Travelling to New Hampshire

We got up at 5:30 or 6:00, and got ready for our flights. Monica and Michael drove us to the Airport and we said goodbye. It was hard to say goodbye though, VERY hard. First we had to go to New York so we got on that plane. On the way down, we saw the Statue of Liberty on an island. Then we got on our flight to Boston where Kerryellen would meet us. 

When we found Kerryellen at the airport we were very, very glad to see her. Then we piled into her car with all our suitcases so we could drive to New Hampshire where she lives. On the way Callum and I got thirsty so we stopped at Trader Joes, which is like a grocery store. We parked in a big car park and got out and saw a car smoking from its front. Mum went inside and told staff there was a car on fire, and Kerryellen called the fire brigade. Then we chose our drinks (but mum chose for me and I didn't like it so I only got a sip of a drink which was annoying).  Then we saw some flames coming out and the two cars on each side were almost catching fire too. Kerryellen rang the fire brigade again and soon a fire engine arrived. They smashed the windscreen and put the fire out, and a young woman came and said 'this is my car'. Then in the car Callum said we were heroes. The car could have blown up if the flames had got to the petrol tank. Good thing Kerryellen had moved her car away.  

Finally we got to Kerryellen's after a long drive (about an hour). Her house is awesome and she said they were going to get a dog soon, and they were going to put a fence up soon so we could see some of the fence going up. We got to meet Neil and he was really nice and funny, and he was cooking us dinner on the deck on a big BBQ cooker thing. It was great!

Staying at Graham's

On Wednesday Chris and Kasey (Graham's parents) took Callum and I and Graham to the movies because the adults were going to a Thai restaurant. We went to see despicable me 2. I got a small sized drink which is like a large in New Zealand. It was awesome and A LOT of fun. When the movie was over Chris and Kasey took us all to Toys Are Us to spend our money.

Then we went to Chris and Kasey's to have tea. We had pizza and watched TV while we were eating. We played Mario Kart til Mum and Dad and Monica came to pick us up. Chris and Kasey asked if we would like to stay the night cos we were so well-behaved, so we stayed the night which was cool. 

We played Mario Kart for the rest of the night, and we had brownie for dessert which was SCRUMPTIOUS! 

The next morning we played Mario kart and golf, and then we swam in the pool because it was hot and we were having a pool party to celebrate the 4th of July. Lots of people came over, Kasey's family and Mum and Dad, and then later Monica and Michael. We had lots of fun, I had two hotdogs for tea. Then we all played more on the Wii and we had to go back to Monica's to get up early and get to the airport to fly up to New York and then to Boston.  

Dot's garden

On Wednesday everybody but Michael went down the road to visit Monica's friend/half-neighbour Dot. She has an awesome garden. When we first got there Tassie her dog came up and licked us. She was super friendly. In Dot's back garden it was awesome as well and it had a swing that was wood with a long rope hanging from a high tree branch. We wondered how she got the rope in the tree up so high. Callum swung on it first but then I swung on it for ages, it was a lot of fun cos you went really high and then sometimes it came really close to the garden and the tree, and you could pick something if you wanted, but we didn't.

There was a hammock as well and I went on that as well, but then Dot said we could go and see her chickens so Tassie tried to get me off the hammock by trying to flip me off! There was a big chicken cage and we opened the gate and let the big chickens out and they ran around the garden. Some started looking for worms. Then we checked for eggs and we found two just-laid ones and one that had been there for a while. They were different colours.  Then we saw the younger chickens in a side bit that were goldeny brown. We picked them up and two sat on mine and Callum's laps. They felt soft but their claws felt sharp. Then I fed the big chickens out of my hand, and it kind of hurt when one chicken pecked, but the others didn't hurt when they pecked at my hand.

I went on the hammock, swing and trampoline til Mum called me to see Tassie do some tricks. She was cool, and she did what Dot said - she could do a high five, beg, roll over, wave goodbye, and once she played dead. I got to give her commands and I got her to do play dead the one time, but she did roll over and beg instead. I had treats to give her every time she did something. We put a treat on her nose and then she tried to flick it up in the air and eat it, but she only managed to do that a couple of times, but otherwise we just gave her a treat for trying. It was on the ground then. Tassie is beautiful. I want a dog more than anybody. Thanks Dot!

The children's museum

On Tuesday we were going to go up the mountain to Sliding Rock to swim in the river, but it was half raining half spitting, so we went to the children's museum in Greenville instead. That was good cos then there were thunderstorms in the afternoon. Chris and Kasey and Graham picked us up and took us to the museum.

