Our Trip Part 1: Virginia

Good day, pleasant readers! This is Marie-Grace. As we promised, I am giving an update on what we did on our trip. I am sorry it is late,  but we (all except Father and Jewel) have been rather sick, and are just getting over it.

 On the first day (October 20) we drove for half the day and reached this lovely house. We took this picture the next morning.

The next night we reached this house in Lexington, KY. This was my favorite house that we stayed in on our trip.

 An interesting fact: I learned while we were here that Lexington is the World's horse capitol or something of that sort and for that reason, the Queen of England keeps many of her horses here. This is one of the pens that is behind their house. The horses were not out at the time, which highly disappointed Libby, who would have loved to say the she had seen the Queen of England's horses!

That night, we reached the house of one of Mother's old friends who lived in Gloucester, Virginia. She did have two girls who became our friends, but they asked not to put any pictures of them on our blog. That night we stayed up talking until nearly midnight. The next day we went to the Nauticus museum and the battleship Wisconsin. Unforgettably, our camera died the minute we reached the museum. Our father took this picture of the battleship. If you want to find out more about this museum, you can go to their website. we have provided a link HERE.

The next day, we went to James town and Historic Jamestowne. I will explain the pictures starting from the picture in the upper left-hand corner and going counterclockwise. 1; This is the famous statue of John Smith at Historic Jamestowne. 2; A man dressed up at the weaponry in Jamestown settlement. 3: Myself scraping at a deer hide in the Indian village at Jamestown settlement. 4: A guard outside James fort. 5: Myself on board of one of the three ship replicas at Jamestown settlement. 6: A costumed man in James fort. 7: The inside of one of the Indian lodges. 8: Myself at the Indian village. 9: Libby sitting in one of the chairs in the officers house at James fort making a statement. 10: A cannon in James fort.

The next day we went to Yorktown, the Yorktown battle field, and Whitley's Peanut Factory. I will be explaining the pictures using the same method as before. 1: View of the farm at the Yorktown victory center. 2: Myself looking at a horn book in the little cabin at the farm. 3: Libby feeling a small pile of beans for no apparent reason. 4: A lady named Sally explaining medicine in that time. I found some of it rather ghastly, but interesting. 5: Some beams of sunlight breaking through the trees at the encampment. 6: Libby looking greedily at a huge lollipop in the gift shop at Yorktown. 7: Our tour guide at the Yorktown battle field, She kept us all interested, even though she talked for nearly an hour! 8: Libby and I at the Yorktown battlefield. 9: The inside of Whitley's Peanut Factory. Libby mentioned that she loved the samples. 
Well, I best be going. We will be telling you more about our trip soon, I'm sure.  Until then,
Have you ever been to any of the places we mentioned?

We're Back!

 Hi all! It's Libby. As some of you know, Our family has been vacationing in Washington DC for the last three weeks. It was totally awesome! As we have so many pictures to post and things to post about, Marie-Grace and I thought it would be best not to post them all at once but we will instead post them gradually, maybe one at a time, if our day was particularly full. We'll post again soon!

Fall News

 Good day pleasant readers! Hey, all! Today we have four bits of news and we will save the most exciting for the last. 1: Fall is incredibly pretty right now! While in town today, I gathered these great mums at our church and Marie got some pretty fall leaves to press in a book. 2: I am making a new dress for Washington DC. We will probably post about that later. 3: It is only 11 more days till we leave for Washington DC! I can't wait!!!! And 4 (drum roll please):We have found out why Mom and Dad were acting so mysterious (see HERE)! They decided to keep this fact for a surprise. I don't see how they managed! Mom and Dad are going to be foster parents! We are going to be fostering a girl named Jewel, and she is in between Libby and I in age. She lives near DC, so we will pick her up when we go there! Isn't that to cool?! We're getting a ready made sister (for a while)! Oh, Libby.

Have you ever fostered a child?

Have you ever been to Washington DC?

To Lake Calamus!

 Good day, pleasant readers! Indeed, my sister and I enjoyed our church's annual picnic at this lovely lake. 

 Here is what we beheld when we first stepped from our car. "That would be lovely to paint," I murmured to myself, "perhaps I shall." Libby started immediately to bound towards to water, but I stopped her, saying, "Don't forget, Mother said we should not swim until we have eaten." "Oh. Yeah." 

 Until dinner, I busied myself picking a bouquet of wild flowers for Mother.......................

 ...................while Libby tried to take a picture of the pelican that had been roaming around. She apologizes for the quality of the photo.

 After a sensational dinner, Libby dashed to the water.

 She floated on her back.............

 ..................and clung to a log, paddling.

 Then, after she was almost numb and shivering, she emerged from the water and scratched her name in the sand.

 I meanwhile, had only swum a little and had been busy taking pictures and making this sand sculpture, (it is a turtle, if you cannot tell). 

