Weather Whirlwind

From the bed of Captain Spazzmataz (I’m back):

This week has been quite the adventure in many ways. First off, Tyler was here and we spent a lovely weekend exploring the outdoors. We went up to Lake Marie where Mom, Dad, and I went, but this time we did real hiking. I wore my hiking boots and everything!

We had a great day seeing the sights and we even packed a lunch and ate it on a nice comfy rock. We also drank mountain lake water because it was so clean and we ran out of water that we brought. I tried to insert a panoramic photo as my featured photo, but alas, WordPress is once again poopie and won’t allow this format in their media library. In the photo with the elevation sign, there was a lookout point which is where I took the panorama. From this lookout point, you could see smoke from one of the massive forrest fires in Colorado! It was impressive and sad.

After our mountain adventure, we were very tired, so we had a nice lazy day on Sunday to round out our weekend.

We finished watching Avatar, and I finally unpacked my winter clothes with the impending snow on the horizon.

There was snow in the forecast for Tuesday for about a week and a half, and it did indeed snow. It wasn’t a crazy amount, but it was enough to cover the ground and for Churro to frolic.

We went to the dog park once it stopped actively snowing, and there was one other dog there who was just as excited as Churr. They played so well, and they ran for about 45 minutes while we were there. Churro thought rolling in the snow and shoving her face in it were the most fun, so she was quite damp when we returned. Unknown to her, she will be getting a bath this weekend because now she is very stinky.

All of her playing and frolicking left her quite docile and sleepy in the house.

I had an additional blanket folded up on my bed because it was so cold, and Churro found this to be a most delightful nap spot.

Other than this, our week has been rather lackluster. I’ve mainly just been doing homework, practicing, and watching trashy reality TV with Corrie. We are currently watching a show called Selling Sunset about real estate people in LA. It is terrible, but also great. If you need something to have on in the background, I highly recommend.

Have a great weekend, I can’t wait to hear from you on Sunday!

Captain Spazzmataz

We Walk All Day

From the bed of Captain Spazzmatazz:

It has officially been one full week in Wyoming. So far this week, I have done lots of walking and reading because I cannot yet get into the practice rooms on campus.

Last weekend, Mom and Dad were still here, and on Saturday we went to a mountain lake! Churro got to come along and she loved splashing in and drinking the cold mountain water.

Dad was not at all upset by her paws being wet, and actually encouraged her to get in the water because she was probably thirsty. So proud of him for coming so far. It was quite chilly as we had reached an elevation of over 10,000 feet. I definitely should have brought a jacket, but once we got moving around it warmed up.

They left early Sunday morning, so the rest of the week I have been pretty much by myself. My roommate that is present in the apartment works 8-5 Monday through Friday, so I have had the days to cuddle Churro and read books.

I have been taking the sweet baby Churr on long walks every morning. My longest walk this week was 5.3 miles and my shortest was 2.4. She has been loving them, and when we get back she sleeps for the rest of the day.

Her most favorite things to do on our walks are:

• Smell the flowers as we walk by
• Chase any creature that moves including, but not limited to – squirrels, bunnies, birds, prairie dogs, and chipmunks
• Chomp at the many sprinklers we pass
• Refuse to walk over anything that isn’t grass, sidewalk, or road (grates and those big metal plates are her worst enemy)
• And get really excited when we encounter wet grass

On our walk today, she came across a damp lawn that must have just been watered. She stretched her paws out in front of her, did one quick roll, then was so elated that she sprang forward almost pulling me down.

After our walks, she is much more pleasant and spends most of the day sleeping. Here are some of her many glamour shots.

As you can tell, her favorite spot is on her bed while I am reading on the couch. This week I finished the rest of Harry Potter book 5 and started and completed book 6. Only one left! I think book 6 has been my favorite so far.

That’s pretty much it for the week. Classes start on Monday fully online, so I imagine I will have far less free time soon. I hope your first week at your new school has been delightful even though you haven’t had students. Also, you should refuse to still go to the building if it has to shut down and come see me!

Anticipating your post on Sunday,

Captain Spazzmatazz

Sister Adventures: This is Halloween!

