A Rose Between 2 Blogs

Friday, August 7, 2009

Summary of July

This has been a very busy, cold summer in the U.P. We haven't been swimming once this summer! :( Okay, I didn't get the chance to blog in July, so here are some recaps!!!!

4th of July: Bella was scared with all the firecrackers going off, so she cuddled up with Dad on the porch. It wasn't a very good day/night for her.

Lupper ( lunch and supper ) at Aunt Connie's house. That's Mr. Danielson in the background.

Our friends from Illinois- the Cartys.

Cupcake!!!! Yum!!!

My cousins-- Yesenia and Johanna

Heather and Evan were in the parade! Evan wasn't being very camera cooperative! ;) Such a cutie!

A few of us kids on the curb. L-R: Daniel, Nathan, Christina, Me, Anna, & Meaghan

Our church's GREAT float--won first place!

Watching the fireworks! :) Back row: Me, and Meaghan. Front row: Anna, Christina, Randy, and Josh

Anna, Me, and Meaghan goofin' off!

The start of camp!!! Classic in front of the baggage photo! lol

Camp friends! Liz in the black, Jennifer in the purple,and Larissa in the blue/yellow. The other ones I didn't really hang out with.

Anna and I on Dress like a Cowboy Night.

My friend Mel and I. hahahaha

Why is Anna licking me????!!!

My counselor Jacqui and I. And my dad wearing my cowboy hat!

The last peonies of the season.

Meaghan's 16th birthday party. Chelsea getting food. I wasn't far behind!

Meaghan and I

Happy Birthday Meaghan!

Tirmisu for dessert! Mmmmm...

Yes, Josh WAS chewing on all this gum, and kept drooling too! A whole pack of Bubalicious! So ten Josh!

Josh and Randy had a sleepover after Meaghan's party. I thought they were hilarious the way they were both sleeping!

Mom's birthday supper! Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom's presents.

The card I made for her.

Julie sitting on her stool with her foot on the stool she got Mom. There is quite a story behind the stool and the vase with the roses!

Mom's birthday dessert! Pie without the crust.

Josh all geared up and ready for football season! Believe me, he was stoked that day!

A dog named Daisy that we "found" and returned to her owners. She was so sweet!

My favorite plant ever-- hen and chicks!

The geraniums on our porch.

Josh and I on Josh's birthday.

Josh's presents. Just like on my birthday, a small present in each bag, all spread out over the day.

The birthday table. Is this the Plague #2 of the frogs???!!!!

Josh had to get up and open his first present at the time of his birth--3:57 AM. He got a digital microscope!

The present he got the day before from Aunt Barbara. An awesome baseball book that looks like a baseball! She sent me paper dolls in the polka dot paper. I saved the paper! Thanks Aunt Barbara!

Raspberry/blackberry/peach pie. Delicious!

Josh and his friend Josh.

Blowing out the cake. He got them all out, too!

We have a Nature table now. The table used to be in our bathroom, now our bathroom's in havoc. Bella recently ate the bee hive! That dog!

Strawberry pie we ate last Sunday.

The play, Alice in Wonderland, that Josh and I were in. Can you find us?

Josh had two roles- the Mouse and the Knave of Hearts. I was the March Hare.

One of my BFFs Molly. She was Alice and did fantastic! :)

So this pretty much covers July! All for now!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Evan came over on Saturday, so we thought that it would be nice if he made a Father's Day card for his dad. When Mom told him to put his hand in the finger paint, he looked at her as if she was kidding. ( He hates getting his hands dirty! ) So, Mom took some out and rubbed it on his hands. Evan took it all very seriously. ;)

His little hand prints look so cute!

On the inside of the card, I translated as follows:

I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree. Happy Father's Day! I love you Daddy! Love, Evan

Mom helped him write his name. He also drew a "picture" of a boat. It turned out really cute!

Pretty landscape.

In Escanaba, we drove around looking at houses. This one is our favorite. :)

The father with his children.

All of us "kids" with dad.

Josh and I on our way to Escanaba.

