To the Creek!

Hello, lovely readers!  Yesterday, we flew home from Nebraska, ...

... but I wanted to share with you how one of our last days with our cousins passed.

First, they showed us their newly-decorated Christmas tree.

"Nice decorations!" Chrissa commented.

"Thanks!" Libby replied. "It was fun having Jewel decorate with us."

"Oh!  Where are my manners?" Marie-Grace exclaimed. "Jewel, these are our cousins: Elizabeth, Georgia, and Chrissa.  Cousins, this is Jewel, our foster sister."

"Pleased to meet you!" Jewel smiled.

"Same to you!" Georgia said.

Most of the time, I would think of a foster girl as being quiet and subdued.  Jewel was the opposite: bubbly and always laughing.

"It's such a beautiful day - we should go outside." I offered.

"That sounds like a lovely idea!" Marie-Grace agreed.

"Hey -" Liberty said, "let's go to the creek."

"I don't think we've ever been down there with you." Georgia said thoughtfully.

"Oh, enough talk already!  Let's GO!" Chrissa said as she and Libby pushed the rest of us out the door.

"Let us go, 

Let us go!

Can't hold us back anymore!

Let us go,

Let us go:

Run outside and slam the door!"

Chrissa and Libby sang in unison.

"Don't really slam the door!" Aunt Clare yelled behind us.

"You're right, Elizabeth; it is a gorgeous day." Jewel said, breathing in the cool air.

"So - where to next?" Georgia asked Liberty.

But Chrissa was distracting Libby.

"Oo, Libby, let's climb this tree!" my youngest sister exclaimed.

"Sure, why not?" she agreed.

So, up they climbed.

"Um, Chrissa?" Georgia said. "We were kind of planning to go to the creek, you know ..."

"Yea, yea, yea, we're coming." Chrissa muttered as she and her cousin swung down and joined us.

The day seemed to be trying to decide if it was fall or winter: the wind crept under our coats, some of the water froze over, but the ground was covered in a thick blanket of orange leaves.

They sky was lightly dusted with cirrus clouds.

Jewel, Georgia, Marie-Grace and I carefully proceeded through the underbrush, but Rissa and Libby recklessly raced ahead.  When we found them, the two girls had plopped down by the creek-bank. 

"I think is the the prettiest part of the creek." I smiled.

"That used to be a beaver dam," Liberty explained to us, "but the farmer who owns this land didn't like beavers, so he cut out parts."

"That's kind of sad - for the beavers, at least." Chrissa said.

"Yes, but the little waterfall is nice." Jewel added.

We all stood/sat quietly, enjoying the sound of running water.

"Liberty, you said earlier that there was a bridge farther down. Could we go there?" Georgia asked hopefully.

"Sure!  But the bridge is kind of thin and it has only one railing, just waning ya." Libby said. "Follow me!"

We all conversed separately on our way.  Georgia seemed to be bonding with Jewel, which was nice.  I'm close to Marie, and Chrissa is "Best Fruzzies" with Liberty, but in the past Georgia didn't really have anyone.  I overheard Jewel asking Georgia to be her pen pal, too.  They both love acting, so the two of them tried to convince us to do a play.  I don't think the rest of us are quite sold on it, though.

Here's the view off the strong, but thin, bridge.  After crossing it, we walked back to their house, where lunch awaited!

What's you favorite way to enjoy "the great outdoors"?

Wish - A Photo Shoot

 Hi all!  Guess what - we're in Nebraska!  I wanted to write up a post like, the day we flew in, but unfortunately we lost our camera's SD (memory) card!  All of you who deal with cameras know how important SD cards are.  Thankfully, McKenna, who's family is staying at my Nana and Papa's house too, had an extra one we could borrow for a few pictures.

Since it was so cloudy and cold, I enjoyed a warm cup of apple juice on the bay window, wishing for snow.  I'd finished it by the time Elizabeth took these pictures.

 The next two pictures have some photo-effects.

What's your favorite way to spend a cold, cloudy day?

My Birthday

Hello, lovely readers!  November 5, last Wednesday, was my birthday!

When I woke up, I was surprised to not to see Chrissa and Georgia in bed.  Normally, I'm the first one up.  Then I remembered: today was my birthday!

"Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!" Georgia said.

"Mom and I made you cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning." she gestured to the yummy bread.

"Oh, thank -"

"Happy B-day, Elizabeth!" Chrissa shouted, throwing her arms around me.

"Thank you!" I said, laughing. "But you don't need to yell."

"Let's eat, girls.  Your dad needs to get to work." Mother said, guiding us into the dinning room.

After that delicious food, Mother said I could open one of my gifts.

"Which should I open?" I wondered out loud.

"Why not that big white one in the back?" Mother offered.

"Oo, you're going to like this!" Chrissa rubbed her hand together.

"Oh, how pretty!" I said, lifting a sweater out of the box.

"Chrissa and I knew that you wanted a gold sweater to go with your new skirt." Georgia said. "So we told Mom, and well - here it is!"

"Now I want to get dressed, and then I'll do some school-" I started.

"WHAT?!" Chrissa interrupted for the second time. "Why on earth would you want to do school on your birthday?!  You don't even have to!"

(Side note: we are home-schooled, so if we want to have a day, like a birthday, off, we can just work ahead.)

"Well," I replied, "I was going to work on my Globe model, which fun to do.  I don't know about the other subjects, though."

"You did work ahead, Elizabeth." Mother commented. "So I think there's no reason for you to work on your birthday."

Do you like my new sweater?

I did work on my project until lunch, which was at twelve o'clock and fun and fancy.

Following that, Chrissa wanted my to open her gift, so I did.

Then, my grandparents called to wish my happy birthday.

Next I opened a gift bag to find ...

"A Nook?" I asked.

