WHEEEEEEEE HYPER!!!!

IT'S BEEN AWHILE, HASN'T IT?? HARHARHARHAAAAAAAAAAAA. xD

K, I'll spare you the caps lock. I suppose. um, what was the last thing I blogged about?

Hmmm. Oh, right, Friday afternoon... well, I missed the entire Swell meeting, which was a bummer. But yesterday - Saturday that is - I braved public transportation! I took the bus to Waterloo, so I could hang out with drama people, because our new drama teacher, Mr. Graham, invited us all to come and hang out while the room got revamped. :] I helped paint! And Boone and I swing danced for a while, which was fun also. Yuuuuup..... 

So we're doing Godspell this fall. I think tryouts are the first week of school. Hmmm.... slightly scary, ne? Anyways. Another thing - my class (11th grade) isn't going to be combined with the 12th grade... which means I won't be in the same class as Nathan, Boone, Quinn, etc. Which is a bummer. But, if a certain classmate of mine doesn't ruin the now 7-person class, we'll be in good shape, because a smaller class means more opportunity to DO stuff, you know? SO that'll be cool. The teacher seems pretty fun, too....

His little daughter: Marissa, do you believe in fairies?

Me: Ummm.... Yes.

Mr. Graham: I bet she does, there's a few in her class...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I find that amusing. There was also a "Hi Daddy!" "I'm not high, not yet!" that took me forever to get. LOL, figures....

Anywho. Then mom and dad picked me up and we went to Foster's. the dad's watched football, the moms talked up a storm, and I cooed over Oreo, their ADORABLE husky. And hung out with Katie and her lil sister Emily. Yay hula hoops! And doggies! And brownies..... with vanilla ice cream... and hugging.... and 52 pieces of jewelry.... and pretty paint....

yeah. and then church this morning. I glomped Nathan. :] 'cause he's FINALLLLLLY back in Belgium! And without any socks, either. Hahahahahahahahahahaha.... Dude, I could NOT live without socks. I think I would shrivel up and DIE. yeah....

For lunch we went to this 50's bar. I had a YUMMY banana milkshake, and a burrito. It was delicious. 

And nooooowwww.... I think I'm gonna go pack my school bag and figure out what to what to wear tomorrow. But first I gotta empty the DW... xP

Glogster is amazing!

oh noes! :O

Ok, so wednesday I picked up Camille and Leopold up, then we went and played at the playground for about an hour and a half, at which point Marie-Claire picked up Leo and Camille and I went back to our house. We did stuff with beads, ate dinner, and watched Freaky Friday.

She slept over, which was fun, and thennnnn um. oh yeah! OMG WE WENT TO AN ART SUPPLY STORE. IT WAS HUGE AND AMAZING, AND I GOT SCHOOL SUPPLIESSSSS!!! YEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!! OMG.

And then JOHNNA CAME OVER! On thursday afternoon, rather. YAY.

And later I talked to some people on skype. :] Including KARIN! It was so nice to see her pretty face and hear her voice! We haven't seen her for like, 8 MONTHS. which is more than we've ever gone since we were born! And I talked to Stef and to Josh and to Camille and to Parker. :D

Today (Friday)... well, I have this assessment report meeting thing that I have to go to with mom and dad at three. PROBLEM IS, that's when the Swell leadership meeting at Boone's house starts!!! Both are very important. xP So I guess I'm just gonna be late for Swell, because that doesn't have money involved.... ugh... It makes me sad. Because I was maybe going to go to Parker's house early, and hang out before catching a ride. And that would have been fun, because I haven't seen him since... last sunday? A LONG TIME. 

it's cold out today.

Marcus!

I like the name Malcolm. And I watched more Babylon 5 with dad last night, even though it's pretty ridiculous... but I love Marcus!!! He's AWESOME. And dad was making fun of me because I was SO confused, and laughing at me, but then I gave him a LOOK and was like, "Dad. Seriously. I've seen like FIVE episodes of this complicated show! OF COURSE I'm confused!!"

It was fun. :]

And todayyy I wrote Stephanie a letter, but it's too sappy so I won't send it. LOL. 

Laura, I have 'Burning Love' now! :D

Oh, and yesterday I also went to the playground and played with Cami and Leopold. And I think Cami is coming over and sleeping over tonight, which reminds me- I REALLy need to clean my room! So what else is new? Ha. 

Uploading-ness.

I'm uploading pictures from the past few months onto facebook, but i suppose I'll add a couple to the actual posts. If I get around to it...

