September means we truly are not going to get away for a family vacation this year. Sure there have been mini vacations here and there between the boys and Claire but nothing like we are used to taking. I am feeling a bit sad for the time we usually share together. Our oldest is two short years from leaving the nest for college. I am left revisiting some of last years mementos. A good excuse to get them dusted and cleaned.
We have a large built in shelf in the family room that my kids love to fill with their collection of sand and rocks from places we visit. Turning these former dirt clods into decorator items is a challenge I am willing to take on.
Pickle jars filled with Lake Superior agates help to contain a collection and display them at the same time. Each one hand picked form various beaches we visited. I can usually find a kid proudly proclaiming which one they found.
Nesting among dime store jars these collections are more of I spy jars than storage.
Ball jars in the color of sea glass are perfect for sand. Carefully poured as to show which beach it was scooped from this is a treasure jar we all favor. Each beach we recall by the color of sand.
Copper dog tag from Etsy stamped with the date and destination make this jar more than it was intended. This is our vacation in a jar.
During our vacation a few years ago to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan we took the kids copper hunting. Using metal detectors and old fashioned shovels. Rock hounding has never been so much fun. We have several budding geologist in our house. It is hard to leave anywhere without a rock...even a parking lot.
This is our biggest copper find. In its natural form. (I am a little proud that I found that before anyone else!)
My most favorite treasures...sea glass and pottery. All found on Lake Superiors shore with a few French pebbles from my dear friend Amy's travels abroad. I could hunt for these treasures day in and day out. Always excited over the next piece no matter how small. Some in pink. Some in lavender. Others green. Most are white. Tumbled for years in the great lake of Superior. Now nestled in a vintage depression dish for my memories....I am now saving for a vacation!
I am now saving for a vacation!
Thank you all so much for your kind words about my mending room. The doors are always open.
Another fabulous door that is always open and now offering a fabulous giveaway is Imagimeri. Pop over and enter to win one of her wonderful vintage sculpture creations. She is an amazing artist.
14 comments:
Oh, Renee...I just loved this post! Even though you didn't get out on a "big" adventure this year, those little ones count, too!
I love how you are treasuring your vacations past...love the collections you and your children have saved through the years and how you display them so lovingly...your children will always remember that.
I love sea glass, too! I grew up very near Lake Erie and loved collecting it (as I do by the seaside now, in California...so beautiful!)
And WHERE did you get that fabulous label for your vacation-saving jar? I really love that! You always find the most wonderful vintage images!
I hope you're enjoying this long end-of-summer weekend, my friend...let's get ready for the fabulous fall!
Julie
Great post and a great collection of vacation memories. My grandfather always polished the agates we found at the Oregon coast and the sound of the polisher running in his garage was constant. I also have a very large piece of pumice that I found in Eastern Oregon as a kid that has made it to many, many show and tells when I was younger. Rocks just seem to be a natural thing that kids are attracted to.
Renee, the kids vacation collections are wonderful! I especially love the rocks, as our kids collected those for a while too. I still have some rocks that they painted out in my garden.
My dad was a "rockhound" and took us all over Arizona, in the middle of our scorching summers, hunting for a treasure. We went to numerous rock shows at the fairgrounds, and camped in very obscure places like "fourth of July butte" and "burro creek" where there were wild burro's running around. Traveling to mining towns and ghost towns digging up large geodes and cracking them open to see the beautiful crystals inside. I have many sweet, dirty and hot, hot, hot memories of those days. Thank you for the memories and the mention of my giveaway sweetie.....U R the best!
Love ya'
Meri
Your jars of vacation memories are precious. Such a lovely way to display special finds. I am still hoping you can visit west Michigan next summer. Hugs.
We didn't have a vacation this year, either, but we sure don't have awesome jars filled with awesome memories from previous ones! That was a fantastic idea and I'm glad you shared it with us. My husband has been a rock hound most of his life and we have a big big jar filled with stones that he tumbled. He can name each one, and we all treasure that jar.
Hugs,
Mary @ Redo 101
I loved this post, because every summer when we go to the Northwoods of Wisconsin, I bring back rocks! It used to be coffee cans full when I was little, and now I've graduated to boxes full and big boulders for the garden. No matter where we go, I always have to bring home a rock or piece of driftwood or something from nature!
Happy Labor Day,
Carol
What a sweet story about your vacations. My son is 21 now and has left the nest. So sorry you did not get a vacation with your family this year so far. That just means the one you do take will be even better with more memories. Hope you are having a great holiday.
Isn't it funny how collecting rocks & seaglass from places you visit is more memorable than storebought souviners? I always look for seaglass when we get over to the oceanside but this is L.A. so it's rare to find. Got plenty of rocks, 'tho...even found a heart-shaped rock in AZ. Friends of ours are rockhounds and have the most amazing collection of everything and dino fossils. When I was little I found & brought home a big roundish ugly rock and my brothers grabbed it from me and ran into garage with me yelling & chasing them to grab it back...they got a sledge hammer and BAM! One minute I was crying for my big gray rock and the next minute I was stunned to see all these sparkling jewels in the middle of the rock! I wish I still had that rock.
I'd recognize that blue and white fragment of ironstone anywhere! I grew up eating off of those dishes at my grandmother and great-grandmother's houses! It is a Currier and Ives patter. Each piece had a different farm scene on it--some with horse drawn carriages, some during winter, summer, etc. Homes, people, etc. LOVE!
~Now Following!
What a wonderful post! Your collections and memories make me wish I had thought of doing something like it when my kids were growing up. I love the sand jar!!
hello lovely, and how nice to see you over at mine earlier. I've lost my blogging mojo of late but I've enjoyed catching up with all my favourite reads now the boys are back to school.
Lovely post - it reminded me of a picture I've kept on pinterest
http://pinterest.com/pin/100691113/
which i thought was a lovely idea. As if I'd ever get around to doing it!
happy days
fee x
how funny- each of my boys has a large glass jar where I tell them to put their rocks/shells/acorns/etc. It keeps them contained, and is pretty at the same time. Otherwise, I'd find these things scattered everywhere!
It is wonderful that you shared your creative ways to display beach goodies. I imagine it can be a bit of a challenge. You are such a thoughtful mom.
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