It was lots of fun. We drove in some racing cars and then chased each other on the kaleidoscope climber, which is a big rope and plastic thing that you climb around.

We went on lots of things and explored a lot, but one of the things I enjoyed a lot was pulling myself up this thing where you sit in a seat and you pull yourself up with the rope. After I did all three of those pulley things (some were harder than others), I had rope burn on my hands and my legs!

After playing tic-tac-toe with a robot, and playing with some laser light patterns, and doing this magnetic crane thing where you pick up bricks with a crane with a big magnet on it (which is really hard but each of us succeeded), we made a gigantic fort. We were having so much fun and building such an awesome thing that half-way through another kid told us it was incredible and asked if he could help build, so we let him, and this is what it ended up like:

Then I did magic with a ball:

And I went underwater which was really fun as I didn't get wet:

It was really fun and I enjoyed it very much and so did Callum and Graham. Thank you Chris and Kasey for taking us there, and Monica for the good idea!

The flaming restaurant

We hung out at home on Monday til it finally came to the bit I wanted to do, go out to the Kan Pai restaurant. It was lots and lots of fun. We sat around a big table with a big cooking thing in the middle, and the chef cooked all the food in front of us. 

I ordered rice and hibachi vegetables. It took a while for the chef to come but it was exciting when he did. First of all he made fire and it was right in front of me cos I was in the middle. 

About half way through he started throwing shrimps off a spatula into people's mouths. I can see why it's Graham's favorite restaurant. 

Reedy River Falls Park in Greenville

On Sunday we had a fun time playing with Graham and he stayed the night with us. I played and Monica gave me some beautiful old jewellery  (Monica has had some of it for a long time) and I have been wearing my necklace ever since. I kept my bracelets in a pretty little bag. I also tried on an amazing sparkly purple dress that Monica wore for mardi gras,  which I thought fit me but it only kind of fit me!

In the afternoon we all went for a walk downtown by the Reedy River Falls Park to see the falls and enjoy the scenery. Near the Reedy river was a cool kids play area with the three little bears and a gingerbread house. 

We saw a turtle on a rock in the Reedy river. We wondered if it was real cos it was so still but then it moved!

We walked on the path along the river and crossed a bridge and we saw two teenagers in big huge puffy dresses. They were having a celebration for their 16th birthdays. 

Then we went home and had hotdogs and cupcakes for tea on the side porch - that was DELICIOUS!

Meeting Monica

On Saturday we drove for over an hour into South Carolina. We were meeting Aunt Monica, Kasey and Graham in Gaffney outlet mall. When we took an exit off the highway, we took a wrong turn which led us right back onto the same highway so we had to carry on driving til we found another exit and could turn around and go back, and do it all again!

When we got to the Gaffney outlet mall we met Monica quickly in the car park because we parked nearly next to each other at the same time. That was lucky! I was so happy to see Monica.

There were lots of shops but none (except one) for kids. We got a bit bored and it was hot so Monica bought us an Italian icey drink which was all cotton candy flavoured. Mum bought me some cool clothes and then we saw a cool green spotted lizard on a post.

On the way back to Monica's house we stopped at the Copper River Grill, a cool restaurant near Greenville. We were all starving and I ate half a hamburger. It was nice to get back to Monica's and see Michael. And it was nice to sleep in the bed at Monica's and Michael's.

Great Wolf Lodge

We stayed for two nights at Great Wolf Lodge. It was totally awesome. We have to leave today, what a bummer! I could stay here for two years!

It has a HUGE water park with 11 slides which we went on when we got there. The scariest was the Howling Tornado - that was even scary for my Mum and Dad, especially going backwards. Most of the time Callum and I hung out in the wave pool, which had huge waves when they came. Sometimes I wanted to change pools but I stayed there in the one that everyone was in.

Our KidsKamp room was awesome with a bunkbed in a kind of tent thing, and a tv which we tried to watch all night, but Mum turned it off. 

We swam in the pool til 9pm the first night, and the the next morning we went back in the pool with both  Mum and Dad and we went on the rides. Mum had a cold so she only went in for a couple of hours on Friday. We swam again the second night til closing at 9pm!

