War Memorials, Picnics and Doll-house Sized Cabins

On Monday we loaded all of our bags into the car and set off. We were going on an adventure! We were going to stay in a cabin in Canberra, our capital city. We had done this once before a few years ago. While we were in Canberra, we were going to visit the National Museum of Australia, the Australian War Memorial and Questacon. Questecon is a science centre.

The trip was a long one but luckily I didn't get bored because I was reading an awesome book. We were going to the National Museum of Australia first before going to the cabin.

"We are here!" Dad shouted, from the front of the car.

I looked up and quickly put away my book and MP3 player. We all piled out of the car (except the boys who were at home looking after Nora and the cats). 

The museum had an exhibit on horses that we were going to look at first.

"Let's have lunch before do anything," Mum suggested.

We all agreed that eating would be a good idea.

We found a nice place to sit and Imogen began to put together the rolls we had brought. We had ham, cheese and the traditional potato salad. 

After lunch we entered the museum. We were soon lost amongst trophies, carriages and saddles. The people who had worn the dresses that were on display must have been tiny (about Charlotte's height).

By the time we had walked around the entire horse exhibit my feet were sore and I was quite ready to go home.

We climbed wearily back into the car and we drove the short distance to the cabins. Mum got the key and we found our cabin. We all trundled into the cabin and looked around. The cabins were just as we remembered them. I was sure the entire cabin would fit into our living room at home.

Imogen and Dad went to the shops to get dinner while we watched one of our favourite movies, "Beauty and the Beast". 

The next morning I awoke long before anybody else. I was in a top-bunk. There was two sets of bunk beds in our room and only one ladder to get onto them. Luckily the ends of the bunk-beds were close together so I could climb onto Imogen's  bed and then onto my own. I had to wait for ages for everybody to wake up lest I make a noise and wake them. Sophie woke and began coughing. Her hand whacked the wall and the whole cabin shook. I looked at the roof, certain that it would come down on our heads.

For the second day we went to the War Memorial. It was a very depressing place. We were soon all feeling a bit down.

We went to see a video on a massive screen about the Australians trying to take down Berlin. As soon as the gun shots started I put my fingers in my ears. It was so loud. We saw lots and lots of medals and guns and more war videos. We saw one from the Vietnam war about people getting off helicopters. It was very dark when we were watching it and they had flashing lights and wind to make you really feel like you were in a helicopter. I clung to Charlotte trying to block my ears at the same time. When we came out of the room Charlotte said I looked like a startled hamster.

On the last day of our holiday we went to Questacon and got to play with science and learn about it. Our brains got meddled with a lot. We saw a show on Perceptions and we felt so stupid afterwards. Even when the man explained what was happening our brains could not keep up.

Finally we went home, feeling happy but tired. There is no place like home. Nora and the cats were very glad to see us!        

Dog Toys

Our puppy Nora is a very strange dog. She drags all my brother Callum's car parts he has stacked up at the bottom of the garden and sorts them into piles. She has chewed up her bed with stuffing, and her stretcher bed, and pulls all the washing off the line. (She likes pyjamas and tights best.) It is clear she is bored.

"What if I sew her some toys?" I suggested to Mum.

"She will chew them up too," Mum warned.

"Hopefully it will stop her chewing everything else up," I replied.

I found an old tea-towel and cut it into a dog bone shape. I sewed it up together and stuffed it before taking outside for Nora. Two minutes later stuffing was all over the garden and the tea-towel nowhere to be seen. Next I twisted some socks up and sewed them in place. Nora didn't manage to eat this one so quickly. I decided that I probably should not make toys with stuffing because when Nora rips them apart, it goes everywhere,

I hope the toys stop Nora from chewing everything up (not that there is much left in the garden that she hasn't already eaten!)

Dog Bed Drama

When we were making preparations for our puppy Nora to come to live with us, we bought her a kennel and a dog bed. A few weeks ago we found the dog bed outside, all chewed up. The stuffing was everywhere.

