Yes, there’s a part 4. And more. If you haven’t read the previous three parts, you can find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here.

I’m sorry if I’m boring you all. All the commenters said they’ve enjoyed the posts, so I’m just gonna keep going!

Day 2 of New York started at a fun Bagel Buffet which wasn’t a buffet and sold a lot more than Bagels.

Took an Uber Downtown

Walked to the Empire State Building (Guys its so tall but SO TINY INSIDE)

Then of course we went to Time Square (When in New York….. go to Time Square? Also much smaller than I thought.)

Grand Central Station. Small, but there’s where the giraffes head goes.

Trump Tower with this crazy three (or four?) story waterfall going down the wall. Security everywhere, everything was gold colored. Crazy.

Central Park. We didn’t get good photos at Central Park. Moods were down because we were very hungry, hot, and our feet were dead. We walked for another hour in search of someplace to eat and finally found a Dunken Donuts. It was food, and we ate it. And then we got back and back and back and got caught in New York rain and I so wish I had gotten a picture of the boys huddling together under my sweater, but I was too busy trying not to get my phone wet XD.

The next morning we had chocolate chip muffins again and then drove to South Beach.

The beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Always I’ve been told that the Atlantic is freezing, windy and unfriendly. The beach I met was not any of those things. Having been to the Pacific Ocean several times myself, since it’s the place the boys are from and the ocean nearest me, I expected the Atlantic colder and less friendly.

It was amazing. The water was warm, waves were calm and serene and the sand was soft, hot in the sun, cool at the waters edge, and littered with tiny shells and smooth beach glass.

Gordon was especially proud to have touched two oceans. It was gorgeous. We spent an hour just walking up and down the beach collecting green and white beach glass and pretty shells and walking in the sunshine and soaking up the few hours we had on the other side of the continent.

We got on the road and drove to Philadelphia,

We stopped at Independence Hall. The place was amazing to see. This was where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Such a huge part of our nation’s history took place.

We had to stand in a long line to get inside, and because of big families slyly cutting in line, we got left outside the group (the groups are let in by number of people) to wait twice as long as we should have BUT not complaining. We got to sit. And…

It was so worth it. Amazing. To stand in the courtroom of that era and to listen to the guide set the stage. It was unreal. But no, this wasn’t the room the Declaration was signed in…

This was. the huge green room full of chairs, and full of history. We stood in the same room as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin franklin, as well as so many other monumental people. It was so crazy.

The chair (Which in this picture is conveniently right behind Virgil’s ear) was the original from when the Declaration was signed. The original that George Washington sat in and I might be getting a little carried away but UGH it was amazing!

We stood in the exact place where Abraham Lincoln stood, and not far away John F. Kennedy too.

Then we crossed the street and got to see the Liberty Bell. Philadelphia was crazy cool to visit.

Visitors center with plenty of souvenirs.

Signing our own Declaration. Then we got back on the road and drove loooong hours to get to… Washington D. C!

I’ll probably post more this week, because these are getting long, so keep an eye out for our D.C. trip soon!

~Libby

Goooood day everybody! Today I did not schedule the post so it’s coming out a bit later in the day but that’s ok I’m sure. Here’s part three of our road trip! If you missed Part 1 or Part 2, just click on it to get there!

Also, Happy Independence Day everybody! I cannot believe that it’s July 4th tomorrow. Insane. Where does the time goooo?

It was too early for the squids when we got up the next morning. 5 AM. It was cold, so they cuddled in my hoody. I let them.

After a little while we got to Lake Erie and got breakfast there. Lake Erie…. was like 50% as good as lake Michigan. Lake Michigan was clean and bright and beautiful, and Lake Erie was muddy and had mosquitos the size of a triceratops.

We made some new friends on the road, picking up these two little cuties, Panda and Penguin. They’re from what’s called Banana’s and I was just willing to buy into them. If I’m honest I can say I looked it up and knew exactly what I was getting, so I wasn’t disappointed at all. 😀 Alan adopted them as his little friends right off the bat, but Gordon gave him a bit of a challenge too.

Our first glimps of New York City!

We were all exhausted, to say the least. Driving for 8 hours straight would do that to anybody. So we spent the rest of the night in the hotel, watching Finding Dory and other random shows. But it was worth it because we were all energized the next day for…

New York City! We first found a place to look at it from the Jersey side, and it was… insane to say the least.

We saw whatever this is. I can’t remember if it’s the Stock Market or Wall Street… Ok it’s on Wall Street. Anyway, we went to Wall Street.

One of the first streets we walked down. If you look really hard you might see the famous Brass Bull. I did not get a picture with it because I chose not to… But my dad did XD

We went to the new World Trade Center…

And the memorial for both of the old ones.

