Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas eve everyone! I am very excited to open presents tomorrow morning! I was very relived that it snowed a few weeks ago so we are in for a white Christmas this year >V< . Tsuki-mei and I immediatly explored the new landscape the following morning, it was the perfect light fluffy, yet compactibal, snow.

My mom made me clean up my room and tidy up but in exchange she let me have my very own tree this year! is it not the coolest?! i absolutely love it! I put my stocking at the end of my bed and cannot help peeking at it every few minutes.

What do you want for the holidays, does anyone have any family traditions?

XOXO ~Lanie

Fall flair

I can't believe it's October already! I have been so busy with school and friends that the time has just flown by! Mom made me completely clean my room. everything is put away and tidy again, it was looking like an earthquake had struck it. but now it has the clean room feel.
We went back-to-school shopping the last week of august for a new backpack, supplies and some uniform pieces, the store had a very cute selection, I got everything I needed with the help of my school supplies list.

I had to walk past all of these amazing clothes! boo, I need to wear a uniform!

This is me modelling my uniform! 

 School has been great, we have a few new students too! the 6th grade classroom is so much bigger and nicer than the 5th grade classroom. it has a science bench and we get pet gerbil named Frankie, he's adorable!

This September was the driest September in the records! It was nice while it lasted but now we have to run through the rain to school, or get soaked.

Edmonton travels

Last week I was lucky enough to go on a trip to edmonton, I was so excited !
this is in jasper national park, this photo was taken a few minutes before it started to pour with rain, you can sort of see the mountains behind me.

 this is at one of the beaches that is infected by the blue-green algae. the stuff sucks the oxygen out of the water so that the fish can't breathe! it was very smelly. I was careful to wash my feet off before I left as to not spread any algae to other lakes.

 while in the city of edmonton we went to the latin festival, I saw some dancers getting ready for a performance, it was pretty cool.

I had a great time in edmonton, I did go to the water park in west edmonton mall but my Camera died! :/
~Lanie

River Rapids

I went to the river last week, It was very hot out! I'm glad that it's cooling down now. I wore my new swimsuit that mom bought me for my birthday. We've been going to this river since I was little! It's a very nice walk to get there, We drive to the trailhead and then hike down the trail to any beach area, most of it is rocky though, which is usually empty depending on what time you go.

 this time we found a small trail that lead to a partially sandy and private riverside beach! we took this really mossy trail to get to it, We even saw this worty toad while climbing back up.

Birthday Surprise!

 I spent almost an hour on invitations, but I had help from Piper, they got sent out and I got 100% afirmative RSVP's!
Around noon a about a week back, the day finally came for me to have my 12th birthday party! I invited all my friends over and had a great time! We had a round of hide-and-seek in the yard and just played around for a bit. Mom called us in for snacks and to open presents.

look at this stash!

 

I love my presents! I got a whole bunch of stuffs!

including a rilakkuma toaster set for ruthie, from Gia.

and new Jammies from auntie.

 A whole bunch of crafts from Piper, she's very crafty and knows where to find these things.

 A robo park from kirsten, she says she got it in a french museum!

then mom round us all out into the front yard, to open her presents. I recieved 1. tankini, 1 bikini and  a one-piece. "what gives mom, what's with all the swimsuits?"

She then made one awesome answer.

"well, your going to need them for the West Edmonton mall and Siba Beach!"

we freaked out, I was estatic! Alberta, specifically Jasper and Edmonton, may be my most favorite place in the world. I've heard that the waterpark in the mall has a new slide, I hope  I'll be tall enough to ride it!

My aunt and cousins live in edmonton, I'm super excited to see them again! 

The girls slept over for the night.

We had a great time and look forward to photos from our upcoming trip.

Party planners.

 Today was so nice out I just had to get outside, but my mom told me to get my party plans done, so why not bring my work with me? Gia is the best planner and she's so organized so we went outside together and made arrangements.

My birthday is on July 27th and my "party party" will follow soon after my family one. Gia helped me plan the guest list, invitation ideas and party games. It's going to be lots of fun! We walked and talked around the vineyard, it's such a beautiful place, I love it in the summer. I love summer in general though, with the warm air, swimming, school break and getting to read what ever you want whenever you want.

 

I really look forward to seeing my family altogether again, it always seems to turn into a mini family reunion!

Seattle Start-up.

This past Wednesday and Thursday my mom and grandma took me to the Seattle American girl store, and they said I could bring a friend too! I chose Kirsten to come with me, we had a great time together. It was a long ride there and we were exhausted by the time we got there, but we had trouble falling asleep, we kept giggling and talking until Mom had to remind us what time it was.

 We were so excited to go that we didn't know what, or who, to pack. Mom made us settle with one stuffy and one doll in the end.

  Here we are settling in to bed, I put curls in the whole night and most of the car ride so my hair would be extra curly the next day.

