knew more about the market than even we did. When we bought our first house it was really my mother and I that bought the house. The Realtor would call, I'd call my mom, I'd call the real estate agent back. My husband offered no help, he just kept drinking because he was freaked out.

3. One of the greatest ways you add value is: respecting individuals and their choices. For example: I know I have made a few (?) decisions which may have ruffled feathers or been counter culture in the past few years. Each of these choices (home birth, going to India, cloth diapers, moving to GA and SC) my mother asked questions about but in the end accepted because she trusted me (I think) and respected my choices. She never belittled me, betrayed me or attempted to change my mind. Instead she sat on the floor with me and cut out diapers for me to sew, defended my decision to have a home birth to my grandmother, flew to India to spend a week with me, and still occasionally comes to visit us in South Carolina.*

*Though she is deathly afraid that my children will have very pronounced southern accents.

Free Cappuccino at Barnes and Noble

You know you want a free tall caffe latte, cappuccino, espresso, freshly brewed coffee or hot tea.

*Especially if you work right across the street from a Barnes and Noble.*

Offer good now till October 31st so start your printers! I see a lot of train table dates in the next few days around here.

Apples on the Brain

I'm in this new retro housewife mode lately. Apple picking, apple cooking, canning, freezing, harvesting, crafting. Maybe it's all be there in different forms all along (and I really think it has) but the past week makes me laugh inside at this new woman who is suddenly trying to figure out how to use a crockpot to make applesauce and then how to can the results.

Anyhow, I did make applesauce in the crockpot and it rocked. The hard part: peeling all of the apples. I've put that operation on hold until I can go to BBB to get an apple peeler (or something that will keep my hands from aching while peeling 400 apples).

And then I used 2 apples in this Autumn Sausage Casserole that was actually pretty good. I am falling hard for the crockpot lately especially with the discovery of the crockpot lady blog. She made a resolution to use her crockpot 365 days a year and the blog is loaded with recipes from her daily use. I'm hoping to try out these caramel apples for an upcoming playdate on the 13th...I think the kids will have a blast making and eating them.

Let the orchard visits continue! When we get sick of eating the apples we can move on to fun apple crafts like making note cards.

The Cost of Fainting in SC

Pharmacy IV Solutions: 130.00
M/S Supply General: 70.38
Laboratory Chemistry: 178.00
Lab Hematology: 167.00
Emergency Room General: 1588.00
EKG/ECG General: 288.00
Professional Fees Emergency Room: 655.00
Professional Fees EKG: 80.00

Total Billed Charges: 3156.38
Insurance Payments: -1930.78
Adustments to Insurance: -987.94

Our Cost: 237.66

Boo at the Zoo

Too tired to blog about it much now, but in order to do almost every Fall thing possible in 4 days we rallied for an impromptu trip to Boo at the Zoo. We met up with some friends and the kids had a blast. Must return to cleaning the house because I foolishly scheduled an estimate for tomorrow afternoon. And on some level I keep thinking that of course the house must seem to be clean then for the best possible outcome.

More pictures of this grand event to come later on in the week.

For those of you thinking about going: cost is $6/person over 3, hours run 6-9 p.m., and weekdays/Sundays are the best bet to avoid being trampled. The Starbucks stand IS open, marshmallows are available to roast and you can buy all kinds of glow things at the kiosks.

Happy Birthday Grampin

Look Grampin! Clare made you a playdough cake to celebrate your big day. We even sang Happy Birthday and sampled her creation in your honor. We can't wait to celebrate with you in person at Bennie's Red Barn and to bake you a real cake. Have a wonderful day on the island.

Apple Picking

We travelled West to Niven's Farm outside of Spartanburg after Durham's 3rd birthday party. The plan was for the kids to nap on the way but they did not so we unloaded and hit the orchard. We picked one peck of apples ($5) and ate a few too many on the way home. Clare called them crunchers and giggled at her Daddy's apple tree climbing skills.
We went into the pumpkin patches with a wheelbarrow and a pair of cutters (provided) and picked out two perfect pumpkins ($1/pound). We now have about 10 pumpkins at our house due to the absurd amount of patches we visited this week.
Clare played on the playground and bounced on the rubber inner tube jump stations ($0), climbed on haystacks ($0) and visited with the animals ($0). We sipped cider samples ($0) and opted to pass on the hayride around the farm ($4/over age 2).
I took a lot of photos between activities and enjoyed the crisp Fall day we had together as a family. The farm was inexpensive, fun, totally child friendly, and actually had a lot to do. Picnics are welcome. Niven's Farm is located off of I-26 and is about one hour from Columbia. Take exit 28, go left at the end of the ramp towards Woodruff and take your first right. There will be as sign for Niven's on the left.

ISO: Apple recipes.

