Marsbarn Designs...

Big E: Sweetheart G's Fairy ABC's

My Favorite Drawings.

 

A is for Angel

 

B is for Basklisk

 

D is for Dragon

 

E is for Elf.

 

F is for faun.

 

G is for Griffon. 

H is for Hippogriff.

 

L is for Leprechaun.

 

O is for Ogre.

 

P is for Phoenix.

S is for Swan Woman.


  

U is for Unicorn. 

 

how to fill a brain and squeeze every last drop of goodness from a day

Yesterday was a full day.

A full to the brim, cup and a half of flavor day.

 

It was a day of big pictures, where large projects were imagined,

and then details were captured at the fabric store.

There was temptation and danger, in the form of bolt after bolt of wool at the Pendleton Outlet.  (So much beauty to love, but without a plan in my head, such a quagmire.)

And then, after all that busyness in Project Land, Big E whisked the girls and I off to the Gorge to climb log jams and explore waterfalls.  Four and half hours of outdoor adventure to cap off the first week of school.  A summer trip wedged into one of the last hot days of the year.  There were homebaked chocolate chip cookies for inspiration, trail mix for energy, and corn dogs for dinner.

It was a good, full to the brim, cup and a half of flavor day,

and now I have plans, and pictures, and things in my head that I want to do and build.  

Waterfalls, frogs, and white fuzzywuzzies.  

Plaids, and flannels, and quits made of baby clothes.

Climbing with girls, and being brave explorers.

Ideas of story quilts and books for children to write.

Auction projects,  holiday goods,  gifts, and fiber art.

It's all such a jumble; I want a day to savor it all and make so much out of it.

(Big E captured the white fuzzywuzzy in photo, while I took the rest.)

I was hers, and she was mine.. at least for the weekend

Little e and I have returned from our long promised Mommy-Daughter weekend.  This trip was a long time in coming.  Sweetheart G has been taking Mommy-Daughter trips with me for about five years now.  For most of Little e's life, she has watched me disappear with her big sister for all kinds of fun, but this was her turn.

 

After taking the train to Seattle, we leapt into 

exploration mode.  We rode the monorail, saw the Muppets exhibit,  rode on a merry-go-round (twice!), visited Top Pot Donut for teatime, all before being whisked away by Jen to visit with her family.  Then there was water fun, de-lish pizza, fowl entertainment, looney tunes, and adult conversation until quite late in the evening.

The next day found us ferry bound for Bainbridge Island with Jen and her daughter in tow. Lunch, park time, fabric, yarn, bookstores, and homemade ice cream followed.  It was a whirlwind of treats, temptation, and fun. It was an inspirational trip!  (Or at least I returned to Seattle with a new found desire to finish my on-going sweater knitting project... so I can move on to this cool scarf pattern I splurged on!)  

Little e and I were dropped off at our hotel (really, is a Mommy-Daughter trip complete without at least one night in a hotel? I think not.), where Little e lay motionless for at least 90 minutes and I knitted away.  (See? Inspired, I tell you!) The need for dinner roused us enough to walk 2 blocks to a restaurant, where we colored and chatted until our food came.

Sunday, our last day, began with shoe shopping.  Little e had suddenly outgrown her sandals (sigh) which had been meant to last the whole summer.  New shoes in hand on foot,  we set off for Pike's Place Market.  Really, is there a better place to road test a new pair of shoes?  After much sight seeing and browsing, oh and eating!, we headed back to the train station to wait for our carriage to bring us home.

I don't know how people with large families do it.  How do they spend time with each child?  How do they find the time and space to know each child as a singular person.  I loved spending this time with my littlest girl without distraction.  She was herself, my child without the complication of being a sister.  She had my entire attention, and I had hers.  It was a treat without equal.  

how could 3 weeks go by so quickly?

(A post in which I mercilessly steal borrow photos from Big E.)

So here we are

at the end of our family vacation time

oh but it was so good while it lasted!

Working against my nature

Big E and I did sneak away from the water for a couple of hikes in the woods.

We saw impressive fungus, berries and trees.

 

Our first hike was complicated by a large number of 

downed trees.  I'm not sure if they were from this 

winter or last, but after we'd climbed over, under, 

and gone around the first dozen trees that blocked the 

path, we decided maybe we should try a different 

trail on a different day.

Now, I swear I took at least one photo of the downed trees, but when I later checked my camera, all I had were macro shots of fungus, moss, and berries.  Yep, sounds a lot like me, doesn't it?

Look! Salmon Berry (and friend).

Our second hike took us on a Nature Conservancy trail.  

It was a popular, very well maintained trail. We had 

lots of company (the human kind) and the 

slithery kind.

The trail lead out of my comfort zone (nice cool, moist forest) into hot, dry, sunny, dusty, grasslands.

I was brave, and continued onward.

The view, when we reached the point of the headland, was lovely.  And look! I took photos of the non-detail kind!  

 

Old friends and new ones

It is interesting to me how different the beach is every trip.

We saw legions of hermit crabs this trip, where in previous trips we might only see one if we were very good.

We normally see this green anemone in the tide pools nestled in with star fish,

but this trip we also saw these smaller, more delicate pink anemones. The girls will go back to the beach in August for a week with Grand M.  I wonder what they'll see then?

Snippets of a week at rest

Okay, so maybe there was more to the beach than S'mores and bacon chocolate.

Meaning, of course, that we ate other things too...

And there were lots of walks on the beach.

We met the locals.

And some out of town visitors...

Wave hello, Mr June Beetle... How can an invasive forest eating monster be so cute?

The petrified forest was visible during low tide, and was filled with all kinds of barnacles, muscles, sea worms, and other things that would prefer to be underwater.

