Handcrafted by Rachel: Family

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Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree: Christmas 2016

Inspecting gifts. We determined this one was soap.

Today is the best day of the entire year -- Christmas Day!! Well, maybe it's not still Christmas in Australia or someplace like that, but that's beside the point.

I love everything about Christmas, and seeing as how today is pretty much my favorite holiday of the year, I feel obligated to write a blog post about the greatness of this day.

My family and I always open presents from friends on Christmas Eve after dinner. There were all sorts of fun gifts last night, such as candy, a 1,000 piece puzzle, and wrapping paper. There was also bubble gum for Esther...a rather hazardous combination, considering the type of bubble gum eater she is.

Photo credits: Diane Van Tuyl

So...today is my baby sister's 15th birthday, and in honor of the special day, I've dedicated this blog post to Esther ...a person who knows better than Santa Claus whether I've been good or bad.

My younger sister does a wonderful job as a guinea pig for all my brilliant inventions and for sending down the stairs in a laundry basket first. (Coincidentally, her trip down the stairs also taught me never to do the same.)

Thanks for teaching me valuable life lessons, Esther, like...

Delray Beach pt 3

We had enough decent weather for Esther and I to film our latest movie from Van Tuyl Productions, "The Hunt". (For other movies from Van Tuyl Productions, click here).

6/9/16

We had a few days where it was lovely weather for ducks, and whaddya know but one did show up and start swimming around the pool. At first, it looked like he only had one leg, but it turned out he actually had the usual two.

Fun and Games at the Beach

Hello, folks! This is the second post about our recent trip to Delray Beach (first post here). I'm shore you'll want to sea some pictures of the ocean, so here you go (goodness, wasn't this pun-ishing to read?).

6/2/16

Things That Go on in a Thousand Mile Car Trip

Greetings, fellow Earth-dwellers. You've probably been wondering what I've been up to since my last post (was it really back in November that I last posted...?). Well, one thing my family and I did recently was to take a vacation to Delray Beach, Florida!

Our new minivan was much easier to pack than our old car had been. (I had a lot more stuff than you see here when my parents picked me up from college earlier this month though.)

Yes, that's a lot of stuff... 5/31/16

Red Toyotas and Blue Buicks

We got a new car. And that might not sound so special to some of you, but when it's the first car your family's gotten in a dozen years, it's kind of a big deal! Here's a photo I took of some of my family members next to it a couple weeks ago:

1,000 Things to Do on a 1,000 Mile Car Trip

My family and I just got back from a two-week vacation to Delray Beach, Florida! We had so much fun there, this is going to be the first of several posts about our time there.

It's a 1,000 miles from here to Delray, and as many of you know, we drive it in two days. So what do Esther and I do for a thousand miles in the backseat?

Read on to find out.

Florida Vacation (Part 2)

Hey everyone! Well, I finally got around to finish going through the rest of the photos of our Florida vacation and posting them, so here they are!

(Here's Part 1 if you missed it: http://countrygirl-writer.blogspot.com/2014/06/florida-vacation-part-1.html )

Esther and I built a sandcastle! 6/3/14

Unfortunately, Esther got sick with a stomach bug for a few days the second week we were in Florida. We were all going to go to the Gumbo Limbo Wildlife Preserve, but since she was sick just my dad and I went. It was a really cool place!

They had a rehabilitation center for injured turtles. This one's a loggerhead turtle. 6/4/14

They also had some really big fish tanks. This fish was smiling for the camera! 6/4/14

We went to Butterfly World on June 5. It was so much fun -they had butterflies everywhere, and some of them even landed on us!

This Blue Morpho butterfly landed on my mom! 6/5/14

They also had rainbow lorikeets there, and we got to feed them!

One of them decided to land on my head! 6/5/14

My mom fed them too. 6/5/14

Family picture ~6/5/14

One of the butterflies landed on my arm! This is another Blue Morpho. 6/5/14

I was able to complete two drawings while we were in Florida (quite an accomplishment if you know how slowly I draw!!) I haven't scanned in the other one yet, but here's one of them.

Graphite pencil on cardstock -June 2014

All of us went swimming in the ocean the last Friday we were in Florida. Unfortunately, my mom and I ended up getting bitten by some sea lice (baby jellyfish). It was kind of like being bitten by a bunch of mosquitoes.

My dad, Esther, and my mom ~6/6/14

We took some family pictures on our second to last day in Florida.

6/7/14

We took one final walk on the beach the morning we left Florida. The ocean was so calm and still!

Me, my dad, and Esther ~6/9/14

Looking for shells one last time 6/9/14

6/9/14

Florida Vacation (Part 1)

Hello everyone! We just got home from a 2-week vacation to Delray Beach, Florida! It was so much fun!

We drove over 1,000 miles from our home in Virginia to Delray Beach, Florida (a 2 day car trip!). The route we took is traced in blue on the map.

Directions to Delray Beach, Florida: Get on Interstate 95 and drive for 1,000 miles.

First day of the trip! We drove about 10 hours the first day.~ 5/25/14

At the North Carolina welcome center ~5/25/14

We got to the Florida state line early the second day, but it was still another 5 hours to Delray Beach. The entire two-day drive took about 14 or 15 hours.

At the Florida welcome center! 5/26/14

Dolphin at the Florida welcome center ~5/26/14

The hotel we stayed at Delray Beach had a shuffleboard court and a basketball hoop, as well as a ping-pong table. Esther and I had a lot of fun with them!

Basketball! ~5/27/14

Ping-pong! 5/28/14

Esther, my dad, and I near the ocean. Look at all that seaweed that washed ashore! 5/27/14

A Goodyear blimp flying near our hotel ~5/28/14

5/29/14

Esther ~5/29/14

My dad, Esther, and I on the beach. 5/27/14

Esther ~5/30/14

We went to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, about 13 miles from our hotel. It's a 147,392-acre wildlife refuge in the Florida Everglades. It was really cool to see the Everglades!

6/1/14

We saw an alligator! The park rangers said they had named him "George". 6/1/14

I'll post another blog entry soon with the rest of the photos!

Update: Here's Part 2!
http://countrygirl-writer.blogspot.com/2014/06/florida-vacation-part-2.html

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...