In a delightful continuation of a very sister filled October, Spazzmataz came to Springfield for a visit this weekend!  We had a good amount of exciting activities planned, so we got right to it when she arrived Friday afternoon.

Our first evening together involved the running of some necessary errands.  We got our 5k race packets, some tasty dinner, some Halloween candy, and most necessarily of all, some doughnuts.  Spazz decided we needed a dozen.  I did not disagree.

We spent the rest of the evening at home, avoiding the rain and watching a movie off our list called Funny Games.  More on that in another post.

We were up early on the day of Halloween for a most exciting run.  The Halloween Hustle was held to benefit Harmony House, which is an incredible Springfield organization that everyone should learn about and support.  It had a super sweet 3D theme (visible on shirts pictured below).  It was also our first run in the rain, but we did okay.  We succeeded in our primary goal of not falling while running over wet leaves.

I felt like I did horrible during the run.  I just never properly caught my breath.  So I was pleased to discover I did about the same as our last run.  I know I should be working on progressing, but with how poorly I felt I did, I was excited at the lack of regressing.  Spazzmataz and I finished about at the same time, with her finishing .6 seconds earlier.  That time was just speedy enough for her to win a most excellent second place medal!  She got the same place at last year’s Wizard Waddle Halloween run.  Go consistency.

We spent the rest of the day preparing for our most lovely evening.  This lead to some excellent animal cuteness about the house.  Pause for a kitten interlude.

Spazzmataz and I dressed up as witches to hand out Halloween candy to the many trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood.  Originally, the idea was that Gremlin/Winry would be our black cat, but she was not pleased by the experience and was properly returned indoors.

Candy went surprisingly quickly in the neighborhood.  It turns out two Sam’s Club bags are not enough.  We saw some awesome and adorable costumes though.  One family (group of friends?) had made almost a hayride out of the experience.  They sat chairs in the bed of their truck and the attached trailer.  They’d park at a corner and a group of about 20 parents and children would pile out and go to the houses in the area.  It was amazingly coordinated.

Afterwards we had another scary movie to watch for our list.  Spazzmataz set about to making a most scrumptious autumn soup that fit my vegetarian needs while I made us a comfy pillow pallet.  I think we were both very successful in our endeavors.

Artemis got a pillow pallet, too.

After dinner we huddled in our blankets while watching the nonsense that is Scream.  We had the fire on, some tasty doughnuts, and Scrubs to keep us company afterwards.

All together, it ended up being a most excellent holiday.  Now, for snow days.

– The Sisters Ravens

Captain Spazzmataz: Final Day of Summer

Soooooo saaaaaaad!

I am terribly upset that today is my last day of summer. I know that Super Koala got three less days than I did, but I still think it was too short. However, today I was rather productive, and I finished up the last few things I had to do for my End of Summer List! I. DID. IT!!! I really am very proud of myself for finishing everything that I set out to do.

1. Finally take the Jazz Band field trip to the City Museum – I put this one together. A few weeks ago, I asked everyone if they still wanted to do it, and everyone agreed that it needed to happen. So, on August 7th, at 7 PM, five of the eight members of last year’s jazz band made it to the City Museum. It was probably one of the most fun nights ever.

2. Read five books to catch up on my reading challenge – I completed this one, and a few days early too, but somehow I am still behind. I don’t really understand how because I read five books when it said I was five books behind, but I am still two books short. Oh well, I guess I will have to catch up somewhere.

3. Memorize the marching show – I knew this one would be pretty easy because band camp ends before school starts, and we always get the entire how on the field (no matter how pretty it looks) before camp is over. That being said, this years music is the hardest ever, and for everyone else, it is the hardest drill ever. I didn’t really have to worry about my drill spots so much because I march less than half the show, but I still memorized them all and all of the music!

4. & 5. Complete 1000 Squats and Sit-ups – I can’t really provide much proof that I actually completed this task, but I promise that I did. I planned it out that I would need to do 40 of each every day, and I did for the most part. On the days that I forgot or was feeling too lazy, I just did the extra reps the next day.

