Travelog for: Tiger Lilly

Hello! I arrived at Marjolein's place in 's-Hertogenbosch yesterday!

Today Marjolein bought a little present for her boyfriend:



Yummie!!! That's all milkchocolate, ooh lala I hope a get a little piece....

Hugs Tiger Lilly

Hi mummy!

I went to Marjolein's school in Utrecht today!

We went to the trainstation of Den Bosch first.





We had a chair for ourselves.



We read in Marjolein's book The Story of Art. It was kinda... boring.



So we decided to read the Dutch Donald Duck!







The view was also kinda boring haha. And the glass was very dirty! Sometimes I saw some houses but mostly it was all green grass and trees.



We listened to Marjolein's ipod.



The trainstation was a bit bigger than the station of 's-Hertogenbosch.



We walked trough the city Utecht. It's about 15 minutes walk from the trainstation to the school. On this photo you see the most famous tower of Utrecht: the Dom.



This is the Sint Janschurch (Saint Johnschurch) at the Sint Janskerkhof (Saint Johncemetery), we are near Marjolein's school now.



This is the street of Marjoleins school.



Well actually one of the places where the school is. The University of Utrecht is everywhere in the city. The biggest buildings are in the Uithof, we are going there next tuesday for the class Who's who in the Classical Mythology!

This class is called The Story of Art (just like the book we where falling asleep at).



See you soon!

Tiger Lilly

Hello!

I went to Brussels today!





Marjolein had a schooltrip so we first went to the European Parlement!



We weren't allowed to take photo's inside but Marjolein secretly took this one.



After this visit we went sightseeing in the city and we saw the most famous guy in the ciy: Manneken Pis!



We also went to the marketplace.







It was a very pretty market with lots of old buildings.

And of course we bought some really nice chocolate, Belgium is known for it's chocolate!



It was a very cool day!

Tiger Lilly

I met Tigger at Marjolein's home!!



He was very nice and we talked a lot about being tigers and havings stripes and stuff like that

We took a biketrip around the city 's-Hertogenbosch! We first went to the Market.





We saw some of the wall that is around the city.



We went to the supermarket to get food and stuff. This was also our last stop in The Netherlands, from here we went to America, because there is a postoffice in the supermarket! Bye bye Holland!



Hugs Tiger Lilly

Just checking in to say that Thiele, Roots Bear and I have arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona. We are excited to see what is in store for us!

Upon our arrival last week We met another TV, his name is Casanova.


The weather hasn't been as beautiful as Ashley has hoped. Arizona is known for its monsoon summers. It tends to rain during the day unexpectedly. To keep us occupied Ashley lets us watch movies. Today we watched Coraline.

So we got up very early this morning and watched Ashley pack some clothes. All five of us jumped in and got cozy for the trip.


After a long ride, we finally were able to peep out of the bag. Ashley gave us a piece of paper to hold on to. Between us all we figured out that we were getting on an airplane from Phoenix, Arizona to Houston, Texas.


We thought we were in for a weekend in the Lone Star State, but when we got there we boarded yet another plane. During this flight, Ashley had an empty seat next to her so we got to enjoy the ride outside of the suitcase. We made sure to get our seatbelt on securely.


This flight was not as long as the other and when we arrived Ashley told us to look out the window. We had arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Big Easy!!


After a short taxi ride we arrived at the hotel we were staying the weekend at, The Ritz-Carlton right on Canal Street.


The next day, we took a tour of French Quarter in a horse drawn carriage. Because there were a lot of passengers, it was hard to get pictures of me and all Ashley's other visitors with all the special things we saw. We learned all sorts of history about the area, especially since The entire Quarter is a National Historic Landmark and fortunately the area was relatively unaffected by Hurricane Katrina compared to other surrounding areas. 

We passed the infamous Bourbon St. This is the location of Mardi Gras festivities in the Spring, as well as The French Quarter Festival and Southern Decadence.

The whole tour lasted about 90mins and we went on almost every street of the district. We started and ended in Jackson Square which was also known as Place d'Armes. During the day, many local artists have their work on display and for sale. The park is situated in front of The Cabildo, which is where the Louisiana Purchase was finalized and signed, The St. Louis Cathedral and The Presbytère, which housed the Roman Catholic Priests and authorities in the 18th century.

Originally, the area was used for public execution of disobedient slaves. After the Battle of New Orleans in 1814 the park was renamed for the Unites States President Andrew Jackson and a statue was erected in his honor.


After a long day of walking and sightseeing we went for dinner at Jean Lafitte's Bistro which was above The Old Absinthe House. Jean Lafitte also had a major role in the outcome of the Battle of New Orleans along with Andrew Jackson.
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After eating lots of yummy food including World Famous New Orleans Blackened Catfish, and Brie and Risotto balls, and many drinks we finally returned to the hotel for a nice relaxing evening before leaving the next day. Even though the trip was short, I look forward to my next adventure with Ashley. She said we might even get to see fireworks because Independence day for the USA is coming up soon!

July 4th is America's Independence Day. More specifically is it the federal holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. On this day, America was officially free from the rule of the Kingdom of Great Britain. During this time of the year, and specifically on the 4th itself, many people celebrate by having events and get togethers such has barbecues, picnics, parades, concerts, carnivals and firework displays. Also, a lot of people wear very patriotic clothing, with flag emblems on them or the colors red, white and blue.

