And it's on to Winnipeg!

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

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

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!

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"

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!

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!

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