Saturday, in the Park...?

...I think it was the Fourth of July. Well, God bless America...with memories of today that song can be true! It will be a busy holiday for us, with the big party at Jess's new house, so I thought I'd knock out a quick post before the fun starts. Wait, to be clear, the fun has already started...

The girls have come for a visit, and we've had fruit by the foot contests with cousins (and Aunt Jess), 

crafts,

and dinners out...

All after an epic road trip to Nashville to pick them up. So fun!

Today we party, and the rest of the week we make sure they see all the loved ones they can fit into an 8-day visit (plus two days of driving)...

...and I will sleep sometime after the 12th! Until then, we will party on, Garth...

with hamburger cookies!

No knitting today, but I am almost to the lace on my cardigan,

and I finished the second pair of fingerless mitts on the drive, so yay!

I hope your day is good, and that any fireworks you see will blow your mind (and not take off your fingers). Happy birthday, America!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Decisions, Decisions...Birthday Edition

Our youngest grandchild will turn 4 very soon, and my daughter has requested a certain character knit for this fine, young Peppa Pig loving kid! I bought a book of patterns online,

went through all my worsted-weight, acrylic yarn

and determined I did not have exactly the right colors for "Candy Cat," so I went shopping...and now I do. 

In fact, I have a nearly completed Candy Cat in my bag right now!

Trouble with that is that the kid may have a new favorite character now. By our best estimation, that would be either Rebecca Rabbit or Pedro Pony. Referencing the photo above, I certainly have the patterns for both...and I may even have the yarn. Of course, there is the distinct possibility that I'll need to go shopping again, which (let's be honest here) is no tragedy for me! But gosh...I do have some yarn here.

Still, if I can't find the right colors, there will be shopping, and decisions! After all, the party is coming, and I do NOT have time to knit ALL of the characters! (After all, I've "wasted" significant portions of my spring break playing with these hooligans...lol!) 

So, it seems that it is time to make a decision! I wonder what I will choose for this kid...?

Whatever the choice, I am sure that the toy will be well loved, and that will be a birthday-edition WIN, so I'll take it! I hope you are also having some wins where you can, and if it's your birthday soon, I hope you have cake!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Hello Dolly[wood] and Gatlinburg!

For our summer, Gatlinburg vacation this past week, Aaron and Jess picked another great B&B, this time in the mountains, with views for days!

Tennessee was hot and humid, but the A/C worked well, and the view was great from inside, too!

We spent the werk playing hard with some of our favorite people, 

Photos from Ripley's Aquarium

including a short hike to Cataract Falls with all the littles, 

where we saw a waterfall, 

but no bears...

One of two "happy trees" along the way!

A visit from Julie (and her husband, not pictured) who live two hours from Gatlinburg...

and Hilbilly Golf were fun,

and there was  an interesting three-man "scramble..."

but no bears...

This was also our first trip to Dollywood, 

which was hot and sweaty 

and overall wonderful!

We enjoyed lots of rides, 

and shows (the Gazillion Bubble Show was air conditioned amd magical!), 

but when a boy is sooo sleepy, an ambush nap just might take over...

We rounded out our day with shopping, 

and some pretty fun food, 

but no Dolly sightings...however, our little guy did finally see a bear!...

and his mommy posed with a pretty fairy!

Jess: Sorry, Fairy. Weve just got boys...
Fairy: YOU can pose with me! 

The vibe of the park was clean and fun, and everything was family friendly, we had a great day. 

The rest of our vacation boasted lots of pool time in the Great Smoky Mountains,  

where the kids made quite a splash as much as they could, 

a mountain roller coaster 

(I didn't get to ride this one, but I heard that it was lovely...not too fast, no big dips), 

Even our littlest guy rode this one!

and a lot of time to just goof off together, especially on our trips down Boogertown Road!

On our way out, we even saw an actual bear, and did not get eaten...yay!

Thanks for a great time together, everyone! We'll be talking and laughing about all the fun for years!

By the time you read this, our road trip home will be over (or nearly over) and I'll be gearing up for mountains of laundry, lol! Then back to work on Monday, and back to reality...but I'm even looking forward to that!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

Was there knitting? You know there was!

My first Matryoshkats!

Quite well received, thank you very much!