I Just Called to Say...

My friend Ashley from Charlotte came to visit. We were buds when we were only two years old. We used to hang out together at the gym while our mamas worked out.

Actually, Ashley lives in Oklahoma now. Her family moved there when we moved to Atlanta. I guess she couldn't stand the thought of living in Charlotte without me.

Last week, Ashley's family stayed at our house on their way home from Disney World. It was cool to hang out again. After they left, I kept talking about how funny Ashley is; how she made me laugh. I think Mama noticed I kept talking about her.

Mama: "Do you like Ashley?"

Me: "Yeah."

Daddy: "Do you wanna kiss on her?" (He means "kiss her". He throws an "on" in there to improve the cadence.)

Me: mumbling

Mama: "Huh?"

Me (sheepishly): "Yeah..."

Mama: "Do you want Ashley to come visit again?"

Me: "Well I can't kiss her over the phone..."

Smokey Mountains

We spent last weekend in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. It was about a three hour drive from our house. We had to drive through North Carolina, my home state, to get there. I was excited to see my home state again, even if all I saw was pavement.

The place we stayed in Tennessee had an indoor water park where we swam the first day. It also had an outdoor playground where we played every day. Other than that we just slept in and hung out.

On our drive home through Smokey Mountain National Park, we pulled over and took a little hike. While McKenzie fell in the mud, Daddy and I took pictures.

After we got over the mountains and were driving back through North Carolina, I got the urge to go. Daddy said he'd pull over when he found a respectable looking gas station or restaurant. There wasn't much to choose from, though. A few miles later I warned him it was an emergency. "I'm bound to go in my pants," I urged. He pulled over at the next station. Crisis averted.

I'm Thankful For...

Daddy asked me what I am thankful for. Here are the things I told him.

• Daddy & Mama
• McKenzie
• Grandmas & Grandpas
• friends
• teachers
• the trees
• the sky
• clouds
• the sidewalk
• the sun
• the moon
• the stars
• flashlights
• colored leaves
• cars
• pencils
• books
• houses
• walls
• fences
• stairs
• running
• stickers
• fish
• sharks
• plugs
• things that go into plugs
• the oven
• the microwave

Hartley's

We went to Whole Foods last week. One of the things we got there was some Hartley's Strawberry Jam. That's the kind of jam we used to get in London. We'd put it on Mama's homemade biscuits. It's delicious. Whole Foods is the only place we can find it here in the States. They have it in their "international foods" aisle.

The funny thing is, we used to go to Whole Foods in London (the one on Kensington High Street) to get stuff that was hard to find over there, like pumpkin pie filling so Mama could make a pumpkin pie, or aji amarillo so Daddy could make lomo saltado and papa a la huancaina.

Speaking of pumpkin pie: Happy Thanksgiving.

It's Been Such a Long Time

It's been a long time since I've posted. I've been pretty busy with moving into a new house and being in school. I've also been a little sick. I got strep throat and then an ear infection.

The day I was diagnosed with strep throat, I came home and took a nap in the afternoon. When I woke up it was dark outside and I thought I had slept all night. I had something like the following conversation with Daddy:

Daddy: "Do you have to stay home from school tomorrow?"

Me: "I stay home from school today."

Daddy: "You went to school today. You stay home tomorrow."

Me: "Today is tomorrow."

Daddy: "Huh?"

Me: "Mama, why is it still dark outside if I'm awake now?"

I assume you saw Mama's post about Halloween. McKenzie and I had a great time. We got to go trick or treating like three times. We had so much candy we started to give some of it away to trick or treaters.

We're settling into the house now. It feels like home. Mama painted my bedroom. She's going to post some pictures on her blog, so I won't spoil the surprise.

Going to California

Mama and Daddy went to California a couple of weeks ago for a friend's wedding. They left us at home with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a good time, but from the pictures it looks like the scenery was better in California. The wedding was in Mendocino, a few hours north of San Francisco on the coast.

The day after Mama and Daddy came back, we bought a house. We've been moving in slowly over the past few days. More to come on that in future posts.

Gee

Daddy took us to the park a few days ago. Yes, we drove there.

It was the park where we had a run in with the geese last year. This time, we kept our distance and just played on the playground. I expressed my position on whether geese were welcome at the playground: "We don't want the geese to come to this place. We don't want anything to be in this place, especially bad things."

But I allowed for a few exceptions: "Turtles... they can be here."

"Snails." (We used to get snails on our back door in London after a good rainfall.)

"Dogs."

"Cats."

"Slides."

"Swings."

"Popcorn."

"Pinecones."

"But not geese."

Then, with my newfound appreciation for plural nouns, and noting that geese is plural: "If it's one, it's gee."

"Uh, it's goose," Daddy said, stifling a giggle.

"Oh."