An Adirondack Inspired Vacation

Last week, we packed up the family truckster and head up to the Adirondacks - specifically Lake Pleasant in Speculator, New York. My husband and I always wanted to visit the Adirondacks, especially after our very brief visit to Lake Placid for a wedding last Labor Day. The drive to Lake Placid was so pretty and we knew we wanted a closer look. So why not just return to Lake Placid you ask? Well, a few months ago I discovered a blog, Adirondack Inspired. It is a sewing blog full of lovely creations and photographs as well as a series called Explore With Me where Monica and her adorable family (seriously her kids are too cute!) explore places around where they live. One particular exploration caught my eye...a trip to a goat farm! You see my husband and I love goats. We think they are awesome and would love to actually have one as a pet - no joke. Anyway, after showing Kevin that particular post, we decided to plan our summer vacation to the Adirondacks using other trips in Monica's Explore With Me series as our guide. Thus, an Adirondack Inspired vacation was born:

I found a great hotel right on Lake Pleasant - The Lake Pleasant Lodge. It is right in the town of Speculator and had the most amazing view of the lake. Once our hotel was booked, I sent an e-mail to Monica and she gave us some great recommendations on places to go and to eat. We also planned to meet up one of the days that we were in town. I was so excited to meet a fellow sewing blogger! Someone who I could talk to about sewing and other blogs and not look at me like I had five heads because she would know exactly what I was talking about - ha!



view of lake pleasant from the hotel

Our first day was spent settling in and checking out the area. We took a walk down the Sacandaga Pathway, which was right across the street from the hotel. The kids had a lot of fun walking down the paths and asking us to read the different signs about animals and foliage that were along the way.

After some exploring, it was back to the hotel to change into bathing suits and jump in the lake!

The water was a little cold for Kevin and I but the kids didn't have a problem jumping and splashing around...ah to be little. That night the hotel owner set up a bonfire in the fire pit and brought out marshmallows for the kids to roast. It was such a relaxing evening by the fire with the lake right in the background. Just what we needed after a long trip.

Friday morning we rented a canoe from the hotel and took a little trip around Lake Pleasant.

 

 Then did a little more driving around. Finding dirt roads and old logging trails and rivers to explore.

Later in the afternoon, we met up with Monica and her two older kids at the park across from our hotel. I was excited and nervous to meet Monica. Despite "knowing" her through her blog and comments and emails back and forth, I was still nervous we wouldn't get along or have anything to talk about or she was actually a stalker (everyone else's concern not mine...some people thought I was a little crazy meeting up with someone I met on the Internet, *cough* Kevin *cough*) Well after two and half hours at the park of non stop chatting and watching the kids play, all concerns went right out the window! We had a great time talking shop and watching the kids run around like they had been friends forever. Monica really is so nice and her kids are just too cute!! Our daughters especially hit it off and had a lot of fun playing pretend and snapping pics with our iPhones.




only pic i got of monica and i - nice face meg!   when bloggers' kids meet: they take pics of each other taking pics ha!

It was such a great day and we all had so much fun hanging out! Erin is still talking about her new friend and asking when we can go visit her again :) After such a great day we had to have a great dinner. We went to one of the places Monica suggested, The Melody Lodge. This place was just what we were looking for - something fancy with amazing views. The food was ah-mazing. I had rack of lamb that was so delicious. Kevin had a perfectly cooked filet mignon. Even the kids menu was great - it was printed on a piece of paper attached inside of a Little Golden Book - so cute! They had a perfect sized steak dinner just for the kids but it was presented just like an adult entree would be, complete with onion strings and delicious real baked potato chips. I highly recommend this place for an excellent meal, atmosphere and views!

On Saturday, we headed to another Explore With Me location, Nettle Meadow. This was the one place that really sealed the deal on where we headed for our family vacation bacause it is a goat farm! On Saturdays, there is a tour of the farm followed by a sampling of all the wonderful cheese that they make there. We had a great time on the tour. The ladies that run the farm are so nice and very informative. You can tell they really love what they do and care about every animal. There is an old barn on the property that they are in the process of restoring. There is a lot of history in this place and we would love to come back to see more of the restoration process and of course all the cute goats! They had a sign up that they were giving away baby goats - for free! It was hard to resist but we left baby goat-less :( At least we bought some delicious cheese!

