The Adventures of Traveling Sadie

Earthquake!

2010-07-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I've been meaning to write about this for a while but I forgot. On July 7th, we had a an earthquake!

At first, I didn't know what to do. There was a big bump, and all the Cali-Girls dove for cover--some hid under the desk, another under a chair. Tinker was already standing in the doorway. The lamps started to sway and Jackie grabbed me and pulled me in to the door way. It was over as soon as I realized, "earthquake!"

After the shaking died down, the girls all started calling out numbers. Then they ran to get on to the computer and logged on to this website:
U.S. Geological Survey. They said the real news always exaggerates, but the USGS will tell you when the quake hit, where it was, and how big it was. The earthquake I'm talking about shows up as a big yellow square on the map, between San Diego and Palm Springs. If you hold your mouse over it, it tells you the magnitude of the quake.

It turns out the numbers the girls were shouting were different quake magnitudes--they were betting! The quake was a 5.4 in magnitude, which is big enough to notice but not to cause damage. Jackie won and they all had to give her a quarter. It makes sense, though, since Jackie loves swimming and sailing, and so knows a little bit about how waves work. Because that's what an earthquake is like--a wave in the earth, instead of the ocean!

There are lots of earthquakes in California and all up the west coast because this is where two continental plates, the Pacific Plate and the North American plate meet here, causing earthquakes as they move past each other. Earthquakes usually happen along fault lines, and a huge fault line, called the San Andreas Fault, is really close to the Valley!

Jackie says I'm really truly a Californian now that I've been through an earthquake bigger than 5.0. This quake was a 5.4, but the epicenter was between Palm Springs and San Diego so we didn't get too much shaking. It was still strange. Eddie (she may have been bragging) said that they don't get scary until they are bigger than 6.0 in magnitude. Because of the way earthquakes are measured, a 6.0 is actually ten times bigger than a 5.0. So, yes, I think something ten times as big as I experienced would be scary!

Apparently, though, they always come as a surprise as there is no way to predict when and where the next one will hit.

Which makes it strange, because, come to think of it, I remember Tinker looking at her watch and then going to stand in the doorway. Almost like she knew the earthquake was about to come. But then again, Tinker's strange, she could have been standing there for another reason. I mean, she can't have known the earthquake was about to hit--right?

Anyways, Jackie, Eddie, and Tinker all want to go get Slurpees, so I've gotta run!

Catching up....Mexico

2010-06-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Shhhh.....I am so tired after my day at the beach, but I'm secretly writing this without Eddie knowing. She's a super friend but sometimes she can be one of those supercalifragilistic-extra-extra-bossy dolls, and for sure she'd tell me to turn off my flashlight and get to bed. But I can't -- I have to get caught up with my blog!

See, I've been so busy that I didn't even have a chance to blog about my last few days in Mexico. We went back to downtown Querétaro and got to see that incredibly awesome aqueduct I wrote about in a previous blog entry. Here is its history, which Prisclla copied for me from a tourist brochure:

Queretaro is a beautiful colonial city that can be appreciated for many of its enchanting sites and buildings but the one building of Querétaro that inspires more than a sigh or two is the Aqueduct.

In the 1720s, the city of Querétaro was suffering from the lack of clean drinking water. With the river contaminated and the people dying, it was a very bleak place that seemed to have little hope in survival. The bleakness, however, did not touch the heart of one man by the name of Juan Antonio de Urrutia y Arana, Knight of the Order of Alcantara and a hydraulic engineer, also known as the Marquis de la Villa del Villar del Aguila).

Legend has it that Urrutia y Arana fell in love with a nun by the name of Sor Marcela, who was said to be beautiful and from a well-to-do family. Because of the vows she took on becoming a Capuchina nun, she could not have any sort of amorous relation with the love struck engineer, who, incidentally, was also married. Instead, she asked him for a show of his love by bringing clean drinking water to the city. In this manner, the construction of the Aqueduct began.

From 1726 to 1735, the Aqueduct construction went underway. It has 74 arches, made of rock, reaching a maximum height of over 75 feet and a length of nearly 4200 feet. The first part of the Aqueduct was constructed underground. The subsequent parts rise through the valley and the city for about 3 miles, ending in a cistern near the Convent of the Santa Cruz in a place called La Caja de Agua. It is said that the final arch of this Aqueduct brought water to the very convent where Sor Marcela lived and engraving a very romantic story into the history of Querétaro.

A married engineer building an aqueduct to impress the nun he was in love with? Well, whatever works right? He did a great job, and the aqueduct is still an amazing, impressive sight. You can see the aqueduct behind me and Knut, stretching across the background of the city.

Next we went to Panteon de los Queretanos Ilustres, where there were graves and monuments for famous natives of Querétaro.

We even saw the final resting place of Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, La Corregidora, and got to pay our respects!

There are some more pictures of my last day in Querétaro IN THIS ALBUM. I had a lovely Mexican dinner that night and had to pack up to journey north to California. I was feeling kind of sorry for myself, but I had a nice surprise from Kelly, one of the dolls here.

You can see the whole story in my
FAREWELL ALBUM.

