Sassafras!

Day 2 of American Heritage Girls day camp!

Working on the nature badge.

Sassafras! Trust me, if you watched OTL (YouTube) you'd think this was funny.

More Sassafras! Gosh, that's like my new favorite word sassafras. Say it out loud--it's really fun. ..sassafras.

Catherine...really? It's like her response to seeing a camera is making a goofy face!

Eatin' Bugs

Slightly different format for today's post...just lots of pictures and stuff. Anyways, first day at American Heritage Girl day camp!

Don't ask...it was insect badge day.

Laura will probably kill me for posting this...but ya know, it's worth it.

Yes, I am eating a bug. Salt and vinegar is actually pretty good on crickets...I'm still picking the legs out of my teeth.

I can't believe N tried the bugs. I had to get a picture just to prove she did it! The bugs didn't really taste that bad, but I wouldn't want to eat them a lot or anything.

Yes, I did take a picture of the scissors. You can't really see it here, but they were covered with rainbow honey--that's why I wanted to take a picture! I used these scissors to open the flavored honey sticks for the campers.

Just had to take a picture of these organized and alphabetized candy boxes. Yes, I did this.

Cheddar and BBQ mealworms. Hungy?

Honey soap, lip balm, and lotion! If you haven't tried any of this stuff before it's amazing! Someone from Morning Song Gardens came out and spoke today about bees and we got to try some of the products!

Lastly, we made string art butterflies.

Tall Ships

Skirt - Agenda // Shirt - KDS Spring (Thrifted) // Belt - Vintage // Shoes - Hot Cakes

And yet another boat related activity! When I heard about the Cleveland Tall Ships Festival I knew I had to go! I've always been fascinated with ships and sailing, and seeing these ships in person and actually getting to tour them....amazing. I've never had so much fun!

We almost went to the Titanic exhibit in the Science Center instead, but I suggested (vehemently suggested, I might add) that since the Titanic exhibit is here until January and the Tall Ships Festival is only this weekend (well, ya know, the weekend I wrote this)...we should see the Tall Ships today. Not that I don't want to see the Titanic exhibit--I'm definitely going to see that. But, I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to go see the Tall Ships!

There were several ships there, but we only toured the STV Unicorn (Yes...Unicorn. Who was in charge of naming that ship, I don't know...) and the Sorlandet. There were also a ton of people walking around in pirate costumes--I wish I could have gone in pirate gear! That would have been fun.

Anyways, the Unicorn is crewed only by women and offers programs for teens and women who want to learn to sail and gain leadership skills. It was a smaller ship, but it was still fun to tour. It was also constructed from the remains of old German U-Boats that were abandoned after the war.

Lastly we toured the Sorlandet. The Sorlandet is the oldest fully functional tall ship in the world! It was also very beautiful. It was a pretty large ship as well--over 200 ft long. I wish we could have stayed on the ship longer though. It's actually a school as well and offers high school and freshman college classes. I really wish I'd known about that before...sounds awesome! And I would have loved to do that :)

Oh, and we also got to tour a custom bus, The Peacemaker, custom made from parts of a '49 and '55 bus. It was beautiful inside, as you can see from the pictures. It sleeps up to 24 people and even has a kitchen on the inside!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the pictures! Have you ever toured or wanted to tour a ship?

Beware the Angry Donuts

Dress - Pink Owl (via Modcloth) // Shirt - Faded Glory // Belt - Cotton On // Shoes - Maurices

Honestly....I hate the way these pictures turned out. But, I love this dress (it's my first one from Modcloth!) so I wanted to post these anyways. Actually, I do like the last picture...but I'm not even in it :p Gosh I already miss Rachel taking my pictures!

Anyways, don't you just love the awesome things kids say? My siblings all have great imaginations and it's so funny to listen to them. They like to play princes and princesses, little house on the prairie, questing for dragons, and tons of fun stuff! Anyways, we were on a long car ride and I stopped talking with my mom long enough to hear my 8-year-old sister, N, say to another sibling, "Can you go faster than an angry donut?"

Now, I have no idea how the conversation got there. How is this donut propelling itself? And why is it angry? Ah, the things little kids say. I thought it sounded like something that might be in Adventure Time, but they don't even watch that show! Anyways, I thought it was funny!

Oh, and one last thing. Do you remember the FBI costume pictures from the 4th of July post? Well, when my siblings were playing FBI I overheard Laura asking A (one of my Ukrainian siblings who doesn't speak much English yet) if he had an alibi. Since A doesn't know what an alibi is he starts looking through his pockets for one! Do you have any funny stories from your siblings, kids, cousins?

I'm also linking up to Rachel the Hat's and and Lena B, Actually's Passion for Fashion Friday Link Up!

Too Cool for Starbucks

Dress - London Times // Shoes - Maurices
Photos by R. Parker!!

Do you ever have days where you feel awesome? ...and then you go to Starbucks...

The other day I just felt awesome. I got a lot done, baked and ate some Citrus White Chocolate Cookies (recipe in previous post), I loved my outfit that day, and, well, it was just a pretty good day. And then I went to Starbucks.

As soon as I walked in I felt the gaze of every hipster in there. I could almost hear their thoughts...Why aren't you wearing plaid? Where's your scarf in the middle of summer? Where are your non-prescription glasses? Gosh, is this what public high school feels like? Some people think Starbucks makes you cool (I'm looking at you jr high kids who shouldn't be drinking coffee anyways). I say it just amplifies your already existent traits. Starbucks makes cool people oh so much cooler. And, since I'm just like the biggest dork ever...well, let's just say Starbucks doesn't do me any favors.

Every time I'm there I just wonder why I'm  in this building full of people wearing v-necks and TOMS. In fact I don't even own TOMS. It's not that I don't like canvas shoes--they're very comfortable, actually. I do have several pairs of what I call SAMS (the walmart brand of TOMS). I know, I'm a horrible person. And on that 'horrible person' note, I don't even really like Starbucks Coffee. As if I needed anything else to convince you of how completely uncool I am. It's just too expensive for only sort-of good coffee. I love coffee, but the only place that I will pay that much for coffee is Coffee Corners in Burton, OH. Best. Coffee. Ever. So maybe I'm not really that uncool and instead I'm just too cool for Starbucks.

Of course I would be craving Starbucks lemon bread right now....