What I Did On My Summer Vacation

My bloggy buddy Michael over at In Time... is hosting a blogfest!  He wants us to write about what we did on our summer vacation- much like those groan-inducing essays we had to write EVERY.SINGLE.FIRST.DAY.OF.SCHOOL for 12 years.  What's one more in the grand scheme of things?  Besides, I was so holed up at my house editing, I'm practically a vampire.  I want to see what my chaps have been up to!

I've decided to write my essay from the point of view of my 1st Grader.  Except with correct spelling and grammar (because I'm sure you don't want to read 300 words of "I ouent to the prk wif my Mommy and Dady and rid my bic and ouent swmmmmg."

Actually I must say, her spelling has improved dramatically in just the first few weeks of school.  I'm one proud mama!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation
By Little Monster
Mr. DiGesu   Homeroom

My Summer Vacation was so awesome, except I really really missed school.  I told my mom this every day.  In fact, I asked her every single day when I was going to go back.  I think she even may have mentioned how excited she was for me to go back.  I'm glad she loves school as much as I do.


I've decided this year that I'm terrified of bugs.  Doesn't matter what kind, really.  I will run and scream as if I'm being chased by an axe murderer.  Silly me. I can't wait for the snow to come.

I was asked to join the competitive gymnastics team in June.  I had to practice 12 hours a week!  I loved every minute of it and I could tell my mom did too.  When she heard my practice was 3 hours a day her eyes lit up. She even dropped me off early and practically sped off while I was halfway out the door. I'm so glad she's so happy for me.

I turned 6 in July this year, which is SO much better than 5.  When you're 6, your teeth start falling out and you get money from the tooth fairy. I'm happy I got enough money to buy my own diary!  No one knows where my diary is except all the kids in my class, my teacher, my best friend, and my whole neighborhood. Good thing I hid it in my mom and dad's closet so they won't find it.

We went to Chicago on a train for my birthday and it was WONDERFUL!  We saw all sorts of things including a HUGE crab, jellyfish and dinosaur bones. My Gamma and Pop-pop came too.  They stayed in the same huge hotel, ate out at all the cool restaurants and went to all the museums with us.  But I don't know why they didn't get me very many presents...now that I think about it, Mommy and Daddy didn't really get me anything either. 

I had a blast with my mom and dad and my friends this summer.  I am glad to be back in school and am very excited for the snow to come.  In fact, I ask my mom every day when it will come.  She's so sweet, she just pats my head and leaves the room for a while.  She wants me to have some peace and quiet to help center my chi.  She loves me so much.




Welp, that was Little Monster's summer in an nutshell!  How was yours?  Did you do anything fun?

Chi Town!

Okay so I think only people who DON'T live in Chicago call it Chi Town to feel like we're cool and in-the-know.  So I'm convincing myself that since I've now been to Chicago 3 times I am a total expert and can pretty much be considered a local.

Anywho, we took Little Monster to Chicago for her birthday.  Yes, LM is 6.  I can't believe the day has come.  She is 6, missing two teeth, and starting 1st grade in a MONTH.  Omg.  I think I'm hyperventilating.  Oh, and to top it all off, she was asked to join the competitive gymnastics team.  She practices 12 hours a week.  Yeah, she's hardcore.

So we took the train up to Chi Town (see? It just flows out of my mouth so naturally) with my parents to stay for a couple days.

The plight of the short person.  My feet don't reach the foot rest (sigh....):

Guess who I met while up there???

Yep!  It's Michael De Gesu from In Time...!  He heard we were coming up and we decided we just HAD to meet.  I'm so glad I did because he's so much fun!  And a sweetheart to top it all off!  Of course we had a little mishap with meeting and it was like some kind of comedy show where we kept showing up where the other had just been, texting each other and going "I'm at this place" "Oh, I was just there, I'm coming to you" "Oh, I just left to come to you" "Meet me at this place" "Where is that?"  "Dude, just stay put. I'm coming to you".  This went on for like, a half an hour.  Seriously.

The next day we went to the Shedd Aquarium and Little Monster simply LOVED it.  We saw the dolphin show and spent like, 7 HOURS there.  Her favorite was the Sea Horses.

This was my favorite:

Tee hee.  Had to do it.

No, actually my favorite were the jellyfish.

No, the dolphins.  Or the seahorses.  No, wait, the spider crab.  Look how freaking huge this guy was:

This next guy kept staring Little Monster down.  Every time she'd move away, he'd kinda drift off.  But as soon as she came close he'd go up to the glass and get all moody with her.  Hilarious.

Then we ate some classic Chicago style pizza at Ginos.  Yum!  The 2 hour wait was totally worth it (but will probably never be done again.  Good thing I don't have a toddler.  Yeesh.)

Next up: The Field Museum! My absolute favorite (as was LM's) was the evolution exhibit with the dinosaurs.  I'm a huge sucker for evolution and dinosaur bones.  I was going to be a paleontologist (as well as an astronaut, archaeologist, zoologist and a dolphin trainer) when I was young.

I also loved the Egyptian exhibit.  Especially now that I know the aliens helped them build the pyramids.  I mean seriously, what human could pull a gajillion ton brick without some kind of machinery?

And we topped off the trip with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe with the poor little crazy fish next to us (he kept swimming back and forth, back and forth...reminded me of the fish in the tank from Nemo) and the volcano dessert!

We had a lovely trip and I'm so glad we took the train and didn't have to walk like these people did.  They walked all the way from Poland and had to eat their torsos to stay alive.  That may or may not be speculation on my part.

And that concludes the slide presentation of my trip to Chicago.  Ha, aren't you glad this isn't the 70's and you have to come over and sit in my dark basement feeling all awkward and look at all 200 slides of my trip?

Deathly Hallows Week!

It's finally here!  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 comes out on Friday!  Can you believe this will be the last Harry Potter movie EVER?  Its been a long but fun road, but we always knew it would end.  Makes me a little verklempt just thinking about it.

All the stars looked simply dashing at the Premier the other night:

Photo Credit

And OMG, Neville has a HOT girlfriend!  Good for him!  I love him!

Photo Credit

And of course, Jo was there in her um...floral comforter.

Photo Credit

If you want to read more about the premier and see the rest of the stars just click on the any of those photo credits above!

To celebrate the upcoming release of the movie, several bloggy buddies and I have decided to dedicate our blogs to all things Harry Potter this week!  Please clicky on everyone's links to find loads of fun HP stuff!

Lisa Galek
Melissa Sarno
Laurel Garver
Colene Murphy
Jen Daiker
Melissa Wideen
Michael Di Gesu
Renae Mercado

First off:

Lisa Galek is having a contest! She is SUPER cool and is spending the week at the Leakycon 2011 convention at Harry Potter World in Florida!!  She gets to watch HP7 with all the other crazy HP fanatics Thursday at midnight.  SO jealous.  Plus I think some of the prizes will be some cool loot from HP World itself!

I'm a judge for the contest so make those entries count!

For a little light reading (as Hermione would say) go HERE to read some fun articles from the Hogwarts student-run paper Thestral Gazette.  My Abby Gabby piece is included, so make sure to check that out.

And lastly, E! online is running an awesome Twi-Potter Tournament in which they put a person from Twilight against a person from Harry Potter.  Each day you can vote as to who would win their duel.  (I mean, it's totally obvious to all of us who would win...but it's fun to see who they pit against each other.)

So tell me, friends.  What has been your favorite HP movie so far? (just movie- we'll cover the books another day)

For some reason I keep going back to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Even though Harry is shunned for the first half of the  movie, the end with the prophecies and the fight between Voldy's Death Eaters and The Order is just so awesome.  And then the super cool Yoda/Vader fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort just blows me away every time.  Although I'm anticipating part 2 on Friday will give it a run for its money.

**P.S. I will be traveling back home from Chicago on a train all day so I will have zero internet access :(  I promise I'll catch up on blogs tomorrow!
P.P.S. 10 hour train ride = awesomeness.
P.P.P.S. Oh wait, no it doesn't.

My Mates

Oy Mates!  Today is Michael Di Gesu's HP blogfest!  We have to list 2 Harry Potter characters that would be our mates at Hogwarts, and then say why we chose them.  This is bloody brilliant, if you ask me. (I'm trying to speak all british-y. How am I doing, eh?  Oh wait, no, the "eh" is Canadian).

So turn off the telly, come inside from your gardens, and flush the loo, because here is who I would pick for my besties:

I'm not going with the three main characters because obviously we'd all want them as our mates.  My choice for my two mates would be Tonks and Lupin hands down.  Tonks is a little younger than me and Lupin is a little older, (and I know they aren't kids) but this is my fantasy so don't get your panties in a tizzy.

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Tonks is bad ass because she's an Auror and a metamorphmagus.  She can change her appearance at will, so we'd have loads of fun playing with that.  Lupin is a bad ass because he's a werewolf and the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher around.  I'd want him at my back at all times.  Of course I'd be an animagi, most likely a unicorn or something like that (well obvs because I'm all graceful and stuff.  And who wouldn't want a pointy horn you can poke people with?)

And finally, I just love their story.  Their love for each other was strong and unconditional.  Even though I'd lose my best friends at an early age, I would still choose them.

Make sure to click on Michael's name above and visit the other blogfesters to see who their mates would be!