Beautiful New Tent

If You Love Tent Camping

Hi! Lea here! Ready to test out our new tent. It's brilliant!

This is almost exactly like Xyra and Franz's big tent. It has shock cord poles and a rainfly, but no vestibule. I was able to put it up, but it took patience. 

The tent floor is a heavy duty tarp and the upper and fly are polyester. We always put the rainfly over because you never know when it will rain and it's better to be prepared. Shall we take a look inside?

(giggles) My gear is already in place. But you can see there are two doors. Both have zipper closures and windows that can be zipped open or closed depending on weather.

On the side walls are two more windows with zipper closures. Under the side wall windows are mesh pockets to stash gear. You can't see them in these photos, but they are there.

Nap time! Happy Camping!

Xyra's Notes

• It's terrific! Sadly, this item is already sold out. 
• If you are a tent camper then you are probably as frustrated as I have been with 18" vinyl person camping structures. Doors that only tie closed let in weather and bugs. Some are cloth not nylon, etc. 
• This Tiny Tent is from REI. It is made with real tent materials and real zippers. I LOVE it. I hope they get more in stock because it was super affordable too. 
• One drawback. The dimensions are 18x18x12. That means only one 18" vinyl person fits and that person needs to arrange sleeping diagonally; however, the quality construction overrides the size limits and it is still quite nice. I believe two 14" vinyl people would fit nicely. Quite a few 12" vinyl people. It's a bit large for minis or 6".
• If you leave the tent up for any length of time the poles will remain curved. they may straighten over time in storage, but have not checked ours lately.
• Oh, and our kitties enjoyed checking it out as well. Especially Bronwyn. Be sure to zip your doors to keep wildlife out. 😃😄

Do you go tent camping? what is your favorite camping activity?

Tchau! And Happy Camping!

Note: Tea Time with Melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl or REI. The tent featured in this post was purchased with our own money for our collection. Links are provided for educational and informative purposes; we do not receive compensation for links clicked. No purchase is suggested or required to enjoy the post and review.

#REITinyTents

The Build: October 2019

Happy Halloween Y'All

Hi! Grace here! Your friendly October build tour guide. We've had this one planned for a bit and added to it after a trip to the re-Opening of the King of Prussia LEGO store. Where we found mini build cards for a ghost and a bat AND some fun new bricks on the pick a brick wall.

On this end we have a bit of the retired Trick or Treat set (40122) with a few tweaks and a new resident.

On the other end we have the calendar. We added dividers this time, and topped it with the arch.

For the mini figure theme we picked out the ones we thought looked like they were in costume.

The bat...well, we didn't build the one on the card because while we were looking for the black and purple bricks we found the retired Vampire and Bat set (40203) and he was already built. 

The ghost we had to tweak the pattern slightly...master builders we are! (giggles) I think it ended up cute. Like a puppy ghost.

What do you think? Can you find the pineapple? Did you see the "frost" on the pumpkins and mums?

Look Who Pops By

Well, what do we have here? Looks like my kind of place!

Have you planned your costume for Halloween yet? I think we have. 😮😳

À bientôt!

Note: Tea Time with Melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl or LEGO. All items featured in the post are from our personal collection. Set numbers provided so if you are a collector you might be able to search second hand market. No purchase is suggested or required to enjoy the post.

Meatloaf's Rail Adventures #11

Fun Upstate

This was a fun weekend for Meatloaf and someone else tagged a long too. This time we can't share many links and few details. However, we won't just photo dump. 

You know Meatloaf loves to ride the rails. He's ready to put on his safety vest and jump in the motorcar. Well, he gets help; it's a big jump for a bulldog. (giggles)

This trip was beautiful. One of the main stops was the Marticso Station Museum.

Look who tagged along this time. Mini Lea was enjoying "The Alps."

It was warm enough to have the motorcar vents open. That was really nice because it made it easier for Meatloaf to see where they were going.

The next stop was Cayuga lake.

The next day the group set on at a different location and headed south.

Meatloaf enjoyed every minute.

So did mini Lea.

Thank you for putting up with our erratic schedule. I'm certain we will have more to share tomorrow. Please check back when you can.

Do you have a favorite photo from the rail adventure?

Best wishes,

Lea Rides the Rails

Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad

Shawmut Day 2019

Shawmut Day is the last public running day of the season for the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad. After today they start the process of getting everything ready to be winterized. In the meantime, we had a BEAUTIFUL day to be here. It started out as sweatshirt weather, but turned into tee shirt weather.

Before everyone arrived the different trains were set up. Franz helped out using his little orange locomotive. It looked tiny next to Otto, so I started calling it Tiny.

I didn't get a nifty video like Grace did, but I still had a fun time riding the open car behind the Shay aka #6. We took the route down the hill, passed the wye out to the small turn table and back. The wooded setting is quite lush and relaxing.

When we got back I went into the station to visit the goose. Yes, he's wearing pants. 

Well, that's all the train stuff from me for now. Hope you enjoyed the tour. 

Tchau, for now!