family – Page 31 – Karla's Cottage

Tri-Unity

celebrations, family, Sacred Circus, Travel

By Karla Nathan / October 2, 2016

Isn't this cute as a bug?? We got it so we could go to the performances that our kids do at festivals.

I even hippy-ed it up with some swirly lights for the weekend that we were at Tri-Unity.

It is small, only 16', but with a canopy and a pop up tent out front, we had plenty of space. Will I fix it up? I'm not sure. After the big remodel job we just went through, redoing something isn't feeling all that enticing right now. We'll see after I recover. For now, it's pretty cozy and nice inside.

And when we will camp, we won't spend much time inside. I know we didn't this time. The grounds were beautiful, and the event was child friendly, with a cute area set up just for the little ones.

And it was even prettier at night.

The Sacred Circus rig was under a lit tent and the silhouettes of the performers were mesmerizing.

Watching the aerialists through the tent was almost like watching mermaids swim in a colorful sea. Their movements were graceful and flowing.

There was non-stop entertainment, too.

A series of musicians filled the stage late into the night, and the day was started with a drum circle.

During the days, there were workshops. I took the nature walk and learned about edible plants. You could learn to belly dance, hula hoop, fly through the air on a trapeze, meditate, drum, among a few dozen other classes.

Or just hang out with the kids and get your face painted.

And then join them in a parade.

And relax with yoga.

I liked watching the many painters, and petting dogs.

There were some interesting painters there.

But the best part? Time with family.

And friends.

I'll leave you with some more pictures of the weekend, and will show you the circus performance in an upcoming post. Be prepared for lots of grammie style gushing over grand fairies!

Costume head dresses for the Circus girls

Dew Drop, family, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / September 10, 2016

One great thing about having a big studio is hosting craft days. I love seeing friends pour in with piles of supplies and watching the creations start developing.

My family was performing at a festival outside of St. Louis (where they got to be on stage with some of their favorite musicians, doing their act to the tunes) and they needed a little something to top off the costumes they'd chosen for the event's themes. Each day was a different color and theme, with outer space, ocean, and – Circus Sunday!

Kia made this one.

They are based on pieces of felt, adorned with fancy stuff, and then have a clip added to the back.

Here is one I made for Avahni. She wanted it slightly steam punkish.

Our friend, Amanda made this for Katie Tree.

Hers were the mermaid themed ones.

Kia also spent some time painting and glittering a Donation tin to set up for tips during their shows.

I adore my studio, and love it even more when it is filled with creative souls.

Here is one that I made for Sugarwings.

These aren't typically the type of things that I make, but it was sure fun to dabble with feathers and glitter for an afternoon. And to be inspired by some artists who specialize in this kind of glitzi-ness.

The Hearthroom is now the Circus Room.

family, Hearth Room, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / September 10, 2016

We are enjoying the new room!

15' high ceilings made the space perfect for hanging silks so the grand fairies could practice (and give us shows).

There is still some work to be done on the space yet. These silks need a pulley in the corner of the room, so Honey doesn't keep confusing the dangling tails with a tug of war toy. And I need to do the mosaics on the floor. I have a few little knicky knacky things to distribute around the house and frames to hang, but with the cozy new chairs in front of the fireplace to curl up in with a good book, and flying fairies to entertain us, we already love the area, finished or not.

Some cuteness

Dew Drop, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 1, 2016

How can summer be over???? We are trying to make the most of our last few days.

I've been so busy with the new room, Sugarwings had a 3 week cross country trip, and Dewdrop spent the summer with her mommy. We weren't together as much as we usually are.

Since the grand fairies have returned, I've tried to create some adventures to make up for our lack of summer time togetherness.

Not every experience has to be something special to end up being "special". These guys can turn anything into a party. A couple of applesauce cups, some tiny teapots with lemonade, a bit of mint to crush up, and of course, some good friends. And there you go, cuteness and fun.

Visitors from around the world

family

By Karla Nathan / August 8, 2016

During our family gathering, and right after my son and husband rescued our foundation from falling into the Hell Pit below us, we had some visitors from Japan. Kia had just returned from there on a student exchange trip. And in trade out, a couple of 12 year old boys from Japan came to stay with her family afterwards.

Our house was (and still is now) pretty torn up, but we had space to set up another table to host a big dinner party for the boys. We fixed some traditional American, summertime foods- mac and cheese, potato salad, baked beans, hot dogs, and ice cream cones.

Then, we took them outside for a ride on the Gator through the woods.

