Sophie, the Kitten

July 22, 2014December 6, 2016 | Allison

This is a picture of our neighbors’ kitten, Sophie. Isn’t she adorable?

Of Bubbles and Beaches

July 14, 2014October 28, 2015 | Allison

We just got back from our vacation to Rhode Island! It was a lot of fun. I didn’t get all that many pictures though, because my camera stopped working about halfway through the trip. 😦 Anyway, I’ll just post about part of the trip, and my sister Megan will probably post about the rest. (You can find her blog here at dandelionsanddaisys.wordpress.com.) I will post about (as you might have guessed from the title) the beach and… bubbles! Our grandmother gave us kids each a thing of bubbles for our trip, and we had fun blowing them. (Thanks, Gram!)

First, a little bit about the part of Rhode Island we saw. The houses were almost all tidy and pretty, and a lot of them had flowerbeds. There were these gorgeous blue hydrangeas everywhere! We even saw a shop called… The Blue Hydrangea! We saw a lot of little stone walls there too- some were just stones stacked on top of each other. There were also a lot of beaches.

While we were there, we went looking in several neat shops. We got an ornament for our Christmas tree, and the kids each got a souvenier of Rhode Island. And, among other things, we toured a gorgeous mansion, went on a boat ride, and had s’mores (of course)

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Now for the beach! The waves at the beach were really big, but you can’t really tell from the pictures. There weren’t many shells, but there were lots of different kinds of seaweed. You can see it on the sand two pictures below. The picture on the sand is a little weird, but its the only one I have of the sand. I wish I got a picture of this big sandcastle and the wall that we built to protect it from the waves. The wall was more impressive than the sandcastle! It protected the castle for a pretty long time, but then a huge wave kind of destroyed the wall and the castle.

The water was really cold, but not as cold as the Maine water we went in another year- that was FREEZING!

And now for the bubbles. They were so colorful and pretty, I just had to take a picture of them. (My brother Logan is acting as the model.)

I just had to put this last picture in for my Aunt Andrea. 😉 I think this was a restaurant or something.

Thanks for reading!

***Allison***

Fireworks!

July 5, 2014September 14, 2015 | Allison

We saw the fireworks at Massanutten recently, and I took some pictures while we were watching (of course :)) I discovered that if I waved my camera around while I took a picture, I ended up with these neat light streaks.

It worked the same way when we waved around glow sticks.

This will probably be the last post for about a week because we’re going on a trip to Rhode Island -tomorrow! (YAY!)

Bye for now,

***Allison***

Hidden Pictures

June 24, 2014 | Allison

We have a lot of unpainted wood in our house, and sometimes the grain of the wood makes a pattern or a picture. I took photos of some of the best “hidden pictures” for you to see. The first one is one we’ve known about for a while.

Can you find a happy piggy in this wood?

The next one can look like two things: an owl, or a cross-eyed pelican. See if you can find both.

I saved the best for last. This one has lots of detail. Can you find a bird that looks kind of like a female peacock in this picture? Once you see it, it’s hard to look the picture and not see it.

Did you find them all? If you haven’t there are answers below.

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The happy pig:

The owl:

The cross-eyed pelican:

And last but not least, the peacock: (The head’s at the top)

See if you can find hidden pictures in your house.

***Allison***

Delicious Black Raspberry Smoothies

June 19, 2014February 14, 2016 | Allison

It’s the season for black raspberries – Yum! We picked black raspberries recently, and I thought a smoothie would be a great thing to use them in. I tried it, and sure enough, it was delicious! This smoothie got rave reviews from my family, plus it’s very simple.

Here’s the recipe:

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Black Raspberry Smoothie

2 cups of black raspberries

2 cups of vanilla ice cream (approximately)

1 cup of milk

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1. Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth.

2. Garnish with extra black raspberries if you like.

3. Enjoy!

Notes:

If you want your smoothie to be a little thicker, add some ice cream to it. You can also try putting it in the freezer a little bit to firm it up. If you want it to be more liquid, add some milk.

Try adding a puff of whipped cream to make it look (and taste) even better!

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Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0O

***Allison***

A Beautiful Hike in the Mountains

June 3, 2014June 5, 2015 | Allison

We recently went on a hike with some friends. We decided to hike the Dark Hollow Falls trail at Skyline Drive. It was beautiful. The waterfall was gorgeous, and along trail we found lots of interesting things. We kids especially loved the little creek running along the trail, and we could hardly be torn away from it to keep on the trail. Along the creek we found some mini waterfalls which were quite pretty too.

We also found flowers,

Several pretty ferns,

Teeny tiny mushrooms,

Lots of lush green moss,

And some interesting creatures such as… a millipede,

A newt (or maybe it’s a salamander?),

And a snail.

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We finally made it to the waterfall.

The little creek that we had played in earlier in the hike turned to a roaring torrent of water. The rocks around the waterfall were mossy and green. If you leaned close enough, you could feel the spray of the water on your face. We paused for some refreshment on some rocks near the waterfall.

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On the return journey, we stopped at a small pool along the trail. The kids had lots of fun wading in the (freezing) water, and skipping and throwing rocks in the pool. It was fun to see the big splashes the rocks made.

Just as everyone had finished putting their socks and shoes back on, Jeff’s water-bottle decided to go on a sea journey.

Of course, Jeff had to take off his socks and shoes again to get it. With the water bottle returned to its proper place, we resumed our hike.

Near the beginning of the trail, the kids stopped to catch salamanders and crayfish at the creek. Well, we tried to catch salamanders and crayfish, but the little sneakers kept getting away. After the hike, we had supper at our friends’ house. It was a great end to a great day.

***Allison***