 We would have taken many more photos, but something had happened to our camera so we could not (we have settled the problem now). We took this photos on someone else's camera. This may not be the sea, but it is a marvelous substitute for us.

Do you have a "substitute" ocean?

Back to school

 Good day, pleasant readers! Hi.  Being home schooled, we didn't start schooling till today. Summer has been lovely, although I find it nice to start school again. I don't! I wish we could have vacation all year long! By the way, those are my books in the picture. Well, not the history book on the bottom.  Off topic, Mom and Dad have been acting awfully mysterious lately. Not letting us see the mail, finishing up strange calls as soon as we enter the room, buying things they won't let us see- Yes, well, I don't think that's a necessary topic, is it Libby? What do you think they're doing? Libby. Anyway, we were very excited (or not so excited) to start our first day of school!

When did you start school?  

A Great Outing

 Hi all! Libby here. Day before yesterday, we drove down to Aurora.

 "Hey, Sammy! Hey Kris!" I shouted as soon as I came in the door. "Good day, Kristen. Lovely to see you again, Samantha." said my more ladylike sister.

 After a good sleep, we woke to this AMAZ breakfast. 

 While Marie played duets with Kristen..........

 .....Sammy and I played with their immense collection of dolls, giving them goofy names like Big Bad Girl and Jamie the Gentleman and Jamie the Gentleman new and improved. It was fun.

 We took a walk after that but all to soon it was time to say goodbye. 

 Then we moved on to the State Fair. We went immediately to see my poster (I can't stand suspense), and I was giddy for a while once I learned it had got a purple. To see what in the world I am talking about, click HERE.

In the big 4H building, I took a souvenir photo of myself on their thing and sent it to myself. We took one of Marie-Grace too but for some reason it didn't send it to us.

 After finding my poster, we went to this show. Those people are really talented. That must be a fun job.

 In the petting zoo, I found out a few things I had not known before. One being that a zebra's mane is really soft. It looks really bristly, doesn't it?

After that, we saw the McClellan Singing Sisters doing a concert. This was a great surprise because we know them! If you want to learn more about them, you can visit their website at http://www.mccsingingsisters.com/ 

 On the way to the Elefun show, Daddy and Marie-Grace decided to ride on this.

 I was freaked out and kept my feet on good firm ground and Mommy bought me a lemonade instead. Thank you Mom!

 The Elephant Show was incredible ! "These are better than the ones at the zoo!" I cried ecstatically, snapping pictures (see HERE ). By the way, the elephant's names are Sidney and Jenny, the girl who is riding them is named Bettina (I'm not sure I spelled that right), and the man giving them the cues is named Bill.

 "Look at those chicks who were just born!" cried Marie-Grace delightedly. "I prefer them like this." I said, starring at the tiny fluff balls. I think it is so cool that those pigs were just born that morning! 

Last but not least, we went to this building (I don't remember it's name). I played this cool game while Marie-Grace looked at the fake waterfall. I totally want this game in our house, it is so much fun!

 So anyway, on this great outing we got inspired, de-stressed, sunburned and happy. Good couple of days.

Have you ever been to the State Fair?

What fun outings have you been on lately?

My new travel journal

Good day, pleasant readers! As you know, my family is going east to Washington DC, Yorktown, Jamestown, and the such in October. I thought perhaps I could make a travel journal to use on the trip as one of my friends did in a similar situation. I will tell you how to so you may make one too, if you wish. 

You will need: 1: An empty notebook, I used a composition book. 2: Colored paper in whatever color you chose. 3: Glue. 4: Magazine clippings to fit your theme. Also a pencil or pen and scissors.

Start by tracing onto your paper the size of your notebook, then cut your paper to the right size, then glue it on.You may have to cut your paper again after you have glued it on.

After that is done, you may arrange your magazine clippings as you like. Then you're done. On my trip, I'm hoping to fill up the entire composition book. I'll certainly tell if I succeed.

Have you ever filled up an entire journal?

Did you (or are you going to) take any trips?

My new doll

 Hi all! Libby here. Yes, I made a new doll. I don't have American Girl doll Molly and maybe that's God's will, so I made Ida. Marie-Grace said she'd be great company for Maria. You can also try this, if you like.

 As you see, I started off with a normal stick, only trimmed to the size I wanted and cleaned.

 Then I drew a face and added yarn hair. If you wanted to make this with all things from God's outdoors, then you could use dog or cat hair for hair, but I didn't because this was a slight bit easier looking.

 Then, (the most fun part) I made clothes out of flowers. I never thought I'd have fun making a DRESS, but I did. Anyway, I've had great fun playing with her and it doesn't matter if she gets dirty! Yay! 

Have you ever made a doll?

Do you like playing with dolls?