In between all this swimming, on Friday we managed to get to a giant mall (Concord Mills outlet shopping) and shopped, looking around some cool shops, and we had some pizza for lunch/ afternoon tea. Mum dropped her piece of pizza on the floor; it wasn't her day. Dad got her a new piece for free. I loved the lego shop and I wanted to see the rest of the shops but we had to hurry up so we could get more swimming in! We had Mexican for tea which was fun but I didn't like the beans or the beef. I did have 4 glasses of ginger ale cos our waiter kept coming and refilling my cup! He was awesome. We gave him a good tip.

A nice hotel and then a long drive

We stayed in a nice hotel after 20 minutes drive near Washington DC (in Maryland) which is not long. We got there at the end of our long day at the Natural History Museum. The first thing Callum and I did was jump in the pool. After playing for a while we decided to jump in at the deep end, but it was not as fun as Graham's pool because it wasn't as deep and it had no diving board, and it didn't have Graham either. After we had played a billion games in the water we were told we had to get out because a thunder storm was coming, after the beautiful day we had in Washington.

When we came back we had a delicious dinner at the hotel. I had a hot dog and fries, and then this amazing brownie parfait, which was ice cream, pieces of delicious brownie, really nice soft cream, all covered in chocolate sauce.

I couldn't stop eating it, it was so delicious. 

In our hotel room we had two double beds so me and Callum shared one. We had a tv in our room! So we watched tv in bed.

The next day we had another loooooong drive to Concord in North Carolina. It wasn't as long but it still took about 7 or 8 hours. For half the way I read a mini mystery book where you read mysteries and try and solve them. It was hard. But fun. It was like the only thing I did apart from my travel journal. We listened to music.

When we finally got to Concord, we went to the Great Wolf Lodge where we were staying and it was AWESOME!

The White House and the Natural History Museum

On Wednesday we took a metro into Washington DC again and walked up to see the White House where the US president, Barack Obama, lives. I thought it was beautiful with all the neat plants and the white White House. I saw some people behind trees and wondered what they were doing.

We also saw a very friendly squirrel before the White House and near the White House, he was sssoooo cute and he let me get close to him, but then Callum came and scared him away. I still tried to get near him though, but Mum told me to come to her. The squirrel followed me a bit, but then got scared and ran away.

Then we stopped in the Ronald Reagan building cos it had a food court, and we were really hot and needed a rest and a drink. It was filled with cold air from the air conditioning which was very delightful. We had big fruit smoothies and I almost finished mine - but I'd didn't want to keep the others waiting for me.

All of us wanted to go to the Natural History Museum. And it had so much in it to see, we didn't even see it all. I took loads and loads of photos on my camera, about 100! The battery ran out!

We saw lots of dinosaur skeletons, deep ocean creatures, old humans, and so much more - and we didn't even finish one floor. Crazy eh?

I liked the Hall of Human Origins best - but I liked all of them.

Fire station and Ambulance

On Tuesday, after we had been to the Lincoln memorial and seen some of the monuments from the top of the steps, we walked down the steps, and Dad picked me up again and put me on his shoulders. We walked and walked, and finally we made it to the metro station, Foggy Bottom (that was its name!), and Dad could put me down. We only just made it so we could catch our metro. 

When we got to Mark's house, we saw Mark outside because he was taking Chester for a walk. After Chester had licked me and Callum, we decided, after a while to go to the Maryland EMS Fire and Ambulance station, because Mark worked part-time there as a volunteer. It was a long drive (not long at all compared to our drive to Washington DC), we got there. When we went in, Mum took a photo of me in a fire hat, that was too big for me. 

Then Callum and I  hopped in the back of one of the fire trucks. It was a very small place for a big truck, but the boot was so big. There were two seats and it was very messy. There was also an oxygen tank above your seat so you can slip it on easily. Next I went in another fire truck. Callum was in the back of a ute (or pick-up-truck), so I got in also. 

Somebody came out after a while and Mark started to talk to him, so I hopped out and went to Mum, and Callum followed me. After Mark stopped talking to the man, he hopped in a ambulance, so Callum and I hopped in too. The ambulance had grey walls and roof, and a white floor. It also had HEAPS of draws, boxes and small cupboard things. In one of the boxes there were stuffed animals to keep the little kids distracted, when their mums are in the ambulance or if they are. After a while of talking about the ambulance the guy that Mark was talking to gave Callum and I a plastic fire hat. We got out of the ambulance, but it was cool to see.  

Then we went inside the station and saw lots of other stuff, including the dispatch room where the emergency calls come in.   

It was such a cool thing to do, my whole family loved it too. Thanks Mark! And everyone at the station who was so friendly.