Ravine Gardens Day Trip

 When we woke up a a drier day today, we decided to take a hike to Ravine Gardens in Palatka.
Caleb was last there when he was Ella's age!!!  We had a wonderful time hiking the trails, going over the many suspension bridges...

 It was beautiful!  The trails were high, low and in between!  Several trails are even paved roads for cars to drive through!

 The Azaleas were still out!  Ella admired these from her Dad's shoulders!

 Mom and Dad were troopers over the miles of steps and rooted paths!  (It's a good thing they are still active walkers because we covered several miles today!)

 There were lots of cypress trees just beginning to get their needles again-see the knees?!

 Ella didn't like the running water too much!  lol

 She liked this a little better in her Daddy's arms....good thing she can't read!

 Just across this pond there were more Cypress trees...and knees.

 She ran across the little foot bridge to be reunited with her Mom!

 Posing with the G's!

 A group shot early in the hike when we were not panting from exertion!

 A mighty cedar!

 A better view of one of the suspension bridges!

 Now this stairway would have been a great photo for the challenge last month!

 There were still lots of flowers in bloom, even after the 2 1/2" of rain last night!

There was a new playground added since the last time we hiked here-Ella liked to explore here!

There was lots of texture in the trees that I enjoyed.....the twisting of this cedar trunk-

 the roots of this tree that I didn't recognize.

 The underside of a palmetto leaf.

 Fungi at the base of a pine.

 The paved road was a welcome respite from the steps trail!

 There were lots of recycled bricks along the hillsides to slow erosion-it was very pretty.

 The pine trees are putting out pollen-we were grateful for the rain washing most of it away!

 Another brick slope.

 The Azaleas were everywhere-this clump is about 8' high!

 This area is tiered with natural limestone-a fun place to explore!

 Another view of the limestone and stairs in the garden.

 This is the main plaza-a huge area for weddings and festivals.

At the end of our hike, we had to say goodbye until next time!

Wrapping up the Weekend

 I can't believe I finished the second sock, but I did!   It helps to have it be for a little girl with Minota-sized feet!

 Ella enjoyed the rewards of a good meal-she is suspicious of everything you put on her tray...

 it didn't take long to agree it was pretty good!

 We took a walk out back-well, I carried her most of the way so I did the walking but she did like the grass out back by the pond!

 She liked the little purple wild flowers!

 Our Maple trees are in full leaf now....it is really greening up with all the rain and warmer temperatures.  Finally.

 Nyki sat vigil by the Gopher turtle hole.......

Ella plays hard and then sleeps the same way.....just not for too long!  She was so excited to see her parents today!!!!   It was a great time together while it lasted!

Grandchild On Board!

 Ella is here for the weekend!  Her parents are celebrating their second anniversary!

 She liked 'driving' the tractor herself without any NOISE!  The last time Grandpa offered a ride, she did not like it. (Ella likes chasing all the cats but Bling-Bling is the only one who lets her love on him!  They both like that!)

 Well this time she did!  She enjoyed a short ride around the front yard!  Yay for Ella!

 She tried on the sock I knit her-she liked it so much she didn't want to take it off!

The yarn was fun to unravel, too!

The magic a sleeping baby works on me still has power!

Hanging out Together

 Mom and I decided to try out my new Accuquilt die for the apple core pattern.

 We cut out and pieced the wall hanging in no time!  Mom enjoyed using the Accuquilt system because she is not a fan of the rotary cutter!  (The fabric is from Keepsake Quilting.)

 Then we trimmed the edges flat to add some borders.

 The pattern suggested leaving it like this and maybe for a full sized quilt it would look okay but we opted for a more framed look--->

 and then we added two skinny borders.  Ahh, now it looks just right for the wall!

 All the horizontal blocks were fussy cut from the cat fabric using the Accuquilt, too.

 Once the borders were on and pressed, we loaded it right onto the frame.

In no time, the quilting was done using a loose meander pattern.  Now the quilt goes to Mom to finish the binding and hand sew it down!  It was a great day together doing a project!