It’s taken me awhile, but I finally did it! I will still be posting pictures on here, so don’t totally desert this place. Enjoy the new blog though!Here is a link to the end of the movie, if you want to see the ending for yourself. By the way, does anyone know if you can upload youtube videos on here??? If you can and you know how, please pass that information along to me somehow!! Thanks!
But altogether, it was a fun day with friends…I was in desperate need of a "social life"
– I remember Mr. Anger looking at his watch to see the date and saying something to the effect of, "Well, I guess September 11 will always be remembered by you!" Of course, I readily agreed, but little did I know how that a year later, that date would not just be remembered by me, but by the entire world. Yes, September 11 can be viewed as a day of tragedy, but I would like to think of it as a day where God saved and spared many lives! This is a special wall outside the World Trade Center Gallery in NYC dedicated especially to the firemen who were killed trying to save all those people that day, but it is a great reminder to me, and to everyone….
…and, Andy, if you are reading this…hahahahahahaha! When Elizabeth and Cherie, my two friends from New York, were at my house, Elizabeth and I decided to redecorate my chalkboard outside my room. We were having fun and being goofy so we made it look like this:
*
But I guess there are worse things a brother could do to you…like blowing you with a leaf blower for example….. I was prepared though!! 
It was really weird starting off a new school year today without him! He now goes off to college separate from us 
How sad! However, I don’t think he was too mournful this morning!! Me thinks he enjoys the college life!! ) Today went really well. I was definitely more relaxed than I was last year. I guess because now I know that even though they may not "get it" today, tomorrow or the next, they WILL get it eventually! Even so, the children were soooooo excited to be starting Kindergarten today! Everything we did or anything I said was met with such enthusiasm. After we went through the classroom rules and the jobs for the week, I played a fun game with them called a photo scavenger hunt. I had taken about 30 pictures of things and parts of things around the room previously and printed them out. I showed them a picture and they would go around the room trying to find where the picture matched in the room. That game could have probably gone on forever! I then read them a book called The Kissing Hand and we did a fun art project where they got to get into their "painting clothes". I painted their hands with the colors of their choice and they put their handprints all over the paper. After the paint dried, they glued this poem onto the paper. We were still recovering from the Majesty Music conference that we had been at for the past two days. Well, we got there and things were going good. We got to see the Liberty Bell and other museums. We started heading to Rotten Ralph’s for lunch (yes, it is called Rotten Ralph’s but the food is really good ) When we got there, we all ordered our Philly cheese steaks, and my friend, Cherie, commented, "I am going to do a Becky thing now and take a picture of my meal" Well, Elizabeth had just taken a picture of the group so I was like…hey!! I’ll take a picture too! I reached into my purse and discovered…..MY CAMERA WAS NOT THERE!! At first I didn’t panic because I thought it might be on the floor next to my purse because I couldn’t remember if I had been holding it separately. When I couldn’t find it, then I started panicking. Everyone started to help me look under the table, and everyone double checked to make sure they didn’t have it on them for some reason. After we had an unsuccesful search, my Dad headed out and backtracked to the museums we had been at to see if he could find it. I was really upset, but I was like, Dad is going to find it…Dad is going to find it. I wasn’t about to give up hope yet! Well, when he got back with empty hands I about lost it. Now, to some of you this may not seem like a huge big deal, but if you have looked at my blog AT ALL during these past few years, you will know that my camera and I are very good friends. We have done LOTS together. Not only was I missing my faithful friend, but I also had tons of pictures on there from the week I had spent with my friends and pictures of the Majesty Music Conference (ie: Patch the Pirate…it was my FIRST time seeing him) Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy my lunch whatsover…it felt like lead in my stomach…though it does look good at the moment… A yummy meal…hard to swallow though with a lump in your throat 
Minutes before I discovered my camera was missing….notice the smile on my face? *sigh*
Well, anyway, after we finished our meal, we decided to all backtrack to the places we had been and see if we could find it. I had taken a picture at the one museum and I remember saying that I didn’t like that there was a flash on the picture, but that is the last time I remember anything about the camera. The next place we had gone to, I had sat down on the bench, but I don’t remember having my camera out at that place. We searched all over, we asked those in charge, and then we decided to move on because there really wasn’t much more we could do about it. Eventually, when we headed back to the visitor’s center, I asked two separate times if anyone had turned in a camera, but…nada. Let’s just put it this way..after I talked to the people in charge at the visitor’s center, and they told me they didn’t have it, I had a rather emotional moment. I was pretty upset, let me tell you. It was rough, because I felt