Dad wanted to go to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Escanaba for lunch, and since he had to go down to the terminal anyway, we would hit two birds with one stone. When we got down there, we found out that Ferdinand's was closed. We were all disappointed, cause for me I was REALLY in the mood for chips and salsa, fajitas, and a non-alcoholic daiquiri. But they were closed. So, we drove down to The House of Ludington, only to find that they too, were closed. Then we went to Hereford and Hops. They were open! We went in, sat down, and looked at the menu. We couldn't find anything we wanted! Dad had already ordered one of there homemade root bears-which was too sweet for most of us, except for the Candy Man! Not finding anything we liked we left. Finally, we went to the Swedish Pantry. A quaint little restaurant. The food was pretty good. I split a BLT and Swedish pancakes with Josh, had really good hot chocolate to drink, and split A Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie and Raspberry Pie with Mom and Dad. Good meal. Then we drove around looking at houses, a favorite past-time of all except Josh, went Lake Michigan to check out the water, and then drove over to the terminal. On the way home we stopped in Powers and got ice cream. I had blue moon/cotton candy! D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S-! Then we went to see Grandpa when we got home. We had a nice day!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Mini Camp and Trail Weekend

On Memorial Day Weekend, I went on a Mini Pack and Trail at Lake Ellen Camp. It was a lot of fun, I just wish it had been warm enough to go swimming. The water was like forty degrees! A lot of people actually did go in the water!!!!! Brrrrr.... Anyway, here are some pictures.

My shadow. We were at Main Camp and all my friends were either swimming or taking showers, so I was kinda bored. At the rustic outpost where we were staying, there was no water, bathrooms, and no electricity. VERY dark!

Chella eating a very, very, black marshmallow!

The sunset. Believe me, we were never up early enough to see the sun rise!

There's the outpost! My cabin is the one directly ahead.

The horses' hoof-prints.

The sun between the trees in the woods.

Beautiful spring leaves.

My horse and my shadow.

The whole gang. It was Joie's birthday that day, so we all made her a cheese box with our hand prints on them. Top row L-R: Mary, Hannah, Carly, Chella, Megan, Joie, and Chris Ann.

Bottom row: Me, Julianne, and Addison.

The cheese box I painted in the Craft Shop.

My friend, Carly, on the gyros. I DID NOT do it!! lol

A few of us in the Craft Shop. Almost everyone (except Addison) painted a cheese box.

Where we ate our Sunday lunch.

My friend Carly and Me.

The horses were all tied up so that the hungry riders could eat!

Our outpost right across the lake.

Pretty trees and sky.

The line. I was second in line! My horse was really fast, and Dundee, the horse behind me, was really slow. So there was usually a big gap, but hey- I got good pictures because of it!

The sun again!

Addison's horse was being bad, so she had to ride with Joie.

Me on my horse Diamond.

He's so pretty. Bet you'd never guess he was twenty-two years old?

My other friend Addison and I.

Saturday night campfire. We had chicken, carrots, baked potatoes, and raspberry pudgy pies for supper.

The girls playing tether ball.

Carly's horse Romeo. He was batting his eyelashes at me! Hilarious!!

Dundee was VERY interested in my camera!

Diamond and Me. I wish he really was my horse! He's actually an ex-racehorse! Which is why he likes to go fast. Diamond has the number twenty-two on his neck.

Such a cutie!

Chris Ann's horse, Jewel. She is such a big pretty girl!

Carly and Addison. They brought there own horses from home! Lucky ducks!

Food cooking! Yum!

The inside of my cabin. I have the green sleeping bag.

Where some of the food was cooked.

The pump where we had to pump water. My arms got a good workout!

The horses stayed here all night. Diamond is second from the left.

We ate supper here.

And we ate breakfast and lunch in here.

Julianne, Addison, Carly, and my cabin.

I had such a fun weekend, even though I wanted to see my family and play my saxophone! Haha. It was great!

Day 6: Of The Adventure

My cousin Erin's bridesmaid bouquet.

The Gerbera Daisies from the Rehearsal Dinner.

My friend Danae and Me. We like randomly met at the wedding. She's Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob's niece. She's REALLY nice!:)

We just hung out around Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy's house that day. We also got to go play basketball at the church. We had a very nice, relaxing day.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Our Adventure: Day 5-Awesome NYC!!!

Imagine! A McDonald's in New York City!... and a retro guy! Lol

People playing chess on the street. That little girl is so cute!

I wanted to buy this picture... until I found out how much it was! Isn't it beautiful though?

