Joy Goes Outside

The weather here has been really hot and humid, so we've been staying indoors - a lot!  Joy noticed that a lot of the dolls here have photos on the blog that were taken outdoors, and she wanted to do that, too!

She wanted her photo taken with Maryland's State Flower, the Black Eyed Susan's.  She is glad to be home, after traveling from Germany, to California and then to Maryland!  She is still a little jet-lagged.



Then she discovered that there are sedum in the yard with her name, Autumn Joy - well, at least part of their name is hers.  So she wanted to take her photo there, too.



But Joy was getting a bit bored with looking at flowers and asked if she could climb a tree in the yard.  She isn't tall enough to reach the  lowest branches of the tree, so Jen told her she would help her SIT in the tree, if she promised to hold on and sit VERY STILL.



It did seem a little high to Joy, so she was glad to get down when the picture was taken.  The humidity was starting to make us sticky, and the bugs were beginning to bite (they like to come out in the evening, too, I guess), so we decided to come back indoors.

Welcome Home, Joy!

Welcome Home, Joy!, originally uploaded by JLP2000.

This cute little girl arrived on the postal bus today! She is trying on the name Joy. Jen suggested it to her, because she felt so joyful when Joy arrived. She is the 2012 Plusczokdolls Yahoo! group doll. This year, Heidi allowed members to select a sculpt and a wig from a list of dolls. Joy is the Heidi sculpt in the Lilli wig. She is borrowing one of Nicole Patrice's dresses. Nicole is a Bleuette, and this dress was one of the first that Jen made for her. Nicole also leant Joy a pair of sandals to wear. We have a couple Boneka dresses that Joy can wear, too, but this is the coolest thing we could find for Joy to wear on a day with a heat index exceeding 100F!

Seeing Some History on Vacation

While we were on vacation, we decided to visit some of the local historic sites.  We visited Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson.   We saw the shell of a church called St. Philips.  Brunswick Town was burned by the British during the Revolutionary War.



Not much remains of the town.



We could see what the archeologists had uncovered.



It is hard to imagine people living here, but they did!



The walk lead through the ruins of the town and around the earthen mounds that made up Fort Anderson.



We were glad we visited Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson in the morning, because it was getting very hot when we decided it was time to go!  Then we drove to Southport and had lunch at a pizza and sub restaurant before heading to the NC Martime Museum.  We got a tour by a museum guide, then took a few photos.



This was our favorite exhibit, but we are a bit sad that these girls are left to live out their days, behind glass without the benefit of body, dress and human companionship!



We had a fun day and learned a lot!

Gwynith Linette and Lisa

My Trip to the Beach by Gwynith Linette

On July 14th, I got to ride with my family from Maryland to Caswell Beach on Oak Island in North Carolina. We rented a 2nd floor condo unit for the week.  The second floor was really more like 4th story, because it was on a hill (steps up the hill), and the "first floor" entrance was up a flight of steps, too!  We got a lot of exercise carrying all our stuff inside!  But the view from the balcony was awesome!  We could see the beach and the Atlantic Ocean from our balcony!



My friends and I enjoyed hanging out on the balcony, listening to the ocean and feeling the moist wind from off the water!



Here's a photo of me, with my friends, Lisa and Hitty Rachel.



We liked to take walks on the beach in the late afternoon and evening, when the sun wasn't so hot.



Even with a pony tail, it was hard to keep the wind from blowing your hair in your face!



We meet a couple little girls who had built a sand castle, and they let me get my picture taken with it!  They said they have an American Girl at home, too!  Isn't that neat?



I couldn't wait to tell Kanani and Lanie about how the locals here try to help the sea turtles! On a few other nights, we got to see how they set up a path for the baby turtles to get to the ocean, but we didn't have our camera with us then.  This beach doesn't allow lights after dark, because the turtles like it to be very dark when they make the journey from their nest to the sea.



Here I am on the boardwalk that goes over the sand dunes between the road and the beach.



Stay tuned for another post about some other things I saw while I was on vacation!

What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Heather and Amelia would try on their new back-to-school clothes on a 100 degree day for a photo session. They changed back into their play clothes as soon as this photo shoot was done!  They have a greater appreciation for air conditioning these days!









Their new clothes are from Toys R Us Journey Girls - we'd hoped to find some things from their summer line, but only one dress was left:



We need to visit some other TRU stores!!!

Belated Independence Day Greetings!

With Independence Day falling on a Wednesday this year, it seems that a lot of our neighbors have been celebrating all week!  We took this photo of Susie and Hitty Grace on the 4th, but have been too busy to post until now!



We hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day!