Parker is a doorknob.

....

And I love Stephanie Elisabeth Ng. Even if she doubts it. xP

So I guess I'm caught up to today.

Whatevvvvvvv.

Nothing much to report.

Except that there's one more week until school starts. 

That's not cool!

Oh well.

Non-sunny Sunday.

I missed Johnna today. 

My ipod ran out of battery when we still had a few hours to go.

I don't give a crap about the world's champagne capital or whatever... I don't even LIKE the stuff! And no, I don't care about how it's cultural or whatnot. 

Ha. Not-caring-ness. 

It's raining. 

got home at 7ish, talked to Johnna for awhile, thought I would see her tomzies, but NO. Maybe thursday though. Then I called Parker, and he told me a joke that he just made up. 

Q. What do you call someone who's crazy for chocolate?

A. A cocoa-nut!

Haha. Hilarious, ne? hahaha.

Couldn't sleep, so I stayed up watching Bleach until I couldn't not sleep anymore.

Saturday

After lunch (Mushroom omlette!) we took off. Cami called me older sister, she's so sweet! Ha, I don't deserve it, though. I just hope that I can encourage her to show more of her beautiful self to other people besides her family.

We started driving. And then went to a hotel, and when we got there, the manager was yelling at this poor couple. We got a room. I slept, although not the whole night through, because it's not like THAT happens very often! Especially when we're traveling.

A rainy day

I love earl grey tea. And Marie Claire's teacups. 

It was raining this morning, so we watched olympics while we waited for it to stop. I really was impressed by the synchronized swimming.

After the rain stopped, we went mushroom picking. Omg lol. YES. In the forest. And we found some. And there were some SUPER ADORABLE WOLVES and dogs I was like OMG CUTE!!!! SQUEEEE!! And Cami was like OMG. And hid in the car. 

Pics to come. 

And then we went to dinner. There were a few courses - A like, lobster-like souffle. And then Frog legs, which I ate. They were pretty yummy, actually. I just had to purposely not think of any of the pet frogs I've had over the years! Ha. And then a 'Omlette de Norweige', which turned out to be ice cream cake that they lit ON FIRE! it was tres cool. Yum-ness.

Bahaha.

This is what I wrote down to help myself remember the day:

Slept in living room. Woke up, ate brekky, drew, ball with Leo, swim, sunbathe, Lunch so yummy! blackberries, [non-legible word], sunbathe, badminton, hide and seek, crepes, dinner, House in French, bedtime.

Ball with Leo means we bounced a tennisball at each other across the desk. 

Swimming - Yes, they had a pool. It was nice. I threw Leopold in a few times, which he wasn't too happy about, but hey, I warned him about baiting me! It's not my fault he was completely asking for it. Ha. 

I got sunburnt. So it actually looks like I have a tan line, which is somewhat exciting, considering that usually I'm so pale I glow in the dark. 

I like french food.

We picked wild black berries. YUM! The bush bit me though... At first I thought it was a spider bite, and I got all excited because I thought maybe I'd turn into Spiderman! Hahaha. But no, it was the bush. Gosh Darn. 

Cami and I made crepes, and flipped them high up into the air! And only two fell on the floor, and neither of them were mine! Bahaha. Of course, we didn't tell everybody else which ones had been on the floor.... ha. 

After dinner we watched House in French, which was amusing. Then I went to bed.

Driving.... (On a Wednesday.)

17 days until my 17th birthday. Woot? lol.

Getting out of teh garage was an ADVENTURE. But then mom needed to loosen up afterwards, because that whole thing was stressful for her, so we starting jabbering in our interpretation  of airline lingo- Like, roger captain. we have a tango niner niner. A.S. Volvomeister is ready for liftoff. 

Mom was Mommameister, I was Meistermia, and dad was Meistermon. DON'T ASK. Hahahahahahahahahahaha.....

Anyways. My feet are cold. 

We drove and drove and drove and drove and DROVE on and on. Like, forever. Which doesn't bother meso much, since I like roadtrips, but even I got tired of it after the 8th hour or so. And it was late by the time we got to Marie-Claire's house. But everyone was still up. And I read a bedtime story to Leopold (7 years old) and Cami (almost 13), Junie B. Jones to be exact. I was kinda worried that they wouldn't like me... And it's harder to tell with Cami, because she's pretty shy. And then there's the language barrier - She's convinced her English is horrible (It's really not!) and so doesn't use it as much, and my French is horrible (She said it was good! HA.) So that didn't help. But anyways... we got there, and not too long after, went to bed. The guest bedroom had a bed for mom and dad, and then mini bunkbeds. After about 30 seconds of dad's snoring, however, I grabbed the mattress off teh bottom bunk and dragged it out to the living room. 

