Orange Julius

This was a great drink for a hot day! It's called Orange Julius and it's not too hard to make. Mom and Janelle can do it in the time it takes me to swap outfits, not that I'm quick as a whip choosing which outfit to wear next, but it's not too long. ;) Here's the recipe if you're interested.

1/4 C. Frozen Orange Juice

4 tsp sugar

1/3 C. water

1/3 C. Milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

4-8 Ice cubes

Put ingredients into blender and blend on high. You can make Popsicles out of the left overs- they're good too! It's like orange juice in smoothie form with little pieces of ice floating around in it. Yum!

Speed Racers

What a lot of fun can be in a cereal box! Because of that new movie, Speed Racers, we found a car in our Cinnamon Toast Crunch. We built a ramp with an empty cereal box on the table and then launched the car with a placemat when it reached the floor. Why? Because we can. It gave us a morning of enjoyment- all for free! Here you can get in on the action.

A poem I wrote for English

The Library: An extended comparison

A library is like a coral reef
Some divers explore it thoroughly
Earnestly
Searching for hidden treasures among the rocks

Some visitors are more like bright little fish
Flitting happily among the coral for the sheer joy of it
Nipping little bits here
and there
When it strikes their fancy

Others drift aimlessly about
Indifferent of oblivious to the rich beauty around them
Doing nothing not deemed necessary for survival
Having no desire to go deeper than they have to

Which visitor are you?

Well, here's the new fad around my house. I introduced Andrew to this series called Artemis Fowl (It's a sci-fi fantasy sort of thing. It involves fairies, so you'd think it would be a fantasy, but the fairies are so high tech you'd think they were from another planet, so who knows what genre it is.) Anyway, Andrew was inspired by the paranoid computer genius centaur, Foaly, who wears a tin foil hat to prevent his mind from being read. Andrew decided to make a tin hat of his own. He's on his second now. Here he models it with Janelle by a brick wall. After seeing the wonders of tin foil, she decided to make a tin hat of her own - Sherlock Holmes style. (If anyone knows where to get a real Sherlock Holmes hat, I'd be glad to know). She recently finished the Complete Sherlock Holmes, volume one and two. They were really thick and I'm so proud she got through them. A reader after my own heart! Here's to all the fashionable readers out there! ;)

A backyard beach

So what does my family do when it's a Sunday evening with no evening service? Build a beach in the back yard, of course! Well, that's what we did tonight. We had a kiddie pool we got from a rummage sale, so we dug a space for it in the sandbox and filled it up with water. A few beach chairs and towels, and we were in business! But my favorite touch was my idea - ocean sounds! Rolling waves with seagulls I had loaded on to my ipod. With the help of Andrew's speakers, you could almost feel the salty breeze. We grilled hot dogs and roasted s'mores (Also in the grill) for the end of one of the most relaxing evenings I've had in a long time. *sigh*

What a nice fourth of July! I will tell the story of my day from finish to start. Why? Because that's the order in which I loaded the pictures. And I can. The last thing that happened was the fireworks, which were, of course, what we had been looking forward to all day. The top picture is a firework, believe it or not. This is zoomed in and my "fireworks" setting is a sort of time lapse so you can see it spreading across the sky. A little unusual, but aren't the colors beautiful?

The flag in the next picture behind the hosts is not British, it is American. (And it's upright thanks to the blog-savvy lady standing in front of it, thanks again!). It's called the Grand Union, I believe. It was an early flag. There was a competition who could name that flag, but you had to name it correctly, just Bob or Sally wouldn't do. ;)

The people whose house we went had a great pool and we enjoyed it immensely. Stephanie and Joanna came a long way to be there and I am glad to have seen them - it's been awhile since we watched Caspian when it came out! We gave Deborah dolphin rides. Perhaps I'll post a video pf Stephanie's impression of Flipper the dolphin some day soon...

Even before that wonderful party, I went to another graduation party. This time for Sarah. I got to celebrate with her and work the crowd. Ashley came too, and I was glad to see her as well, even if it's only been two weeks since school let out... I already miss my friends!

There was plenty of food both places, so we started and ended the day very satisfied! Sarah is by her dogs' son in the bottom picture with my family enjoying the plentiful food in the background.

This was a great Fourth of July. Though sometimes I think we forget why it's a holiday, it's because of our country, so even if we don't have such a good time, there's still reason to celebrate. We have our freedom. May the fireworks continue to raise year after year and may God bless America and give it's leaders wisdom.

Well, my friends are graduating whether I want them to move away or not, and I am certainly proud of them. Of course this adds up to a lot of graduation parties. I went to Nicole's recently. It was Hawaiian themed, and it was great! At least I get food out of all this graduation stuff ;)

The top picture was her display. She made the pink Homecoming dress herself! I was pleased to see that lots of the pictures on her slide show were taken by yours truly! No wonder she calls me her paparazzi.

The next is the graduate herself (sideways cuz I can't figure out to rotate it.)

The next is my Father. This is payback for how often he messes up my photos. I have the misfortune of a camera with two flashes, between the first and the last he changes position. You have no idea how many empty doorways and strange faces I have collected in my photo archives!

Of course Andrew was most interested in the motor bike (or dirt bike, who knows the correct term). He and Nicole's brother had a good time too.

Congratulations Graduates!!