Because Flagstaff is not only a forest, but also technically a desert climate as well, it is very dangerous to have them if it is too dry. We were thinking that we weren't going to see any this year. We spent most of the morning and afternoon at Ashley's companion's house. He let us play some video games with him.


After killing lots of Zombies, Adam told Ashley that this year Flagstaff was actually going to have Fireworks. So we loaded up a blanket and sweaters because it can be quite chilly in Flagstaff at night and headed over to where the show would be taking place. There were lots and lots of people there. The show was very exciting, but because it was nighttime, it was hard to get a picture with me at the fireworks. But here is one of my favorite pictures of the whole show.


Ashley is hoping to get some time this week to show me and the other TV's around Flagstaff and give us a tour. We are hoping to get some good pictures because it is very pretty this time of year.

Today we went on an outdoor adventure. It was very beautiful outside, and the weather was perfect. Casanova, Thiele, Roots Bear, Ricky the Rat and I got to ride in Ashley's backpack. We are all ready to go!

Ashley explained to us that we were going on a hike, as well as geocaching. Geocaching is somewhat like a treasure hunt. People list the coordinates, and clues to a hidden container on the website [url=geocaching.com]geocaching.com[/url]. Sometimes there are trinkets inside the canister, and sometimes it is so small that you just sign the log. Ashley explained that sometimes it can be frustrating, but the excitement from finding the cache is worth the hunt. To get to the trailhead, we had to go off-roading a little. The bumpy road opened up to a small clearing and we spotted some female elk. Elk are one of the largest species of deer, and look almost identical to Red Deer found in Europe. We saw a lot them, but it was hard to get very close.


Soon after the elk sighting, we arrived at the trail. There was no marker her, but as we got closer we found a trail marker that let us know how much further to out destination. After hiking 2 miles we only have a little more than a half of a mile to go.


As we were getting closer, it got very windy so Ashley packed us into the backpack so we didn't fly off. She didn't want to lose any of us. Not too long afterwards, Ashley unzipped the pouch we were resting in and got to see the view.



We took in the view and rested awhile, then got to searching. 15 minutes later, Ashley's friend found something that he thought was the cache, but it was a teaser. It took a little while and just when we were ready to give up, Ashley figured it out, and the cache was found. Inside there were lots of different things including fly paper, bug bite medical swabs, and a travelbug, which Ashley explained was somewhat like a Toyvoyager. Usually, it is a tag or coin that travels to different geocaches. We didn't take anything this time, but we did sign the log and headed back. It was great fun and I can't wait for the next adventure I get to go on!

Just writing to check in. Life around Flagstaff has been pretty slow. The weather here has been really strange. Early in the day it will be an enjoyable cool temperature, then towards the afternoon dark clouds start to develop followed by strong winds and heavy thunderstorms. The storms were frightening at first, but now they are quite beautiful. Ashley explained this weather is called Summer Monsoons. The rain during this time of the year is highly variable and is characterized by random bursts of downpour followed by breaks that can last for minutes or days. Due to the weather, venturing outside and taking pictures has been quite a task. Ashley has promised to show us around this upcoming week even if the weather is less than favorable. We may even get to bake a cake this week as well!!

Wow! Today was a long day. Ashley moved into a new apartment today. We spent a lot of time packing and moving boxes. During the move, it started raining so we scrambled as fast as possible to get everything inside. Ashley's new place is very nice, but it is quiet here as we are the only ones here. Don't worry, Ashley did not make us work too hard. Aster making the bed we took a nice nap!

There has been ALOT of thunderstorms here lately. Ashley said that it has been the rainiest summer she has seen since living in Flagstaff. We have been unpacking and organizing since we moved and Ashley has been letting us watch movies every day. Today, we watched Juno! This is Ashley's favorite movies. It is a very sweet comedy with a good story and lesson to it. We laughed a lot!


Also, Ashley started her fall semester at the university. She has only been in class for a few days and already has lots of reading today. Ashley is studying all about exercise and how it effects the human body. We got to read about Carbohydrates and Exercise fuel. It was very interesting.

Before I head off to my new host, Ashley, the other Tv's and I set off on a cupcake baking extravaganza! Ashley and many of her friends have birthdays soon so we made lots of cupcakes of different colors and decorations.


First thing we did was pre-heat the oven and put pretty cupcake liners into the pan. Not only did this make the cupcakes pretty, it also keeps them from sticking to the pan.


Next, after mixing the batter, we each took turns filling the cups. We used a measuring cup to make sure we didn't put too much batter so that they don't overflow when baking. After baking the cupcakes we put Reese's Peanut Butter candy kisses on the top while they were still warm. The heat made them melt. Then it was time for decorating.



Ashley let me help color the frosting. We made many colors including Neon Pink, Teal, Purple and Orange. After we did the frosting, I was in charge of SPRINKLES!



The only thing left to do was to eat the cupcakes. The blue ones were leftovers and the color was made using the remainder of other colors of frosting. They were so YUMMY!

Baking cupcakes was so fun! They were so good. It was just like baking miniature cakes. These birthday celebrations were a great way to end the travelgroup's stay in Arizona. We are now on our way to see AbbyB!

Our group has arrived with Abby in Canada!  Hinz + Kunz, and Aimee were on-hand to greet us, and Dottie Grace arrived at the same time we did.