Aaaaand we're off!

We are going to the south of France to stay at Marie-Claire's place until sunday, so until then!

Toodles. <3

Party-ness.

Well, JOHNNA and Katie Foster and Quinn came over and watched Mirrormask with me, and then we played cards. It was a lot of fun, and pretty much rescued my day. =]

Yay.

And now I think dad is about to try and grill in a metal bucket.

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHA....

Ok, this was funny. So I go to the doctor/lab place to have some blood drawn, right? Ha. So we go in, I sit down on the table, she swabs my arm, selects like 5 vials, and sticks the needle in. I'm looking, because the pain is a lot easier to deal with if I watch. After a little while, I start feeling kinda dizzy, and my hand is falling asleep.... So I say, "I feel a bit dizzy..."

And then I wake up, laying on the table with two worried faces looking at me. 

Apparently I passed out right after saying I was dizzy, except I fell forwards (Head butting the doctor chick, actually. oops!) and the needle was all wonky 'cause I fell on it too, and scratched my arm and I got blood on the table and my shirt and was out for like, 30 seconds.

I find this rather amusing, for some reason. 'Cause then I'm like, "Aw man, second time this summer!" Hehehehe.... Of course, I feel bad because it gave mom and the doctor a scare - the doctor hadn't ever had a fainting patient before! - especially since I didn't wake up right away and was getting paler and paler. Hmm. So anyways, now I'm got a cool circular bandaid, and mom is making me a grilled cheese sandwich. =] Although my arm does feel kinda bruised.... oh well!

TTFN, ta ta for now!

This is for you, Stef <3

So today.

Today Parker was gonna come over and watch a movie, but he didn't. And so to keep from boredom, I decided to Draw today, and I DID. Since neither Parker or his girlfriend Sara make a habit of reading this, as far as I know, I'll post the picture of them I drew for their birthdays.

I had fun with it, anyways.... I just hope they aren't offended by its awfulness! LOL. Their mouths are cartoony because I just couldn't get them right the normal way! Honestly, I worked on Parker's for like an HOUR. And still couldn't get it. Hence the cartoony-ness. Ha. (I'll post the other picture I drew too, but in a different post.) 

Oh, and so Parker AND JOHNNA (JOHNNA just kinda gets to be in capitals. Yup.) are coming over tomorrow to watch a movie. I'm excited for that. =]

Toodles!

blah blah blah.

yeah, i know i haven't posted since Laura left. oh well. i care about that right now about as much as i care about capitalization. which is about nil, because i just wrote a super long email to Stef, and it was all grammatically prettiful, until i got lazy. bahaha....

anyways. it went like this: 

thursday  - lunch with sam, parker, james, and boone; then flower carpet later with johnna. 

friday - took Laura to the airport *SOB* and such. moped most of the rest of the day. 

saturday... don't remember. like... um... ?????? yeah no, i don't know. OH YEAH!!! I cleaned, and then dad and I met QUINN at the movie theatre to see BATMAN! But then the time was wrong so we went back to the apartment and I taught him to play jin rummy, and then we ate dinner, and then we went and saw BATMAN!!! OMG. ...yeah. and then later i couldn't sleep for a totally unrelated reason, so i stayed up until i couldn't fight it anymore, aka 2am. ouch. 

sunday - went to church (getting up was not so fun!), was tired, knit during service, was bored after because the parentals were talking up a storm and neither NATHAN or KATIE FOSTER were there to talk to! Rawr! (COME BACK ALREADY NATHAN, WE MISS YOU!!) But then we went out to lunch with Katie's parents  and talked about the Navy, and I randomly ran into my geography teacher, Ms. D. Weird! then mom and I went over to Parker's house and talked until it was time to go to the well, and mom came too and then it was all cool, and and we had tea and talked and OMG there was a SUPER ADORABLY PRECIOUS BABY!!! HE WAS LIKE THE CUTEST THING EVER!! His name was Max, and I gotta say that Parker speaking in baby-talk is HILARIOUS. No kidding. Omg, so funny!

But anyways. Then we went to a Lebonese deli near the grand place for dinner, and on the way back we randomly ran into a classmate, Axel Olson. He's pretty cool, although I don't know him really well. Apparently he's SUPER amazing on the guitar, though. Which is cool. 

k. buh-bye.

