June 30, 2012

Big Helper!

Alyson's Exciting Events of the Day:

 

• I slept well last night, though I don't think Mommy or Daddy did. Daddy was only in bed for about three hours, then went right back to work on getting camp ready for next week's campers.
• After I woke up, Mommy and I got ready and went up the hill to the office. Things looked very different today. The road up to the office was covered in tree limbs and leaves and there were downed trees all the way up the hill on both sides of the road. Mommy didn't even drive all the way to the top of the hill because she knew we wouldn't be able to drive though the parking lot, so she put me in my stroller and we walked the rest of the way up. She warned me that I would not be able to run around up there like I have been because it is dangerous (whatever that means). There were some strange wires laying across the parking lot and everyone kept walking around them. No one could drive over them. Mommy and I walked around and we saw more and more trees down, near the dining hall, trading post, and the nature trail was completely covered with many trees. I could hear chainsaws in the distance and everyone kept asking what else they could do to help. Daddy has a great staff working with him this year. He should be proud!
• After touring part of the camp to survey the damage, Mommy and I packed our things and picked up Kendall and headed home. Mommy said something about worrying about having enough gas to get home. I'm not sure why she was worried... there are dozens of gas stations on the way. As we drove though, I noticed that none of the gas stations were open. When we did finally see a gas station that was working, there were at least 20 cars in line to get gas, so Mommy kept driving. Finally, near Seneca Rocks, we stopped and were only the 6th car in line and were able to fill up with gas, but then we couldn't find any place to stop to eat since all of the restaurants were closed too. We didn't find a town with power (besides generators) until Wardensville (over 100 miles).
• We finally stopped to eat in Winchester (nearly home). After a quick lunch we took Kendall home and then went to our house. Other than a few limbs at home and having no power, we were in good shape. I immediately played with my toys. I rode my plane, my bus, and even rocked on my rocking horse.... and hugged Gemma, of course. I was so happy to be home!
• I wanted "manas" (bananas), so Mommy and I went to the store to get a couple of things. When we returned home and were packing a few things into coolers, the power came back on... Mommy was so happy!
• Mommy had already decided to go to Carol's in-laws house for dinner and to escape the hot house, so we went anyway to give the AC time to cool the house a bit. We had yummy pizza and I also had a bite of a cupcake and animal crackers. I loved playing with Daisy, and Chip!
• It felt great to have a bath and get back to my normal nighttime routine. It's good to be home!

Is there a nature trail under there?

Nature's fury!

In line for gasoline

June 29, 2012

Alyson's Exciting Events of the Day:

 

• I slept in until after 9:30!!!  Mommy says I've never done that before... she was so happy to get to sleep in too!
• After getting ready, we went to see Daddy up the hill at the office, then headed to the dining hall to get some cereal since we slept through the official breakfast.  After eating, I grabbed the broom and tried to help clean up the mess around our table.  I love this broom since it is just my size.
• We walked around camp a little bit and helped in the office.  I had to stop many times to smell the flowers on the office porch.  I also stopped in the parking lot to pick up rocks to give to Daddy.
• After lunch, Mommy and Daddy took me swimming in the lake with my new lifevest.  I loved it!  I kicked and splashed.  Daddy videoed me, but Mommy didn't get the video to post on here.  She will post it to Facebook once she gets it from Daddy.
• Swimming made me tired, so I went back to the cabin to take a nap until nearly dinner time. 
• After dinner, we spent a little time with Daddy in the office where we heard about some bad storms that were coming our way.  Mommy got on the computer and played meteorologist and after everyone looked at the radar of the approaching storm, campfire was cancelled and everyone prepared for the storm.  Mommy and I went back to the cabin by ourselves and spent some time in the bathroom with a headlamp as our only light.  She said it was the safest place we could be in that building since it was the innermost room and it had no windows.  We listened to the camp radio as Daddy talked about all of the trees coming down all around them and though Mommy was trying to hide it, I could tell she was a little nervous.  Instead of worrying too much about it, we read books, sang songs, and even made shadow puppets on the wall.  After the worst of the storm was over, we sat in the corner of the living room away from all of the windows and read books and played with Mommy's ipad until it was my nite-nite time.  I'm not sure why we skipped medicine time or why there were no lights on, but I slept pretty good until morning.

(Note from Mommy:  this date is the only day so far this year that the blog has not been posted on the date about which it is written...  I think this storm and no power was a good excuse!)

June 28, 2012

Alyson's Exciting Events of the Day:

• Woke up to find out that we were going to camp to see Daddy today and I was so happy!
• Mommy and I had boiled eggs and biscuits for breakfast. Yum!
• I helped Mommy pack the suitcase and load the car, then we hit the road toward camp.
• I slept from before Inwood all the way to Wardensville, then Mommy and I sang and danced a lot of the way. I also read my books too.
• Once at camp I gave Daddy big hugs and kisses. I got to wear an old scout shirt for the flag lowerIng ceremony. I loved hearing Daddy yell to make his announcements. He's so silly!
• After dinner I helped judge the Dutch Oven cooking contest, then we went to town where I danced while we listened to some bluegrass music. After that we went to the park to play before heading back to camp.
• What a busy day!




