I Feel Sick...

Day 5 was BUSH GARDENS DAY!!! we arrived right when they opened (10:00 a.m.), and the parking lot was already half full! we, my dad and i, started with the "easiest" roller coaster, which went up to where you could basically see everything, and did an almost straight drop, but not quite.

we then made our way to a couple of water rides (which, by the way, NEVER where jeans or jean shorts for that matter because they will stay damp ALL day and give you a rash), and then ventured to Germany, France, and Ireland, where the roller coasters where your feet dangled were. we viewed the small animal park, where they had wolves and other animals, and then ended bush gardens with a jerky ride where you don't go upside down or anything, you just get tilted forward/backward/side to side. that made us all sick, especially my mom.

we went back to the hotel and just relaxed till it was time for bed.

Served on a Silver Platter

Day 4: we drove to the Jamestown Settlement and started off at the hands-on experience, where we went aboard some replicas of the boats used to get to "The New World", visited an indian village, saw a wooden canoe being made (that will be actually used in the river), and saw the ruins of the Jamestown. we also went to the bank of the James River and we saw two Bald Eagles!

when we arrived back at the hotel, i had realized that i had left my purse, with my permit and phone, at the cafe where we ate lunch, so we drove as fast as we could back to the place and it was waiting for me in the lost and found (thankfully!). i had prayed that i would find it, and i did! :) the pool was once again HOT, so after five minutes i went back to the room, and watched t.v. my parents soon came home, so after we had finished off some of our pizza, my father let me order a chocolate cream pie from room service!! it was pretty good for like 20 dollars! but it was served with a single rose, a glass of water, and on a silver platter.

"I just got drafted for THREE YEARS??"

Day 3 of our trip was our first day of experiencing colonial Williamsburg. but before heading out to town we found a couple of (what we think) very sweet quarter horses in a pasture next to our hotel....makes me miss my horses....we then headed out into the town, realizing how humid it was, and joined a march through town with some other strangers, a drummer boy/two flute players, and three "soldiers". i was then painfully pulled to every thirty minute tour you could think of until finally it was lunch time! 

so we ate at a seafood place, where we then preceeded to the art gallery, where my father and i took a shortened version of my mother's, read every single thing so you won't get back to your hotel till the next morning, tour. they had some really pretty china, and neat folk art, and i also discovered that you really SHOULD NOT touch anything unless you are told other wise because i found this thing where you could touch different materials (velvet, marble, wood, etc.), and the part that you couldn't touch was covered by plastic, so it compared what untouched/touched materials look like.....so NEVER touch anything! my dad and i went back to our hotel room to swim cause we were drenched in sweat, only to find that the pool was almost hotter than the air! there was a lap pool, but it was way to cold. when it was around dinner time, and we had met up with my mother, it started to storm, and we went to one of those japanese stir fry places, which made me very bloated. so...today was good. :) oh! and i also finally convinced my parents to let me call room service, but i didn't like what the pie of the day was so i will try again tomorrow!

On the road again

*these trip entries are gonna be a couple of days behind*
Day 2: so we woke up, packed our things, and got back on the road again (with ME behind the wheel!). i drove for about an hour and a half and had to let my dad take over so he could get us to the appomatox court house....*sigh*. it was hot....ugh, a lot of buildings, and...did i mention that it was very hot?
i then drove us partly on the way to Montichello, Thomas Jefferson's house(for people who don't that), and then once again my dad took over. i have already seen Montichello before, so i didn't hear anything that i hadn't heard before. i did, however, find out how Jefferson kept ice: they had to cut giant blocks of ice out of the river then store it in a huge round cellar-type thing.

we then drove ALL the way to UVA and walked around some, and then we headed out for the two-hour drive to Williamsburg. it was very dark by the time we got to colonial Willimsburg, and the streets weren't very well lit, so we almost had to sleep in the car, but THANKFULLY we were able to find the main check-in building of the hotel, and found our way to the room with help from a very nice man. 

Toto, i don't believe we are in Kansas anymore...

day 1 of traveling has so far been very unexciting. i started off the trip feeling like i was gonna throw up, and then have been taking off and on naps. i have not gotten to drive yet, however, because the roads are apparently busy….go figure….
 i watched the movie Beastly, and thought it was good, but not as exciting as the book. i think i finally understand the phrase, “beauty is only skin deep”. Beastly is basically summed up in that phrase.  it’s about this high school boy who is very into himself, and thinks that ugly isn’t good. well, after being morphed into something that is not what you would call “fine-looking” by a witch, he has only a year to get someone to say “I love you” and break the spell. he soon realizes what it’s like to be “ugly” and in a way, kidnaps a girl that he knows has a kind heart, so that they can get to know each other, and she can maybe break the spell.

we ended the day, very tired, by staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. i soon found out that you shouldn't drink the bottles of water they have laid out so conveniently for you because they cost THREE whole dollars!!.....rip off.....(don't worry; i didn't drink any of them)

here is my deep thought for the day: what would it be like to know that you might not ever find someone to love you? i think we all have an insecurity that if we don’t live up to society’s expectations(thinking “outside the box” or maybe not doing what is considered the “normal” thing to do), we may not be loved by the thing in which we are trying to impress, or we may just live alone for the rest of our lives….the way i see it is that God has a plan for us, and he created us each a different masterpiece. of course we’re not going to do exactly what “society” wants us to, or all do the same things, because we are all different. we all have different quirks about us that make us unique, and maybe we were created equal, but that doesn’t mean we have to all act the same.

this would be my parents.

