Manito Park

       This week, I went up to Manito Park for a day with my mom and brother. We got lunch at the Park Bench Cafe and walked through a few of the gardens. The food was great but the flowers were even better! Plus, the sun was shining and it was a perfect temperature for an outside adventure!

 

     

       This is a view from a gazebo like thing. It over looks some of the plants, a bridge, and a koi pond. There are not as many koi in the pond as usual but the few that they did have were very cool to watch!

       

       In this picture you can see a little waterfall that flows into the koi pond and a cool little tower thing (I have no idea what it is called).

       This is a view of the "old" roses. They smelled great but most were not blooming a lot. Despite this they were still beautiful to see and smell.

       Here is a picture of the "new" roses. There were so many beautiful different colors plus they had some fun names. My brothers favorite flower name was, "Double Knock Out." He thought it was hilarious to name a flower that.

       These ones were my favorites! I love the peachy color and how the colors change a little bit. I also loved the ones that were white at first and turned pink when they fully bloomed. (I didn't get any pictures of these ): )

       One of the other flower garden we visited was Duncan Gardens. As you can see from the picture above it is gorgeous! The flowers were beautiful and in full bloom and the walk through it was very fun. It felt like something out of Downton Abby!

       Lastly here is a picture of my brother and I in front of the fountain in Duncan Gardens. A few minutes before we took our picture, it was shooting water out of the top and we were hoping that it would do it again and we could get that in a picture. Sadly not, the fountain did not shoot up for our picture but it was still beautiful. The trip was so much fun to go on and provided great entertainment for our day.

Going Vintage

     
       OK, so it is time for my second book review! One book that I read recently is, Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt. My friend Rachel, an avid reader like myself, recommended it to me. I typically like books that she suggests so I thought that I would give it a go.

     
       Going Vintage is about a teenage girl, Mallory, who one day discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her with an avatar on an online game. After breaking up with him she swears off technology until she can complete a list of her grandmothers from the '60s she discovered. The list includes; 1. Run for pep club secretary  2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree  3. Sew a dress for Homecoming  4. Find a steady and 5. Do something dangerous. What at first seemed like a simple task proves to be much more difficult than she ever planned. Plus there is a new boy that is causing Mallory even more confusion to add to her daunting task.

       At first, the book was rather boring, I didn't really like the main character  I thought the reasons for her break-up were a little strange and the ending appeared to be very predictable. But about halfway through the book it began to get more interesting and held my attention. Mallory seemed like a better character, the brake-up was more than met the eye, and the plot was different than what I expected (not by a lot though). By the end of the book I was very happy that I read it. It is a quick read, another great book for the summer or just a day at the beach.

     

Day at the Beach

       My friend Taylor and I both have babysitting gigs this summer and we wanted to do something fun with our kiddos that we would enjoy too. So we decided  to bring the kid's down to the beach for the day. We also invited Seyjil and her little sister Meera. Meera is the same age as the girls I babysit! (Whoo! Friends for all and majority of the fab 5 present!) To begin the day the girls I babysit, Chloe and Grace, and I filled up about 300 water balloons! When we got to the beach the real fun began with our water balloon war. I was too busy attempting to defend myself against the kids attacks to take pictures but we did get a picture after the fight.

       The water balloon fight only lasted five minutes at best. Even then all six kids said that they loved it. Plus, at the end, because the kids "won", they got to push the three of us into the lake as a prize. Overall it was a success!

       We also managed to get a jumping picture. (We will be taking another with all five of us girls later) Grace took a video for us and thanks to technology, and iPhones, we took a screen shoot of the best frame of the video! I think that the picture turned out amazingly but I also can't wait to take another one later!

        After babysitting I went with my family and Seyjil to see Despicable Me 2! It was great and very funny just like the first. I really loved learning more about some of my favorite movie characters. Below is a picture of my niece, Claire, and myself before the movie. (She loved it too!)

       And to conclude, I hope that everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July!

S'mores, Movie Night and Ice Cream Oh My!

     
        We have successfully completed our first three events on our bucket list! The first was make s'mores. It was very easy and we will definitely be doing it again quite often this summer.  Seyjil, Taylor, and I participated in the "event" and as you can tell from the pictures we had ton's of fun! (P.S. Please excuse the crazy hair. We had just finished swimming in the lake).

       

        The second, and third, thing we did was a movie night and we went to get ice cream in between the two movies. For our movies we watched Mean Girls (A first for Seyjil and me) and Shark Tale (not my favorite). For this activity we had myself, Taylor, Seyjil and Hailey participating.

       And here are the pictures I took from our walk to get Ice Cream.

The Moon and More

        For my first book review I am doing The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen! This book was amazing, definitely one of Mrs. Dessen's best books so far (in my opinion). Also it was a quick and rather simple read. Perfect for summer!

       Sarah Dessen's books are all intertwined in some way. For example, all of her books (If I remember correctly) are set in her small fictional town of Colby. Another way she relates her books to one another  is she adds characters or places that we have encountered before. It is a lot of fun reading one of the familiar names or places that you remember from previous books in other books. The Moon and More is no exception to the trend and has quite a few of these "hidden treasures" located throughout it.

 
     
       The books main character is a soon to be college student named Emaline. She has lived in Colby her whole life, dated the same boy since ninth grade, and feels like she is just stuck where she is. That's when a new boy, Theo,  shows up in Colby while working for a film producer. He turns her world around along with the help of her off and on biological father, and makes her question what she really wants for her future.

       If you are looking for a fun book to read this summer I would strongly recommend this one or any other by Sarah Dessen.

 Have you read The Moon and More yet? If so what was your opinion about it? What is your favorite book or recommended summer read? Answer in the comments section below!