sweet escape

The evening of Friday the sixth, my dad came home about an hour early and we piled in the van and left for North Carolina. After I got some corks. I'll explain later.
We drove for a few hours, until we got into Pennsylvania. For a while we were taking the same route my school took when we went to D.C. which was kind of cool... I actually knew where we were for once. ;)
We spent the night in Breezewood, PA and in the morning, after a brief detour, we started on our way again. We got to the Outer Banks at about dinner time... It was pretty cool. I love the cute little towns that we saw... and then the fancier parts with with multi-million dollar beach mansions. We hadn't even gotten to our cottage yet and I already saw a t-shirt I had to have in the window of a store called Wings.



We got to our little motel and found out our cottage was right on the beach... well if you dont count the dune that seperated us from the beach but still. We all got out and headed to the beach first to see it. We had to climb up these steps, go past the shower and bench and walk down some other steps and there it was. The beach. Yay!
Josh immediately ripped off his clothes and ran to the water but it scared him when he finally got there so he didnt like that.



We had dinner at Arby's and went back to our little cottage thingy. we went chasing ghost crabs around for a while. I had the great idea to pick one up and i grabbed this huge one from behind thinking it couldnt get me but it reached around and grabbed onto my finger, lol. it was bleeding a little, then i had another genius idea to pick up this long slimy fish... so i had slime and blood all over my hands, lol. then we went to bed.
Monday we went to Jockey Ridge State Park to fly kites...
Only it was about a hundred degrees and the sand was a million and one degrees so with our second degree burns, we hobbled back to the cottage and went SWIMMING. yay.



that evening we took a drive to see a light house that was closed by the time we actually got there x3 and then we went out to the beach and flew kites. Well some of us did. I took pictures.
Tuesday I wore a sweater. Yes, a sweater, but i rolled the sleeves up :P jeeze, lol
And i took some cool foggy pictures.
Then we went to the Aquarium on Roanoke island. It was pretty interesting... and I found a shot glass for $3 with a frog on it so i was happy :P considering Id spent most of my money the day before. lol.

THEN we went swimming. lol.
Wednesday w e were a little lazy, lol, and then we went to Kid's Day at Kitty Hawk Kites. that was kind of a disaster. but i think my siblings had fun. i just took pictures of this guy like the whole time. lol.




After that we went to the Wright Brothers' Memorial. And that was pretty cool. But it was very hot and i got sunburn on my feet o.o and by the time we got down to the car i was soaked in sweat which was kinda nasty. But thats okay because after that we stopped at Ben Franklin's then we went SWIMMING ^_^ That evening we went back to the dunes and flew kites.




Thursday my dad and I got up at 5:30 to watch the sun rise. I still havent decided if it was worth it or not, lol. It was really really cloudy but I think it was worth it. My first sunrise :P





then I enjoyed a peaceful couple of hours with the tv all to myself for once ;) I watched Full House which i havent seen in ages, and some Saved By the Bell which I've never actually seen before. lol... but it was nice. until my siblings woke up and whined at me to change the channel.

then we went to Cape Hatteras to see (and climb) the lighthouse. 257 steps! whoo.
that was cool... Josh was upset because he wasnt big enough to go in it though so he had to stay outside. Then we went to The Froggy Dog for lunch. I was starving... I inhaled this huge bacon cheeseburger AND the french fries.



Then we took the ferry (took me a minute to figure out which one was right xD) to Ocracoke Island. Ocracoke is kind of small but I thought it was cute. Everything was kind of close and people were just all over the place. We stopped to pick up some shells on this semi-deserted beach and saw that lighthouse too... and the "wild ponies". they didnt really live up to my expectations but okay :P They basically fenced in like six horses. There were two fences around the whole thing just in case something happened i guess... and they didnt LOOK wild. we couldnt even go that close or anything...



then we took the ferry BACK. Since I had gotten up at 5:30, by that time I was froggy-dog-tired x3 yes i did just say that. i should get a job there.

We made the very difficult decision of leaving our beautiful beach a day early.
-cue dramatic sad music- we spent the morning out on the beach but we left at lunch time to meet some friends we know from online. We spent the rest of the day - and night - there and left bright and early saturday. :( to go home...




It was a lot of fun and Im glad we did that as opposed to staying home paying bills. :P which was the alternative if you can remember, lol. On our way home we stopped at a rest stop and this cute little old dog came up to our van and tried to come home with us.



The beach was great,I loved the town... everyone just seemed so nice there... and beachy. lol... Volcom was coming out of our ears and it was just really great. All the houses were cool because they were up ten feet on stilts in case of a flood. Except for our cottage which was just some cement brick thing xD but thats beside the point. Hopefully we can go back sometime... it was nice. the week went by way too quickly...

But I'm going on a trip this week with a small group from church to Pennsylvania and still crossing my fingers for warped tour. ;)


I will most likely be posting more pictures on my photography blog later so you should check that out.

