Don't Mess With Amma

Woulfs Visit the BWH

We love having visitors, especially since we don't live near family.  So when family visits we are delighted!   Aunt Tammy, Uncle Marty, and the kids came through on their summer road trip.  We hadn't seen them in a while.  Man, is Cole getting tall!

The girls were very excited to see their cousins.

And everyone got a turn in the shop.

It was wonderful to catch up.  Please visit again, Woulfs!

 

Big Bike Success!

Me Dance

Audrey calls this her Me Dance.

Stabalizers

We spent our only free July weekend at home.  The focus was Natalie's request to learn to ride her bike without stabilizers (British name courtesy of Peppa Pig).  Dad patiently worked with her.  There were the requisite wobbles and falls but not too many.

She practiced more on Sunday and by today she really has it down!

But there's one stabilizer we do want to keep around.  The RV horizontal stabilizer is complete and now proudly on display in the shop.  One more part down!

Audrey didn't want to be left out of the workout.  She did sets of 5, then 10, then 9, then 8. then 7, then 6 pull ups, at her own request!

 Aunt Sam and the girls did some backyard ballin'.

Big happenings here this weekend!

2nd Major Garden Harvest

The garden is in full swing now!

We've picked a few green beans about every other day but we had our 2nd major harvest at the end of last week.

The beans seem to be slowing down but we fear that may be because they've been trampled.  Squash are still in heavy production.  Cucumbers and tomatoes haven't really started yet.  We've picked 2 cucumbers and a handful of grape tomatoes but the vines are full and we can't wait!

Fat Quarter Childrens Skirts

I joke that my friend Michelle tricked me into quilting earlier this year.  Truth is she launched me on my new fav hobby.  She also introduced me to the double-edged sword that is quilting fabric shops.  You go in and say, "I love it!  What will I do with it?  I don't know yet but I'll take it!"  This is how I ended up with a fat quarter bundle of airplane themed fabrics. 

My idea was to make skirts for the girls.  How?  Wasn't sure.  But with the internet nothing is ever too far away.  I found a few blogs to guide me.  This one was helpful in getting an idea for the layout and this one was helpful in determining sizing.  After a bit of experimentation and modification I was pleased with how they turned out.

I had fun, the girls liked them, so I decided to make a 2nd set with awesome Packers fabric my mother-in-law generously shared.  (Gotta make sure the girls can represent in the midst of Steelers country!)  And to document the process so that I could share it and also remember it later when I undoubtedly forget exactly what I did or what the measurements were.

The girls are 5 and 3 and are pretty average waist sizes and heights for their ages.  I cut 6.5"x16" strips for the 5yo and 6.5"x15" strips for the 3yo.  This length was purposefully generous for each. I wanted to be able to include 3 folds in my hem instead of 2 so that I could let them down next year and get more than 1 season's wear.  Then I trimmed them to be trapezoids measuring 4.5" at the top (still 6.5" at the bottom).  I used a 6x24" acrylic ruler and measured on a cutting mat so that I trimmed evenly from each side. 

Using a 1/4" seam allowance I sewed 4 pairs of trapezoids together.  Then sewed them into 2 sets of 4.

 Then into one and pressed the seams.

Then I took a 3" strip (regular bolt length of 42") for the waistband, ironed it in half (right sides outward), and matched the raw edges with the raw edges of the skirt body on the right side.

 Sewed it down and ironed it to fold upward.  Ta da, a waistband!

Next I sewed the skirt closed into a tube but stopped just short of where the waistband began.  It obviously had to stay open for the elastic later.  Then I ironed what would become the bottom hem.  As I mentioned I folded it 3 times.  When ironing I was careful to keep the panel edges aligned with themselves.  Since the pieces are trapezoids you can't fold them up without having one edge overhang the other.  I used the iron to create tucks in the fabric to keep each panel within its seam lines.

Tucks can be seen here.  Then I sewed down the hem with a contrasting thread (bright yellow).

