Harvie, Ohio, USA

missslady Posted May 23, 2008, 2:53 am	Mini vacation!!! Harvie and I are heading to Colorado Springs, CO tomorrow!
missslady Posted May 28, 2008, 2:22 pm	Harvie’s first trip away from home (Virginia) and first time flying. Destination: Colorado Springs, CO Garden of Gods located at the base of Pikes Peak; unique rock formation. Harvie had a great time hiking, climbing on red rocks and enjoying the awesome view.             Harvie couldn't sleep Saturday night; knowing tomorrow he's going on train ride up Pike's Peak. Pike's Peak Cog Railway is the world's highest cog railroad in the United States. WOW - the view!         We made it to the top - Harvie checking out the gift shop at the top of Pike's Peak Mountain.         Harvie enjoying his breakfast at local neighborhood breakfast place - bacon, tomato and spinach omelet with potatoes and toast. Yummy! Great trip!
missslady Posted Jun 15, 2008, 3:02 pm	After 7 hours of driving, we finally made it to Pawleys Island, SC. It’s a beautiful day! Harvie mets Horton Harvie and Horton checking out the deck view. Harvie and Horton resting on the rocking chair. Harvie and Horton making sure there is enough drinks in the cool for the beach. I think they want a ride too. WOW – Beach!!!! Muffins and homemade pancakes for breakfast. Harvie and Horton meets Ms Anne. I think they like her!
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 15, 2008, 5:07 pm	Today I arrived in the Netherlands! It is my first trip to Europe and I am so excited! This is my first view of my host's home. I only saw the ceiling at first, but then I saw four friendly faces right next to me. All of them are really kind and they were trying to tell me about their adventures as ToyVoyagers all at the same time, so I hope they'll calm down a bit and then we can talk a little together. This is all of us together.
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 19, 2008, 4:11 pm	Today a ToyVoyager arrived! But apparently it wasn't a new one, but one owned by our host Charda! Tiah Tigris will be here for a short stay-over until she is ready to travel onwards to Australia! She's a very sweet girl. And here are some pictures to show you that we're not bored over here. Here we're reading a Donald Duck. It's entirely in Dutch, but we can look at the pictures and Tiah translates for us. Jason passed by and asked if we wanted to play with the ball with him. Of course we wanted to! Well, we'll talk later!
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 19, 2008, 8:55 pm	There was a rainbow outside this evening! Our host spotted it from inside, grabbed her camera and told us to come along. You can see it here all the way from the left side... ...through the middle... ...and this is the right side... And here I am posing in front of it as proof that I've seen it too Isn't it cool!
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 24, 2008, 10:01 pm	Look, this is what we ate today. No, it's not very healthy indeed, but it sure tasted great. It's croquettes made of potatoes, kipnuggets, a cheese soufflé and apple/strawberry sauce. And yes, the soda is indeed green
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 24, 2008, 10:17 pm	We thought this was a very funny picture. The text says: 'The polar bears are back'. I don't think this ostrich is very happy with the situation. And look at these small geese. They're still so small and fuzzy Today was also the day for Tiah Tigris to resume her journeys. She's now on her way to Australia!
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 24, 2008, 10:38 pm	Yesterday was a really special day. We went to visit Charda's grandmother in Oosterhout in the South of the country. We even stayed for the night. Here we are on the train on our way there. And here's the view still at The Hague Central Station. Today we walked through the village of Oosterhout. We first met these deer in a small park. Here you can see what used to be a small castle. Nowadays it's just a building with some apartments and offices. This statue is in honour of all the men who are fifty years old. Apparently they have the tradition in this town to visit this statue once a year with all the fifty-year-old men. The mayor is also there and he will give a speech. And after that they will party together This statue looks a little scary, but we were brave enough to take a picture with it These persons were a lot nicer than the ghosts of the other statue. This statue was made in remembrance of the Second World War. And now we're back home again
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 24, 2008, 10:59 pm	When we came home today, a new TV was already waiting for us! It's Jadzia Tam! And at the same time we had to say goodbye to Moony. He is leaving to a new address already. We're sad to see him go...
