Hello everybody I’m back Hello Hello.

I’m giving you part 2 of D.C. part of our cross country road trip (to start from the beginning go here)

But really quick before we get into it here is the OFFICIAL BLURB FOR DEWDROPS AND BUTTERFLIES THAT’S RIGHT FOLKS IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

“Thirteen year old Rose Wells was determined to make it on her own. Running from authority one last time, the forest became her home, the cafe her source of food, and the fear driven determination keeping her there as long as she could help it.
Not everybody was ok with that. Alex and Jenni Johnson do whatever they can to find their foster daughter and bring her home, giving her the genuine love she’d never know. 
Over the course of a single summer, hearts are broken, scars exposed, friendships blossom, and ultimately a greater truth is learned. 
A greater God is understood.”
(add to your Goodreads TBR from here. The cover reveal is SOOOOONNNNNN)

Back to your regularly scheduled program! If you need a refresh of where we left off you can scroll through this post really quick and follow the link back. 😀

After finishing the National Museum of Natural History we gazed at the Capitol building on one end of the huge field and the Washington Monument on the other end. This place is so HUGE.

After walking a very, very, hot, hot, humid, awful mile across a shaded walkway we made it from the Museum to the edge of the Rainbow Pool WWII memorial and took an unplanned nap to narrowly avoid a breakdown. The boys needed it and I sure needed it too.

After we woke up we explored the memorial and found that dipping feet was allowed in the fountain. We took very much advantage of it to make it through the day. Wadding was NOT allowed, but we drenched out capris and it was much more bearable.

And from the Rainbow pool, we walked to the Lincoln Memorial which was so relaxing. The sun had set by the time we got there and the marble building gave off a cool air. We sat on the large decorative steps and overlooked the entire museum mall and grass and people and took in Washington D.C. as a whole. It had been a hard day and sitting down felt so incredibly good.

After walking around D.C. we got an Uber and crossed the border to West Virginia. At this point of the trip we were so homesick for some good home cooked food, and since we’re Russian, a good russian restaurant was our agend.

We found it and ordered basically the whole menu.

It was the boy’s first experience with professional russian food and they were pretty curious.

We ordered Kvas and Campot. Pictured is the Kvas, which is a sort of carbonated drink made by fermenting bread for a couple of days. It’s yeasty and sweet.

I didn’t take pictures of everything we ordered because that would make a post in itself, but this is called a samsa and is filled with ground beef and lots of seasoning wrapped in a flaky dough.

We also got Pilmeni which is sort of like a dumpling.

We usually don’t get dessert when at a restaurant, but reasoning seems to fly out the window when you’re homesick. We got two different kinds of cakes and both were amazing.

We went back to our hotel and watched some tv and cooled down and slept and got ready to do it all over again the next day.

Well the next day was quite hectic and insane and we saw the White House.

Virgil decided that it was too small. I don’t know what Alan was doing.

Capitol building was way too hard to get into but it was one of the most magnificent buildings we saw (the security people were super rude too). Also the Library of Congress was a pretty building!

The Air and Space museum was our next and last D.C. destination. It was almost closing time by the time we got in and we had dinner there but we did get to see a couple of really cool things. This photo, for example, is the group the boys were named after. If you look closely you can see “From left to right (front row) Walter, Donald, John, Scott. (Back row) Alan, Virgil, and Gordon.”

Squid size module

Gordon and his astronaut.

Virgil and the tragic story of his astronaut.

John and his astronaut.

Some displays of how light works and reflection refraction etc.

Tadaaa. Miniature Hubble Space Telescope.

That was our D.C. trip. By the time we finished with this museum we were so pooped that we didn’t even look for anything else to do. We took another uber back to our hotel even though it was only about 4 during the day.

We needed that time because the next day we were heading to Nashville and on the way we stopped in Philly, Pennsylvania.

Thing is, I took a break from editing this week, but next week I’m gonna be hunched over working through hundreds of beta comments. And I’m going to be working really hard. That being said, I’m simply apologizing in advanced if next week’s post is late. Let me know if these road trip posts are boring now XD. I can cut them back shorter. We’re already on out way back home though.

Live, love, and laugh, girls!
~Libby

I’ve been really bad at posting you guys, I’m super sorry. But I do have a good excuse!

July was Camp Nano and my for that month was to get Dewdrops and Butterflies (my debut novel) ready for beta readers. On August 1st I sent out the first 23 chapters of the book to my readers. Since July 1st I’ve basically spent my whole day editing and editing and editing. Any moment I’m not editing I’ve been doing the normal non-editing life stuff like parties, church, chores, reading, etc. I apologize, and I’m not taking any breaks from blogging, but I just wanted to let you all know why I’ve been so inconsistent.

If you girls could pray for me that would be amazing! I need the wisdom to get this book edited and published, and I have a feeling the next three months won’t be any less hectic as I plan to edit after betas as soon as I’m done editing BEFORE betas, and prepare to send my manuscript to KDP and get my proof copy and all that awesome wonderful author stuff. So far I’m on schedule to publish at the end of September, but I think I’m probably going to push to mid October just to give you guys the best possible version of this story in paperback!

Thank you for your patience and your prayers girls! They mean a lot.

Live, Laugh, and Love,
~Libby

Hello Everybody! Yes. I was late by a day AGAIN but the post is here now soooo.