You know, I just realized something. Kelly and Eddie kind of look alike, don't they? Interesting!

Anyway, I'm really so excited to be here in California and am having an INCREDIBLE time. But I have to admit that I'm feeling a guilty about being here. You see, my best friend Kailey was pretty upset when she learned that I'd be visiting her native California. See what I mean IN THIS ALBUM? And now I've gone and, gulp, VISITED THE TIDE POOLS! I don't know what will happen when I get back.

Kailey, if you're reading this and are still speaking to me, I promise you I will take a hiatus from the Polar Bears Are Cool club and fighting global warming and will get on board with you about saving the tide pools!

What can I say...these are the challenges a traveling doll faces. Not everyone is cut out for this life. Ooooh, wait, I think I hear Eddie coming. These high maintenance brown-eyed, blonde dolls will be the death of me, I swear! Gotta run!!

Laguna Beach, California

2010-06-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Eddie and I woke up bright and early to hit the beach. It was a long drive--Eddie said that instead of going to the beaches up near where they live, Malibu and Santa Monica, we were going down south a little further to a town in Orange County called Laguna Beach.

Sadie and Eddie go to Laguna Beach

Laguna, I learned, is the Spanish word for "Lagoon." Easy, right?! There are several lagoons in this town, which is the second oldest town in Orange County. It started out as a farming community, but then the farmers realized that the farming wasn't so great, but their beaches were. They started renting out beach houses to other farmers who lived further inland and wanted to escape the summer heat. Thus Laguna Beach, one of the first tourist towns in California, was born. Apparently, Laguna Beach has some of the prettiest beaches in California. Now Laguna Beach is a popular tourist spot, and also a popular artist community. The beach we are going to is called Corona del Mar.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, it was still overcast! It was warm but overcast, and Eddie says this is pretty typical at this time of year. Many areas experience "June Gloom," with warm fog in the morning, and overcast skies until afternoon. When the sun has been out a while the clouds burn off, but there is no telling how long it will take each day, so Eddie says there's no point in letting a little gray skies ruin our trip.

First we went to Look Out Point, where we took, well a look, out at the ocean.

It was beautiful! We could see the faint curvature of the earth! To the north we could see Balboa Island and a breakwater, and many people were taking their sailing ships and yachts out. To the south stretched the beach, which even early in the morning was pretty busy. There were tons of people playing beach volley ball, surfing, and just enjoying the water. Eddie said that we would go to the beach, but not the obvious one. We went down a long flight of stairs and then climbed up a huge set of rocks. On the other side, we found a beautiful cove that looked out over the harbor. The waves here weren't as big as on the other side, because the breakwater protected the beach.

We had lots of fun exploring. First, we looked at some tidal pools. I found some neat sea creatures, including some sea anemones. I took a picture and when I got home I looked it up. It turns out that they are called green starburst sea anemones. They use their tentacles to catch food. I found this website about them, and I think they are really neat!

In this picture there are at least four starburst anemones. Can you find them all? Here's a hint: Some of them are eating, eek! Genevieve told Eddie and I that when she was little, the tide pools had a lot more animals. She said they had more fish, grabs, and star fish. Unfortunately, since the beaches are so popular, a lot of tourists and hobbyists will "hunt" the tide pools, taking interesting creatures home for their fish tanks. This leaves the real tide pools barren. This isn't good, since it means that the ecosystem of the tide pools is unbalanced and also because a lot of the sea creatures die once they are removed from their native habitat.

After that, we went looking for seashells. I found a few really pretty ones, and also a crab. Remembering what Genevieve told me, I decided to leave him alone and instead just took a picture.

Playing in the ocean is so much fun! Eddie taught me how to body surf. That's when you go out about waist deep in the water. You wait for a wave to come along and when it does you JUMP at just the right moment and let it take you in to shore and you go sailing in, really fast, to glide in to the beach. But if you don't time it just right, watch out! The wave can knock you down and send you tumbling, over and over so that you have sand and saltwater going up your nose. It's so cool! I can see why Kailey loves to surf so much!

Body surfing is hard work and a lot of exercise. Finally we decided to take a break. We refreshed our sunscreen and had a snack and mellowed out by the water. Just sitting on the beach, listening to the ocean waves is so relaxing.

I love the beach. Time stands still while you are there. The sun and the waves and the sand just sort of seep in to you, leaving you happy and tired. After we went home last night, as I lay in bed I could still feel the movement of the ocean as I drifted off to sleep.

Studio City, California

2010-06-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

Today I arrived in California, where I met the Cali-Girls. One of them, Eddie (she's a girl but she has a boy's name! How Californian!) was pretty bossy seeming at first but once you get to know her she's only a little bossy.

This is where I am staying:

Jackie says it is a pretty typical house for the area--most of the houses around here were built in the forties and fifties, when people began to move out to the suburbs.

Eddie told me that we are in Studio City. It's called Studio City because it's close to movie studios where many movies are made. She says that right now we are about ten minutes from NBC/Universal, CBS and Warner Brothers' Studios, and fifteen minutes from Paramount Studios - wow! Maybe I can sneak in to a movie production while I'm here!

