A Sisters' Afternoon

Melissa came wandering into my room yesterday with another crazy typical idea.

"I'm gonna go to Harper's Ferry to look at the location of the train tracks so I can more accurately write this scene in my book"

"Okay. That sounds like a smart idea"

silence

..."You want me to come along too, don't you?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice"

When you've lived with someone for 18+ years, it doesn't take much to read their mind... especially Melissa. She and I are opposites in most ways, but having been raised by the same parents in the same house and, for 15 years, the same bedroom -- we're about close to married as siblings can be -- I mean our fights, the way we tackle household responsibilities and our ability to live with or ignore the issues of the other resemble couples who've been married as long as we've been alive.

That said... I took 12 hours to think through my options

a. spend a hour convincing her that pictures on Google should suffice and the 90 minute round-trip drive was really unnecessary

b. pray that God would send the snow ~6 hours early so that she'd be forced to cancel her trip

c. just give up now and say "yes, dear"

-----------------

I chose option c. It's not my usual option, but I reasoned that next week she returns to school and I should take advantage of the sister-time. I am so glad I did...

...not only is sister-time virtually free therapy (after all, she does know me better than just about anyone else and it's rare impossible for me to keep a secret from her), it's a music sing-along, random Q&A session, movie quoting war, explain-every-detail-about-CollegePlus-for-the-one-millionth-time time session, and much more...

We captured some potential authoress individual shots...

But mostly we spent the time touring without being the stereotypical tourists, which according to Melissa involves...

::climbing walls (there weren't any signs telling us not to)

The afternoon was filled with "Well. I need to try this <insert impossible/crazy/dangerous activity> because the kids in my story will want to try this and I need to know if it's possible"

::studying small spaces

::wandering around condemned houses

It was staring at this from the path that had me telling Melissa, "We shouldn't go up there. That's the kind of houses that mothers tell their daughters to stay away from"

...and yet, here we are anyways. >.<

::hiking muddy paths

We were a good mile into the completely vertical hike by the time we saw this sign

::stepping out on walls that were a little too far away from the ground for my liking

The ledge that Melissa is standing on was a drop off of 15+ feet on either side -- too much for me to stomach!

It was a lovely -- albeit cold -- afternoon! I'm grateful that I took the time away from seemingly urgent to-do list and spent it with Melissa exploring the history around us =) We definitely had a blast and the afternoon was filled with memories that will hopefully tide me over till she re-emerges from her textbooks in May!

Summer in Review

Twas the night before school and all through the house
every creature was talking of the summer past...

Okay, so maybe I wasn't cut out to be a poet?

In any event, the lack of posts around here has two meanings:

1. Summer gave me plenty of "bloggable" moments, but not much blogging time
2. School has been ramping up, thus leaving me with an even greater lack of blogging time :(

I hate dragging out the past on blogs or journals, so buckle up 'cause I'm about to drive you through the 60 second version of our summer :)

June:

Dad's company sponsored an annual company day at a nearby amusement park. Melissa, Dad, and I enjoyed the thriller roller coasters, while Mom and Molly rode many of the non-roller coaster rides (ie. the carousel, swings, and bumper cars).

Melissa and Molly also participated in the national level competition for the National History Day contest. They each worked on a history project throughout the school year -compiling first-hand information onto a website. Molly chose to document the start of the FDA, while Melissa, and her partner, Pryia, studied the ethics behind the Atomic Bomb.

 After winning at both the county and state level competitions, the girls spent a week down in DC attending judging sessions and relaxing with friends they had made through the competition. Unfortunately, they did not win, but the competition was very tough!

July:

We spent the first week of July camping at a nearby state park. The covenient location meant that Melissa and I could return to Frederick for our various work commitments while still enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the RV and campground.

Mom, Molly, and I on a hike

Two weeks later, our Weber grandparents flew out from California and spent a week and a half on the east coast. During that time, they treated us to 5 lovely days in NYC. Our days were jam packed as we saw:

the Broadway show, Newsies

the Empire State Building

the Twin Towers memorial

the Statue of Liberty

...and so much more! Grandpa Jim did a fantastic job of planning the trip and, though 5 days is not nearly enough time, we saw a wide sampling of NYC's attractions! Thank you for the trip, Grandpa and Grandma :)

During their visit, I was also able to host this little fellow:

Meet Steve, the traveling Chameleon

Steve is a beanie baby sized Chameleon who is traveling the world vising various CollegePlus students. On average, he is spending two weeks at each student's house. I invited him to come on vacation with us and he enjoyed the opportunity to explore NYC. Some of his trip highlights included:

Riding in this car at the American Girl store

Visiting the NYSE (although he was disappointed to not be able to tour the inside)

and seeing this touching mural at Ground Zero

Another round of applause to my grandparents who kindly included this "unexpected" 8th person in our NYC adventures and by the end of the trip were asking after his well-being and including him in many of our pictures :)

The past month has been much quieter as Mom has spent much of her time preparing for school. Melissa and Molly have enjoyed relaxing together, working on their novels, and, for Melissa, working as a lifeguard. 

This summer has been full of adventures, but it's time is at an end as we prepare to start a new school year tomorrow. Life is never dull and I look forward to sharing pictures and posts about a special graduation and the start of school year, soon!