Another Great Camping Weekend

We just got back from another weekend of camping at Otter Lake Resort in the Pocono Mountains – the weather was GORGEOUS! No rain for the Torrences this trip – how unusual…

We did get a really late start on Friday night because both Matt and Andrew had baseball games Friday evening- we didn’t arrive at the campsite until 11pm! But everyone slept in late the next morning, so we were well-rested and ready to go on Saturday.

The boys found some new friends and played basketball for a while on Saturday morning. We also swam in both the indoor pool and the lake – the kids really enjoyed seeing the fish in the lake swim right up to them. We also rented a pedal-powered boat in the afternoon – everyone got a turn…

Except for Daisy who sat not-so-patiently on the dock, watching us intently…

She did dip her feet and nose into the lake at one point – she looked really silly with a really fuzzy body and a narrow, wet head and paws!

Speaking of fuzzy – check out this photo of my son Matt with Daisy…what is it they say about people starting to look like their pets (at least in the hair, anyway…)?

On Sunday, Mike, Andrew and Matt went hiking early in the morning at Bushkill Falls. They completed the Red Trail – 1,267 steps in all! Matt even got a T-shirt to prove it. Emily, Daisy and I stayed behind at the campground – the family hiked the shorter Blue Trail at Bushkill Falls last year and it was really hard for Emily to keep up with her little legs. So this year, we decided to just let the boys hike while we had a leisurely morning at the campsite.

The falls are so beautiful!

We also brought a new horseshoe-type game played with large washers – the boys loved it! We saw some other campers with the game last year and bought it ourselves to try out this year. It worked out really well – Mike and I even won a game against the kids. 🙂

Oh – and the caterpillars were still out in force. But this week, Emily decided to take a few of them home as her new ‘pets’. We picked up a little bug-catching kit at the Target Dollar Spot this week and she brought home about 4 or 5 of the little caterpillars along with a whole tiny habitat complete with rocks, leaves and sticks – this girl’s not afraid of bugs!

We all can’t wait to go back again to Otter Lake next weekend. It’s hard to believe that it’s not actually summer yet and that everyone has to go back to school and work tomorrow morning. Sure feels like vacation-time to me.

As for crafting, I did have some time while we were away to read a book about using transparencies in paper crafts. I got some good ideas and can’t wait to try them out…

An Exhausting Day

I don’t know how teachers do their job. I love my own kids (really, I do!), but spending a whole day with LOTS of kids – it’s just so draining for me!

Yesterday, I went on a field trip with my son Matt’s second grade class to the Cape May Zoo. Here are some little monkeys looking at the little monkeys:

We had a good time, but after trying to keep track of so many kids, I was just exhausted by the end of the trip. Teaching is definitely NOT the profession for me.

After the school day, my friends and I decided to get our dogs together for a little puppy playdate. I tried to take some photos, but the dogs were running around so fast, most of my pictures look like this:

The dogs had so much fun! On the left is Zoe, a Newfoundland; in the middle is Daisy, our goldendoodle; and on the right is Max, a golden/collie mix.

My friend Marie has a WONDERFUL pool, and her dog Zoe loves to swim in it. It so funny to be swimming at her house and see this HUGE black dog come in the pool and swim beside you!

We decided to see if Daisy would like to swim with the other dogs. Daisy did go in the pool (with some help from me) and she did swim, but I think it was still a little overwhelming for her with all the kids there. But I’m sure she’ll be swimming right along with her doggie friends by the end of the summer.

It was really a LONG day – in addition to the field trip and the doggie playdate, I also had a church meeting yesterday morning at 6:30am. And after the doggie swim fest, I had to feed the kids a super quick dinner and rush both boys off to baseball practice by 5:30pm. At the end of the day, I was in bed and asleep by 8:15 – am I getting old or what?!?!

