Bloem, Fairfax, Virginia, United States

neetje Posted Feb 28, 2008, 9:14 pm	Hi all! In the upcoming days (or weeks) I am going to get Bloem ready for her journey around the world! Please contact us if you want to be Bloem's host, let her stay at your home and show her the site-seeings of your hometown & country. Please, don't drop her into the wild (she's to young to be left alone). Travel-list: Australia - gingermuggins United States - wmphimu United States - heyknithappens Austria - ChristinaB Russia - Oksana Ukraine - okurochkin France - Fleurdunord Germany - Mizzery Germany - fam-united South Africa - Lizette Important: (The following infrmation is important to my (future) hosts) * I want to stay at least one week, and my maximum stay is one month, then I want to go to someone else. * I have a notebook with me, wich I want to write in during my stay. * Please update my Travelog at least once a week. * My mommy & friends love to see pictures of me on my journey. * If you like...give me a little souvenier with me during my journey, so I can surprise my mommy & friends when I am coming home again (be sure the souvenir is not to big & heavy).
neetje Posted Feb 29, 2008, 7:24 pm	Me and my mommy made some pictures today. Just for fun & to show you a little bit of me (more are coming this weekend)... This is me then... Me behind the PC Next pictures are with me & my Woof-buddies, who I am going to miss so much...! Well everybody...Now you know already a bit more bout me. I am going to sleep...we have a very busy day tomorrow...
neetje Posted Mar 1, 2008, 10:52 pm	Hi again! I am still home, but my mommy say I will start my journey within a week or so...oeh I'm so excited! Today we had a relaxing day, wel...I did. My mommy was busy. She had to go shopping for her mother & for my upcoming trip. But when she was backhome, we went for a walk in the forest with the doggies. You can see that Spring is coming soon...the flowers of this season are blooming already. Me with some beautiful flowers. The doggies were running & playing....they always have so much fun outside. Well I think it was way to cold outside Brrrr! When we were backhome again, we baked a pizza. Yummi Mmmm...that tasted well! Now it's time to go to bed. Mommy have to wake up early, couse she have to go to her work for a few minutes tomorrow-morning. Bye bye! and goodnight
neetje Posted Mar 5, 2008, 5:59 pm	Finnally Bloem started her journey today! I brought her to the postoffice. I hope she will arrive at her host (gingermuggins) soon. Good luck Bloem! Have good trip!
gingermuggins Posted Mar 18, 2008, 8:44 am	I Have Arrived Roar  Roar  Roar Sorry mommy, i didn't mean to sound scary. I really wanted to get out and see the sunshine and smell the fresh air. It has been a long time since i saw anyone or anything. I could hear voices outside my travel bag. I thought to myself if i roar loudly someone will help me out. Luckily my new host could see from the return address it was me inside the bag and not a loud scary man eating monster. It feels so good to strech my long legs and arms. I think i'll lay here for awhile and look around my hosts home. Big hugs to you Bloem xx
gingermuggins Posted Mar 24, 2008, 8:32 am	HI  I went for a drive today to a small country town called Casterton. My host let me steer the car, it was scary but fun at the same time. This is the welcome sign to the town I brought a postcard with a picture of the town on it. My host said i can send it home to you! When we returned to my hosts home i saw some of the cows who live here. I saw a really pretty sunset tonight. The photo isn't as good as seeing it for real though. Lovely colours, orange, red, pink and purple.
gingermuggins Posted Mar 24, 2008, 8:45 am	Happy Easter Mommy Easter Bunny visited while we were sleeping and left for me a beautiful chocolate in the shape of a Bilby. The bilby is a small australian animal with big long ears and a long tail. I also got some other chocolates and on the wrappers are pictures of other Australian animals, a koala, wombat and kangaroo. I am going to eat the chocolate hehe and stick the wrappers in my notebook. We went to my host's family's home for dinner. A bbq. Here i am watching the meat being cooked. I was asked if i wanted a drink of Australian beer but i didn't. It didn't smell nice! So i just had my photo taken with the beer bottle.
