Fourth of July Parade - Pendleton Style!

I know it seems late to be doing a post about the 4th, but I just had to share a few pics of the Fourth of July Parade in our town. It was quite unique. Praise God it was a bit overcast that day and we didn't end up puddles of goo on the sidewalk. Josiah insisted on bringing a full size American flag to wave!

This is my favorite pic of the parade. How beautifully wild and majestic is this combo? 

 Hailey was trying to help the conductor of the All-Mounted Pendleton Round Up Band. He played right along with Hailey. It was so cute. These guys looked like they were having way too much fun!

Josiah's friend, Gracia (girl with the painted face), rode her scooter through the parade with Cayuse Technologies. Her friendship has been such a blessing to Josiah. They are both very fun, creative and outgoing, so they have much in common.

Here is a picture of Gracia's mom, Jeni, and little sister, Naomi. Jeni was the first new friend I made when moving here. She is also a homeschooling mom and happens to go to the same church we go to. We have a lot in common and instantly connected. I'm so grateful for her friendship as it has made the transition to a new community bearable. I love our "iron sharpening iron" relationship! Naomi is Hailey's age and they have a lot of fun playing, too. We often go to the pool and children's museum together.

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th and were able to stop and reflect on just how blessed we are to live in this great nation. Thank you to all who have made sacrifices to preserve it! It is time to stop and reflect on the question, "What are we doing with that liberty?".

God Bless,
Jackie

The Vintage/Retro Restoration of Grandpa's Camper

 Oh have we been having fun with this project camper! This was my Grandpa Fay's camper. It was in the process of being restored when we got it, we are finishing the job. This is what it looked like when we first brought it home about a month ago. The screen needed replaced in the upper side window and many of the window knobs inside were old and brittle, so we replaced those.  Michael sealed the roof, and I sanded all that green and white paint off the bottom and put sealer on it as well. Eventually, we're thinking of rhino-lining  the entire outside to seal it up permanently.

 One of the jacks in the back didn't work at all and it took quite a feat to get the camper on our very tall truck. It was scary indeed. We managed to get it on the truck just in time for our trip to the coast, but we stressed them trying to get the camper on and it blew the o rings out of jacks. Now we need new jacks (these are too old to rebuild), which will be our biggest expense. Before the jack problem, we had spent less than $100 getting this camper sealed and improved cosmetically. Now the camper is stuck on the truck until we can hopefully find some good used jacks. Jacks are expensive, especially when you need four of them!

This is a pic of the inside of the camper when we got it. The previous owner had been working on putting this cute ceiling in, and painted most of the interior. We liked the colors since we knew they would go well with our decorating ideas, so we kept it. 

The back wall was the roughest. The corner had dry rot in it and the paneling was peeling off by layers, so we replaced the whole back corner around the window, down to the floor. I didn't care for the fabric safety-pinned around the cushions. It didn't go with the paint.

Here is a pic after Michael replaced the back panel and trimmed out the window. We took the blue upholstery fabric off the cushions and discovered that they were in great shape, especially for being 42 years old! Hailey sleeps comfortably on these cushions when the table is folded down and Josiah is old enough for his own tent outside. It is wonderful!

Yep, it is a wild, retro print, but it works for what we're doing. I'm going to get some cute solid retro-colored pillows for these. Know I'll find some at yard sales eventually. Michael wants to resurface the table with a fun fermica top and then put chrome trim around the edge.

Here is a pic of the ceiling all done! Michael and I finished putting it in and stained it. Michael trimmed it out and I can't tell you how cute it is! We really did not like the flooring. It wasn't in good shape and always looked dirty, even when it was clean. 

While we were at the beach, Michael brought a remnant piece of linoleum left over from our bathroom project in our trailer house. There was just enough to do this piece and when we do the other bathroom floor in our double-wide this winter, there should be enough left over to put under the camper table. I like this stuff so much better! Doesn't show the dirt and lightened it up in there.

While we were at the beach we began searching the vintage stores for some cute (inexpensive) decorations to make it more fun and homey. We searched high and low and found a tin match box holder that we secured between the cupboards, covering up some unsightly holes where there used to be a light. We were very excited to have found one for less than $5! Since then, we've found 2 more which we are using in our double wide and Michael's shop now that we have two wood stoves. Michael found that cute sign, too. It says, "Coffee! You can sleep when you're dead!" PERFECT for my coffee-addicted hubby. 

