Christmastime 2013


Hi everyone! It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd do a post on Christmas! We did a lot of fun things this December:

December 10- We got 2 or 3 inches of snow and Esther helped me make this giant snowball. It was heavy!
December 10- This thing must have weighed over 100 pounds!
December 14- Decorating the Christmas tree! By the way, that's not an ornament Esther's eating.
December 15- Christmas decorating- I didn't even know they made wreathes for your neck! It certainly wasn't the most comfortable thing I've ever worn.
December 16- My home school group had a Christmas party and afterwards some of the kids and I sang Christmas songs for the parents.
December 21- My aunt and her family came up here from North Carolina and we had a family Christmas party at my Grandpa's place. From left to right: my dad, Grandpa, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Jean.
December 21- From left to right: My cousin Maaza, Esther, my dad, Grandpa, Aunt Mary, my cousin Libbie, me, Aunt Jean, my cousins Scott and Alex, and Uncle R.L. 


Christmas Eve
After one of our favorite dinners (hamburger and potatoes), we got to open some early presents:
Gifts from our friends down in Texas -perfume and Nancy Drew books!
Gifts from friends- including candy and hot cocoa mix! 
Gifts from our parents including candy, movies, and nailpolish.

Christmas Day
We had Christmas by ourselves this year since our friends were all with their families.



Christmas morning! This is Esther and I right before we started opening presents. Google automatically added the sparkles on the windows for some reason...

A hat and scarf set Esther crocheted, which seems a little small on me. The sparkles on the tree were also automatically added by Google.
Gifts from my parents, including movies and makeup!
I made this earring holder for Esther since she got her ears pierced recently and she's been getting lots of earrings!
Buffy enjoyed the tissue paper more than the gifts!
Lots of good movies!
Family pictures with my parents, Esther, and I:




Merry Christmas everyone!


Trip to New Jersey and New York City (Part 2)

Hello everyone! Here's the second set of pictures from New York!



When we went in the Empire State Building, they took this picture of us and superimposed it over this background. Then they tried to sell it to us for $20! We just went to their website and copied and pasted the photo into our computer (that's why it has "proof" written all over it). As you can see, part of my elbow seems to have gone missing. 9/28/2013

View from the Empire State Building 9/28/13

This is New York City from the top of the Empire State Building.  If you look to the right, you can make out the Statue of Liberty. 9/28/13

My family and I at the top of the Empire State Building. 9/28/13

My dad and sister and I at the Empire State Building.  9/28/13


Sunday, September 29
We took the Stanton Island ferry into New York City on Sunday. The ride was about 20 or 30 minutes long each way.
Esther on the ferry. 9/29/2013
My family and I at Battery Park, New York. 9/29/2013


Urban Farm near Battery Park (I much prefer the rural kind though) 9/29/2013
Esther and I in front of the Charging Bull statue near Wall Street in Manhattan. The statue weighs over three tons! 9/29/2013

My dad and sister and I on Wall Street. 9/29/2013

We also went to the World Trade Center memorial. 9/29/2013

Monday, September 30
This was our last day in New Jersey. We visited my great uncle and aunt to say goodbye to them and my great uncle showed us around Elizabeth, New Jersey.
We visited the cemetery where my grandfather's parents are buried. 9/30/2013

My great uncle (who was my grandfather's brother) and my sister and I standing near the my great-grandparents' marker. 9/30/2013


(From left to right) Me, my great uncle, my little sister, and my mom. 9/30/2013


It was a good trip but I would never want to live in New York City -I'm a country girl!

Trip to New Jersey and New York City (Part 1)

     Hi everyone! These are some pictures of our trip to New Jersey and New York. We left our house on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 and came home on Monday, September 30. We were only gone five days but it felt like a lot longer since we did so much!
     It was a fun trip but I definitely never want to live in New York!


Thursday, September 26
In the morning, we drove around Atlantic Highlands where my grandmother grew up (a friend that my grandmother had grown up with showed us around). After she went back home, my family and I went on to Sandy Hook.
Esther and I with my grandmother's friend standing in front of the house my grandmother grew up in. The house to the right of it is the house my grandmother's friend grew up in. 9/26/2013

Twin Lights in Monmouth County, New Jersey. 9/26/2013

My dad, sister, and I climbed Twin Lights (my mom stayed on the ground because she doesn't like heights). I don't like heights either so I don't think I'll be climbing any more lighthouses anytime soon!  9/26/2013


These stairs were nerve racking to climb! 9/26/2013


My dad, sister, and I after the climb. 9/26/2013


After Twin Lights, we went to Sandy Hook lighthouse. My dad and sister climbed this one too but I'd had enough of climbing lighthouses for one day! 9/26/2013

My dad, sister, and I on the Sandy Hook beach. You can see New York City in the background. 9/26/2013


Friday, September 27
We stayed in Tinton Falls, New Jersey for two nights before going on to Elizabeth, New Jersey (which is closer to New York City). We spent Friday in New Jersey and drove to Elizabeth on Friday afternoon. We met my great uncle and great aunt at a restaurant for dinner on Friday night.
Micah Williams art museum in New Jersey. 9/27/13


Esther in the Micah Williams museum. There was a bin of dress up things there (fun for all ages -including myself!) 9/27/13


 Saturday, September 28
     We took the train into the city on Saturday with my great uncle. He showed us places in the city and I'm sure we must have walked a few miles just that morning! It felt so good to sit down for lunch. Afterwards we went up in the Empire State Building and then my family and I walked around some more. We probably walked several more miles that afternoon.
Me in the New York American Girl store on 5th Avenue. (Never too old to love dolls!) 9/28/13
We met my first cousins once removed at a German restaurant in New York City with my great uncle. 9/28/2013
My mom and sister and I with my great uncle and my first cousins once removed. 9/28/2013


I'll post the rest of the photos soon!