To Sky Top

Dark evil clouds foiled our plans to spend Friday apple picking with friends but they didn't spoil a day of good fun, messy paint, play set adventure, and good eating.

Ingredients: Five kids, three mamas, chicken salad, croissants, pumpkin spice bread, freshly brewed coffee, one play set, 3 pumpkins, 10 acrylic paint bottles, 2 booster seats, 1 child's table, 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, 2 dogs, 2 mini vans, 5 new pumpkins, 3 cameras, and lots of soap and water.

Directions: Put kids in minivans to chance ominous weather in hopes of a miracle. Stop halfway to Sky Top in favor of a local pumpkin patch. Beg owners of pumpkin patch to let five children run around for 15 minutes with the promise of pumpkin purchases. Return children to house and feed them a frenzy of child food, be sure to duck from flying Jello pieces. Brew coffee. Enjoy spice cake. Let children run outside and enjoy play swing set in back yard between tidbits of conversation. Herd children indoors. Strip children naked. Set out paints, brushes, and pumpkins. Take pictures to record body painting and pumpkin painting fun. Scrub three children relatively clean. Pack snacks. Go potty. Herd three children back into minivan and turn on DVD players. Pray for naps. Drive through Starbucks for soy mistos and pumpkin spice lattes. Enjoy conversation with co-pilot mama. Arrive in Columbia, unload, brave the rest of the nap free day until Daddy comes home.

Frequency: Repeat as desired.

Early Christmas Thoughts

Friends gave Clare a children's bible for her birthday. Last night she found it and was super excited to read about Jesus. We read a few stories from the Old Testament and fast forwarded to the story of Mary, Joesph and Baby Jesus. She loved the angels, the animals and identifying the baby in the cartoon pictures as Baby Jesus.

Me (pointing to the pictures): That's Mary, Baby Jesus' mommy.
C: Mary is Jesus' mommy.
Me: Yes.
C: And Mary had a little lamb too!!
Me: Umm...yes, she had a little lamb too.

So here's the next question (seriously this book should come with a list of 3 year old questions and answers to help the parents out): Is Joesph the baby daddy or Mary's friend? Is God Jesus' daddy? Who's the daddy? I know this one is coming soon.

Post Nap Pumpkins

3:45 p.m. today.

Me: What do you want to do this afternoon?
C: Pumpkin farm!
Me: Okay! To the new (Trenholm Rd.) patch we go.
C: Yipee!
Me: There's not a tractor at this pumpkin patch.
C: No, that's only at the old pumpkin farm.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Has it really just been a year since we were here doing this exact same field trip? What happened to my kids? They had an even better time this year and loved the freedom to just run around without strollers and carriers.

What we did: went on a hayride pulled by a tractor, petted animals including bunnies, goats, a donkey, sheep, and a pig. We picked out 2 mini pumpkins, visited with Clare's teacher, talked with our friends that came along with us, looked at horses, and climbed on the covered wagon.

Cost: $6.50 per child (includes pumpkin) and $3 for adults.

Agenda

5:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. Mario gets ready to leave for Charleston.
7:00 a.m. Clare wakes up.
7-7:45 a.m. Breakfast with Clare
7:45 -8:15 a.m. Nurse Wesley and breakfast with Wesley.
9:30 a.m. Friends arrive to carpool to Country Adventures.
10-Noon Country Girl Adventures Pumpkin Patch.
Noon-1:30 p.m. Picnic and lunch.
2:00-3:30 p.m. Nap zone.
3:30-5 p.m. Promised trip to Edventure.
5:30 p.m. Kid dinner.
7 p.m. Mario arrives home from CLE/baths.
7:30 p.m. Bed time for kids.
8:00 p.m. Mama zone. Knitting. Reading. Clean up. Dinner with Mario.
10:30 p.m. Adult bed time.

P is for Pumpkin

I have a lot of craft supplies on hand that I acquire with great intentions. I also have a lot of canned goods in our cabinets that accumulate with even better intentions of whipping up culinary masterpieces. So today during nap time I decided to try out two pumpkin recipes with an orphaned can of pumpkin lurking in the pantry. Above: DIY Pumpkin Spice Lattes. My totally indulgent afternoon treat prepared during nap time. If I were to repeat the recipe I'd add a bit more sugar, use a smidgen less cinnamon, use 2% or whole milk instead of skim and splurge on some whipped cream!
And then because I'd only used 2 spoonfuls of pumpkin I went ahead and made these amazing pumpkin spice cakes. I got 5 mini loaves out of the batter and I'm very afraid that they won't last long around here. Even worse: Mario hates pumpkin so if these suckers vanish I will only have Bailey to blame. Great recipe and delicious with just cinnamon (because that's all I had on hand today).

