“The coward dies a thousand deaths, the valiant die but one.”

Our first day we strolled around downtown Philadelphia a bit.  The kids weren’t as interested in the historical sites as we were, so our short visit to the liberty bell was a bit of a flop.  Lesson learned, we stuck to our kid-centered itinerary and headed over to the Fireman’s Hall Museum.  There were plenty of hands on things for the kiddos and the adults enjoyed it, as well.

And since my blog is my only journal, here’s the rest of our day:  lunch at Reading Terminal Market, the Liberty Bell, Fireman’s Hall Museum, Elfreth’s Alley, Sweet Freedom, a local park, and Valley Forge. We walked by Christ Church and Betsy Ross house, but didn’t have time to go in.  I realize that it seems like a lot, but most of these things were pretty close together.

The next day,we went to Strasburg Railroad and took a 45 minute ride on one of their steam engines. The boys really liked it. We rode in an open air car. They also rode on the cranky cars – kiddie hand crank trains. Then we went over to the Railroad Museum of PA, where the boys got to see tons of old engines and train cars. There was an education center with lots of model trains and train tables to manipulate. After that, we rode around Amish country as the boys napped. ( Our leisurely drive was one of the highlights of the trip for me.)   That night, we drove to Frazer and had some really yummy Middle Eastern food. Ollie found his love for falafel and red pepper hummus.

Waving to the conductors of a passing train.

Absolutely gorgeous countryside!

We finished up our trip with the ‘do not miss’ Please Touch Museum.  It’s a small fortune to get inside, but the boys thoroughly enjoyed it.  Aidan got to work a ‘real’ digger!

Aidan: where is Pennsylvania?

Us: we’re in Pennsylvania.

Aidan: But, where’s all the stuff for the pencils?

I wanted to be sure it would hold it’s shape with the boys rummaging though it, so I used a medium weight interfacing in it.

I also omitted the zipper in the back.  I didn’t have one long enough and I think it will be fine with just stuffing clean hankies in from the front.

Here’s to quick healing and handmade solutions for raw little noses.

We already had the rocking chairs.  The one to the left was mine when I was little and passed down to Aidan.  My dad made it from a kit.  The one on the right is an antique rocker that was given to Oliver from his paw paw.  We think it may have been homemade, but we aren’t sure.

The ’sheepskin’ rug isn’t sheep or lambskin at all.  It was a 30″x48″ shaggy rug that I picked up at Target.  I wanted a more organic shape than a rectangle, but things like clouds and blobs just seemed out of place.  I took my scissors to it and didn’t do any sort of stitching at all.  It has latex backing to make it non-slip and the boys love it!  I was inspired by the folks over at YHL.

I love this print by Joel Dewberry called, ‘modern buds’ from his ginseng line.

The book sling was the perfect project to add some color to the room.  It also provides a great space for the boys to be part of the conversation in the living area with their very own places to sit.  Aidan loves slipping the books into the sling and Oliver enjoys slipping the books behind the sling – much to his brother’s dismay.  I first noticed this sling over at Meg McElwee’s blog, Sew Liberated.  (Her book is great, too.)  Isn’t her whole home so warm and welcoming?!  I love it!

There are two small issues with this set up.  One is that this is typically where our Christmas tree goes.  So, I guess we’ll have to adapt come December.  Second, now I feel the need to hang a mini-quilt above the book sling.  Okay, I guess that second one isn’t a big deal.  I have a lot of fun projects in my queue; what’s one more?

The boys approve.  Aidan quickly grabbed his favorite book : Children of the Forest.  Oliver hooked up some yoga with his ‘downward dog.’  See the books Ollie relocated? 

While I realize that the simple fact that the flower is here, in a museum rather than in its natural habitat, is tampering or interfering with nature, I would really like ‘Lois’ to bloom without further interference.  (After all, her natural habitat is in Sumatra and is being rapidly deforested.)  The horticulturist on site felt the need to shut the exhibit down just before a friend and I had arrived to see her.  We waited an hour and a half, wandering the Cockrell Butterfly Center, because we were told the plant was in ’surgery.’  As it turns out, the horticulturist thought it wise to cut into the plant to be sure her bloom was progressing along nicely.  I’m no horticulturist, but this really gives rise to an eerie similarity with the state of maternal care here in Houston.  It didn’t help that we overheard the horticulturist joke about giving the plant a sort of emergency c-section.  In reality, he hooked her new hole up to a bag of rotting bananas to ‘induce’ her, as it were.  Here’s the HMNS blog post.

Opinions of this ‘induction’ aside, there is now an ugly plastic bag hanging off of the back of this beautiful, rare gem of a plant.  I’m hoping that the bloom will hide the bag.  If it blooms, that is.  If it does, great; we will likely go see it again.  If it doesn’t, that’s okay, too.  We will still visit HMNS in the future and value the chance we had to see this plant anyhow.

I’m wondering if Aidan picked up on my somber mood when we finally got to see the bud.  That, or he’s thinking, “we’ve wandered around up and down the stairs over and over again, late for lunch, all for this?!”

I wish we would have gone to see the corpse flower before the surgery took place.  I am really grateful to have been able to get a photo of Aidan with it, but I’m not fond of the fact that there is a plastic bag in the photo.

Here’s another pic:

Distracting, isn’t it?

Ah well, I wish the plant and the staff at HMNS all the best.  Lois will bloom if and when she’s ready.

]]> http://yarnyoga.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=702 1 http://yarnyoga.com/blog/?p=698 http://yarnyoga.com/blog/?p=698#comments Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:15:12 +0000 atouria http://yarnyoga.com/blog/?p=698

Finally!  You’ll no longer hear me whine and complain about my old machine and I being at odds.  I still haven’t decided if I should bury it or donate it, but I have no intentions of ever using it again.

I want to extend the warmest welcome to my new Janome MC6600.  This machine should more [...]]]>

Finally!  You’ll no longer hear me whine and complain about my old machine and I being at odds.  I still haven’t decided if I should bury it or donate it, but I have no intentions of ever using it again.

I want to extend the warmest welcome to my new Janome MC6600.  This machine should more than meet my needs for many years to come.  We’ve already had a few small adventures together…

A little extra love on Aidan’s quilt.  Plus, I finally but the silly thing together!

A box pouch for a friend who finally gave me the motivation and encouragement I needed to tackle zippers.  This was my first ever zipper project, so it had to be for her!

A healing pillow made from a pattern in soulemama’s book.  It’s filled with organic flax seeds, lavender, chamomile, and lots of love.

It was reported to me that the healing pillow was very well received and that our sweet friend had a cough free night!

Creating for others is so rewarding.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Aubrey

“When Aubrey is a boy, she can wear shoes; but she’s a girl, so she eats dog food.”

Well said, Aidan.  Well said.

For father’s day, we did some freezer stenciling on an apron and the boys added their handprints to it.  We also made their daddy a nifty book of his firefighter training and graduation.  He loved his gifts and I promise to share a pic sometime soon.

Also, we are planning a big trip for our little family of four.  I don’t want to share much about it just yet, but it is taking up all of the little free time I seem to have lately.  The three year old keeps toying with a nap strike and it’s rare that they boys nap in synch lately.  In fact, I should be working on that right now…