family – Page 24 – Karla's Cottage

Summer Fun

By Karla Nathan / August 3, 2018

The Grand Fairies and I had a little hitch in our summer plans, with my inner ear issues. We had to cut back a smidge.

Finally, I was able to get out of the house (and felt like I'd crawled out of a dark pit, after so long of feeling bad). They'd kept me company while I was down, we watched some baking competition shows and had our own contests with playdoh creations, and some ice cream concoctions. We had fun, but desperately needed a day out, I'd been in front of the TV for far too long.

So, when I finally felt up to driving, we headed to the zoo. And spent about 8 hours there.

It is a small zoo, too.

And we didn't even see all of it. But what we did do, we did thoroughly! We spent lots of time on the things we enjoyed, lingered over lunch while watching a baby giraffe, and they spent some time in the kids' zone, while I relaxed on a shady park bench with a good book.

The water flume where treasure hunters could mine for gemstones in bags of sand and gravel was a big hit. We also discovered that not all of the other kids were as dedicated to nabbing every last stone, and dropped quite a few in the mulch or in the bottom of the rushing water. Over the course of the afternoon, Sugarwings found as many crystals in the mulch as she did in the bag of dirt we purchased.

Yep, she was pretty into it.

We met some new friends too.

It was just the day out that I needed.

Van Go

celebrations, family, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / July 26, 2018

Our town is lucky to have an organization like Van Go. Here is a snippet from their website that will explain them better than I can:

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS.

Our Mission

Our Mission: To improve the lives of high-needs youth using art as the vehicle for self-expression, self-confidence, and hope for the future.

Van Go is an arts-based, social service agency that employs at-risk youth ages 14-24, to make public works of art that are sold in the community. It’s holistic, year-round programming uses the ARTS to deliver in-depth mental health support, job training, health nutrition education, and life skills lessons. Van Go’s nationally recognized programming gives troubled teens a job, real world skills and opportunity to succeed.

A new camera!!!

family, photography

By Karla Nathan / July 14, 2018

Before my head decided to spin for a week, I bought a new camera. Well, actually, it is a phone, but who cares about that part, it is a great camera!!!!!!! I'd been wanting an iPhone 8 plus for a while, but my current phone didn't need replacing.

It was just too hard to justify that expense when it was just for an upgrade that I didn't really need.

Then, my husband was having issues with his phone, and it was no longer being furnished by his company, we were responsible for getting a new one. (hmm, that was causing a slight, bitter taste in the back of my mouth, he could care less about cameras and didn't even want a new one. I'd been day dreaming about getting one for a year or so, now we needed to pay for one for him).

I found out that my youngest boy and Katie Tree had trouble with service at their place. Plus, his phone had broken.

Since they'd moved to the country, they had no coverage and had to drive to town to make a call.

So, when I saw that AT&T had a sale where you get one iPhone free if you buy one and add a line… BINGO!

We added a line for the country mice, bought my husband the new phone he needed, and I got the totally FREE camera (I mean phone) that I'd been drooling over for months.

No guilt about replacing my old one, it got shuffled down to Miss Tree, hers went to her hubby, and with the change to AT&T instead of Verizon, they no longer have to head down the gravel road to make a call. Service is available from the comfort of their home.

And I'm thrilled with the portrait setting, all of these pics except the one of the house were taken with the new iPhone 8 plus. Nice, huh?

A dizzying week

family

By Karla Nathan / July 12, 2018

I've spent most of the week spinning around.

No, not another trip to Disney, durn it. I've had some vertigo.

Which, while being unpleasant and makes me very unproductive, is not serious. Very, very, very unpleasant, but could've been worse. With my history of AFib, I had lot of tests and was admitted to the hospital overnight. But after all the expensive equipment was used on me, a simple tuning fork was held to my head (the next day) and when I reported that half of my head was totally silent, the Dr. figured out that I had vestibular neuritis.

(Our local hospital is the BEST, but I wish there had been a tuning fork in the ER, and I didn't have to pay for two CT scans, an MRI, along with a day and night in the hospital)

I've never been a fan of being on roller coasters or merry go rounds, or of not staying busy, so recovery has not been easy. There has been a lot of Netflix, since I've been too dizzy to read or do art. But there has been a lot of blessing counting too. I'll take a dizzy spell from an ear problem any day over one from a stroke. This will soon be in the past, so I'll roll with it and be grateful that it isn't any worse than a virus.

Okay, I'm going back to Netflix now, this screen is getting a little twisty.