Later, they went out on the boat and got to do some tubing. There were plenty of scheduled activities for them with their group, but we tried to show them a little bit of Kansas life in July. BBQ, boating, 4 wheeling, and family time, what more could a kid want, no matter what part of the world he is from?

Welcome to the Hellhole, or “Adventures in remodeling during a family reunion”

cottage, family, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2016

When we invited family to visit, we didn't know this was what would be greeting them. Due to weather, our project has gotten behind, but our brave relatives came on in and faced the chaos of our home. What we didn't know was that we would be discovering a major foundation issue while they were here. Or that I'd be in the ER for most of the day when they arrived.

Did I mention CHAOS?

My sweet brother-in-law, Dale, was kind enough to refer to the madness as "adventure."

And while there was a lot of that adventure going on, we did manage at least one excursion out on the lake

to enjoy the sunset, and we had lots of tasty, family gathering dinners together.

Behind the scenes of most of the dinners, it looked like this on the other side of the kitchen. We had a slight snafu with the flooring guy, and to keep us from getting behind, my boy stepped in to do the job. We have a very old home, and our floors had some kinda sinky spots, that were going to make the new floors need some adjusted threshholds to match up the difference in the levels between the two.

Adam is not one to adjust things if he can fix them instead, so he ripped up some of the old floor to look beneath and found out that one of our foundation walls was nothing but dust and falling rocks.

Which meant that he, and my poor claustrophobic husband spent hours and hours in the Hellhole righting the wrongs time had wrought in the stone work.

Twinkle was fascinated and never left her post as a watch out. I think that meant that there were interesting smells coming from under the house, of old rodents and who knows what. I had some dreams about all of them coming up to visit us while the floor was opened up.

ugh

It was very impressive to see one guy who hates creepy crawlies and another who hates enclosed spaces work together to repair what could have been a costly, and dangerous problem. Before they started, there was over a 1" difference in floor heights, now the space is completely even and our home isn't going to fall into the pit of hell that lurks below it.

Plus, it is meaningful to have projects in my home that were done by family members.

This was also happening while we had company.

Which made for a lot of pounding, and dust, and FLIES!!!!!!!

Doors open all day for workers let in flies by the billion or so. Guncle Randy and I were on constant swatter patrol.

It wasn't exactly the visit he had in mind, or the gathering that I had planned, but I was so happy to have them all here to see us.

And the evening on the lake was just what I needed. The reunion was supposed to be Randy, Terry, and I in the studio all day, while the other guys played golf then boating every evening.

We only managed one lake night, but they were all very kind about it. And we did squeeze in some studio time.

And of course, we can't have Grandma Joan here without throwing a tea party.

Since I was under the weather as well as busy as a bee, Sugarwings planned and set the party up in the gazebo for her.

Although, I do feel bad that our short time together was interrupted by all the other things going on, I was sincerely glad to have them all here and I hope it wasn't too much turmoil for them all.

I'm feeling better now too, and everyone was helpful while I was down.

I just hope I get another shot at entertaining the bunch of them without all of the "adventure" happening around us. I could use a do over.

Between the Beach and the Hard Rock- thanks to Gloria Gayner, I Will Survive

celebrations, family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 25, 2016

Our trip to Orlando started with a drive to Cocoa Beach. Years ago, we started going there because it was the closest ocean access to Disney. Now, we go because we really like staying at the La Quinta by the pier. It isn't a fancy hotel, but has a beautiful balcony view of the water, and is a comfy place.

This year, Sugarwings was old enough to rent a boogie board. Kia and I mostly bopped up and down with the waves and played in the surf. She kept trying to catch tiny fish in her hands and actually managed to do it, too. I told her that she'd be perfect to be stranded on a deserted isle with. She can catch fish bare handed, plus is a vegetarian and doesn't eat them, they'd all go to me.

My handsome husband isn't an ocean guy, so he didn't get in much. He is more of stroller along the shores than a swimmer.

And our oldest teen? She refuses to let sun touch her body. She is an expert at staying lily white. Which I wish I was at her age, then maybe I wouldn't be so wrinkly and spotty…

Due to our flight being cancelled on the way out (we had a fun day in KC, going to movies and lunch while waiting for another flight), our time at the beach was cut short. We had a full day there, then moved on to Universal Studios.

If you stay at one of the on site hotels, you get a free pass to skip most of the lines. Or you can buy one for EIGHTY NINE BUCKS. geesh!

