A Niagara Experience

Last month Emberlie visited her first Wonder of the World - Niagara Falls, NY.  We took a trip with Jon's whole family to the American side of the Falls and even rode the Maid of the Mist (Emberlie hung out with Mimi and Uncle Matt at the top).  Addi and I ventured up the stairs to get closer to the Falls after the boat ride.  

Then we walked around Goat Island to get a better view of the Falls.  It had been 9 years since my last trip to Niagara Falls, so it was fun to get to see the sights again.

On the next day Emberlie got to meet her friend Liam, Aimee (my college roommates) baby boy.  He's about six weeks younger than Emberlie, but close in size!

We also had the best chicken wing...EVER...at the Village Inn on Grand Island.  Unfortunately, I ate them before getting a picture!  And visited Vidler's Five and Dime in East Aurora, a huge drugstore from the 1930's.  I found a cool direction manual on Celtic Tatting by Rozella Linden, another project for me.  

 Fun with Auntie Terry and the cousins!

  

Lean on Me

Our basement project is almost done!  One of the the features is a picture ledge on the staircase landing on the way down.  The idea was inspired by some picture ledges we saw on a trip to Ikea:

Here's our version of the picture ledges made from Lowe's oak lumber, some nails (from my husband's nail gun) and white paint.  They are hung by using double end screws - one end drilled into the drywall/studs and the other gently "persuaded" into drilled holes on the ledges (holes were slightly smaller than the screw).  This did involve a rubberized sledgehammer, but eliminated the need for brackets.

I found a great selection of inexpensive frames form Ollie's (Good Stuff Cheap!) and the Reedsville Flea Market.  There's also some artwork from my brother and Arts Fest this year.  Now I just need to get more photos printed to finish up the project!  It's a really nice touch to the basement, right behind the beautiful glass door that Jon installed from scratch.

I'm A Lean, Mean Running Machine

Happy 4th of July.  We celebrated Emberlie's first 4th with lots of fun activities.  We started the day by participating in the annual Firecracker 4K.  Jon and I ran this in 2006 (where he totally beat an 11 year-old girl) and this year we raced with Emberlie and her speedy stroller.

It was a hot day and there were a large number of participants (over 1,000).  Jon wants to install  wheel spikes like a chariot for the next race.  The Handleys came to cheer us on and Elin wanted to run with us each time we passed her.

 
Our time was somewhere are 24 minutes; we are still waiting for the official results.  We then hit up the Waffle Shop for some delicious breakfast followed by a family naptime.   

  
Afterwards we parked on the top floor of a garage downtown to watch the fireworks.  Of course, we had to have dinner first and then walk around 4thFest.  Jon consumed a 600 calorie cinnamon roll with extra frosting and I found some cotton candy.  All in all it was a great holiday!

Fantastic First Father's Day

Earlier this month was Jon's first Fathers' Day!  We celebrated the day and great weather with Emberlie's first hike.

It was a 2 mile hike at Shingletown Gap, just outside of State College.  Although Emberlie slept through most of it, I'm pretty sure that she enjoyed it.

After the hike, we went to Deb and Richard's house for some swimming.  This was also Emberlie's first dip in a pool.  It was still a little cool, so I don't think she really enjoyed it and only lasted about two minutes, but we did it!

The last bit of fun was some delicious paella prepared by Deb and Richard, which included chicken, shrimp, calamari, clams and mussels.  And, of course, the most important step of allowing the paella to "get to know itself" after its done cooking.  There were also some killer mojitos made with chocolate mint.  What a great meal!

Rock N' Roll

This weekend we took our first road trip with Emberlie to Cleveland O-H-I-O.  Of course, it was about three and a half hours from State College because all major cities, magically, are about that far away (NYC, DC, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltmore, and now Cleveland).  Emberlie was so excited for the trip to the city of Rock N' Roll she decided to roll over the Friday before we left!

We attended my friends wedding during the day.  Emberlie made it through the whole ceremony with just a little crying in the beginning.

Then we went to Panini's for some gigantic corned beef, french fry and cole slaw sandwiches.  Our good friends, the Handley's, were conned into babysitting for us and my college roommate Cara and husband Matt also joined us.

We finished the day at the reception with a few adult beverages and CAKE POPS!  So smart and so delicious.

The next day we ventured to Lucky's Cafe, featured in Diner, Drive-in and Dives for breakfast.  Awesome menu with homegrown veggies used when possible.  There was definitely some sausage gravy served, as well as curried tofu, eggs and spinach, and homemade jam.  A great place to check out if you are ever in Cleveland.

And then the ZOO (...sorry Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)!  The Cleveland MetroPark Zoo was a wonderful spot to explore and well worth the twelve dollars.  The habitats seemed more realistic than most zoos and there was plenty of walking and greenery.  We had a great time!

 

A Dress to Impress

Do you have some scrap fabric you'd like to transform into an adorable dress?  There is a great tutorial on how to make a pillowcase dress from The Mother Huddle blog.  Start with five fabrics and end up with one cute dress.

The dress is made by sewing four strips of fabric together and one along the bottom, resulting in two panels.

 

I learned a new technique called "top stitching" or "edge stitching".  Top stitching is used to hold the raw edges of a seam in place on the back of your work by running some stitches on the front or "top" of your work.  It also makes it look sharp and finished.

The top corners are cut off and the panels are sewn together.  Elastic is used on the neckline to make it easy to wear.  And  I made bias tape to use as straps, so they would match the bottom of the dress.  I can tell that Emberlie is very excited!

Mmmmm...Memorial Day

It was a Memorial Day Feast!  Jon and his friend Eric created a BBQ buffet inspired by the Summer Wegmans Menu magazine.  The highlight was three types of sliders:  cracked pepper, jalapeno cheddar and crumbled bacon with regular rolls or glazed donuts.  Followed by a dessert of grilled bananas and ice cream.  Thanks for all the hard work, boys!

And here's one more pic of our weekend with Auntie Cortney all the way from Hillsborough, NC.  Thanks for the visit and hope you liked the Thai peanut mussels from Ale House!