It was huge and magnificent, and solemn.

From there we walked to Oculus Plaza, and it was so BIG and TALL because from the outside it’s the smallest of the buildings in the world trade center, but most of it is UNDER ground. If you look at the picture you can see the yellowish lighting coming in. That’s the ground level. That’s where you come in from the grass outside. INSANE RIGHT?

All that walking drove us all a little tired and Alan almost had a meltdown, but I train my babies and we avoided the crisis.

From there we walked to the Staten Island Ferry. There were actual scammers right outside the door trying to sell tickets on the ferry when THE FERRY IS FREE. Not all tourists know that and they get scammed…

That photo was expectations…

This was their comfortable reality. It’s a good thing they’re light or I would have made them walk.

Waiting among lots and lots of people.

On the Ferry.

Trip back after dinner.

We got to see the Statue of Liberty.

We walked back to the Oculus and stopped at a couple of shops, including this little tea shop with tiny cups.

Scott wanted to try these crazy crayons. He protested after he found out I took a picture, so don’t tell him I posted it.

Good ol’ New York Subway. It was actually really clean, sleek, easy to use and not overcrowded at all. New York has a bad reputation for no reason.

Falafels and American Ninja Warrior Premier for dinner. Day One in New York had been a success.

Have you been to New York? What was your impression of it? Did it seem dirty and crowded and rude to you? I liked it more than I thought I would. Are you getting bored of these road trip posts? I have three more *hides* Want them broken up with other posts in between? Let’s chat in the comments!

~Libby

To read Part 4 go Here!

Hello! Welcome back for part 2 of our road trip! Let’s jump back in. (If you haven’t read part 1 yet, go Here.)

Waiting for the train…

Are they adorable or what?!

We got on a Train to get from our hotel, in Deerfield.

It was so cool to ride the train for the first time! We got to…

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS!

I don’t know how many of you know this but I’m just at tiny bit bias towards Chicago. Besides being absolutely gorgeous, there are several awesome people that live there. Ethan Swanson, Jesse Flex Lebreck, Chris Digangi and multiple other ninja warriors live there. My youth leader Jamie also goes to Bible college there, and Michella Bates Keilen also lived there for some time. (I can’t remember if she still does at the moment.) Anyway, this was one part of the road trip that I was most ecstatic about. Originally when we were planning this road trip we were only going to stop in Chicago for the night. And I was not ok with that! I needed to see Chicago! I hadn’t been there in my life and didn’t know when I’d be back. So after a bit of prompting my family looked and found that there were a couple things that they did want to see there. So we set aside a full day for it and I was very glad.

Of course we went to see the bean. Or “Cloud Gate” as it’s more commonly known as. Let me get a better picture of it…

Believe it or not that was a lot of walking and we got super tired and very hot. So we walked up the street from Cloud Gate and got Giordano’s. We got Classic Chicago Deep Dish Pizza and that was some of the best pizza I’ve had in my life. I was so happy eating that pizza in the middle of Chicago I almost cried. XD

This place was just so pretty. Of course, we got a bit lost trying to walk to Navy Pier from the restaurant, but the views were awesome and we got to see more of the city.

I took these pictures. That’s how gorgeous it is here.

Skyline from the Navy Pier. Did I fall in love?

Farris Wheel at Navy Pier. So much aesthetic love.

These swings are awesome! I’ve ridden them both at the Santa Cruz Pier and at Disneyland California Adventures, but these on the Navy pier were the best that I’ve ever ridden. I was so happy it was spilling out of me.

So tired from walking around the city all day. We got an uber.

Back at the train station. The trains left at scheduled times and it was so cool!

We went to a place called Zupa’s for dinner and it was delicious!

I had a nice sandwich with tortilla soup. The salads were amazing too!

A little shopping…

They wanted Mochi. Have you tried Mochi? It’s like a Japanese ice cream sort of thing.

Told them they had to eat their veggies *facepalm*

More Hotel Shenanigans.

Tired babies.

So that was out Chicago day. (I also snuck the driving day in there too *hides*) We had one more driving day (thats for next weeks post) and then NEW YORK!

Have you been to Chicago? Ridden on those type of swings? Do you like Mochi? Let’s talk in the comments!

~Libby

Go here for Part 3

Happy June/Summer girlies!

Ok, to be fair, I learned a whole lot in school. What I meant was during my years in school, over time. Life lessons, outside of cranial knowledge, you understand?

Let’s get to it.

.1. What seems impossible now, will make an insane amount of sense… eventually.
There were some things, especially in Math and Physics felt like complete jibberish, and it all was. Until I learned one step further, and the extra facts that I had to learn earlier fell into place, and I found that *news flash* THEY WERE THERE FOR A REASON.