*THIS IS EDDIE* YOU CANNOT SNEAK IN TO A MOVIE PRODUCTION BELIEVE ME I HAVE TRIED AND THEY HAVE BIG GUYS THAT KICK YOU OUT AND--

Hey! This is my blog, Eddie, give it back!

Anyways, Studio City is just north of the Hollywood Hills, in the San Fernando Valley. San Fernando Valley is where the original Valley Girls came from in the 1980s. Jackie and Libby, two other Cali-Girls here, wanted me to know that they are not "Valley Girls" as they are not shallow and interested in shopping. Eddie wanted to know what's so wrong with shopping--she just saw Britney Spears shopping on Ventura Boulevard last week. "Exactly!" said Jackie.

Ventura Boulevard is a major road in Studio City and the valley. It started out as a trail between Spanish missions called El Camino Real. Now it has a lot of great shops and restaurants on it, and has been written about in songs by Tom Petty and the Everly Brothers. The Tom Petty song is all about growing up in the San Fernando Valley, actually.

I found this music-video. It's pretty eighties, but according to the Cali-Girls a lot of this area still looks the same! Eddie says we can drive to that Cadillac dealership and the mall if we want to.

I was really hoping to see a palm tree but, unfortunately, this house does not have one. Eddie promises me I will get to see one tomorrow when we go to the beach. Because I didn't bring a swimsuit, the Cali-Girls let me borrow one of theirs, so that's neat. For now, I'm tired, so I'm going to log-off. Good night!

Downtown Querataro

2010-05-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, I visited downtown Santiago de Querétaro with Priscilla.

Querétaro is a very old city that is about 135 miles north of Mexico City. It is the capital of the State of Querétaro. The area was originally settled by native tribes, until Spanish colonists took over in the 1500s. Querétaro still has great examples of the Spanish colonial period in the form of churches, an amazing aqueduct, and some beautiful mansions. One interesting thing I read is that the Querétaro aqueduct was built back in 1726 to supply drinking water to the city from the springs of the ancient settlement of La Cañada, which is about 5 miles away. Now how weird is that: I come all the way to Mexico to find a city called La Cañada? It's a small world after all! Anyway, the aqueduct looks like the classic Roman ones. It has 74 arches, and some are 98 feet tall! It doesn't carry water any longer but it amazing to see in the middle of the city. Here's a picture from online:

We didn't get to see the aqueduct this evening although I hope we can visit it before I leave. We did see lots of interesting buildings, though.

Here is the spire of the Templo de San Francisco and the Regional Museum next door. During the Mexican War of independence in 1810, the church was actually used by the Spanish as a prison for revolutionaries!

The Church of Saint Francis (as we'd call it in English) has served as Querétaro's cathedral for two hundred years.

Since 1936, the Regional Museum is housed in what used to be the church's convent and has lots of exhibits covering prehistoric, colonial, independence, imperial, revolution and post-revolution periods of Mexican history. Wow! That's a lot of history!

Here is a hundred year old bronze statue of Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, known as "La Corregidora".

La Corregidora was a very inspiring character! She was married to a magistrate or Corregidor in the city of Querétaro when it was still under the Spanish rule, and they had 14 children. Yes, fourteen! But Josefa had a rebellious spirit and her home became the official center of the revolutionary conspiracy for independent Mexican rule. She was eventually discovered and imprisoned for many years. Even after her release, she stayed involved with radical political groups. She was such a brave and principled woman. I found an online biography with more details HERE.

The digitial countdown clock beside her statue marks how many days are left until the big celebration of Mexico's independence. During the year 2010, Mexico celebrates both the 200th anniversary of its Independence and 100th anniversary of its Revolution. The entire year has been proclaimed by President Felipe Calderón as "Año de la Patria," or "Year of the Nation. Querétaro is considered to be the cradle of Mexican Independence because the rebellion was planned here by La Corregidora, so the celebrations this September will be HUGE! Too bad I can't stay until then!

Fortunately there was a cultural festival going on in the Jardin Guerrero when we visited. That is a city park with a big central fountain surrounded by trees and benches. One tourist website I read described it as follows: "The trees are close together with their foliage touching, and they trim the top and bottom branches in a straight line. The effect is like looking at a big solid hedge that is 8 or 9 feet off the ground." It was very pretty! We saw part of a play and a presentation of the Canadian Walkirias. It was fun!

Here I am outside the convent of Santa Clara:

The church that you can see in the background is Templo de Santa Clara, which was built in 1606 by the son of the founder of Querétaro, Don Diego de Tapia. It was the first church and convent in Mexico to be dedicated exclusively for the use of the order of Clarisian nuns, and at one point the complex stretched for four city blocks! That's three times bigger than American Girl Place!

Afterwards we went to have a very late dinner at a restaurant decorated with papel picado, a Mexican folk art of papercutting. Look who is on this one!

Can you guess what I had? Churros sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and a bowl of cajeta (dulce de leche) to dip them in.

¡Delicioso!

It was around 10 PM by the time we got to the restaurant and much past that when we finally got back to Priscilla's house, so I was up waaay past my bedtime. (Sorry Mom!) I was tired, but had a great time.