Camping at Otter Lake

We just returned from a weekend camping trip to the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains – what a wonderful weekend! We stayed at Otter Lake Camping Resort which was great. The campground is really tucked away in the woods – very secluded and close to nature. In fact, the whole weekend was full of nature! We saw a wild bear very close to our campground and I managed to get a picture:

I was more freaked out by the bear than the kids were! I had never seen a real, live, wild bear outside of a zoo before.

It was also apparently a time of the year when caterpillars drop from the trees by the millions. Don’t believe me? Check out this rock at our campsite:

Those little squirmy things? Caterpillars. They covered EVERYTHING – the ground, the rocks, the trees…and by the time we left this morning, our truck and camper, too. If you sat outside by the fire even for a few minutes, you could count on one or two caterpillars falling onto you whenever a slight breeze went by and shook the leaves above. At one point, Mike was so freaked out by a caterpillar landing on his hand that he flipped his wrist over and spilled his drink (a waste of a perfectly good margarita!). But I guess it’s better that they were caterpillars and not spiders or some other creepy, crawlies…right?

And of course, Daisy, our goldendoodle, had lots of them and other stuff caught in her fur all weekend. It was really hot and humid during the day yesterday, so the kids took turns squirting Daisy with their water pistols. But don’t feel bad for the dog – she LOVED it and followed Matt around until he squirted her.

Then she would bite and chew at the water – it was really funny to watch! Funny, that is, until we had a wet dog rolling around in the dirt…

So, even though it’s not supposed to be good for her fur, I just HAD to give her a bath when we got home. It’s amazing how little dog is under all that fluffy fur…

The dog was exhausted after our trip! On Saturday afternoon, she, Matt and I hiked for about 4 miles all the way around Otter Lake. At one point during our hike, she just plopped down on the ground and refused to go any further – what happened to all that puppy energy!?!

Matt, Emily and I also managed to go swimming in the lake for a little bit – it was really nice…

Unfortunately, soon after this photo was taken, we heard thunder and left the beach. It seemed that thunderstorms were popping up right overhead for most of the afternoon. You know it’s not a Torrence camping trip unless it rains, right?

Second Grade Homework

We had a WONDERFUL Memorial Day weekend – the weather was gorgeous and on Saturday, we got to use our membership to Lake Kandle for the first time. The kids had a ball!

Sunday afternoon, our neighbors had a fun barbeque for all of our friends and kids. The kids were SO dirty by the time we left – a true sign of a good time.

Yesterday morning, I finally got to catch up on cleaning the second floor of my house – the kids’ rooms were total disaster areas.  They actually helped me clean and although their rooms are far from perfect, the job we did fit my cleaning philosophy that at least they are ‘better than they were’.

Then yesterday afternoon, I got to do some crafting with my son Matthew. He has a second grade dinosaur project due later this week for and we finally had a chance to sit down and work on it.

Here it is:

His report was on the Ankylosaurus, so we made a little 12X12 page with some facts about the dinosaur and a picture that we colored in. He stamped the pawprints on the background and glued the items in place (that’s why they are not straight – it drove me crazy, but it’s HIS project after all).

We also made a little model out of polymer clay – Matt sat and applied each and every one of those little green spikes! We baked it to a hard finish, too (I took care of the stove part so there were no burning incidents).

And we also printed out an image of the dinosaur from the computer and Matt colored it in with permanent markers. Then we cut it out and used ModPodge to adhere it to a pre-cut, plain puzzle. We cut out the title with my Cricut (have to justify purchasing that machine! The title on the poster is the negative image of the title from the puzzle) and also used ModPodge to apply the title across the top of the puzzle.

After the puzzle dried, I used a craft knife to cut all the pieces apart – that took WAY too long (and most of my evening!). I should have printed the image on cardstock instead of regular copier paper – when I cut the pieces, I had some trouble with the paper crinkling up around the puzzle piece edges. I would do the project over, but I don’t think Matt could stand to color in another dinosaur with all those little tiny spikes!

The project may not be good enough for a paper crafting magazine, but I think it’ll do for second grade. 🙂

Camping in Cape May

We went camping for a second weekend in Cape May and just returned – we had another GREAT time!

