Clambake!

There is nothing more quintessentially 'Cape Cod' as the clambake.  When it's done on a large scale, a giant fire pit is made with wooden pallets, rocks and tons of seaweed, then covered with a giant tarp and the food is steamed.  This one was at my sister in law's house so just regular grills and cook stoves were used.  There were about 12 lobsters and underneath are clams.

Sadly I can't eat them.  I also couldn't have the clam chowder or stuffed quahogs.  I was very grateful that there were hotdogs, chips and cheese.  

One of my sisters in law helping my father in law with his 'lobstah bib'.  😆

My FIL and another sister in law, Grampa John and in the background, her hubby.

Russell and his brothers.

Clams

Family photo before I could coax the rest into the pic.

And after they got into the pic.

It was a beautiful day but we've been having a lot of mosquitoes.

Lobstah!

Cawn! (I don't really drop my Rs when I talk like most of the people around here)

I found a couple diamond painting kits on sale and picked them up.  Unfortunately, the orca picture looks nothing like the photo on the website.  What I didn't realize at the time I bought it was that the measurements were in cm, not inches.  15x20 translated into inches in my mind.  Only later did I see the cm next to 15x20.  So the smaller a diamond painting is, the less detail it can contain.  

I also picked up a floral kit which was a bit bigger and I knew the dimensions really wouldn't matter much since it was just psychedelic flowers, and I like the way this came out.  

Picked up a plain birdhouse at Marsha's yard sale and paid homage to our trip to the midwest.

This is a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign design.

A few weeks ago my mother in law showed me a super decorated key that she saw in a magazine so I went right home and made one.  

Indulged myself in a couple of Russian bead embroidery kits and this was a free gift project.  Worked it up really fast in about 90 minutes one afternoon.  Came with the paper frame and a magnet.  It's on the fridge.

Made a bday card for Marsha.

Another Russian bead embroidery kit.  This is much different from any of the American kits I've done.  This was a very pleasant project that took 2 days' work. The fabric is like a heavy duty silk and I love the space and stars background.  

Here it is finished.

I've got a couple more bead embroidery kits to get to, now that I can stitch again.  It's going to be a busy summer, which will end with another trip to Ohio in late August, but I'm still hoping to squeeze in crafts and day trips.  We'll be taking care of Shadow 2 days a week too.  Crazy busy! 

Buttonwood Park Zoo, New Bedford

I read that the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford had recently acquired a 2 toe sloth and made a mental note to check it out.  We drove down one Sunday morning and it wasn't too crowded at all.  The zoo is really small and easily seen in an hour or two.  

Loved this train that goes all the way around the whole zoo which is a good ride.  

We started in the rainforest exhibit.  Lots of colourful fish.

Lionfish

I loved these jellyfish!!  They were soooo pretty!

Unfortunately Bernardo the sloth was waaayyyyy at the top of his habitat and didn't come down at all.  I went back into the exhibit before we left and he was still up there.

The birds and monkeys were also hiding for the most part.

There are a couple of seals.

Mountain lion/cougar

Bobcat

They have 'Buttonwood Farm' that has some cattle and horses.  Didn't see the pig though.

There's one buffalo

I fell in love with Ellie, an adorable possum.

One elephant.

The otters were adorable too.

Another shot of Ellie.

This is a cute little zoo to check out.  We ate at the food court style restaurant which I thought was great.  He had a pulled pork sandwich that he thought was a bit dry but my burger was awesome.  I don't think that I'll go back to see the sloth though.  It never occurred to me that he wouldn't be right there, visible for the public.  Poor thing would probably rather be back in the rainforest!  Same thing with the black bears; they were also hiding in the rocks of their habitat.  Buttonwood Park Zoo is worth stopping at if you find yourself in New Bedford.