*SOB*

" No Unmoderated Comments Found "

That's retarded. But not really the reason for the *SOB*.

The *SOB* is because this morning we dropped Laura off at teh airport... WAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

And That's all I have to say about that.

.......

Mmmm... Nutella!

M: Today we- um, lettsee, what DID we do? Walked to the forest and ate sandwiches, got scared by a bee, enjoyed some sunshine (Gasp!) and some rain. Talked. A lot. (yay.) Because after all, not only do we have to make up for lost time, but... well, you know. But the good news is that IF we DO (And it's still very much IF) stay until July, we will at least be home for Christmas and Spring Break, although I admit I would love to go on the service project trip thingy to Romania this year. But we'll see. Tomorrow is unofficially Twin day, meaning Laura and I are plotting. Plotting. I like plotting, it's rather fun. ;D muahaha. Yes, that's right....

Erm. Anyways.

L: I'm going to run any hide the evidence- I MEAN!- my dishes. Yes. I'm going to put away my dishes. (That incriminate me for having ... more Nutella. OK, it's just slightly addicting. I haven't had it in the LONGEST time though!) 

M: You mean since lunchtime?

L: Shut up! I mean before this trip, and you know it. >P

A day.

It's bedtime.

Today we decided to go o the mall in Wilouwe, or however you spell it, near Parker's house. We walked around a park for awhile, hung out in trees, and then stopped to say hi to Parker, also known as 'He-who-is-jetlagged'. After talking in his driveway for awhile (I saw his tattoo! Awesome!), we went to Cook 'n' Book, and sat and read for the rest of the afternoon! Yay for Tintin, Asterix and Obelix, Artemis Fowl, and Junie B. Jones! Hahaha.

Then we ate there.

And then came home and watch Babylon 5 with Dad. (Marcus is teh BEST! And he kinda looked like Jesus when he's unconscious.... it's the hair. And facial hair. mmhmm... although, I don't know that Jesus had such skills with a Bo Staff! *Squeee for Marcus*)

k. bedtime, under the threat of pinching! oh my.

Today I am having issues.

Like, seriously. I can't do anything! It's like, I know the things I need to do (get dressed, pick up the clothes on my floor, fix my phone, eat lunch...) but can't seem to make myself do them. It's rather frustrating. No, it's VERY frustrating.

Add to this trying to recover from a long, rather bloody nightmare. I have absolutely no 'get-up-and-go' today!

And I'm bummed. Because Laura is leaving on Friday. And that sucks ROYALLY. 

-Marissa

Testing, testing. 1, 2, 3. Testing, testing.

I had fun today. :]

Train ride. PURPLE!!!

M: Um. We slept in. Ate brekky. Sat on the tube forever, etc. Went shopping, found skinny jeans pour moi, long-enough jeans for Laura, and generally had a crazy time. And then when we were going through security, I saw a guy in a wheelchair going through too, and his chair wasn't X-rayed which made me think "Wow, you could smuggle something in through this security by putting it in the wheelchair!" Unfortunately, I wondered this out loud. Mother quickly hushed me for that! Goodness. (Hahaha....)

Tunnels, pressure, ear pain, annoyance. Um, Yeah.

L: Okay, slightly crazy day. Mostly because we were running between stations and trains and all that... But somehow, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were running from something. Something ominous indeed. ... -silence- Whew! Ok, JK. It was just tough weaving in and out of crowds, keeping tabs on everyone, and maneuvering things. The trains, as usual, were crazy, no matter what. Er, yes, there was an interesting with Marissa and the wheel-chair. Really, people should not ever talk about such things, and most definitely within earshot of anyone in uniform. Mum and I pretty much told her so. Well, Mum chewed her out. Some of us know how to just THINK those sort of things.... -grin-

Er, not much else. I think.

Blenheim and some cold, wet weather

M: Brrr.... OK, so when I heard the name Blenheim, I wondered if I had been there before, when I went to the British Isles the summer of '06 with a People to People student ambassador group. Well, turns out I had, but they had a bit more going on today. Aka, a jousting tournament. Which wasn't really serious, but still pretty fun. I liked the yellow guy, The Duke of Craven or whatever. hahahaha, so He was sitting on the center fence and then one of the guys from the other team, the red team, came and knocked him off with his lance. While galloping on a horse. Ouch? I got a video of it, don't worry. LOL. 