The District of Columbia

So I'm back. I bet you didn't even notice I was gone. :P
But yeah I spent last week days traveling to, and being in, Washington D.C. It was a pretty interesting experience. There were about 80 kids on the trip, they split us up, girls on one bus boys on the other. The bus ride was probably the worst part. I don't mind the traveling part, I'm fine with sitting in a vehicle for a few hours enjoying the scenery, that wasn't the bad part. It was being stuck on a bus in the same seat with the same people around me for several hours that was getting to me. The girl behind me was gonna kill herself and fighting with her "best friend", the girl in front of me was obsessed with hobos, the girl diagonally from me was obsessed with buttresses and the girl next to me was as quiet as a mime or something and didn't talk at all... unless i tried to talk to her and then she'd say like one word. She might've said five words on the whole trip. Then there were the girls who were obsessed with one of the boys. They would not stop talking about him... it was really annoying. Oh and the girls in front of us for a few rows were constantly brushing their hair or talking on cell phones or putting make up on. Most of these kids are in eighth grade. o_O Somehow I stayed sane though. I think it was the stops for meals. We'd take over a McDonalds or something and hang out... that was cool. I like being around an assortment of different people but I like having space too. So yeah... anyways.



Monday after my orthodontist appointment we went to the drop off location at about 1:30 and stood outside in the wind for a while. When the buses finally got there we loaded everything and everyone on and we were off. We stopped at Central Station for dinner. That place was CRAZY. Oh my gosh, you would not believe... We got to the hotel at about ten thirty that night. In the morning we woke up at 6:30, which was kind of annoying after going to bed late and then not being able to sleep very well. Plus, the girl I had to share a bed with was hogging the whole thing and that really annoyed me. I get kind of crabby when girls that annoy me and that i dont know are all up in my personal space when im trying to sleep... but yeah, moving on. The first day we went to Arlington which was pretty cool for a cemetary. We got to see the changing of the guard too, which was kind of neat.


The weather was absolutely gorgeous at Arlington. It was a little chilly at first but when the wind died down it was beautiful out. Perfect for walking around and looking at stuff. Plus the cherry blossoms in D.C. were at their peak when we were there so that was pretty awesome too... and the scenery was awesome.

After Arlington we drove around and then went to the Washington National Cathedral which was pretty amazing. I got a gargoyle there and a candle for my mom. The gargoyle is cool, its like two inches high, its a little chimera. He's sitting on my computer. He pwns. Anyways, yeah, the cathedral. right. The stained glass windows were awesome, the architecture was beautiful and it was pretty neat to see.


After that we drove around for a while and stopped outside the white house. We couldnt actually see much of anything... it was kind of disappointing but oh well. And we walked back to the buses again. Yay.


there was so much stuff crammed in to one day I cant remember for the life of me what all we did that day. Which is kind of sad. But we did a lot in a small amount of time so bear with me okay?
We went on a guided tour of the monuments as the sun started to set. That was really cool. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the WWI and II memorials and Vietnam i think...




After the monuments it was late so we went back to the hotel.
The third day we went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We were pretty rushed so we didn't get to see a lot of it... We saw the geological stuff, the diamonds and what not, the dinosaurs and the greek and egyptian stuff but that was it.

Then we went to Mount Vernon.



That was pretty cool... unfortunately it was cold and rainy and so my group unanimously decided to go inside and walk around in the visitors center as apposed to walking around and seeing everything in the cold. After that we changed into our nicer clothes and headed off to the dinner cruise. They didnt let us take pictures of the outside of the boat but inside they didnt mind I guess since everyone was taking pictures. Myself included...
The cruise was really neat, they had a buffet and we all ate then they had dancing which I did not participate in :P I took the pictures and talked to some people...

Then we left and got back to the hotel at about 11 or so and the next day with heavy hearts (or something like that) we headed home. We took a detour through New York (we were twelve miles away from the city Aiden Witmore lives in, at one point and then we got off the exit to go a different direction) and stopped at Niagra Falls which was basically a big waste of time. It took forever to get there and then it was freezing cold outside and we stayed for like half an hour before we left again. Not worth it. But anyways, yeah I got home at about 12:30.

I didnt want to leave... sure some of the kids were annoying but I love seeing exciting new places... Theres nothing exciting near where we live, nothing to do, so when I get to go places like D.C. or Vegas I don't want to leave and go back to my boring little city. There was so much we didnt get to see or do and so many kids I didnt get to talk to. I think technically I made a total of one friend on the trip :P I talked to other kids of course but only one of them really hung out with me on a regular basis. I also knew a couple of the kids from things before the trip so it wasn't that bad. But yeah. I'm home again... thank goodness its finally warming up, the weather was gorgeous over the weekend...

My dad brought up the idea of living in a motor home and that kind of made me sad at first for some reason. But after thinking about it and being in D.C. and wishing I could stay maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea. :P The only problem I could think of was never settling down, thus never making friends (not that I have any in the city we currently live in anyways) and never learning how to drive because I'd be terrified of driving a motor home x3 but that was about it.