After the goat farm we headed to another Explore With Me spot, Kunjamuk Cave. This small cave (only about 15 feet long) is located right off a dirt road and is said to be associated with a local legend, French Louie. This has not been confirmed by historians but it is a rather interesting story. I read a little about French Louie and he seemed rather fascinating, the kids especially liked to hear that someone had possibly lived in this cave and started to make up stories of their own about French Louie and his adventures.

We also drove around a lot of the dirt roads in the area. Stopping to explore every so often.

 

As you can tell in the family photo above, the kids were so tired after our long day. We had some dinner and were in bed by 7:30 pm that night...all four of us! The next day was Sunday, our last day of the trip. We said goodbye to Speculator and headed up to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake. The Adirondack Museum consists of 22 different buildings spread over a 32 acre campus. There was so much to see and learn here. An antique sale was going on that day as well so there were different vendors with their items on display. It was a truly unique museum and the kids had a great time running between the different buildings to see what was next. I highly recommend a trip here.

We really had such a great time! We loved all the outdoor things to do and see and really enjoyed meeting our new friends! The kids are already asking when we are going back - so cute! And I hope we do go back soon. I would love to see the leaves in the fall. I am sure it is amazing! What I find really amazing is that one weekend I can be down in the city, on a tiny island full of millions of people and places to go and things to do; then the next be in a vast area with millions of trees and beautiful lakes and forgotten roads all in the same state. I love where I live :)

You can see more pics of our trip here if you'd like. And for a chance to win Straight Grain's Tinny Pattern head over to Adirondack Inspired and read about our meet up and why this blogging community is so great!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan

Kids Clothes Week (In my case, I should really call it Kids Clothes Day)

So two weeks ago started the first ever Summer KCW. I am so excited that KCW is going to be a quarterly event and I am really looking forward to Fall KCW already considering all I managed for the summer session was a pair of shorts :(

I had intentions of sewing shorts and tees for both kids but all I managed was this pair of shorts for Erin using Dana's Kids Shorts Pattern and an appliqued store bought tee. Oh well...there is always the fall!

I think she likes her new outfit!

Added a goat applique with a template from Aesthetic Nest you can purchase here.

rick rack trim on the pockets

Erin pretending to be a black bear - umm okay ha!

"shorts are good for jumping around mom"

fabric is from Joann purchased last year. it is cotton but that is all i know!

 

 

Dana's pattern is so easy to use and all the great tutorials on her site are very helpful! The shorts came together quickly and I even serged all the inside seams so they look pretty on the inside as well. I made a size 5 but used the size 4 elastic measurements for my skinny almost 6 year old. I probably could have cut a size 4 as the shirts are a bit roomy but hopefully that just means they will still fit her next summer.

Hopefully I have more success in the fall! And can get something sewn for Jack!

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan

So I took a little mud bath this weekend...



This past Saturday, my brother Robert, three of my cousins and a friend took part in a little event called The Tough Mudder. Here is a description of the event from their website: "Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, 1,000,000 inspiring participants worldwide to date, and more than $5 million raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world."

Okay so its not such a little event - ha! This is the second time I have participated in a Tough Mudder event. I did the one at Mount Snow last summer and it was hard - really hard! It took us six hours to complete (partly because I was a lot slower last summer and the other part being they had us go up and down the mountain seven times!) This year I was determined to finish faster. The Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge. I was challenging myself to do better and I did! Our team finished in four hours! I am so proud of us!

 

Team Pride N Joy

 This is such an amazing experience! It is probably the hardest thing I have ever done physically. But also one of the most rewarding. The whole vibe of the Tough Mudder is amazing as well. Every person who participates is really your team member. There is such a sense of camaraderie. It really is amazing how perfect strangers come together to help one another even if it means slowing them down. Because that is what Tough Mudder is about, helping one another over come obstacles.

And the obstacles are no joke! The event was held at Tall Pines ATV Park in Andover, NY. If you click here it will take you to the event page where you can scroll down to click on a copy of the course map. It is a PDF and I am not sure how to add it here! Names of the obstacles include Electric Eel, Walk the Plank, Boa Constrictor and ElectroShock Therapy to name a few. ElectroShock Therapy is the last obstacle of the course. You have to run through wires hanging down with 10,000 volts of electricity coursing through them! I got hit - it REALLY hurts!!!

 

Electric Eel

Cage Crawl

trying not to get hit with tennis balls!

