Vote For Me, Please

Hi Everyone!

I just entered American Girl Fan's Summer Fun Photo Contest, and I would love it if you voted for me!!!  I am number 69, and my picture is under "Grace."  Click here to vote.  Please vote for me!

Have a great day!

~Grace

Our Entries For The Pink Dancer's Contest

Hi Everyone!

The Pink Dancer is having a photo contest!!  Both Lindsay and I are entering.  It is super fun, and the theme is "Beach."  Here are our entries:

Grace's Entry:

Elizabeth with the water foaming at her feet.

Lindsay's Entry:

Lindsay took this fabulous picture of me standing on a rock in the water.

2 New Followers and Movie Tab

Hello!

I hope everybody had a nice weekend!  Thank you to my 2 new followers Grace and Kylee!!!  I get so excited when somebody new follows me, so if you like what you read, please follow! ;)

I was thinking that I would start a new tab/page on my blog about the movies I've watched this summer.  I'll start from June 1st, and go on from there.  It will take me a little while to get it up, because I'll have to look at what I've watched this summer.  What do you think?

I would love to hear about movies that you have watched and enjoyed, because it is hard to find good movies sometimes.  Have a nice night!

~Grace

The Hair Salon

Hello!  This is an AG Photo Story that I made with Lindsay and my friend Claire.  To see Claire's Blog, click here, and to see her YouTube Channel, click here.  Here is the story:

{door opens}
Josefina: "Hello!"

Audrey and Kate: "Hello!"  

Josefina:  "Welcome to Tangled!  Are you the 1 o'clock?"  

Audrey and Kate:  "Yes, yes we are."  

Josefina:  "Great!  Your stylist will be right out."  

Audrey and Kate:  "Thank you!"

Audrey: "Hey Kate!  Look at all of these great magazines!"

Kate: "Oooooo!  I'm going to read Dance Teacher."

Audrey: "I'm going to read Pointe.  Elizabeth is a dancer, and she said it's a good magazine."

Hailey: "Hello, my name is Hailey.  I will be your stylist today.  Come take a seat."

Audrey: "I'm so excited!"  

Kate: "Me too!"  

Hailey: {rustling around trying to find the hairbrush} "So, what would you like me to do with your hair today?"  

Audrey: "I would like a surprise hairstyle."  

Hailey: "OK, that will be fun.  What about you, Kate?"  

Kate: "First, I would like to have my hair curled, and then, I would love to have some Drop Braids."  

Hailey: "OK, I can do that.  Ah, here is the hairbrush!"

Hailey: "I'm going to curl your hair, and then I'm going to let it dry while I work on Audrey's hair."  

Kate: "OK, sounds great!"

Hailey: "I'm going to start out by brushing your hair."

Hailey: "Your hair is so pretty, Audrey!"  

Audrey: "Thank you!"  

Hailey: "This hairstyle is going to look great on you."

Hailey: "And now for the final touches.  Brush the hair..."

Hailey: "...and blow dry.  You're all done!"

Hailey: "Here, you can look in the mirror."  

Audrey: "Wow, it looks great!  Thank you!"  

Hailey: "You're welcome!  I'm glad you like it!"

Hailey: "OK, Kate.  Back to you.  I'm going to finish drying your hair, and then I'll start on the Drop Braids."  

Kate: "OK."

Hailey: "I'm almost done.  This is the last braid."

Hailey: "What do you think?"
Kate: "It looks so pretty!  Thank you so much!"
Hailey: "You're welcome!  It looks really great on you."
Kate: "Thanks!"

Audrey: "Thank you so much, Hailey!  See you soon!  Bye!"  

Hailey: "Bye!"

Josefina: "Goodbye!  See you next time!"

Audrey and Kate: "Thank you!  Bye!"

Here are pictures of the girls' hairstyles:

Audrey's Hairstyle:

Kate's Hairstyle:

Starring:

Josefina as "The Receptionist"

Kate as Herself

Audrey as Herself

Elizabeth as "Hailey the Hairdresser"

I hope you liked it!  Don't forget to check out Claire's Blog and YouTube Channel!

