Church, church, and more church camp

 Here are my babies on the way to camp.

 It is tough to let them go and have a week of date nights with Gene. 

 Gigi is a camp pro.  This is her third week long summer camp experience.

Greta was so excited about camp.  She is finally old enough to attend.

Notice that there aren't any pictures of when we picked them up from camp?  Turns out that this camp was all church and no camp... for a week.  Oh wait, they did get to swim indoors for 30 minutes a day.  We love Baby Jesus more than the average Joe but really?!?!

ON a positive note, I want to send them back next year.  I have never felt as loved as when we picked them up.  Greta was so relieved to see us that she was holding back the tears.  Unfortunately, I will have to cling to the memory of those super tight hugs because there is no way in hell we could get them to go again. ha ha

Weekender Tote

Vera Bradley Weekender 

I have had my eye on the Vera Bradley Weekender bag for months.  I almost bought one several times but I didn't want to face my husband when I told him how much I paid and that I needed the matching accessories.   It also drives me crazy to purchase an item when I can probably make something similar.
We went on a weekend trip recently and I carried my old, snagged, sad, poopy brown duffel bag.  It was almost embarrassing to carry it to our nice hotel room.  I mean really, I am at the age now that when I travel and climb out of the car my bag is the best looking thing.  I should have a cute bag that distracts folks from the worn traveler.  I vowed that I would sew my own.  So, this weekend I dug through my scraps and sewed my very own custom designed Sherry Porter Weekender Tote... and accessories.

I love it and it was a fraction of the price of the Vera Bradley tote.  There are a few things I would change and that I learned along the way.  This is the first super-duper big, fleece lined, and zippered tote I have made.  Plus, I didn't follow a pattern. I made it up as I went along and decided on measurements based on the size of scraps I had available.  The interior is small black and white polka dot material and has a large pocket (that needs a snap but I forgot to put it in).  Zippers, arghhh!  After putting in all three zippers it dawned on me why I was not getting the clean finish stitch that I desired.  Oh well, next time.  I just won't let anyone who knows how to sew  look at my bag closely.  ha ha

The picture doesn't show the sizes of the accessory bags well.  The taller bag will hold my hairspray, flat iron, shampoo, and brushes.  This is just a fluke because I just pieced together scraps.  Thank goodness for small miracles.  The second bag is a little larger than a make-up bag. I need more products now to look good than I needed a few years ago. They are both lined with water resistant PUL so when my bronzer spills or shampoo lid leaks, they can easily be wiped clean.

Yea, I can't wait to go on a weekend vacation and see how my bags work.

PCS and Military Friends

It normally takes me about six months to get settled in and start making friends when we move someplace new.  I usually need that time to get moved in our new-to-us home, get the kids in their activities, and find my way around.  I am slow and being a military wife for almost two decades hasn't sped up that process.

Gene takes forever (or never) to make a friend.  I don't know what that says about him but he is slow to open up around new people and even slower to let someone in the Focker Circle Of Trust.  I can count his true friends on one hand.  Maybe I should be thankful... when he commits he is committed for life.  That is a good thing in a marriage.  ha ha

It is even more rare for us to both connect with a couple and have our kids get along.  If memory serves me correctly, this phenonmenon has happened in only two or three moves.  You know if you are one of those two or three.

This relationship was a win-win.  You know what I'm talking about... the kind of peeps that you wear your pjs over to their house to have a glass of wine while the kids raise hell in the back of the house.  The more amazing part of this friendship matrimony is that it happened in a span of less than a year.  Sadly, they left us for Hawaii... the other woman.  *sniff* *sniff*

I have been in mourning for about a month now but I feel that it is my duty to create a permanent record and start to move on.  Let the healing begin.  Just kidding, the beautiful part of being in the military is that you always run into people again.  So, instead of saying goodbye I made them a token of my affection that said "see ya' later."  Brad, Tab and family - enjoy Hawaii but know that the neighborhood isn't the same and I am getting a lot more sleep.