Next I threaded elastic through the waistband and sewed it closed.  I measured mine on my girls and then subtracted an inch.  But I left extra elastic on each side so I can let this out too in the future.

Then I tucked the sewn elastic back into the waistband, tucked one end of the open waistband into the other, and folded the other end inside itself.  Finally I ran a seam down this tuck to sew it closed.

 Voila!  We're ready for fall.  Go Pack go!

First Big Garden Harvest

The garden is in full swing now! Last night we got our first major harvest of green beans.

 

Our planting helpers are also happy to help pick and wash. 

Funny enough when blanched the purple beans turned green! 

Several squash and cucumbers are about ready too so we're looking forward to more yummy veggies soon!  

Mas Guanaja

The Holleys took our second trip to Guanaja, Honduras (watch for a post about last year's visit coming eventually!) over the 4th of July this year.

Honduras is a gorgeous mountainous country with lush greenery, crystal clear blue water, and dynamic coral formations everywhere.

 

The first horseshoe shaped bay you can see in this picture is Wilmont Bay where we stayed.

To get there we flew to Roatan on United and then took a little puddle jumper (6 seats including the pilot - we needed 2 flights to fit our whole clan) to Guanaja.  Cessna selfie!

Just like last year we stayed in the Chapman House - an impeccably appointed and incredibly constructed home built into a hillside.

 

Views of Wilmont Bay from our house.

From the open air dining room (which juts out) your view of the ocean spans nearly 180 degrees.

 

There aren't any real roads so you rely on boats and ATVs to get around which was fine with the kids!

Even if we got caught in the rain on one trip.  If you like pina coladas...

The Caribbean waters are home to many tasty fish and we chased them around a good bit.  We didn't have as much success this year as last but you know what they say - A bad day fishing beats a good day working.  The men had a few fishing outings on their own but all 10 of us went one day.

And a couple of wee ones earned their Captain's title.

While others were rocked right to sleep by the waves.



We did a lot of swimming and playing on the beach, of course.

Natalie had her first real snorkeling lessons and did amazingly well!

Audrey had a different idea about how to get around and see wildlife underwater.

And see wildlife we did!  While snorkeling we saw many colorful tropical fish and a few starfish.  Chris even saw an octopus and stingray.

Pelicans were busy fishing all week.  It was neat to watch them swoop and scoop.

There are many kinds of lizards.

Including iguanas.

Hummingbirds abound and swarm around feeders.  It wasn't uncommon to see a dozen at a time and they compete for space, even engaging in aerial combat maneuvers.  A feeder full after breakfast was drained before dinner.

Hermit crabs of all sizes are prevalent as well.  Some are even toy sized.  Larger ones stick to the jungle and eat produce peelings and rinds you throw out.

We met two domesticated parrots on a visit to a private cay owned by some ex-Pats.  They'd been trained to say, "I can talk. Can you fly?" and "Buy low, sell high."  There are a few wild parrots around Wilmont Bay but we didn't see much of them this trip.  Last trip they were much more interested in us and even bit Alexis's foot going after food.  She was fine with their absence this time!

The boys (mistakenly) caught an eel while fishing!

We had many tasty island treats including some Honduran food cooked for us at our house by a local woman.  We recommend the coconuts - fun for all ages.

We also tried a new restaurant on this trip (there aren't many) called Manati's, owned and operated by a German couple.  You can travel all the way to Honduras and still find bratwurst.

There is a grove of lime trees behind the Chapman House and both regular and key limes were ripe for picking.

This was serious business.

The Chapman's groundskeeper, Alonso, was very popular with the kids last year but was laid up this year with a broken ankle.  He still hosted them for painting lessons a few afternoons.

We also took a jungle hike to a cliff top overlooking the bay.

It was a wonderfully fun and relaxing week in the tropics and after the long travel home we arrived to this.  Samantha had been hard at work crafting, cleaning, mowing, and cooking which was such a sweet homecoming.  A great week all around!