Here we are before we left!

the mall wasn't open so we took a few pictures and then walked around for a little while. We had smoothies for breakfast and browsed the store windows until American girl opened their doors.

 we were the first ones thru the doors! I spent most of the visit in the spa, I got the pampering plus package, it was very relaxing and I felt so nice afterwords. The spa girls loved my dress and boots, I felt very special when they noticed.

we were very happy with the trip by the time we were done shopping. We saw many different stores such as Build-a-Bear and a Sanrio store.

this was an amazingly fun trip and I would love to do it again with another friend, we go every summer, so let me know if anyone else wants to come along next year ^.^

Last day Extra

I forgot to mention some exciting news! Well, I will start from the beginning. After the rites of passage and last day events had ended Kirsten and I went back to our classroom to grab our bags.

when our teacher Ms.Emily approached us.
We talked for a bit then bid our farewells, oops, I had almost forgotten to say good-bye to Hime and Ponyo, our class pet fish.
``Oh, Lanie I almost forgot, Poor ponyo and Hime don`t have anywhere to stay this summer. I wonder if you could take care of them? Ms. Emily inquired.
``I would love too!!` I replied.
Well I have a small summer project and I love them!

Happy canada day!

Yay! It's a great day today!! It's the perfect weather to go parade watching, I can't hardly wait.

Schools out!

I'm so glad that school is out, no more homework or long hours of work ^.^ My school got out on the 15th of june. I'm still waiting for my report card. . . I hope it's okay. Anyways on the last week of school we had a sort of fun fair/ sports day and remember that "great idea" a while back? well it finally came to life, I set up a really cute stand and sold erasers, stationary, books that sort of thing. I even got free ice cream for it! it was really fun setting up and managing it all by myself (well sasha was an assistant ;)

I took the photo while sasha held my ice cream for me. it was a really fun day and I even made some money out of it. it was a great kick-off to a great summer ^.^

And not only that but after Some of the girls from school and I went on a camp out in the back field to sleep out under the stars, it was great fun we got to talk and giggle all night long.

 What about you guys?

Surprise!

The other day I was day dreaming on my bed about the new movie mom had promised to find with me the following weekend, School had been exhausting after a million laps that morning so I thought I deserved some peace.
then I noticed something. . . different, I looked around and made my discovery; Mom must have come in and brought me a green tea mochi (my favorite is the red bean filled one) before I came home from school, om nom!!!

but that wasn't it, I looked around again and found what eyes was looking for. two purple little cards and an adorable button!!!!!! the most adorable cards can only be from one person. . . Inky!
thanks a trillion Inky!

Tree hut!

Hey, Lanies back! did you miss me? ;)
as soon as Kirsten got home, this was about two weeks ago, she called me up and we played outside in the large field behind our houses (not sure who owns it, the town maybe?) and built a tree hut while she told me about the trip. "the jaguar XKR is my favorite, how about you-'  " hey do you want to watch some tonight" "Yeah sure-"
we ended up with something like this:

 We built up a little camp fire pit and everything I really wanted to camp out overnight but alas it was a sunday, and that meant no late-night camping trips.

so now it has been two or three weeks since then and the weather has been so nice. I have decided to camp-out this long weekend (Victoria day in canada) with someone, maybe even two someones ^,^
keep you posted!

Helsinki, Hanko and home.

We stayed in Helsinki for 2 nights and then headed to Hanko. Hanko is a few hours away from the capitol and is a very popular summer town. I loved our whole stay there! it was very quiet as we were off season, I could imagin coming here every summer and swimming in the cool water and running from playground to playground. They had lots of cafes and stores that were closed until the summer.

ater hanko we drove the day away to my aunts and uncles summer cabin. they were on finlands deepest lake, it was also frozen at least 8inches deep and was covered with either snow or frost.

we are finally home and I have a boatload of schoolwork to catch up to and equal that in sleep ^.o
So I hope you guys enjoyed my writing, I'll hand the blog back over to lanie now. :)
~Kirsten

Paris baby!

I arrived in paris a few days ago!!! I really love it, although none of my family lives here. The first day we really only had time for dinner then needed some sleep, the train ride, 3 hours, wasn't very comfy unfortunatly. then yesterday we went out and saw the musee de l'armee, that is where Napoleon is buried. they also had a really interesting WWI + WWII exhibit. But before that we stopped in at the Rudin, where we saw "The thinker" statue. Today we went to Eiffle tower and arc de triomphe.
We didn't go up on the Eiffle because the lines were way too long XD but we did climb the 274 stairs to the top of the Arc.

 this is the amazing view!

Bye-bye! Finland is our stop on monday!

Travel post :Dartmouth

April 14^th

Today we went to the beach! After a long car ride and a few wrong turns we ended up on a very nice sandy beach.

 

After a yummy lunch of scampi and chips (It’s kind of like popcorn shrimp, at least the way I had it.) We headed over to Dartmouth castle to explore! This castle was used in WWII for defending the bay in which it overlooked; it is full of secret docks and landings for boats. We got to go up a flight of very skinny stairs to an outside platform with a wonderful view of the Atlantic Ocean.