Anyways yeah I'm back and I have a week of school to catch up on so I better go do that. You all should keep checking my photography blog for pictures of the Lipizzaners and D.C. :)

Viva Las Vegas (Pt. 1)

I'm gonna have me some fun...

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty chaotic. We were all running around the house (most of the time) trying to clean up and finish up things on our list we had come up with of things to do before we left for Las Vegas.
Thursday afternoon my dad came home early and we packed up our things into the van and piled into the car. We were all really excited; we’d been waiting for this day, counting down to it, for about three months or so. Now that it was finally here we were anxious to be on our way.

Let me tell you now, I’m a semi-die hard shot glass collector. Actually, several years ago (Maybe five years or so) my best friend at the time, who I admired a whole lot told me that he collected shot glasses and so I started to collect them too and I still do, to this day. :P So I had been saving up for this trip, with thoughts of shot glasses and souvenirs in mind. I was uncertain after buying my new lens, but luckily I had enough. The only states that I didn’t get shot glasses from were Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Missouri. (But I had one from Branson anyways) Anyways, back to my story.



Thursday evening we drove. And we drove. And we drove some more. We actually drove for about 28 hours straight through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, mostly in the dark. As the sun rose on Friday, we entered into Nebraska – which was pretty flat, boring and full of enough corn to feed a few armies.



Then the end of Nebraska began to get a little hilly and we entered into Wyoming. The cow-flecked landscape full of hills and mountains was pretty amazing. But it did begin to get old after however many hours we were driving through there. It was also a bit chilly. And brown. The state was nice but it was really brown there, and pretty much everything was in the middle of nowhere. It was a nice place, especially the ranch we visited, but I don’t think it’s the kind of place I’d like to live… I liked Missouri and Oklahoma a lot better: slightly greener, not quite as “middle of nowhere”-esque but still the countryside.




Anyways, after we drove for 28 hours (including breaks,) and almost getting lost, we found the ranch. The family was very nice, they had three younger girls who were a little shy at first but warmed up to us after a few hours. They also had an adorable little Jack Russell who was very lovable and cuddly. We had a delicious meal of home-grown briskets and some vegetables and rolls, then after hanging out for a little bit, we went to bed. We were all pretty much zombies at about 8, since technically it was 10 pm our time.




Saturday, we had pancakes and bacon for breakfast, along with some yummy raw milk and then we hung around outside for a while, taking turns on the motorbike and doing some exploring. Jake, my dad and I got to feed the steers even, which was pretty cool. At first I thought, since they were so big, they might be pushy or something but they kept their distance... They had more important things on their minds.



One of their daughter’s friends had a birthday party so the girls all went to that, including my little sister and my mom. We hung around and watched a movie and then the dad got out two horses and we were allowed to ride them around for a little while.







Jacob’s horse got annoyed and tried to buck him off. I could imagine him flying off the horse but surprisingly enough he stayed on. Apparently he’s a natural. Go figure... Finally we decided to give the horses a break and went back inside to watch some tv while we waited for the moms and girls to get back. For dinner we had some home-grown cheeseburgers which were also delicious.







Bed time rolled around and the youngest daughter who had randomly declared that she liked me a lot, asked me to read her a bed time story; which turned into about six bedtime stories for about four or five little kids. :P Then we all hit the sack early for church the next morning.



The church was a little ways away. But I’d just survived 28 hours in a car so it wasn’t that long. :P It was small but cozy and the pews were comfortable. ;) The hymnals they use are a bit different from ours and so I got lost a few times but I figured it out. After the service we had donuts and the shortest bible class I’ve ever attended. Which surprised me. After bible class we went out to Pizza Hut for some lunch.

You don’t have to spend a lot of time in Colorado/Wyoming to figure out that most people there wear cowboy boots and drive trucks. So I was quite surprised to see the kids in their goth pants and chains at the pizza hut. I did a few double takes just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things… It was kind of weird. But anyways, after lunch we went to a park so the younger kids could play and burn off some energy before we got back in the car.

Reluctantly we all said our goodbyes and piled back into the car, to continue our drive to Las Vegas. We were sad to leave our new friends but excited to be so close to place we’d been dying to see for so long.



To be continued.

Haha (and) Vegas, Baby!

Remember way back whenI was complaining because Nikon gave 200 people free cameras?
Well I remembered it was Nikon and I went to go look again.
They gave those people Nikon D40's. Which is the camera I'm planning on buying with my summer job money. I just thought that was funny.

AAAAND my dad's awesome new boss invited him to a conference in Los Vegas and he's allowed to take ALL OF US. ^_^ The first thing in my head was "Oh my gosh! Vegas!" And the second thing was "Oh my gosh! Photography Heaven!"
I have never been to Vegas before. I haven't been a whole lot of places, lol. But Vegas strikes me as a very photogenic place.
And the hotel is amazing.
I have to save money to spend it all when we get there. x3
Two months!!! And we'll be there for a week and a half!

I cant wait.