Home, England - 20th June 2011
By: vickygr
Hello World!
I just wanted to introduce myself to you all as brand new and ready to meet you people/toys and go to new places!
My owner says I may be staying home for a little while to help greet a German ToyVoyager.... Nook. He's a little husky and I'm looking forward to meeting him.
This weekend I watched South Park with my owner and nearly got eaten by my owner's boyfriend!!! I think he was only playing, but it scared me a bit.
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Posted Jun 20, 2011, 9:12 am Last edited Jun 20, 2011, 9:12 am by vickygr
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Home, England - 24th June 2011
By: vickygr
Just some photos of me at home with my new friends... including three other big cats! =<^_^>=
There's also a pet cat in there somewhere....
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Posted Jun 24, 2011, 2:16 pm Last edited Jun 24, 2011, 2:17 pm by vickygr
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Grand Haven, MI, USA - 4th July 2011
By: kessalia
Hello mum! It was fun to spend Independence Day in America! We had an eventful day, though not many photos to show for it. Mel and her mom helped to thwart a shoplifter and called 911 for someones lost camping gear blocking the highway, though! *L*
We only went downtown with the tourists to take her nephew Tyler some dinner, and there ere SO many people in town for the fireworks. Mel's migraine and lack of love for tourists have us staying home to watch from here, though. We don't mind much, we found more fun way to celebrate! It started when Mel realized we had two Brits, and two Americans visiting, and a German too... She couldn't resist....
We toyvoyagers present to you all the story of the American Revolution (as Mel remembers it from school)!!!
At first, the people in what would be America were mostly British and fine with that.
But over time, the distance and other problems made the colonists more and more upset with the British ruling them, and the Army had to keep order more and more often.
Finally the colonist just felt SO misunderstood and put-upon that they decided they could take care of their own people better, and they told Britain to go away and leave them alone! This happened around the Fourth of July, which is why that day was picked for the holiday.
Well, the British king didn't like that at all, so he sent more Army over to keep the noisy colonists in line and protect the loyal ones, and to protect his interests there. So there were two sides, and the advantages went back and forth a bit.
The British were spending a lot to fight that far from home, and the war didn't end nearly as quickly and neatly as they'd hoped, so they called in backups - Mercenaries from Germany, the Hessians!
The British sent the Hessians after the rebel Americans, and things looked pretty bad for the colonist's independence plans!
But luckily America could pull in some back-up too, they sent men over to Europe to convince England's old foe the French to come in on their side! (Einstein enjoyed playing Franklin very much)
So the French and the Americans turned and won back some momentum against the English and Germans.
There was still a lot of fighting and hardships on both sides and many soldiers lost, but finally the British started to lose steam, as the money and distance made things harder and harder.
In the end the English king was forced to leave the rebels to themselves, at least for a while. Most of the armies that were left were called home or sent to Canada.
And the leaders of the United States were free to make their own government, for better or worse. And they did, and today is the day they celebrate taking that stand against the king (by not working, waving flags, having picnics, and being far too loud.)
(The French mostly went home, but a lot of the Hessians stayed, and we don't blame them.)
The End! Starring:
The English Troops! Quentin Ducky & Alex_Lion from the UK!
The American Troops! Vanilla & Einstein Pig from the USA!
The Hessian! Cilly from Germany!
The French! Uhh... they don't have names yet, they are Buzz's evil cousins or something. But we needed more toys. From Mel's room!
It is getting dark, so we will probably go out on the porch soon and see the big fireworks! Happy 4th everyone, however you celebrate it!
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Posted Jul 5, 2011, 2:38 am Last edited Jul 5, 2011, 2:44 am by kessalia
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East Lansing, MI, USA - 20th August 2011
By: kessalia
Mel only does one or two BBQ gigs with her dad per year now, but he only calls her in when it's a BIG gig. So we all got up way way to early and drove all the way to East Lansing, near the state capital. We didn't get to sight see though, because we got right to work!
Well, the people got to work. We mostly just sat and watched.
There wasn't a lot to do while the smoker was warming up, but we couldn't go far because we were in charge of watching the fire to make sure it stayed hot enough, but not too hot! We took turns watching the thermometer and called Mel if it needed more wood.