Good thing we got free ones, because if I'd bought those, I'd have been sad, many attractions didn't even have lines and we wouldn't have needed them anyway. There were times I was very glad to have them, and they were helpful. And we were thrilled with the Hard Rock Hotel. My sweet husband, who is not a fan of Disney, puts up with a lot of princess foofala on trips, and since it was Father's Day week, we thought he should have a place he would like to stay.

It was one of the nicest places ever. The pool was ideal, Sugarwings and I hardly left it when we weren't at the park. She participated in all of the poolside games and contests that she could.

Avahnni even entered the hula hooping event. Sugarwings won the hula hoop water relay twice. So, when the DJ asked for adult volunteers, I figured that I'd get up on the stage and maybe be in a water balloon toss, or something along those lines.

But dang, once I was out of the water, chosen as a volunteer, I discovered…

oh my…

It was a lip sync contest.

oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I don't sing. I can't remember words to songs. I have no rhythm. I dance like Martin Short, if I'm at my best.

The other contestants were cute college girls, swaying to the music and holding up their cocktails. Girls who knew how to dance.

When I was asked what genre of music I wanted, I requested "grandma music". Maybe something from a cartoon or from the 70s? I was given Disco. Oh no. I do not Hustle. Panic was setting in.

Then, I looked around and realized that while there might have been 200 people there, Sugarwings was the only one I knew. So, I went for it. I went as silly and dramatic as I could.

I let the Martin Short in me come out full strength in my dancing and that won the contest for me.

It was a highlight of my trip. Thank god there are no photos. I still am surprised that was me, up there in front of the crowd in a swimsuit, dancing and being silly. My mom would've loved it, she was goofy too.

As much as I loved the Wizarding World, I could've been happy at that pool all week. It even had night time family movies, with underwater speakers.

No matter how much fun a trip is, it is wonderful to be home. And to see progress done on the new room while we were away.

When Sugarwings started reading the Harry Potter books, I told her that I'd take her to Universal to see Hogwarts when she finished them.

Then, her Daddy married the mother of the biggest Harry Potter fangirl ever. So, we decided to change the trip to a "Welcome to the Family" vacation for the fangirl and her sister.

We are lucky to have these two girls in our lives. They are smart, polite, talented, funny, sassy, and cute as can be. We love it that they are such good influences for Sugarwings and Dewdrop.

And we love it that they are now our very own grand fairies.

Plus, I got a bonus trip to Florida out of the deal!! I'm missing those seashells already. Tell me again, why do I live in Kansas instead of near a beach?

Disneyworld vs Universal

family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 20, 2016

Last week was the worst imaginable for the city of Orlando. So much tragedy, so much heart ache. But that town is such a well oiled machine of tourism, filled with professionals, that we probably saw less of what was going on right there in front of us than we would've if we'd been at home in Kansas watching the news. In person, we didn't see any signs of turmoil, or heightened security.

On our last night, the performance of La Nuba was dedicated to the victims of the shooting and that was moving, but the only reference we saw to any of the horribleness that had occurred during the week. I'm sure that the citizens of Orlando were hurt, frightened, angry, and saddened, and I have to admire their bravery in not being beaten down.

Visiting Florida and the attractions in Orlando has been one of my favorite things over the years, but now even more so, after seeing the toughness of that town and the way the people there were not going to let the terrorists win.The town has a special place in my heart.

You don't come to my blog for stories of terrorism and sadness, though. I debated even mentioning the trip at all. But my posts are also my diary, or journal, and while I feel a sort of survivor's guilt about being in a bubble of happiness while such ugliness was occurring, I still want to fill in the pages of my life with the stories of what I've done and where I've been.

So, onto happier talk?

And what could be happier than a frozen butter beer in Harry Potter Land on a hot day???

This was our first trip to Universal, we were there to visiting the wizarding world.

When I was a teenager, I went to Disneyworld the summer that it opened. After watching Walt talk about it for years on Sunday nights during the Wonderful World of Disney, and a lifetime of begging to be taken to the original park in CA, I was beyond thrilled to finally get a taste of that Wonderful World myself. And it didn't disappoint.

Maybe since I wasn't a child myself on the first trip there, I never outgrew it? Add in a few decades of not being able to afford to visit, and then experiencing it through Sugarwings' eyes, and I am as hooked now as I ever was.

