Kalan watching a presentation on traditional clothing.
Kalan beading his necklace.

This weekend we found a really fun festival. It is the Voyager Encampment. There were tons of re-enactors creating the times where fur traders, soldiers, and Native Americans met to create crafts and trade. The re-enactors actually camped along the beach crafting, eating, and sleep in the traditional ways. We saw people beading, weaving, making candles, shooting canons, and blacksmithing. We had a great time.

Water swap sneak peek

This is my 2nd felted ball. I tried things a little differently this time. I first wet felted the ball, then needle felted the detail, then wet felted it again. One of the problems is that the roving doesn't really wet felt well. I think with the next one I will do a little needle felting to get a good shape and then wet felt.

Anyway the theme of the swap is water. These balls will be nice and squishy and would be great for playing in the pool. I now have about 10 days to whip out 4 more.

Also I have signed up for my first art fair! I'm joining a bunch of friends and taking out a table at the Ferndale DIY fair. I'm really excited but need to get busy making gnomes. I'm thinking I might make some simpler gnomes to go with my more elaborate gnomes. We'll see what I can get done in the short amount of time that I have.

Fishing

His new pole

His first fish.

Fishing with Uncle Luke

I write this post with great hesitation. I am not a huge fan of fishing (obviously as I am a vegetarian). However, K saw some kids fishing near his grammy's house last week and became obsessed with the idea of trying it out himself. His grammy bought him a fishing pole and he caught his first fish this past weekend. None of us loved the idea of hooking a fish (or unhooking it for that matter) so I'm not sure how often he's actually going to get to fish. I think what he needs is a nice fish net. :)

Sunflowers

K in the front garden. He's in-between the two smallest sunflowers. The two largest are all the way to the left and all the way to the right.

I love seeing them totally covered in pollen. Very cool.

Our sunflowers are enormous! One of them is at least 12 feet tall. I need to measure it. Here are some recent sunflower photos.

Kids cruise

Right before Detroit's huge Dream Cruise (an enormous car show) they have a little kids cruise. In this little festival the kids get to climb into firetrucks, police cars, dump trucks, and tow trucks. K had a great time!

Snail Bread

We made snail bread this week! I found the reciepe in the book, "Baking Bread with Children." First you make a wonderful pizza like dough with the pizza sauce baked right into. After rising you flaten it out and cover it with cheese. Then you roll it into a tube and slice. K had a great time making them and they actually turned out really tasty.

Maybury State Park

We spent the day at Maybury State Park (as we often do). This park was once a sanatorium for tuberculosis. As you walk the trails there are signs showing you where the children, adults, nurses, and doctors lived. The Sanatorium also had dinning halls, entertainment, and a radio channel. Its so interesting to learn the history while enjoying nature. My husband grew up on the edge of Maybury's property and would often find old bottles and things back in the woods.

On today's trip we enjoyed the rolling meadow, the bluebirds, and seeing different grains growing.

Canning Tomatoes

Cooking the tomatoes

Filling the Jars

Placing them in the pot.

All done!

Our garden has been producing tons of tomatoes so I decided to try canning for the first time. My mom came over to help me get started. We decided we'll do them in batches as they come in (there was only enough for about 6 cans this round). I found it to be a lot easier then I thought it would be. And fun!

Estate Sale finds

Some little treasures for the gnomes.
An old fashioned gnome hat for K.
This is what K picked out.
Little porcelain dolls. I wonder do they actually go with some sort of game?
I actually found a few great baskets. This is just one of them.
My mom found this little sewing machine for K. He loves it so much he's been dragging it around the house.
Some wooden carved animals, and a couple more gifts for the gnomes.
K and I had the garage sale bug this weekend and we had some great finds!

Green Cruise

Every year my little city puts on a Green Cruise. They have two long bike rides, a parade, and lots of crafts, games, and venders. Its a nice festival to celebrate being green. This year we participated in the parade which K really enjoyed. We also picked up a, "pesticide free" sign for our yard. K enjoyed making a noodle necklace, getting is face painted, and dancing to music on the street with his friends. :)

Tree puppet

I'm in charge of the upcoming online swap I'm in. We have a great theme! Trees! I've decided to make tree finger puppets. They can also stand up the nature table for summer. Here is my first one. I need to get my butt in gear to make the other 6. I've already received my first item from another person and they are beautiful! I can't wait to post them, but I'll wait till I get them all.

Chef costume

Cooking in his kitchen

Can you tell he doesn't like hats?

I finally got K to try on his chef outfit. He's not one to try on costumes, but had fun in it once it was on. Perhaps if it weren't so darn hot out.

Mother in Law's Birthday

Can you see K and his grandmother way in the distance?

This weekend was my mother in law's birthday. K had a great time walking around her lake and helping her blow out candles. Happy Birthday Mother in Law!

Basket weaving.

We spent some time at my mother in law's lake/pond. I used willow branches to weave my first basket. It was really fun to make and now I want to look up instructions on how to make some other types. Obviously I need a little practice to make it a bit more even.

Fish Kites

First we cut out the fish and used glue to draw designs on them.
Then we painted over the glue with water colors.
Here is my fish flying out in the yard. The glue pops through the paint.
Here is a close up of K's fish.

Another fun project I keep reading about in blogs. K loves to paint so I cut out these fish kites to paint. We took them outside to fly. We ran through the yard first, then tied them to a tree to watch them dance in the wind.