Who Knew Uno Could Be So Exhausting...

So as I mentioned yesterday, my brothers and I were sort of hyper last night. We calmed down a little around nine, and Blaze decided that he wanted to play Monopoly, but I decided I wanted to play Uno. So we compromised and played MASH (I'm going to live in England with four kids, a bunny, and a Prius! Fancy!). Then Blaze said, "Fine, we'll play one round of Uno and then we'll play Monopoly." I kind of groaned because I knew it would only be a five minute game, at most. 

We started the game at around tenish. At ten-thirty, we were getting tired and ready to wrap it up, but we decided to keep playing until someone won. 

At eleven, we realized the game wasn't going anywhere. The deck in the center was literally four cards because we all had so many cards in our hands. 
By eleven-thirty, we were yawning and saying how tired we were, but we were determined to finish the round. 
By midnight, I didn't even care anymore. I was throwing down random cards hoping they would help me. When it wasn't my turn, I'd bury my face into the beanbag. Blaze and Penguin were still trying though. Blaze said at one point, "I haven't been playing Uno for two and a half hours to lose." 
At twelve-thirty, Penguin put down his last card--a wild card-- and Blaze, laughing and screaming at the same time (I think he was delusional from the lack of sleep he was getting), threw down a bunch of cards and yelled, "I HATE THIS GAME!" 

One round of Uno. Two and a half hours. 
We didn't play Monopoly, for obvious reasons, but I think I'm done playing Uno for a while. 

I'll post on Monday or Tuesday, hopefully with some pictures from our trip. 
--Abby

Spiders are the Bane of My Existence.

Last night I had a horrible horrible horrible nightmare!! There was a giant spider involved. 
...
Must I say more? 
Seriously, it was huge and orange and it's abdomen was big and sickly yellow and Mary Rose threw it at me and it landed on me and I basically ran around the house screaming. 
The worst kind of panic only happens in your dreams. Because the weirdest things happen in your dreams and you can feel your heart racing and it's like HOLY WOW WHY IS THERE A GIANT ORANGE/YELLOW SPIDER INVADING MY NIGHTMARE??? Like, granted, it's a nightmare, but seriously?? 
There was more but it was all super weird and didn't make any sense. I think the spider was there because before I went to bed last night, I found two big spiders next to my bed and I flipped out. 

I hate bugs. With a passion. 

Umm, so I did no writing today. But I wrote like over a thousand words yesterday, so I'm satisfied...ish... 

On Friday we leave for Maddie's house and I'm really excited!! Its very unlikely I'll do any blogging this weekend, but when I get back on Sunday or Monday I'll do a "Hey I'm Home!" post, possibly (hopefully) with pictures. 

Penguin was sitting really close to me a minute ago, so I told him to move (I'm claustrophobic... when it comes to siblings and personal space...). He kind of had a mini outburst and was like, "Gosh, you're so claustrophobic! You're not like anyone else in this family!" Apparently no one else in my family has personal space bubble issues. Then he stormed into the hall and a minute later I hear him giggling and saying, "I showed her!"

Tonight my brothers and I have been kind of crazy. I feel bad for the neighbors. 
--Abby

New Template Just to Confuzzle Y'alls.

So. You're all probably ooh-ing and aah-ing over the new template. Or you're like Blaze, who said, "You want me to be completely honest?" and then, with an evil grin on his face, "I hate it." 

He wasn't being completely honest. 
...
Right? 

Anyway, I'm trying to decide whether or not I love it enough to keep it. I LOVE the palm trees; they're so California. I mean, it could be a picture that was taken on my street. But I'm not sure I like all the dark... I'm still fiddling with it. So I may confuzzle a few of your brains for a bit. (I've already confuzzled one)(So sorry Monica, if you're reading this x). 

Oh yeah--

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there!! I doubt any fathers read this. I'd be a little concerned if they did. 