The smoker is big, but there are a lot bigger ones out there. We filled it all the way up and could have used more room!
We cooked baked potatoes, ribs, baked beans, chicken, and pulled pork. Poor Einstein, Mel had forgotten to warn him! He spent most of the day in the truck. All of us were working so hard we didn't remember to eat anything! Though we did snack on Mel's bag of chips while we all sat in the truck during the BIG storm that blew through! Mel had to stay outside and keep cooking but she made sure we were safe, but it did mean no more photos for a long time.
At the end the sun came back out and the sponsor wanted some photos, so here Mel posed with the guy who provided the sauces, and her dad. And some of the trophies they have won for their cooking!
Check out this funny one Dad just won in Texas this spring! It looks like a TV sized outhouse! (if you see a little red there, it is Willy W hiding inside!)
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Posted Aug 26, 2011, 3:36 pm Last edited Aug 26, 2011, 3:37 pm by kessalia
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Jackson, MI, USA - 28th August 2011
By: kessalia
Hello! This weekend Mel used her one day off to take us to a Civil War muster in Jackson, Michigan! The American Civil War started 150 years ago.
We wandered through some shops which had historical costume supplies and other interesting things. The girls were looking at hoop skirts and hats, but us boys thought that the uniforms and weapons were more interesting!
The big event of the day was a reenactment of the Battle of Bethel Church which happened in Virginia in June of 1861.
The Union troops lined up right in front of us!
Then they marched over the hill to attack the southern troops. There were canons also, that were really loud.
We missed a lot of the battle because it happened over that hill, but all of the good seats were taken.
The Union troops were attacking a fortified Rebel position with half as many men.
Despite having the advantage of numbers, the Union ended up having to retreat, mostly because of confusion between units, it seems. At one point in the real battle, some of the Union troops were shooting at each other!
Here the Union is trying to regroup for one last charge, but it didn't succeed and they retreated all the way back to the city. The Rebels only lost one soldier in the fight.
On the way out, Mel walked over to another part of the park to see if the big fountain was running, for BineHH, but it wasn't. But we did find a 9-11 memorial with an actual part of one of the World Trade Center buildings. We decided it would be a good place for group shot!
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Posted Aug 30, 2011, 6:35 pm
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Port Huron, MI, USA - 21st September 2011
By: kessalia
Hello Mum! We just got home from a vacation! We had so much to do that I couldn't update from the road, so i will catch you up on all of my adventures!
We left from mel's home in grand haven early in the morning. By lunchtime we were at the border! We stopped for lunch in Port Huron, and then went looking for a certain park that Mel had heard about. The waterfront there, on the St Clair River, was very nice! That's Canada on the other side of the river!
Mel found the park she was looking for farther upstream. It was mostly a stop for Einstein but the rest of us enjoyed it too! Look Mum, I am posing with Thomas Edison, the great inventor! He spent some of his childhood here in Port Huron.
Then we crossed over the border into Canada. Vanilla had done it before and told us not to worry. Then we rode along the whole way through that part of Ontario to Niagara Falls, in a heavy rain! Mel had to drive the whole way and was tired by the time we got back over the border. Then her Mom took over and got us to Rochester, New York, for our first night's hotel.
The hotel was okay, and we got up early the next morning for more exploring! We went for breakfast, then since we were already closest to downtown, we went to see the Great Falls. They are right in the heart of town, since the city used the waterfall to power mills and factories as it was being built.
Then we went to see a huge mansion and gardens, that used to belong to george Eastman. He is the man who invented kodak film, and it made him very rich!
This is his coservatory. It had a lot of plants and trophy animals he had shot on safari. No lions luckily! At least not in the rooms we were allowed in. Whew!
This is the library. He was a world traveller, and I am too!
This is the only place I DID see a lion, on this fountain.
We had two more stops that day - it was a very full day of sight-seeing! One that Mel took us to see was the Erie Canal! have you heard of it, Mom? This is one of the locks, that raise and lower ships along the way.
We stayed that night in Geneva, New York, but got there just before bed time. Many more adventures were planned for the next day! I'll post those later, promise!
