Our Adventure!

Since Zoe sprained her ankle, she's just been lying around the house reading books and playing computer games. Meanwhile, I've been lonely and bored to death doing everything by myself. So today, I decided I'd enlist Shiloh to come along with me for an adventure

I packed a backpack with a blanket, a peppermint lollipop, two hot dogs, and a notepad and pencil for drawing pictures of the animals and views I saw.

Shiloh and I hadn't been walking for more than a few minutes when we encountered a big staircase.

"I wonder what's at the bottom!" I cried excitedly. It looked to lead into a thicket of ferns. Shiloh barked and bounded down the steps. I followed, but cautiously.

At the bottom of the stairs, I inspected the fern forest.

"Look how thick it is, Shiloh! Maybe we'd better go around," I said, as I peered through the ferns and saw how dark it became.

But, being a dog with no worries about darkness or spiders, Shiloh simply barked again and crashed through the thicket anyway. With a sigh, I followed him.

I stumbled through the thicket (called thick-et for a reason) for what seemed like ages when I finally spotted some sunlight up ahead.

I brushed aside the last few fern stalks and emerged into a clearing. "Shiloh!" I called.

I spotted him a little ways ahead of me, running around the base of an enormous boulder.

"Whoa," I said softly, as I took in the size of the thing. It was directly in my path, surrounded by more thick forest that stretched around me in a wide circle. We were trapped! The only ways out were through the forest, back through the fern thicket, or over the boulder. I decided to try to climb the rock.

I inspected the boulder carefully, looking for the best place to climb up.

I took a deep breath and hoisted myself up.

"Hooray!" I cried, when I had reached the top.

I started to pull off my backpack, ready for a break and a snack.

Then I heard a faint "Woof!" from down below.

"Oh no!" I yelled. Poor Shiloh! He was still at the bottom!

I heaved a sigh and climbed back down the boulder.

And shoved Shiloh up the boulder by his butt.

I pulled off my backpack for a second time, tossed Shiloh a stick to chew, and took out some food for a snack.

I decided I'd leave the hot dogs and lollipop for lunch, but ate a few berries I had found growing on top of the boulder.

After resting for a while, I grabbed Shiloh and we clambered back down the rock and set off walking again.

After walking for a little while, I spotted a log bridge. 

The end of it disappeared around a corner, which naturally made me want to know what was at the end of it. So Shiloh ran off across the bridge and I followed behind.

The first bridge led to another one just like it, which was followed by a third, and then a fourth. At the end of the last one was a big wooden platform.

I climbed up on top, and was met with a view of...

A lake!

I sat down on the end of the platform and set out my lunch on the blanket (I found the berries and leaves along the path - the leaves taste like mint!)

And I tossed Shiloh another stick to chew on for his lunch.

After lunch, I brought out the notepad and pencil and drew a picture of a squirrel in a nearby tree, and the view of the lake from where I was sitting.

Here are some pictures of the squirrel I spotted. He let me get very close, but seemed awfully angry at me for taking pictures of him - he wouldn't stop chittering at me! He looks pretty evil in these pictures with the glowing eyes, though I think it was just the flash of the camera that made him look like that.

I was pretty hot from our walk, so I decided I'd go for a swim. But I changed my mind pretty quickly once I touched the water with my hand and realized how cold it was!

So I decided to go beachcombing instead.

"Look, Shiloh!" I said, holding out the handful of smooth, pretty rocks I had collected from the beach. "Aren't they pretty?" He whined and looked away.

"You miss Zoe, huh?" I asked. He barked in response. "Yeah, me too." I sighed and rubbed him behind the ears. "Let's go home."

So I packed up, and we climbed back up onto the bridge and headed for home.

 Shiloh and I had a great time on our adventure, but I'm really beginning to miss having Zoe to play with! I hope she's up and about soon!

Have you ever gone on adventure like Shiloh and I did? What happened? I'd love to hear about it!

