LaForce Likes #13

Continuing with the summer theme (yay summer!) from last week, this LaForce Likes is my favorite sunscreen.

Neutrogena Ultra Sheet Dry Touch Sunblock

source

I like it because it is sheer and non greasy and doesn't have a sunscreen smell to it. It's not the cheapest of sunscreens so we only use it for faces and ears.  We buy the SPF 45 or 55... I have seen it come in higher SPFs such as 100 but I'm not sure if research really supports that an SPF higher than 45/55 is that much better so I stick with this and reapply it about every 2 hours while in the sun  :)

Do you have a sunscreen you like?

DIY wooden outdoor dining table

Late last summer Eric and I decided to make our own wooden outdoor table. Wooden outdoor tables are sooo expensive and many reviews I read reported poor durability! I wanted something that would last more than a year or 2 and not break the bank.

We turned to Ana White's plans here. I'm sure many of you have seen her website full of plans for about any piece of furniture you can imagine. This was our first furniture build aside from the play kitchen.

I will say it is important to not only read her directions but also read all the post comments where people who have been in your exact situation ask questions and offer advice.

Here are some pictures from out table building adventure.

It was extremely helpful to have the pocket Kreg Jig for attaching the top slats. Not sure if it is truly required but it made it 150 times easier.

We built a table with our bare hands (and some tools). Yeah!

After finishing the a piece with treated wood you have to wait 3 months to stain/paint it. We had decided on a brown stain that had a hint of red in it from Lowes. It looked completely like redwood after putting the stain on and we were not happy with it so then it sat for awhile. I didn't take a picture but you can sorta see what the color was by looking on the bottom but it was redder in person.

A couple months ago we decided to figure out what to do to make it better. Here is where Third time's a charm holds true!

Someone at Lowes said we could just get a darker stain and stain right over it. Fail. That did not work at all. We even tried sanding one of the boards and then doing the new stain but it was still just as red as before. Then we tried priming it and using the stain over that. Fail again. Next we decided we would buy outdoor paint in brown and paint that over the primer. Finally a winner!

It took two coats but I am really happy with the color and it will work well with any color in plates, napkins, etc. In the end it all worked out :)

We already got to enjoy the new table at our Cinco De Mayo cookout!

We also recently made a bench to go with the table (also Ana White partially pictured 2 pictures up) and I cannot wait to show you that soon!



Linking up at these fun parties

(M) Motivate Me Monday, Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Monday Marvelous, Just Something I Whipped Up, The DIY Showoff, Mad Skills, (T) Today's Creative Blog, All Thingz Related, Tip Me Tuesday, Ladybug Blessings, Try it Tuesday, A Little Birdie Told Me (W) Whatever Goes Wednesday, Blue Cricket Design, We Did It Wednesday, Wassup Wednesday, POWW (Th) Hooking up w/HoH, Somewhat Simple (F) Remodelaholics Anonymous, Frugalicious Friday, FrouFrouDecor, Fingerprints on the Fridge, FFA Friday, Weekend Wander, (S) Weekend Wrap Up Party, Lamb Around (Su) Sunday Showcase Party, Sundae Scoop, It's So Very Cheri

LaForce Likes #12

Since tomorrow marks June 1st and summer is here this LaForce Likes is about my favorite sun hat from San Diego Hat Company.

When at the pool or beach or on the lake I like to protect my face from the sun. Most sun hats do not allow you to do this while having your hair in a ponytail which is a must in my opinion if you have hair long enough to be pulled back. This hat, really a visor, is perfect for hair up or down and rolls up nicely for packing. It fits everyone because of the adjustable velcro closure and it is stylish with a variety of colors!

I got this 5 years ago and I am STILL using it as you probably saw from my St. Maarten post. They have various other styles of hats/visors as well. I have given a few as gifts and the receivers have enjoyed theirs too!

Hooray for summer!

Southern Caribbean Cruise: St. Kitts

The next day was St. Kitts. This was Valentines Day so naturally the men and women decided to spend some quality time apart. Just kidding, we actually did this because Eric and Keith wanted to scuba dive in St. Kitts and it just happened to be Valentines Day but Megan did tell our steward that the key to a successful marriage was some quality time apart :)

Megan and I set out bright and early for a tour of the island. I booked Rose and Jim's taxi tour after much research and it was a fantastic deal. We had an elderly couple join us after I posted about it on cruisecritic so that cut our cost in half.

We rode around in one of those 15 passenger van type deals with Rose as our guide. She was extremely knowledgeable about St. Kitts having lived there a long time and would stop any time we wanted to hop out and take pictures.

fort close to downtown Basseterre

There was a tour of the town, driving by a sugar plantation, driving through a little rain forest area to get to Romney Manor and seeing how batik is done at the manor, the botanical gardens around the manor, and then driving to Timothy Hill to see the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Sea meeting. All the while Rose talked about the island history, life on the island, different plants, animals, you name it.

the bottle tree

batik making

batik process

batik process continued

They have so much that grows there. We got to smell the ginger plant in the botanical gardens. We saw a man with a pet monkey and also many monkeys in nature - very common there.

ginger plant

Timothy Hill views were amazing and a must see. I took a ton of photos there hoping to end up with one we can frame in our house. We saw a bunch of German bicyclists there from one of the other ships in port.

The entire tour (start until arriving back at the dock) was about 3 hours and I would highly recommend this to anyone for their first visit to St. Kitts.

Megan and I arrived back to the dock just as it started raining and in time for lunch. We were glad we had our tour first thing. This was the only day during vacation that it rained some. After lunch it had stopped raining and we walked into St. Kitts downtown to buy a few souvenirs for our niece.

Valentine's display in the Windjammer

downtown Basseterre

Meanwhile the husbands went on a scuba diving adventure. It was their first time scuba diving in the ocean as their other dives had been in lakes/rivers/pools for their certifications.

Eric shot a great pic of our ship... there she is in all her glory.

They had a great time at 2 different dive sites.

Once they returned it was about time to sail away so we headed up to our spot at the Seaview for snacks and to enjoy the views of St. Kitts.

Then we got ready for dinner. Here are a few food shots.

We relaxed after dinner and did some walking around the ship too.

Then we had another towel animal waiting!

Next up is Dominica and Barbados!