~Grace

McKenna Shoots For the Stars

Last night, the girls went to the premier of "McKenna Shoots For the Stars" in their pajamas.  They had so much fun!!!

Sophie: "Hello, and welcome to Grace's Movie Theater!  What can I get for you today?  Our special today is Tex Mex popcorn."  

Audrey: "We'd like 2 orders of Tex Mex popcorn."  

Sophie: "Here you go."  

Audrey and Elizabeth: "Thank you!"

Audrey: "Here's my ticket."  

Sophie: "Thank you!"

Elizabeth: "Here's mine."  

Sophie: "Thank you! Enjoy the movie!"

{watching the previews}
Elizabeth: "Will the previews ever end?  I just want to see the movie!"
Audrey: "I know!!"

{claps and whistles from the audience}

Audrey: "It's starting!!"
Elizabeth: "YAY!!"

{fully engrossed in the movie}

My Overall Review:

It was a cute movie, but it wasn't my favorite AG film.  (my favorite AG movie is Kit)  I thought that they wandered from the books too much; many events were changed and/or left out, and character descriptions differed on film from the books.  Don't get me wrong; I did enjoy it, but I think they could have stuck to the original story more.  One of my favorite scenes in the movie was "Toulane Spies On McKenna."  I loved how they incorporated all of the gymnastics into that particular scene.  I also liked (even though this wasn't in the book) the "Wheelchair Race" scene.  That was fun.  Overall, it was a good movie; I would have preferred it follow the book more closely is my only real criticism.

Did you watch the premiere last night?  I would love it if you commented and let me know what you thought of the movie

~Grace

Clancy Drew {Guest Post By Madeline}

Hi, my name is Madeline!  I have the pleasure of posting on Grace's blog. :)

Meet Clancy Drew:

Clancy Drew is Nancy Drew's granddaughter {when Mrs. Drew and her husband got married, Nancy didn't change her last name!  Mr. Drew decided to stick with it}.  She goes to Midview Drive Elementary with her best friend, Elle.  To read Clancy and Elle's latest adventure, click here!

From Clancy:

Elle and I were walking back to school.  We hadn't changed clothes, because nobody saw us. :)

We were still shocked from the disappearance of the yearbook photos, and rather frightened.  Who would do this to Midview Drive Elementary?!  I think that's why we fell when we heard our names being called!

"Oh, gosh," Katrina said, "I'm so sorry!"  Katrina put out a hand to help me up.  Katrina lives two houses down from Elle's, and even though we aren't the best of friends, we are still friendly.

"But I've got a case for you, Clancy Drew," Katrina said excitedly, "Look at this... this is the hard drive the yearbook photos were on!  I plugged it into my computer, and more than half of the photos are gone!!"

"NO," cried Elle distractedly.  Elle had worked very hard on the yearbook photos, and even just one photo missing would be horrible!  "Thanks Katrina.  We already knew, but you gave us a clue!  Now we can find out who's picture to take," I said as Katrina waved goodbye, walking to her school.  "What are we going to do," wailed Elle.

Even though the third part of Clancy's mystery isn't up yet it can be found later here!

~Madeline (and Clancy :) 

4th of July and Catching Up

Hello Everyone!

First, I want to say THANK YOU to my new follower Jess!  I now have 4 followers!  I'm so excited!  Also, I started a "My Reading" tab, so now you can see what I'm reading.  I started from what I've read since June 1st.

Second, Happy 4th of July! (Late)  I hope everybody had a really nice day.  We went on a bike ride into town, hung out for a while, and went to our favorite pizza place.  Then, we went home and had yummy BBQ'd burgers.  Yum!  Later, we went into town again, (by car this time) and watched the fireworks show with some friends.  We were able to see 3 or 4 different fireworks shows from the beach we were at.  Of course, the only one that wasn't minuscule was the one we were up close to.  It was a lot of fun, and the fireworks were HUGE!!!  One really cool thing that we noticed was that the fireworks created a continuous echo in the basin.  It sounded like somebody was playing the drums.  It was really fascinating!  What did you do on the 4th?  Please leave me a comment and let me know.