gingermuggins Posted Mar 24, 2008, 8:55 am	Hello Again Today was a horrible day. The weather was stormy and wet. Lots of thunder and lightening, very noisy and scary. Here is Pirate telling me not to be too scared of the horrible weather. My host tells me it's going to be wet and stormy weather for the next few days. Hopefully we can get out and see some things though. Big Hugs to you mommy. xx Bloem xx
gingermuggins Posted Mar 25, 2008, 10:22 am	Hi I had a busy day today. Two new toyvoyagers came to stay. Leo Lion and Roberto. They were very hungry after being in the post box so Sam, my host, told us we would need to go shopping for food. It was lots of fun shopping. The other tv's and me had our own shopping cart and we filled it with yummy food.I got to push the cart around because i am the tallest toyvoyager here! When we got to Sam's home after our shopping expidition, we had a little picnic. We couldn't have it outside because of the rain. Sam's children dressed us up. There was so many pretty dresses for me to choose. I decided on the red cape as it made me look like little red riding hood! Pirate joined us for the picnic too. I think we ate too much. We had to have a bear nap! When we woke we could hear someone singing in the garden. It had stopped raining so we ran outside to investigate. It was Fifi Flowertot who has just registered to become a toyvoyager. She loves to do the gardening and sing to all the plants and flowers in Sam's garden. She was picking tomatoes but was happy to have a photo taken with us all. Fifi showed us some native Australian flowers called Protea's and Banksia's. They don;t really smell but they are very pretty and big. It is late night here now. The children have gone to bed and now it's time for me to close my eyes and dream of the fun times i have had today. I miss you mommy Big hugs xx Bloem xx
gingermuggins Posted Mar 27, 2008, 4:33 am	Hello We have had a couple of quiet days. The weather has been awfully cold and wet. Today i ate a Lamington. It's like a small sponge cake, coated in melted chocolate and rolled in desicated coconut. Sometimes they can have a strawberry flavour to them. Some people say it's a traditional Australian cake. I had a strawberry tasting lamington and it was yummy! Big tiger hugs xx Bloem xx
gingermuggins Posted Apr 2, 2008, 1:43 am	Hello Mommy Today we had a new toyvoyager arrive, ducky-duck and also an adpoted toyvoyager who my host has named Eliza. We sat around and chatted for awhile. The weather is still horrible. Very wet and windy. I dream of sunshine and blue skies all the time. Big hugs to you xx Bloem xx
gingermuggins Posted Apr 5, 2008, 4:00 am	Hi We are still having very stormy weather here. Lots of rain and wind. Trees have fallen down, branches blown all over the property. The last few days have been spent clearing up outside and helping neighbours too. I'm not sure if you can see the trees blowing in this picture. For most of the day the power was out because of trees falling on the power lines around the area. We played card games, read a book about australian animals and bush life, then when we were feeling cold and sleepy we settled back in bed and watched a movie on the portable dvd player, luckily it is run by batteries and not power from the house. I'll speak to you again soon. Hugs xx Bloem xx
gingermuggins Posted Apr 6, 2008, 12:35 pm	Hello! You wouldn't believe how quick the weather changes around here. Today was a beautiful sunny day. Blue skies, white fluffy clouds, sunshine all around, very different from the last week! Just when we thought it was a great day we saw something that wasn't too great. Lots of thick, black smoke rising from the forest. Yes, it was a fire! We thought maybe it was started on purpose but after some investigating (lots of phone calls), Sam found out it was a controlled burn by the forestry people. They were cleaning up fallen trees and branches after last weeks windy weather. Phew, our minds were put at ease, it wasn't too far from Sam's home!
gingermuggins Posted Apr 13, 2008, 4:46 am	Hi! Bloem left us today to continue her adventures. She said a fond farewell to the other TV's who are visiting here. She then looked back on her travellog and gave a cyber hug to her dear woof-buddies who she misses alot. We had a great time with her and we will all miss her. We wish her safe travels and hope to see some updates of her soon.
wmphimu Posted Apr 21, 2008, 3:07 am	Hello from Virginia! I arrived yesterday, and after a quick nap, I found out that I arrived just in time to help celebrate Passover! First Easter in Australia, now Passover in the United States - what a cultured tiger I am becoming! Mara's family is Jewish, and they celebrate the first two nights of Passover with a seder. Last night I traveled with them to her sister's house for a seder (but we forgot to take pictures!), and tonight we went to her parents' house. First, Plaid Moose, Mister Snow, and I helped to set up for the seder. Here I am putting the roasted egg on the seder plate: Next the three of us read from the Haggadah, where we learned about the Passover story & symbols: Mara said that her favorite part of the seder was the charoset - a yummy mix of apples, walnuts, & wine! It was my favorite too! And I got to taste matzah too!