Then we took FOREVER to find our way out of the stupid place, because the main gate was closed so we walked like 5 miles trying to find the way out, then rode the bus to town and had to rush to the train station because we thought we were going to miss our train, but it turned out that there wasn't actually a train at that time even thought the schedule said there was. So we had to wait 45 minutes on the platform, and Laura and I were hyper, so we gave the Ministry of Silly Walks a run for its money. And then saw a poster for 'Zorro the Musical', and of course had to preform it on the spot. "IIIIIIII WILLLLLL KILLLLLL YOUUUUUUUUU!!!" HAHAHAHAHAHA. It was awesome. And there was a really paranoid guy on the train.

The end.

08/08/08, Or "Marissa goes 'THUNK' and Laura gets hit repeatedly on the head with a Banjo"

M: OK, so. 

Daddy got here this morning. We went to Stonehedge. Took a bajillion pictures. Got yummy ice cream. Poked around Salisbury. err... spent FOREVER on the tube, too. Geez.

Olympics start today. 

L: Half a million Chinese people got married today. A normally 11 minute service was shortened to 30 seconds, according to the paper! Getting to Stonehenge was painful. No, not a train, but a bus. The bus was, of course, a double-decker, so how bad could it be?

Pretty bad. There was commentary. Mostly about how mysterious, and how little is really known about the great bluestone monument. In short, I could have done a better job with the facts. If that wasn't enough, at the end of each useless blurb there was a nerve-rattling 'THWAANG!" or "TU-THWANG!". Yep, I flinched every time. The stones were, of course, impressive, and like everyone else and their dog, I've got a million pictures. (Sorry, that's my new phrase, 'Everyone and their dog'. In this case, it didn't really make sense.) The clouds and the weather was rapidly shifting, like the rest of England, so there are a few really interesting shots. My favorite is where there a bunch of black birds flying through as I clicked. It's really cool.

M: The birds make me think of Anna Louise.

L: Makes me think of that black-bird emo kid with the yellow scarf. We called him the Bumblebee. Anyways!- Yep. That was cool. I got a patch, a postcard, and a good cone of ice-cream there. Back in town, we ate at the Mill pub. It was pretty interesting. I think Marissa got sick from the nasty sausage and mash dish.  Oh yeah, then there was the Cathedral. Again, very interesting. My fave was the oldest working clock. That was my high-light, besides doing all sorts of things to attempt to capture the full steeple in a photograph. It was like, 430 feet tall.

Yep. People laughed, but I laughed at them when they were craining their necks funny. I ended up, very satisfied, lying on the lawn, and pumping my fist into the air when I finally got the shot. One brave lady even asked me to take a picture of it for her. We laughed.

Yep, pretty much. 

M: We went back to the hotel (Again, FOREVER on the very-crowded tube!) and went to bed, Laura and I in a room, and mom and dad in another. You know, I felt fine when I went to bed, but... mmm. 4am I woke up, took out my retainer as I staggered to the bathroom, and caused a very ugly mess, not entirely into the toliet. I have rarely appreciated my mother as much as I was as I cleaned up my puke in the middle of the night.... But anyways, on to cheerier and less disgusting topics, eh? ha.

Maizy - Short for amazers! :3

M: So we went and ate brekky, then Laura and I decided to go swimming while mom talked to the concierge (Who apparently happened to be AWOL whenever we needed him). It was kinda awkwardish for some reason, too. maybe because I had already bothered to put sticky stuff in my hair and so mom didn't want me to get it wet. We met this 8-year-old girl there, and her name was Maisy. She was pretty fun. "You speak pretty good English though!" Well thanks, we do try. 

Later, we decided to walk to town (1.5 rainy miles that stretched on forever) and see the Abbey and whatnot. So we did. And it was kinda strange, because the Abbey, while it had nice grounds, ...well, it had astrological signs in the ceiling. Kinda odd for an Abbey, no? Yeah, like Scorpio, Virgo, Capricorn, Cancer, Herpes... mmhmm. You get the picture.

L: Yep. Pretty much. Well, I guess I get to talk about the town. Walthem. Along the way, we plucked at some local blackberries, which were amazing. The walk was pretty short, and gave me some time too laugh at some of the more ridiculous duplexes that seem to be a fave around those parts... Like, they're literally cut down the middle, and have two different kinds of houses on each side. Weird. Uh, I pointed out a park, because Mum was a little wigged out about finding something or other, but this provided a nice distraction, and I think it got us where we wanted to go. Towards food. LOL. That's just the way it is with the Armstrong ladies.