I did a little bit of writing today. Have I ever mentioned how much I seriously LOVE my character Miette? She's got this fun, sarcastic personality that I sometimes wish I had. I've been having a ton of fun with her story. 
Speaking of NaNo (which we weren't), I decided to do something new for it. Even if I only get so far and I totally ditch it in December to do editing on Miette's story. I was doing something today, I think I was thinking about an Audrey Hepburn movie, and this awesome plot bunny popped into my head. So I'm going to see if I can expand on it, meet some characters, find some adventures, etc.

We'll see how that goes. 

--Me (HA trying something new for a change.) 

OH ONE MORE THING: 

THIS IS PRETTY LEGIT

East Coast, West Coast...

Sitting on the comfiest chair in the living room, the one in the corner. Laptop. One cup of black tea, courtesy of Dunkin' Donuts, in my favorite Snoopy mug, history. Still in the clothes I slept in, hair unbrushed. 

I'm home, in other words. 

It feels good, despite the layer of dust covering everything and the mess and the sort-of-stressing-but-also-too-tired-to-stress feeling. The layer of dust is because our bathroom was being remodeled while we were gone, and it's not quite done yet. 

I'll start from the beginning. 

Yesterday morning, when I woke up (still on the East Coast), Dad, Grandpa, Blaze, Penguin, Mary Rose, and Lilian had all gone fishing. So my mom, my grandma, Ronnie and I had kind of a lazy morning which eventually led to packing. The others came home from fishing with some fish (Blaze caught seven fish!!). Then Penguin and I went on a bike ride around town. The town is so small we could've ridden all over if we had time. 
Then we left for Boston. The ride there wasn't very exciting, except for Blaze and Penguin talking to each other via walkie-talkies (we had taken two cars). 

Then we got to the airport and when we went through security, I guess I made the metal detector things beep or something because I had to go back and go through a big machine and then an extremely quick and un-thorough pat-down. I realized afterwards that it might have been my earrings or my Miraculous Medal or something. Not really sure. 

The flight itself wasn't bad. A lot better than the one we took going out. I got to watch Cinderella again, and then the Lorax with Lilian, Blaze, and Penguin, because who doesn't love Dr. Seuss? 

When we were landing, I looked out the window and saw LA and mentally ran through all the country songs I know that mention California. Then I saw the silhouette of a bunch of palm trees and screamed inside.
Then got the worst stomach ache ever! So that kinda ruined the sentimental moment. It hurt so badly to move. Sadly, we had to go through baggage claim and then get our car and ugh wow. It was late at night the night and everyone was tired and hungry and the little girls were cranky and my stomach hurt. We were all crammed into our car for a few hours on the drive home. I think I fell asleep, half on a suitcase, half on Blaze's shoulder. All our voices sounded cracked and strained, like fingernails on a chalkboard. At one point, Ronnie cried out, "Does anyone have any milk?" Except she pronounces it MEE-wk. She then started crying and saying how thirsty she was. Thinking back on it now, I'm laughing, but at the moment I was feeling rather like a tea bag that was used too many times. 

I took a break from writing this to change, brush my hair, clean, finish unpacking, etc. 

Anyways, I only slept until seven-thirty this morning because of the time difference. I'm giving myself a rest day of sorts, but tomorrow I'm going to try to get back to my story. This trip may have put me behind schedule a little bit, so I'm going to make myself write at least 5K words a week. So I'm not going too hard on myself. I probably should go a little harder on myself, but I'm tired and I want to go to the beach, so 5K words a week it is. 

Blaze reminded me that I lost our bet. He bet I couldn't finish a book I was reading before we got onto the plane. I had about three days and I was only at the beginning. I thought I could. 
I couldn't. 
He's singing a victory song as I type this. 
Not really sure how much money I owe him now, but I'm afraid to ask. I don't remember betting money, but we probably did, knowing us. 
...
He told me how much. Ten bucks. 
*whimpers* 
Sooo not paying him ten bucks. 

--Abby

America's Favorite Pastime and a Slight Rant.

Yesterday we went to a baseball game. My first, actually. 

Okay, let me rephrase that. 