Roller Skating Adventure

Today was almost too hot for breathing, so Zoe and I were just lying around in the hammock on the screen porch trying not to move when my mom spotted us. When we told her we were bored and besides, it was much to hot for doing anything, she made us go upstairs and clean the attic, despite our whining.

"What? Do you have any idea how hot it is up there?" I cried.

"Yes, I do," she told us. "Up you get! Come on!"

 

 

We had been up there for what seemed like hours when Zoe let out a cry from behind me.

"Charlotte! Come look at this!" She was holding a large cardboard box. Inside was a pair of roller skates!

"Cool!" I cried. "Let's go try them out!" Without a thought to the rest of the attic - which was still far from clean - we hurtled down the ladder and out the front door.

Once in the driveway, I told Zoe I'd pay her a nickel if she let me go first. She agreed, so I handed over the coin and strapped on the skates.

I stood up and tried them out. They were old, but they seemed to work fine. Soon I was doing figure eights in the gravel and pretending I was a champion roller skater. My imaginary audience cheered as I passed by and I gave them my best queen wave.

 

Too soon Zoe was begging for a turn, so I handed them over and she gave it a try.

Zoe loves figure skating, and her favorite trick is to catch the teeth on her skate blade in the ice and launch herself up into the air. She didn't know that the red piece of plastic on the front of the roller skate was a brake; she just thought it was like the teeth on her figure skate. So, when she tried her favorite flying leap...

"Oh my gosh! Zoe!" I cried. I ran over to where she was sitting, holding her ankle.

"I think I twisted it," she said.

"Hold on, I'm going to go get Mom!" I yelled, and sprinted off towards the house.

Mom ran back outside with me, and upon seeing Zoe, helped her up and into the back seat of the car. I hopped in next to her and Mom drove off towards the hospital.

Once there, we were led into a room off a long hallway. We helped Zoe up onto a big white table covered in tissue paper, like the ones they have in doctor's offices. A nurse came into the room.

"Well, what seems to be the problem?" she asked us. I told her that we had been roller skating, and Zoe had tripped and twisted her ankle. The nurse picked up Zoe's foot and inspected it. She prodded it a few times, and when Zoe gave a yelp of pain, she nodded her head and sat back.

"It's a bad sprain, but nothing serious," she told us. "And nothing a few days of rest won't cure." The nurse wrapped her foot with some brown stretchy stuff and told her not to walk on it for a few days.

We're all glad she'll be okay, but already she's using her injury as an excuse to sit around and make us wait on her! I'll be very happy when she can walk again!

Have you ever been injured like Zoe was today? How did it happen? Leave your comments below - I'd love to hear your stories!

Happy (belated) 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! What a way to spend the day... Instead of spending it like a NORMAL family, my parents decided that we should go for a hike in Acadia National Park, since it would probably be pretty empty. Well, it was - it seems only my family is crazy enough to go for a hike in a downpour!

And to make it worse, the fireworks in the town were canceled! We have always had the worst luck when it comes to fireworks shows; I think in the 10 years that we've been going to them, we've only made 2 that are actually on the 4th of July. Something always seems to go wrong - there's a storm, it's too foggy, they didn't have enough money to buy the fireworks, the guy who did it was sick, on and on and on! So it was to no one's surprise that when we drove an hour to the town dock, the firefighters told us that the show had been rescheduled to Friday. So there's a slight chance we might be able to see them after all! :)

The only thing that made the day worthwhile was the arrival of the American Girl Magazine, a new pair of sandals, and a birthday invitation from Dani! (you can read her blog at http://dabblingdani.blogspot.com/) Zoe and I are really looking forward to meeting her at last - especially since she promised to take us time-traveling with her! (*squee!*)



What did you do for the 4th? Does anyone else have parents that make them do really insane things, just for the sake of tradition?

Happy (belated) 4th, everyone!

