Getting a Christmas Tree!

Hey everyone! Last weekend, we went to cut down our Christmas tree! We went to cut down the tree in the woods behind the Time Traveling Base. I would have posted earlier, but I've been really busy this last week.

We ventured into the woods, and I scanned the horizon for a nice looking tree. Most of the trees were "Charlie Brown" trees, and were kind of sparse and sad looking.

    I waded through the leaves and tall grass in the cold. My jacket hood was really toasty against my cheeks, though, and my face felt nice and warm.

                    We had to find one soon, before it got dark, and the sun was setting fast.

                                         We came up to a little patch of wispy evergreens.

Here's one of those Charlie Brown trees I mentioned. Definitely not very full, but I guess it was kind of cute.

                            I looked over, and I saw it. I eagerly pointed to the perfect little tree.

                                        This one was really full, and was just the right size.

                                        I was so excited to have found such a nice little tree.

                   It was kind of tilted, but that was ok, since we would be cutting it down anyway.

                                      After Skye sawed it down, I grabbed it by the the top...

                                              ...and pulled our little tree back to the base.

     Once I had gotten into the Time Traveling Base, I had to put it on the tree stand. Molly helped and    
             held the tree so it wouldn't fall over. Saturn had to come check it out and "help", too!

  The tree stand helps the tree to stay upright, and you can pour water into it so that the tree doesn't 
  dry out.

                                                      Saturn really wanted to help! :D

                                          After I got the stand on, Molly and I stood it up.

                         Saturn felt the need to sniff and jump all over the tree. What a silly dog.

                  I got out the box of ornaments and the lights so we could decorate the tree!

                                                         Molly strung up the lights.

                    While Molly was doing that, I looked inside the box, and pulled out the tinsel.

                                                     Then I pulled out a few ornaments.

                          Once she was done with the lights, she helped me string up the tinsel.

                       I dumped out the rest of the box, and the ornaments rolled onto the floor.

                     We each grabbed a few bulbs, and hung them one by one on the branches.

                The last thing we always put into the tree is the angel. She's the finishing touch!

                                                    She was handmade by Skye's aunt.

           I couldn't reach the top even if I stood on my tippy-toes, so I had to stand on a box.

                                                  I reached up and placed her on the top.

                                   She sat down nicely, and looked so comfortable up there.

                                        Finally, Molly and I had finished decorating the tree.

Christmas is only a few days away, and I'm super excited! Do you celebrate Christmas? Do you cut down a tree, or do you have an artificial one? If you don't observe Christmas, what holiday do you celebrate? How do you celebrate your holiday?
This has been Dani, dabbling in the decoration and cutting down of Christmas trees. Over and out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your day! I spent the holiday with family enjoying the foods everyone brought. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, squash, mashed sweet potato, cranberry sauce, stuffing, peas, squash pie, chocolate pie, apple pie, and mini pumpkin cheesecakes! Wow, what a lot of food! I didn't eat too much, though. ;)

Before we eat, we take photos for Christmas cards, which is why I'm all dressed up in this picture!

I love spending time with family around the holidays. My mom even came today! That was a great surprise. Even though I thought she might come, I didn't know for sure if she would. I'm thankful for a family that loves me, and that I live in a safe, warm house. I know there are many out there that aren't as lucky as I am. How was your Thanksgiving? How did you celebrate, if you celebrated at all? What are you thankful for?
This has been Dani, dabbling in Thanksgiving thankfulnesses and feastings. Over and out! 

Happy (Late) Halloween!

Happy belated Halloween, everyone! I don't know about you, but it's tradition for us, like so many others, to go out trick-or-treating! But of course, to go trick-or-treating, you have to dress up. I mean, it's not a law, but just one of those unspoken rules that must not be broken.
 For weeks I had been trying to figure out what to dress up as. I didn't want to be a ghost, because even though it's an easy costume, everyone dresses up as a ghost. I thought of being a witch, but I wanted to be more original than that. I was running out of time, so I had to choose something that I already had the materials to make. Finally, I came up with the idea of being a duck. Lilly had a yellow dress, and we had tons of yellow feather boas. Don't ask--we seem to accumulate the oddest things. So, I put on the yellow dress and wrapped myself with feathers. But that just wasn't enough. I decided a beak and feet was what I needed. I took some light-weight orange craft foam and rolled it into a cone shape. I glued the corners down, tied a rubber band around it, and voilà, I had a beak! I cut out some duck feet shapes from the foam, too, and taped them to a pair of shoes.

