Rangeley Day 3 *A Day Late*

Sorry everyone about posting a day later, Saoirse and I were super busy yesterday, as you will see in the upcoming post. Earlier, when we had driven up to Saoirse's cabin, she had spotted a local playground, squealing with excitement at yet another potential place for her and I to visit while in town. So, we decided to walk there on Monday.

First, Saoirse challenged me to a race up the rock wall. Of course, with me being older and WAY more athletic than she is, it was an easy win. ;)

I have to give her credit though, she took her loss like a champ even with my relentless cheering.

 

Next, we visited the slide portion of the playground. I won the rock climbing competition, thus I got to go first down the slide. Saoirse gave me a powerful push, and I went sailing down the green, plastic slope.

 

After that, it was Saoirse's turn. She shouted "Bí ag faire amach!" on her way down.

 

At the bottom, I stood there, hoping to scare Saoirse into thinking she was going to hit me. It worked ;)

 

Saoirse tried her luck on the swings, after her adventures on the slide and rock wall. As you can see, it didn't turn out so well.

 

When she tumbled over, I couldn't keep myself from giggling :D

 

Saoirse recovered, and as most 11 year olds' minds do, her mind wandered over to the building next to the playground. That girl has amazing eyesight, because as soon as she looked in the window she started squealing. "Jess! Jess! Jess! There's a vending machine in that building! I'm so hungry, can we go get candy?" She pleaded, while giving her best impression of "puppy dog eyes". Of course, I said yes, and so we wandered inside of the building labeled "Rangeley Recreational Center". As soon as we walked in the door, Saoirse ran straight towards the machine, deciding on a pack of Reese's peanut butter cups.

 

We decided to go back outside to the playground, where we could sit on a picnic table in the warm sunlight. It didn't take us all that long to finish our snack, and that's when I decided to tell Saoirse what I had noticed immediately when stepping into the rec center. "Hey Saoirse, I noticed that that rec center smelled as if somebody dunked it in chlorine. Do you think there's a pool in there?" Her eyes lit up with excitement, and said "OH MY GOSH I HOPE SO! I LOVE POOLS!" Thus, we wandered back into the building and headed towards the sound of splashing.

 

"Come on, Saoirse! We have got to go swimming! It's a pool!" I cried. "I can't! These are designer clothes, and I don't have a swim suit. There is no way I'm getting in there without a swim suit!" She shouted in reply.

 

I didn't say a word back to her. Instead, I leaned forward and pushed her into the water. I figured that the clothes will dry and she really needed to live a little.

 

I met her at the other end of the pool, where she dragged herself out onto the concrete, sopping wet. It was probably the funniest thing I'd seen all day, including the swing set incident. While I was laughing, I didn't notice that she had gotten fully out of the pool and was coming after me, her arms outstretched with a huge grin on her face. "Come here Jess! It's your turn!" She half-giggled half-yelled. In the end, we both got absolutely soaking wet and couldn't stop laughing.

 

 

On the way home, we stopped to sit in the grass and enjoy the view. I bumped shoulders with Saoirse and said "You're pretty awesome, you know that?" and she bumped mine right back saying "You're not so bad yourself." :)

Rangeley Day 2

Today Saoirse and I were feeling quite adventurous and decided to walk down to the duck pond in front of our cabin. The ducks were adorable and SUPER friendly. Of course, we weren't allowed to feed them, but they begged nonetheless :)

Here we are lounging among cattails :)

And here we are leaning over a wooden railing that surrounded the pond, peering at the various creatures inhabiting the murky water.

