Wearing Many Hats

 

 

 
 

Maker's Faire

My friend Danielle had told me about this thing called a Maker's Faire in Boston a couple of months ago.  Upon finding out that it would have robots, a tiny house, opportunities to build stuff, etc, we decided that the family MUST go.  Tickets were $10.00 apiece and the event was held under several tents in front of the Boston Children's Museum.

First of all, the boys' favorite part was taking the train from Newton to Boston.  Their first train ride was practically met with applause.  :)  And then, the idea that everyone could eat something different for lunch at South Station was also popular.

The fair itself was very hot, but not too terribly crowded.  We met robots from Battlebots, and Will got to experience driving a robot.  (It was kind of like a Roomba)  After watching so many TV shows about tiny house living, we got to tour one.  (It's not for me, for sure.)  We built mazes, and "hacked the dollar store."  There was a Japanese weaver, and I would've like to try it, but there wasn't enough time.  And Sean got to build a decorative doodad, using saws and hammers, etc.  We were all exhausted and ready for ice cream upon getting back to South Station.  The train ride was crowded on the way home, and Sean practically fell asleep in my lap.  All in all, a great summer day.

Well, Hello

Hello from Summer Living, where we're running around living life and not blogging about it!  It's late July already, and we've done so much stuff this summer already.

The boys spent a week with their grandparents in PA, enjoying the things that campground life has to offer.  Stuff like arcade games, swimming pools and riding in the golf cart.  Mom and Dad, having to work back at home for the week, did NOT enjoy going out to eat at non-kid-friendly restaurants, nor getting ice cream almost every night at a different place each time.  No, no they didn't.  :)

Then we took the kids for a week in Williamsburg, VA.  And man, we did it ALL.  If Williamsburg offered it, we took it up.  Busch Gardens (twice), Water Country, Colonial Williamsburg.....and had a lovely time.  It was a heavy-walking vacation, I logged 17,400 steps on my Fitbit one of the days.  We'd been four years ago so we knew the area and Will could relax quickly being somewhere familar.  Sean, our resident daredevil, went on every single wild ride that he was tall enough for, which this year was a lot!

After that, camp started.  And now we're in kind of a groove, routine-wise.  Enjoying the dog days of summer, doing day trips to things like the Maker's Fair in Boston, and heading to Six Flags this weekend.  School will be here again before we know it.

Summer is Here!

Last day of school today.  Bittersweet, as I no longer have a third grader and a kindergartner.  Here they are on their last day:

It's been a really great year for both boys.  Will had a great team helping him be the best that he could be and it looks like fourth grade will continue to be great!  Don't get me wrong, it'll still be hard sometimes.  It just feels so good to be supported.

And kindergarten....man, Sean hit the jackpot.  The teacher sent out an email yesterday to all the parents saying thanks for sharing your great kids with me, that it was a pleasure.  One thing that she mentioned is that this class really accepted each other for who they are, that everyone genuinely liked each other, was one of the most polite and respectful classes, etc.  One kid summed it up:  "There are lots of good friends with good hearts."  It warmed this mom's heart.

On to summer:  tonight is the boys' last karate class for at least two weeks.  Because they are headed to a fun-filled week with Grandmom and Grandpop on Saturday! And after that.....vacation with us!  Summer's full of fun plans--robotics camp, karate camp, trips to Six Flags, etc.  We'll make it a great one.

"Legendary Stash"

I've officially crossed into "SABLE" status in terms of my yarn stash.  (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy.)  I can hear my husband's eyes rolling as he's reading this, and probably nodding enthusiastically in agreement.  I finally put away all of my yarn from the Webs Tent Sale earlier in the month and made the mistake of telling him how many yarns I have stashed in Ravelry.  (Answer:  triple digits.)  He did some quick calculations to see how much I spent on all of it and almost fell off the couch.  Dude, don't do the numbers.  We don't wanna know.

This year's Tent Sale was on May 14th and was fantastic as usual!  A gorgeous day, not a whole ton of people the second we got there and a small group to boot.  I had been squirreling cash from yard sale items and things for quite a while and was pretty proud that I covered all but $10.00 of my yarn with it.  We had a fantastic lunch at Northampton Brewery and then Maureen and I headed home to get our knit on.  We've also picked out a new KAL project, "The Joker and the Thief."   (Photo courtesy of Melanie Berg, on Ravelry.)  mine will also have grey as a base color, but then varying shades of turquoise and purple.  Fitting, right?  :)

Anyway, I wish I could say that I'm going to go cold sheep (no yarn purchases until a set amount of time/stash is used) but I know that I don't have the willpower for that.  Especially since I'm making my first trip to the Maine Fiber Frolic with Maureen and Cindy this weekend!  AND Mom and I are trying to make plans to go to Rhinebeck in October.  Yep.  The stash will continue to grow, though no exponentially.

Not Just a Pretty Face

As I was walking around today with a screwdriver, removing air conditioning covers for the mini-heat wave we're getting, I remembered a little story from a couple of weeks ago that I thought bared repetition.

I went away for the annual work conference that I attend, and our work's Mother's Day celebration was two days upon getting back.  It was a bit hairy, trying to secure chairs/food/raffle prizes but it ended up working out OK.  I was lucky enough to get someone in attendance that had keys to the church next door and we were able to borrow tables and chairs.  Eve and I (Not her real name) were going to carry the chairs and tables ourselves.  Now, Eve is a senior citizen, and should NOT be carrying chairs and tables from the parish hall to our building.  She's pretty scrappy though, and insisted on helping.

As we exited the building, we ran into some plumbers that were doing some work in the parish hall.  They dropped what they were doing and offered to help.  One of them said that he of course would help such a pretty lady.  I thanked him profusely and he said "Well, I'm not just a pretty face.  I can do some heavy lifting!"  I said "OK.  But don't forget your saws-all, you left it in the parking space next to your truck."  He assured me that he wouldn't and then looked a bit bewildered and said "Lady, how do you know what a saws-all is?"  The response was only too easy.  "Well sir, I also am not just a pretty face."  LOL.

I pride myself on having a father who insisted on me having some knowledge about tools.  I also am proud to have a mother who has more than once taken Dad's tools and done the dirty work herself.

End-of-Year Gifties

Believe it or not....it's almost time to think about the end of the year for school.  I'm talking about making plans for summer camp, what the heck we're going to do between school ending and camp starting, etc.  And most of all.....teacher's gifts.

I asked Will recently if he would like me to knit his third grade teacher an end-of-year gift and he said yes.  He wanted a scarf, and it should be colorful because she likes lots of color.  Well good....because I already have a ZickZack scarf knitted up and it is quite colorful!  :)

I asked Sean the same question and he readily agreed.  However, when I asked him what I should make he surprised me.  "How about sweaters for her kids, Mom?  She has a 2 year old and a one-year old."  So sweet.  I pondered on it for a little bit and you know what?  It's a great idea.  Not only is it a kind and generous gesture on Sean's part, it's not a typical "teacher" gift.  In talking to my friend Jen (who's younger son Pat is in Sean's class and happens to be one of his best friends) she loved the idea and offered to make one of them.  Awesome!  So I took the 2-year old (girl) and she took the 1-year old (boy.)

After poking around on Ravelry a bit, I picked the Gidday Sweater.  It comes in a multitude of sizes and is really cute.  I decided to stick with the gray with red stripes, after "agonizing" for a while over colors.  (Navy blue and white?  Purple?  Pink?)  It's a unisex sweater, so her little brother can wear it later.  It'll be adorable with a pair of jeans and a white tee underneath.  

Now I'm just waiting for my yarn to arrive!