"Don't worry, Mum," I said. "I will fix it."

Armed with thread and a needle, I put all the stuffing back in the bed and sewed up the hole. Soon the problem was fixed or so I thought. A week later the bed was chewed up again. I once again sewed it up. But however many times I sewed up the bed, Nora kept eating it. Charlotte helped me sew a sheet over the bed but Nora just chewed right through it. One day when I found her bed chewed up I took it inside and found that there was not enough fabric left on the bottom of the bed for me to fix it.

"Why don't you make it a new bottom?" Sophie suggested.

"What could I make it out of?" I asked.

"How about those old sheets we put in the garage?" Sophie asked.

So I went to the garage and found my old purple sheet with all the holes in it. I was not really sure how to make a new bottom for the bed. I had never done something like this before. I roughly cut the sheet in half and folded it till it was the right size then I sewed the fabric onto the bed. It took a long time but when it was done I was rather proud. Then all that was left to do was sew the pink sheet back over the top of the bed.

The whole procedure took a few hours. I took it back outside confident that this time the dog would not be able to chew through it. I was dreadfully wrong.

The next day the bed was all over the garden. I spent a good five minutes cleaning it up and a good few hours stitching. There was no denying it, we needed a new solution to the bed problem. Dad suggested that we buy Nora a rubber mat but we all thought she would chew through it like she does with her fabric one. For now it looks like I will just have to keep mending it till there is no fabric left.

Do you have problems like these? Do you have any ideas on what we can get the dog instead of her old bed?   

Sleeping Beauty

                                        

I like all Disney Princess movies (except for Snow White). But there was one Disney Princess movie I hadn't watched. It was Sleeping Beauty. We didn't own so I couldn't watch it.

But Imogen and Mum went to the shops and when they came back, they brought Sleeping Beauty with them. We were all very excited because either we hadn't watched it in a very long time or not at all.

Mum and Imogen were going to a conference in Sydney so Charlotte, Sophie and I got to watch it first while they were away. We loved the scene where Fauna, Flora and Merriweather try to sew and cook. Now I know that if I want to make a dress, first I have to cut a hole in the fabric for the legs.

The cover of the DVD lied. For most of the movie Aurora has a blue dress but on the case she is wearing pink.

I think I am really going to have to learn how to turn into a dragon like Maleficent. It was a really cool trick.

Charlotte thought that the Prince from Sleeping Beauty looked identical to the Prince from Cinderella.

Have you watched Sleeping Beauty? Who is your favourite Disney Princess?

Sunshine Award

I was nominated  by Scarlet from Scarlet's Forest to do the Sunshine award. Thank you Scarlet!

The rules:

Thank the person who nominated you

Answer the questions the person who nominated you asked

Nominate some other bloggers (11 being standard)

Question the people you nominated

Tell them that you nominated them

Put the award picture on your blog (if you so desire)

1. If you could go anywhere in the entire world, where would you go?
England in winter because it snows.

2. How many pets do you have?
Three cats and a puppy.

3. What is your favourite movie?
Probably Beauty and the Beast.
4. Pizza or strawberries?
Um, not sure. They're too different to choose.
5. What's your favourite outfit?
A denim skirt and my Tangled T-shirt.
6. How many siblings do you have?
Three brothers four sisters.
7. What's your favourite colour?
Not a clue.
8. Frozen or Tangled?
Sorry Frozen  fans but I like Tangled too much.
9. Spring or Autumn?
Probably Autumn.
10. What instruments do you play?
I play the piano.
11. What's your favourite time of day?
Chocolate O'clock.

I nominate anybody that wants to do it!

My Questions:

1. Megamind or Despicable Me?
2. What's your middle name?
3. What's your favourite board or card game?
4. What genre do you like reading the most?
5. Who is your favourite author/s?
6. Cooking or Craft?
7. Do you like reading out loud?
8. Do you like blogging or novel writing better?
9. If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
10. Do you like jelly beans or chocolate better?
11. What is your favourite animal?

