laeroport

I'm a little bit in love....

with Will Rogers.  Is that hokey?  Seriously, the world was a different place back then.  You were allowed to be interested in everything and good at it all.....

Did I mention that we went with my parents?  They brought Hotel Laredo with them...

 
So after leaving our campsite in Osewego, Kansas... (we were the only people there)

 
and stopping briefly at the world's largest totem pole...

 
 
we visited the Will Rogers museum.

How wonderful to get to be all those things in life.

I'll be documenting some of the things I get to be on flickr this week.  It is time for another round of 7 days.  Stay tuned....
 

Wow!

That was a long and unintended blog break. 

We just got back from a small spring break excursion to southeastern Kansas and northwestern Oklahoma.  I'm slowly adding pictures over on flickr.

Day #1 included a visit to Big Brutus.  Let me just say, he's big.  Tim visited years ago and actually was permitted to climb all the way to the top of the bucket, but now you can only climb up into the thing, which was a relief to me.

 
This retired steam shovel is 16 stories high.  That's Aidin standing next to the track wheel for scale.

And this one is of Aidin & Eliot in the bucket.  Yeah.  Big.  Huge. Enormous.

And good fun.

More to come......  

The Lincoln Children's Zoo

We had a fun afternoon and evening in Lincoln last Saturday, spending most of the day with my cousin, Amanda, her husband, Matt, and their daughter, Abby.  Abby and Aidin are two of the six little girls in our family that are all the same age, and Abby was the last one for Aidin to meet.  They hit it off instantly.

We visited the Lincoln Children's Zoo, swam in the hotel pool and then had a terrific dinner back at my Aunt Sherry's house.

Amanda, Matt and the kids.

My mom & Aunt Sherry + Aunt Debbie.

The girls in the butterfly chair.

Eliot on the spider web.

Thanks, again, Aunt Sherry for a wonderful visit.  

In the meantime....

Since you last heard from me, I have been to a concert (They Might Be Giants), and a movie (Indiana Jones) dropped in on some campers, celebrated a high school graduation (for which I made a present which wasn't photographed) and remembered my relatives with visits to four cemeteries with my folks, kids and four cousins.

I've had time off with my kids going to the Topeka Zoo, having a picnic in the park, riding the train and playing putt put with my brother's family.

We visited the KU Museum of Natural History, said "Hi" to Comanche, climbed on some Jayhawks, played here there and everywhere at Science City, and cheered on the Kansas City Royals on buck hot dog night.

We drove to Nebraska for the funeral of my Uncle Dave, who passed away at 63 thanks to cancer (stupid cancer).  He took our wedding photos.  Since he was always behind the camera, I have no photos of him.  That makes three uncles I've lost in a year and a half - all went way too early.  Despite the sad occassion, it was good to see everyone.

We drove home and another hour south for a family reunion for Tim's side of the family.  We don't see those folks often enough either.  I was so busy chatting and eating that I never even got the camera out.

Monday Aidin started summer camp.  Tuesday I had lunch with Michelle.  Eliot went back to school today.  Monday night we celebrated my grandma's (ahem) birthday with dinner out, and Thursday we will lay my sister-in-law's grandma to rest.  Thursday is also my mom's birthday.  And between all the coming and going I've had three belly dance rehearsals and a costume consultation.

Whew!  It's been a tough, happy, busy, sad, chaotic few weeks.  I hope it will all be back to normal soon.  Thanks for checking up on me.  Mwaaaaah!

Cheers! ~L

Always busy

Hello friends!

We've been quietly busy at our house.  Exploring nature (collecting worms):

Looking cute:

Making fairy houses:

that didn't come out quite as my perfectionist child had hoped:

Admiring my parents photos on flickr - they have been to Devil's Tower and Glacier National Park since my last report of them.  Now they're at Yellowstone.  It has snowed on them twice. :)  Aren't they cute?

 

Working on a few secret projects, one in collaboration with the girl child.  And sewing more baby gifts.  And these are not the last.  By far.

