Camp Colton

There sits a glider in little man's bedroom that has been used for nap times and bedtimes on a daily basis for both minions since little man entered the world. This glider is angled toward one of the bedroom windows; the view is of the roof across the street and what I refer to as "the mini forest" -- lots and lots of big trees and a mass of leaves. I've been keeping tabs on a plastic bag that resides on one of the upper branches for 2 years now. I'll be curious to see if the little bag has hung on 1 more year.

Early last week I sat rocking little miss in the glider during one of her daily naps and noticed that the leaves of the 'forest' across the street were starting to turn yellow. Little did I know that by the week's end the word 'forest' would have an entirely new meaning. The hubby and I took a little trip to Portland, OR (sans minions for the very first time I might add) for my SIL's wedding at Camp Colton. What a magical place! There was crazy energy everywhere we went and good omens seemed to follow us. For example,Notice the rainbow? I don't normally post such blurry photos, but I thought I would share this one. I was actually trying to get a shot of the light on the leaves in the background and noticed the rainbow when I went to look at the shot. The rainbow was not visible to my naked eyes and was not in the photo that I took immediately after of the same area. Good times.

I spent most of Friday afternoon snapping photos and mingling with the wildlife, all the while feeling rather hobbitish . The rehearsal dinner was a little ways away from the camp and in our absence, Camp Colton and the areas surrounding experienced a nifty hail storm which lent itself to more rainbows.This was taken through the window of a moving car, you can get the general idea.

Saturday morning the boys were able to get a little fishing done and even managed to catch a Rainbow Trout (although that catch was not documented photographically, I'm told there were eyewitnesses). The groom's family was nice enough to cook us all brunch before we started the hair/makeup festivities and then it was magic time.

All went well.

I even managed to get a little knitting done while I was away from the minions. Little man was in need of a pair of mittens so I thought I would oblige. These were made from Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Wool in the Alaska Colorway. I bought this yarn a while back now and had leftovers perfect for mittens. I don't know if she still creates this particular colorway anymore, but I think it's lovely.

The environment at Camp Colton was a nice showcase for a scarf I made for the hubby's Grandmother J. I finished it this past Spring but did not photograph it until now because it didn't make much sense to me to wash and block and fold and then have to wash and block all over again.... and besides, who wants to see a picture of a piece of spaghetti? Here it is in its blocked glory. This scarf was made from Classic Elite's Inca Alpaca Color:1120 Lot:2899. The lace pattern is one that I have seen on various sites, I ended up going with the Falling Water Lace Scarf pattern.

I finished up the camo for my brother's upcoming bundle, it is drying as I type. It will be gifted this upcoming Sunday so I will post a picture afterward. There's several projects I want to get started on as the Holidays are fast approaching, but I thought I would clean house and finish up some WIP's first. We'll see how strong my resolve is!!!

My relationship with my sewing machine is improving. In an effort to teach myself the finer aspects of sewing, I have stuck mainly to zippered pouches, bags for the minions and myself, some softies for the minions... I have this fun apple corduroy fabric for a little pinafore for little miss and I find myself balking all of a sudden. Usually I am a "jump right in and figure it out as I go" sort of crafter so this I find this rather surprising. Perhaps it is because I am afraid I will screw it up somehow. We'll see. It looks great in my head though!

My parents ended up surviving the minions in our absence and I think all four of them had fun spending some quality time with each other. I am happy to report that little man has outgrown his allergies to milk and eggs. The peanut area of his skin test (we went with the skin test because his lab work came back negative on all three, but different lab... better be safe than sorry...) was just a tiny bit pink but nowhere near his response to the histamine control area so we are going to check him on that one again next Spring. We are also officially done with the Speech Therapist. Little man's speech has improved far and above his original goals for therapy and his vocabulary is actually above his age level at the present time. He is really enjoying the cooler weather and explores his environment whenever possible.Little miss is also doing well. There is no stopping this one! She may even keep me busier than I was with her big brother! We are working on those pesky molars right now so the poor, temperamental thing is gnawing on anything in sight.She is a whiz at puzzles now and you should see her groove to her tunes :)

I mentioned in my last abbreviated post that I was starting a new knit-a-long. It's really more of a knit/crochet/sew/photograph/cook...-a-long. It is entitled Autumn Celebration. If you are interested or if you know anyone who loves Autumn and would like to contribute, let me know!

I should also mention that that handsome creature pictured at the beginning of the post is a Banana Slug. Evidently they can be found all over the West Coast, but seeing how that was my first trip out there, I was rather excited to finally see one. There was even a rumor around camp that I would post about K and M's wedding and would just talk about slugs, can you believe it? :) Congrats you guys!!!

Little miss' nose.