6. Finish my LEGO airplane – This was probably the most satisfying task to complete. When I was finally done, it felt like a huge accomplishment, and it does so many tricks! The propellers spin, the fins move, even the wheels fold in! My next LEGO adventure is going to have to be pretty great to top this one.

7. Do all of my summer math packet – This wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be. When I broke it down by only doing five problems a day, it really didn’t seem like it took me that long. I could have probably done it all in one day and not even have been that stressed out. Thank you new math teacher for not making me cry over the summer.

8. Complete four Postcards and Wreckings – I almost didn’t do this one. I had forgotten about it until today, and I was just going to let it slide. However, when I realized it was the only task I wouldn’t have completed on the list, I knew I had to do it. And, it only took me about two hours to do it all, and it was pretty fun.

Postcards:

These are the postcards I did for the summer.

The sculpture one was pretty tricky. I looked online for some index card origami to make a sculpture with, and I did, but it didn’t turn out so great.

I mean, this is what it is supposed to look like, however, it was supposed to be a hopping bunny, but the material of the postcard was just to heavy for my bunny to get off the ground.

I finally did the hide this postcard in your neighbor’s yard card. I was pretty nervous, because I didn’t want anyone to see me doing it. However, if they do ever find it, I made it look very nice.

Hopefully it will be enjoyed. You can’t tell from this picture, but I wedged it in between the two corner bushes. It went in pretty far, but who knows, maybe they will find remnants of it some day.

The dice postcard probably would have worked better if I would have done it outside, but instead I decided to see where it would take me inside the house. For the first trial I started at my bedroom door, but only got through about four rolls before I got stuck in the bathroom.

For the second trial, I started in the sunroom, figuring that it was a more open space so I should get farther, however, I was quickly caught in another corner.

For my last postcard, It isn’t quite complete yet. I did the treasure map one, but no one has followed the map yet. But I will let you know how it turns out. I am going to hide it in the band room, and tell the saxophone section that the first person to find it gets a prize.

Journal Pages:

Three of my four journal pages had to be done using the wilderness, and I think you should be very proud of me. The only one that didn’t was this one, and I kind of stole your idea.

Mine didn’t turn out nearly as well as yours, but it still smells nice. I went for the pouring method, but when I poured the wax, it all kind of ran to the seam.

Two of my out doors pages relate to each other.

For both of these I went outside and collected some supplies and then the tracing of the first page was a copy of what actually went on the second. I think it turned out pretty cool.

My final page was very scary. I had to lay in the grass! Dun, dun, duuuuuun!

When ever I flipped passed this page, I could never figure out what to do with it. However, today I realized what it could be used for.

A pillow! If I am going to be dreaming outside, I must have a pillow to rest my head.

Well, I guess that is all I have. Nooo! I want there to be more summer!

Sister Weekend: Second Annual Color Run

Dearest Readers,

This weekend marked another milestone in the history of our sister blog.  That is, of course, the semi-running of another 5k.  We tackled the Color Run, crazy to think it has been over a year since we started recording our adventures!

Spazzmataz came to visit me after leaving school early on Friday. (Shh, don’t tell.)  After her arrival, we embarked on leg one of our adventurous weekend.  First we went to gather our race packets, where we purchased the most adorable unicorn, Hue, who became our mascot for the weekend.  And for life.  Obviously.  Afterward, we saw the movie Home.  It was adorable, as was Hue during the spectation.

Saturday we arose painstakingly early for our run.  The race was in a different area than last year and took another route.  I found this slightly disappointing.  I think last year’s set up was much better.  Nonetheless, it was still a good time.  It’s nearly impossible to actually run at the Color Run; there are too many people walking.  But, I think we still put in a good running effort.

Customary before and after pictures.

This year, it was just the two of us running.  So we had to take solo jumping pictures.  Behold their excellence.

Afterwards, we shamelessly waited outside Pineapple Whip for at least fifteen minutes to retrieve our first Whips of the year.  They have new flavors!

We then spent a most glorious afternoon at the dog park, feasting on Hu Hot, and watching the live action version of Cinderella.  Surprisingly delightful.  Also, Hurts Donuts.