"Don't you like it?" Georgia said. "Considering how much you read, Mom and Dad thought you'd like it."

"Like it?" I laughed. "I love it!  Thank you so much. Mother!  And Father, even though he isn't here."

I quickly started downloading some books. and happily read all afternoon.

After dinner, I finished opening all my gifts.

When ever I pulled up Google Chrome that day, the search engine wished my happy birthday!  It was very nice.

Oh - an update on the Doll Wardrobe Contest.  I did not win, which was not too surprising.  Here is a link to their post of the winners: http://thedollwardrobe.blogspot.com/2014/10/summer-2014-fdc-winners.html.

What's your favorite way to celebrate?

Happy Halloween!

 Hello, lovely readers!  It's hard to believe it's November already - October flew by so fast!  Anyway, here are some pictures of our Halloween costumes.  If you follow me on Google Plus, you would have seen Chrissa's already.

 Chrissa is a "Fashion Disaster".  I think she did this on purpose, just to annoy Georgia. 

 Speaking of Georgia, she was "Little Blue Riding Hood" because, as she says, "Red is so last season!"

I was less specific than my two sisters.  When people asked, I said that "I am a Renaissance girl."  I talked in a British accent the whole night - it was so much fun! 

I just wanted to let you all know that my sisters and I agree on the fact that the only thing we tolerate (and like) about Halloween are the costumes (Chrissa said to add the candy also).  None of us like all the gore and celebration of death that it seems to glorify.  Some people do, but we are not included.

What is your favorite part of October - the cool weather, the beautiful colors, or maybe even fall break?

To the Toledo Zoo!

 Hi all!  Yesterday afternoon, we - oh, wait a minute.  I need to update you all first.

 Last Wednesday, we flew to Michigan!  Our cousins, the Brooks, came in on Thursday.  It's kind of cozy in our grandparents house with all of us here, but it's fun staying with our cousins.

We are here because of my parent's work, and since my sisters and I are all home-schooled, we got to come along.  Our grandparents live pretty close to the Michigan/Ohio border, so this afternoon they drove Elizabeth, Georgia, McKenna, and I down to the Toledo Zoo! (Kit and Victoria didn't want to.)  Our first stop was "Arctic Encounter".

"I'm afraid these polar bears are not very polite." Elizabeth commented.

"What? Why?" I asked, confused.

She smiled.

 "Because that one is sticking it's tongue out at you." she replied, gesturing to the bear.

McKenna, Georgia and I both giggled.

"Silly bear."

 After that, we walked over to the gray wolf area.

"Are these really gray wolves?" I asked, peering at them.  "They really look more white."

"They do have some gray on them." Georgia commented.

"Perhaps it is the lighting." Elizabeth offered.

"Or maybe it's a disguise!" McKenna suggested with a laugh.

After watching the wild wolves wander, we moved on to "Africa!".

It was kind of funny seeing the fall leaves and colors mixed with the zebras and wildebeests, among other animals.

"Look!" Elizabeth pointed to the far corner. "Giraffes!"

"O-o" Georgia and I said in unison.

"There's like, five of them!" Georgia said excitedly.

"Wow." McKenna added.

From there, you had to walk over a bridge to get to the other half of the zoo.

So, we started heading in that direction, ...

... and enjoying the fall colors (which could not be seen in Florida, that's for sure!).

From there, we wandered over to the Reptile House.

It's one of three remaining buildings from the zoo was first built, and I think it looks like something out of a movie. Do you think so?

I think this is one of my favorite pictures from our visit, besides the otters.  The way this green snake hung was so strange!  They also had this huge gator (it was like, 16 feet long or something!).  But it stayed under the water, so unfortunately we couldn't take a good picture.

We exited the hot Reptile House, and walked over to the otter/hippopotamus area.

"Come over here!" Georgia called. "These otters are adorable!"

"Oh, they are so cute!" I smiled.

"If you put your hand right by the glass," Elizabeth said, "they will swim right up by it."

Just then, McKenna's cell phone rang. "Excuse me."

I could only here traces of the conversation (I wan't snooping, honest), but what I did hear was very interesting.

"... yes, we were just looking at the otters, - no, I will not get you one as a pet!  They belong to the zoo... I have not ridden any hippos and do not plan on it ... I know you would ..."

After we had oh-ed and ah-ed over the otters, our grandparents called us over to the hippo.

"Girls, it just yawned!" Grandma said. "It has some large teeth."

"Chomp, chomp, chomp!" said our grandpa, make us laugh.  At this point the hippo turned it's back on us, and my sisters and I agreed that it was not a nice picture.  He-he.  McKenna hung up, and walked over to us, looking thoroughly shocked.

"Even though she's my sister, she always is surprising me."

From there, we moved on to the elephant trail.

One of the elephants, a semi-baby, was very playful.  He (or she, I don't know which) was fun to watch.  As we were heading to another section, the zoo made an announcement on the loudspeaker.

"The Toledo Zoo is closing in 30 minutes. I repeat: the zoo is closing in 30 minutes.  Please make your way to the exit gates."

So, we turned around and walked towards the bridge.

"Georgia, please stop flipping your hair in my face!" I said, brushing her dark curls out of my face.

"It's not me - it's the wind!" Georgia told me. "There isn't much I can do about it."

"This was very fun, Grandma and Grandpa.  Thank you!" Elizabeth said.

"Yea, thank you!" I echoed.

"Thanks!" Georgia added.

"Thank you!" McKenna said.

"You are welcome, girls." Grandma said, giving all of us hugs.

"We're so glad you are here with us." Grandpa said.

I had such a fun time with my sisters, cousin and grandparents!

Have you ever visited a zoo?

October 20th update: McKenna did a post about her trip with us!  Here's the url: http://thebrooksadventuresdollblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/to-zoo.html