Dream a Little Dream of Me

summer thus far has had no faults and no excitment, so as you can tell i am ready for school, but tomorrow morning my father, mother, and i will be venturing our way over to Williamsburg, VA in the hopes of seeing the town, Jamestown(i think), and Montichello......ugh, gag me with a spoon! :P (as my friend would say). now dont judge me for saying that because you would say that too if you had already had a wonderful  tour of those places with your entire 8th grade class, all while wearing ridiculous red hats so that we would not look like tourists but simply stay together. 

after Williamsburg, we will drive up to Washington, D.C.(hopefully i can drive, because i have my permit, although my mother will be in the same car as me soo....i don't think i will be driving) and visit my brother and his wife, whom i both love dearly, and visit more historical landmarks.....which i have already seen!! hopefully i will get to shop in H&M and Urban Outfitters because they don't have those stores, here in Chattanooga.

i have decided to start learning ASL (American Sign Language) because i think it would be good for me to challenge myself or maybe i might want to go into a profession that deals with teaching ASL one day....the summer project i am going to accomplish is: making a floral quilt. little did i know before asking my grandmother for instructions, that it would be a year long (if not longer) project, not just summer. the quilt that i am working on is in the works, just a bunch of 4 x 4 in. floral squares, so maybe soon i will post a picture of a semi-worked on quilt! 

The Game....Monopoly

yesterday, i decided it was high time to chase my fears of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, so i put my swim suit on, grabbed my lime green sunglasses, and pulled a lawn chair out into the sun (so i could kill two birds with one stone: get more tan & read a few chapters of the book). the thing that kept me reading, was reading aloud, and then during the dialouge, speak in a british accent, because the book's setting is in London.

today, i am home alone, so i went to my neighbor's house and played a supposed "friendly" game of monopoly. what happened was: i was crushed into the dust with NO sympathy. discouraged, i left for home so i could clean my room (i have to say it's pretty clean! :)

It All Ends.....

last night my friend, hannah, and i went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2. our adrenaline was off the charts, and because hannah had read all the books at least three times each, her adrenaline was pumping more than me. 

so at about nine, we lined up outside in the rain (it was only sprinkling) for two hours waiting for the transformers movie to end so that we could enter that particular theatre. when it had finally ended, we got to enter the RAVE and wait another hour in the long hallway to actually enter the theatre! :D while we were waiting, some of the RAVE staff were handing out posters to anyone who could answer some harry potter trivia, so my friend went and answered a trivia question and won a poster!.......i would have answered a question, but because I haven't read ANY of the books except for the first one, i knew i would embaress myself. 

finally, at about 11:30 we were able to quickly run and catch some really good seats before they were all taken. then, at 12:00 a.m., with clapping and hollering,......music started with a black screen. then, FINALLY at 12:15 it started with NO previews. :) during the entire movie, hannah was crying because it was the 'end'. with eyes burning we went back to her house and collapsed onto her bed at about 3:30 and was greeted by about ten minutes of an adrenaline high that wouldn't let us sleep! at 11:30 i awoke and we slumped onto the couch looking like zombies.

Summer Nights

in june, i read Lord of the Flies, within a few days, with ease, so a couple of days ago, i decided to approach the book, The Adventures of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, full of pep and readiness to read through it. and as another one of my summer reading books, i knew one of these days it would be time to pick it up, and go through the chapters. what i didn't realize however was that i was going to be introduced to a book that doesn't exactly....draw you in for more! so after two pages, and a bunch of intellectual words in my head that i didn't understand, i decided to take a break for a while and maybe i would read it before the first day of school.  the next day (well, really night) my friends and i decided to set off some bottle rockets and roman candles as part of a late, fourth of july celebration. even though my dad had explained to us to be extremely careful and not shoot them at each other, one of my friends decided to set of multiple bottle rockets at the same time almost lighting some trees on fire, luckily, everything stayed not on fire. to finish the nights activities, we ventured over to another one of my friends house and stayed up till 12 p.m. to watch the re-run of the womens' Brazil/USA soccer game, and didn't go to sleep till 3 a.m. and at 11, we rolled out of bed and drowsily ate our breakfast.