*Ahem* 

Yesterday we went to a Red Sox vs Braves baseball game. My first, actually. 

It was all very exciting. We drove into Boston, which is always a lot of fun. We got there about an hour early but a ton of people were already there. Fenway Park is nothing like I expected it to be. It was big and beautiful and amazing... It was clear why they call it America's most beloved ballpark. 

It was cloudy and kind of rainy, but towards the end of the game the sun came out, just as it was setting. Naturally, we had the cliche ballpark food-- hot dogs (Fenway Franks), soft pretzels, cotton candy, etc. It was harder to pay attention to the game, I realized because I'm used to hearing the sports announcer guys talking in the background and the replays and stuff. I mean, they would show some replays on the jumbo screen, but we were sitting right in front of it, so I had to turn around whenever I wanted to see it which wasn't kind to my neck. Oh, and the Green Monster!! Is it possible that I've been a Red Sox fan my whole life and have never known about the Green Monster?? Or that I never knew what the Red Sox mascot was?? Or that once I found out what their mascot was, it took me a few days to put together why his name is Wally???

I'm ashamed. I think it's very possible my brothers and my dad and all the other Red Sox fans in my family might fire me from the family. 
*sniff* 

Oh, also: I was wearing my pro-life sweatshirt and a security guard came up to us and said, "Are you the one with the pro-life sweatshirt?" The pro-life quote is on the back, so you can't tell from the front that its pro-life, which is why he asked, I think. I got kind of flustered, afraid he would get all mean and pro-choice on me, but he smiled and said, "That's beautiful." 
xDDDD

We did take some pics, but I don't have them at the moment. When I get them I'll put them up. 

So, we get home this weekend. And then next weekend we leave to go visit Maddie's family for a few days. I've been super excited. The only problem is my friend from Montana is going back to Montana soon and I've barely been able to see her. Some friends were making plans to get together with her at the beach that weekend and when I found out the date I think my heart sank. 
So now I can't go to that. Although, if I had a choice, I'd probably choose going to visit Maddie anyways, for obvious reasons. Plus, I still have a few opportunities to see my friend before she leaves. But still...

The good news is, my class is getting together at the harbor next week with her because the harbor is kind of our special place, so I'll get to see her then. 
Maybe I'll get some pictures. 

--Abby, who has had two cups of tea today, one of which was Kenyan tea, and is considering a third. 

Can't think of a title... Orange Chicken.

Guess what? 
What? 
I'm still in Massachusetts.  
...
I know, right? 

This is probably the longest we've ever been out here. So far on this trip, I've eaten my fair share of sea food (yum!), read two books (both a good 500 or so pages)(if only I could write as quickly as I read)(I'll do reviews on them later), been to the beach (Atlantic, people!!), and watched two sports movies (yes, I said sports. Don't pretend like you're not shocked. I know you are)(The movies were Chariots of Fire and Hoosiers). 

My parents have sent a lot of pictures from Paris. Am I jealous? Nah. Heh. Heh. Nope. 

...

Of course I am, look who you're talking to! This is the same girl who drinks tea and reads multiple books on vacation and still would love to wear a ballgown on a daily basis! Of course I want to go to Paris!
Oh that's right, I've been drinking tea, too ;p.

But in all seriousness, I'm not that jealous. I'll get there at some point. As well as Italy. Wouldn't that be awesome?? Italy!
I wish wearing ballgowns on a daily basis was socially acceptable... 


Don't get me wrong, I love love love being out here. Like, I love it. A lot. But I'm starting to miss the Pacific ocean and all my friends and just California in general. I've realized that I don't think I was cut out to be an East Coast girl. I hate mosquitoes, and while snow is beautiful and I wish I could see it again, I don't think I could handle it for multiple months. I mean, nineteen degree weather for what, five months? Mmmm... No thanks. However, I do wish California had all this lush greenness and also, water. Which brings me to my next point: RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But I seriously love where I live and will probably live there forever. I love the beach at sunset and the citrus trees everywhere and being able to go outside without the fear of being eaten alive by mosquitoes. (Sorry Massachusetts, but it's true; I hate bugs.) 
But because of my healthy fear of those tiny, buggy vampires, I only have a few bites, while my siblings, who have been outside all day everyday practically, have a LOT. 
I'm fairly satisfied. 

