Last Splash

It's the last splash of summer. School starts tommorrow. So yesterday, we had our last hoorah before school. Labor Day was today, so yesterday we had a picnic. It was nice to get to see the whole family on my Mom's side. Usually my mom's brother and his family are unable to come to our party's and picnics because of their busy schedules. But they were finally able to come!
We got in the pool for the last time of Summer 2011. The pool will close after Labor Day. It was very chilly at first, but was nice after you got used to it.
We had some fresh corn on the cob, chicken legs/wings, and fresh fruit. Mmmm....I love that kind of eating!
It did start raining near the end, but we got most of our fun out by then. All in all, we had a great day.

There was a very competitive game of keep away. Girls against boys of course. But I got out halfway through because it got a little too competitive.

 There were smiles...

 ...And kisses...

...And perfect cathches.

 ...And smiling cousins...

 ...And girls eating pickels...(Doesn't it look like she's smiling?)

 ...And friendly throws...

...And then, we got mad. So I got out. But everything turned out ok. Everyone came out alive!

Happy Labor Day.(:

A Few Bruises But...

For us, it's the last week of summer. Last week of freedom. Last week to do whatever. We've gotta make it last, right? So yesterday, we got together with friends and had a little before-school fun. My dad took Ashley and her friend Briana, and Brady and my cousin Wyatt to go see "The Smurfs". So while Dad did that with the younger kids, Mom took my friends Rachel, Michelle, Casey, and I, and Breanna and her friend Maggie to the skating rink. We had a blast! We had tons a few falls, and I have to say that Casey took the hardest fall. But no one broke anything! So I call that a successful skating trip. My camera died part way through, so I only got a few pictures. The only really annoying thing about going skating during the summer, is you have to go on a Friday night. Not a nice, calm Sunday afternoon, because of course, no one's open! But instead you have to go with all the wild teenagers. Some of them were very annoyingly speeding past us and making us loose our balance, but let's put that behind us. Enjoy the pictures!

 It's hard to get a good picture when you can't see the screen(:

 It's also hard to get a good picture when you have 4 wheels under your feet(:

But it's easy to get a good picture when you have a good friend taking it(:

GET YOUR LEMONADE!

Yesterday, Brady and the neighbor boy, Patrick, decided they were going to sell roadside lemonade. This is funny, because both of them have the attention span of an ant. They made signs, got a little stand, which was actually our piano stool, and served up some lemonade. They even made a whopping $1.86!! But that seems like a million to them(:. It was actually really cute and I went out and bought some lemonade for a nickel, yes I know, how generous. Brady even starting picketing along the road. But luckily, we have very generous neighbors. Here's some pictures I snapped:

Ferris Wheels, Funnel Cake, and Fireworks, Oh My!

Yesterday we had a great time at the county fair. Well, technically it wasn't our county's fair, because our county's fair is much more expensive. But we took a ride over the mountain to another county fair that was much cheaper, and much more fun! I haven't been to a fair in a long time because it's just too expensive. I go to the fair in town for the karaoke contest and just to walk around with my friends but I haven't had the full fair experience in a long time.
When we pulled in to the parking lot, Brady was amazed. "IT'S HUGE!" Were his only words, along with 'COWS! THEY HAVE COWS DAD!" Brady is a huge animal lover. No matter what it is. He would have been satisfied just looking at the animals all night instead of riding rides.

When we first got there, they were having some type of 4-wheeler race. I have never been to one so I don't know the technical term for it, but it was very loud, and the noise got kind of annoying during the evening. But we made it and I even snapped a picture:

After watching, we really needed something to eat. So we went to the least expensive food vendor and got some old-fashioned chicken strip baskets, and hot dogs. It reminded me of my previous days at the baseball field concession stand.

Now of course, we had to go see the animals. Brady was begging us. So we went into all the barns and saw all the animals. Rabbits, pigs, cows, sheep, and horses. You may find this odd, but I really love that fresh barn smell(:

 Brady loves the sheep!

I felt kinda bad for this little horse. His name was Stubby. He looks like a Stubby, don't ya think? But he sat there all huddled up in his little corner the whole time. Poor little Stubby.

Doesn't this look just like Donkey from Shrek?

There were these people sitting in the barn with a little foal. How cute!

After the animals we got on some rides and got some ice cream! The chocolate milkshakes were really good! One of the best I've had. Then we settled in for some fireworks. The night ended with a BANG!

Do, Re, Mi...

Last night was the karaoke contest at the fair. My friend Emily and I entered. Last year I was the winner in the 12 and under category. But this year, I moved up to the 13-17 category, which  I think is a huge category. I wasn't expecting to win anything. My predicition was true, but I wasn't upset. I'll get them next year!  I just thought I'd post this video of my entry. Enjoy!

New York Here We Come!

So if you were wondering where I had been for the last week, I was in.....*drumroll*.....NEW YORK!  I know what you're thinking, "New York City?" Psshh...are you kidding?! Like my family woud survive a week in the city. I don't think so. We just barely survived a week in the Adirondack Mountains! Well, not exactly my family, but we'll get to that later. But we had a great time with our Grandparents on both sides and my great Aunt and Uncle that we only get to see once a year!
It takes a really long time to get there. REALLY.LONG.TIME!! But we survived!!
Our week consisted of......

WATER PARK FUN!!

So Pappy Joe hasn't been to a waterpark in a long time. That was very obvious. He was having problems getting into rafts, and out of rafts. He got stuck in a raft and......FLIPPED A RAFT! Congrats Pappy....haha.

FAMILY BONDING!

MINI GOLF!

Dad was the winner, Pappy Joe won second place, and Brady won third!

AND ANIMALS!

We saw these really cute fawns(: We also went to a petting zoo(:

Hope you enjoyed our trip to New York!

Note: Ok, you caught me. Some of these pics are from last year. BUSTED!

Best of Summer: Camp!

I'm sure all of my readers have been suspensfully awaiting my anticipated return to my blog. Well, here I am! I have returned from Young Writers Camp and may I just say, that I had a blast!
If you don't know the story, then you may be confused. Well I entered a writing contest at my school, just for fun, not expecting at all to win anything. But, the day before my birthday, I got a call saying that I recieve second place in the contest and that my piece was actually really good and creepy (creepy is a compliment because the theme was "A Dark and Stormy Summer"). One of my prizes were 50% off camp, which was still extremely expensive, even with the 50% off. But my wonderful grandparents pitched in to help me and I just want to say THANKS YOU SO MUCH!

So I went to camp at the Academy and had a blast there were tons of activitis for us! And I made lots of new friends. The two week camp was very tiring though, getting up at 7:30 and going to bed at 11:00 every night. But camp activitis consisted of:

FIREWORKS! The 2nd day of camp was the 4th of July.

Eating at CiC's with my friends Rosie and Amelia!

Going to Baltimore to see the Egar Allan Poe Museum.



Shopping in Inner Harbor(:

Left to Right: Sarah, Audrey, Me, Amelia, and Rosie.

Climbing rock walls (:

Braiding Matt' hair. (Matt was our counselor)

Dressing up in crazy costums(:

We gave the kids a ghost tour of the campus(:

I'd just like to end this by saying THANKS! to all the people who let me come to camp this summer!

It was a blast.