But this trip, we only walked through Disney Springs to see the Cirque De Soleil with our circus performer grands. (and they LOVED the show, Kia's eyes were riveted to the stage and she applauded so hard for the aerialists that her hands must still be sore)

So, I had a "Minnie" Disney fix, not a full one. This trip was about wizards. Which were AMAZING! Everything about Universal was so well done, especially Potterland. The Hogwarts Express especially. And the dragon in Diagon Alley?? wow!

Yes, I loved it all.

And it was an ideal park for teens, the big girls appreciated the more thrilling rides.

The food was great, the park was well run and friendly.

The size is manageable for getting around, reminding me of how cozy Disneyland and California Adventure are, these two Universal parks are much like those, size wise.

The workers were so nice and friendly, going out of their way to give Sugarwings little tours of the rides if she was too leery of getting on one, since she goes more for the atmosphere than the rides.

but….

I still missed Disney.

Dr. Suessland was magical and very well done.

Do you notice anything odd here? We played in this park about 30 minutes and only saw two other kids briefly.

Another plus for Universal, at least while we were there is that it wasn't as crowded as I've seen when visiting Mickey.

And there are some breath taking views.

Here is what I think I figured out….. Universal is fantastically done, and has rides much more interesting to older kids. Less crowded, less expensive, extremely detailed, it is beautiful.

But, while there is plenty of magic and fun, and excitement, where is the heart?

Oh there are fun characters from lovable movies, but I missed the pulling of my heartstrings that I get at Disney.

Seriously, there is not one single thing about Universal that I can't recommend. It was quite wonderful and I hope to go back again. Especially if I have older kids with me.

And it could be just my imagination, or plain old nostalgia that has me so hooked on Disney.

But I don't think so.

Universal is a fun day out at a fantastic amusement park. I really did love every second of it and was soooo impressed with the park.

But Disney is a fun day into my childhood dreams and into my heart.

The quality of the park is every bit as good as Disney, and the themes, are just perfect. Jurassic Park? Yay! That T Rex at the top of the waterslide was horrifically real. I still shiver thinking about him (Sugarwings didn't go near that ride)

It also had Impact Wrestling Live.

what?

Yep, we went to check out the venue. My son Ryan is a big fan and I hoped he'd see us in the crowd while watching at home. We didn't stay long, although it was interesting to peek in on.

Sugarwings liked the park, even though she missed the princesses. She isn't a ride person, she goes for the atmosphere. She likes the shows, characters, performers, parades, and Universal does not measure up in that department.

When it was time for the parade, we scoured the sidewalks for a good spot to watch from. After my experience with the other parks, I knew that you had to get a seat early, before the viewing points were 15-20 people deep and you couldn't see anything.

It was surprising that there was only a scattered crowd for the parade, and we had multiple choices for watching it. Then I saw why, it was a handful of floats, and suddenly over. Not the extravaganza I was used to. But Sugarwings enjoyed it. Maybe sometimes, over the top isn't needed?

There is certainly something to be said for no crowds blocking your view, too.

Please note that none of this is a complaint about my trip, only a comparison between the two parks. Both are wonderful, I was just trying to put my finger on why I was feeling about them.

Glittered mat board and frame

family, how to's

By Karla Nathan / June 4, 2016

I'd rainbowed-up the Hippy Chick's graduation photo so much with PicMonkey that I couldn't find the ideal frame to match it.

She loves all things sparkly and rainbow, and those were both requirements to match the glowing picture of her.

So, I took a white framed, plain mat and glittered them up. The mat is so glittery, it is crusty, with layer upon layer upon layer of shimmer stuck on with sheer glitter glue, starting with larger flakes and ending with a very fine twinkle.

The frame got a slather of red paint and I sprinkled the sparkles over the wet paint.

The pattern is random, much like the background of the photo. And it is blindingly bright in person!

A spa day for Dewdrop?

Dew Drop, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 27, 2016

While I was out in the garden, Sugarwings was playing King of the Hill on the mound of remodeling dirt while Dewdrop was supposedly napping.

At least, that was the plan. I came up from the garden to find this scene. Sugarwings had woken her sis up, fixed her a snack, and decided to treat her to a makeover, complete with a foot soak in a toybox full of water and glitter.

She even brought a mirror outside so that Dewdrop could watch her transformation.

This girl is infatuated with Kitties and has been asking to have her face painted as one quite a bit recently. This is one rendition that I did for her.

Now, Sugarwings has found the face paints and has decided to do the job herself, as well as setting up an outdoor beauty salon to create in.

This week is the last day of school. I expect many more elaborate set ups to come.

Although, it won't be the same without our tiniest fairy. She'll be heading to her mama's soon. And having her own special times there.