A good start to summer fun

Dew Drop, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2018

The grand fairies and I have a summer plan that includes daily regular crafting (well dur) as well as a special craft project, like pour painting, when they are with me plus a weekly outing.

Last week, we chose Crown Center in KC for our day out.

It has been a favorite of ours for years, there is always a lot going on, and we never have quite enough time there. They have asked to go back for another trip later on this summer too, so we can see Legoland and Sealife.

We spent some time enjoying the fountains, then saw a play, "Goosebumps."

Afterwards they explored the kid area with the changing theme. In the past there has been fairy tales, Wizard of Oz, recycling, science, etc. Right now, it is Trivial Pursuit, with facts about each state.

It is always interesting, and always free.

You are never too old to try out the exhibits, huh?

Actually, I found a dark corner that was set up with two adirondack chairs for star gazing, and I spent most of my time back there reading a book while the kiddos checked out the other 49 states. I'm not sure which state I was parked in, but it was nice and homey.

Afterwards, we spent time crafting at Kaleidoscope. (Free also, sponsored by Hallmark)

You can paint, melt crayons in a black light room and paint with the wax, create a crown, or a puzzle. There is so much to do there, one session never seems long enough. But the place is downtown KC, and I'm leery about staying too long and running into bad traffic at 5 going home. The girls understand that sometimes I can act like a little, old lady and are fine with moving on to something else to fit in what we can.

They always like to eat at the Crayola Cafe, which is seriously aimed at kids. The adult side of the menu seems like a kid menu too, but I make up for a not so great lunch by having a decadent cupcake at Small Cakes afterward.

We toured the Hallmark visitors center where you can make a bow. (free)

And we met a children's book author who talked to the girlies about his stories.

Yep, we will probably go back again this summer. It might have to become a regular thing for us if this heat doesn't break. Zoos and other outings don't sound like as much fun on 100 degree days. And that adirondack chair is tempting me and my book to return….

Happy Fourth of July!

celebrations, family

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2018

Did you choose the weekend before or after the 4th for your celebration?

Whether you picked a weekend, had just the 4th itself, or were able to use the entire week to be on vaca/celebration mode, I hope your holiday is the

BEST!

My husband had a birthday too.

celebrations, family, paintings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 18, 2018

While I have been celebrating my 60th from early April to mid June, my poor husband only got one day of partying for his.

He made up for it by mentioning his age (57) from the time I turned 60, until he turned 58 a month later. Hmm, yes, I heard that, Rich!!

I wanted to do something special for him, since he put up with all of my celebrating of my own holiday.

We spend a lot of time out on Lake Clinton, near our home. And we have a favorite area, a quiet cove that is ideal for swimming and picnicking. So, I took dozens of photos the last time we were there, and did this painting from them.

At first, I framed it. Then, took a look at it on the wall and thought it looked like a little old lady painted it. (which I realized that I am)

Once I popped it out of the frame, I liked it better.

Here is our cove from another angle. We are often the only people there when we go. Lake Clinton is a beautiful spot and I am always surprised at how quiet it is.

Although, we do our best to liven up that cove!

We have even convinced our son, Ryan to come out on the lake with us this season. He hasn't been as fond of the place as the rest of us, over the years.

For Rich's birthday, we packed a picnic and headed out to our cove to have dinner. It was only one party for him, as opposed to the 7 or so I had…. But I think he liked it. And I hope that he will enjoy the painting.

Around here, there are a lot of paintings, but I tried to make this one special for him.

Two Grads in One Day

celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 9, 2018

At the end of May, two grands graduated. Avahni from high school, Sugarwings from 5th grade on the same day.

Seriously? How can this little sprite be headed for Jr High next August????!!!!!

Avahni is training to be an EMT before going on to be a paramedic.

We're very proud of her hard work.

We had a day of being spectators, first at the grade school gym, then at the high school athletic field, where we found a seat with a backrest on the shady side of the stadium.

Yep, a lot of happiness was in the air that day!

On the Disney Dream

celebrations, family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / May 18, 2018

This bread sums up what I loved about the Disney cruise we went on to mark my 60th birthday and Avahni's high school graduation. The loaf shows the imagination and attention to detail that we saw everywhere we looked.

Our dinner that night was in Cinderella's ballroom, and the bread is shaped like a pumpkin, in a bowl encircled with a dancing royal couple, and was served by a waiter all decked out in a fancy costume.

Every night, we changed to a different dining room, but had the same waiters each time. Those guys were the best, full of magic tricks, puns, puzzles and jokes. We were always the last to leave the room, our waiters were just too entertaining til the very end.

