bowling, floyd, & african dancing

Today happened to be a very long day, and I was really excited about it!

My friend Meghann and I were dropped off at bowling alley, and that's where she and I spent our afternoon hanging out :) It was really exciting for me, because I mean, she & I have hung out at the library before without a parent present, but this is the first time I've actually done something fun with a friend by ourselves!

She and I had an awesome time bowling together! Maybe some people think it's lame, but I really enjoy bowling, haha.
I had some extra money left, and the bowling alley had a little restaurant  so I bought us a Veggie Wrap, along with a big pretzel (and Meghann also got herself some curly fries as well!)

stuffed animal we got from the claw machine!

After bowling, Meghann's sister Shannon picked us up and drove us to Floyd, Virginia. That's where we spent a few hours there, walking around town, going into all the hippie shops, we also stopped at the Red Rooster Cafe (Shannon works there)
and we drank smoothies!~

ahaha afterwards, we drove to Roanoke, Virginia where we stopped at her uncle Ian's house.





We hosted the International Dinner / Potluck at her uncle's house - tonights theme was Africa! The reason for doing so, was that tonight in downtown Roanoke, an African music group was preforming, so we figured the African dinner would co-inside with the events tonight!

The food was pretty good, but I don't really like a lot of spicy food, and that's what a lot of the dishes were :) So it was eh for me.

Later on, we all drove over to the theater, it was a group of 10+ in total of us going. I was super excited for this performance!

It was soooo GREAT! It was incredibly lively, upbeat, and fun to dance to. During the intermission, some of the members talked about where they are from in African and what their life was like back then, which I thought was pretty awesome.

Near the end of the show, anyone who wanted to could come up and dance, so naturally Meghann and I headed up there to jam out!! It was tons of fun!! By the end of the night I was exhausted, we didn't get to Meghann's house until almost 1am! Since it was so very late, I just spent the night there :)

Sinkland Farms & Pumpkin Patch

One of my favorite things about Autumn is hayrides and pumpkin patches!











Today we visited Sinkland Farms for the first time, which is located just outside of Christansburg in the glorious mountains of Virginia. The weather had been fantastic these past few days, and the blue sky made me happy! :)

I was really excited about the pumpkin toss. It's like this huuugeee sling shot where you try and shoot the pumpkins into baskets.

Neither Joshua nor I got the pumpkins in the baskets, but it was still a lot of fun! We stopped and ate kettle corn & ice cream while listening to live blue grass music :) It was a nice afternoon.

Sumo Wrestling & Tuesday Classes

The homeschool group in Virginia has classes every Tuesday - first is History, then we have a lunch break, second class is Film making, and third is Sign Language class.

our teachers - ginger and julie,
demonstrating how 'sumo' is done

History class is usually pretty fun! We read a few chapters out of our history book, and then our Teacher Julie quizzes us about it. Afterwards we do a craft or play a game related to what we just learned. This week in particular we learned about Samuri, so it was only natural to have our own sumo match! We learned all about the process the sumo will go through, how they have to drink water to purify themselves, and so on.


Film Making class was broke into two groups. Group A wrote and filmed a Wizard of Odd movie, based of the wizard of oz. Group B wrote and filmed a zombie movie. Each group got to work hands-on with deciding on props, special effects, editing the movie and even picking out the soundtrack. I ended up being on the Zombie making team!

Sam getting excited

Sign Language is a class I have mentioned before here.

Today for Sumo wresting we all brought pillows and just strapped on to our fronts and the other to our backs :) It was a lot of fun and it was nice to see all of the kids learning and even enjoying themselves!

Me and Jessie!

Kayaking on the New River

I'm an adventurer and I love anything that gets my heart rate moving, so when my dad said we're taking the afternoon to go kayaking on the river? I was absolutely thrilled. :) Of course, the kayaks weren't our own, my aunt lent them to us for the time being. We got up reealllyy early that morning and headed over to Radford, Virginia. My mother and brother dropped my dad & I off, and they met us about 5+ miles down the river.

I was pretty excited because this was my first time kayaking on the river!

It was interesting going over shallow parts in the river, especially because you could see all kinds of fish and water-grass.

I'd say we spent at least two hours kayaking, and it was a blast. I got to see big birds - such as heron - that I've never gotten to see up close before.
I also noticed numerous turtles, and certain areas where an entire flock of birds had sat on some rocks. They were spreading their wings, letting the morning sun warm their feathers.

We did struggle at a few points, such as when I got stuck in the rapids.

I tried to paddle fast as we kayaked over them, but I ended up getting stuck on a rock! It was really scary, especially with all the rushing water around me.

I was really nervous, but luckily dad  and I used teamwork and we were able to continue downstream.

