Geoevent followed by Lights in Simcoe, ON

Dave is always on the look out for some cache-y things to do. When we saw there was an event being held near a place with lights- we decided to go.

30+ people came out to the Coffee Shop,

Geocaching event at Tim Hortons- yes!

Found out these people are the parents of someone I went through elementary school with! Small world!

We then headed to the lights. Not sure how many others where there- we just walked around. 

ahh!

photographers everywhere!

We did the horse and carriage ride 

more pictures here:

Quilting Retreat Sept 3013

Thanks to Abigail weaning and mostly to +Dave DeBaeremaeker for being so awesome! I was able to go to my quilting guilds bi-annual retreat! 

so here are a few photos and below is an album with all of them. 

enjoy!

So I left Friday morning about 9:30 am getting to the retreat center at 11 or so. (some construction traffic too)

 We stayed up in the mountains near Banner Elk, NC. It was fairly chilly up there when I got there. But it felt so good to sleep with the window open.

We had rooms to stay in and this great room to quilt in. 

On Friday night we got to play Strip Poker. 

Everyone brought 20 holiday themed strips of fabric. 

there was a dice that had: 

C-put one in the center

L-pass one to the left

R- pass one to the right

*- take the whole pile

X- skip a turn (there were 2)

(apparently these dice were from a game called Left, Right, Center I think)

We also added that as soon as the center (kitty) was empty everyone put one in. 

and then we just played in clockwise order. 

Once you were out of strips- you were out. 

We also decided that one of the loose a turns should be "take one from center" for the next time we play this. Which should be at our christmas dinner. 

This could be used with any strips theme- red, white, blue or florals etc. 

^^ Winners ^^

We also had a Challenge for while we were there. Everyone was given the same 10 floral fabrics and had to use all of them in creating something. anything. 

Since I was there for such a short time- i created and made something that seemed fastest and easiest to me. 

I only used 2.5 inches of the sample bits for my "English Garden" doll quilt. I was only there for one night so I didnt bring much with me so the yellow/beige is one fat quarter as well as the green. the binding I got from someone else. 

here is my basket that I made as one of our little projects. 

I made the small little basket from the scrap of the big bag. THAT was a pain to make that small. 

The doll is a challenge project from someone else. 

Group Photo

By clicking the photos below you can see more of the challenge projects and more of the quilters. 

Camping trip!

So we were not able to get up to Canada to visit family this summer because of our 3 week road trip.

So I grabbed the kids and left Dave behind and went camping.

I drove 4 hours north to Summersville WV to the Mountain Lake Campground where I met my parents and one of my sisters for 3 nights of camping.





I was lucky that both kids slept the second 2 hours of the trip up to the camp ground.


We arrived at the campground about 230 and right away the presents came out. We barely had time to unpack! lol

My sister and I and the kids shared a cabin. This was a great decision, it was a rainy/damp weekend.

We were able to hang out on the porch or go to mom and dads trailer while it was raining.

We also did some shopping :)

The first two mornings were cool and damp but the afternoons at least the water didnt fall from the sky as fast :)

the pool was nice and warm

bedtime reading

campfires are wonderful

chillin'

breakfast/lunch in the trailer

mmm - ice cream AND sun

It was a great weekend.

The ride home both kids slept 2 hours, in shifts. so it was rather uneventful. 

And here are a few more pictures of our few days.

Bears Go East 2013

So we have been gone for 3 weeks.

Dave is doing a daily recap of what we did over on his blog:
http://debaere.blogspot.com/

Each of the following is a blog link to that days activities according to Dave.

June 27 Getting Ready to go

June 28th We then left in the morning on a Saturday and got to Salem VA

June 29th From Salem to Elkridge MD

June 30th Six states for caching and a lot of Driving. We finished up in West Warwick RI

July 1st Dave does the Delorme Challenge. I go to Target and try to keep the kids busy in the rain (and get in trouble for running in the halls)

July 2nd Drive North young man and stay in Bangor Maine. Also a huge Globe

July 3rd Cross into Canada and end up in Moncton NB via the Bay of Fundy

 

July 4th Make our way to halifax via Peggy's Cove. I am loving Nova Scotia

July 5th Spend the day in Halifax. Take a pirate cruise and watch Canada Day fireworks.

July 6th To North Sydney to catch the Ferry to Newfoundland crossing the Canso Causeway

July 7th YAY the Ferry!! ending the day in CornerBrook NFLD

July 8th Spend the day exploring the area. Hung out at Blow Me Down Park

July 9th Have to catch the ferry back to North Sydney, Nova Scotia

July 10th Drive the Cabot trail.

July 11th We then drove to PEI. We stayed in a house the hotel had made into suites.

July 12th Explored PEI including the Squeaky Beach and a lighthouse

July 13th Left PEI to go to Bangor Maine to visit friends for a couple nights.

July 14th Explored Bangor and had a Lobster Dinner

July 15th Left Bangor to end up at Worburn MA. Dinner with a G+ friend and her family. Also got to go to Keepsake Quilting!

July 16th Dave went Caching with friends, I went to a splash park with kids and a Quilting Museum

July 17th from Boston area to Washington DC - boring driving day

July 18th Super hot in DC. Felt like 105F Lots of exploring along the mall. dave posted in 2 parts

 

July 19th Too HOT in DC, felt like 110F. took a bus tour and a boat cruise. I took kids back to hotel to nap and Dave continued exploring for part 2

July 20th Arrive back home after visiting the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Museum (Daves related)

5382 Miles all told.

Great trip. Kids did well. Dave did ok.

there are 350+ photos in this album. I know that is a lot to go though.


and the Cell Phone shots