So, a lovely park, with apple trees and high, old walls. My favorite was what used to be an old gate, that was scrawled all over with what looked like runes. I was in nerd heaven. Apparently, Marissa was not, because she decided to go wandering off, as usual when she gets bored, and got her mother on a goose-chase. Which left little old me standing in the middle of nowhere, deeply intent on attempting to read the runes. Yep. So absorbed I didn't hear a thing, and then, "I looked up, and there they were gone!" as my own mother would say. So, I'm like, 'Oh, that's nice. I'm in the middle of who-knows-where, England, without a key card to get back into the hotel.'. Fortunately, I wandered to the Abbey where, apparently Mum and Marissa had wandered. That was a weird church. Er, after that, lunch. Pizza is really boring. It was literally: bread, sauce, cheese, and flavorless chicken. Hm. Well, they provided katzup (Weird, I know!) and a mysterious white sause. I asked which one to use, and the man pointed to the white one. OK. So, put some of it on, and it was fantastic. Took me a long time to realize what it was. Mayo. EW. Mayo, on pizza, people. Erm, yes. Nasty and delicious. Don't do it at home. America's pizza is fine the way it is. Let's see. We got carrot cake, on the house no less, because the cook liked us. Yay.

Yep, pretty much our day. That, and enjoying the fact that people spoke ENGLISH. Oh, and falling in love with The London Times. Yep.

M: YAY  PEOPLE SPEAKING ENGLISH! YAY FOR ALL THE SIGNS BEING IN ENGLISH! YAY FOR ...

L: Yeah, yeah, we get the idea.

M: .... FINE.

L: Knock it off with the caps, will ya? -pokes forehead- It's getting on my nerves. We've got a few more days to type.... 

Going to England

M: Well, we got up and got on the train, and rode it forever, and then got to London and sat in the airport- err, trainport. HA. We decided a course of action, then got up and took the tube or train or something to Liverpool station, where we stashed our suitcases and headed out. We decided to hit up all the more touristy places first, aka London Bridge, Tower of London, and the London Eye. And....

Epic Fail.

L: Traveling via train is a pain. Honestly, it was really unpleasant because of all the dang tunnels. Did I mention that the pressure changes dramatically every time you pass through one of those holes in the ground? It was painful. The Chunnel was an epic fail. Boring, because it was just a long, long tunnel. And you know how I feel about those. Couldn't even see anything. Lamesauce. Yep. Got to St. Pancreas- I kid you not, that's what it's called, and fought through the madness that is brill London. Tonnes of people, mulling around, all with everywhere to go, but nowhere to be. So, lots of walking and catching buses about the city. So, that, and throw in a few key tourist sites, and you've got... Our day. London Bridge was not falling down, thank goodness, and we made our way across with the sun shining like it would never shine again. Really, really bright. But that's OK. I mean, other than taking some completely blind pictures, because almost all the places we went, we had to look UP to. -sigh- So, across the bridge we went, to the Tower of London. Not terribly exciting because it was hoarded by a bunch of smelly (no, really. SMELLY!) tourists from all over the place. I will never mock deodorant again, I swear. So, we walked around the wall, checked out a trebuchet and catapult in action (who shoots water balloons to defeat a city, anyways?!) Watched a (free, unlike the ridiculously expensive tour) video tour of the high lights of the Tower. The London Eye was also epicly boring. Couldn't go on it, because all the Brits decided to go onto one of their own landmarks- What's with that? The line was a mile long (not kidding), so we just wandered along the river warf. It was pretty awesome because we chose to stay and watch street performers (my fave) for a few hours. I think my top three favorites were the Queen Elizabeth human statue, break-dancers, and a sweet steel drum player. Yep, so, after that, we went to our hotel in Waltham, where the first B-52s took off in Britan, or something. All I know is that the military used it for weapons testing during WW2, and then sold the land back 10 years later.

So, yeah. I guess I make up for Marissa' vagueness... Hope that helps give you an idea of what our goings on were.

M: Don't worry, I got pictures of the street performers. They were pretty darn awesome! I mean, you look right and there's Hitler in a tutu sitting by a Elvis human-statue. Look left, and there's Charlie Chaplin looking forlornly at the crowd that the breakdancers stole. Really, it was pretty cool.
Eventually, we headed to our hotel and settled in for the night. It was a nice hotel too, a Marriott that dad used his points to get us into. It even had a POOL, which is pretty rare for Europe. We didn't swim that night, but yeah. Anyways.