Before we get started, I’ll say I have some very very VERY exciting news. Dewdrops and Butterflies first half is READY FOR BETA READERS! The first 22 chapters are going out August 1st and the second half is going out soon after that. If you’re on my Beta list, KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE EMAIL! If you’re not, ooo sorry. BUT. I’m still on schedule to publish the end of September SO there’s that. *is definitely not panicking* *Ok just a little*

On to the road trip (if you haven’t read any of it yet, start Here at Part 1). On the first day in Washington D.C., we went to the Museum of Natural History.

We had to go through security and to keep things short, let’s just say we’re not used to that and D.C. ended up being very unpleasant for us in general. The heat and humidity were UNbearable and NOBODY SMILES. *mumbles* *stops grumbling* I’m done whining. Let’s go.

Everything was so huge and awe-inspiring. The exhibits were interesting, and the ocean exhibit had so many dead relatives of the squids, including a GIANT squid (I didn’t get a picture ;()

My point exactly. This is from the third story. Look at that HUGE WHALE.

Lots of different animals.

That squirrel was… cold. Like pull a can of soda from the fridge cold. Gordon was shocked.

Just thought I’d say, if this little guy makes sure his voice is heard, you can too! Sing little hamster, sing!

Scott was looking at the beaver. Look at that jawbone.

There’s a separate gift shop PER exhibit! This was the mammals and other stuff exhibit, but mostly just dinosaur stuff in the shop. Gordon said they were nice to him and said he could move in, but he said it was squishy and he preferred his brothers.

Front of the museum (We came in from the street side of the museum, but the main entrance is from the Mall entrance.)

Next was the gems and minerals exhibit.

There were so many amazing gems and minerals and I got a lot of pictures but I think it would be boring to show here so I won’t bore you with them. Honestly, this was my favorite exhibit of the entire museum. If you ever get a chance, don’t miss this one!

The infamous Hope Diamond (also this is not me at the top. I’m taking the video). I got to see it and it was one of the reasons we actually went to the mineral exhibit (longs story, we weren’t gonna go, left the museum, I found out the Hope Diamond was at this museum and me and my sister and mom went back through security to go see that diamond and the diamond wasn’t all that grand but the exhibit was worth it [and also the AC])

Also the best gift shop in the museum.

John thinks rocks are better than strangers.

Alan gave me a minor heart attack at one point, but Scott’s brother instincts led him to the giant crystal cave (coffee table decor) and that’s where this child was hiding.

Did we get anything you ask? Yes. We adopted a tiny little Bismuth crystal. These are all bigger pieces, but when we FIRST went to the gift shop (before we left the museum the first time) I found my favorite one and loved it and left it and regretted leaving it, even tho it was a smaller one. So when we went back inside to see the Hope Diamond I went right to where the little boy was sitting snugly and he was still there and I took him in my hand and cuddled him and brought him home. (He will be getting a name soon via Instagram)

That’s all for the Museum of Natural History! The next post will finish day one of DC and go through day two! And then we’re on the way home! (I’m secretly looking forward to some non-road trip themed posts, but at the same time I’ve really enjoyed sharing this all with you guys and getting a little mental break.)

Live, Laugh, and love, girls!
~Libby

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!

(GO here for Natural History Museum post!)

~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

Hello my girls! I’m so happy to be sharing with you. It’s crazy that you guys read my blog and I’m so blessed every time a comment or a like goes through and I’m reminded that these posts actually reach people.

Today I’m sharing with you the first part of my long roadtrip. There are going to be crochet squids in most of the pictures, and that’s because I started an Instagram account to track our roadtrip as if my little squid brothers were taking the trip. (If you have an Instagram account, you can follow @tracysquidbrothers to see more photos)

Intro and Mount Rushmore

We got on the road and drove all day and spent the night at a hotel. Our view was a cemetery, but we only needed to sleep there.

This is (youngest to oldest, left to right) Alan, Gordon, John, Virgil, and Scott. Yes, of course, they are named and created after my fandom brothers, which you can read about in my old post here.

Got back on the road.

Rushmore!

Yes, it was snowing when we visited. Seriously snowing.

Focused on the presidents and the brothers came out blurry *facepalm*

Drove some more and stopped at an old western town called 1880s Town. It was really cool to see how much old stuff they had!

And old Saloon. This was one of the only well preserved buildings on the property since it was actually being used as a place for entertaining. The rest of the buildings and accessories were very worn out and dusty.

We also stopped at an old Minute Man Missle Silo.

I touched a piece of the Berlin Wall.

More driving.

And our first official destination was…

The Mall of America!

This place is huge! Four stories, 520 shops (I didn’t count, that was from the website), 50 restaurants and a theme park.

So many things!

A Crayola store…

Go karts…

And ropes course that I took. There were a whole bunch more rides, including two or three rollercoasters that were awesome, and many other fun ones.

Also there was this yarn store…

Huge Lego store.

I’m telling you this place was huge.

My little monkey children.

We were thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day.

After a good night’s sleep and another day of driving we got to see beautiful Lake Michigan.

It was good to spend a day driving to rest from a full day of walking around the mall.

But it was also fun to watch the squids be silly at the hotel.

Some shenanigans. Those got quite popular with my Instagram followers XD. If you don’t know what’s happening here, Alan scared Scott in the shower and Gordon snatched a picture of them while Scott chase Alan around. It was quite the post. XD

That’s all for today. Next week I’ll post Part 2. Any guesses where we went next? No cheating and checking the account!
Are you planning a roadtrip this summer? Did you already take yours? What do you think of the squids? Let me know in the comments!

~Libby

Go here for Part 2!