And I'm working on another paper-pieced ball.  I know I promised MONTHS ago to do a little tutorial on these.  I will.  I've just been sewing this one at night in my rocking chair while watching Season 2 of Battlestar Gallactica on DVD (yes, we are late to the party), which doesn't make for the best photographs.  But there are more in my future.  Long live sock monkeys!

Happy Hump Day to you.  I may be able to reveal one secret project tomorrow.  Til then.... L   

Wish I was there....

I'm a traveler.  I always have been a traveler.  I didn't get a name like laeroport by sitting still.  But at this point in my life, I'm not traveling much.  But my parents are.  And I wish I was traveling with them.

They left last week on another of their adventures in retirement.  This time, going North.  This week they've been in South Dakota.  By today they should be in Ten Sleep, Wyoming, population 407, which is where I spent two of my summers in college.  But that's another story entirely, involving a Girl Scout camp, a mountain lodge and a boy.

On September 11th they went to Mount Rushmore - twice.  During the day,

and at night for the lighting ceremony.

And who are all those folks on the stage?  Well they are the brave men and women who have served in our country's armed forces, as firefighters and police officers.  Since it was 9/11, they had everyone who had served the country come down as they lowered the flag and then passed the folded flag from one person to the next as they said their name and the branch of the service in which they had served.  My dad was down there.  He was in the Army in the early 60's - fortunately between wars.  Amazing, isn't it, how many people are down there?

So since I'm here, still sewing costumes, and they are there, I'll have to experience it all through their photos on flickr.  They are off to Glacier NP next, then Yellowstone and the Tetons (one of my favorite places on earth).  ::sigh::  I wish I was there...  Where would you wish to be?

Vacation - the pre-Memroial Day 2007 edition

Suffice it to say, we had a fantastic time.  I spent ALL DAY uploading my pictures to flickr.  If you're interested in seeing all or part of the 102 photos (of the 300 I took) they are in a set here. 

The kids are back at school.  Eliot is feeling fine.  I'm about to put my contacts back in.  And I'll be back to regular blog content on Monday.

Cheers!

Back from the wilds of America

Hi!  I just wanted to check in and say we are home.  We had a great vacation!  Now we are back at work, and boy has the work piled up. 

No pictures to share yet.  I haven't had a free moment with the camera.  And we're dealing with mystery fever (the boy child - since last FRIDAY!  The doctor says he may break out in a big red rash next.  Fun!) and conjunctivitis (moi), so it might be a few more days until you hear from me.

And since I hate a pictureless post, here is one I uploaded to flickr last week for a year of color, yellow.

Ciao for now! L

Art to Go....

So we are leaving on Sunday morning for a week-long vacation. Today is the last day of school.  The kids start back up with their summer session (swimming twice a day) on June 1st.  So now before Memorial Day, we'll take a little jaunt.  Last year we went east (the Mark Twain/Abe Lincoln tour). This year we're heading west.  Colorado Springs, Royal Gorge, the Great Sand Dunes National Park and assorted oddities from southwestern Kansas and two panhandles.  We don't have firm plans.  We're mostly winging it.  Which is the way I like to travel with two under six.

Between now and Sunday morning there is a ton of laundry to be done, some house tidying, some gardening, some crafting so that I have things to work on in the car.  Oh, and some painting.

The picture on the left is our truck before, the picture on the right (with the photo interloper) is our truck this morning with a coat of Kilz.  In the next 24 hours it will be transformed into a cactus.

Yes.

You heard me right.

A cactus.

Tim is helping out with the Wild West Film Fest, a festival which gives you 48 hours to produce a film.  Sign ups are on June 8th.  The showings are June 17th at Liberty Hall.  So to promote the film festival, they wanted to have an entry in this weekend's Art Tougeau parade (which in our opinion is the most fun parade we have all year).

Enter our truck, which was a hand-me-down from my brother.  Old farm truck.  The license plate on the front says "eat beef".  Not kidding.  So it is a big white, partly rusty, slightly dented Ford F150.  Perfect canvas for art.  And we brainstormed about what could really say "wild west". 

A cactus. 

So tonight (with the help of a few of our neighbors who were completely intrigued by the process last night) we will be taking the truck from white to green, mixing up leftover paints from Aidin's room mural to achieve cactus green.  And then we'll be attaching the needles.  About 400 pieces of green pipe cleaner will be attached with masking tape, which will then also be painted green.  Hot glue a few flowers on and we'll be in business.