Here are some more photos in the album. Enjoy! ALBUM LINK

La Pirámide de El Cerrito, and me!!!!!

2010-04-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Just five miles from downtown Queretaro you can find the main ancient ceremonial center of the region known as "La Pirámide de El Cerrito" (The Pyramid of El Cerrito), which is attributed to the Tolteca culture. We visited there today!

The Toltecs were an ancient civilization of Mexico. The name means "master builders" and wow, did they build something amazing here! The early history of the Toltecs isn't known but some things I read said they smelted metals and their stonework was highly developed. They worshipped many gods (that means they were polytheistic), including Quetzalcoatl, a plumed serpent god. Their ceremonies did seem to include human sacrifice (which is kind of scary to me) but also sun worship and a sacred ball game called tlatchli. They are said to have discovered pulque (that's a milk-colored alcohol made from the fermented sap of the maguey plant) and were very, very knowledgable about astronomy. This city we are visting was built around 800 A.D. The city peaked between 900 and 1200 A.D. Their culture fell sometime in the 13th century A.D. and that opened the way for the rise of the Aztec peoples.

Here we go to get a closer look!

The platform of the pyramid measures around 360 ft per side, and is around 90 ft tall. Even though the Toltecs later worshipped Quetzalcoatl, the name of the deity that was honored here is unknown because around 1880 the place was sold/taken by Spanish people who wanted to build an estate house on top (you can see it on the top in this next picture).

Can you believe it, they built a house on top of this wonderful pyramid!?!?!

Lots of ceramic objects have been found, but the house structure would need to be destroyed to dig under it and find more clues. I kind of wish they would destroy it so we could learn more about the Toltecs. There is a lot left to discover here, but more money is needed to keep digging and studying everything. This archaelogical site was opened very recently in 1997. You can't climb the pyramid because it's still being restored. That's okay; I liked wandering around with Priscilla!

The tourist guide said that under the surrounding modern city there should be more structures that are now impossible to recover. How sad! It's funny how all over the world, we just build on top of our past. If I wasn't going to be an environmentalist, I think I'd like to be an archaeologist so I could uncover our past.

I really enjoyed my visit to Pirámide de El Cerrito. I kind of think I might have been the first American Girl doll to ever visit there, what do you think?

There are some more photos of my visit IN THIS ALBUM!

I am visiting Mexico!!!

2010-04-17T07:14:00.001-07:00

I arrived in the beautiful city of Queretaro, Mexico this last Tuesday April 12, and I'm so excited to be here!!
Priscilla is hosting me and I have seven new friends! When I arrived there were actually five girls living here (Chrissa, Claudette, Sammie, Mabel & Kelly) but then on Thursday two more girls arrived, their names are Hannah and Hattie.

Everybody gave me a very warm welcome and I'm getting along well with all the girls. We have a Schnauzer dog named Peggy (mom, don't worry it's a dog like Coconut, not a fleshie!) and we play with her a lot. Knut is not lonely having another pet around. I will take a pic of Peggy later.

On Thursday Priscilla took me to the park where she goes exercising... or so she says LOL... it's so pretty. It's not big but the trees are very tall and it's nice to see other people enjoying nature too.

I walked around the park for a bit. Some people stared at me with curiosity and others in disbelief... of course I'm so pretty they must've thought they were dreaming! Priscilla took this pretty pic of me.

After we exercised Priscilla showed me around and we went where the nearest Walmart and McDonald's are.

Then across the street from McDonalds you can see the bullring. It's called "Plaza Santa Maria", it opened in 1963 and has room for 13000 people. Priscilla told me she's never been there because she doesn't like bullfighting. You can see some cars in the pic because there's a nice bridge there that was built around 3 years ago. The bad thing is the name of the plaza is hidden by the bridge!.
I am very happy that today is Saturday and we're going downtown this weekend! I'll post more pics soon.
Mom I send you BIG BIG hugs! I miss you!

Visiting Toronto

2009-07-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

The last stop on my Canadian adventures was Toronto, in the province of Ontario, to visit with MapleLeaf and her family. We had a lovely visit, and I made a very special new friend!

That's Jasper the hamster. I want a Jasper! He was plenty adorable and fuzzy.

Here's my Toronto album. I really enjoyed hanging out with Jess and Molly and going to one of my fave places, the library!

I learned some things about Toronto while I was there. It is not only the capital of Ontario, it is Canada's largest city. Situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario, indigenous people have been living in the area for 11000 years, since the last Ice Age! Europeans arrived in the 1600s and established the city of York, which was renamed Toronto in 1834. The name apparently comes from the Mohawk phrase 'tkaronto,' which means "where there are trees standing in the water." The city experienced an immigration boom after WWII, and today Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with 152 spoken languages and dialects!

There are no polar bears here but Toronto is home to the world's tallest building, the CN Tower. We didn't visit but then again, I'm not sure I'd want to go up that high, even if dolls do bounce!

Toronto is a really pretty city. I hope I have the chance to go back one day!

For now, I am home and glad to be with my friends again. Not sure where I'll go next year, but I sure do love traveling! Thanks to all my great Canadian friends!