The weather report was really gloomy, but we ended up having beautiful weather anyway.

The campground had a demonstration with some therapy dogs which is what I would like to do with Daisy when she’s older – I think she and I would get so much out of it!

Speaking of Daisy, can you believe we packed everything up but forgot to take the dog’s crate with us?!? But she did great anyway – she just slept at the foot of our bed.

We stopped at the beach at Cape May Point again – it was an interesting day at the beach. There was a wedding right behind where we were sitting:

And there was also a large youth group meeting on the beach at the same time:

In fact, Andrew took the dog for a walk and Daisy was quite the ‘chick magnet’ for him with the youth group girls:

Who can resist a cute puppy (and a cute boy)?

We also managed to get a GREAT family photo on the beach – it may just end up as our Christmas card next year…but I wish I were having a better hair day:

Daisy loved the beach again…but she did test Andrew’s strength a bit…

And she LOVED the water and sand this time – she kept digging holes and burying her nose in it (can it feel good to have tiny stones in your nostrils?)…

With her eyes and ears, she looks like some sort of a mad dog in that photo! But she was having fun – TRUST ME!

I really noticed this weekend how good the camping trips are for me and my mental and physical health. It’s so nice to get away from the crazy schedule, the computer, the yardwork, the laundry (although I did have to stop at the laundromat to wash the sheets because some very muddy little dog jumped up on our bed Saturday morning!)…

I feel so much more relaxed and refreshed after a weekend away. Plus, it’s nice to spend some quality time with my family – especially my husband. He coaches Little League and is also the treasurer of the league too, so I haven’t seen him much since baseball season started back in March. But for the last two weekends, we got to just sit by the campfire after the kids went to bed and enjoy each other’s company for a few hours. It really does wonders for me!

We have a week at home before we go camping again – we can’t wait!

Picnic In the Park

Emily’s preschool class had a lovely picnic in the park last week- such a great spring day! 

Since my dad is off on Wednesdays, we invited him to come along.

I got a few nice photos of him – here’s one with me and Emily:

I just love that she and my dad are both wrinkling their noses the same way in this photo…

Happy Mother’s Day!

We’re back from our first camping trip of the season! We went to Beachcomber’s Resort in Cape May, NJ this weekend and had a wonderful time.

This was Daisy’s first camping trip and she was great – just like an old pro! She slept in her crate inside the camper at night and adjusted very well to her new surroundings. She did not, however, like being tied up on the lead very much and tried her best to chew through it when no one was watching. Sorry, Daisy – that’s not happening! There’s a steel cable inside… 🙂

We went to Cape May Point (one of the few spots where dogs are allowed on the beach) and let the kids hunt for Cape May diamonds while Daisy dug in the sand to her heart’s content.

I was surprised that Daisy didn’t immediately jump in the water – she seems to like water so much (she even tries to jump inside the bathtub with Emily!). But she was VERY cautious and ran from the waves whenever they rolled in. Mike was determined to get her in the water, but she never went in past her little ankles.

That’s the famous sunken concrete ship in the background (for those not from this area).

What a gorgeous day! And Daisy was quite the little center of attention everywhere we went. Everyone stopped to pet her and wanted to know what kind of dog she was. I went into one store for a few minutes and came out to find Mike surrounded by a dozen admirers – of Daisy, not Mike, unfortunately for him. 😉

But I did tell my husband that if, God forbid, he ever found himself single again, he could sure use Daisy to meet women!

I also managed to fit in some stops to a few antique shops while we were in Cape May. I found it so hard to justify paying ‘antique prices’ for items that I knew I could probably find at a yard sale for less than $5.

But I did make one purchase – a unique vintage sewing cabinet.

I thought this would be so cool to organize my punches, embellishments and rolls of thread.  It has little clear jars and lots of little pockets too.   Best of all, it folds flat for storage:

Only $25 – not bad for something not only pretty, but useful too.

Hope you have a happy day!

