Music + Art = Camp MusArt

Eliza Grace had lots of fun at Camp MusArt last week. The camp's brochure says it all:

"Imagine a fun filled day exploring your creative potential through music, sign language, silly science experiments, muscle movement, improvisation, creative writing, and fun with languages, arts, crafts and much, much more!"

It was a week designed for a personality like Eliza Grace in mind.

Face painters came in to both paint the kids and teach them techniques.

A rainbow tiger.

A puppy.

Balloon artists did the same.She learned sign language, did yoga and created lots of different art projects, from painting to molding clay animals.

She also had daily lessons on the violin, guitar, piano, cello and recorder. Her favorite instrument was the cello!
On the final day, they had a recital in which the campers performed songs they had learned during the week: Twinkle Twinkle, Mary Had a Little Lamb, etc.

Eliza Grace was particularly excited since her Aunt Dawn and Grandfather also got to attend the performance. I was impressed with what they all learned in just one week. It was a great way to expose the children to a variety of instruments using the Suzuki method for teaching music. Who knows, cello lessons may be in her future!

If you have trouble viewing this video, go here.

'66 + '67 x '88 / '93 = 17 years

December 6, 1966: (Pittsburgh, PA) Jacqueline Marlowe Cavanagh is born.

(So yes, ok, I admit that I was born in PA. However, given that my family moved back to North Carolina when I was two plus the fact that I grew up to attend and graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill essentially negates those first two years rendering me therefore a true North Carolina native...who happens to be a bit of a Steelers fan.)

Me: Blond with naturally curly hair - what happened?
And why did someone allow me to put a death grip on that poor cat?

April 8, 1967: (Lafayette, IN) Stefan Scott Hughes is born.

Apparently Scott has always been a snazzy dresser.

May 18, 1988: (Lake Buena Vista, FL) Jacque Cavanagh arrives on Villa De Costa Drive, knocks on an apartment door and says, "Hi! Holly told me to come here and ask for someone named Scott Hughes to see if I can sleep on the couch in the girl's apartment. Is he here? Oh, he is already at the Magic Kingdom working on the Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes? Ok, well will you tell him that Jacque stopped by and needs to talk to him?"

Scottie doing his spiel entertaining folks while they paddle a 2000 pound free floating canoe around the Rivers of America.

May 23, 1988: (Lake Buena Vista, FL) For the first time, Scott Hughes speaks directly to Jacque Cavanagh (who cranes her neck to see past his sternum) asking her, " You 21 yet?"

September 25, 1993: (Winston-Salem, NC) Scott and Jacque walk down the aisle in a small ceremony attended by close friends and family. At the reception, the new Mrs. Hughes manages to say typically embarrassing things like, "Thank you all for being here. This has been a long time in coming!"

Ah, so young and unwrinkled!

September 25, 2010: (Cary, NC) Scott and Jacque enjoy their 17th wedding anniversary on a quiet Saturday hanging out with their kids and doing household chores.

Not particularly glamorous, but absolutely worth celebrating!

Happy number 17, Scottie!

Favorites.

My Mother and my first born.My favorite tree on Kiawah Island.My handsome little man.
A lovely, marshy view.Wildflowers growing between rocks.

Good Things Come to Those Who Bait

Words I never thought I would hear come out of my husband's mouth: "Fishing is just no fun when we catch them faster than I can bait the next hook."Silly me. I thought the whole point to fishing was to, you know, catch fish! Granted they were little fish, but still, they were fish!

(I love this picture. My photography skills are improving, no?)

Actually, it was kind of funny. I am not exaggerating when I say that as soon as a baited line hit the water a fish would bite and most of the time Eliza Grace would reel one in.Since both baiting and removing fish from hooks is Scott's job (as I was ensuring that a certain 4 year old did not become an alligator snack), he did not really have any time to hang out and just fish.Needless-to-say, the kids loved this kind of fishing. Well, Eliza Grace did. I have started calling her the "fish whisperer."
Will got bored pretty quickly and occupied himself playing Angry Birds on my iPhone.
And we had fun, which was the point.

Here's a quick look at the Hughes fishing expedition.

Eliza Grace does the intro and, yes, I will mention to her that she needs to hold the camera a little further from her nose next time.

Oh, and Will provides some of his own musical styling at the end. I will mention the whole "not so close to your face" thing to him, too.

Enjoy!

If you have trouble viewing the video go here.

The Trip(s) of Insanity

Remember that time I said I was trying to be more spontaneous with our kids? It sort of came back to bite me.

About a week before our already planned South Carolina beach vacation, Scott suggested that we add a quick two day jaunt down to Walt Disney World. I thought, "Sure, why not?" I've always marveled at how other (larger) families could pack up and head out with little notice or planning and wished I could be more like that.

So Scottie made the necessary arrangements and after one night at the beach, we hopped in the car and headed to Orlando.We spent one night at the Hilton (free with Scott's Hilton points!!) in Downtown Disney, where we swam, had a wonderful dinner at Ragland Road Irish pub and wandered the shops.

The next day we checked into the Polynesian Resort - room rates were half off people, half off!We rocked in hammocks.
Slid down water slides.
Then headed to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

Darth Vader and Hermione on Main Street USA
(costumes were abbreviated due to the heat!)

Perfect time of the year to go to Disney, by the way. We walked right onto every - EVERY - ride. We road Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and many other rides a couple of times.

