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Happy 9th Birthday Belle! All the friends are
here-time for Pizza
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and of course some cake!
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Have to take a shower!
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and then hit the pool and slides!
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Everyone passed the deep water test and we
spent a lot of time diving in the deep water section!
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Once home we played "eat that food",
watched movies and of course ate more food! we learned that cake
is even more fun to eat when you run out of silverware!
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Spring Break is going to be a blast with Lauren!
We can even have fun waiting for food! Finally we are in the water
at the "Wilderness" in Wisconsin Dells where it IS possible
to get too wet!
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We spent most of our time in the wave pool
but also went to the arcade, watched cable TV in the room and hit
a magic show before heading home! It was a great couple of days!
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I can take this hill!
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Do I have to use poles?
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ok-no poles then!
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Sammy had never skiied before! by the end of
the day both of
us could do any blue run at Wild Mountain! I love skiing! |
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Learning to ski is kind of hard...but fun.
The "snow plow" and falling down are the first things
to learn! Within a couple of hours my pal Lauren and I were regular
snow bunnies! we could do curves, bumpies and my favorite-the Bomber!
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The sock hop at school is so much fun...clowning
with my friends and especially twirling!
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There is a silly dance where you stick out
your tongue and bum! I love it!
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During Christmas Break I took snorkeling lessons...I
bet this more fun somewhere warm...and somewhere that you can see
something in the water besides your own toes! Dad...can we go on vacation? |
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Snow much fun having a play date with Kimberly
at my house!
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and sledding in the park!
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Being an only child on Christmas has it's advantages!
This year I've learned that presents in small packages (earrings)
can be as much fun as the one's in big packages (snow tubes).
Even books can be fun when they are from Twig the Fairy. Once again I got a dress from Mrs. Claus as well as a letter from her since I'd asked Santa how she was doing. Merry Christmas everyone! |
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They may look like an innocent lot of American
Girl dolls but they
are quite naughty! they opened their presents by noon! for shame! |
Summer and I lit the Advent candles at the
Christmas Eve
service and we both had speaking parts for the first time! |
At home we got ready for Santa. I wrote him
a note telling him that if he wanted to eat all cookies he had to
have at least 5 carrots too! "house rules" around here! we left the tree lit and ready....fingers crossed! |
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Finally! it is the "first weekend of Christmas"! The Peterson Christmas Party is always fun-and this year it is at our house! My aunts and uncles that live in the area came as well as my cousins. That was great, of course, but then someone else was at the door! Wait! do any of our relatives have white bears and look good in red? |
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It was great that Santa could take time out
of his busy schedule to stop in and see us! It was a busy day but
at the end we got to kick back and relax!
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Christmas pictures from the professional! Thanks
Angelshot Photography! Como Conservatory provides a beautiful backdrop!
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Finally! it is family Christmas picture day!
The Como Conservatory is so nice to visit in the middle of winter!
These are the pictures mom took...wait 'til you see the real ones!
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And now the magic "Appearing Act!"
Look-no earring...and viola...Earring!
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Boy did we get snow! Plenty for a snowfort
and a snowman! Tiki was a lot of help with the whole project!
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Anytime is a good time for a waterpark! especially
a three-day weekend! time to party! my friend Reagan came with and
we stayed overnight and had breakfast at Denny's in the mornin!
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Trick or Treating in the Larson neighborhood
is sweet! there are so many houses to hit! I'm the "Candy Corn
Witch"! one house carved at least 20 pumpkins! the "scarey
house" this year had a werewolf! look at my haul!
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| Pumpkin carving up at our friends is always a ton
of fun! I emptied out this pumpkin and mom made it into Tinkerbell.
She was so inspired she carved a little Tinkerbell for our friends
as well. Then she just kept going and carved the ghosts and the bat! GO MOM! I'm going out to play with my friends-see ya! |
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Time for leaf raking again! even Tiki got into
the action!
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| Our fall soccer league was a lot of fun. Dad was the coach and mom helped too. We won about half the time and learned a lot. | |
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It's almost Halloween! The Pumpkin Train Express
in Osceola was a great chance to preview costumes and catch up with
my cousins. We boarded in Osceola and went to the Haunted Depot
in Dresser. I manned the pump car too!
