Museum of Glass birthday trip!

For Marleah's birthday, she chose some fun friends and we all went to the

Corning Museum of Glass.

It was an amazing trip, and EVERY girl wanted to stay longer!

We learned things, saw glass blowing, chose our favorites in the displays,

and got to laugh and smile alot.

And, good news- nothing got broken!

I was particularly fascinated by the TEXTURE that these artists were able to achieve

with GLASS!  So cool.

The colors, the light....wow.

This one really looks soft as silk.  Amazing.

Here's a piece made with thousands of glass "fibers" almost like straw.

 

We even squeezed in time to make fused glass.  Here's Jillian's artwork that will be a night light!  So clever!!

For 6+ hours with 5 ten to twelve year olds, about 3 of those driving, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Especially if I got to enjoy my big sister coming with us again!!

Thanks, Donna!

And to Donna and all my girls-

I love you five!!

Summer Catch-Up

The Renaissance Festival is held each year in Sterling, NY.

It's filled with characters who dress in period clothing (I think the Queen took a liking to Andy)while running a town very much like they had way back then (1500s? 1600s? I forget.).

So this summer we went with some friends for a day of fun.

Here's some of what we found....

Lucy targeted every ride in the place. No fancy stuff to run it, just some burly barefoot guy.

There was another ride in a huge barrel that I got swindled into- because Lucy had to have a parent with that one. What- like they thought I could somehow prevent her from throwing up as another burly braided guy twisted it around and around and around???

Nope- Lucy was laughing too hard to throw up.

Me? I came pretty close.

There were different shows put on all day long.

Marleah spotted a harpist and minstrel scheduled, so we found them.

Jill was fascinated with the psaltry she played with this tune,

and thanks to a good friend, we're borrowing his to test our musical skills.

Very neat!

Turkey legs as big as your head.

And other wonderful foods were available.

The girls took turns in the stockades- I love how Ann Marie is peeking through, like she's the accomplice that got away!


And the crafts- oh my!



Here's the glass-blower working on my little glowing fairy, to add to the collection I started as a girl each time I visited the festival. I've always had a thing for neat glass works.

Here's another example. Love this!

There was a talented calligrapher doing these.

Might have to borrow this idea for future Christmas projects.....
Hmmm....this reminds me of someone....

The Renaissance Festival had way too much to look at, and I'm sure we missed many entertaining things. When we heard there was a Loony Lucy, we had to find her.

(She's the one on the right, by the way.)

At the end of our visit, we watched a hilarious show, in which these three actors performed a story and became VERY muddy (as did much of the audience! Poor Lucy was distraught when a glob of it landed on her skirt.).

Fun actors. Good entertainment. Brave girls!