our second day in the general vicinity of sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore started with some time on the water. initially we had planned a trip with one outfitter, but when we arrived, it turned out they were closed. thankfully, we found another spot, and while derek handled booking the trip and the shuttle bus […]
sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore
our inaugural big michigan excursion took us to sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore. we started at the visitor center, collecting all of the ranger data, stickers, and merch, but sadly not junior ranger books because it appears those days are over. then we set out on a days worth of various adventures. our first hike […]
travel day. two capitals, fabric, and an old friend.
after the rock house hike and otherworld, we made many more stops en route to our next accomodations, making this one day (june 12 to be exact) quite long. while still in columbus, we checked another state capitol building off our list. the kids are still such troopers about this. then we made the first […]
other world.
our travels from hocking hills to michigan took us through columbus ohio, where derek discovered the other world immersive art experience. it seemed similar to, though not quite as thought out and crazy cool as, meow wolf in santa fe. but first. we fueled up. then it was time to get weird. the outside of […]
hocking hills state park.
for our 2024 summer road trip, we took a three week tour up to and around michigan, mostly in the upper peninsula, a part of the country that we haven’t seen yet. and we managed to find a few cool spots to check out on the way up. the first such location was hocking hills […]
eighth grade grad.
school ended in early june and for ike and hazel, there was little fanfare. but. anna was graduating from 8th grade, middle school, and apparently we make a big deal about these sorts of things. the ceremony was held at wait chapel on wake forest’s campus, if that tells you anything. it was an ordeal. […]
miscellany of may.
as it turns out. may was pretty busy with things that deserved their very own blog posts. so this one will be short and sweet. to kick things off, anna and i did a bit of strawberry picking. we lovelovelove local nc strawberries. i ate healthy. walked and lifted. 🙂 ok. so this part is […]
teacher totes magotes.
when i first laid eyes on the fpp coneflower blocks on instagram (and then later in love patchwork and quilting magazine), i knew it was the perfet starting point for gifts for hazel’s two wonderful fourth grade teachers. i did some research on their “favorites” lists from the beginning of the year and dove right […]
end of fourth grade things.
as we rolled into may, the end of year school activities began to fill the calendar. it’s mayhem. especially for the crazelnut. firstly, her class had a field trip to hanging rock. obviously i went too. 🙂 the kids went to three different stations, where rangers talked to them about the rock cycle, water cycle, […]
fpp coneflower obsession begins.
one day, i was just scrolling through instagram, when a post about a paper pieced coneflower caught my attention. it would change my life. i scoured the internet for this pattern, finally procured it, via an online version of a magazine, and in very short order, had stitched up my first block. i knew these […]