The weather was perfect. Each day had a little something for everyone.  There was sun, rain, clouds, and winds in turn.  The days were warm, mild, or chilly.. you just had to wait an hour or so for the next permutation if you weren't pleased with the current weather.

 

Oh, and did I mention? I took a few photos while I was away.

the fourth comes, the crowds go, and a tradition gets even better

We are back home.  The remainder of Big E's vacation time could be counted in hours.  

Our week at the beach started like this on the Fourth of July.  People, people everywhere and not a spot to sit.

But once midnight had come and gone, our beach emptied out and returned to the quiet magical place we love.  

I've been making homemade marshmallows for the beach for years, but this year I added a new layer of sophistication to our S'more ritual... enter the Homemade Graham Cracker.  Oh who knew things could get better than last year?

I was concerned that my cracker wasn't crisp, but the soft, toothsome, wheaty charm of this biscuit 

was only increased by the fact that our s'mores didn't fall apart as we ate them.  You know that part of  s'more eating where the graham breaks apart and the stick-gooey bits fall down your shirt?  That wasn't an issue this year.

Oh, and that chocolate square?  That would be bacon chocolate people.  My dear, sweet friend Di sent me a bar of it, and I hoarded it for the beach.  Think homemade s'more perfection with a hint of smokey saltiness.  Such bliss.

Me and Miss G

Sweetheart G and I have an annual Mommy-Daughter adventure tradition.  This year's version started in Seattle.  We tromped all over town, went on a quest for chicken strips for lunch, toured the Seattle Art Museum, gathered supplies for our adventures the next day...

 

and then discovered that there was a Muppets exhibition at the Experience Music Project.  Oh, it was one of those sad facts of life. There wasn't the time (and there wasn't the money.. that is one expensive place!), but we ogled the various posters and thought lovely Jim Henson thoughts.  Then we had a special dinner together (it is awfully nice to be just the two of us), and met up with the fabulously fun Jen for a marvelous dessert.  Sweet G had this molten peanut butter cup cake thing with the most marvelous salty peanut butter ice cream.  Oh it was so nice!  Time with two of my favoritest people!

(A Mom Note here: before we met with Jen, I was given a "Do Not Talk About" list by Sweet G of forbidden topics.  Mom's are so embarrassing, dontcha know?)

The next morning we hustled out of the hotel for the ferry, and cruised on over to Victoria.  We pulled out our Top Pot donuts and breakfasted in style. 

The weather was beautiful, and we did our traditional "Walk All Over Creation" tour.

For the third year in a row, we saw Annie Oakley. (On alternate days she's a mermaid.)  We were more frugal than we have been in the past, but we still had a lovely time together.

In the evening, we settled down for some girl bonding time over really bad TV in our hotel room. (So bad I am forbidden from mentioning details.)

 

By this point in our trip, Sweet G and I had totally lost 
track of the days.  I think this was Saturday, or maybe
it was Sunday?  Nope it was Saturday.  We had the first half of the day to ourselves, and then we met up with Nay-nay and Grandma Betty.  With a second nine year old in tow, I receded into the background, but that's okay.  Really, I was honored I had my big girls attention for so long.

Two forts, a good night's rest, and starting a new adventure

Big E had a plan for our trip from Oak Harbor to our evening's resting spot, our friend Jade's house.

He had read about a State Park that had been a military fort in the day.  He said, "I know just where I want to go.", so I folded up the maps and we ventured into the overcast morning.

When Fort Ebey was built, the planners used the existing trees for concealment.  They built brick chimneys around the trees to protect them, as they buried the concrete bunker.

You can walk all through the bunker, but both of the big guns are completely gone. It is part of a large forested park with adjacent camping grounds.

It was a beautiful misty day.  There were lots of lovely trails, and it was the perfect weather to explore without being hot.

And then as Big E looked around at the beauty before us, he said, "This isn't where I thought I was going."

So we tumbled back into the car, pulled out the map, and found Fort Casey.  This was where Big E has planned to go.

Fort Casey was huge. It is full of things to explore, climb into and on top of, and even has a beach to explore. Oh, and a lighthouse, it has one of those too.  But... time was not our ally.  As I passed a family eating a picnic lunch, and I had to fight down the urge to beg a sandwich, I realized it was past lunch time and we had miles to go before we slept.

There was much heel dragging, but the march of time (and the growling of our stomachs) made us realize it was time to go.  We waved goodbye to Fort Casey and promised to come back soon.

We had lunch at a wonderful little Greek restaurant in Oak Harbor, and then hit the road in earnest.

The drive to Jade's house was... complicated.  My directions referred to roads by route numbers, but all the signage was with street names, oh and the interchanges had been reworked. There were loud voices, and "words", and vomit.. and well.. just be glad you missed it and that I'd stopped taking photos.  

It was somewhat of a miracle when we pulled into Jade's driveway only about 15 minutes after our revised arrival time. (I'd called from Fort Casey to say we'd be there for dinner, not tea-time).  Ahhhh... a home, not a hotel, and home cooked dinner on the table with Jamaican soft drinks and beer.  Sigh.  Good times, man.  Big E and I stayed up way too late talking with Jade.  This was our second home cooked dinner on this trip, and the second one cooked by the man in the family. I looked meaningfully at Big E, but he steadfastly ignored the hint.  

The next morning saw us all refreshed and prepared to do battle with the Washington State highway system, but (as is often the way when you've girded yourself for battle) our commute into Seattle was painless.  Poof. We were there blinking at the ease of our trip and wondering when the other shoe would drop.  

Big E and Little e dropped Sweetheart G and I off at our hotel, and proceeded to get the heck out of Dodge while our traffic mojo was working.  Little e was asleep before Big E hit I-5.  They had an easy and uneventful trip to Portland.  Sweet G and I dropped off our bags, and wandered out to see what trouble we could get into.