Yeti Village Gingerbread house

Inspired by my yeti stuffies that I have been making and selling in my etsy shop (which is back open!), I made a yeti gingerbread village.  

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Levi and I are celebrating by doing NOTHING today  - my parents and sister aren't around, and its actually nice to not have any obligations for the day.    We are thankful for all of the offers to dinner today though, we had offers from friends (even willing to accommodate our special diets), and even my college professor, and a complete stranger.   How nice of everyone to ask!  


First is some Christmas sewing that I've been working on. 

For a swap: 

Christmas jammies for a friends boys (these are SO cute, I love this pattern!)

And what I'm thankful for:

Berkshire's 12th birthday, which the shelter we got her from says is about on thanksgiving, so a good day to celebrate it - you wouldn't know this do was so old (except for the greying muzzle), she is still active and sure does love to eat!   Levi made her a special hat to wear, and she got treats and a toy. 

And my family - And of course all those not pictured as well!   We are looking forward to spending time with Grammy for christmas, going on a family+ cruise!   

And Levi wanted to make a video (I said he should write down what he is thankful for, instead he made a list, practiced it, and then requested that I film him - he loves to make these videos, even though he does take it too seriously!)

Butterflies at the Zoo

My parents are now "Jaguar Members" of Brevard Zoo, meaning they (and in turn Levi and I) get access to special events and behind-the-scene events.    We were some of the first to see the new butterfly exhibit, get a tour, and release some butterflies! 
 

First, we walked through the fairy and frog and troll themed area.  There is a little section of the zoo where they put different displays, usually plants and things like that, but this one was really neat and very kid friendly.   

 

Fairy houses with tarantulas living in them:

Design your own fairy house/garden.  These are at kid height, and are really cute.  The kids can use various pots, wood pieces, pine cones, stones, grass and other bits to build little houses.  Kind of a sensory bin/small world play center.  

They have a big toad (frog?) set up in the center.  They are poisonous ones!   Difficult to get a picture though.   It was funny because a volunteer was in there to change the water, and had to wait for someone to bring a bucket for her to dump it in.  Its a very low enclosure so she was ducking in an odd position for a long time at the same time as everyone in our small group was there to see the frogs! 

There is a troll "toll booth" with a book of riddles for kids to read for people to "pay the toll" to get past/out of the section.  Behind is a secret tea party area just for kids!   There are dishes and things for them to play with, great for imaginative play.

A troll

The zoo uses local artists to decorate for themed events.  This artist uses recycled materials to make sculptures.

Turtles are made from bowls, pans, and spoons!

These I thought would be fun for kids to make as well. 

Then we got to the butterfly enclosure.   They gave us guides about all of the native butterflies and butterfly plants.  The zoo uses live butterflies for the initial set up of the exhibit, but will only get chrysalis for the rest.  They are all local as well.     They put signs in the enclosure so we could try and identify the butterflies.

Levi trying to id this butterfly.

My dad (Buddy) asking questions in the background!

Helping the butterflies out of the net.  Levi got to reach in and get out dozens of them. 

 Two at once!

My camera was cooperating, I got a few nice pics.

We stopped to see the meerkats before heading home to go to swim team practice, my mom hadn't seen them yet.   Levi was pleased that they were inside the tube.  There were two in there having a wrestling match!  I tried to get them on video but missed it of course. 

But I got them on camera! 

We are looking forward to more Jaguar Society events at the zoo, it was interesting to have someone walk us through an exhibit and answer questions instead of simply going their on our own.  

March Birthdays - and Sailing!

My sister Shawn and my mom both have birthdays in March.  

First, we went sailing!   

The inside of the boat:

Back of the boat: 

Buddy and Shawn: 

Tino and Levi driving the boat: 

Nai Nai

Me (and Tyler eating something) 

Me and Levi, this one was take from inside the boat looking out the little sunroof hole. 

Buddy steering 

Shawn and Tyler (eating something else)

Raising the pirate flag

The pirate flag!

My turn to steer!

Levi, Shawn and Tyler

We had a nice family dinner at Makoto's.   The waitstaff even got a decent picture of all of us at once!

We used Grammy's milk chocolate cake recipe for desert, and I made "bark" to decorate the sides. 

Next was Nai Nai's birthday:

Because we already had cake the week before, Nai Nai requested a lemon tart.   It was a big pain to make, but it was really tasty! 

Happy Birthday Shawn and Nai Nai!