Walk the Plank

Electroshock Therapy
 

In addition to the obstacles, they also had "Burn Zones" set up where you had to do push ups, burpees, planks, tricep dips or short cardio bursts.

 

Planks



  The whole course was 11 1/2 miles long so in some cases you were running about 2-3 miles between obstacles. Tough Mudder really challenges you in every way - especially mentally. It really is about overcoming fears and pushing yourself to keep going all while helping your fellow Mudders along the way. It really is such an amazing experience!! I am sore and bruised and I can't wait to do it again next year!!

Done!

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan

Giant Beach Bag

Hello! It has been awhile...how's your summer going? We have been pretty busy with trips to the lake and down to Long Island to see family. It has been a lot of fun so far and we have more trips and activities planned so sewing has been slow here. I did get to sew a couple of things last week. It was very rainy here, so I was able to spend some quality time with my sewing machine and work on a project that was needed. With all the trips to the lake and all the towels and stuff that goes along with it, I really needed a bigger bag to haul everything in. I was shoving our towels and blanket and snacks into a pretty small bag that I used when it was just me traveling to the beach!

I had some fabric in my stash that I knew I wanted to use and I wanted the bag to be large enough to hold four towels and our beach blanket. I wanted to add some pockets to the outside for easy access to the sunscreen, swimmies and for any shells or rocks the kids decided they had to keep! Plus, I wanted a bag that I could throw into the wash along with the towels. I stacked my towels and blanket, measured the pile to get the dimensions for my bag and did a quick little sketch of how I wanted the bag to look. Then went to bed trying to figure out how the heck I was going to sew it together! The next morning I woke up, got the kids breakfast, made myself a cup of coffee and settled down to catch up on the blogs I follow still baffled as to how I was going to sew my bag together. It was as if the sewing gods were answering my prayers because there in my feed was a post from Steph at girl. Inspired saying she was guest posting at i heart naptime with an over sized beach bag tutorial! Sah-weeet! The beach bag was even bigger than the one I had drawn which was great and she had easy to follow instructions on how to put the bag together. I made a few changes to the design so it matched the bag I had originally sketched. Instead of the interior zip pocket that Steph added, I added the two exterior pockets from my sketch to either side of the bag. I also constructed the straps differently than she did. Instead of the straps being sandwiched between the exterior and interior pieces, I added the straps after the bag was constructed so that they were visible on the exterior of the bag. I did start out with the same dimensions that Steph had but I cut my pocket pieces the wrong size so I had to change the size of the bag. It was not a big deal though and my bag still holds a lot of stuff!

two large pockets for storage

fits all our gear perfectly

 



all packed and ready to go!

I am so glad that I found this tutorial! This bag is just what I needed for hauling all our gear to the lake or to my in-laws pool!

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan

p.s. it is already day two of KCW! head on over to see some awesome inspiration and guest posts. i better get a move on ;)

Washi and a haircut - two bits! (lame title i know!)

Hello! I finally took my sewing machine out of vacation mode and finished up my Washi tunic. Hooray! It only took me ten weeks to finish it - such a procrastinator!

Well, in all fairness to myself, other projects just took priority. But I really wanted to finish what I started back in April. It has been sitting on a dress form (borrowed from my awesome friend Angela) staring at me for too long. Today I decided we were not going anywhere. We have been on the move all week and just needed a day of rest. Plus the weather has been iffy and today we had a big rain storm so outdoor activities were not happening anyway. Which made me feel much better about staying indoors ;)

So, I finished my Washi tunic and I love it! It was easy to sew thanks to Rae's awesome instructions and a little help from this tutorial - I was intimidated about sewing with elastic thread until I watched this. The fabric I used is Global Garden by Kathy Hall for Andover Fabric. I purchased it well over a year ago as part of a fabric de-stash that The Cottage Mama had in her shop. I looked around on the Andover site and some other fabric sites but it does not seem to be available anymore. It was not my favorite fabric that I purchased, the other fabrics in the bundle are what caused me to make the purchase, but there was about 2 and 1/2 yards of it and I wasn't sure what else to use it for so Washi tunic it became! And I must say, it is really growing on me. The color and print are not what I generally go for in clothing for myself but I like it. And it it very comfortable and soft.

first time shirring anything!