 



 

June 27, 2012

Alyson's Exciting Events of the Day:

• When I woke up this morning Mommy let me watch Curious George on the ipad while we cuddled in her bed.  She seemed tired so I let her rest a little longer.
• I couldn't wait for breakfast to be ready to have my banana, so I grabbed it from the counter and helped myself to it.  I ate nearly half of it before breakfast, and then I ate the other half.
• I looked super cute in my colorful outfit today...  I was so excited to wear my brand new shoes, so Mommy let me, even though the didn't completely match.
• Mommy and I spent what seemed like forever (an hour or more) at a place called DMV.  There were lots of people there.  It was really boring, except when I saw Courtney and Travis.  I was so excited to see them.  When it was their turn and they went to the counter, I kept yelling "Travis!  Courtney!" over and over again.  They could hear me across the room and giggled at me.  When they were finished they came back over to talk to me a little longer and I told them "Sit Down!" and pointed to the seats beside Mommy.  They couldn't stay more than a few minutes, but it was still nice talking to them.  I wonder where Ms. Cheri was today...  I miss her!
• After being such a good girl at DMV, Mommy took me to Chick-fil-a for lunch.  I at chicken, fries, fruit, and yummy chocolate milk.  I even got to play in the play area there before we left.  It was very loud since there were lots of kids, so I told Mommy "loud."  We finally left when more kids came in and Mommy thought it was getting too crowded.
• After a long nap at home, Mommy and I played and she started cooking and making a huge mess.  She said she was making cookies to take to Daddy and his friends at camp.  All I know is all of this white powdered stuff kept falling to the floor and I kept saying "Uh Oh!  Mess!"  She said she would clean it up so I didn't have to.  I have gotten to be quite the helper around the house, cleaning up my own messes as well as everyone elses.  I also took it upon myself to make sure the kitty cats have food in the mornings.
• After dinner, Mommy and I went to look around a couple of store.  I had what Mommy calls a melt-down at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  I really made Mommy mad when I was being silly and I hit her in the face and took of her glasses.  I don't like seeing Mommy mad or upset, so I promised to be a "good girl."
• Mommy and I spent a few minutes sitting on the porch watching the cars and people go by, then Carol and Mommy and I walked to Dairy Queen.  This time Mommy bought me my very own ice cream cone and I held it nearly the entire time.  I felt like such a big girl.

Boo boo for Mommy to kiss

Big girl holding Mommy's DMV number

June 26, 2012

Alyson's Exciting Events of the Day:

• When I woke up this morning, Mommy was slow moving... she must have been tired from yesterday.  Once she got moving, she took me to Dunkin' Donuts for a blueberry cake donut and milk.  I had to wait until I got home to eat my banana since they didn't have one.  The donut was delicious!
• I helped Mommy do a couple of chores around the house and then Mommy made me a yummy grilled cheese for lunch.  I decided to eat my peaches first, then didn't want to eat much of my sandwich.  Mommy thinks it is sad that she usually saves the fruit for last so I will eat something besides fruit at meal times.  While she was cooking, I decided to get the pasta strainer out of the cabinet and wear it as a hat.  She laughed and laughed.
• I spent about 10-15 minutes sitting in the floor watching PBS shows on Mommy's ipad.  My favorites are Curious George and Syd the Science Kid.  On Syd the Science Kid, they were learning about yoga and since I see Mommy doing yoga with other teacher friends, I already knew some of the moves, so I laid down the ipad and tried to do a move of my own.  Mommy thought I was so cute trying to do yoga.
• After my nap, we left the house.  While Mommy was locking the front door of the house, I saw a leaf on the porch.  Before she could tell me no, I was on my hands and knees licking the leaf off of the porch.  I then stuck my tongue out and started wiping it with my hand saying yuck!  Mommy was grossed out, but was also laughing too.  I saw that we had more roses that had bloomed, so I asked Mommy to cut them.  I loved smelling them and helping put them in water.
• Mommy and I did a little shopping.  Mommy bought me a new pair of shoes which I wanted to wear in the store.  Mommy tried one on my foot to make sure it would fit, then I cried because I wanted to wear both of them and walk around.  I was getting really cranky because I was tired of being in the cart and wanted to get out and walk on my own.  We went to Home Depot and I got to drive the racecar cart.  Mommy told me I was a great driver!
• At dinner Mommy gave me a tiny bit of her sweet tea and mixed it in with my water...YUM!
• After shopping and dinner, we went to walk with Carol, Chip, and Nita.  We walked to the park, then I stayed and played with Chip and Nita while Mommy and Carol walked.  When Mommy and Carol returned, Mommy played on the slide with me.  It was so much fun!