More Adventures in Winnipeg

2009-06-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, you're wondering where I've been, right?

Well, I'm still in Canada, actually. I have been having so much fun that I didn't have time or energy to update my blog! So finally, here is an album of my adventures visiting Kym and her family. Like my last host JeanieD, they are residents of Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba.

Further Winnipegian Adventures

As you can see, I had a great time! I'm actually in Toronto Ontario now, but am heading home soon. I'll post more later about my adventures in Toronto.

Birthday Celebrations!

2009-04-24T10:26:00.001-07:00

This past week included two birthdays - Felicity's, and Molly's. Here are the three of us ready to celebrate.

Went to look at the Red River rising...

2009-04-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

...and my goodness, it is a very big and very high river! There are still some pieces of ice floating north (the Red flows north to empty into Lake Winnipeg, and eventually into Hudson's Bay), and some areas of the city (not where I am staying, thank goodness) are having to put up big sandbag dikes to hold back the water.

We also took some pictures at the Tourist Information building - there are sled dogs, a bison, a huge polar bear, and an inukshuk (a stone figure created by the Inuit in the Arctic):

My new friends in Winnipeg

2009-04-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of me with all my new friends, getting ready for bed. It takes a long time for us to settle down!

But my hostess got another picture after we were finally all asleep:

And once again, Finnegan the cat needs to investigate:

By the way, the snow is almost all gone now, and the big news is about the flooding from the Red River. Don't worry, we live far away from the Red! Yesterday was nice and warm - 18 degrees Celsius, which is the same as 64 Fahrenheit. Winnipeggers are very happy!

And it's on to Winnipeg!

2009-04-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Winnipeg, and although it is spring, there is still snow. But yesterday we went to the Assiniboine Park Conservatory, where Mia and I found the most beautiful flowers, in full bloom.

We are having lots of fun (although the giggling late into the night is making some of us a bit sleepy during the day).

I'll post again soon.

Calgarian Adventures

2009-04-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm about to hop in my traveling cardboard sarcophagus and head east to Manitoba, but I wanted to do a quick blog highlight first. I've been so busy here. Marcyleecorgan and her dolls really know how to show a girl a good time!

Look at this! Calgary gets tons of snow!

It is really beautiful here.

However, it's always nice to come inside where it's warm. I liked snuggling with this bear from 1905. Samantha might have played with him!

The other day, I got to go back to the Calgary Zoo and see some more animals. Then, we visited Fort Calgary, the start of the city. You can see all my adventures in this ALBUM. Fort Calgary was founded in 1875 where the Bow and Elbow rivers meet. Forts are often constructed at very strategic defensive locations like the meeting of rivers, just like Fort Pitt is at Point State Park in Pittsburgh. Fort Calgary was run by the North West Mounted Police, whom we know today as the Mounties, the national police force of Canada. Here's a picture of a lady Mountie from Calgary in the distinctive red uniform and hat:

I think I might like to be a Mountie.

Anyway, Fort Calgary was built in only six weeks and living conditions weren't very good for the soldiers. It was rebuilt eight years later, then torn down in 1914 when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway bought the land. Railways sure changed a lot of things. It was really neat to tour the museum and see replicas of the fort offices and other historical Calgary places. I saw a lot of things that reminded me of the historical American Girls' collections! See if you can spot them all in the album.

On my last night in Calgary, marcyleecorgan and I read this amazing book:

It had really cool photos of all kinds of Arctic animals, which you can see HERE.

I've really enjoyed my time in snowy Calgary. Thanks to all the dolls here and to marcyleecorgan and her husband for making it such a great trip!

Now, back to the box....

First stop: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

2009-03-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

Ungh, it felt like I'd been in that box for ages! Fortunately I was in some kind of suspended animation, but still, it lasted way too long. All the while, I could hear the UPS delivery people gossiping about some wild party the Calgarian dolls had started without me.

Sadly, it was all true. You can read about their carryings-on here: The Sadie Preparation Album. Fortunately, they'd sobered up and come to their senses by the time I arrived.

Well, mostly sobered up. It looks like Jess is pulling someone's hair there. Of course, that's just like a Jess doll for you; they're all the same. (Shhh, don't tell Angry Jess I said that). Anyway, the dolls were very welcoming and friendly, especially Josefina: My Calgarian Arrival Album.

After I got settled in, my hostess marcyleecorgan took me along for Take Your Doll to Work Day. She works at the Calgary Zoo, which must totally be one of the most awesomest jobs in the whole world! Look at what she showed me first!

No polar bears were harmed in the making of this photo; that is a sculpture. But they are SO CUTE!!!! However, they are almost rivaled in Cuteness by this Red Panda:

AHHHH! So adorable! I asked marcyleecorgan if they'd make good pets, but she just smiled and pointed at their really sharp claws. Hmmm, I guess not. I learned that Red Pandas are unique to certain areas of the Far East. While they aren't endangered like my polar bears are, the Red Panda is considered to be a vulnerable species because their habitat is being encroached upon by humans. That made me really sad and kind of angry at people. The Red Panda isn't a bear like the Giant Panda of China is. Red Pandas are more active at night, and they live in trees. They drink by getting their paw all wet and then licking it off, and they clean themselves like raccoons do. Their natural predators are snow leopards and martens, and people. People! Why would anyone want to hurt a Red Panda? I wish I could keep them all safe. Sweet little Red Pandas, I love you.

