Bunty Visits the Great Lakes Fiber Show

Saturday was a really fun day here! Bunty loves wool. She likes all natural fiber, but wool is her real passion. In fact, she's so keen on it that she's decided to support Prince Charles' "Campaign for Wool" movement by hosting a doll-sized wool show. The new Islandshire Community Center is now built and ready (aka Blaire's Restaurant), so with the venue reserved, it's time to start planning the show! Attending a fiber show seemed like the best way to get ideas, and this is always a fun show to visit.

We arrived shortly before lunch time, and it was quite hot. Thankfully, Bunty is not affected by the weather and was perfectly comfortable in her hand-knitted sweater. The first building had tables of fleeces displayed (having been judged earlier) and for sale. There were some really nice bags of wool there --- Bunty's favorite was a dark Border Leicester fleece.

The next sale booth we checked out was "Promised Land & Livestock Co." from Ohio. They had all kinds of raw fleeces from Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) and Lincoln sheep. There were a lot of nice things there, so Bunty had a good look . . .

. . . and we decided to bring home a partially felted skirting to wash up and use for some wool stuffing and other projects!

Walking along, we came to another great booth --- the "Bauer Family Farm" in Dauphin, PA. There were a lot of beautiful colored rovings made for spinning, but the really cool stuff were the exotic fibers in some special bins. We just had to buy some things there! Bunty picked out the Fox/Wool blend and a bag of "New Zealand" wool for her friend, Camilla. I picked out some of the Mink Top and a few other things!

At "The Ewenique Boutique" from Belle Vernon, PA, Bunty had a LOT of fun choosing a little lamb charm from bins of fun jewelry makings. As soon as we sit down one of these afternoons, she'll have a really fun necklace.

At one shop along the way, there was a really cute little ram --- just Bunty's size. She certainly loved him, but her own little lamb will be here very soon, so she is getting her small pasture ready for him!

Next along the line was "Briar Rose" --- a shop with some of the most beautiful yarns (dyed in natural and earthy colours) you'll ever see or feel. Bunty had a lot of fun looking around there!

At "Ewnique Fibers" from Alliance, OH, we found some really neat fleece from a Valais Blacknose/Scottish Blackface cross. This will be perfect for . . . something. Right?!

Bunty was able to see a bit of the judging of the hand-dyed and spun yarns. This gave her some great ideas for the upcoming Islandshire Wool Show, where she hopes to have a good turn out in the fleece judging contest!

After a few hours, before heading back to the car, we stopped to take a look at all the purchases. Bunty had brought her special Lamb bag with her and got to admire the new locks and roving for her collection. It was sure nice to sit down and take a short break!

On the trip home, Bunty had some more fun, because Grammy let her drive the car. This is a skill that Eliot has been quite proud of (ever since his trip to the APS Stamp Show last Summer), so Bunty is glad to be able to have done the same thing as her brother.

She drove the car . . .

. . . set the Cruise Control . . .

. . . turned on some music . . .

. . . and checked her hair in the mirror!

All in all, it was a great day, and Bunty looks forward to sharing more news about the Islandshire Wool Show. So, check back later this Summer for more news about that, and be sure to read up on the "Campaign for Wool".

FLA Vacation: Flying Home & Unpacking Souvenirs

After all the expectation and fun of vacation, it was finally time to head home. We had to get up pretty early on Wednesday morning (which felt really early, since we didn't go to bed until one o'clock that morning) to get everything packed into the car.

We took ten minutes to check out the Disney Store inside the airport before heading through security. Nanea and Harold had their photo taken with Snow White!

The little store is so cute, and Lizzy and I were actually crazy enough to buy two mugs in there (just what we needed to carry onto the plane, right?) --- but they were Chip & Dale! The cashier loved the dolls, so she had to hold them and call all the other employees over to see them. She was wearing a lanyard for pin trading, and one of her pins was actually a little Hawaiian Hula Dancer . . . so guess who had to trade one of her little pins!

The Sea World shop was right across the way, so Nanea and Harold wanted to stop in for a quick look around.

By then, it was time to go through security, so everybody had to get safely tucked into bags. The flight was so empty going home (half full at best) that they started boarding super early. In fact, Nanea had gotten a nifty travel seat to ride around on one of the suitcases, but we never got to use it! There was only time to grab a very hasty picture of Harold and Nanea sitting with the bags as the boarding call was starting.

The flight home was quite uneventful. Elizabeth and I sat in the very back row of the plane, and Harold and Nanea got to sit on the seat next to us. The flight attendants enjoyed them, and even gave them their own pack of "Plane Crackers"!

