The pattern calls for you to make an insert, full of soft fluffy bits, and then an outer cover that you can zip off and wash when it gets dirty. This makes perfect sense. Also, it calls for the outer and inner fabric to be a canvas type of material for the sake of durability. I was a little bummed to read this because I have lots of fabric on hand, but not lots of canvas fabric, and canvas tends to be a bit expensive unless you have an Ikea trip in your near future. I didn't, so I sat on this for a bit.
I was going to stamp a little pattern on them, but once I figured out a solution to my other problem I was itching to get sewing, so I decided to just leave them as is. I did the topstitch in black and it adds a fun little bit of detail. It kind of looks like when you are little and color a picture, and you go back and trace the lines in black to make them stand out. (Am I the only one who did that?)
Whenever I do make it to Ikea I will probably grab a few yards of a fun canvas print and this gray ball will turn into the insert because it will get pretty beat up if not. But in the meantime this is working really well and I'm happy with it. Plus it has a fun blue zipper….that I installed terribly. My 4th zipper, I've yet to do one just right. Oh well.
Yes, let's. Let's rearrange my 
This Easter weekend we made the short trip over to Ham House, which is only a few miles away from our flat. We did an 
We took the trail behind Marble Hill House, 
which is along the river…
and grabbed the ferry across to the house. 
It was a more direct way to get there and the kids were excited about our little boat ride.
There was a hungry horse on the other side to greet us. Jayce wasn't too sure about him, and it turns out that he only wanted to be fed and not petted, so we moved on quickly.
We didn't go into Ham House itself this time, just around the gardens, but apparently it is one of the best preserved 17th century mansions and is haunted by a variety of ghosts. Apparently it was also one of the locations in the dreadful movie John Carter, but I won't re-watch that movie to try to catch a glimpse of the house. It was beautiful on the outside though, and I would like to go back through it at some point.
The back garden was incredible and broken down into various smaller gardens, with cobblestone walls dividing them up. We ran through a few of them on the Easter hunt, but I didn't get photos of them all since I was helping Jayce with his clues.
After Jayce had his egg we let Hannah out of her stroller to run around and apparently peek into everything.
And photo bomb here and there.
She wouldn't stand still with all of that flat space around her to run. So we basically just let her roam all around and she loved it.
The kids both went to sleep great that night which is always part of the end goal of a trip like that anyway. But it was a beautiful location to be worn down in.
Last weekend, we headed out on Saturday to Ham House to take the kids on an Easter trail. It started snowing as we were waiting to buy our tickets, but other than the cold, it was lovely. 
It is a bit different than the Easter egg hunts that we typically do, where there is a collection of brightly colored plastic egg scattered across a lawn. This is more of a scavenger hunt, with questions to answer and clues leading you all around a huge garden, and a large egg as your prize upon completion. This new set up was perfect for our eager little detective.
The setting was beautiful. I can't wait to come back in the spring when the trees are filled out and the gardens are covered in beautifully manicured blooms.
I think the photos are pretty self-explanatory, so, then end. :)
Actually, now that I look at these in a series, I kind of like them. This is just my family at the "no normal photos together" stage. 
