#sharethegift

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Break

Not being big fans of Black Friday shopping, we came up with last minute plans to get away as a family over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  We went up to Waynesboro, VA and got a jumpstart on winter with some recent snow.

Skyline Drive was closed because of the weather, so we parked at the entrance and hiked in a bit.  We hiked up the Appalachian trail a ways and had a fun snowball fight in the woods.

We visted Grand Caverns and saw some amazing things underground.  

The caverns also gave us something fun to do that was a bit warmer.

We also enjoyed the heated pool at our hotel and took in a movie while we were there.  It was a great trip.

We got back on Saturday with enough time to do some leaf cleanup in our yard.

Happy Halloween from the Realm

Laurel really wanted to be a princess this year.  So, we built our theme around that.

Clark is a knight to defend the princess.

Sir Spence is another knight.

And Grant is the fire breathing dragon.

First day of Kindergarten

Monticello

We spent the day learning about Thomas Jefferson at his house, Monticello.

Garden Status

While on vaction, our garden just kept growing.  Most impressive of all were the 39 lbs. of squash.

Montana

We took our family vacation out in the Glacier region of Montana this year.  We spent the week with Jen's parents and the rest of the family.  This was just some of the fun.

We also visited the rodeo, experienced a tree-top aerial challenge course, and floated down the Flathead river in rafts and played around with a stand-up-paddleboard.

Hiking in Glacier National Park

This is Avalanche Lake

Boat ride on the glacial waters

We even found a bit of snow up in the top of  Logan's Pass

We headed up to Canada for more scenery

Waterton Lakes

The water in the bottom of the red rock gorge was too tempting to just look at.

Trying to find their way through a labyrinth

Grandpa and Spencer sneak past Jen and Laurel

Alpine Slide

Paddleboats and canoes at the lodge

Lots of time playing with cousins back at the lodge

 

Kayaking the James River

We spent memorial day floating and paddling down the James River.  We did an eleven mile stretch from Maidens to Watkins Landing.

A couple more builds

A Cigar Box Dulcimer I built for my mom

3 string guitar for my dad

detail

I already blogged about my first two cigar box guitars.

I built this banjo for my sister, Katie, from a tambourine.  Because of that tricky 5th string, I found it was easier to construct a banjo upside down with the tuners in the tail.

Next was a cigar box mandolin.  I decided to move away from just doing F holes.  These are S holes, for Scott

I just finished this stick Dulcimer for Laurel, for her birthday next month.

I dyed the wood (poplar) pink with food coloring, and I used pink zip ties as frets.  The sound is not nearly as good as real metal frets, but it'll be good enough for her fourth birthday and she likes the look.

Of course, I went with "L" holes for Laurel's instrument.

Happy Easter

Hoppity Hop Hop