Thank you again Scarlet for letting me do this award!

Liebster Award

I have been nominated by Scarlet from Scarlet's Forest to do the Liebster award. Thank you Scarlet.

The Rules are:

Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
Answer the 11 questions they have given you.
Write 11 new questions for your nominees.
Nominate 11 bloggers with under 200 followers to answer the questions (excluding the one who nominated you).
You must notify your nominees of their nomination.

Random facts about me:

1 I like to write novels. I do Nanowrimo young writers program every year.
2 I like to cook.
3 I was born on Australia day.
4 I like listening to Lindsey Stirling, Taylor Davis and the Piano Guys while I write. 
5 I own a puppy named Nora and she is very cute.
6 I can make really weird faces. 
7 I have freckles.
8 I watch Doctor Who
9 My favourite Disney movie is Beauty and the Beast
10 I learnt to bike ride in two days. 
11 I am allergic to mangos.                                       
Scarlet's questions:    
1 Girly girl or tomboy?
Girly Girl
2 Ice cream or burgers?
Ice cream, definitely. 
3 Ballet flats or thongs?
Ballet flats.
4 Ponytail or braid?
Braid.
5 Dogs or cats?
Both.
6 Drawing or writing?
Writing.
7 Movies or books?
Both.
8 Outside or inside?
I like both inside and outside.
9 Summer or winter?
I don't like summer or winter particularly, 
10 Dresses or jeans?
Dresses.
11 Necklaces or bracelets?
Bracelets.

For the Liebster Award I nominate the Queen, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Rapunzel, the Pope, Saint Gemma, Saint Rose, Gollum, Jane Austen, Mozart and Usain Bolt.  

My questions:
1 What colour are your socks?
2 Do you wear glasses for reading?
3 Left handed or right handed?
4 Bloomer or pantaloons?
5 How many hats have you got?
6 Swords or frying pans?
7 Favourite Saint?
8 Least favourite Vegetable?
9 What is your favourite riddle?
10 Wigs or real hair?
11 Favourite dress up costume?  

Colds and Writing

The cover I made for my novel. I think I am probably going to have to change the title because Eversnow is not mentioned much.

At the moment it is Camp NaNoWriMo or Camp National Novel Writing Month. I am way too young to do Camp NaNoWriMo and they haven't yet created a young writers' program, so I do it unofficially with my older sisters. 

I am writing a novel about a girl who gets trapped in a fantasy world and can't get out. Very cliché I know. My main character is named Skylar. She is about ten or eleven years old and is nothing like what I planned her to be. I thought she was going to be a rather talkative up-beat girl but instead she is rather quiet, rather moody and very dull. When I am done writing the novel I am going to have to edit her a lot. 

My first few days of writing was wonderful. I even kept up with Sophie who is doing fifty thousand words. It was a bit hard to fit in writing and also go places with everybody else, but we would not miss going to see "How to Train Your Dragon 2" for anything, even if we missed most of the morning that we could have been writing in.

But a couple of weeks into Camp NaNoWriMo, disaster has struck. I have caught a cold. It might sound easy to write with a cold but it isn't. I have missed a few days writing and I had an ear-ache yesterday so it has been really hard to write. 

One of my biggest problems is keeping my novel going. I always run out of storyline before I have reached my goal. However hard I try, my main character always wants the adventure to end so they can go home way before I am done writing about it. 

None of my characters ever seem to acquire a personality (except if it is a gloomy one). I am wonderful at making my character shy and gloomy and all in all horrible, but if you ask me to write a happy cheerful person I would probably stare at you blankly, blink a few times and go back to my novel and make my character even more gloomy. 

I hope my cold will go away soon and I will have another wonderful writing day. Are you doing Camp NaNoWriMo? Are you writing a novel?