 Here's a picture taken a couple days before Halloween--I wasn't quite sure what to do about the shoes yet, so the feet look a little funny.

Wings down:

A close-up:

And the beak:

Here are the pictures from Halloween night! I went trick-or-treating with my friend Stephanie, who was extremely last minute with her costume; she decided a half hour before we left! If you can't tell, she's a mummy. 

Please excuse the flash! (Also, notice my feet! The shoes are finished! Score!)

It rained right before we left, so it was damp outside, but not cold at all. And, it didn't rain at all while we were trick-or-treating! Bonus!

Aaaaand a close-up:

Before long, Stephanie and I started our ultimate quest for maximum candy!

I like the pictures Skye takes, and I like that she takes them, but sometimes, she just gets too carried away! Stephanie and I just couldn't wait to get going! Skye took this one of us as we were walking down the driveway.

Halloween just might be my favorite holiday. I love dressing up, and seeing other people's costumes! (Not to mention all that CANDY!) How was your Halloween? What did you do to celebrate, if you celebrated at all? What did you dress up as? I'd love to know!

This has been Dani the duckling, dabbling in Halloween goings-on and candy relations. Over and out!

Mount Washington!

Hey everyone! Yesterday, I did something super awesome...I climbed Mount Washington! Yes, we actually hiked it. Not that that's hard to believe, but there is a road you can drive up and a little train that will take you to the top. Even though those are probably less tiring ways of getting to the summit, we took the challenge of hiking there! Mount Washington is the highest peak in the northeastern United States, at 6,289 feet.
We got up super early in the morning, around 4:50am, because we were carpooling with some friends who would be hiking with us. We left around 5:30am. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way, and Skye let me get a doughnut AND coffee! I don't normally get to drink coffee, so this was pretty special. It took us about 2 hours to get there. Once we arrived, we made sure we had everything, and went inside the place at the bottom to go to the bathroom and plan out our route to the top.
                                      Here I am in front of the model of the mountains.

Around 8:00am we began our ascent!

Along the way, we saw a lot of waterfalls. They were so pretty!

I posed for a picture in front of this waterfall, but you can't really see it.

Skye took this one of me while I was hiking up.

There was a rest stop about half way up the mountain called the Caretakers Cabin. You could go to the bathroom, take a rest, and refill your water bottle there. Behind me is Mt. Washington.

I took this one as we began to hike above the fog. Look at the clouds! It was like looking down at a lake, only they were clouds!

We stopped to take a break at one of the cairns. Skye took this picture of me with a bunch of lovely scenery behind me.

This is the view of Tuckerman's Ravine from the Lion Head trail.

Here's the "Lion's head", what the Lion Head trail is named after. To tell you the truth, I don't see the Lion's head, but maybe that's just me.

Here's the view of the clouds. Pictures don't do the view justice; it was like looking at an ocean of fluffy white fluff.

Here I am in front of the sea of fluffy white fluff, with other mountaintops peeking through.

In this one, Tuckerman's Ravine is behind me. It was kind of creepy sitting up there, because we were so high up.

Looking down, you could see the Caretakers Cabin and the little ponds near it. It was amazing to think just a few hours before we had been down there looking up!

About an hour later, we had made it to the summit!!!

My hair was blowing all around and was super crazy, because there were 50mph gusts of wind. Skye had to stand behind me to make sure I didn't get blown off the top of the sign, it was that windy!

At the summit, there was a building with gift shops and a food court type place, where we rested for about a half hour. I ate lunch and then went into one of the gift shops. I got a cute little pin for my jacket that said I climbed Mount Washington.

Before we started the hike back down, I took a picture with the State Park sign. 

This is what the climb to and from the summit looks like. It's really, really rocky!

Believe it or not, I think the climb back down the mountain is harder than the climb up. This is because you have to be careful not to tumble down head first. It's also really hard on your knees.

This was taken a little while after we had started to hike back down. That's Mount Washington behind me. On the very top and a little to the left, you can see sort of cell/radio tower looking things and a tiny building. We had been up there next to those things! We climbed all the was up the side of the mountain! I thought it was crazy to think that we had just been up there, and had hiked all of that.

The view from where we were standing was extraordinary. 

Hiking Mount Washington was so much fun. It was also really tiring! I slept for 12 hours, and when I woke up, my legs felt so stiff! The views were so pretty, and it was just a cool experience. Have you ever climbed a tall mountain? Do you like to hike?

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