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Posted Sep 29, 2011, 12:59 am
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Watkins Glen, NY, USA - 23rd September 2011
By: kessalia
Mel apologizes for the delay, but she is determined to catch up so that she can post the new holiday activities, so here we go!
Today was Mel's day to take photos, so we started at a state park known for it's waterfalls!
This is the first one we saw, before we walked all of the way up the stream inside the gorge! It is called Entrance Falls.
This is me by one of the biggest falls in the park.
This is a falls outside the park. It is right on the edge of a town, and you can see the falls down the main street. There was a nice park there to pose in.
For the evening, we went to the Corning Museum of Glass. It was very interesting! We got to watch an artist make a sea turtle out of hot glass.
We also explored displays of artowrk made from glass, from all through human history! Some was amazing, and very beautiful!
We got back very late that night, since we saw so much! Mel took a ton of photos and we learned a lot, too!
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Posted Dec 13, 2011, 12:48 am
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Seneca Falls, NY, USA - 24th September 2011
By: kessalia
Today was Mel's birthday! In the morning, we drove to Seneca Falls, New York. It is famous mostly for being the "Birthplace of Women's Right,s" the town where the women who started America's suffrage movement met and planned. We visited both the National Women's Hall of Fame, and the Women's Rights National Park.
In the National Park, we all posed for this fun photo! I decided to be a fireman! Everyone got jobs that they would like to do.
In the city's tourist information building, Willy_W and I played firemen for real! The city was teh home of the factory that inventing the pumps for these old fire engines! Could you imagine having to fight big fires while pumping by hand? Even if you were bigger than us?
After Seneca Falls, we drove to meet real Seneca people! We went to a living history event at Ganondagan Historical Site as they had an education day for people to learn about the city that their ancestors built, and the culture of the tribe.
This is a longhouse like the people would have lived in long ago.
We settled down on the lawn to watch a reenactment of when the French Voyager Lasalle came to ask the Seneca for help in exploring the Great Lakes. This man is a historian for the tribe, he narrated the meeting.
We stayed in a really nice hotel foom that night! It had a pool and super comfy beds, Mel enjoyed her birthday, I think.
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Posted Dec 13, 2011, 1:00 am
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Castile, NY, USA - 25th September 2011
By: kessalia
Today was Mel's Mom's birthday! She wanted to start heading back towards Michigan, but not quite yet. So we went west to another State Park, this one calls Letchworth. It was a lovely valley with huge waterfalls! The weather this day was the best of the whole trip.
After that, we kept going west until we got to Pennsylvania. We were only there for a couple of hours, there is just one tiny bit of that state that stucks up to touch Lake Erie.
Then just as quickly we were in Ohio! Three states in one day? We stopped for a quick break to see Lake Erie.
Then another hotel for the night, because the next day it woudl be back to Michigan! But we had the whole day to get there, so we made a sight seeing stop in Marblehead, Ohio. It is near Cedar Point, a famous amusemnt park, but thepark was not open. We coudl see it from accross the bay though. The day was rainy and windy, so we did not stay long.
This is the lighthouse at Marblehead, one of the oldest on the Great Lakes.
It was nice to get back to the house and rest! But it was also a very fun vacation.
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Posted Dec 13, 2011, 1:09 am
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Grand Haven, MI, USA - 12th December 2011
By: kessalia
October and November were a blur! Mel was busy making up for her vacation, and they started to work on fixing up the house, too. So I am going to pile all of the fun that we had into one or two posts, okay mum?
Halloween! We used it mostly as an excuse to dress up! Alex the doll wanted to be a Jedi and he talked Raven and Amelie into playing along. But then of course we all wanted to dress up, too! I got the coolest costume, I made the helmet myself! Do you know which Star Wars character I dressed as?
Then Sunny_HH came! He was bundled up good, so I helped him out of his envelope and into the world again!
At the end of November, the USA celebrated Thanksgiving. Mel had to work on the day of, so we did our big dinner the day before. We helped decorate! Tyler and Madison helped us, they colored the pumpkins.
Look at all of the food! I want some of the turkey!
And now we are decorating for the Decemeber holidays! So we are still busy, but at least Mel finally got my travelogs caught up so I can post new photos for Christmas and Yule! No snow yet, but we keep hoping.....
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Posted Dec 13, 2011, 1:17 am
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