A story I wrote for my Spanish class

I wrote this story for my Spanish class and I decided to translate it to English so my family could read it. My sister said I should post it here too. Here it is:

    It was a dark and stormy night when we were born, my brother and sister and I. We lived on a small farm in West Virginia and as we grew we spent many long hours playing on that farm.
     It was another dark and stormy night when we found that our parents had been killed. We were still very young and a woman came to the house and took us to a special orphanage. We drove a very long time before we arrived at our destination in the city.
   I was in the orphanage for perhaps a month or two. There were others there to, some of whom we became friends with. Every so often, someone who was interested in adopting would come and choose one of us to adopt. One day an elderly woman and her daughter came to the orphanage and brought me to the elderly woman’s house. I never saw my brother or sister again.
     I still remember the first time I met the elderly woman’s husband and family. The woman’s daughter brought her family over and they were so happy to meet me. I enjoyed meeting them as well but it was good to be alone in my room after the daughter and her family had left.
     I spent several months with the elderly woman and her husband. I played with the daughter’s children when they visited and we became good friends. But one day, things didn't seem quite right. People were hurrying around and they told me to stay out of the way. Then I was sent to my room.
     Several hours later, the daughter of the elderly woman came and took me to her house. I knew I would be living there from now on because she took all my things with us.
     I got a very small room in my new home since there were four others living there as well. They also had a cat, who I enjoyed chasing around the house although he didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as I did.
     I liked my life in my new home. My family all loved me. The elderly woman and her husband came to visit me several times a month but their visits gradually became further and further apart until the husband’s visits ceased altogether. The elderly woman still came until about a year ago when her visits ceased as well. Nobody told me but I suspect they died.
      It’s been four years now since I moved to my new home. I am now five years old. Of course, that’s middle age for a cat. In human years I would be about 37 years old. 


Our vacation to Florida (Part 1)

Hi everyone! We got to take a vacation to Florida for two weeks at the beginning of this month. We left on May 26 and returned home on June 11. We drove 1,007 miles from our home to Delray Beach, FL (the route we took is traced in blue on the map below).  
We passed through North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia to get there.

Esther in the car. The backseat was full of our stuff! 5/27/13

We stayed at a Days Inn motel in Kingsland, GA overnight because 1,007 miles is too much to drive in one day! We drove 11 hours the first day and about 5 hours the second day.

5/28/13

The Florida border was only a few miles from the motel we stayed at but we still had to drive another five hours or so until we actually got to to the beach.

5/28/13

Unfortunately, the Florida welcome center was closed because it was Memorial Day. We took pictures of the outside though.
Esther in front of the welcome center. 5/28/13

Scenery somewhere in Florida. 5/28/13

The ocean was pretty rough the first few days we were there because it was so windy (our hair blew all over the place when this picture was taken).
5/28/13

The hotel we stayed at had a shuffleboard court and a basketball hoop. I got the ball in the hoop only about half the time.
 5/29/13

We actually cheated to get this picture. I balanced the ball on my finger for about half a second while Esther took the photo. It took us a few times to get it.
5/29/13


That's croquet, Esther, not golf! Lol  5/29/13

Hula hoops 5/29/13

The ocean was too rough to swim in the first few days we were there so we stood at the edge and looked for shells instead.
5/30/13
 Esther, my dad, and I in the hotel's swimming pool. 5/30/13

I found a huge number of conch shells in the ocean one day. I was standing in one spot and I just kept finding all these shells.
5/31/13

Ping-pong, anyone?
5/31/13

We sat out on the hotel's front porch most nights (except when it was raining).
5/31/13

Unfortunately, it rained most of the days we were in Florida (so much for "Sunshine State"!). My mom took this picture from the balcony of our room.
 6/1/13
We only found one shark's tooth while we were there and Esther was the one who found it.
Esther with her shark's tooth. 6/1/13
Our hotel from the beach.
 6/2/13

The ocean was really calm a few days. We walked way out into the water and it still only came up to our knees.
Esther, my dad, and I in the ocean.  6/2/13

The three of us on the beach. My dad dug the hole because there was a large piece of concrete buried in the sand. I found a few pretty shells in the hole before we filled it in. 
  6/2/13

We saw dozens of these small lizards every day.
 6/2/13

 One of the conch shells I found. 6/3/13

Esther and I swam in the pool a lot.
 6/3/13

Most of the olive shells I found were about 2 ½ inches long  but I found a few large ones.
Normal size olive shell (on right) next to larger one (on left). 6/3/13

That's all the pictures I have for now but I hope to post another blog entry soon with the rest of the photos!

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