2. You will, actually, use that in life.
I’m honestly surprised about the amount of things in life I’m actually able to calculate or make an educated guess about now that I KNOW these things. Cooking or cleaning, hosting a yard sale, even creating my own journal cover and crocheting literally ANYTHING I’ve been able to practice the things I would otherwise go without. I mean yes, it’s true that I probably could get by without them. But since I do know them I do use them.

3. If it’s too hard now, set it aside and come back later.
Fractions guys. When I first started learning fractions it was like pulling out my hair. So much so that it was frustrating my mom along with me. There was a page, I remember now, in my 4th grade workbook that my mom waved off and let me skip for the day. Then, the day we were celebrating my graduating that grade, as I flipped through the book, I stumbled across that page.
My mom had me get out my pencil and try it again, and guess what? I had it done in a couple of minutes. It may not be that you can’t get it, but you need a little more time.

4. Don’t give up on something forever, just cuz you hate it now.
Talk to me about writing. Until 6th grade (when I was 12) you wouldn’t catch me writing anything I didn’t have to. I hated it with a PASSION. Writing anything, especially fiction, was grinding my teeth. It just hurt. I dreaded the end of every unit because I had to write a first draft of a basic topic. It was… awful. I still remember the pit in my stomach.
Obviously, that’s changed. For some reason at 12 I decided I was going to write a book. And I did. Granted it took me two years to finish, but I worked hard, and I developed the plot and I grew to love my characters and their story. I haven’t stopped writing since.

5. Always listen to your mama. She can help!
I just put this one to brag my mom. Guys I have the best mom. She’s the wisest, smartest, most patient, loving lady you will ever meet. She grew up with exactly my personality and understands me more that I could possibly explain to her. We relate. And that just means the world. She got me through this. Through twelve years of labor. I owe her an innumerable amount of credit because without her I would not be where I am today. The work she put into finding my curriculum, the stress she put up with going through it all with nothing to go off of. Girls, my mom is a super woman. I love her so much.

6. You won’t die. You think you will, but you won’t.
All through my junior year I felt like I would never get through Physics. It was literally killing me. I complained to everyone who would listen. I cried sometimes, skipped other parts. Screamed at my own self and scourged the internet looking FOR SOMEONE TO GET THIS TO MAKE SENSE. I thought I would be doing physics forever. And yet… Steadily, I moved forward, until, unbelievably, I finished! I was in awe, and still am, actually. How did I get out of it? One booklet at a time.

7. Reviewing really helps.
As much as you think to know what you know, it’s always good to review. Reminders are PRICELESS and humans constantly need to be reminded of things, we even need.

8. U.S. History, Biology, English, and Math are not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Almost my entire life I’ve been waiting, sweating about when it’s finally gonna get… schoolish. It never did. It never got too hard, impossible. I never thought I would consider dropping out. I mean it’s pretty hard to drop out of school when you literally live at your own school. But I just thought, when am I going to get to the point where drop-outs drop out? I never got to it. I guess It just was never that hard for me. Maybe I was raised differently. Maybe things just never got that hard for me. I don’t know. I never got there.

9. The grade is not what matters, it’s what you learn that you walk away with.
I’d walk away from tests of low Bs and I’d be disappointed, almost upset to tears. But I would review and one time I had an epiphany. After you finish school, the grade you got on that test will LITERALLY never matter again. What matters is the knowledge you walked away with. It’s ok to learn something AFTER you’ve done the test BECAUSE you didn’t do as well as you wanted to. The test is just a test. It doesn’t mean anything when you choose to learn the things you need to learn, even if you can’t go back and change that grade.

10. It does end. And it’s wierd.
School ends. I always knew it would but I guess I never actually thought it would. Like…. I’m done. Forever. I’m done. I don’t know how many time’s I’ll have to say/write that before I actually grasp it. Not too long maybe. Or forever.

I just have to say thank you to my Mom for being the best teacher, my dad for being the best principle/tutor, my sisters for being the best classmates and God for getting me through all of it.

And thank you guys for reading through this! XD I hope you enjoyed. Have you finished school? If not, what grade are you in? Are you excited?

(I’ll be back next week from my trip and I’m sure I’ll have a lot to share with you girls!)

Live, laugh, and love, girls!
~Libby

So…

Yeah. I did it. I’m graduated.
I’m not even a senior anymore. I’m graduated. That makes me want to cry.

Goodbye schoolwork. Tests, quizzes. Days sitting at my desk studying my work. The excitement that comes with getting a good grade, accomplishing another booklet, finishing that DUMB PHYSICS SEMESTER THAT LITERALLY KILLED ME (technically that was last year but it still plagues me).