I know I haven't been on a consistent post schedule, so let me bring you up to date:

At the end of June, I had a big Double Feature dance show.  Double Feature means 2 shows in 1.  We did "Don Quixote" (ballet) and "The Wizard of Oz" (every other style of dance that our studio does).  It was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of work.  The shows were fantastic!

The past 11 days, our friends have been up at their cabin, which is right next door to ours.  We met them 3 years ago when they came up here.  We have been building a fort with them every summer.  It is kind of funny, because every year we are rushing to finish up the fort the day before they leave so we can play in it.  We call it "Fort Pine."  I guess we have more fun building the fort, than actually playing in it.

Last week, a friend took us on a beautiful hike in the Desolation Wilderness.  We started out in the forest, but then it transitioned into gigantic slabs of granite.  We kept going back and forth between hiking in the forest and on granite "plains."  To mark paths, people make "trail ducks,", which are little stacks of rocks.  Our friend was teaching Lindsay and I about finding the trail and had us go in front and lead everyone.  I did pretty well, so I was in front for most of the time.  We found a nice spot to eat our lunch right next to a stream.  The water was fairly warm, and we walked around and explored for a while.  When we finished eating, we went to a swimming hole that was up a little further.  Right above the swimming hole, there was a little pool of water that was warm.  We called it "the bathtub."  It was so beautiful and fun to swim in!  I have never swam in a natural swimming hole, so it was extra special for me personally.  My mom found a caterpillar, and we all found it so interesting and fun to hold.  Except Lindsay.  She was very scared, and didn't want to hold it at first.  She conquered her fears, and held it for quite a while, and discovered it was very fun to hold.  We were so proud of her for overcoming her fears and being okay with it afterwards.  It was such an amazing hike, and we plan on going back soon, because in a couple weeks, it will be blooming with wild flowers, and the water will be even warmer.  The hike was wonderful, and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous.

Also last week, we got to go on a boat ride on our friends' boat.  It was a lot of fun!  I even got to drive the boat a little bit in Emerald Bay, which is where we went.  We also retrieved 2 hats from the water.  One is a very stylish girl's hat that Lindsay was very excited about, because she loves hats.  It was pretty funny that we found 2, much less that we were able to rescue them from the lake!  After we got back, we had lunch on the little patio area on the top of their boathouse.  We then hung out and talked for a while, and I actually got a little bit tan!!!!  This is exciting for me, because it is very hard for me to tan without burning.  We had a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures:

I made 4th of July cupcakes for a BBQ.

Elizabeth in her patriotic colors!

Happy 4th of July!

This is a fun picture of my friends and I in our colorful costumes!

At the beginning of the hike by a little pond.

The granite "plains."

An interesting little lily we noticed.

If you look really closely, you can see a little lizard in the middle of the picture on the rock.

2 beautiful butterflies!

A swimming hole.

These are the roots of a fallen tree.

The big dark strip in the center is all water.

In "the bathtub."

Holding the caterpillar.

These are Hemlock trees.  John Muir named them "gossipers of the forest" because the tips of the trees are tilted towards each other like they are whispering secrets.

A trail duck.

Kooper sleeping in his crate.  He likes to sleep in there a lot, and I thought this was sooooo cute!

There was a bear in our backyard the other morning eating carpenter ants out of a rotten log.  He is so cute!

We have had a really nice summer so far. We have been doing lots of fun stuff, and we plan to do more. Have you done anything fun this summer, or do you have any plans? Please comment and let me know! :)

~Grace

P.S. I don't have any pics of Fort Pine right now, but I will take some soon. :)