I didn't have my camera with me - which totally drove me nutso missing all the great photo opportunities! I took a few pics with my cell phone but borrowed a lot of these from my sweet friend, Jennifer...
The moms on the tour decided we needed to go back for a Mom's Night Out and try some of the cute little restaurants around the area. I think we probably enjoyed the tour more than the kids, but it was still a great time for all!
Today was our little friend, Sarah's, birthday and her party theme was based on the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are". So, for her gift, I decided to make her a "Wild Things" canvas. It was very simple to make & I was pretty happy with how it turned out...
First, I painted the outside rim black. Then I tore, inked, and Mod Podged scrapbook paper to the background. Next, I printed off quotes and pictures from the book, cut those out and Mod Podged those to the canvas, as well. (I downloaded the font from here. It's called "Men In Black" and it looks very similar to the actual font used in the book.)
I had to add a picture of Sarah that I cut out from her party invitation. It was too cute to not use. Last, I covered the canvas in glitter Mod Podge - because you can never have enough glitter if you're a girl.
I also ordered a "Where the Wild Things Are" iron-on from an eBay shop and put it on a t-shirt for the birthday girl. Time did not allow for me to bling it up for her but I'm pretty sure her mamma can dress it up ;-)
So - I know it's a little odd to take pictures at a birthday party that is not for your own child - but everything was so cute, I just had to take pics! Here's a few of the decor and party favors...
It was also a swim party so, of course, here's a few pool pics. And yes, our family needs that pink kayak! Even the boys liked it! :-)
The kids received super cute "Wild Things" towels that my friend, Brandi, made. They turned out so super cute!
The kids also ate some yummy pizza and chocolate chip cookie for b-day "cake"...
And check out these fun lollipop party favors the kids got to take home...
The girls have pretty much worn out their current pioneer outfits so I bought them some new ones for the occasion. The Country Barn is a GREAT place to order a custom-made pioneer dress, bonnet and apron. You have to check them out!
At the Festival, they toured Laura's log cabin, school and post office, petted the horses and donkeys on the farm, made crafts, listened to country folk music, shopped at the country store and participated in a Character Look-Alike Contest - Abby won first prize and Mackenzie tied third place with a friend :-)
Wordle is a fun website that creates "word clouds" from text that you enter on their website. It's kind of similar to creating Subway Art. I've used this site in the past but my friend, Jennifer, just reminded me that you can enter your blog address & it creates a word cloud from the text on your site. This is what Wordle came up with for this blog...
Here's some more we created from some of our other blogs we keep up. Yeah, we're kind of a nerdy blog family with too many to count.
We just returned from a very relaxing vacation to the beach at Destin, Florida. This was our third time to go but Steve's parents and his sister and her family went with us this time. We had a super fun time and made some great family memories that I know the kids will especially cherish. Here's some pics and videos from our trip...
This was taken about 6 hours before we needed to leave. The girls were so excited to go, they couldn't help but pack early and hang out in our rental van.
Since it's about a 14-hour drive, we left at 2 in the morning and drove straight through and arrived at our condo about 4 in the afternoon.
After we unloaded our luggage, of course we had to hit the beach...
Day 2...
Everyone ate dinner at our condo that night, then the kids performed a "talent show" for us...
Here's their "light show"...
And my niece, Emily, sang...
And here's the grand finale...
After that, we took family pics at the beach...
Then we went crab hunting when it got dark...
Day 3 at the beach...
That night we went to Seaside - a beach community close to Destin, which I LOVE. Could totally live there. Great food, shopping, entertainment and shaved ice at Frost Bites!
Day 4 at the beach...
At night, we went to Baytowne Wharf - a neat area that has shops, restaurants and fun things for kids to do...
Day 5 - we took a break from swimming because we had some pretty bad sunburns. We opted to go shopping, instead, at Destin Commons, then we went back to Seaside again. We met some friends at Bud and Alley's for dinner then took a few more pics at the beach...
Day 6 - we woke up early and went "shopping" on the beach - a.k.a. looking for "treasures" left over from the day before. We found flip flops, a fishing net, a paddle, a boogie board, and lots of sand toys. Score! ;-)
The girls made a friend at the beach named Kylie. They had so much fun playing at our condo's pool, surfing the waves on their boards, and building sand castles together. They exchanged e-mail addresses and hope to stay in touch with each other. Too bad she doesn't live closer to us - Illinois is a little far away to schedule a play date ;-)
Here's pics from our last day on the beach...
And dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, The Back Porch...
Day 7 @ 4 a.m. - Time to head home and get back to reality :-(
It was a fun trip that we'll always remember. The kids are already talking about the next one! ;-)