After so many activities, we were sleepy this morning.  We spent a nice deal of time cuddling with ze adorable puppies.

Once motivated, we went for a nice trail walk.  It is oddly chilly for almost May.

Bonus Color Run nails picture that I am too lazy to properly integrate into this post.

Now, we lay on Spazzmataz’s bed in mah hizzouse with puppies at our feet, preparing for her most tragic departure.  Thank goodness it is almost summer time.

– The Sisters Ravens

Wrecking + Colorado

Dearest Super Koala,

I don’t even know if I know how to do this anymore! I haven’t posted in FOREVER. This post is going to strictly be my wrecking for this week and many pictures and accounts from my adventures in Colorado.

This week I was only able to complete one postcard because all of the other ones need more planning.

At first I thought it was going to be really lame, but some of the outcomes are really hilarious.

A few of my favorites are: Biodegradable Flower Computer, Quintessential Mud Shower, and Flamboyant Bird Chair.

For my wrecking, I was able to complete two.

I think they turned out pretty well. I could have gotten the page a lot blacker, but I got tired of it and was afraid a bug was going to attack me for disturbing its home. As for my super happy grass hear, I think he is adorable. I will call him Heath. Also, I really love our yard. It is always so nice looking and well kept, thanks to our Father, so that is where I got the grass from. No other grass is worthy to be in my wrecking book. Unless it is European grass, but seeing as I do not have access to that, I will have to stick with what I’ve got. Also, I think I am developing spring time allergies. I have sneezed and blown my nose so many times today that it hurts. So sad days for that.

Now on to my super Colorado post!

So for those of you who don’t know. I was in Colorado Springs last week for a band trip. We left on Wednesday after school and didn’t get back until Sunday evening. When we got there on Thursday, the first thing we did was visit the Olympic Training Center.

The first picture is the view down one of the roads that is lined with flags from countries across the world. It was a really pretty scene with the mountains in the background. The picture on the right is Shan and I in a real bobsled. We were the first ones to take a picture in it! After us, there was a line to get in it that didn’t die down until our actual tours started, so it is a good thing we got in. For our tour, a guide took us around to different buildings. We got to see the shooting range, the wrestling room, a couple of weight rooms, and the pool. While we were looking at the pool Ryan Lochte was swimming in it which is pretty cool.

After the Training Center we had a couple of hours to walk around the Garden of the Gods. If you don’t know what it is, it is a public park with amazing rock formations and trails. It is really REALLY cool, and if I ever go back to that area, I would definitely visit again.

We had so much fun climbing all over the smaller formations and seeing the fantastic bigger ones. Then, on our way to the hotel, I saw the best billboard ever.

It is just nice to know that Colorado is making sure I know all of the rules. I also saw many motel signs that said they were 4:20 friendly.

After a quick change in the hotel, we went to dinner and the show. Our dinner was at Fargo’s Pizza. I am Pizza spoiled, so it wasn’t that great, but it was food and greatly welcomed after a long day. Our show was Mamma Mia. This was the first time that I have seen it, and it was so good. I really enjoyed it, especially the end when Dad got up and started dancing.

The next day was a bright and early start at the United States Air Force Base. We had a clinic with their band leader and individual section master classes with someone from their band that plays the same instrument. It was really cool to get some one on one (or at least in my case one six on one time) with someone who is considered to be a professional at the same instrument that I play, especially because I am thinking about possibly joining a military band. The clinic was really great and they said that we were one of the most advanced bands that had ever come to work with them.

After that we went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. They are ancient Native American homes that we could crawl through and explore. It was pretty cool to see the size of the rooms they lived in. Most of them were really small, and I have a feeling they had to duck a lot.

This is a picture of me looking out one of the windows in their house.

Also at the Cliff Dwellings, there was this mechanical horse that Mr. P thought would be a good idea to ride, however, you can tell by his face how he really felt.

Then we went to the Cave of the Winds. We got a tour and then we got to do this zip line thing and a ropes course that hung over the edge of the mountain.

The little spikey things in this picture are covered by wire because if you touch them they are poisons and you would have to get acid poured on the wound site to get the poison out. Our tour guide said that last month he accidentally hit his head on one.