So far, the trip's been awesome. I seriously love coming out here. But it feels good to have something at home that's worth coming back for. It's like a tether, or as someone described it a long time ago, it's my North Star. Like, no matter where I go, I'll always be back.
Did that make sense? Probably not. I'm sane, don't worry. 
Maybe I can bring some of this rain back to California with me. 
--Abby 

Maine

Today we rented a 15-seater and drove to Maine to visit my dad's sister and her family. There are two kids; Kyalo, who's four, and Malaikah the baby. 

We drove through New Hampshire to get there, and the three states that I've been in today look exactly alike. 

Kyalo and Malaikah are the cutest little kids. Kyalo is extremely enthusiastic about baseball. 

Me: Kyalo, what's your favorite sport? 

K: Blue. 

... 

Well, usually he's pretty enthusiastic about baseball. 

Kyalo, the future Red Sox star. 

Miss Veronica, the future multigazillionare and CEO of a huge company. 

Seriously. It might happen. She's taking after Mary Rose. 

Discussing their world domination plans while looking at something in the corner. Except Kyalo. He's found something more interesting in another direction. Maybe a baseball. 

Notice all three of my sisters are wearing those insulting tiger sneakers. Mary Rose has taught them well in the art of tom-boy-ish-ness. 

Left to right: Me and Malaikah, Penguin and Kyalo, Blaze, Rosie, Lilian, and Ronnie. 

Oh, my ear is pretty much back to normal!! Super happy about that. 

Also, it's raining a LOT!!! Pouring! Makes me happy. Some friends of mine have given me updates about the weather back home and it sounds... complicated. Hot one day, cold the next. But it did rain there, which is good. 

The rain is so beautiful, but also so weird after living in a world of dry hills and five minute showers (which Im not following very strictly... The drought might be my fault...) 

Right now, we're driving back in the pouring rain and we're already swirving a little in the puddles and singing. Well, the singing is mostly me and Penguin. My brothers and I have a bit of a system; Blaze will be talking and Penguin and I will hear him say something that was from a song and start singing. For example, this just happened: 

Blaze: It's like a rollercoaster!

Me and Penguin (singing): Its like a rollercoaster ride, don't wanna see it end. Through the storm, through the rain, life is just a crazy game... (etc etc) 

Blaze hates it, but I think it's fun. 

Car rides are fun. It usually ends up with me and Blaze having a comeback war of sorts, or me and Penguin listening to Taylor Swift or Andy Grammar or Disney songs. The little girls end up falling asleep. 

I'll probably have a hard time posting pictures, or posting at all, for the next week or so. My parents are going to France, and I've been doing all my posting on my dad's phone. So I'll do what I can, but be prepared for a lack of pictures and/or posting for a bit. 

And now, before I sign off: 

And because it would be evil to sign off with that fresh in your mind... 

...have a Maine-from-the-car picture. 

Sorry this post was a bit scattered. I sort of did bits and pieces of it throughout the day. 

So now, goodbye, until who knows when!

--Abby, who has been to three different states today and needs a good cup of tea while the boys watch the basketball finals. 

Blah. Sports. 

Photo Dump

We went down by the ocean today, and it is so wildly different than the Pacific. First we walked on this beautiful forest-like path. 

SO GREEN!!!!!!!!! It's like the concept of a drought is a fairytale here. 

My shoes on the path. 

Penguin ran through this, and it reminded me of all those stories about fairies living in the tall green grass I used to read when I was little. 

Ronnie. 

"I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder." --Donkey from Shrek 

(I know, that's not really a boulder, but that quote was the first thing that came to mind.) 