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 29, 2008, 9:23 am	Last weekend we went to a friend of our host in a town called Almere in the middle of the country. We didn't take too many pictures there, since we mainly watched television and relaxed there, but I do have some pictures to show you This is me on a Dutch train. The houses you see behind me are in Amsterdam. Since it was really warm weather all weekend long, we sat outside in the garden. The mother of our host's friend had just cleaned up the garden and had taken away all the weeds, so don't you think it looks pretty? Here we pose together with the dog that lives there. Her name is Buffie. Yes, as in the Vampire Slayer. Now, this was not a vampire slayer, she was pretty sweet, but she did look at us like she wanted to eat us. And apparently that's what she usually does to her toys Since it was really warm all weekend long, we lay down in this comfy chair for a little while. The sun had already gone away, but it was still pretty nice like this And because it was so warm, we got to share an icecream! It was vanilla icecream with strawberry sauce. We met this giant Dora in the guestroom where we slept. And do you know what's so great about her? She speaks English! She teaches all the little Dutch children how to speak English. "Let's go!"
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Jul 29, 2008, 8:01 pm	Today was another exciting day. Do we get any rest around here? We went to Leiden today. Our host had some errands to run there and we tagged along. Ceryni had already been there, but not me. We went by bus and this was the first statue we saw once we arrived. A statue of Rembrandt! Right behind the statue of Rembrandt was this nice building. Inside the building is a secondary school. This was at the other side of the street. Here was yet another statue about Rembrandt. And another painting of Rembrandt Apparently Rembrandt was born in this city. That's why there are so many statues of him everywhere. Look! This is me with a real Dutch windmill Since it's my life mission to visit universities, my host took some pictures of me with her university, Leiden University it is called. It is the oldest university in the Netherlands. My host is a part-time student of English Language and Culture and this is the building where she has her classes. The building is called 'Lipsius'. This university is not situated on one campus, but it has different buildings throughout the city. This is the university library: This is the other side of the Lipsius building. These buildings hold the smaller faculties, one of which is English. That is where the professors have their offices and the daytime students sometimes have classes in these buildings. This building is the 'Kamerlingh Omnes Gebouw' (gebouw is Dutch for building). This is where the law-faculty resides, so this is where our host's boyfriend gets his classes. Here I am in front of the Pieterskerk. Unfortunately lots of construction men were working on this building, so we couldn't get a better picture than this, if we wanted a picture without scaffolding. Do you see the picture with the two keys over the door? That's the coat of arms of Leiden. This is all of us on a cache, a real geocache. This is where we left the travelbug that was sent to our host via Postcrossing. Our host had found this cache last year, so she walked straight to it, without a GPS this time. Just look at these houses. They're so typically Dutch. Here we walked by another building that belongs to the university. My host thought this was where the library used to be. The flags look pretty cool And then there was a surprise when we got home. Two new TVs were waiting for us! Their names are Resi and Chipper.
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Aug 4, 2008, 12:01 pm	Last weekend we went camping. Our host was a First Aid volunteer at an event called 'Castlefest'. Our host didn't have much time to take a lot of pictures, but she took some, so you can see where we've been. Since we were camping at the location, this is everything we had to bring. Luckily we went by car this time. On the first day we met this cute thermos. It was strange. I think this penguin would prefer cold drinks, but he contained coffee! These weapons are used in LARP, which stands for Live Action Role Play. These swords are covered in foam so that they don't hurt if you get hit by them. This horse looks so cool! This construction is a 'stool of witches'. Here you can be tested whether or not you are a witch. Here you can see the main stage. This is where many bands performed during the weekend. Among the bands that performed there were 'Omnia' and 'The Transsylvanians'. In the First Aid tent we met this nice couple. They look pretty cool, right? He is really scary! You can't even see his face! Girls playing the harp. Some other girls with a large weapon. This tree had a man in it! Or was it a treant? I don't know exactly what it was, but he had this really dark grumbly voice. The Wickerman statue was burnt on Saturday evening. Unfortunately we weren't there at that moment, because we had to stay in the First Aid tent. These helmets and weapons were for sale. I think this man was hung there as a warning for others. It looked pretty frightening to me! The polar man and this dog looked pretty good together, but the man was only posing with the dog. People dressed in the most splendid outfits. Here I am in the First Aid tent. There was this one place where they had this big basket with Giant Microbes. We even saw some siblings of the TV Synapse. Here I am posing with the Giant Microbes that the First Aid people bought. I don't feel that comfortable here between mange and louse. I hope I don't catch a cold, or chickenpox. These are the materials they worked with this weekend. This is one of the two beds used for patients. Suddenly we heard this loud roaring outside of the tent. What could it be? Oh no, it was a real dragon! But our host told us that this was a trained dragon and it was safe to pose with him. Well, I didn't feel too comfortable so close to him. And now we're back home, safe in Leidschendam again, far away from knights, goblins and dragons. Phew, I think I'm gonna need some rest to recover from this weekend.