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We took in a hayride, jumped in the bouncy
house, found a pumpkin and did the face painting! then back to Osceola
where we took the stairs and path all the way down to cascade falls
and walked to the St Croix River!
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Finally! it's time for our Limo Lunch at school!
To earn a ride (and lunch!) I sold 8 magazine subscriptions. Some
of my friends like Reagan did too and dad came along too. Lunch
was at Green Mill!
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Last day of the 2010 Renaissance Festival!
we met the Spicers at the gate and I promptly presented my friend
Reagan to the King! Mom and I were peasants this weekend but Twig
liked us anyways!
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The best thing about being a peasant is not
having to stay clean all day! You could laugh as much as you wanted!
I even played a princess in the play, saw the joust, my "uncle
Johnny" and played in the straw!
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This time we are fairies-first I need my face
painted...lets go!
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We brought my friend Tatum and dog Tiki!
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We went to a ton of shows, did some shopping
and mostly posed for pictures!
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It was a great day at the Renaissance!
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My favorite-Lady Spicer!
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Ok-Twig is my second favorite!
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I love the drum jam with my wings!
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Time to bid the king good-night!
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In the fall we also try to go to Fawn Doe Rosa
ranch up by Taylors Falls. It is way cool. It is like in an enchanted
valley where all the animals are friendly.
We met up with my cousins and uncle Dan. Cousins David, Jadon and Will had never been there! Either had my dad...I think they all liked it...allot! |
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The deer were great but I like the geese, goats,
bunnies and llamas too. This place is simply magical!
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I'm sooo ready for school! up early, new outfit,
pony-tail...yup, I'm ready! Dad even has me loaded down with supplies!
I think I need a mule train
to get this all to school! Now if the bus would just come! He's 10 minutes late! Glad it stopped raining! OK-I'm off! Wish me luck! |
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| Come on! let's go-we are dressed up for the court today for the Ren Fest! My friend Erin met us there and we ran into Christopher! What a day! Brother Paul had me help him too! | ||||
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We went back to the gypsy stage to check out
the Fandazzi Fire Circus. My friends wanted to check out the joust-our
guy didn't really fight fair! I saw Twig too!
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People were stopping us to take our pictures
before we even got to the gate and we were given special certification
by the "fashion police"...we were looking good!
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I don't have to look at him! I can smell it
is a pig... a very large pig! can we go now?
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These are animals that I like a
bit better! no smell at all! |
We always have fun at the state fair! We check
out the animals as well as see some shows
and the midway. We went to the rodeo too...glad our horses don't buck like the broncs! |
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| Silk Road weekend at the Renaissance Festival! The whole day in our new skirts and dancing in the wings I got for Christmas! |
We even visited the Herpe Society booth, it
is about snakes, silly!
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The Dragon show is fun, he doesn't bite! usually...
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It is always a delight to run into Twig! This
time we were with our friends the Imholtes and their cousins. We
were all gypsy's!
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The Renaissance Festival is back!
The bubble fairy was at the gate...she gave me a bubble to look after. It went well for awhile, but by the bakery stage it was gone! |
It was the "Highland Fling" weekend
so we checked out the dancers
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Of course we took in a couple
of Danger Commitee shows. Mick got "plungered" again! |
Our new Scottish outfits were fun and not too
hot for the 90 degree day!
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The day isn't complete until you can catch
up with Twig at the gate on the way out. She is as beautiful as
ever!
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These cutout boards at the Pierce County Fair
were pretty silly...
sillier yet when I switched with dad! |
The fainting goats were definitely the cutest
animals at the fair!
especially the three little babies! |
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Replicas of the Nina and Pinta were at the
Hudson harbor. We toured them and learned a lot!
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We went to the Mall of America for the Renaissance
Festival preview party (I picked up a ton of free kids tickets!
enough for me and all my friends!) and I finally went on the ropes course! boy did I climb high! I could almost touch the rafters! |
We visited the butterfly garden too...
some were totally pretty! |
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We visited Aunt Coleen and Uncle Glen. I love
that they live by a lake where I can find the best rocks! We went
in to the parade for the afternon and came home and played with
cousins Natalie and AJ. Dad tried to fish too...no luck on that!
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Each summer we HAVE to visit the Minnesota Zoo at least once!
