Happy Halloween!

Hey guys! Long time no write, am I right? Happy (belated) Halloween! I hope everyone had a fun and safe night last night. It was raining here, but nevertheless we still went out trick-or-treating!

This year, I decided I would be a spider! The purple things under my arms are my extra legs, and I have two extra sets of eyes! My haul from the night lies at my feet.

I had some webs attached to my arms, too!

A closer look at my extra eyes!

I buddied up with Azalea to go trick-or-treating. Technically, Azalea isn't in costume; that's how she normally dresses. However, it was pretty last minute, and she decided it would be fitting.

Now I just have to be careful not to eat all my candy in one sitting! I'm no expert when it comes to self-control, especially with regards to candy. 

I can't believe it's November already! Where has all the time gone? I'm really sorry I haven't been posting very much! I had so much planned for you guys, but I've been WAY busier than I expected! I'll definitely try to post at least twice more this month. How was your Halloween? What do you do to celebrate? 

This has been Dani, dabbling in Halloween shenanigans. Over and out!

Back to the Grind!

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in so long! I've been SUPER busy with everything! Soccer practices, piano lessons, homework, school--I've had barely any free time!

I've had soccer games every weekend, and 3 hour practices Monday through Friday after school. 

On top of all that, I started my 7th grade year at school, though technically I'm still 11.

These are some pictures from the first day. I go to a private school, so we have to wear uniforms. This is my last year at the school, though, even though it goes through to high school; since I don't really age (because of the whole time traveling thing), it would be weird for me to not change along with my classmates. I'll keep being educated, but next year I'm probably going to be schooled through the MMTTB.

Sorry for not having posted in so long! It certainly feels good to be back, though. I have so much planned for fall! What have you been up to? Are you excited about fall?
This has been Dani, dabbling in getting back into the groove of things. Over and out!

Home Again!

Hey guys--sorry I haven't posted in a while! This post is certainly long overdue! Well, I returned home from Michigan early Saturday morning on the 17th of August. 

On our way home, though, we stopped by Niagara Falls on the Canadian side! It was around 9:00 at night when we got there, so it was pretty dark. The falls were all lit up, though, and it was so gorgeous! You could feel the ground under you vibrate as the sheer volume of water plummeted down. (Sorry about the quality of this photo--it was so dark, I had to use the special setting on my camera, but all of them turned out super blurry! This was the least blurry one I took.)

After spending about an hour there, we got back into the car and continued on our way home.

After about 10 more hours of driving, we finally got back to Maine! As I walked through the doors of the MMTTB, I heard one of my friends exclaim, "She's back! She's back!" and I was greeted by everyone waving at me frantically.

Molly, Emily, Nicki, and a girl I had never met before ran over to me. 

"It's so great to see you again Dani!" Molly squealed. Emily beamed at me.
"I'm so excited you're back! I missed you so much! Nicki cheered. "Oh, here, can I help you with some of your stuff?" she said, reaching for my sleeping bag.
"Of course, here, let me help too," Molly said, tugging at the strap of my backpack.

"Thanks everyone! It's great to see you all again, too!" I said as they backed away from me, bags in hand. "You can just put my stuff on the ground, I'll unpack later," I told them. 

"Why don't we go sit down? You must be tired," Emily said softly.

Everyone took her suggestion, and we all went over to the beds, where only Emily and I actually sat. The others hovered excitedly around me, anticipation in their eyes.

Almost as soon as I had sat down, Molly bombarded me with questions.
"How was it? Was it super fun? I bet it was! How was Chicago? Did you like Illinois? I live in Illinois you know! I've always thought it was swell!"
"It was so much fun! Chicago was a really nice city, and Illinois was nice too, though I'm partial to Maine. Michigan was amazing! All of it was so much fun, and I can't believe I'm home again. I wish you all could have come with me, though!" I told Molly.

I turned to Nicki.
"I'm so glad you had fun, Dani! I sure did miss you, though!" she said.

"Also, we had a new arrival while you were gone!" She said, gesturing to the girl I had never seen before. 

I got up and held out my hand. "Hi, I'm Dani! I'm from modern times. Well, 2013, to be exact. It's a pleasure to meet you!" I exclaimed. 

"I'm Addy Walker! I'm from Philadelphia in 1864. Pleased to meet you!" She said to me.

As we shook hands, I looked into her eyes. I was struck with this undeniable feeling that I had met her or seen her somewhere before, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

It's good to be home again, but I sure do miss Michigan! I had so, so, SO much fun! I hope that someday I can go back. Addy is really, really familiar. I still can't figure out where I've seen her before! I'm sure I'll figure it out sometime, though. 

This has been Dani, dabbling in returning home after fun vacations and meeting new people. Over and out!

My Last Day in Michigan!

Hi there internet friends! Last Thursday (the 15th of August) was my last day to do stuff in Michigan, as we were leaving in the morning on Friday. I hadn't really gotten a chance to go to a good beach to look for Petoskey stones, so we set out on a hunt for the awesome little fossils.

While walking along the beach, I noticed there were many spots just chock full of these little shells.

All the white in this photo are the little shells! There were piles and piles of them lining the shore!

After some walking with a little bit of luck, we came to this big pile of rocks. I was just sure I would be able to find something in there! I climbed up a little higher to search.

I found a comfortable enough spot among the rocks and began looking for some special rocks.