It was sure nice to get home, and Nanea, Benny and Harold couldn't wait to share the souvenirs they brought home with all of their little friends. Unpacking was a lot of fun!

Everyone had a special souvenir that they were excited about showing off. Nanea had her little plush Minnie Mouse . . .

Harold had a real Robin Hood pin that he'd gotten at Disney Springs . . .

And Benny had his shiny rocks and a T-Rex shirt from his favorite store!

So, that ends a very fun Florida vacation. Plans are, Lord willing, that we'll make it down to see Gramma again in the Spring . . . and do some more pin trading . . . so, we'll see which little dolls want to go then.

Having come home just in time for Christmas, lots is going on. Stay tuned for more Islandshire fun and a new arrival!

FLA Vacation: A Day at Disney Springs (Part 2)

Following the previous entry, here are the pictures of the rest of the dolls' day at Disney Springs. After going through the whole World of Disney store, there were still some things that they just couldn't wait to do!

Benny had really been chomping at the bit to go to the T-Rex store. In fact, this was probably the biggest reason he wanted to go on vacation! He was really excited to go to the bin full of shiny, polished rocks. You could fill a bag of them, and he wanted to bring home a shiny rock for all the members of the Islandshire Merry Men Club (our boy dolls). This store was rather noisy and intimidating to little Nanea, so she didn't care for it. But sitting on the rocks outside for a picture was okay!

Inside the gift shop side of this place (it's also a restaurant where you can eat in a very cool atmosphere and blue lights), the boys headed right to that bin of shiny rocks. The bags were a cool lime green --- which was really neat, because they were also able to get some matching souvenir t-shirts (don't tell them, but we'd ordered Dino-mite outfits on the Cyber Monday sale).

It didn't take too long for the boys to fill their bags, but they went through a lot of stones --- everything had to be "pocket-sized" for the boys.

With the rocks safely stowed in bags, we got to walk around the store and look at all the fun stuff. Benny like the shirts . . . and Harold liked the Junior Paleontologist vest.

At the back of the store, there's a special "Build-a-Dino" workshop run by "Build-a-Bear". It's the cutest thing! Benny liked the dinos, but Harold was partial to the Woolly Mammoth. In fact, Harold decided that Mammoths were really his thing, because there was a really cool toy there as well.

Once outside of the T-Rex shop, the trio got to pose on a really cool adventure Jeep. This was just up the boys' alley, let me tell you!

Now it was time to walk over a long bridge and see the Rainforest Cafe. It was a sunny walk, but everybody was really enjoying it. They posed on a table, and several other visitors had to stop and take their photo.

There were squished pennies at the Rainforest Cafe that dolls really wanted, and we'd never actually been inside. The whole building is shaped like a Volcano --- and erupts with great noise and fire every half hour. Nanea enjoyed it all, except the eruption. It sounds like a huge storm inside, and the lights go on and off. That was a little scary for her. The boys loved it.

The inside is totally decorated like Rainforest, accompanied by appropriate sounds. Even the ceilings are decorated!

Finding the squished penny machines was easy, so Harold bought a souvenir penny for Eliot. Benny got a souvenir penny for himself . . . and Nanea got a squished quarter!

There were also a lot of fun plush items to pose with. Harold liked the plush pineapples. Nanea liked the Rainforest animals.

 The boys found these really neat drums in a display, and some were just their size!

The next thing on the "must do" list was to find a little charm. Nanea was under strict instructions to get one for one of Harriet's pen pals. Finally, we located this large table full of bins of little Disney charms. You could pick out charms, and there were even bracelets you could buy to put them on. Nanea needed on to make into a necklace, and her pen pal wanted a Princess. It was lots of fun to pick just the right one . . . and Nanea chose a "My First Visit" charm to make a souvenir necklace for herself. There were certainly lots to choose from!

Having found all the souvenirs, the dolls were ready to head back to the car. On our way, we stopped at the "Pick a Pearl" stand. You can choose an oyster, and they open it for you and you get your own pearl! There were several people doing it at the time, so we didn't want to crowd the place up getting one. But Benny and Nanea had their picture taking studying the available oysters. Since they both dive for pearls on Islandshire, this was pretty neat. (Nanea has a "Pick a Pearl" of her own that I got for her on our previous visit to Disney Springs.)

By now, it was getting late, so we all headed home. We went back the next day for a whole day of pin trading with our Aunt and Cousin, but the dolls were tired and stayed at home.

A few more photos will be coming, as Nanea and Harold did visit the Disney Store in the Orlando airport --- where they had their photo taken with Snow White and traded pins with the cashier! Check back soon . . .