 

Before heading back up to the cabin, Saoirse and I stopped to lounge on the rocks seperating the pond from our yard. As you can see, the bottom of our cabin is creeping in the background of the photo. Oh and just before this picture was taken a mother deer and her fawn galloped across our lawn :D

 



When we got back, the sun was beginning to set, so Saoirse and I decided to stay outside to watch the sun go down. The sunsets in Rangeley are beautiful to say the least :)

 

After watching the sunset, I begged Saoirse to watch reruns with me of one of my favorite shows, Dawson's Creek :) I realize it's EXTREMELY cheesy, but hey I gotta have one guilty pleasure right? ;) Saoirse is such a good friend for watching the laughably dramatic show with me, so thanks Saoirse! ( http://saoirsesspace-ag.blogspot.com/  )

 

Goodnight everyone! Oh and before I forget, Saoirse and I found out we have something in common today. We're both Irish! She was born in Ireland, and my dad was born in Ireland, thus we both have Irish in our blood :) So, as Saoirse and I would say Dea-oíche!

 

 



Rangeley Day 1

Saoirse invited me to her Daid and Mam's camp in Rangeley, Maine! Although the drive was long, it was definitely worth the wait! The lake, the cabins, and basically everything else in this town is beautiful! We got here pretty late so tomorrow I will post more pictures of the scenery but here is a sneak peak at what our cabin looks like :)

As you guys know, I wasn't able to post for a while, so now I'm going to post about the joint birthday party my friends Dani, Saoirse and I had. My birthday was the 23rd of July, Saoirse's was the 21st, and Dani's was the 30th, so we celebrated all the birthdays at one huge celebration. The party was held at Dani's house and I had a blast!

I greeted Dani with a HUGE smile and a wave. "Hey Dani! I'm so glad you invited me!" I half shrieked, half giggled. She smiled and chuckled herself. "Hi Jess! I'm so glad you could make it!" She replied.

Dani's dogs came racing up to greet me. They lapped at my legs and barked with excitement as I pet them. I've always really loved dogs, but have never been able to get one, what with my parents job that requires them to travel a lot, so it was nice to be able to interact with Dani's dogs.

Just then, Saoirse walked in, wearing the cutest green and brown polka dot dress that she had gotten for her birthday. "Hi!" Dani and I both exclaimed in unison. "HEY GUYS!" Saoirse replied, her face full of excitement. "I love your dress!" I told her. She blushed and said "It was a gift! I'm so glad you like it!"

Of course, Dani invite Saoirse's friends Kaya and Josefina as well! They were so nice, and I really loved Josefina's orange and red dress. When I complimented her on it, she said it was handmade! I couldn't believe something so beautiful could be handmade!

A few minutes later, we all heard a door open. It was Charlotte and Zoe! Now the party could finally begin!

We begged and begged Skye, Dani's mom's friend, to open presents and she finally gave in! This is Dani about to open my present to her!

The object next to Dani is a soccer goal. We both really love soccer, and I thought that my original practice goal would be a perfect present because it took me so far in my soccer career! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did Dani!

Next, Dani opened presents from Charlotte and Zoe. They got her a cute MP3 player with headphones, a binder covered in soccer pictures, and an adorable stuffed tiger!

Then, Dani opened her presents from Saoirse, Josefina, and Kaya! (Kaya couldn't be in the picture because Emily was fixing her messy hair!) They got her Pikachu, Pokeball, and tiger beadlings! Plus a dragon SillyBand!

Saoirse opened her presents next! First up, she opened a box from Dani. I wonder what it could be...

It was an adorable red panda hat! Saoirse's favorite animal is a red panda!

After that, Saoirse opened up her presents from me! I made her a pink and green belt/headband because pink and green are her favorite colors! Also, I gave her two bookmarks with irish sayings on them. She is from Ireland, so I thought I would give her a little reminder of home. (Plus, they're pink and green as well)

FINALLY! It was my turn! I'm about to open Dani's present to me and I've got excited butterflies in my stomach! Am I the only one who gets those...?

IT WAS A BLUE MONKEY HAT! Blue is my favorite color and monkies are my favorite animal! Thank you so much Dani!

Then I opened my present from Saoirse, Josefina and Kaya!

They gave me blue monkey and banana beadlings, a toucan SillyBand and an adorable turtle keychain. Plus, I got to keep the bag they came in! Thank you Saoirse, Josefina and Kaya!