We also found this ceramic trivet (very retro) with the scene of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. This appealed to our sense of patriotism AND it perfectly covered up a huge hole where a light fixture used to be. This camper is very simple. No electricity, an icebox and a small water pump. Perfect for us. We like to rough it, and to us this is a palace since we are used to tent camping. There wasn't a bed in it, so we cut one out of a foam mattress that came off a hide-a-bed. The crazy quilt was from my Grandpa's estate as well. It is a little old and tattered around the edges, but it reminds me of him and I love it! Plus it goes perfectly with the decor.  

 Well, we're not done yet. We still have 4 jacks to replace and we need to seal the outside completely and a bit more trim work, but we are well on our way. Can't wait to use it again soon. Pics of our beach trip coming up next.

Hope you're all having a fun July and beating this heat.  These summer days sure do go by fast!

God Bless,
Jackie

Hard at Work on Mission Road Homestead!

This will be a catch up post. Been so busy lately getting our homestead started that I just haven't had a lot of internet time. The kids are still homeschooling (math only) as we got a little behind after our move last fall. We're almost caught up! I'm really looking forward to a bit of a break before we start up again in Sept. Thought I'd begin this post with pics of our garden. I started tilling this spring and before I knew it, I think I might have tilled under a 1/4 acre garden plot. Oh boy! I've got my work cut out for me!

 This is what the garden looks like as of July 17th. I got a lot of stuff in really late for this area, but things are finally taking off! Ate our first peas yesterday and we're getting lots of lettuce, spinach, kale, yellow squash and zucchini. The kids each have their own garden plot that they are completely responsible for. It has been good for them.

Those lazy days of summer! Michael refurbished this awesome swing that we almost burned when we first saw it laying in pieces in the shed. Turns out it was made of redwood. I absolutely love doing my prayer time on this swing in the mornings before the kids get up. So peaceful. Josiah planted a sunflower shade around the back of it and they are now about two feet high (not pictured).

We have done so much re-seeding around here and we have lots more to go. We've all worked very hard to get grass growing over all the places we've disturbed.

Michael took out these old dead/half-dead shrubs along part of our property and then we reseeded the whole area.

Hailey is enjoying her kitty, Cuddles. He's been such a sweet addition to the family.

He's starting to become and indoor/outdoor cat. Getting spoiled rotten already as you can tell by this pic. He really likes the window seat. I do a lot more vacuuming these days!

After weeks of hard work, Michael finally has power to his shop! We had to dig over 200 ft, to get from the power box to the shop. Michael used a trencher. It was a lot of work to cover it all back up and seed. Of course it had to run right through the middle of our yard. So yard still looks bad as it is trying to recover from being disturbed.

The bench/flower barrels came with the property. These flowers are now spilling over and gorgeous.

We flew kites on our property for Mother's Day. So fun having a place big enough to do this. We got them waaaaayyyy up there, too!

Michael got me this stainless steel teapot to go with our retro kitchen. Why fight it? I'm just going with it. We've also got a 1972 camper we're restoring, too. Can't seem to get away from the 70's! I'll post pics of that in a future post (I hope).

Josiah and our dear friend and fellow Celt, Billy Carroll, sold swords and homemade soap at the Prosser, WA Scottish Festival. So neat to see Josiah in his element. Josiah said he'd already sold all of his soap by noon. He was really excited and encouraged! A big thanks to Billy, for giving him the opportunity to work with him, even though Josiah is only 10 years old. Billy is a super mentor! Billy will also be at the Celtic Society of Eastern Oregon and La Grande Celtic Festival this year, too. And Josiah will be selling soap at our clan tent (Clan Lamont).

Josiah made this sign as one of his writing assignments. I think this would be a good start-up business for this entrepreneurial-minded kid. Anything he makes on the soap (after expenses and tithes) gets re-invested into another business (4-H animals, honey-bees, etc). Hoping this will teach him some real life skills.

Last but not least, here is an engagement pic of Michael and I nineteen years ago. We celebrated our anniversary in June. Thought you might get a kick out of this old photo. 

Hope you are all having an awesome summer! I hope to have time to visit your blogs soon, that is in-between weeding, watering, harvesting, homeschooling and most importantly PLAYING. 

God Bless,

Jackie