Summer Vacation is here and the fair is coming.

We here in the Palmer house believe in getting things going for summer vacation as soon as possible. The day after school let out we left town and went to everyone's favorite summer vacation destination Rock City. Okay, it's probably not everyone's favorite. In fact, I'm not sure it's our most favorite, but it is a favorite.
Growing up in Arizona, (maybe it was Idaho-I can't remember) I once saw a show on PBS about how people would paint "See Rock City" on the roof of their barns. I always wanted to go after seeing that show. Although the first time I went it was nice, it has been much more fun taking the kids.

The kid's favorite part of Rock City is called the "Fat Man Squeeze". It's almost all they ever talk about when we go (or when we're not there, but talking about Rock City). Another favorite is where you can see seven states at one time.

Then we make our way to Fairyland Caverns.

Inside is Mother Goose Village. We spend a lot of time in here.

Lots of dayglo painted nursery rhymes. It's quite impressive. You know what else is impressive? That this picture turned out so well considering it's dark in Mother Goose Village and I didn't use a flash.

After visiting Rock City, we drove on down to Trent's parents. We attended the wedding of his nephew. It was very beautiful. The girls all wore matching dresses that I made. Here's a picture of Claire in one of them:

I would show you a picture of all the girls, but I didn't take one. Someone else did. Maybe someday if I get a copy, I'll post it. The dress above is the only one that is fairworthy. It escaped the wedding and reception feast of BBQ unscathed and is now hidden safely in a closet where it will stay until fair time.Next on the agenda was to visit the place where all Cabbage Patch Kids are born. Although I was a bit too old for Cabbage Patch Dolls by the time they were really popular, I always wanted to visit this place.

I think this is Eleanor's doll. They give all visiting Cabbage Dolls a visitor's tag. Very cute.

Checking out the newborn nursery.

We were able to watch a really live Cabbage Patch Birth! I was so excited I forgot to take pictures. It was a girl! Eleanor was chosen to give the baby it's middle name. She chose Grace. So if you go visit and see Cinderella Grace on your visit, you will know who gave her her middle name.

Visiting the cousins and brothers and sisters as they like to say.

By the end of our trip, Kate couldn't go past one of these without getting her picture taken.

We did other stuff too like bowling and watching movies, but you don't need to see pictures of that. We also got to see my great nephew. He couldn't be any cuter if he tried.

As is often the case when visiting Trent's family in Georgia, there is a lot of driving involved. That means lots of time for me to smock!

Here's one of the things I finished up. There's a story behind this one and I'm not sure it's over yet, but it's close, very, very close. I'll tell it another day when I've gotten some sleep. Is it fairworthy? Yes. Would I like to bury it under a rock and never see it again? Yes!

I also worked on this. It's been a pain and I'm not entirely happy with it either, but I'm a perfectionist-especially when it comes to things I'm going to enter in the fair. Recognize the fabric? Claire's dress is made from the same fabric. There's a story behind this piece too and believe it or not, it's related to the previous photo of smocking.

The fair is 6 weeks away. I'm sick with anticipation. I'm literally sick. I feel like I will throw up every time I think of that deadline, but that is another post for another day.