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Aug 6, 2008, 7:03 pm	Today Ceryni left us. He has been with us for a very long time and he has seen many things. He has been to London, Amsterdam, Leiden, Ommen, Lisse and Almere. That's quite a journey for one TV! Yolanda found it especially hard to say goodbye to Ceryni. She became quite attached to him. Ceryni is now on his way back home! Safe travels, Ceryni!
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Aug 9, 2008, 6:29 pm	Today we ate pancakes for dinner! Look at this yummy pancake with apple, raisins, sugar and cinnamon. It tasted as delicious as it looks Last Monday it was our host's boyfriend's birthday. He got these flowers as a gift from his work. I think they're very pretty. In the evening we watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Aug 11, 2008, 2:25 pm	Today we went to a country-festival called Floralia in Oosterhout in the Southern part of the country. This is the biggest country-festival of Europe. And do you know what the best part is? My host told me she doesn't even like country-music, but she went there as First Aid volunteer, together with her boyfriend. We left at 7 am in the morning We walked to the busstop where the bus was supposed to leave at 7:36 am. But unfortunately the busdriver had overslept and we had to wait a full hour for the next bus! We could have slept an hour longer! Our host wasn't too pleased with that, also because it meant we arrived an hour late at the event. But, we took the next bus and went to The Hague Central Station. This is us on the train. Do you see these big coffee cups behind us? They contained cappucino and they were really yummy Well, this is me in front of the big stage. I don't know what the band is called that is performing here. There were lots of people here and lots of them were in Western outfits, like these two ladies. Some of them were also line-dancing. Why do you have to look so solemn during dancing? Is it forbidden to smile in the world of country? The festival was held in a special garden. The rest of the year this garden is open to the public and people can even garden here themselves. So we walked around a bit and it looked very pretty. Our host wanted us to pose on the ledge of this well, but then she looked in to see if it was a real one, and it sure was! It was really deep! So we just took a picture this way. That was way safer. In the afternoon we watched the performance of this English band, called the 'Swing Commanders' at the small stage. It was really a lot of fun. They even sang a song from Jungle Book! The one where King Louis sings with Mowgli and Baloo that he wants to become human and wants to learn how to make fire. It was so much fun. All the women in the band could play all the instruments. They would change instruments with every song. It was truly amazing. This little tea-house was right next to the small stage. Looks pretty Dutch, right?
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Aug 14, 2008, 7:52 pm	Today we went to the cinema! We even met Wall-E and EVE! We really enjoyed the movie. It's really like a modern fairytale with all these robots. All of us really liked it. We also saw the short Pixar movie 'Presto' before the movie started. We had a great time. After the movie we walked around The Hague for a little while. We saw this statue. We also saw these old-fashioned phone boots. This is me with the statue of King Willem II. Here I am posing in front of the Dutch flag. These are all the flags of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. This is 'Het Binnenhof'. This where the Dutch government convenes, so all the major decisions are being made here. Do you think this seagull knows this mountain of ice is fake? This is a coat of arms of the Netherlands. You always see a lion in these pictures. And while we were on our way back to the tram we walked past these sand sculptures. This bird doesn't really care about the figure of Justice. This is the logo for the city The Hague. This building is the Peace Palace; or at least a sand replica of it. There is a statue of this little boy elsewhere in the city. Here you can see the 'Binnenhof' from another side. And we also saw McDonalds! With a pigeon on the logo
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Aug 14, 2008, 8:02 pm	And then when we came home today it was time to leave already! Has it really been four weeks already? Bellatrix is also leaving today, although to a different destination. She is going all the way to Australia, while I'm going home for a short while to tell my mother all about my adventures in the Netherlands!
missslady Posted Sep 5, 2008, 4:18 am	Harvie has made it safely home (VA). He had so much fun in The Netherlands that he couldn’t stop talking about his trip. Thank you Charda for hosting him! Now he is in front of my laptop checking his e-mail and enjoying a cold ice lait.
missslady Posted Sep 5, 2008, 4:34 am	Harvie some how ended up in Ohio for the annual River Days festival. We arrived a bit early – 11a.m. and found out that the festival doesn’t start till around 3 or 4ish.

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