wmphimu Posted Apr 26, 2008, 9:12 pm	Hi from sunny Virginia! The weather is finally getting nice, and we're getting a chance to play outside! Yesterday we played outside in Mara's yard - here I am hiding in the dogwood tree in her yard! I learned that the dogwood is the state tree and state flower of Virginia! They are really pretty - Mara has them in her front & back yard, and they are in bloom everywhere! Today we decided to see a little of the history that is nearby. I learned that this was a really important area in the Civil War - there are historical markers everywhere we go. So today we went to Fairfax Station. This is where Clara Barton helped the wounded soldiers after the Second Battle of Manassas. Countless Union soldiers guarded the Orange and Alexandria Railroad stop against raids by JEB Stuart and JS Mosby. It's a museum now all about trains & Civil War history. Then we went up the road to St. Mary's Church. This is where Clara Barton nursed the soldiers back to health. I also learned that Clara Barton went on to start the American Red Cross! Here I am in front of the plaque and the church!
wmphimu Posted May 1, 2008, 7:24 pm	What a fun day! A new Toy Voyager arrived! After we opened the package, Plaid Moose poked his head in to say hello! It's Summy! She was visiting Florida, and is now going to spend a few weeks with us! We were all excited to see her!
wmphimu Posted May 4, 2008, 8:53 pm	What a fun weekend we have had! Along with Summy & Plaid Moose, I went to my very first baseball game! We went to see the Washington Nationals play the Pittsburgh Pirates at the brand new Nationals Stadium. I had a great time! The weather was beautiful, and I learned that I really like baseball! Here I am at our seats looking at the huge scoreboard: Then, I helped Mara keep score... I was wondering what happens when it gets dark - the whole field gets lit up! (though there was a delay in the middle of the game when some of the lights went out!) Look how much fun we're all having!!! I even found a fun place to play as we were leaving the park - a fence with lots of curly w's - the symbol for the Nationals!
wmphimu Posted May 15, 2008, 7:55 pm	What a fun day we had yesterday! We all went to Baltimore to go see the Red Sox play the Orioles. I have been watching a lot of Red Sox games since I arrived at Mara's house, so I was really excited to see them play in person! First, we had to drive there...here we are in the car as we entered Maryland (can you see the "Welcome to Maryland" sign on the right side of the highway?) Once we got to the park, we headed right to the field to watch the players warm up and take batting practice. Here we are close to the field, and with a new friend - the Baltimore Orioles security guard! We told him that we were toy voyagers - I hope he checks out our travel log and is happy to see his picture! The game was really fun. I enjoyed cheering for the Red Sox, and even filled out a ballot for the All-Star game!
wmphimu Posted May 15, 2008, 8:08 pm	After the game, we walked around Camden Yards (the stadium) a little bit so we could see the rest of the park. Here I am in front of the statue of Babe Ruth, who grew up in Baltimore: You can also see the back of the giant scoreboard in the background. In the same area as the statue of Babe Ruth are giant numbers. I was confused about them until Mara told us that they are for the players who have had their numbers retired. We really liked the "8" which was Cal Ripken Jr.'s number. He is in the Hall of Fame, and Mara saw him play a lot (including getting to go to his last three games) Then I stopped to get my picture taken in front of the famous Warehouse. And on the way back to the car we took our picture with the statue of Johnny Unitas in front of the stadium where the Baltimore Ravens (a football team) play. What a GREAT trip!
wmphimu Posted May 21, 2008, 8:51 pm	It has been raining a LOT here lately. Mara says it isn't usually like this, but we have been stuck inside for awhile. BUT...it is beautiful out today, so we took a long walk down to the lake near Mara's house. It's a small man-made lake (just about 2 miles around), but it's still pretty. Here I am at the part near her house (it's a horseshoe shape, so it looks smaller than it is!) And here Summy and I are sunning ourselves on a log There is a path that goes around the lake, with lots of people out for a walk or jog. There are also these strange things along the path. Mara says it's a fitness course - as people are out for their walk or jog, they stop at each one to do a different exercise. Here we are with the directions for the pull-up bars... And I here I am trying to do one! After all that exercise, I was happy to stop and enjoy the lake from a comfortable rock!

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