There was so much to do for the grandfairies, from flying the Millennium Falcon, to swimming, dance parties, movies, and plays.

While we stayed busy, nonstop, I still feel like we didn't take advantage of half the activities offered.

We sure didn't miss Pirate Night!

By the way, Dewdrop wasn't sad, she was just being a model. Most photos I got of her were super serious, pouty poses, instead of her normal, goofy smile.

She was about as happy as a kid could be, but when I asked to take her picture, she often turned Super Model on me.

We were all as happy as could be, Sugarwings' joy was about to explode during most of the trip. She was thrilled to be up on stage at the dance party. That is her on the big screen to the right.

The ship was beautiful, and the shows were the best. I thought I loved the Beauty and the Beast movie, til I saw the play on the ship- it was even better! We saw two plays and a magic show, the teens saw first run movies too.

The only thing that maybe wasn't the best, were the kids' pools, both were quite small. But our girls didn't mind a bit, I doubt if they even noticed. There was free ice cream by the pool and never ending Disney movies playing on a giant screen above them.

While the adult pools looked more tempting to me, I didn't have time to check them out. And we never got to ride the waterslide/roller coaster, because we were simply too busy having way too much fun elsewhere.

I guess that means, we need to go back someday to fit more adventures in?

We were extremely lucky with the weather that weekend, it was perfect every where we went. Warm with a slight breeze, so we didn't get hot.

The seas were calm, which was lucky too. I might not have enjoyed it all as much if it had been rough.

I took non-drowsy ginger tablets and wore my motion sickness wrist bands just in case. And the first night I took one Dramamine so I'd sleep better, not realizing that they last 24 hours, and I was still loopy when I woke up.

Oops.

Should've trusted my ginger pills! The Dramamine put a damper on my birthday, I napped by the pool at the Atlantis resort instead of paddling in the water.

Mickey was very kind to me on my birthday, and left a birthday card on the cabin door in the morning, then a gift certificate to the spa in the afternoon. At dinner that night, I was brought a special cake, and was serenaded.

The spa was really something. My pal, Mickey had gifted me $50 to use there, and I thought I'd apply it toward a facial (since I just turned 60 and could use all the help I could get), but instead, I bought a $27 day pass to the Rainforest that included heated lounge chairs, Jacuzzis, multiple steam rooms, and specially showers along with my choice of scented scrubs.

I picked lavender, my fave.

Oh my goodness, those showers! All were lit up, and had different settings. I went for more of the tropical ones than the Siberian ones. Actually, I very much avoided the cold ones. But I tried all of the others, over and over.

I went straight to the spa from my shore trip, still in my swimsuit. After a day at the beach, this treat of an hour at the spa was perfectly delightful. The cabins were comfy and more spacious than I expected, the bathrooms in them were nice.

But getting cleaned up and pampered in the spa was still a thousand times nicer than the small shower/tub in the cabin.

Thanks, Mickey!

If you love to be surrounded by tiny princesses and pirates, I couldn't recommend a Disney cruise highly enough. It was kid heaven.

As an adult, I was completely entertained and happy the whole time, but I do have to admit that it was oriented toward the itsy bitsy types.

Then again, I didn't go to the bars, adult restaurants, or shops, so maybe there is plenty of completely grown up stuff there too.

There are clubs and organized activities just for the little ones if you want some time to yourself for a movie or a drink in one of the bars.

Having two teens and two adults, we were able to take little breaks from kid-dom. My husband saw a movie with the big girls, I had time in the spa.

But honestly, I didn't need breaks from any of them, they were the best. I was so lucky to have this trip with them all!

Thank you to my Handsome Husband for taking me on a special trip.

Prom

family

By Karla Nathan / May 13, 2018

Avahni is graduating soon, and her Senior Prom was the week before our cruise. I was lucky enough to get to help her choose her prom dress!

And she let me do a photo shoot with her as we waited for her date.

When he arrived, he was a good sport and posed for me too.

Aren't they cute together?

I thought this gown suited her dramatic coloring.

And he chose the ideal corsage for her to wear.

It was an honor to be a part of her big night.

Dewdrop enjoyed the prep too, and had a bit of a make over herself.

We are proud of our girl, not only because of how gorgeous she looks, how kind hearted she is, and how talented she is when she flies through the air on the silks. She has made plans to be a paramedic and has been taking college classes toward her goal while still in high school. She has even gotten some scholarships lined up for future classes! Congrats, Avahni, we love you!!