This is a cave garden. It looks like a little village, but you can’t really see it all that well in my picture.

This formation was up in a little hole and it is called the giants bleeding heart. All of the lines running down make it look like veins, and the red color is natural.

The last formation we saw was this one, and it looks like Oogie-Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas!

This is the ropes course that we went on, and if you can’t tell, the picture is of me and my friend Titanicing. We Titaniced so many times throughout the trip. It was great.

This is me and Shan on the zip line. The picture is really blurry, but it is because we were moving super fast.

When we finished at the cave, we went to a dinner theater for another dinner and show night. The dinner was once again just okay, and the show was once again awesome. However, it was awesome for very different reasons. It was a melodrama, so basically it was so bad and cheesy that it was fantastic.

On our last day, we once again woke up super early and then took the Cog Railway up Pikes Peak. Even though we have already been up Pikes Peak, we definitely missed out the first time not taking the train up. It was so cool, and it went through the woods, so it was a lot prettier than going up the road. We were super lucky that we got to go because the day before was the first day that they were able to go up since December because of all the snow. My friends decided to get super artsy with our photo, but I think it turned out really cool.

We also saw this guy that was attempting to ski down the side! We got to talk to him while he was preparing. He is attempting to ski down all 56 mountains over 10,000 feet in Colorado and so far he has completed 38. He is my hero.

Also, we met these hikers that hiked up the mountain that morning and started the trek at 1:30 IN THE MORNING!!!! Also heroes. I didn’t get many good photos at the top of Pikes Peak because my camera dies.

Once we got down, we had like five minutes to get to the high school for the competition. Needless to say, we were late, but the people were very nice and let us push our time back. Once it was all over we wound up getting a gold rating for wind symphony, an gold rating for symphonic band, a silver rating for jazz 1, and a bronze rating for jazz 2. All in all, it was a really great trip, and a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Especially after the band trip to beat all band trips last year at Hawaii.

Laumeier Sculpture Park Adventure

On Friday, Super Koala and I trekked out into the wilderness with Big Crazy. We wound up spending a little more than an hour at Laumeier Sculpture Park, which is probably one of the coolest parks in St. Louis.

Ready to leave for the park adventure.

We took our adventure backpack, filled with applesauce, water, and granola bars, and headed out to spend some quality time outside. Upon arrival, Super Koala and I began to wander the park grounds in search of great works of art, which wasn’t hard to do because you can’t go anywhere in the park without having a sculpture in eyesight.

Giant eyeball sculpture.

The first sculpture we came across was the one depicted above. The eyeball could see all except for whoever was sitting on top of it, which is a feat all in itself.

Happy-face holes.

Next, we came to a lovely pit of happiness which had excellent acoustics inside. It was the perfect place to sing songs.

 

Celebrating St.Louis’ 250th birthday!

This year is the 250th birthday of our great city of St. Louis. To celebrate, there are metal cakes placed all around the city at historical landmarks.

Wooden Mayan pyramid.

Then we conquered the great feat of actually going on a nature hike. It was a pretty big deal for us seeing as we normally only go outside to walk Big Crazy. However, this walk looked promising. The pup and I scaled the great modern Mayan pyramid, however getting her to go down was a little harder.

Godzilla Dog!

We then came upon the cutest little dog village and couldn’t help but take a dogzilla picture. She is probably the cutest dogzilla ever; I wouldn’t mind if she came to stomp on my house.

A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y!

Finally, the last stop on the nature walk was obviously a classroom and seeing as Super Koala is an English teacher, we had to document it. To exit the hike, we had to trudge up an incredibly steep hill that I don’t exactly remember going down, so I don’t know how we got to the point of going up it. Anywho, we determined that it would be much easier if everyone had four legs because Big Crazy traversed the terrain like a pro.

Great hiding place.

After exiting the trail, we came across one last sculpture. This one had many great passageways that made excellent hiding places. All in all, our park adventure was a success and I have deduced that I could be a sculptor, because the sculpture next to the parking lot was just a big black blob, so in reality, anyone can be a sculptor!

– The Sisters Ravens