like I was ruining everyone’s day, but I just didn’t feel like smiling! For the rest of the day, my mind was just swirling, thinking about all the pictures I had taken, and all the pictures lost, and wondering how I could be soooo irresponsible to lose a camera??!! I mean, I have absolutely NO IDEA how this camera could have disappeared. I would have noticed if I had dropped it, and even if I didn’t, my Dad was walking behind me and would have noticed. THIS IS JUST REALLY IRRITATING, PEOPLE!! *calming down now* We have tried calling the Ranger station and my mom finally got through to a person today, so I am hoping *crossing fingers* that somehow, somewhere, somebody has turned it in. But I am just glad that my friends had also taken pictures! (Thanks Elizabeth for sharing your pictures with me ) Its not the same as having your own pictures, but at least the memories are still there So I have had to say goodbye to another faithful friend…I know I could always get another one, but this camera took pictures of my dog, of my family, of my daycare and Kindergarten kids, vacations, birthdays, holidays….*sigh*…we have been through a lot together!
Little did I realize that this was one of my last times with my camera *sniff*
) Anyway, I wanted to keep my dehumidifier running during the night, so I moved the thing across the room to an outlet that actually wasn’t being used (the ONLY one not be used) Well, I had to move this dresser out of the way because the plug just wasn’t cooperating for me. I tried pushing the thing in and it just was being stubborn. Finally after a few moments of frustration the plug went into the outlet and for the next few seconds I thought it was the 4th of July again. Sparks were flying out of the outlet and I mean not just these little tiny sparklets, but these were REAL sparks flying. I though for sure the dresser would catch on fire or something. And I am sure all of you are just dying to know how I reacted during these brief horrifying seconds……..of course, I was calm, cool and collected…how could you doubt that for a second? I was busy admiring the white and yellow fire sparks as they came out of my wall. It reminded me of the sparklers I had lit on the 4th of July and I kept wondering WHY????!! did we have to spend money on fireworks when I could have them for FREE in my room???!! I was literally screaming with delight!! Rrrrrrrriiight!! Oh I was screaming, but it was NOT with delight let me tell you! And if any of you know me…the quiet kind of girl I am (hahaha) I was QUITE out of character for those brief seconds…as I was jumping up and down screaming my head off for my Dad. Well, I discovered something that night. When I scream in my room downstairs, no one can hear me upstairs. There are certain parts in the basement where you can be heard, but I discovered NOT in that part of the basement. Sooooo by this time, I had stopped screaming (I think ) because the sparks had finally gone away and I ran upstairs to get my Dad. He was already in bed but after telling him, in a rather shaky voice, what had happened, he came downstairs to investigate. He got the plug out of the outlet with no difficulty. We were both perplexed by what had happened. It had tripped the breaker, of course, so nothing was on in my room. He was able to flip the breaker back on and thankfully everything seemed to work (at the moment at least) So it was smelling rather "burnt" in my room, but after standing there a few more minutes, everything seemed under control sooooooo I went to bed with much fear and trembling wondering if I would be burnt to a crisp come morning from an electrical fire (I am such a postive thinking person, can’t you tell? ) Thankfully, I survived the night (obviously). The next morning I tried starting up my computer but NOTHING. I was in a rush so I headed off to work. While there, I msned Andy about my computer dilemna, and his encouraging words to me were "Oh, you probably fried it last night" THANK YOU, ANDY!! Just what I needed to hear. Well, I got home and we tried turning it on again and nothing happened. I was asked by my Dad and Andy if I had backed up my files and I was like….nooooooooooooo. See, I am not necessarily computer illiterate or anything (wellllll, I guess compared to some people I am ) but I guess I had developed such a special "bond" with my computer, that I thought it was infallible and would never fail me. (hahaha) Well, I was quickly losing my trust in this "faithful friend." They brought the computer upstairs and thankfully, when plugged into another outlet it worked fine. Andy backed up my files for me (such a loving brother!). I was definitely relieved that it was fine because I had a whole bunch of school stuff on there that I had spent a lot of time on and didn’t really want to lose. Well, to make a long story short, my computer has a temporary home on our dining room table. Its kind of interesting having two computers a few feet away from each other, but it will work for now. Hopefully, next week we will have someone come in to look at the outlet to see whats up with it. All the other outlets worked fine afterwards except the one my computer was hooked up to….figures. Well, this has all been an electrifying experience, let me tell you! We are still not sure why the outlet started sparking like that, but it definitely taught me never to plug anything into an outlet again (just kidding ….kinda *sigh*) Hopefully it will all get straightened out soon! I know, I know…that isn’t the REAL stuff, but baby steps, baby steps, people , I want to leave you with two lovely AFTER pictures of this electrifying experience! I realize it could have been a lot worse. God was definitely protecting me!