Ok so technically I finished school April 19th. But I haven’t said anything about it yet because.. I finished during Camp Nano and honestly it didn’t feel all that much like I’d finished since had to write every day still and it was an equal amount of brain power being used. So I guess when I wrote my last 5k to reach my 55K goal of Nano, that was when it hit me. Like

Guys. I’m done. With School. Forever.

My mom will walk into the playroom and say “Girls do you have any tests I need to correct?” And I go into a mini panic because I CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT MY LAST BOOKLET WAS ABOUT AND I’M TOTALLY GONNA FAIL THE TEST AND OMGOODNESS WHEN AM I EVEN SUPPOSED TO TAKE It oh wait I’m done.

So that’s fun. To sit back and grin and be like “I’m done. No more tests for me.”

What am I doing now? Well that’s a good question. Probably taking a million pictured of Philadelphia… oh wait, you mean now as in now that I’m done with school. Well.. I’m not going to collage. Not now at least. Maybe in a couple years I’ll go to Bible collage. Maybe I’ll take a couple classes on English or writing or something like that. But pursuing a collage degree isn’t in my near future.

I’m taking a gap year. Which means that I’m taking a year between finishing school and going to work. But I’m not sitting here doing nothing. I’m working on publishing.

At the moment, God has me writing Playgrounds and Black Markers, editing and preping Dewdrops and Butterflies for publication, teaching sunday school, and once in a while my dad will pass on some projects that I can do for the company he works for. That’s where I’m at.

Here’s the thing. I was feeling guilty about not getting a job. But listen. It’s a conviction my family has, that the girl (or boy even) stays in the parent’s home, with a sort of umbrella of protection over her, until she moves on to live with her husband. I know not everybody believes that and you’re welcome to it, but at the same time I’m welcome to believe what I think it correct. SO because of that, I will not be moving out. I will not be getting an apartment. I don’t have a drivers license yet because… I don’t have anywhere to drive to just yet.

Eventually, I plan on getting a job. I felt pressured to, but one night my mom came to me and told me this. “Honey, you’re not moving out, you don’t need to provide for yourself. Your contribution to this family as you’re home and doing chores and cleaning up and doing your part in keeping this household running is your way of contributing. If you went away to go work, you would not be contributing with money to this household. That money would be for your fun.” And when she said that, I understood better, that my place right now is at home, serving my siblings and my parents, doing my chores, cooking, cleaning, doing my part. And writing my book.

So now you know where to find me for at least the next year or so.

Part Two comes next week, where I share the Top Ten Things I Learned During in School. 😀 (Also yes I”m still out somewhere on the other side of the US and this is scheduled, however I have my phone so I am responding to comments!)

Live, Laugh and Love, Girls!
~Libby

Hello! This isn’t actually me! Ok, yes it is. But at the same time it’s not. At the time you’re reading this, I will be somewhere on the east coast. Not exactly sure yet… maybe New York City?

Let me back up a bit. Last September my family and I were like “Hmm. We need to plan our next family vacation.” Once every couple years we go on big trips. One year we visited San Diego, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, and Disneyland. Two years after that we made a donut around Nevada, going to Salt Lake City, the Grand Canyon, San Diego Zoo and San Fransisco. This year my mom really really really didn’t want to go to California. So on a whim she suggested we strike out and go to New York. It was a laughing sort of suggestion.

Now, eight months later, we’re going. We spent the time saving, planning, gawking at the fact that we’re actually going, and getting excited.

But no, we’re not only going to New York. This is a big deal. A huge trip. We’re going to be on the road for three weeks. We’re taking full advantage of it.

I am going to post all these goodies, photos and fun stories when we get back though. For now I wanted to share different types of music I enjoy listening to. Just cuz I want to. This blog is for sharing things I like, right?

Writing Music

I listen to both instrumental and lyrical music when I write. It really depends on my mood. Some of my favorites are Jazz albums.

Songs by Hallal Music which is an acapella group.

I also really like the Tron Legacy music soundtrack for more intense scenes or when I’m writing dystopia.

Jamming Sessions

When my sisters and I are home alone, we like to turn the speakers up and sing our hearts out. These sort of songs are awesome and make me smile and sometimes we dance and other times we float. It’s a lot of fun to hang out and enjoy each others music.

One song I really like is by Alessia Cara.

Another is from the cartoon “Mr. Peabody and Sherman.” I just love the lyrics and the way that the emotion is played through the music. It’s a good song!

And then of course we have The Greatest Showman. I haven’t seen the movie and don’t think I plan to, but the soundtrack y’all THE SOUNDTRACK!

Worship Songs!

Majority of what I listen to is Christian music, worship music. Just good, soul filling songs! Here are a few of my most favorite.

This playlist has 496 songs on it at the moment, and is forever growing. If you have a Spotify go ahead and give it a follow!

That’s all for this week. See you later!
~Libby