The bird show is always great as well as petting the goats. The
baby takin was so cute! |
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There were thousands of carvings over the face of the rock. It is a form of quartz so it is really hard and these carvings aren't going anywhere! The rock face is half a football field wide and 3 football fields long. It is a lot of rock...and a lot of carvings. There are also ripples from when water covered the clay before it became rock. Learnin this way ain't that bad! In the visitors center we saw a movie about the carvings and I tried on a buckskin dress. There was a Tipi frame outside too. The total site is about 80 acres. Half of it is original prairie and rest has been restored to prairie. There were so many birds and flowers. It was really pretty there. Back in the car again-next stop Walnut Grove. |
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 I can be Pa, Ma, Mary and Laura at the same time using digital magic! |
| The Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum is in Walnut Grove. They have several little buildings with furniture and fittings from the early 1800's. I could pretend to be a teacher or a preacher! Mom and I posed in the covered wagaon...I don't see how they moved everything they owned in one of these! my toys would barely fit in here! The museum was just a warm-up for the play we are going to see tonight after we eat at Nellie's Cafe! | |||
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| The "Pageant" or play was about when Laura and her family lived in Walnut Grove. The two horses that pulled their wagon had to be traded for the farm. All there was to live in at the farm, initially, was a dugout. Ma wasn't too crazy about that. Laura just missed the horses! | ||
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But they had several good years in Walnut Grove. The stage was pretty elaborate. Oleson's store could open up like a doll-house to see everything inside. There was also a house inside the shed behind the horses in the first picture. In one scene they all "built" the church together right in front of you. It was really a good play and a nice set. Laura and her family really liked the community at Walnut Grove but Pa felt they could do better further out west where they could get more land by homesteading. The family packed up and moved further west to "Silver Lake" which is now by De Smet, South Dakota. That is where mom says we are heading tomorrow! |
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| On the way to DeSmet we stopped at "Pipestone" it is another historical site where many Indian tribes have quarried the reddish rock they use | |||
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for pipestones for hundreds of years. They still quarry at the site but you can't go where they are digging. The river and falls are beautiful and the rock formations are pretty cool too. There was more of that "prairie" here with birds, flowers and tall grass. The rockface to the left is about 30 feet high and a couple hundred feet long. The Souix Quartzite is really hard and under about 7 layers of it there is a vein of pipestone. It is softer and red. That is what the Indian's are after when they Quarry here. Treaty rights were put in place when the land was "purchased" from the Indians to make sure they could always quarry here. |
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| In De Smet the Ingalls homestead property has several buildings like the types of buildings that pioneers had. If they built a 12x12 house and raised crops for 5 years they would get a "quarter" of land from the government for free. That is what they managed to do when they left Walnut Grove. We took a covered wagon ride out to the edge of the homestead property to where Laura and her sisters went to school. We all dressed up good and proper. I got to drive the horses back! Whoa there! | |||
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On the homestead was a tower so you could see the local landscape. It was pretty flat! but there was a swampy area towards the school where they could dig for water. The house behind the roping calf (I'm not very good!) is in the place that the Ingalls lived and the house matches their homesteading documents. In the sod barn and the carriage barn there were batches of kittens that were super cute! I'd like to keep one! or two...pleeeeease? It really looked like it was going to storm but by sundown the weather was nice so we could stay in our tent and go see the play. Before the play we took another wagon ride but this time they used cute haflinger horses that were barely bigger than my pony! The play was about Laura and Almonzo's first four years of married life. It was really tough. They didn't manage to pull in a good crop any year due to drought, grasshoppers and hail. They worked hard but never managed to pull far out of debt. Another late night! these plays aren't done until 11 pm! |
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We finally made it out to Britton, SD. After visiting with cousin Lynn at Grandma's old house we went to town and hit the swimming pool! that was great but it was only like 75 degrees when the rest of the week had been twenty degrees hotter! oh well. Then we headed out to Grandma's and Grandpa's old cabin that now Great Aunt Sharon has. Some of my relatives showed up to grill out some bratwerst and burgers. Others brought cakes, salads and goodies. I hung out on the dock with cousins. I liked Brooklyn and Dillon all right but not Alex after he pushed me in! After the sun went down we gathered in the cabin for a killer game of "giant fish". I stayed up late again to party with my cousins! |
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Wow, what a trip! We've been so many place and met so many people. One of the most exciting things that happened, though, was my tooth finally fell out! It's been wiggly for months! It was knocked good at our last soccer game and during our vacation a piece of bacon final busted it out of there! the tooth fairy found me at the cabin and gave me even more quarters than usual! Sweet! We found "Summer Land" park in St Cloud on the way home and went down the water slide and drive the bumper boats for an hour or so. Then it was finally time for the final drive home. I like vacation...where we going next week? |
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I'm in soccer again this summer. It is fun
but we haven't won many games, yet. We keep getting better and are
all learning.
