Spring Break 2022 - Kind of Staycation

I know it is not really a staycation if you leave your home city, but we were less than two hours away from home. We have been on many trips with D and the Jboys. Our last Spring Break trip with them was in 2017. Our Spring Breaks have not aligned since then. J1 has decided he is too old to join us and J3 did not want to come. 

D, Boogs, J2, J4, and J4's frien J* (yep, he also has a J name) went to an amazing airbnb just outside of San Antonio, Texas. It's a stone cottage built in 1865. It was the perfect place to stay. We had plenty of room, lots of outdoor play space, a firepit, and it was only 17 miles outside of San Antonio. It was on 5 acres of land so the boys had room to roam.

I loved the doors on the house. The electrical wiring had to be hidden behind the wood paneling that drops down from the ceiling because of the stone walls. This house had so much character.

The boys immediately went outside. They threw around a giant frisbee and set up the badminton net.

After we settled into the house, we left and drove to Ingram, Texas to see Stonehenge 2. We thought it would be a fun place to visit. It wasn't. It was just a roadside attraction like stopping and taking a picture with a giant strawberry statue. It was kind of neat for a photo op, but not worth the drive.

I tried to see if I could go through the stone to another time like Claire in the Outlander books. Nope!

There were two Easter Island statues on the grounds. 

We tried to stop by Cascade Caverns on our way back to the Airbnb, but we missed the last tour by 15 minutes. We enjoyed starting a campfire.

                                      

The full moon rising behind the house looked a little creepy.

It was a beautiful night to sit out by the campfire. 

The boys played laser tag in the dark. It was funny watching lights floating around the field while they played.

The boys were happy to head inside and play video games for a while before we all went to sleep.

                                        

D and I played Five Crowns.

The next morning, we had 9 am reservations to see the Alamo in San Antonio.

It was a really cold morning. We had enough time to go to a shop and buy sweatshirts before 9. The boys were much happier when they were warm.

We walked through the Alamo, toured the grounds, read historical markers, and visited the gift shop.

Then we became true tourists. We started in the Mirror Maze and Escape Street. The mirror maze was a lot of fun the first time through.

After you made it through the first time, the staff gave you 3D prism glasses. Boy did that make it hard to see where you were going. J4 tried to run in the maze and slammed right into a mirror with the side of his face. OUCH! 

It was a lot of fun, but the glasses kind of made you sick to your stomach and headachy after a while.

We left the Mirror Maze and went on to Ripley's Believe It Or Not and Louis Tussaud's Waxworks.

Jason Statham and I had a nice conversation. The wax figures really were not that good.

I love Boogs' look of annoyance with J2 in this picture.

The boys liked touring Ripley's better than the wax museum.

It was a fun day. We had a late lunch at Pappasito's Mexican Cantina and then tried to go to Cascade Caverns again. The cavern tours were sold out. So we bought tickets for the first cavern tour the next morning. We had another campfire. The owner of the airbnb, Eddie, joined us for s'mores. He said he had never had one before. Eddie lives in an apartment on top of his workshop at the back of the property. He added to our campfire stories by telling about the time he helped recover a dead body while scuba diving in a lake when he was 12. Luckily, the kids weren't really paying attention. We had s'mores and then the boys played a few more rounds of laser tag followed by video games.

The next morning we finally made it on a tour of Cascade Caverns. Before the tour started, Boogs said he was concerned we were ignoring the signs telling us to stay away from the tour. We had been turned away twice and still insisted on going. Then, just before the tour started, the guide said the tour was overbooked by three people. Boogs yelled out, "It's another sign!"

The tour was about an hour long. It was a neat little tour. Our tour guide was fun and had some great one liners. The only one I remember clearly: Above us you will see formations that are often called soda straws because they are thin, hollow tubes. People say you can drink with them like a straw. In case you are wondering, drinking through one of these soda straws tastes like a third degree felony.

The tri-colored bats were so cute. They are less than two inches long.

After we left the caverns, we headed back home to Austin. The traffic was absolutely horrible. It took almost twice as long to get home as we expected. Boogs and I were supposed to drive to Waco, go to a food truck festival, and then spend the night at Gigi's house. The traffic was so bad, we decided to call an end to our trip. D and the boys picked their cars up from our house and headed to Waco without us. Boogs and I were very tired. We loved the trip but enjoyed having that extra day of rest before returning to work/school. 

As always D, here are our trip sayings to remember:

Nope, Nope, Nope

Mary the ghost in white

Mirror face

Tastes like third degree felony

Stonehenge 2 - eh, we saw it.

This is a safe space... No it isn't!