We saw many other cool animals that day: Take Your Doll to Work Day Album. I'm so glad marcyleecorgan took me along! Oh hey, can you find me here?

Just call me Joey! Hee hee. I can't wait to see what else is in store for me in Calgary!

Off again!

2009-03-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hey there, it's me, Sadie. First things first: I realized that I totally forgot to post about when I was in Chicago last March! Oops!! I was so busy meeting up with my old friends that I never got around to it. And I didn't even realize I'd forgotten to blog, until I came on here to write my latest update...oh, but hold on, more about that later!

So anyway, I got to visit Diva and the gang last spring. I know my new Mom in Pittsburgh was worried that I'd like it so much I'd want to stay, but she didn't need to worry. I was just glad to see everyone and hang out for a while.

And were they ever glad to see me!

They darn near knocked me over. "Pop, lock, and drop it!" they said.

So, I did. We had an awesome slumber party. Er, except for when I spilled the catsup here.

What's going on here?

This girl is CRAZY, that's what!

I like it when I find someone else with my kickin' sense of style.

Traveling Nora and I looked too cute on Easter. I think we have this dress at home; if so, I'm making it mine since it looks so good.

Happy Easter!

Nora and I also had a fun outting to the Chicago Children's Museum. Here we pretended to be doll-sized chess pieces. Nora is waving at her mom in this photo; if I look a little worried, it's because I was wondering if this was going to become a game of Wizard's Chess!

Aside from that little worry, I had a great time in my old hometown. After all that I headed to Wisconsin.

So, okay, update time. Guess what? I am traveling again, to Canada! And do you know what is in Canada? Do you? POLAR BEARS! I am so excited, I could scream. Of course, they are far up north, and I'll have lots of other adventures while I'm there.

The other girls threw me a good-bye party, which you can read about HERE.

Stay tuned for my Canadian adventures!

Wisconsin Part 2-"Up North"

2008-06-09T06:58:00.001-07:00

During my visit to Wisconsin, I kept hearing people talk about "Up North". It was cold enough where we were in the south part of the state, so I wondered what it was like up there! We took a road trip so I could find out. There are a lot of small communities peppered across the northern parts of the state. Some are typical little farm towns. Others are incredible communities that were founded a long time ago and have grown thanks to the help of people who had a vision of building a great place for their kids to grow up! We stopped in Black River Falls where there is an incredible community park. There was a playground, a fishing pond for kids, an amphitheater, hiking and walking paths, a skate park, and a pool! It was really cool. This statue was created to thank the family that had helped create the Community Foundation that has allowed them to build such a cool place. Sprout and Bird and I decided to go for a little hike so they could give me a taste of "The Northwoods". They explained that we were just at the very south edge of them, but that it would give me an idea. There were mostly pine trees but there were deciduous trees too, especially near the top of the hill. We saw lots of birds--little wrens and sparrows and chickadees! We even saw a little falcon in an open grassy area. I tried to get a picture but it flew away when it saw us.

After our hike we went out for lunch. We ate near a cheese factory! Did you know that 90% of the milk produced in Wisconsin goes to make cheese? With more than a million cows in the state, that's a lot of cheese--over 2 billion pounds! I guess now I understand why when people go to Green Bay Packer games, they wear cheese shaped hats. I mean, I kind of understand. Lots of cheese means lots of cheese statues, of course! Check out the size of this mouse! After our hike and my climb up the cheese statue, I was exhausted! Bird and I slept all the way back home.

The next day it was time for me to head to Ohio, but it was the last day of April, Grilled Cheese Month, and I was in Wisconsin, so SproutsMom made me a grilled cheese sandwich with some great Wisconsin Cheese. It was delicious! I had a great time in Wisconsin, but I was excited to continue my journey and anxious to head back home before long. Bye, Wisconsin!

Wisconsin Part 1-The Farmer's Market!

2008-06-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

In April I got to visit the Cheese State--Wisconsin! SproutsMom and her family were my hosts. They said the first place we had to go was the Farmer's Market in Madison. It's one of their favorite places, and they said it would show me some of the great things that Wisconsin has to offer. The market runs all year long, but this was just the second week it was back outside, in it's normal spot. The market takes place right around the capitol square in Madison. (Madison is the captitol of Wisconsin, in case you didn't figure that out!) The capitol building is huge! See it behind me? There are pretty walkways and gardens all around the building, and the market vendors set up their stalls around the wide sidewalks on the outer edge. There's grassy lawns that people sit on to visit and munch their market buys. It was cold when we went though, so mostly people just hurried to get what they need and get warm. SproutsMom took me to their favorite vendor, an organic farm operation called Harmony Valley. Their farm had a lot of damage in the rains and floods last year, but they got lots of support from the community and stayed loyal to their mission of providing healthy local food, and they're still here! They are really nice too. They let me stand on their table. It was early in the season so they mostly had root crops like those parsnips and dried foods like the chiles behind me. SroutsMom said that soon they'd have spinach and ramps, and in a few months--all kinds of stuff!