Photos....

I added some pictures to posts in Late June and and early July.

Eye roll: Sounds icky, yeah?

Okay, so Brugge was pretty amazing. I mean, like, sweet-looking. The buildings and statues, and even ROADS are all totally different wherever you go! They change from town to town, city to city. It's pretty amazing. Anyways, yes- the "flea market" as Riss tersely put it. Obviously, I was fascinated. There were lots of things that were obviously not supposed to be there, or rather, American border police would balk at. Crocodile purses, snake-skin boots, skulls from animals, ivory from elephants, spices that I wouldn't dare to place... The list goes on and on! There were lots of really interesting history pieces there too! Lots of WW2 stuff, that I couldn't stop looking at. Lots of stuff: Dog-tags, helmets, metals, Nazi flags, original uniforms... Uh, wow. My nerdy-historical side was going on over-drive. WOW. Obviously, lots of stuff from different places. The woman who sold Marissa her umbrella and fan had got them from Thailand. That was pretty cool. It looked like she held up a tourist shop from the 80s. The man next to her was British, and had been in Africa as a soldier. I kind of listened in as he was telling his story to some people. It was really neat. So, stuff from all over. It was great. We wandered all over for prolly 2 hours, and we were totally enraptured. Well, there were some pretty random things too. Like a stuffed mountain goat that was wearing a pink corset. That took a while to figure out. Or, a brush made out of whale teeth. (Like, the thick, stringy, hump back whale teeth. YUCK!) So, we ate there, too. That was fun, because I finally got to have a decent Belgian waffle, even if it wasn't the freshest. The Armstrong Matriarch says we'll have to try again, and after tasting a mediocre one, I enthusiastically agreed. It was great- Nothing like the waffles in Minnesota. Er, was I supposed to talk about the city itself? >.o Oh, okay. So, large town. A variety of different languages spoken, and I was surprised at how many Brits came here for a holiday. The entire town had cobblestone, from long, long ago. The buildings were beautifully preserved, Mum proudly told me. It was really cool. It was like going back in time, to be strait forward about it. Architecture (heh, my favorite. I love looking at old buildings) was really neat, because you could tell that it was super mixed with French Buroque period, and the earlier, almost Italian designs. Of course, they were all smashed right next to each other, like everything is in Europe. Because of the big market that was going on (apparently, the big sales of the year are controlled by the government, so there's like, only two a year. Totally different than in the U.S.A), so most of the doors were blocked from sight (another favorite of mine. The doors are SO unique here! <3>

Yep. So, the nuns are famous around there, so we visited their convent, where everyone was very, very quiet, in honor of the nuns who still live there (an older crowd, to be sure). Unlike other convents, this one is famous for their liverly, because they make (amazing, time-consuming, tedious) lace to earn their keep among the bustling city. Not only that, but they're aloud to keep some of their own possessions, which is normally against nun-ish vows. But, these fine gals don't have to be under the same vows as other nuns, because the convent is especially for widows, and women that never marry, so that they don't have to live on the streets. On the way out, the nuns came out from church. Then everyone was silent as they watched the little ol' ladies make their way to their respective homes. It was down-right creepy quiet. 

So, that's an over-view of our little escapade. Er, I don't know what else I was supposed to say, so...

TTFN! <3

Bizarre? No, Bazaar! :]

"No really, it was a Bizarre, we went to the Bazaar in Brugge!"

Yayness. I LOVE flea markets! And that is exactly what we walked through in Brugge. Mom got a pretty blue plate that has some official name or summat, and I got this really awesome Fan and Umbrella from Thailand! They are AWESOME, I'll have to post pictures of them. Anyways. Next to the woman who sold them to me was a guy who served in Africa as a soldier I think, he had a bunch of Ivory and a skull-thing! So yeah. I might as well list what we ate today, besides breakfast: 

• Gelato
• a HUGE brat that was about 14 inches... wow
• A waffle
• Frites
• Chocolate
• Dad had beer, and Laura and I tasted it. Not quite up our alley, though!

haha, sooooo healthy, right? but then when we got home at 8ish we had a real dinner, chicken alfredo and cauliflower. Gah, I was SUPER tired. 

But Brugge. Um, we walked around a lot, looking at the buildings. Visited a Nunnery, which was cool. Walked more. Gawked. It was kinda rainy, off and on. I'm currently attempting to get the camera uploading, but I'm not promising anything! LOL. Yeah, it's being temperamental. Anywho. I think I'll let Laura blog and give the details, since my brain is kinda mushy at the moment. I haven't been awake very long... 