Putting it out there

1. I am a little disturbed by lunch today. Clare held up a piece of salami and told me it was Jesus.
2. I have got to find a female physician in Columbia. An IM or family doctor. If you know of anyone please let me know or I'll have to resort to the phone book and a blind call.
3. I went to SPOTS today and met with some new mamas. And I got FOUR phone numbers for potential dates. The theme of this morning: other mothers and how important they are. So once again I've resolved to stretch a bit more and find other mothers (new and old) to learn from in this harvest season.
4. We accidentally left Cassie at the beach. Luckily she arrived today (with her mother) in the mail.
5. Our home is a disaster. We want cleaning help. Know of an individual or service I can contact? Please please please let me know so we can restore order.
6. This is pumpkin week! We have a field trip to Country Adventures on Thursday and a Ton-A-Wandah girl play date at Sky Top Orchards on Friday. Let the pumpkin fun begin.
7. Cha-Ching-Cherry toes. Grampin and I had our father/daughter pedicures on Sunday and I found myself digging through the closet (that needs a new light bulb!) for my flip flops. I love our pedicure afternoons. I even had a scary Brittney-ish moment walking through Harris Teeter in pedicure flip flops carrying my Starbucks cup. Gotta remember to wear open toed shoes next time.
8. IUD 411. Have one? Willing to let me ask you a bunch of questions? I'm in the market for a bit of birth control and cannot figure out what way I want to go.
9. Currently reading: Buddhism for Mothers and A Gift from the Sea. Got email from the library though...I'm a bit overdue on a few books. Why are library fines so embarrassing? Paying them off feels a lot like going to confession to me.
10. Wishes for the week: to go running tomorrow morning, a girly night out, beautiful weather on Friday, rearranging the red room in our house, taking a plethora of stuff to Goodwill, making a few meals with the food we have on hand, and knitting (a lot!) by an evening fire.

Fall Festival at St. Williams

Friday at the Beach

1. Mario took Friday off so we had extra hands with us for hole digging, swimming, and beach walking. Oh, and most importantly: schlepping.
2. Wesley left all of his bathing suits at home so we captured a lot of great pictures of him in Clare's old pink and purple swim diapers for his rehearsal dinner someday.
3. Mario and I went on a date! But an odd date, we listened to the Another Frightening Episode about the Economy done by This American Life in the car while running errands in Brunswick. A great epsiode worth downloading! So now we are up on things like the commerical paper market, money market funds, credit default swaps, leverage, and the bailout. Romantic huh? Listening to the episode also prompted a few of those in the future conversations that focus and refocus us on our goals.
4. Grampin got a honey baked ham! I see lots of comfort food like scalloped potatoes with ham and cheese in our future.
5. Mario and I went to look at a house. 3 br/ 2 ba, South End, screened porch, deck.
6. We took the kids for a bike ride to the park in the village so they could play.
7. I enjoyed 15 fabulous minutes with Clare on the pier. We watched the dolphins swim, looked at the big castle (aka: the lighthouse), saw a sting ray caught and 'returned to it's family in the ocean', saw live shrimp in a bucket, looked for crabs in pots, and played with a hermit crab.
8. Both kids took LONG naps.
9. I did some Christmas shopping?!?
10. Mario, Bailey and I walked to the village around 9 p.m. We loved that we could do that because Grampin was keeping his eyes and ears peeled for the kiddos. Felt like old times when it was just the three of us on the island and it was nice not to be frustrated with Bailey but to enjoy his company and sniffs along the walk.

A Good Day

Even though the world looks like it is falling apart on Grampin's television, spending today at the beach reaffirmed my belief that even today life is juicy.

Babies toddling in the surf for the first time, gorgeous sunshine, holes in the sand, coolers filled with snacks, and Grampin by my side made today absolutely splendid.

I want to gobble her up.

Passing by the State House yesterday afternoon.

C: There's my castle!
Me: Yes it is.

Passing by Trinity Cathedral.

C: That's my orange castle!
Me: Yes it is.
C: I have two castles.
Me: Yes.
C: Your mom has one castle.
Me: Yes, GiGi has one castle.
C: I love your mom.
Me: I love my mom too.

Ten Thrilling Tuesday Things

1. My new shirt came today. Now I need to visit Michael in NC where it might actually do some good.

2. I got an entire hour this morning to savor a few chapters in Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist this morning with a cup of coffee made by Mario.
3. Watching Wesley devour BBQ at lunch. And watching Mario share his BBQ with Wesley.
4. Looking at photos from camp and sharing them.
5. A new recipie for spaghetti pie from Cooking Light thanks to Sarah at book club last night.
6. Packing for six days at the beach.
7. Getting to wear my boots for the first time this Fall. I got them in Maine this summer and even though my feet are sweating now I love having them on.

