Oak Creek - 2009

This year in late June, Uncle Bubba and Tina visited us all the way from Seattle and we were lucky enough to get to go camping with them. We went to a local campground called Oak Creek for three days which was nice but Oops...didn't have sewer hook-up.

Bummer.

It also had some pretty big hills which were tough for the kids with bikes, but luckily the spot we had was in the lower section which had a nice, flat, paved surface. Steph had just learned to ride without training wheels so this trip was great practice for her and she spent a majority of her time riding around the loops with other kids. Jen just sat around being cute. That's what she does best. Of course Bubba got to eat some serious face while he was here and Tina got lots of lovin' time too. We really enjoyed camping with them and only wished they lived closer so we could do it more often.

Here's the pics (and lots of em')!

Bubba and Jenny on the tandem bike (her first time and she doesn't QUITE fit...maybe next year!)



Bubba did his traditional scavenger hunt. He had the clues hidden all over the campground....some the girls even needed to go on a bike ride to find. The first clue was 2 socks on a rock.....



Can you see them?? The socks on the rock? We have no idea who's they were...they were just sitting on that rock!



At the end the girls got the prize....a dollar each.



A friendly ladder ball competition...



Walking Daisy dog...





Tina and Jenny riding scooter....



Bubba getting smoochies....



Bubba eating FACE!



Steph riding so good without training wheels!




Cutest puppy...



On a hike...



Playing Spongebob Legos...



We miss you Bubba!!!!!!!!!!!!

Otter Lake - 2009

One of our favorite places to camp is Otter Lake in the Poconos. It's a beautiful resort campground with so much for the kids to do.....indoor pool, tennis, hiking, bike riding, fishing in the lake, paddle boats, playgrounds, ect. We camped there for 5 days last year and went back for another 5 days this year....I'm pretty sure we will go back again and again (and again). It's so beautiful and peaceful.

Here are some pics from this year's trip. Enjoy!

what's summer without a great big waterslide????

The girls got this monster of a water slide for Christmas and have been on it a few times this summer (despite all the rain and strange weather we've had so far). They really enjoy it and have a ton of fun but it's a BEAST to get up and take down....so it's not an every weekend sort of thing.

Ron made a "rule" that he will only put it up if the girls will use it the entire weekend. No putting it up for just a few hours of fun. And since we have only had a few weekends of good weather coupled with us being home to enjoy it...it hasn't gotten nearly as much use as they would like. But when it's up.....it's great. Ron even went down it (but I wasn't there to witness it and/or get a picture of it for the old blog!!! Darn.)





Oh...and I couldn't resist posting this. It's one of my favorite pictures of Jen ever. This is SOOC (straight out of camera) which means no post processing in Photoshop or anything. What a doll!



P.S. Don't forget to check out my sewing blog funsize creations (and add it to your favorites, RSS feed, Google Reader, etc.). I MAY be doing some fun giveaways in the near future. I'm just saying.

:)

My garden 2009

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago when my garden was in an awesome state of growing and thriving. Since then the massive amounts of rain that we've gotten has wreaked havoc on my lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatos (killing one plant and growing the other so tall that it fell over - - metal tomato cage and all!)

We've harvested plenty of green beans this year (Steph loves to eat them straight off the vine with a little Ranch dressing), a few cucumbers, carrots, and onions....but so far that's it.

Oh, and we won't need to go to a pumpkin patch this year...we have at least 30 pumpkins on the vine, some of which are already huge. Anyone need some pumpkins????

Oh my.

My. My. My.

I knew it had been awhile since I posted but I didn't know it had been nearly a month!

My bad.

I'm sure you are all having the same problem I'm having. It's called summer, and now that it's here all I want to do is get outside with the fam and have fun (and not be attached at the hip to my computer all day and all night long)!

Plus I've been sewing alot which is the real reason I've been a bad blogger.

With that being said I know I have quite a few family members who would like an update and I have lots of catching up to do. Summer has been in full swing here at the Chrupcala house.

I'll start with a kitchen update:

The last I reported we were getting new countertops. Well I'm happy to say that they are now in and they are wonderful. I'm so glad that we decided to do them, they turned out better than expected. We also got a few new appliances (changing from white to black) and Ron and I put up a backsplash. It took us weeks....but it's finally done!

The kitchen looks completely different than before! We still have alot left to do (finishing touches on the paint from tearing out the old backsplash, new tile floors, a new light fixture, and a new black fridge....but the kitchen budget is blown so those will all have to wait until next year.)

Here are some before, during, and afters of the process.

:)

This is the kitchen before (with the oh-so-lovely blue countertops and all!) The only new item in this pic is the black dishwasher, which we had replaced about a week earlier.




This pic is during demo when the countertops were off and the old backsplash had been removed.




New countertops! Pre backsplash....




This is during the installation of the backsplash.




These two are of the finished backsplash but before we did the grout (you can still see the spacers in between the tile). This shows the new stove, microwave and toaster. However, I just realized that I don't have a pic of the finished backsplash after the grout so I will have to take one and put it up soon.




So there you have it, the transformation so far but with a whole lotta work to go.

There's always next year.

:)

Oh....and don't forget to hop on over to funsize creations (my sewing blog) and check out my awesome sewing skills (and leave me a little love in the comments section).

My new blog!

For any of you interested I have started a new blog called FunSize Creations to document all the sewing I have been doing lately. Stop by and say HI!!!!

:)

Sewing on the brain.....

All I have been wanting to do lately is sew.

Eat, sleep and sew. In that order. These are the times when having a full time job really stinks.

Being a sewing newbie it takes awhile to get up and running with all of the necessary knowledge and tools.....and fabric stash. After about 8 tries I got the whole "putting in a zipper" thing down pat. All I have to say is thank god for the Internet and online sewing tutorials. Without them the zipper hurdle would have done me in and I would have had to avoid them like the plague for ever and ever.

A few ladies at work had me do custom bag orders which are so fun (one for her daughter for taking her stuff to dance class, one for her mom for Mother's day with a matching zippered pouch, and I am working on one for her daughter's bridal shower.)

I'm also planning on doing a few really cute teacher gifts for the end of the school year at some point this week, and I bought the CUTEST apple print fabric to do the job! How nice will that be to give them a handmade gift instead of some cheesy store bought item!

Anyways, here are a few of the things that I have sewn recently (and I plan on doing a whole bunch more)! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.....

Reversible headbands for Steph and Jen:




A bag and matching zippered pouch as part of my niece Karyssa'a communion gift:




Matching skirts for the girls:



And then I took this t-shirt and pile of fabric:



And I made THIS dress for Jennifer!!!!



The last one was a COMPLETE learning process and one that I will try again soon. It turned out OK, but there are a few things that I need to do differently next time.

Off to sew.......

:)