The stones are so old that they are covered in moss and sea things. D:        

April 15^th

Today we went to the house(s) that my aunt and uncle used to own, and my dad grew up having his summers there. It was a huge house surrounded by gardens and fields of sheep. To the side of the houses they have a wonderful semi private beach; we saw a lot of people walking from town all the way up the enormous drive-way just to have a walk along the beach and hillside.

I had never been to this house before but I could almost feel the memories that had been made by my father, his friends and siblings. It was a little spooky XD Especially after mom told me a story about a ghost she saw O.O

Later

we ended up finding ourselves in the midst of a pirate invasion! they took me aboard their ship and held me hostage!!!

Just kidding we went aboard a ship that has been used in almost every movie in need of a good ship. It has been in pirates of the Caribbean and the last scene of Alice in wonderland, along with some other movies set in the Victorian age, but altogether it's been in a ton of films.

April 16th

Today I met my cousin, she is adorable and at only six years old she is very smart. :)

It is very nice having people to talk to and play with. She has let me play with her and her sylvanians, I miss my calico critters dearly,and she is very understanding.

I really do love it here in europe. my above all favorite thing is the shopping. I don't mean purchasing per say, but the fact that you can just browse about a few stores and not have any people jumping over you trying to sell a product, at least in the areas that I have been too, it might be different in the other places. ;)

bye for now! The next time you see me I think I'll be in paris, I believe we don't have internet at our hotel so apologies in advance if i'm a little slow on updates ^.^ 

Travel post 2: Stone Henge + plymouth

April 10^th

We just arrived at our hotel/ B&B, it’s a very lovely place. The owners have 2 dogs that remind me of my own and a few horses! We drove to stone hedge before arriving here, we took the teeny tiny twisty curvy roads lined with very tall hedges so we could hardly see if anyone was coming at us, it would have been easier at night to see the headlights to know when to pull over. Stone hedge was super cool, we bought a member card thing to all the heritage sites so we can skip the Que and get free parking/entrance fees. The site included a free audio guide but it was raining and cold when we went so I only really listened to half. ^.^

April 12th

Before arriving to our destination we made a pit stop to stretch our legs and get some fresh air, I found a nice little trail that wasn’t too windy.

 We are staying at my aunts and uncles house in Plymouth. Today we are going shopping and exploring.

This is me on my uncles’ boat/ yacht,

I got to feed all of their Kio fish and boy, do they have a lot of them! I enjoyed peacefully watching them swim and eat, My uncle said that they have 2 enormous eels in the pond but I'm not sure if they really do or not, I'll have to keep my eyes open for 'em ^.^

   

travel post!: England

It was very hard saying good-bye to Lanie and all my friends, not to mention my farm. I am such a country girl; I don’t know how I’ll react once I’m in such a big place like London. I hope I don’t get lost or overwhelmed or so jet lagged that I can’t get up, I’ve never had/ experienced jet lag ^.0 keep you posted.

So I wasn't able to post the first day we arrived because the laptop died and our hotel in London: A) Charged almost $20 for Internet and B) the plugs didn't work in my room (we did have one of those electric power plug in converters though).

So anyways we woke up 3 HOURS EARLY, to get to the flight. T.T It was long and fairly boring but we made it, while on the ferry boat I went exploring the top decks, it’s my favorite part of the whole ship. I love feeling the wind in my hair and breathing the fresh air.

The airport was very boring, I bought a strawberry Moshi find it book, it was very cute and kept me entertained for about an  hour after we went through security. While waiting for the plane I ran back and forth between the flat moving walk-ways, it was all fun until I noticed the rails were making my shirt sooty: P. I fell asleep for most of the plane ride, or read my book for English class. When we got our bags from the air port we hopped on a very busy tram way, It was above ground so I got to see some great views.

This is the view from my hotel room. I was surprised by how quiet it was at night, much more than Vancouver, I slept like a baby ;)

We took a well needed rest and took a stroll around the area; we ended up going to a wonderful East Indian pub for an early dinner. We spent the next day shopping, walking ,browsing and went to the National (art museum). My daddy took us on a wild goose chase finding his old favorite pub. My parents hadn’t been to England in many years. . .It took us at least 2 hours on foot to find it but was a fun adventure. ;)

The next day (April 6^th)

We went to the Victoria and Albert museum, it was INCREDIBLE!!! It was so huge that it would have taken me a week to go through and look and read about everything, interesting at least, XD. They had a spider silk exhibit on. They had a robe and blanket on display, this is the natural colour of spider silk, a beautiful golden yellow. Bye for now J

April 10^th Tuesday

The last few days have been driving and viewing little things here and there.  Yesterday while in Beaulieu we stopped in at the car museum. They had a special James bond exhibit on, it was spectacular! They showcased 50 of the cars used in the movies; it was the 50^th anniversary of James bond. My favorite thing was how they displayed the invisible car. You could only see it when a certain light shine on it, otherwise it would be invisible ;P

P my favorite car was just beside the last I mentioned, the Jaguar XKR convertible It’s a villains car but I love it!

We checked in a B&B with a lovely garden just outside the front door. Last night it raine and washed away the overcast and today is nice and sunny and warm, with a cold breeze.