My Quilt is a Finalist!

I think that most people who read our blog know that I like to quilt and that I've been designing patterns and teaching classes over the last few years.  I recently submitted one design for an international contest, where the twelve finalists are to be published in a book and the top three will be awarded cash and prizes.  I found out a few days ago (but wasn't allowed to tell until now) that my quilt is one of the finalists.  The top three winners will be announced at the end of October, so I still have a little more waiting to do.  I am told that the book will be published next May.

Emma's First Trip to Camp

"Summer Glory" is the name of our camp.

(Mommy's Note:  For those who are unfamiliar with the Adirondacks, people who have summer homes there generally refer to them as camps.  Camps tend to be three season homes and a bit more rustic.  In our family we are lucky to have two camps.  Emma's Nana's family, the Hastings, have a log cabin on Indian Lake that is more than 100 years old.  Emma's Grandpa's family, the Stewarts, have a camp on Mountain View Lake and have been going there for almost as long.  The two lakes are joined by a little inlet and are located near Malone, New York, close to the Canadian border.  I grew up going to our camps every summer and Emma is the sixth generation of our family to visit these summer homes.)

Mommy got me up super early one morning before the sun woke up and she and Daddy and I drove all the way to Nana and Grandpa's house in New York.  We visited with some family there and then the next morning we got in the car again and drove up to camp.  It was my first time ever going there and I have to say I liked it and I can't wait to go back again next month when my great aunts come home to visit.

I did so many things and was so busy it's hard to remember what order I did all those things, so here are a bunch of pictures from my time at camp.

When I would wake up in the morning, Mommy would give me breakfast out on the porch.  That way I could look at the lake and see all kinds of pretty things out there.

Every morning the lake looks different...

Sometimes Grandpa would come and eat Cheerios with me.

Sometimes it gets a little chilly overnight, 'cause it's in the mountains, so I borrowed Mommy's sweatshirt.

Here's Daddy and me playing on the porch.

These are blueberries.  They grow all over the place at camp, bust mostly along the edge of the woods and the edge of the lake.

Mommy let me try some.  I liked them a lot!

Sometimes Mommy had to help me get them in my mouth, they were little and rolled away from my fingers.

One morning, Mommy and Grandpa picked a whole cupful of them before I even woke up, just like his Nana used to do when he was a little boy.

Then Mommy made them into muffins.  These are my great-great grandma's muffin pans.  You know you you can tell they're really old?  'Cause each one holds eight muffins, that's how.

Lots of people came to visit me when I was at camp.

This is my Great-Granddad.  He built some towers out of cups for me.

And this is my Great-Grandma.  They're my Nana's mommy and daddy.  Did you know that Nana's have mommies and daddies too?  Weird, huh?

This is Aunt Casey.

She's my mommy's best friend and I think she's lots of fun too 'cause she likes to laugh a lot.

And this guy is my Great Uncle David.  He made lots of silly sounds and had some very interesting whiskers on his chin.  I liked to try and touch them because I had never seen anything like them before.

One afternoon, we all got ready and went on a little trip to the island in our lake.

This is me in my bathing suit.

Mommy said I had to wear a life jacket because we were going in the water and sunglasses because it was sunny out.

Mommy held me, Daddy held Lexi, and Aunt Kate rowed the boat to the island.

Nana and Grandpa paddled the canoe over.  (That's our camp on the hill.)

When we got to the island we parked the boats and played a little bit.

Daddy took Lexi to swim a little bit and Lexi really liked to drink the lake.

Mommy and I played in the sand and splashed in the water a bit.

I had a lot of fun!

Here we all are together!

On the way back to camp, I saw these pretty flowers floating on the water.

And we saw this eagle sitting in the tops of the trees on the (other) little island.

Then he started to fly away.

Mommy said it's a tradition to take a bath in the kitchen sink when you're a baby.  I guess it's because there's no regular bath tub.

Anybody want to put some lotion on a baby?

I played in the hammock...

...and I tried out this rocking chair that was just my size.

Nana said I had to start learning how to play cards.

But I still need a little help from Daddy to know what to do.

One afternoon we went to Great-Grandma and Great-Granddad's camp to visit.

 

Nana played with me in my little pool next to the dock.

On the way home, we stopped to have our picture taken with some of the local wildlife.

Mommy says there's tons more things to do at camp, but some of them will have to wait until I get older.  So I guess it's a good thing that we're not going back again until next month.  I'll be bigger then so I should be able to do everything next time.

Fourth of July

For the Fourth of July we all went to a party at a friend's house.  The party was at the home of Emma's friend James' grandparents.  (Mommy and Daddy attended their annual Fourth of July party last year too.)  We didn't get too many pictures of the party because we were all so busy having fun, but here are a few highlights.

Emma hanging out poolside.

 Emma and Daddy after a swim in the pool.

 Mommy and Emma hanging out together.

 Emma watching the fireworks.  She seemed to be fine with the noise and the lights, she was just getting tired by this time.

Emma's friend Alex was there too with her Mommy and Daddy.  Alex really liked the fireworks