Robbie's shoes are insulting to tigers. Many apologies to all you tigers. (Mainly Hobbs cuz he's the best tiger) 

Then we found an old quarry. 

It was filled with water and it was beautiful. 

Lilian. 

I just like the lighting in this one. Nothing special about that sign. 

Then we walked down some (real) boulders to the ocean. 

No sand, no beach; all rocks, which was pretty cool. 

I just like taking pictures of my feet. It's not weird. Dont judge. 

Me, Blaze, Penguin, Lilian, my dad, and my grandpa all climbed to the top of that mountain. It's a lot bigger than it looks. How Lilian climbed it will forever be a mystery. 

Outside the living room window. (AKA random picture from this morning.) 

It's so cool to be back in Red Sox country. I'm used to being that one Boston fan in LA, but now I'm surrounded by my people xDD. 

Also I'm starting to get a few mosquito bites. Super annoying. 

My right ear is still weird and congested from the plane. Also annoying. It feels waterlogged, like I just got out of the pool. 

I'll be back again soon with even more pictures. 

--Abby

It's a Green Wonderland.

I'm blogging from Massachusetts!! And boy, do I have some stories. 

Yesterday morning we left on a two hour drive to LAX airport. LA is so busy and big and my goodness, the billboards!! We did a lot of talking about the different movies, or at least the ones we knew. The others we basically just made fun of. 

I wasn't feeling too great, from both my hard night and my stuffed nose. I wasn't really sure how that would affect me on the plane. 

We went through security, and a lot of people were surprised that we were all related. We had over an hour before we had to board after that, so we found a Burger King. Blaze and I weren't too hungry, for me it must have been because I was getting over a cold, so the two of us split a burger and a chicken sandwich, and then Blaze, Penguin, and I split fries, and I got coffee. 

I realized that the coffee was a mistake when we got on the plane. I was sitting with Rosie and in front of us were my parents and Ronnie, and across from them were Blaze, Lilian, and Penguin. As soon as we took off, I got a major migraine. Luckily the flight attendant gave me some medicine which helped a lot and I only drank water the rest of the flight. 

The flight was loooooooong. We passed the time pretty well though. I'm currently reading Sense and Sensibility, so I read that for a bit. There were little TV's for every seat, and there was one channel that played music and showed a map of the country with a little marker showing where we were, and I spent most of the time on that. From my seat, I could see Penguin and the two of us were lip singing on that channel. 

When we were landing, my ears started hurting really bad and when we got off, they felt waterlogged. They felt like that until this morning. 

And now for some pictures: 

This is my grandparents backyard. It's so green!!! 

Penguin, Ronnie, and Rosie riding down the hill. 

I'll be back soon, hopefully with more pictures. 

--Abby

Posting Before 7am (I feel like a zombie)

Ugh. 

I was up pretty much all night last night with a stuffy nose. Stuffy noses are the WORST. Like, we all know how horrible cancer is, or ebola, or any other big disease. But when you get a stuffy nose that keeps you up all night, I can't help but think, How can it get any worse than this?? 

Maybe it's only me. 

Speaking of last night, the end of the year Glow-in-the-Dark high school dance was last night and it was great! I can't say I was the most glow-y person there, but I did what I could and I was decently glow-y. My red and blue scarf glowed. So yeah, I was satisfied. 

Okay, the real reason I'm here (before 7am too) is because we leave for the airport in an hour ish. I'm pretty excited, although I'm kind of the only one up so it's hard to be excited when it doesn't really feel like you're about to fly across the country. 
No thats a lie, possibly. Mary Rose is awake. She didn't sleep well last night either (but she didn't have a stuffy nose, so DON'T COMPLAIN, ROSIE). She's still in our room with her bed-head and her sticky eyelids. 
...
I'm not even that tired. 
*whimpers*

I have this curse that doesn't allow me to sleep on planes. It's a nightmare. 

Alright, so I'm going to sign off now, and I'll post again soon, hopefully with pictures of the beautiful MA scenery!
--Abby

Doors are out to get me.