A few minutes later, a girl came over and sat a few feet away from me. I waved at her and said hello.

I invited her to come search with me. While we were looking, we talked a little bit. Her name was Charlotte, and it turns out she was visiting from Germany! 

We looked for nearly a half hour before one of us found something.

I found quite a few of these odd rocks. I began calling them "moon rocks", because they had so many little craters!

Charlotte found this nice Petoskey stone! It's a little hard to see the pattern, but once it's polished it will be easier to see.

I found this cool rock with a honey comb-like pattern! It wasn't exactly a Petoskey stone, but it was definitely a fossil!

I shared half of my sandwich and some grapes with Charlotte for lunch. Before I knew it, we both had to get going! We said goodbye and exchanged numbers; maybe I'll call her sometime! As I walked back along the beach to the car, I took one last, long look at Lake Michigan.

It was so beautiful! I never wanted to leave.

I'm going to miss all the people and places in Michigan SO much!! Those two weeks were the best of my life. I hope I'll get to go back someday! Have you gone anywhere special this summer? If so, where? If not, what have you done for fun?

This has been Dani, dabbling in Michigan. Over and out!

Swimming at Little Glen Lake!

Hi guys! A lot of my time in Michigan was spent at Little Glen Lake. We would play games on the beach, go tubing, and swim!

On this particular day, I went out swimming for a little while before hopping in the boat to go tubing. Little Glen Lake is called that for a reason--you could walk for yards and yards and never have the water get higher than your waist, if that. We had to take the boat to the very middle of the lake to go tubing. Even then, when I would jump off the boat to go swimming, my feet would touch the bottom. 

After tubing, I sloshed through the warm water over to the dock, where I sat down to dry off and relax.

I dabbled my toes off the dock as water dripped from my hair and down my back and legs. I even watched a few teeny tiny fish swim by!

After a long day of playing in the water and sun, I was beginning to feel sleepy. I lay down my towel on the uneven, weathered wood of the dock and lay down.

I turned onto my stomach so the sun wouldn't be in my eyes. I breathed slowly, absorbing the sun smell of the space around me.

What a relaxing place. I love Glen Lake. Do you have a special lake you like to go to? Have you ever been tubing? What do you like to do on vacation?

This has been Dani, dabbling at Little Glen Lake. Over and out!

The Dune Hike!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted about the rest of my vacation yet! We were so busy, it was hard to sit down and blog! I'm home now, but last Monday (the 12th of August) we hiked across the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes!

Here's the view of the dune as we hiked up the very first part. I wasn't too tired yet, so I decided to run up this first part.

That wasn't a good idea.

We still had to climb that and everything beyond it.

I looked out over the dune at everything that I had just hiked. It felt like I was in a desert! The water in the upper left is Little Glen Lake, where I spent a lot of time swimming and tubing.

I worked my way through the loose sand. I could feel the muscles in my legs pumping. 

Here's the view from the top of the mound shown in the second picture of this post! In the upper middle, right across from where we were looking, is the sandy mound I hiked to the top of in my last post, Day One in Michigan--Exploring the Dunes!

I decided that was a nice place to stop and rest for a few minutes. I chose a comfortable, shady spot and took a few sips from my water bottle.

Once we were done resting, we continued on the path (always being careful of poison ivy--it seemed to be all around!). Pretty soon we came to this huge, steep eroding cliff.

I felt the need to climb across it. My feet sunk into the cold sand up to my knees, and I slid down the hill with each step. It wasn't tiring, though, as the sand helped to carry me.

We went down a hill after that, and I thought Lake Michigan would be on the other side. So, you can imagine my surprise when this was what I saw.

Once I was on top of that hill, I could definitely see Lake Michigan. It didn't seem too far, either!

After running down the other side of the hill, I could see the path leading to the water. I could even hear the waves! I threw up my hands in excitement and ran the rest of the way.

I stopped just short of running into the water. I didn't feel like getting all wet, especially since we still had a few more miles of walking before we got back to the car.

I looked out across the lake. I couldn't believe how much it looked like the ocean! I couldn't see the other side, and there were waves, some even bigger than the ones at my favorite beach back in Maine, Popham! However, the water was much bluer than the ocean water in Maine, and it didn't smell at all like salt.

The beach was covered in rocks. I was hopeful that some of those rocks would be Petoskey stones. Petoskey stones are the official stone of Michigan, and are fossilized coral formed by the glaciers thousands of years ago. They used to be more common, but now depending on what beaches you go to, they can be very hard to find.

I remained hopeful, and kept an eye out for the distinct hexagonal pattern as I walked.

While walking along the beach, we came to this gargantuan dune! This is how it looked while looking up at it.

Here's how steep it is compared to the beach.

I just HAD to climb up it! It was so steep, I had to go up on my hands and knees.

The sand slipped out from underneath me and blew in my eyes. I continued until I got to the top, though. Then, I sprinted down! I got going so fast, I lost my footing, and rolled the rest of the way, almost into the water. 

Once everyone had had their fill of climbing, we continued to walk along the beach until we got to the coast guard station, where we were being picked up and driven back to the campground. This was such a fun hike! Sleeping Bear Dunes are so beautiful. Have you ever been to Michigan? Have you ever hiked Sleeping Bear Dunes? Leave a comment below! I'd love to know!
This has been Dani, dabbling at the dunes. Over and out!