But veggies aren't the only thing we found at the farmer's market. There was honey, jams, cheese (of course!), meat, eggs, plants, and flowers. I can't believe there's so much to eat from so close by! There is another thing the market is famous for: baked goods! I got to share a chocolate cream cinnamon roll with Bird. We ate it on one of the beautiful stone benches around the capitol. It was a delicious end to my visit to the Madison Farmer's Market in Wisconsin.

Back from the 'Nati!

2008-06-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

Whew! I was stuffed in a box and shipped back home to my mom before I got a chance to write about my visit to Cincinnati. Fortunately, I'm pretty sneaky and the computer is free, so here goes...

The big highlight of my visit to Cincinnati was my visit to a real roller derby game. A lot of people think roller derby isn't played any more. Well, they think wrong. For the past several years, leagues have been springing up across the United States. These leagues are mostly for women-only and play on a flat track instead of the banked track that was used in the past. You may think playing on a flat track would be less exciting, but it's actually pretty cool because skaters wipe out a lot in the corners. There are plenty of great crashes to watch.

My host, Kitschy, plays for the Cincinnati Rollergirls, which is Cincinnati's flat-track roller derby team. Kitschy can play every position, but she normally is the Jammer (that's her in black in the photos to the left and below.) A jammer is the speedskater that earns points for her team. She has to skate through a pack of blockers (4 from her team, 4 from the opposing team) while trying to keep the jammer from the other team from scoring points. Every time she passes an opposing player, she earns a point. But it's not so easy, because they're trying to knock her down while she's doing this.

All rollergirls (that's what you're called if you play women's flat-track derby) and roller derby staff have "skate names" that they use. These are made-up names that they have printed on their jerseys. They're usually funny and sometimes violent. Kitchy's skate name is "Roseanne Scarr" because she likes Roseanne Barr and will scar you if you get in her way. ;P But my favorite skate name belongs to CRG's best jammer...Sadistic Sadie. Sadie must be really good because she also skates for Team Awesome, which is a derby team that is made up of 14 of the best skaters from throughout the nation.

Here are a few photos of me with Sadistic Sadie. On the track, she's just as mean as she looks, but she was really nice to me and even said I was her "Mini Me." :D

I also got to make a few announcements with Collier Mama, who is the announcer for all the CRG bouts (that's what a game of derby is called...a "bout"). And I even went to the penalty box. I can't remember what I did but Fireman Bill is a referee, and he doesn't look very happy with me. :P

But my favorite photo from the bout was when I got to pose with the kids from the Powell Crosley YMCA's Double Dutch team. The were the halftime show, and they were really excited to pose with me! And I was just as excited because they could do some really cool things while jumping rope. :D

Shoot! Someone's coming to use the computer, so I have to go now. But I'll be back to show you a little more of my adventures in Cincinnati.

<3,

Sadie

Goodbye, Tennessee!

2008-03-17T05:48:00.001-07:00

It's time to pack up and leave this host and head out to the next stop on my travels. I've enjoyed my time here and am looking forward to spending some fun time in Chicago!

I was a big hit at church yesterday.
Lots of ladies and girls oh'd and ah'd over me.
Everyone thought I was so pretty.
And look at me! I most certainly am!

I'm ready to go now. Thanks for letting me visit here at AGR.
Goodbye new friends!

Racing in Tennessee

2008-03-16T14:00:00.001-07:00

Saturday we got to go to the Bristol Motor Speedway
to watch the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

This is the Hall of Fame museum at the track.

We had to park about 1 mile away and walk to the track.
See my neat shirt AGR made me for the event?

We had pretty good seats. But those race cars are LOUD!
I had to wear ear plugs to help with the noise!

Unfortunately the race was shortened because of rain.
But I still had lots of fun!

You know how NASCARs have all types of different sponsors?
This one was the strangest I've ever seen. US Border Patrol.
Now the government is getting into advertising on race cars!

College Life

2008-03-13T08:45:00.001-07:00

I've been having a fun week in Tennessee.
Today we went touring the college campus to have some fun.

First I just had to stop and smell the flowers.
We should always remember to do that.

Then we went to the Student Center for some recreation.
I even had my very own sized ping-pong paddle!

I was pretty good at pool.
But I had the advantage of being able to sit on the table.

I pretty much owned at foosball.
These guys are more my speed.

After all that hard playtime, I needed some refreshment.
Pepsi sounds good.

I went in to meet the President of the college,
but lo and behold, he wasn't in.
So I just took over being the secretary for a while.
She's pretty organized, but I helped her out a bit.

More stuff in Tennessee

2008-03-07T06:28:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of other things that I've done this week in Tennessee.One morning for breakfast the girls and I had some hot cocoa and capaccinos. Josefina made us some Bizcochitos too!

Check me out here! This was SO much fun. I held on really tightly and screamed the entire time. Don't worry, Mom, I was wearing Lindsey's helmet to protect me in case I fell off.

We went downtown to the Library. I found the exact book that I wanted to read!