So that Charlotte and Zoe didn't feel left out, Skye made them each a headband/belt, even though it wasn't either of their birthdays. Everyone is so nice!

After that, we decided to do a big group photo. From the top, left to right: Lilly, Saoirse, Stephanie, Kaely, Charlotte, Zoe, Me (Jess), Nicki, Dani, Emily, Molly, Kaya, Laughing Spirit, and Josefina.

When we were done taking pictures, we went inside to play and make stuff with the beads we got. Some of them were very special paper beads, made by women in Uganda. The women who make the beads do it as a job to support their families. Some of the women had jobs before where they crushed rocks by hand, all day in the hot sun, and would make less than a dollar a day. Now, they are able to roll beads at home or with friends, and they are earning 5-7 times more than what they were before. It also gives them more freedom, because they go to the market and decide which paper would make the best beads and they get to be creative. To find out more, you can watch this video.

 Once that was done we went inside for cake! It was lemon cake with lemon frosting, sprinkled with colorful chocolate covered sunflower seeds. It was delicious! At the top is a picture of Saoirse eating her cupcake, in the middle is a photo of Charlotte eating her cupcake, and finally, at the bottom, there is a picture of me eating my cupcake! (I'm wearing bracelets I made during the beadwork part of the night, and I even have frosting on my face. Hey, I don't mess around when I eat good food ;)

Not long after that we all headed out to the tent, where sleep came easily in the fresh, woodsy air. In the morning we ate raspberry, blueberry and chocolate waffles for breakfast. We chatted and then unfortunately it was time to go.

I had so much fun at the party and I'm so glad to have made such great friends!

Sorry about the lack of posts...

Hey everyone, Jess here!
I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog in a while, I've been a little...preoccupied. You see, about a week after coming home from Belize, I felt really sick. Like, "Oh my goodness, I'm going to die if I throw up again" kind of sick. And then, my mom saw this weird bluish mark on my elbow, that neither of us could identify. So, being the ever so careful person she is, she took me to the hospital. Sitting in the waiting room was the worst part of the experience. It was absolutely dreadful. I spent 3 hours sitting in a chair, trying to read a magazine that I had no interest in whatsoever. Anywho, FINALLY the doctor stepped out into the waiting room and called my name. "Jess Akiko-McConnell, we are ready for you." he called, sending a bright smile my way. "Took you long enough." I thought and sighed. He took my mom and I into a small room, with blinding florescent lights and a cold table for me to lie on. He examined the mark and then bolted out of the room. "What the..." I thought, just as he came running back into the room with another doctor, this one being a woman. She looked thoughtfully at my arm and then spoke. "Ok sweetie, don't freak out about what I'm about to tell you.""That's always a good sign." I said sarcastically in my head. The doctor then went on to explain how that since I was in Belize for such a long time, it wasn't all that surprising that I had contracted a tropical fungus down there. However, mine was a toxic kind of fungus that, if not treated right away, could be deadly. And with that I was hurried onto a one of those metal, rolling beds and whisked away into a too bright, too clean room where doctors hurried this way and that, lab coats swinging as fluid was put into a bag, that was then attached to a needle and stuck into my arm. Before I could even register the pain, I started to feel sleepy and then blacked out. When I woke up my mom was by my side, smiling at me, at least I think she was smiling, the fluid I was given made me pretty loopy. She explained that while I was asleep they had flushed out my body (GROSS RIGHT!), cleaning it of all toxins. The spot on my elbow was fading fast, and I was given medicine to put on it every day until it cleared up. I had to stay in the hospital overnight for observation, and the food wasn't very good, but I felt a lot better. My original guy doctor told me to take it easy for the next few weeks, meaning rest and fluids, so my mom decided it would be better if I caught up on some summer reading than spend my time on the computer. Thus, I haven't blogged lately. Anywho,  the whole experience was really scary, but I'm glad my mom was careful enough to take me to the doctor's. I was taught a really important lesson: It's better to be safe than sorry :)
Here is a photo from my visit: