Real Church!

Today, we got to go to church… in person! Our church set up a big tent & a stage outside, and everyone who signed up brought lawn chairs to sit on. It wasn’t exactly like church used to be, but I really loved being able to go in person.

We left Elsa at home by herself while we went to church. We were a little nervous about what she would do, since the last few times we’ve tried to leave her alone she destroyed the house. But she was actually good! She didn’t even get on the couch! I think she’s realizing that being good has its rewards. 

Quarantine Father's Day

For breakfast on our quarantine Father’s day we had chocolate pie! Or as Dad called it, “Chocolate quiche”, because there are eggs in it.

If it has eggs and is in a pie plate, it must be quiche.

After our delicious breakfast, we were supposed to actually go to church. They were planning to do an outdoor service, but since it was going to rain, it got canceled, and they filmed it live in the church instead. I was a little disappointed, but I still like watching church with my family.

In the afternoon, we went on a family bike ride around Lake of the Woods, which was Dad’s only father’s day request. We went to the botanical gardens, which was pretty cool. Eleanor & I have already been to Lake of the Woods a few times, but this was my parent’s first time biking there.

When we got back, Mom, Eleanor, & I started to make a Father’s Day dessert: Chocolate Mousse, which is a really light, fluffy, chocolate dessert that’s a little like pie filling. It’s really good.

Pro tip: If you hold the chocolate in your hands for a minute, it melts and then you get to lick your fingers!

Once we broke up the chocolate, Eleanor & I played some Mario Kart with Dad. I really like playing with him, even though he always wins for some reason. I guess it’s more fun to play with other people.

After Mario Kart (which dad won) Eleanor & I went to play with our neighbors for a little bit. Then we had dinner, which was, on Dad’s request, zucchini burgers & an interesting salad. What made it interesting was the dressing, which was not my favorite. Then we ate our chocolate mousse. It was a really fun Father’s Day.

Super tall zucchini burgers and salad with a ginger-carrot dressing

Chocolate Mousse in bad dog mugs

Campout

On Friday night, Eleanor & I had a campout with some of our neighborhood friends. Their dad set up a tent in their backyard and we spent the night in it. I had been wanting to do this ever since some of the neighborhood kids told me how they were thinking of doing a campout memorial day weekend, and it was just as fun as I thought it would be!

The first thing we did once the tent had been set up was play Apples to Apples, which Talynn won, but it was pretty close. Then, we watched the new Artemis Fowl movie on their computer & ate goldfish (it was a really good movie!). Mom & Dad just got Eleanor & me a lot of rubber bands & beads to use to make bracelets, so after we watched Artemis Fowl, we made rubber band bracelets (and watched some Mickey Mouse shorts). I made about 10 bracelets, I just love making them. We went to sleep after that, which took a surprisingly short amount of time, since we were on the ground.

Saturday morning, we made even more bracelets and created a really funny song about Apples to Apples based off of the “Party in a Box!” that they have on the box. We had donuts for breakfast (Eleanor & I had vanilla & sprinkles; Talynn & Raegan had chocolate & sprinkles) on their back deck. Then (after making a few more bracelets) we packed up our stuff, grabbed our bikes from their garage, and headed home! It was a really fun campout, and I’m glad that I got to go!

Abby the Zebra

Our new neighborhood is awesome. There are so many kids to play with, and so much fun stuff to do! Eleanor & I usually go out at 10:00, come back at 12:30 for lunch, go back out at 1:00, and come back home at 5:30. We ride bikes, play spidermonkey, make rainbow loom bracelets, walk dogs, have lemonade stands, jump on trampolines, & have water gun fights. Mom says she didn’t know that kids just go outside and play with each other all day anymore. All of the kids to play with is probably one of my favorite things about this neighborhood.

A few days ago, we all decided to try something new: Facepaint! We certainly weren’t professionals, but we weren’t that bad, either. After I told everyone that my favorite animal is a zebra, one of the girls decided to try and paint my face to look like a zebra. It took several attempts & about half an hour, but here is the finished product (I think it turned out pretty well)!

Moving Day!

We moved! We actually moved a few days ago, but I forgot to write a blog post, so I’m writing one now. The day we moved, we went over to our new house at 7:00 in the morning, and Mom, Eleanor & I ate breakfast there. We had doughnuts (Yum!).

Elsa got a new bed for the new house, and as you can see, she did not want to sleep on it at first.

We spent a few hours at the new house, where I went outside to play with some neighbors, and Eleanor did her school’s virtual fun day over zoom. Then, around 10:30, Mom, Eleanor, Elsa & I all went back to our old house, because the movers were bringing our furniture over and they didn’t want too many people around. They were done around noon, so we went back to our new house, and spent the rest of the day unpacking.

We finished the day with some food from a bbq restaurant in Mahomet, Project 47. It was a really good day, and I really like our new house & neighborhood. I’m glad we moved!