Then we went to the Museum of Art. You can't take pictures inside, but here I am outside!

What trip to downtown Knoxville would be complete without a stop at the Sunsphere! The Sunsphere was designed as a symbol of the sun and was built for the World's Fair that was held in Knoxville in 1982.

Check out the view of the city from up here inside the Sunsphere! Everyone looks like little ants from up here.

Weekend adventures in TN

2008-03-03T08:37:00.001-08:00

I had a fun first weekend in Tennessee.

First we went to Home Depot where on the first Saturday of every month they offer free "Kids' Workshops" where you can build a project for free. Here I am helping to build a wooden Nascar. Fun.

Next we went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. They serve peanuts as an appetizer there. Boy, there certainly are a lot of peanuts!

Texas Roadhouse didn't have Jello on their menu, so I just got some whipped cream. I wasn't very hungry since I'd already had so many peanuts waiting for my food to arrive.

Then since it was such a beautiful (although WINDY) day, we went golfing. The course wasn't nearly as pretty as it looked when Nora came in the fall. Winter has taken it's toll on the greens!

But the creek was still running and beautiful. I enjoyed just resting beside the bubbling brook.

Later some of the girls and I played outside in the treehouse.

At night we built a fire in the fireplace and roasted hotdogs for supper. That was fun too.

I had a busy weekend here at AGR. I slept very soundly in one of the bunk beds after my long day.

Stuff to do in TN

2008-02-29T05:46:00.001-08:00

First I got to go to piano lessons with the youngest child at AGR. He's pretty good. He's learning Bohemian Rhapsody right now. I even learned a couple songs myself.

Most of the day I spent playing with the other girls here. They have lots of toys and things to do. Can you see the beginnings of my Lincoln Log house?

Now this is SOME PEEP! I wish he was real so I could eat him up. But he's so soft and squishy that I just hugged on him for a while.

When bed time rolled around, the girls and I stayed up and had some rootbeer and told stories. It was fun, but I think I'd better rest up today since I stayed up all night!

Here in Tennessee!

2008-02-28T10:22:00.001-08:00

Hi Family! I just wanted to let you all know that I've arrived safely in Tennessee. My box was a bit smooshed, but I'm okay. The weather certainly is warmer here than it has been on my travels so far.

I met some of the girls who live here with AGR, but they all don't share the same room. Here's me with Jess, Kailey, Mia and Darcy. You can almost see Nicki behind me.

The girls in the other room made a bit of closet space for me so that I could hang up my things. I think I'm going to enjoy my time here. Thanks for letting me travel!

Goodbye Oregon

2008-02-26T15:16:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving Oregon today. Before I go, I want to share a couple pictures of me getting to know a family member here - Pippa! She always closes her eyes for photos!

Car crash!

2008-02-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

Whew! Yesterday was a very eventful day! Sarah, Chuck and I were driving over to Medford to go shopping. Well, Sarah was driving. There was lots of snow on the side of the road at the top of the mountain pass, so Sarah thought it would be neat for me to take pictures there. I agreed; but I shouldn't have! Sarah tried to slow down to pull off the road but hit a patch of ice and lost control! We spun and bumped into the snow wall at the side of the road! It was so scary! Fortunately we were all okay. But Sarah's car is not. It was still drivable, though, so we came back to Klamath Falls.

I'm going to college

2008-02-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

Sarah brought me with her to school today. So far I've gone to Chemistry lecture. Here's a web page where you can read about what I learned today: here!

My school album.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-02-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

I've made it to Klamath Falls, OR, and I'm having a great time making friends here!

http://picasaweb.google.com/AGSarahS/SadieSArrival

Today they celebrated my birthday with me. They have a birthday crown they get to take turns wearing on their birthdays, and they let me wear it today. I got to be the birthday princess! I even got a birthday cake from Baskin Robbins. It was vanilla and very yummy. It was yellow with roses on it. Here's an album of my party: http://picasaweb.google.com/AGSarahS/SadieS10thBirthday

It's nice here in Klamath Falls. There's a lot of sun and it's not freezing during the day. It's much warmer than Alaska, even though there's snow on the ground here, too

Dang it's cold!

2008-01-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

OK so I have arrived in Alaska. Golly it is cold! I have never been so cold in all my life! Even when they shipped me over to America from China it wasn't this cold.

Tomorrow I will venture out into the frozen lands of Anchorage. You would never believe what I saw today! A moose! It was bigger then a horse and was right out of the living room window eating on the trees. I am sure that Johanna will be mad when she gets home. I was going to collect some of the moose poop but didn't think mom would really like me traveling around with moose poop in my box. The poo looks like giant bunny turds. When a giant horse poops like a bunny it is just weird.

For now I am staying inside and making hot chocolate. Yummy! I am also going to make some treats to send home for Valentines Day. I am sure my bunny will want something from me.

Leaving on a jet plane

2008-01-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

I got all packed up this evening. It was really hard for my mommy to say good-bye to me. She cried a little but I am not supposed to know that in case it upsets me. I will miss her and my sisters a lot but I am very excited to see the world. Okay, I'm ready to go!!!