Right near the end, dark clouds covered the sky and it started pouring down rain, but by the time we got to the shoreline (where mom & Joshua were waiting for us) the sun came back out :)

Riverfest

Here in the New River Valley of Virginia they had a small local festival, with many vendors, craft tables, games, live music and food all throughout the day.

The Radford Library had a table set up with crafts and an area with games, so my friend Meghann and I decided to volunteer and were 'helpers' all afternoon. We both enjoyed helping out with the kids and interacting with people, it was a lot of fun! At the gazebo there was local bands playing bluegrass and folk music, occasional we'd jam out and dance to the music! :)

• The Riverfest was put together to bring the community together, helping to support local businesses along with raising money for charity.

Along with the day-long events at the riverfest, there was a "duck race" where you would buy a rubber duckie -the proceeds going to a local organization- and they would toss the ducks off the bridge and into the New River.

It was an exciting race, watching over 600+ ducks float down the river to the finish line! Of course, things didn't go as plan... many of the hundreds of ducks started floating further down the river than they anticipated. Apparently they spent all afternoon trying to round up all of them!

The races!

I've never been to the racetrack before, until my dad was offered tickets from work to the Motor Mile Speedway / Dragway, and of course, we couldn't pass those up! I was so excited.

Not only did we get tickets, but they were VIP passes to the PLATINUM room! I wasn't sure what to expect from this experience, but I'm so glad we had this wonderful opportunity, because this was the best night we've had in a long time!

The VIP tickets included access to the air conditioned room, with comfy seating and windows all around you, but all of us preferred to be outside on the porch/balcony.

It was quite an astonishing view from outside, you could see all of the race cars as they buzzed by on the raceway! Honestly, you've never experienced race cars until you can feel the vibrations going through your body, until it's so loud you can't even think.





There is nothing like seeing the cars crash right in front of you, to feel the 'whoooh!' of the crowd rush through your body. There isn't a sensation such as this one.



Even my little brother, Joshua, really thoroughly enjoyed himself! There was a smile on his face the entire time that never left. 

I loved the smell of funnel cakes and the roar of engines, it makes me want to become a race car driver!





If you haven't been able to enjoy such an experience, I definitely recommend going to a race! Though, you might want to consider ear plugs... it can get loud!

Accomplishments at the fair!

The fair - which is usually the highlight of my artistic career. This year I entered 4 photographs, 3 paintings, and a sculpture, all of which got a ribbon :)

Watercolors, 1st place

Acrylic, 2nd place

Watercolors, 3rd place

 I've gotten 1st place before, but this year was the first for me, receiving the purple ribbon, Best in Show!

Wilbert

I was very happy that my paper mache turtle-named Wilbert-got his own ribbon.

Black and White Portrait, 1st place

Wildlife, 2nd place

my kitties just got a 'participant' ribbon...

Ingles Farm

I love adventure and going new places, so I was rather excited that we'd be going over to the Ingles Farm here in Virginia! The farm, also known as Ingles Ferry, is a great example of what life was like back in the 18th century. We got there on a Sunday morning just before they opened, the air was still cool and no one else was there touring the farm except us!

Me wearing wooden shoes, imagine walking in these!

It was a very educational experience and yet very enjoyable, we learned about different weapons and tools used in the 18th century, about how people would have lived and survived, also about the clothes they wore and what kind of food someone would have eaten. Joshua was especially interested in learning about how to make bullets, and was very happy to see their example of how to shoot a gun.

We learned about Carding Wool and using a Spinning Wheel, something I'm already familiar with, My mother uses a droop spindle and we card wool all the time! I enjoyed petting the Hog Island Sheep, they felt like a sweater!

•  Ingles Farm Hog Island Sheep, they are a breed of sheep descended from animals first brought to Virginia's Hog Island in the 1700s. During the 1930s and 1940s, storm conditions forced the island's residents to evacuate, leaving some sheep behind. These sheep adapted to the environment free of human intervention, becoming feral.

 
A lovely lady sat us down, and she told us the story of Mary Draper Ingles, about her being captured by the Shawnee Indians and the tale of her escape, it's a very interesting tale, I could imagine going through something like that! Click here to read more about Mary Draper Ingles

Flax Flowers, just before harvesting

 

 

 

 

• Flax is grown both for its seeds and for its fiber. Various parts of the plant have been used to make fabric, dye, paper, medicines, fishing nets, hair gels,cloths,ropes,high quality paper and soap. Flax seed is the source of linseed oil, which is used as an edible oil, as a nutritional supplement, and as an ingredient in many wood finishing products.

After which we learned about Flax, and I got to help in the process of making flax! In the end, this will become a piece of clothing, or can also be used as flax seed (something we eat in our house!) and many other things. It was such a wonderful day, and we all learned so many new things. It's interesting how things from the 18th are not all too different from what we use today.

Ingles Farm