Remember yesterday, at the end of my random post about nothing in particular, when I said that if I had no brothers I'd have a lot less bruises and battle scars?

Well. The universe must have thought that was absolutely hilarious. 

After I wrote and published that post, I was home alone with Blaze and Penguin for a while, and whenever that happens, I tend to get hyper really fast. 
I was singing On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons when my mom pulled into the driveway and honked the horn. She was picking us up to take us somewhere and we were in a hurry. So I was still singing as I opened the door and Blaze said something to me, so I turned around and said something to him, still opening the door, then went back to finishing the song--"I'm on top of the wooorld!"-- and as I turned around, my head hit the corner of the door. 

We have a heavy door. It's a huge, heavy door. And I hit the corner of it. 

So now, theres a lump on my forehead and a red mark and it hurts. It still hurts. 

I am soooo talented. 

So, like I said-- a lot less bruises and battle scars. 
(Okay, universe, thank you for making my point.) 
My first thought when I hit the door was, "Wow, I'm turning into Lilian." 

Story: 
A few days ago, Lilian was running and she hit her head hard on a doorknob. Then, a few hours later, she was running and hit her head on the same doorknob in the same spot!! I guess this talent runs in my family. Now I'm waiting to se who's next. My bet is Ronnie. No offense to Ronnie. 

--Abby

Grey Weather Tends to Make Me Write Boring Posts.

So, does it feel like summer yet? 
Ehh.....

We've had cloudy days lately, and usually I don't mind that, but the irony of all this grey, cloudy-ness is... ironic. In winter we had some biting cold, windy, grey days, but we also had warm days in February while it was still biting cold, windy, and grey in most places. 
Plus, this kind of cloudy day can be annoying. It's grey and depressing, and usually I don't mind that, but it's not even that cold. It's grey. That's it; just grey. It makes one wonder why we even pretend to have seasons where I live because they all get mixed up anyways. Like, this weather isn't even tea worthy. 

So, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but we leave for the east coast this Sunday and we stay for twelve days. I'm really excited!! However, I wont be able to work on my story at all while we're up there. Nor will I be able to see my friend from Montana who's visiting California. 
But still, I'm excited. My parents are going on a trip to France while us kids are in MA (I've gotten over it... heh. heh. heh.), but they'll be with us for a few days. While they're gone, we're staying with my dad's family. They have a huge backyard next to a marsh and we're going to a Red Sox game at one point, and going to Boston is the best... 
So, yeah, I'm excited, but I'm also trying to cram in as much writing as I can so I won't worry about it over the next two weeks. 

Speaking of writing, I'm kind of wondering what I'm going to do in November. They say it's better to start NaNo with a clean slate, and I'm not sure I want to do a second draft for my current story. I'll be done with it and in the editing process by the time November rolls around (hopefully), so I'm debating between starting a new story, or doing the second draft of this one. 

(It feels weird to me that this is my biggest problem right now after nine months of stress.) 
(SCHOOL'S OVER!!!) 

I have a few ideas I could do for NaNo if I started with a clean slate. I could do Mist, or the second draft of Claire's story (even though that's not really starting anew). I have some new ideas too. But I'm not sure if I would want to start something new so soon after finishing Miette's story. 

So, yeah, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO. 
Plus this is my first time doing NaNo, and if I lose, well, I don't like to lose, especially if it's something this big and this important to me. It's kind of a pride thing. 

But. I digress. 

Recently, Blaze and I both got Miraculous Medals; mine from my confirmation sponsor, his from his sixth grade teacher. I was reading about the medal last night, and it is so cool! All the miracles that have occurred because of it, and how Mary appeared to St. Catherine Laboure three times. She is the only saint to have touched Mary. Isn't that awesome?? I was reading about all the lives that have been saved because of the medal and all the conversions that have occurred. It's a beautiful thing. 

What's not so beautiful is Blaze insisting that his is better than mine.
Brothers make life so interesting. 

I mean, if I only had sisters, I would have a lot less bruises and battle scars. 
--Abby