Thursday – Today after breakfast we headed out to travel to Natural Bridge which was about 2 hours away. When we got there, we went down into the woods to see the Natural Bridge, which as the name says, is a bridge that was formed naturally by rock. Of course, we know that it was really formed SUPERNATURALLY by God probably during the flood! After we took a number of pictures of the amazing bridge we continued on a walk in the woods. We soon came upon an Monacan Indian village display in the woods, and I found my future home (hahahahaha…gotta see the pictures!) We continued on in the woods, saw some snakes on the ledge, and ended up at a waterfall at the end of the trail. However, the water in the creek was rather low so the waterfall wasn’t really that terrific. We headed back to the Natural Bridge, took a few more pictures, and then headed back to the main building. Andy and Alayna took the steps up to the building, but Dad, Mom, and I took the bus When we all got back to the building we went to the cafe for lunch. I had a cheese steak which was actually really good. It was flat bread, steak, cheese, peppers and onions toasted in the oven and then topped with lettuce, tomato and mayonaise…yum!! I also had a Mountain Dew and chips (which Dad and Andy ended up eating for me!) I am sure you all find this so interesting! After browsing around the gift shop and taking pictures with a rather large stuffed bear to see how tall we are (gotta see the pictures!) we headed out. Our next stop was the Virginia Safari. Was that ever an experience! It is over 180 acres of land filled with camels, emus, ostriches, deer, llamas, antelope, pot-bellied pigs, zebras, bison, wildebeest and I am sure I am missing a few animals (or just don’t know the names of them!) You drive along and they are just roaming around free. Well, many people buy food for the animals and feed them along the way. We didn’t buy any food…but the animals didn’t know this (at least not right away!) The animals come right up to the windows of the car and just stare at you with those sad eyes to see if you are going to give them anything. We definitely put our windows up fast when the camels and llamas approached. These animals know that when the window is down that means you have food for them. Unfortunately we had to disappoint many animals, but there were plenty of other cars feeding them! After we finished the “safari drive” we headed into the “safari village” which was basically like a mini zoo. Let’s see, we saw monkeys, flamingos, turtles, tigers, kangaroos, birds, goats (baby goats!), and giraffes. Andy, Alayna and I got to feed a giraffe! That was fun! You bought a handful of food, held your hand out straight, and the giraffe just ate out your hand. Their tongues feel just like sand paper! We also got to pet a baby kangaroo, better known as a joey, of course After we were done in the village, we headed out. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for supper. When we got back to the hotel, we rested for a bit, and then played some rousing games of Dutch Blitz, which Alayna won hands down. *sigh* We then headed next door to Tastee Freez for some ice cream. This is the place we had tried last night but it had been closed. After we finished our ice cream, we decided to be snoops and go across the street to the fancy inn to see what we could see. We got a glimpse of the inside front room. It looked pretty fancy! We got a picture in front of it to appear like we belonged there (hahahaha) When we got back to the hotel, we had yet another rousing game of Yahtzee. And guess who won tonight?! MEEEEEEEEE!! Tonight I actually got 2 Yahtzees That made my night 
After the game was over, we started packing up. We are leaving tomorrow morning. We will be heading to Grandma’s house again and spending Friday and Saturday there. So basically our official vacation is nearly over. That is just soooo sad! It has definitely been a fun week together as a family Lots of laughs and TONS of pictures to prove we had fun.
Becky's Book 