I did make a muslin first (something I admit I never do). And it fit perfect. I cut out the size medium and started to sew it together and then it sat, for ten weeks. In those ten weeks I have been really exercising and watching what I eat so the tunic is a little big. You can't really notice in the pictures but the neckline is a little loose and it does have a slight maternity shirt look to it because the skirt part of the tunic sticks out a bit. I think I just might be able to sew a small next time. I still love this shirt though and I will wear it. I can't wait to sew the dress version. I already have some fabric set aside for one that my mom got me for my birthday (she also purchased me the Washi pattern for my birthday - she rocks!)

So here are the two best pics of me in my new Washi Tunic:

nice headless shot

nice cheesy pose and here is where the haircut part of the title comes in - I chopped it off!



Thank you to my husband for taking these fabulous pictures ha! I really don't know if I will ever get used to having my picture taken for the blog. It is way more fun to photograph the kids! I am loving my new tunic and sewing for myself. I also am in love with my new haircut! I have been wanting to cut it short for awhile now and decided last week to go for it. I was down at my parents' house on Long Island so I went to visit my favorite hairdresser Jessica - check out her Facebook fan page here. Despite the fact that I have been living upstate for eight and a half years now, I still go to Jessica to get my hair cut. She is awesome so why change right? Plus we went to high school together so I have know her for way longer than I would like to admit ;)

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan

End of the Year Gifts

Tomorrow is Erin's last day of kindergarten....wait what?!?! How did this year go so fast? How am I going to have a first grader in the fall?! Time sure does fly when your having fun and learning new things. *Sigh* Anyway, enough weeping, onto the fun part!

The other room moms and myself decided to have a fun little craft for the kids to do this week that would result in a sweet keepsake. I met another mom at A.C. Moore and we purchased little canvas tote bags, iron on transfer paper and red fabric paint. Erin's teacher sent home a cute piece of paper that the whole class signed. I added the teacher's name and the year to the middle of the paper then cropped it, flipped it and printed it on to transfer paper. I ironed a copy of the signature paper to each of the tote bags. Then on Monday, we went in with the totes and the fabric paint and each child put their hand print on the plain side of the tote bag. When they were done, we had the teacher put her hand print on the bag as well. They came out so cute! And the kids really loved them!

 

 

We even had a larger tote bag for the teacher that all the kids put their hand prints on and had the same iron on transfer as the kids' bags. The tote bags really make such a cute and functional keepsake!The class also chipped in to get the teacher a gift certificate to a local spa - she could use a spa day after teaching 24 kindergartners all year!

 

 

I really love Erin's teacher! She is such a kind, caring, warm person who really loves the kids. Erin has enjoyed being in her class this year and she really helped to make Erin's first year in elementary school special. So, I wanted to give her something special that was just from Erin. And since I sew, what better gift that something hand made form the heart! Some of you may have seen some sneak peeks of the gift on my Instagram or Facebook page. I got the idea for the gift from this post I saw on the Ann Kelle blog a couple years ago and thought it would be the perfect thing! Instead of making notebook slip covers like in the post, I used a pattern that I created back here for the gift. I liked the idea of the teacher's name embroidered on the front so I had Erin write her teacher's name in disappearing fabric ink and I embroidered over it in red embroidery thread. I also like the apple applique so I added one to the front as well. I used linen from Joann Fabric for the cover and the apple fabric and yellow striped fabric were part of a bundle I purchased from Fabricworm over a year ago. I don't remember the name and I don't see it on their site anymore - anyone know what it is?

I put in a 5x8 notepad, a pen, and a small date book - all purchased at Target plus I added a picture of Erin and her teacher at their class picnic. I sent Erin off to school with it today. I hope she likes it!

 

Last but not least, I purchased some cute striped towels from Target and some sunblock to give to Erin's bus drivers. She has a morning driver and an afternoon driver so I got two of each, wrapped them in clear gift bags with a ribbon and will hand them out tomorrow. I thought that was a cute idea and something that they could use over and over again!

Well that is a wrap on the end of the year gifts. Did you give handmade/DIY gifts out this year? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan

 

 



Instagram Life

 

Thought I would share some of our happenings around here via Instagram pics. Do you use Instagram? I started last August and am having fun with the different filters and hash tags. I recently downloaded the A Beautiful Mess app which is fun to add little graphics and words to your pictures. I'm still trying to figure it all out, almost a year later ha!

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                     

 

My Instagram user name is @onceuponanotion if you'd like to follow my randomness ;)

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan