Friday, August 26, 2011

Music

So as many of you probably know, or don't know, I'm very musical. I can't sing for my life, but I do play the guitar, piano, and violin. Thinking about it, that isn't very musical...
I started guitar two months ago, and I'm getting okay at it... not really. I've always wanted to learn how to play guitar, and in 3rd grade I got a pink electric guitar for Christmas... (Its a piece of crap) and I promised Santa that I would take lessons, I lied. So after 4 years of really wanting to learn how to play guitar, I finally got one for Easter. This time I was able to pick it out.
I took my electric guitar to one of my lessons, to see if it needed fixed or anything,  my guitar teacher pretty much hinted that it was a piece of crap, and that I should just get a new one. So I've been looking online, and my neighbor, who has like seven guitars, has been showing me his, so that I can see what I like. I ended up getting a Epiphone Faded G-400 something electric guitar, in worn cherry. I'm pretty excited about it! It was 299.00, which was pretty expensive for me, since it was my first electric guitar, that I bought, but I'm sure it's going to be totally worth it.
I've got to go practice!
ali

Friday, August 19, 2011

More RV Vacation Photos

I hope you enjoy some more of our pictures from my families vacation. I finally found my usb cord. It was in my case where I put chargers. I'm so smart.
Btw, I hope you like sunsets....
Sunsets on our first day



At the Tee Pee camp

Fourth of July sunset

"Baby you're a fire work"

Come on let your colors burst

Make them go

Oh, Oh, Oh

You're gonna leave them all in

Awe Awe Awe

We were at a winery and they had horses so we went down to see them!

On our 2 hour private trail ride

On the Isolated Beach

Swans

Pretty silver sunset

On Empire Beach watching the Ah-mazing sunset with other people from Indigo Bluffs



Evan and I making a sand castle



Me on the Empire Beach, Evans on the Left

More pictures of the sun setting


Even more pictures...

Our walk way to the pond at Indigo Bluffs
Some beach near a light house
Walk way to the "Isolated Beach"

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Pictures from my families summer vacation

These are only SOME of our MANY vacation photos. I couldn't find the USB cord to my camera, which had quite a few photos on it, so I wasn't able to load it. I tried to find some photos that wern't meaningless! But don't worry there will be more to come! 
Please turn off your cells phones and enjoy the self control slide show.
Day one....
Empire, Michigan   Empire Beach
my mom and dad

The really nice lot that we stayed at after we extended our stay for 9 days and we got moved.
The thing that looks like a "shed" has a full size refridgerator, sink, table, chairs, counter, bar, and has sliding metal doors that open up the outdoor bar table. Yes that is my dad's motorhome.


Sunset at Empire Beach. If anyone is in Michigan, and they love beautiful sunsets, this is the place to go!

Our last day, well at Indigo Bluffs, we still have to go to the Shrine of the Little Flower. ! :'( On the isolated beach!

Walk way down to the isolated beach.

Me with my dad on the Empire Beach.


My mom and I somewhere, I'm really not sure.

The sandcastle we built at the Tee Pee camp.
Before it was crushed RUDELY!

Me by the pond at Indigo Bluffs.

My dad and I, trying (unsuccessfully) to hide behind a tree. My dad and I always take a picture with trees on our vacation.

A really cool tree that we saw. lol it kind of looked like the one from harry potter that hit everyone.

A steep drop off from a sand dune. Those are people down at the bottom! Good luck getting back up.

Pretty

Biscotti, Mia, and Bella think that they own my bed, hate to break it to them but... they don't

Fourth of July sunset before the amazing firework show! I didn't get very good photos.


My mom, dad, and I went hiking on the sleeping bear dunes, well some of them. We had to follow the paths! Do you like my hiking out fit.



On Mackinaw Island. They had a lot of these turtles around... kinda weird.


On another beach.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The (at)Last Day..... Day 27 of the RV trip, July 28th

Well, you know how I fell asleep to the rain last night, it turns out that my parents didn't. My dad told me that there was a huge thunder storm last night that just kept going on and on. He even said that it made the other thunder storm while we were at Indigo Bluffs look like child's play. The rain was coming off our awning like a water fall, and it even made the awning sag 18 inches with water. My dad even rolled up the awnings, by leaning out the windows, ha ha, and unplugged the power cords from the camp site. He thought that there could of been a flash flood, and was getting ready to evacuate. He just gets paranoid some times, hmmm... I wonder where I get it from. Luckily there wasn't a flash flood, and I can't believe I slept through the WHOLE thing!!! We took off from the camp and headed to Royal Oak, where the shrine is, and get this, we didn't even get lost once! The shrine and church was so amazing! I would love to go there some other time. We left the church at 3:17 and headed home, this time to Pittsburgh. Around 5 we stopped at a rest area in Ohio, what was cool is that they had RV hook up's, and you can stay there all night, for only 20 dollars. My dad rested a little, and we got something to eat, fast food... eww! We hit the road again around 6, we still have 4 hours to go, but for me it doesn't seem long at all. Because this time we are going home for real.
To summarize my vacation:
I first started off thinking that my parents were trying to punish me and ruin my life... well my dad was because he bought the RV. At first everything went wrong, doors shattered, we got lost.... a lot... using a GPS and map quest, I was to shy to go up to other kids and make friends, and it was like sitting in an air plane, with 3 chihuahuas that are terrified, during a tornado, with really bad turbulence.
But after we got to the other camps and I saw that a lot of people actually RV for fun, I was kind of convinced that my parents weren't that crazy. When we got to Indigo Bluffs, I realized that I could handle this. I fell in love with Michigan, especially the Lake Michigan and the Isolated Beach. I love the weather, and it is nothing like the crime and hustle-bustle of the city Detroit. People leave signs saying 3 dollars for a pound of cherries, pick your self, on the side of the road. It's all on your honor, because they trust that you will pay. There's even 5 dollars for fire wood and the fire wood is on the side of the road. Every one was so nice and relaxed. Do you know how good it feels to not have an activity every day, or a doctors appointment? For a straight month!? It feels great and don't tell my dad this but now I'm actually kind of happy that he bought the RV, named iRV. lol... At first I was so against it, I swore that I would never change my mind, and that I would not survive the horrid trip. (I would die of embarrassment.) But know I've realized that people can change, even me, who hates change! Unless it's in clothes, like new designs at Abercrombie that are super cute... that I'm definitely okay with.   Anyways I'm still probably never going to get used to the turbulance and walking into doors, cabinets, etc. But I will learn to... uh... mutually like... this home on wheels. True fully it's much better than a hotel. You don't have to pack and unpack. You sleep in your bed and use your pillow every night and you can have your pets with you, all the time. Oh! Another thing that I like about Michigan is that it is very pet friendly, almost everywhere we went pets were allowed! People really like chihuahuas'. All in all, I actually really enjoyed the trip. Although it is a great way to embarrass your thirteen year old daughter... for about the first 2 weeks, after a month I realized that I was just telling myself that I hated it, when really, I just wanted that voice to shut up and let me enjoy the "bumpy" ride. I'm really going to miss Michigan and Indigo Bluffs, but that will make me love it even more when I go back next year.
Honestly I didn't really miss my friends that much, I had a cell phone with me, and wifi, so I didn't miss much. But dad I'm warning you, If you sell the house and make us live in this.... I know where you sleep... But if you want to buy a boat I'm totally okay with that, or maybe a summer home up in Michigan... we can sell the one in Hidden Valley.
You know what they say. Never judge a book by it's cover, until you've seen what's inside. Or, "Never judge an RV by the movie, until you've experienced the real thing."
See you next summer.
Ali

Day 26 of the RV trip, July 27th

Today is a sad and happy day. We are leaving Indigo Bluffs and heading home, well first to The National Shrine of the Little Flower. Or St. Therese. But before I get started on that I would really like to give Indigo Bluffs RV resort a review.
If it were rated out of 5 stars, I would give it 10... or more. The lots are absolutely beautiful and you aren't right up against you neighbor. When you first pull into the resort you see the check in building, clubhouse, and a large heated pool. You drive a little ways down a long road and then the ponds come into view first, with the waterfalls, then all of the wild flowers. The lots are concrete with a stone design in them, they are kind of like a huge drive way, with a couple chairs and a fire pit on each one. The staff was so nice and was just awesome. They even have a really nice air conditioned laundry room.  That is one of the reasons we are going there for a month next year in the summer. So if you ever want an awesome, beautiful, and relaxing vacation, Indigo Bluffs is the choice for you!

Okay so we left pretty early in the morning, around 10:30 ha ha. We said good bye to the staff, one in particular. Janice, she was so nice and I can't wait to see her next year. My mom took the rental car back to the rental car place and then we drove up past Petoskey to get the RV steps fixed. They broke some how and wouldn't go in for most of the trip, so we had to bungee cord them while we were driving. They got fixed, and we took off to another camp to just spend the night at. The camp was actually really nice, nothing like Indigo though. But we decided that it would be a good place to stop the first night of our trip next summer. It started raining around ten, but I found it peaceful so I fell right asleep.
Tomorrow we will be going the shrine and then home. Finally.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Day 25 of the RV trip, July 26th

Yes! I'm finally caught up to date on my blog!
Okay so today I slept in to 10:30 that's not really sleeping in, but oh well. I'm always tired. My dad was cleaning like crazy, vacuuming and organizing. I even think he vacuumed out side! We went to the isolated beach one last time, because we are leaving Indigo Bluffs tomorrow. :'( Then we went to Gallagher's for ice cream, ha ha. We also stopped in Empire because my parents wanted to look in a store. Then we came back home because there was a wine tasting at the club house at 5. Don't worry they served non-alcoholic beverages too. We got to say good bye to the people that we made friends with and to the owner, I feel so weird calling them that, I don't know why, like I feel like I'm coming off as stuck up. I'll call him mr. becker. I'm pretty sure that's spelled wrong. Sorry! My parents wanted to run out again so I sat at the pool while they were gone and read a book. When I came home I made a s'more on the fire one last time.
Well now your all caught up.
Tomorrow we will be on the road again, and you know how hilarious that will be for me..... not.
But all in all, so far our trip has really been pretty good.
Shhh don't tell my dad I said that, he might make us take another RV trip somewhere else.... where people might actually know me!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hopefully luck is on our side, night!
Ali

Day 24 of the RV trip, July 25th

Today we went to the Grand Traverse City mall, because I wanted to go to Hollister and American Eagle. (all AE jeans are on sale!) They didn't have an abercrombie because it went bankrupt 3 days after Christmas. After the mall we went to Low's for my dad and then we went grocery shopping! Lol.
But I've got to go, Night
Ali

Day 23 of the RV trip, July 24th

Okay so I think we went back into Empire today for the art festival, idk. It was a pretty cool festival, and my dad got a really awesome fossil. He also bought my mom 2 heart shaped petoskey pendants. Then he bought this picture, thats made of fabric and is quilted, it's really cool. The only bad thing is that it was so hot, the kind of hot that is just so humid, but with a breeze. I'm sure your thinking "well if there was a breeze then why were you so hot?" Because it was a hot breeze, by the time we got out of there... just never mind. After the art festival we went out to eat at a restraunt. It was really good. When we got back to the RV, my mom told me to go online to abercrombie kids and Hollisterco.com. We were able to order a bunch of clothes from there, since obviously the sale was going on online too. After that I worked on my blog, trying to update everything. As you can see I didn't finish, since it is the 26th and I'm on the 24th.

Day 22 of the RV trip, July 23rd

So today I mostly drew, but my picture was really horrible so I'm never going to show it to anyone. Katie just told me that there is a 50% off sale on red lines at abercrombie and hollister! Grr I need to find a mall! We went back to the isolated beach today, then after we stopped at Gallagher's for ice cream. Yum! I'm so tired, so I'm going to go to bed! Night
ali

Day 21 of the RV trip, July 22nd

Today is Katie's birthday party! Hope it goes well!
Today was another lazy day, I went up to the pool for a while reading books, while my parents went out grocery shopping. It seemed a little weird when there was only an adult in the pool, but then I realized that it was adult swim... after 2 (obnoxious) boys kept asking their dad when they could go in the pool. It wasn't until 2 p.m. that adult swim was over. Then all of the peace and quiet was broken. Evan's family was going back home today, and I really needed another petoskey polishing class. Oh well I'll have to wait until next year. Oh I forgot to mention that we already booked another month June 14th to July 14 on the same lot we are on now, for next summer! That's how much we like it here! But I've got to go!
Tomorrow's another day,
Ali