8. Leftover bagels from Grampin's visit in Columbia.
9. Fall birthday party invitations in the mail.
10. Friends having new babies! Congrats Caroline!

Grampin and Crafts

Grampin left for St. Simons Island yesterday. When Clare got up from her fake nap she asked where Grampin went and again this morning she wanted to know where he was when she couldn't find him. I explained that we would go and see him at the beach after school on Wednesday and though she understands that she really misses having him stay in her house in the orange room.

Before Grampin headed south he took us to lunch at the chicken store and we ran through Sam's Club for a few items. I found The Complete Book of Arts and Crafts for $5.88 and am so excited to have a new source for crafty inspiration.

On a side note: I am helping to plan the annual Snowville breakfast at Edventure this winter. We are trying to figure out an inexpensive and easy winter craft to have the kids (most 6 and under) complete at the party. Any ideas? If you do...please share...the Internet alone is a bit overwhelming when I Google 'winter craft' and I'd love to know some tried and true ideas that work.

Trouble

We have a budding climber on our hands! I'm sure the crib tent will follow soon.

Mama Camp Weekend

Nestled in the western North Carolina mountains this weekend I went from being an ordinary girl to an official Ton-A-Wandah girl. Summer camps claim that 'camp changes lives' and after this weekend at grown up girls camp I am a believer. I left camp energized, confident, and connected with both friends and the earth. We stayed in real camp cabins. 7 bunk beds and 2 counselor beds, tin roofs, screen windows with cloth shades, 2 toilets and 2 cold water only sinks. It got brrr! cold at night dropping into the forties but we stayed warm snuggled inside of our sleeping bags until the bugles woke us up each morning for breakfast in the dining hall.Jennifer and Emily shared a bunk. Julie and I shared another. Jennifer and I claimed the bottom bunks for 1. easier pumping and access to 1 of 2 electrical outlets in the cabin and 2. it's a lot easier to get up at night to pee if you are on the bottom bunk. I think that the late night chats in our beds were among my favorite moments of my camp experience.We enjoyed songs and smores! after the Wacky Olympics (think women pulling each other on brooms, smashing balloons, and dress up relay races) on Friday night. Saturday morning we suited up in harnesses and helmets for the high rise ropes course. We learned how to spot for each other, how to maneuver our lobster claws and how to trust ourselves. Jennifer taught me about trusting our instincts and respecting our limits. The ropes course powerfully pushed each of us to our personal limits and I enjoyed learning from and watching her approach to our adventure. She reminded me to be courteous and patient with myself and others. Julie hugged a few trees and served as a confidence inspiring role model. She shared her experience with camp so that we could enjoy the camp history, personalities and the art of raiding the kitchen. I loved her kick ass, absolute determination and leadership quailities. Emily on the final ropes course element: the zip wire over the lake. Emily was reluctant and courageous in her rope course experience. Though she was ill the night before she went with the group and pushed her personal boundaries. I admire her for pushing on despite her fears of becoming ill mid course.
We went for a little mid morning canoe ride in the lake...with snacks and beverages. The weather delivered gorgeous days and cool evenings which gave us a chance to use every piece of clothing we brought in our bags. The canoe rides also gave us a chance to talk for a bit one on one away from the rest of camp...good conversations on the water.And then we began the arts and crafts love fest. We painted bags and pillowcases for our kids. (Which we are sure they all loved and treasured when we pulled them out of our bags yesterday when we got home.)

We did a little wood burning. Wow...much harder to get something that looks decent than I ever imagined. We made bird houses and picture frames (to frame our Ton-A-Wandah memories!) in the wood burning cabin right after we made pendants in the glass fusion workshop. And we knitted. Julie and Emily learned to knit. Jennifer and I practiced our skills. But we all loved just sitting by the lake in the afternoon knitting and talking and relaxing.

We ate all of our meals in the dining hall on eye level with the lake! What did we eat? BBQ and corn on the cob, scrambled eggs and waffles, sandwiches and soups, fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and eggs benedict and shrimp-n-grits. Good food and lots of ice cream and brownies for dessert. Surprisingly we ate a lot! All of our camp activity made us really hungry.A little bit of drinking. We brought a cooler stashed with bourbon, cranberry vodka, beer, limes, lemon juice, tonic, ginger ale, and a few bottles of wine. It's always good to plan ahead.
After the talent show on Saturday night we danced till the wee hours with our sock koozied beverages. There was a bit of limbo with a boa, a few party fouls, some jump rope, and a lot of girly fun. After we along with our cabin mates (all mamas from NC) closed down the dance party we spent a bit of time until our butts numbed on the dock looking at the stars and chatting.
Thank you Camp Ton-A-Wandah! I'm proud to be a part of camp history and I love my new Ton-A-Wandah sisters.