Cape May Point on Dwellable

Who’s Reading My Blog? Plus, Challenge Idea…

Just wondering who’s reading this…I know my husband is NOT!

I told him I was going to give him a hard time here today, so here goes.

I asked him to read my entries yesterday to see the photos of the puppy and stuff. When he got home last night, I asked if he had read my blog. He said he looked at the pictures of the puppy, but didn’t read the words! I asked if he saw the entry with the photos of Emily’s birthday party and he said he didn’t scroll down that far! Hmmm….obviously he’s not a big fan of mine. 🙁

Since I don’t get many comments on my blog, I’m curious as to who’s out there (other than my husband who doesn’t read what I write anyway)….can I ask a favor? Could you please leave me a comment and let me know where you’re from and how you heard about my site?

Also, I’m thinking about starting a monthly or weekly challenge where I’ll give you a technique, theme, color combo or other idea to start with and then have you scan and email me a photo of your work. Then I can post the results and give out prizes (randomly, since art is subjective) to all who complete the challenge. Anyone interested? 😉

Spring Is Here – And So Are the Weeds!

Spring has finally arrived in New Jersey – and with it comes the weeds!   Sometimes I think my backyard is really a dandelion farm!

I spent all day Saturday weeding my front yard flower beds, most of Sunday weeding some of my backyard flower beds and all afternoon yesterday weeding our kids’ swingset area.  I filled up 6 GIANT trash bags with weeds – and I’m not even done yet!

I used to be REALLY into gardening and so my yard has all kinds of really cool trees and perennials that I planted over the years.  Good thing  – because I just don’t have as much time now to keep up with the gardens, so I keep them as simple and low-maintenance as possible.  But I just LOVE flowers of all types – my favorites are peonies, hydrangeas and lilacs – so I have to lots of them in my garden!

My azaleas, lilacs and lily-of-the-valleys are all starting to bloom right now – I’ll take a photo of them when they are at their peak.

Hope your spring is as beautiful as ours!

Emily’s Birthday Party

My daughter Emily turned 5 recently and she decided that she wanted a “Bratz” party. Now, I don’t know about the rest of you moms out there, but I am just not crazy about those Bratz dolls – but it’s what she really wanted, so I decided to work with it as a theme.

Of course, being the procrastinator that I am, I waited until the very last minute for an idea of how to incorporate Bratz into an appropriate little girls party…

And even though I’m a crafty mom…I had to break down and order the Bratz ‘party in a box’ from Birthday Express. It was a little pricey, but it included everything from the plates, napkins and forks to the favors, pinata and balloons. And yes…that’s right (hanging my head in shame) – the mom with all the rubber stamps used the STORE BOUGHT invitations and thank you notes that came with the set – they were not handmade this year…but something’s got to give! 🙁

So I decided to use the Bratz stuff and make it a dress-up party. I did manage to stamp all of the placecards (the placecard stands were included in the box o’ birthday stuff). I just used index cards and stamped each name in purple and pink. Then I added some jewels and stapled some ribbons to the top – here is one at a place setting:

I think the table turned out really cute – those little boots are actually cups.

I also hung streamers on the ceiling and had balloons floating in the living room and porch:

It was also convenient that my purple lilacs were in bloom – they made for a nice centerpiece!

Then I set up old trunks full of dress up clothes for the girls to play with. I also had a few small crafts (a beaded necklace and a small flip-flop shoe box) for them as well as some tattoos, body gems, nail polish and lip gloss. We also had a purse-shaped pinata, autograph books and feather pens as well as lots of stuff in the favor boxes.

Even Daisy got dressed up for the party in a camouflage shirt with a studded skull and cross bones:

We also had pizza, cake and ice cream too. So I thought the party was going pretty well and that I had put on a pretty good show.

But then my normally sweet, lovely daughter turns to me in the middle of the party and says, “Mommy, this is BORING…”.

BORING!?!?! I will hold that statement over her head until she is grown and has kids of her own – and even then I might not let it go…

But Happy Birthday anyway, Emily…I love you!