Today we went to Salem, Ma for the Haunted Happenings. We had a lot of fun. We walked the streets of downtown Salem. Went into a few gift shops and had lunch in the mall. We got to hang out with a witch on the street.

Here we are at the Pirate museum. We took some pictures with the wax pirates.











Then the girls took a picture with the real pirates. They even let Heather hold a gun!
















We also went to the Witch Dungeon Museum. While we waited for the museum to open we hung out in some restraints. Inside the museum we watched a reenactment of a witch trial that was really neat to watch.

We also went to the witch history museum. We got lots of pictures of the museums but really to much to put on. We had a lot of fun and of course there was not enough time to check out all the museums. But the positive thing is that we had such a good time and can look forward to going next year to check out more. It was a great family day!!!

Corn Maize

This weekend I was trying to find something fallish to do as a family. We looked things up on the computer and decided to go to a corn maize. Heath and I have never been to one and thought it would be pretty cool. There were two listen in NH (one in Alton and one in Conway) we decided that we would go to the one in Alton. We arrived got our tickets and headed out to the corn field. It was great fun. Julia of course said I am not going in if there are any scarecrows in the field. It took us a little over an hour to go through 2 times. It was a great family adventure.

Poems

Good morning all, I know that I have not posted a blog in a while and I would like to start back up. I would like to let you all know that my Theresa has started writing poetry. Some of you may remember that I have wrote a few poems myself and have had a couple published in a collection of poetry book through poetry.com. The following poem is a poem that Theresa wrote and gave to her English Teacher just to read it was not an assignment.

You Know and You Don't Know
You know you're doing this to me.
But do you know that you're doing this to
yourself too?
So keep in mind what you know
and what you don't know.

This is the comment wrote back by her English teacher:
You say a lot here with very few words! The way you repeat certain words gives them extra emphasis-it definitely makes your poem stronger. Nice work

She also received a Commendation Notice for this poem for sharing a very thought provoking poem.

I am so very proud of Theresa and her poetry writing. She has wrote several poems that were really good. Guess there is another thing that makes her just like me!

Rock Climbing

Well last week was my little Heather's first rock climbing experience. She only made it just over 10 feet up. She would get scared then they would give her some encouragement and she would go up a little more. I think that she was a little more nervous about not being as good as some of the others. Lori, The girl that is above Heather, has been rock climbing for about 4 years now and helped Heather quite a bit. They hit it off really good. She goes again tomorrow and is really nervous, but she still wants to go. This week at the PYW Heather practiced belaying and they think she is ready to do it independently tomorrow and Lori is going to let Heather partner up with her. On another note Lori is going into 11th grade and we are trying to work it out for her to be a "big sister" for Heather in school next year. Mr. Martell, who works for the Middle High School and at the PYW, said that they both are hitting it off great and they would be a great match. I am so proud of Heather for trying rock climbing because it is new to her and challenging (we know how much courage this has taken for Heather to try something new infront of so many people).

Theresa at Teen Institute Leadership camp

Theresa went off to the Teen Institute Leadership camp on Sunday July 19th. The Camp had about 60 kids and 40 staff. Here is a picture of the whole camp group.





















Theresa stayed in a bunk with other girls that she had never met. Good thing she is so easy going and can make friends so easily.






















During the week Theresa went to several large group workshops that included date violence and Don't dis ability. The teens then broke up into their small groups for discussions and share stories. This is Theresa's small group finding a hidden area in one of the cabins where they met for small group. They made a time capsule and put it in the hidden area.























They had many whole group activities such as a dance and skit night. These are some photo's from the skit night. Theresa's group acted out the movie Juno.





















Here are some friends that Theresa made while she was at camp.

Theresa came hope with great stories and experiences to share. She came home with new knowledge about the world and strategies to use and share in the community. I am thankful she was able to take part in this experience.

Summer

Well our summer is moving very fast here in the Cole house. The summer has been filled with softball, field trips with the PYW, camp, and summer school.

The kick off to summer was the Relay for Life (Cancer walk). Julia and Theresa got donations from community members and on June 21st they headed over to Concord for the all night cancer walk. Of course it started raining so the girls came home early. The top photo is the girls whom participated in the walk. Below is Julia wit a couple of her friends. Paula is on the left and she is one of the PYW staff.

Next the girls enjoyed a trip to Hill Top Fun Center for some miniature golf, Lazar tag, and some arcade games.


Above is Heather, Paula, and Julia in their game of miniature golf.


Heather then enjoyed a trip on her own because the other two had a game. She went to York's Animal Kingdom.


Below is Heather with Zach. Zach is the director of the PYW and just a all around great guy. Heather really enjoys hanging out with him.






















Then Heather and Theresa enjoyed a day watching the Fisher Cats in Manchester.





Heather started rock climbing and did great. Theresa has been at camp since Sunday and comes home tomorrow.

Laundry

I have a story to share with you all.

We do not have a washer and dryer in our apartment so we go to the laundry mat across the street. For three days I asked Julia to get her dirty clothes. Well yesterday while she was gone to the Harry Potter movie with the PYW I did laundry. So today I told Julia that she needed to do her laundry, however she was going to need laundry soap. I left her money to get laundry soap and do her laundry. I told her to get the cheapest kind that they have. Well off I went to work and she did laundry. At lunch time she brought me my salad to work and said "my clothes smell so good". When I came home on my lunch break we had this conversation:
Julia-"mom smell these they smell so good"

me-"they do smell good what kind of laundry soap did you get?"

Julia then left the room and came back with the bottle and hans it to me

me- "No wonder it smells so good this is fabric softner-did you use this as you would laundry soap?"

Julia- "yes why whats the difference?"