So if you're looking for something to do Saturday at noon, head out to Mass Street in Lawrence.  Wave at us as we pass by.  The kids and I will be walking (in cowboy hats and boots, naturally) along side the cactus-mobile, passing out film fest fliers and candy.

If I get a chance before we leave, I'll post some pictures.  Or maybe Michelle or her husband will post a picture.   Otherwise, I'll see you after Memorial Day!

Cheers! ~ Lori

I'm back....

What a busy few days we've had!  Let me update you of what I've been doing since last week.

On Thursday, my mom and dad came up and watched the kids while I went to parent-teacher conferences and in to work for a while.  I got home around 1:00, we ate lunch and then took off for Atchison, Kansas and a visit to Nell Hill's.  I hadn't even thought about going until Amy mentioned it in her blog - and then I was obsessed with the idea. Of course, Nell Hill's is not a place for very small people who like to touch everything, so grandpa took them to the park for an hour while we looked.  The only things I bought were two linen tea towel blanks at G.Diebolts.  But it was fun.

Friday - boring.  Laundry, packing, trying to clean house a bit.  Saturday I was at the Arts Center for most of the day taking classes and performing in the Choreographer's Showcase. The flamenco class I took was great, but boy, I was sore the next day after all that stomping and hyper-extending your reach to the back.  The showcase was interesting, but it reminded me why I do not do modern dance (besides the fact that I don't have the body for it).  Two of the pieces made me feel completely tense and twitchy.  I did not  enjoy watching them - in fact, one of the pieces I couldn't wait for it to be over!

Bright and early on Sunday morning I headed off to meet my parents for the long road trip to Nebraska and my Uncle Herb's funeral.  We got there just in time to change clothes, eat a sandwich and go to the funeral home for the visitation. Both Aidin and Eliot fell asleep at the funeral home, which was amusing. 

Sunday night we went out to my grandma's farm for a family dinner and then over to the "tavern" - the only thing in the tiny town of Cushing - to have a drink to Herb.  We were easily amused by the selection of taxidermy in the bar.  Yes, that is a thong on the bull's horn.  There was also a raccoon in a beer tree. Many of us signed the wall in the bar with a Sharpie provided by the bartender.

I'm so glad that I went.  I hadn't seen my Aunt or some of my cousins for almost 15 years.  And my Aunts and Uncles on that side of the family are a hoot, so it was good to spend time with them.  My children had never been to Grandma Gloria's farm, so I was anxious to share my memories of that special place with them.  Her living room is straight out of the late 60's.  And there are at least five of us grandkids that want that orange chair! 

The funeral was Sunday.  We went back out to the farm so I could take some daylight pictures and then headed home.  We left at 2:00.  I pulled into my driveway at 10:00.  It was a long day.  More pictures of our trip to Nebraska, including some amusing road signs, are here.

I did manage to do a wee bit of crafting in the car. These are my patches for Faun's Embroidered Patch Swap.  Of course they were due today and I'm only sending them out today.  Whoops!  I started with the poppy patch and it took ENTIRELY TOO LONG to do, so you can see by the skill involved in the other two that I simplified.  I draw alligators and trains for Eliot all the time, so these are embroidered versions of my free-hand drawings for my child.  Thankfully, Eliot didn't see the train patch, or he would have wanted to keep it for himself.  Since I'm sending three, I should get three in return.

And now I'm freaking out a bit.  This weekend our friend Shaun is coming up to stay and go with Tim to the KU/K-State game on Saturday and the Chief's game on Sunday.  And our house is a WRECK! 

And Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!  Have I even THOUGHT about Thanksgiving yet?  Have I bought a turkey?  Or two turkeys as the case may be?  And of course I had plans for little Thanksgiving favors/place cards/something hand made to give to everyone - 18 people.  I'm thinkin' that's no going to happen.

And on a final note, have you seen the new Cutting Edge Magazine?  One of my favorite bloggers is featured!  RUN out and buy a copy!  Now!

Cheers!