Laser tag in the dark - NO COVERING

Can't fight the crack

Car back up beep - We are losing him

Mud Hut 1718

Quit embarrassing me, you are acting like you are from California (at Rudy's barbeque)

Pedernales State Park - Spring Beak 2022

 

My oldest friend, we have known each other since the first day of kindergarten, came to town for Spring Break. 2018 was the last time our kid's Spring Breaks matched up. We spend the week together visiting several state parks. This time, we only had one day together. Boogs and I went to the house she and her family rented in Dripping Springs for lunch. Pedernales is such a busy place that you have to get reservations tickets online. We were able to get into the park at 2 pm. It is such a pretty park. It was easy to spend five hours at the park.

Studio 54 Party

One of my husband's friends was turning 54, so his wife was throwing him a Studio 54 party. We had fun getting ready for the party.

My husband thought he might try a Captain and Tennille look. We quickly decided against it.

We ended up going to the Lucy in Disguise costume shop to find something for him. Disco shirt, high waisted polyester black bell bottom pants, and super sparkly boots.

I bought a couple of things from Amazon to get my Studio 54 look. This gold lame outfit looked like a gold colored trash bag. I quickly returned it.

Next, I tried this jumpsuit and it looked pretty good, so I kept it.

I though these would be the perfect shoes to wear with the outfit. They were really cute but the ball of the foot area was too small. It hurt too much to wear them. I returned them and wore some black cork wedges that I already had in my closet.

I bought a Farrah Fawcett type blond wig.

It took three tries to get these huge eyelashes glued on.

Hoop earrings, a medallion necklace, and a gold chain belt completed the look.

I think my husband and I nailed our Studio 54 look. We had a great time at the party.

Crafting 2022 (So Far)

My crafting has slowed down since my Christmas break. Here are a few things I have made.

A friend of mine collects elephants. She asked if I could make one. This was my attempt. The nose is a bit wonky, but i think it turned out okay. I used this pattern from Amy's Crochet Cave.

A co-worker asked it I could make a fox for her to give as a Valentine Gift. I showed her several different patterns. She chose this one from Craft Passion.

The pattern called for a "Split Single Crochet Stitch" that mimics the look of a knit stitch. I tried the stitch and had a terrible time trying to use that stitch. So, I changed it to a single crochet stitch. I followed the pattern exactly, other than stitch type, and the head turned out way too tall. It looked ridiculous. A note on the pattern said not to try it with a different stitch because it would "not work well. You will find the size, shape, and colorwork, not in the right proportions ".   Yep, that statement was true.

I started over and changed up the number of rows as I went along. I had to make changes in the head, muzzle, ears, body, legs, and arms. I think it turned out cute. The pattern maker said she bought doll glasses for her fox. I used some 18 gauge craft wire and made some glasses for my fox. I thing the glasses turned out really cute. Since this fox was a Valentine gift, I added a red scarf with hearts on end. The scarf also helped hide the little-bit-too-skinny neck.

I got a gift card for a craft store for a Christmas present. I used it to try a new craft... needle felting. Needle felting is where you take wool and poke at it with special barbed needles to make the wool fibers bind together. I saw some amazing animal creations and thought I would give it a try.

I wanted to make a little white Maltese dog. I tried, but it didn't go so well. The head was so lumpy.

I kept working on it and it started to look more like a dog, but not like a Maltese.

I posted this picture on a facebook felting page. I was informed that you are not supposed to use all of the needles in the wooden handle at one time. The needles are different sizes. Oops! I didn't realize you could open the wooden handle and pull the needles out.

This is how my little dog turned out. It took me about three hours to make.

The felted dog is soooo tiny. It is only about 2 inches tall.  Here it is next to the Valentine fox.

I thought I would try my hand at 2D needle felting. It is also called painting with wool. I tried to think what I would make. I thought about a picture I took this past summer on a camping trip and knew I wanted to try and "wool paint" it. It is a very loose interpretation  of it.

I made a flat pug for one of my friends. She liked it. I did not like it much. She has a pug that is a certified therapy dog who works with children.

She keeps it on her desk at work.

This was supposed to be a cat to go with this Cat A Pencil. It was kind of scary looking.

Every year that we went to Canada for Christmas, we went on a feed the birds hike. 

The little chickadees are so cute. They will take seeds right out of your hand.

So, the next thing I wanted to needle felt was a chickadee. It is not quite right, but I think it is close. I still need to add legs to it and make the black at the bottom of the throat a bit smaller.

I pulled out my stamping supplies to make a few cards for co-workers.

Work and family has been keeping me very busy. I haven't had time to put any new projects on my crochet needles for several weeks.

What are you crafting?