I hope Johnna can come over today.

Waiter Watching

Good morning, all. (Laura speaking.) Yesterday was a bit rushed, and we were all bushed when we got back (no, I'm not making plant references throughout the whole post! >:O ) and were, therefore, not able to post last night.

In summery, a road trip:

Were driving around, looking for how to get to the citedel, ended up checking out the local market instead. Lots of people, creatures, and weird objects, but nothing about "ancient concrete buildings" as Mum, oh-so-fondly called it. (NOT.) So, a bit of wandering around, and poking at fashion, cloth, dogs, and screaming little children. Not exactly zealous, amazing fun.

So, back into the car we get, and head off to the gardens. Which gardens, I cannot recall, but I'm sure Marissa will edit the crap out of this post (because she dosen't want to admit she was eyeing the waiter, no doubt), and inform you of the proper names of everywhere we went.

Fantastic. Anyways, got to the gardens. At first it's like- "Oh, okay." Playground, and a hill sweeping with flowers and fountains. All fine and dandy. Until you really get to poke around. It's beautiful. Enormous, giant trees, around 400 to 500 years old, non-pump using fountains, streams, brooks, and ponds, statues, and all-famous Belgian hedges. (I swear, it's like a gardening translation of 'STAY OUT!') Flowers were pretty, but it was the maze of hedges, and the Greek statues that really caught my attention. My shining moment was when we were in 'Grove de Minivre', and none of the Armstrongs could figure out what Minirve was. I grinned, and pointed at the statue on the pedistal, which held a woman with a helmet, a spear, and a snake aloft. 

"Minivre," I explained, "Is from the name Minirva, a deviant name of Athena."

Woot! Ten points goes to Larmour! . . . O.o  .... Anyways! -coughcough-

Finished walking around the lovely gardens, taking us back to the chalet, and the playground. Marissa and I had a ball. Very fun! After playing around for a short (too short) while, it was time for snacky-lunch. We all clambered into the car, and ate. Yum. Strawberries and blueberries, need I say more? 

After that- more driving! Not so fun. Next stop: Caves! This was a bit more fun, because there were no English tours. (Not that we should have expected one.) So we had our choice- French or Dutch. Well, so much for choice, because, we all chose Dutch. (WHAT?! The line was shorter...) And down into the cave we went, making our own commentary, and looking (and touching!) the fantastic cave around us. There were a few points where we actually tried to pay attention, such as when the tour guide made enormous hand gestures, and pointed to the cave around us. (Thanks for counting on your fingers, dude. It made things a lot clearer... not!) 

At one point, there was a light show. But to have a light show, first, it has to be completely dark. I'll just pause so that you can think about that. ... Okay, let me help you out. 20 to 30 Netherlanders/Germans, and 3 English speakers, in the dark. If the lights weren't to come back on.... Yeah. But, everything turned out fine, and Mum even managed to make some new friends with two enormous black, shaggy dogs. It was love from first sniff.

Speaking of which, it brings me to our last stop. Dinner. After the cave, Marissa and I swung our way to the top of a rope Eiffle Tower, and smirked down at all the people below. It was a lot of fun. After that, back into the car, to our first stop, where we stop and had dinner along the river. Our waiter (a Caucasian male, blue eyes, huge, mohawked/ducktailed black hair, skater shoes, and moderately loose jeans [Relatively speaking- This IS Europe.], spoke English well, and was very, very kind to us.) was nice, and I caught Marissa eyeing him a few times. Then, I couldn't help but laugh. "Waiter watching!"

So, yeah, our events of the day. Er, yester-day. As in, the day before today.

Because- Today, -folds hands dramatically- we pray.

L 

MUAHAHAHAHAHA.

Rach! OK, check this out, dear:

Doctor Who.

And Mortal Engines. 

SMASHED TOGETHER. omg. :]

yes, we're doing it.... hence the ebil laughter. yay! Laura is Hester Shaw and the Doctor and... um... somebody else? Oh! Grike! Mmmhmm. And I'm the Doc's companion named Ophelia Leary, Ana Fang (SQUEEEEE!), and Beavis Pod. YAAAAAAY! I heart him. He's super sweet. :3

Anywho. To most people, this will not make sense at all. In order for this to make sense, you would have to know both Doctor Who and Mortal Engines. (I recommend them both, of course! D.W.= Television, BBC or SciFi, M.E.= book series. Both of them are excellent.)