And, of course, we went through the Haunted Mansion a time or two, where this lovely Southern ghost was in residence just for the Halloween party.
She noticed that Eliza Grace was in Hogwarts/Gryffindor garb and told the crowd that "Nearly Headless Nick visits the Haunted Mansion often." Eliza Grace was thrilled!

We did not leave the parks until after the 10:30 PM parade, complete with headless horseman, was over. This meant that the four of us went from 7:00 AM to after midnight, with no more than a 30 minute respite in between.

It did, however, have one unfortunate side effect for poor Will: car sickness.

In the past, we have driven as long as nine hours straight with no issues. But I think this time the combination of too much activity, not enough sleep, too much sun, and not the healthiest food choices did not help the situation.

At one point Scott and I both thought maybe he had a bug because the anti-nausea meds we gave him a couple of times during the six hour drive had no effect whatsoever. However, within 10 minutes of being out of the car he was back to normal with a big appetite so we knew that this was definitely motion sickness.

Thankfully we were able to enjoy the next four glorious days at the beach with absolutely perfect weather.

We did give Will Dramamine before we headed back to NC and, other than him being a little loopy, he had no issues at all.

Dramamine has now been added to my list of "never leave home without" items along with Benedryl and the EpiPen.

Yes, we had a blast.

Yes, I am glad we were spontaneous and went to Disney.

And yes, it was a bit insane.

A friend said the insanity really just proved that we are still young and spry.

I am going with that.

Going, Going...Beautifully Gone

We went fishing a couple of evenings during a
recent trip to Kiawah Island, SC.
Thankfully I remembered to bring my camera along.
The sunsets were amazing.A gentle, peaceful reminder.That God is the creator of all beauty.
And He sure knows what He is doing.

Seeing the Light

Now that the jungle is gone and blue skies abound in our master bath, it is time to turn to details.

About a month before we started the project, I removed the shiny gold knobs and pulls and replaced them with brushed nickle ones. It is amazing what a difference that simple change made.

Now, as Scott and I wait for a clear weekend to tackle the wainscoting and chair rail, we are making other accessory changes that look great.

Off with the old:
If you click on the picture above, you can really see the sort of outdated gold rope detail for which I did not care.

On with the new:
I LOVE the curved, feminine feel to the new light fixture.

It is coming together, slowly but surely!

Her Turn: Under the Sea

Eliza Grace has been patiently waiting to make her video about her new room decor.

After watching this, I think I need to remove the phrase "I see" from my vocabulary because I said it about 8 times in 6 minutes! Very annoying to listen to, if I do say so myself.

I am trying out YouTube for my video upload so I hope it works!

And now, Under the Sea with Eliza Grace:

If you have trouble viewing the video go here.

Whew, They Got It Done

And I love it!

Checking Another One Off the List...Finally!

Along with all the painting projects we have been doing over the past couple of months, we have also been trying to finish our kitchen upgrades.

The installation on the new travertine tile back splash started about 6 weeks ago, but was not completed because the accent tile we ordered was apparently out of stock.

Did they tell us this before they showed up to do the installation? No.

Did they try to get us to use a different style of accent tile? Yes.

Did I agree to the change? No.

Which is why the back splash sat halfway done for the past 6 weeks:
Updates each week (initiated by me, the customer, and not the company who messed up) went like this:

Week 1:
"Hi Louisa, it's Jacque checking in on the tile order."

"Hi. I was going to call the manufacturer later this week to find out if they have shipped it yet. I will give you a call soon."

Week 2:
"Hi Louisa, it's Jacque checking in on the tile order."

"Hi. I called the manufacturer today and they said they will have it made and ready to ship by July 31. I will give you a call when it comes in and we will schedule the installation."

Week 3:
"Hi Louisa, it's Jacque checking in on the tile order"

"Hi. I called the manufacturer and they said it will be more like August 15 before they can get it to us."

Week 4:
"Hi Louisa, it's Jacque checking in on the tile order."

"Yes. I called the manufacturer and now they said they are looking at more like August 30."

Week 5:
"Hi Louisa, it's Jacque checking in on the tile order."

"Yes, I saw the caller ID that it was you."

[Sidebar: Oh no she didn't! The attitude is coming out!]

"I called the manufacturer and they said they have the product and it will arrive on Monday, September 6."

Week 6:
"Hi Louisa, it's Jacque checking in on the tile order."

"Uh huh. So it looks like it might arrive on Friday, September 10. Can we schedule a time to install it that next week?"

"Nope. As I shared with you last week, that week will not work for us."

"Oh, um ok. Well I will call you when it comes in and we can schedule something."

Week 6, part 2:
"Hi, guess what? The tile is in! Can we come install today?"

"Well, no, because I have not arranged to be home all day today. How about tomorrow?"

"I am not sure that will work but let me check."

(and I get to listen to what I assume is background chatter about the annoying customer who has been hounding them about finishing the job but will not drop everything with 5 minutes notice to sit at home all day while they finish the job)

"Tomorrow will not work. How about Friday?"

"Yes, that will work."

And now, it is Friday. Here is what it looked like at 1:30pm EDT:
See that 2 inches of glass and travertine tile?

It is that for which we waited 6 weeks. And I am really glad we waited as it adds just the right personalized touch.
Promises have been made for the installer to return and finish the grouting job before the end of the day.

Here's praying it all comes together!