Blue Hill Hike

Last weekend the sun finally came out, and Zoe and I decided to celebrate by going for a hike up Blue Hill. It was a beautiful day; the sun was out and it was the perfect temperature for hiking!

Zoe took this picture when we stopped for a water break. There are a lot of blueberry bushes behind me, but unfortunately, the berries won't be edible for a month or two now (Zoe didn't know that - she took a bite of a green one, thinking it was just a different species of blueberry, but spit it out barely a second later! She strongly advised me to stay away from them).

We stopped for another water break near to the top. The ground around the bench I'm sitting on was littered with rusty bolts and screws, and there were four huge concrete blocks arranged in a square. Zoe and I were very curious as to what they were there for, until a passing hiker told us that a big tower used to stand there. There were about five flights of stairs that led to a big deck at the top, where you could look out and see the whole town and the ocean stretched out in front of you! Zoe and I were disappointed that it had been knocked down - it sounded awfully fun!

While we were up by the bench, Zoe and I spotted a snake!! He slithered off into the bushes soon after we came over to investigate, but not before we got in a couple good pictures!

Zoe took another picture of me in a tree near to the bench. It was a perfect place to sit - there was only one problem. It was covered in sap! Of course, I didn't know that when I sat down, so I ended up getting sap in my hair and all over my hands. Yuck!

I asked Zoe to give me the camera and I took a picture of the view from the bench. Isn't it pretty?

Here we are at the very top of the mountain. Zoe got a picture of me with some long grasses blowing in my face. She hates pictures of herself, so unfortunately on this trip I didn't get any, but next hike we go on I think I'll bring my own camera and take some pictures of her when she's not looking! :)

Here I am at the peak again! We found a very nice spot to sit and eat our lunch (peanut butter and honey sandwiches and leftover dumplings from last night, along with chocolate-chip cookies and lemonade). It was under a very nice, shady pine tree, and there was a big hole in between the two rocks I'm sitting on. Zoe and I climbed down there after we ate and pretended that we had been thrown into the hole by an evil witch and were about to be killed by a fire-breathing dragon. Unfortunately, we got stuck in the hole and had to be helped out by the friendly hiker that had told us about the observation tower.

Here's me AGAIN... almost at the end of our hike. From the peak, we had to climb down a very steep boulder flow, and I couldn't help worrying about what would happen if we fell. We finally reached flat ground, which is where I am right now. We were about to climb down another very steep section, except for here the boulder flow had been arranged into a stairway, so it was much easier to manage.

On our way down the mountain, we looked out at the fields stretched out below us. They were blanketed with lupines! I think lupines are my favorite flower; they come in a bunch of different colors and are so resilient - they can grow practically anywhere! Zoe and I took a lot more pictures than this, but I decided to share just the best ones :)

 I love going for hikes, especially with my sister! I hope I'll be going for a lot more now that summer's come around! Do you like hiking? Where's your favorite place to go?

Cookies!

This morning I looked out my window to see nothing but rain! I was so disappointed; all week Zoe and I had been planning to have a picnic in the backyard. Looking outside at the torrential downpour that was occurring outside the glass, Zoe suggested that instead, we make some cookies. We headed downstairs to get the ingredients.

We decided to make some chocolate chip cookies (our favorite!). From the pantry, we got some sugar, flour, butter, eggs, and chocolate chips. I also found a large mixing bowl and spoon, a rolling pin, a knife, and cutting board. 

I cut up the butter into little chunks, so it would be easier to mix into the batter later. Then I put all the pieces in the bowl.

Then I poured in the sugar...

...Then the flour...

 ...And the eggs...

...Then I mixed it all together.

I plopped the little round ball of dough out onto the cutting board...

...And rolled it out with the rolling pin.

Ta da! All ready for being put into the oven.

And now we wait...

 

Here they are, fresh out of the oven!

Cheers! Zoe and I ended up having a picnic after all - of sorts.  What's your favorite thing to do when you're stuck inside on a rainy Sunday?