I asked the guy who was standing behind the table if it was for sale. He said yes that it was. ( I'm so blonde! ) Anyway, my face probably fell, so he was so nice and told me I could take a picture of it. The salesman is in the top left corner.

Beautiful hand painted eggs. I LOVED them!

On a nice, warm, spring, Sunday afternoon, New Yorkers get out to the park for some relaxing. Isn't it crowded?!

I think that this is a cathedral or some kind of church. The architecture is amazing!

I thought outside flower shops were found only in Europe... I guess not!

Yummy fruit stand! We were almost done with our LONG, trecherous walk by this time. About 2-4 miles!

Yay! China-town outskirts! These clothes are so colorful and pretty!

I was taking random pictures everywhere... so yeah!

Mom, Josh, and Dad. Check out Josh's expression. After getting off the train, Dad scared Josh with stories of " walking down the street, and a gangster pulls out his gun and shoots you." Poor kid!

Chinese building. I wonder if China is just like Little China Town?

Walking...and walking...and walking....

This building is really cool. It juts out right into the street!

The little boy was crying because his brother had just gotten an ice-cream cone, and he wanted one too.

FINALLY THERE!!!!!

Eeeeeewwwwww! Fish markets make you gag!

The flowers were fake. :(

But aren't they pretty?

No, if you were wondering, we didn't stop here.

The cake on the top left was my favorite.

Little Italy where we bought gelato and sorbet. I ordered raspberry sorbet, which my dad ate, Josh ordered peach sorbet, which I devoured, Mom got cherry amaretto gelato, which Josh gulped down, and Dad ordered some kind of gelato, which Mom took.

I would be scared if I lived on the top floor and had to climb up those stairs... ( shivers! )

Pretty menu

Haha! :)

Cramped Little Italy

We got a subway back uptown. Yippee! Saved a lot of time. While in Chinatown, Josh got an F.C. Barcelona jersey and I got a plaid cabbie hat and an I Love NY t-shirt. The "born to shop" kid wasn't scared anymore after he began to shop! Just like him!

Sore feet, tired, a long way to go.

The play on Broadway we wanted to see. It had already started when we got there; to bad.

McDonald's! And a cool hand sculpture a little higher and farther on up.

Me getting drawn by a street artist just off Time Square. He did a good job!

Josh getting drawn. He was embarrassed by all the people watching him.

Me at Time Square. I think this was one of my favorite things in all of New York.

Josh at Time Square.

Me at The Square. You can see how pretty it was with all the lights.

This is how the policemen don't get run over. Reflectors!

Petting a police horse. He had some really weird name. The horse that is!

The tower where every New Year's Eve a ball drops, signaling the end of the year.

The ball at the top. ( It's purple. )

Someone offered to take our family picture, in exchange for taking a picture of herself and daughter.

Josh and I in front of the M&M building.

$12 per lb.?!?!?!...

WE didn't get any!! LOL

Looking up between two skyscrapers

We were looking for the Rockefeller Center, and we couldn't find it, so we asked a security guy. It ended up that the Rock was only like three buildings away!

A pretty carriage in action.

The moon actually shines in New York City!

The bottom of the Rock.

Here I am inside the Rockefeller Center.

Up on the tippy top.

The highest part. You can kind of see the glass so people can't jump off.

The ceiling, floor, and walls are all made of this flashing material.

The Empire State Building.

Me in front of the Empire State Building.

The view up there was spectatcular.

On the LONG wait to get down. Fifteen minutes at the top, and forty-five to get back down.

I love all the world's flags.

Imagine! Skating in April! It wasn't even very cold.

Mom and Dad on the train ride back.

Hahaha:) Me and photo fun!

Josh and I. The conductor loved my hat! We got back "home" at 11:00PM. New York is great! Of all big cities, this is most where I'd want to live!

My Guitar/Piano Recital

My piano teacher, Courtney and I.
I played Hornpipe by Handel and Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah arr. by Sprunger.

Me, Courtney, and Josh.

Josh and I did a duet called The Red River Valley!

My guitar teacher Cassie and I.

I played Cancion which is a Spanish Traditional. ( Note: I should've cleaned my guitar first! Sorry! )

Okay, It's been taking me forever to get through the vacation posts, so I'm going to take a little break and post our recital pics. :) But don't worry, I'll finish the vacation post!