Cambria 1, 2

 Having a great time in Cambria. 

We got a routine kinda going these first 2 days.

Pop takes the littles for a morning walk on the beach, 

where on Day 2 they actually stood in the water! (I would not have taken that bet …)

then lunch at the house before board games, 

playdough 

11 new mini cans and they mixed them alllllll together

or an outing somewhere interesting. 

Today it was elephant seal beach, just north of San Simeon and Hearst Castle. 

Not many seals this time of year, 

but the ones we saw were more active than usual -

Which of these is not like the others? The bottom left is an actual log, unlike the other motionless lumps. 😂

maybe because it was foggy and cold, so they weren’t lethargic from the warm sun?

We actually watched this guy roll himself into the surf. Kids were thrilled. 

They were also thrilled with the fat, frisky squirrels, until the squirrels kept getting closer and closer - 

they were obviously used to being fed by the tourists. “Cute but aggressive” says Jac as she and Donovan backed away.   

The house we’re staying in is tall and narrow, built to fit on an odd shaped lot.

Donovan’s favorite “bed chair” in the top floor living room

It’s 3 bedrooms - one on the ground floor, which Leo immediately claimed, and 2 on the middle floor so Jac and Donovan can share and be close to me at night - 3 baths, 

with short, twisty flights of stairs 

and an elevator. So cool.

Dining room and kitchen, looking toward the living room, with elevator on the right

Top floor has an entire wall of windows 

for the living room, dining room and kitchen 

overlooking the ocean about a block away.

Playdough cupcake, anyone??

Thistle on the beach

Tripping

We stopped at the Madonna Inn today for sweet treats, on our way to Cambria. 

 Impatient for ice cream

Hubby and I stayed here for a night on our honeymoon 

 Art by Jaclyn, decor by Alex Madonna

and we’ve been back a couple of times with our kids, 

Outdoor fountains were a hit

but we’ve never stopped by when we had the grandkids. 

 Photo by Jaclyn

It’s still So. Pink. Everywhere. 

Photo by Jaclyn

Jac was thrilled and Donovan was kinda horrified- pink is his absolute least fav color.😜

 Photo by Jaclyn

I was surprised how much the 3 kids liked the place. They were fascinated by the idea of each room being uniquely decorated, so… now we have an idea for another summer trip. 

Jac took a bunch of pics with my phone while we were waiting (and waiting…) for ice cream. She’s developing (ha!) a pretty good eye. She took all these photos ⬇️

Day lilies 

“I just really liked that flower” says Jac 

 Etched glass window 

 Door to a secret room (or so I told Donovan… 😜😂) 

Timing

Milky moved into the next stage of his development, just in time for us to leave for a week. 

Can you spot Milky?

It was tricky finding him this morning. He’s attached himself to a leaf that’s just behind a spiky succulent. Did he pick that spot by chance? Or is nature telling him to find a safe place? 

The littles are very excited. Sure hope Milky hangs on (pun intended…) until we get back. 

Jac and Donovan will be crushed if we come home and he’s already flown away. (Me too.)

Progress and Prevention

Making progress. I’d be further along if I didn’t keep sewing one piece upside down in every. single. block. So annoying.

18” blocks

I always worry about red fabrics bleeding, especially when there’s a lot of white. Normally I’d wash the red first, with a bunch of color catchers, but this was a kit and the fabric was cut small so…  

Spotted a blog post with a new-to-me method for checking - wet small pieces of fabric, lay them on top of each other and, once they’re dry, look for color transfer. Genius.

After seeing the results, I ordered a big ole bottle of prevention, aka Synthrapol, which suspends the excess dye in the wash water and keeps it from re-sticking to the fabric. Crossing my fingers …

Just Me?

Anybody else wait until days before a holiday to start a new holiday-specific project?

One block down, 11 to go

Christmas, Halloween, 4th of July - it’s a habit. 

Oh well. Hoping I can finish this before the weekend is over and enjoy it next year… when I’ll probably have started another new project…

Caterpillar

We have our first ever Monarch caterpillar on our first ever milkweed plant. So exciting!

We spotted him almost 2 weeks ago, when he was just a tiny thing.

I hadn’t seen him (her?) the last two days and was afraid something had happened, but he’s back,  bigger than ever. 

The littles can’t wait for the chrysalis stage to start. (Me neither!)

Bind and Seal

After a weekend spent binding quilts, 

the final step was my version of the poor gal’s vacuum seal - 

stuff ‘em in a zip-lock bag, sit on it to squish out the air and zip it closed. Easy peasy. 

I accidentally discovered that 2 lines of stitching when attaching the binding makes the glueing and folding go soooo much faster. Fast enough to make it worthwhile? Probably not … but it was interesting. 

Glue, fold, clip, iron, repeat.

(Why no, I was not going to rip out that first row of stitching that was too close to the edge . . . And yes, I am lazy like that. 😂)

I also switched out stitch-in-the-ditch for a serpentine stitch. So much quicker, easier and prettier. My new go-to . . . until I get bored and try something new. . . 

Loser

I played binding chicken and lost. 

Sooooooo close…

Happy 8!

Happy birthday to Jaclyn, who turned 8 today. Whoo!

We started celebrating yesterday. 

First was art camp with Donovan, making sea scenes in clay. 

 

Check out their pelicans! It’s incredible what they make in class. 

Next up was Jac and Leo’s first trip to Dave & Buster’s 

(Donovan has been several times with his dad). 

The games were a big hit, 

especially the duck claw machine*, 

Happy teens - Leo and friend

and the food was *much* better than Chuck E Cheese. 

Happy Jac - the big girls agreed to play Hungry Hippo with her!

Jac thought it was too noisy, 

and the machines were aimed at slightly older kids/teens,

so we may go back to the mouse house next time. 

Today was CAKE and Legos. Jac got to pick the cake herself from the local grocery store. Anyone surprised she chose the most chocolatey thing she could find?? I offered to make it, but she decided my decorating skills were not up to her standards. 😂

 

Donovan finished his Lego project and offered to build Jac’s new Minecraft Fox House. Offer accepted! 

Recycling lidded Aurefil thread holders for Lego sorting & storage. My idea is genius!

Donovan says, “I am the Lego Master” and he’s right - he can build a 200 piece kit in under an hour. And he’s only 6!

* Jac won the first duck and talked Donovan into giving the claw a go. D wanted a gold sparkly duck… but after 3 or 4 tries, ended up with a red one. ☹️  Jac says hold my beer, er “Let me try!” and in one drop snags the golden sparkles for Donovan. Such happiness! We have enough on the prepaid card for D to have one…more…try… and he immediately drops and grabs the blue sparkly duck he was aiming for! Amazing!! It was all they talked about the rest of the afternoon. 😂😂