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July 4th was forecasted to be rainy so we went
with the Larson's to William O'Brien park on July 3rd. It was a
great park with geocache sites. It didn't take long before dad and
I found the first one! Then we hit the beach, had a picnic and went
fishing. I caught a very little fish, Sammy caught a little fish.
They were all little!
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Before Lauren went home we visited Bunker Beach
Wave Pool. I always like the wave pool and of course the ice cream
but new this year is the lazy river and climbing wall! What a great
day!
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| The first thing on the agenda for summer was a sleep-over with Lauren! we went to the children's museum to see the new "Wizard of Oz" display. It was pretty cool. Lauren made up like a puppy dog and I was a kitty cat. Then we played up on the rooftop where we drew and painted with water! | |||
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Our class put on a fun musical skit. All the parents were invited. In the skit we sang about what we planned to do all summer. We were split into teams with some teams going camping/fishing all summer while others sat on the sofa or played video games. My team all got jobs and made money! |
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At the very end of the school year we have
a book fair and carnival. Outside is a petting zoo.
All the animals are friendly (except the llama!) but my favorite was definitely the chicken with the pom-pom hairdo! |
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Time to get the pony going too! We practiced
going both right and left. He was good-but I still don't like going
too fast!
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Memorial Day weekend isn't complete without
going to the beach! my friend Summer helped me built a super castle
and fill the moat with water!
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Later that day I went fishing with dad. It
takes some patience but I caught a little bass and then dad caught
a bigger one.
Nothing too big today-we'll have to try again when they have had a chance to grow more! |
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Mom and I went to a class at the Maplewood
Nature Center. We caught all sorts of critters in the swamp and
brought them back to the classroom to look at them through a microscope. It was totally cool! |
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Warm weather always brings water balloons!
I'm getting much better at catching them...but sometimes they still
BREAK!
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Tennis lessons were fun. We learned several
different types of hits and played some real tennis but mostly we
just played games that helped us learn how to play...she also made
sure we knew how to clean up!
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| One of my birthday presents was a "butterfly kit". In the mail I got a little jar with a food mixture in it and a bunch of little wormy looking caterpillars. They weren't much to look at and kind of small. Over the next couple of weeks they just crawled around and ATE. They started to get bigger but still didn't look too nice. Before long one went up to the top of the jar and started just hanging there! it took a few days and then a chrystallis was hanging there instead of the caterpillar. I named that one "Kate". Over the next few days the others decided that Kate had a good idea and they all hung upside down and made a chrystallis. Once they were all attached to the lid we moved the paper on the bottom side of the lid over to their "habitat". It is a nice mesh cage. In about a week Kate all of a sudden appeared and her chrystallis was just a little husk. Gradually they all became butterflies. I named the last one to emerge "Bob". We never saw it happen...just one time when you walked by you had one more butterfly! WOW! After a week of strengthening in their cage I let them into the yard. They sat on my fingers for a few seconds before taking to the skies. All summer we saw them, or their kids, or their grandkids flying around our flowers. It was great! Take care Kate, Julia, Bob and the other two who's names kept changing! | |||
 Painted Lady Butterflies don't look like much when their wings are closed but they sure are beautiful when their wings are open! They started out as such skinny, little, nondescript catterpillars and ended up such beautiful butterflies! |
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No sooner had we come back from Spring Break
and we had our concert!
I sang with the choir, sang in a trio and played the xylophone! it was a big night about dinosaurs! |
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Follow this link to see all the fun things
I did on Spring Break and
where I turned 8! You can also go back to year
7...if you want, I'm always looking forward to 9!
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