Travelog for: George Etc.

Hello!  We'd like to introduce ourselves!  We are going to be non-released toys, since Mel doesn't seem to trust us out of her sight for long, I guess.  I'm George, and I guess I got elected spokesman on account of my horrible typing skills and lack of patience with computers.  Yeah, makes no sense to me either.
I'll try to introduce us all with as few photos as possible in one post, you'll see us all again in the future I'm sure!  This is just so you can tell us apart and see what all we get up to!

This is Justin and me at Lake Tahoe in California.  Mel went for a long weekend with her friends and took us along!  She even made us swimsuits but she didn't let us get wet.  I'm the blonde one.  Justin is one of my two best friends.


This is Raven and Amelie.  They are a couple.  Amelie is a proper lady, Raven is a bit of a swashbuckler.  They are too cute together. Seriously.  Gives me cavities.


Who's next?  Drew.  Drew is a loner.  He's got a lot of attitude and issues, but he's loosening up with us.


Next is Dan and Amanda!  Mel did a rush-order for them so they could go on vacation to Maine with her, since that' where Dan is from in the stories.  This is them posing in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.


My OTHER best friend in the whole world, and who will be dead last to get to see where he's from, is Has.  Short for Hasim.  He's from Africa.  He doesn't normally dress like this, but Mel made the outfit so he was nice enough to model it.


Last is Alex.  He just got here last week!  He's Raven's cousin, that's why they have the same eyes.  He's not really a loner, but his other half hasn't been ordered yet. 


OKay, that's it for basic introductions!  We might post some more past stuff here and there, if we get bored, but we'll try to save this space for new adventures!  

Did you know that Dan is a chef?  Well he is.  When Mel was working on his story, we all ate GOOD.


Here he is making some zucchini bread!


Mmm, sloppy shredded zucchini!


Got all the ingredients?  Dry in one bowl, wet stuff in the other....



Mixing up everything.  Good thing he has an apron, this always seems to get messy.


MMM!    Fresh, warm Zucchini Bread courtesy of our family chef!

Today was a lovely Spring day, and Mel was off of work!  So her mom asked if she wanted to go to a big greenhouse to get some plants for the garden.  Amanda asked to go along, since she loves gardening.  On the way there, they stopped at Grandpa Jack's house to pick up Tyler, Mel's nephew.  He is 11.  Then it was on to Allendale and Countryside Greenhouse!
I'll let Amanda take over from here....

Amanda:  Hi everyone!  Nice to meet you, and thank you to George for the nice introduction.

There were so many plants, and so many flowers blooming! 


It was warm in the greenhouse, and I loved looking at everything.  We didn't get a lot because Mel has such a tiny garden, but we did get some vegetables and also some flowers just because they were pretty.  Some tomatoes, herbs, and zucchini for Dan to make bread from!  We finally picked up everything, and got it loaded into Mel's car.


By then it was almost dinner time and we were in the mood to try something new, so we went to a place in Allendale we hadn't tried before.  It was good!  This is me checking out the menu with Tyler.  I ended up sharing Mel's shrimp and fries.


There were TVs in the dining area.  The one here was showing a rodeo!  It's been a long time since I saw one of those.  Tyler and I agreed that that was a job we would NOT want.


Then we went home and I dug right in to plant the little flower I picked out!  I have my own gardening tools that fit me, and Mel let me use the urn by the door. 


Here is my little plant!  It will have pretty white flowers soon.  I can't wait!


Here it is all tucked into it's new home.  Tyler was nice enough to water it for me. 


And now we are warm and dry in the house and having tea.  It was a very nice day! 

Look!  My flower bloomed!  I had to take my friend Amelie outside to look at it.  Whee!  It will just get bigger and prettier! 

Hello, my name is Hasim, I am a friend of George for whom this journal is named.  He has allowed me to post here to tell about the adventure I had today.

Mel took myself and Buzz Bluejay, our new traveler who is still waiting for his code to post his own photos, to the Veldheer Tulip Farm in Holland, Michigan.  Today is the first day of the Tulip Festival, celebrating the area's Dutch heritage.  We decided that it would be best to go before there are too many tourists.  The farm is the only one in Holland, USA, and as Buzz called it, is also "A Tourist Trap."  But besides the cheap souvenirs, they also had many beautiful flowers!

There are fields and fields of tulips of every color, and other bulbs as well.


Orange is my favorite color, so I made my first stop these lovely orange tulips.


I then investigated this old water wheel.  Unfortunately it is no longer working, meaning it doesn't operate anything, but rather runs on a motor itself.  Still, it was fun to watch.


Meema, Mel's mother, took this this photo of me exploring while Mel went back to the car for sweatshirts.  The breeze was cooler than they had anticipated.  I was glad to have a jacket.


The gardens are also home to many restored and replica windmills.  I'm certain they are no longer working either, but they were popular with tourists posing for photos.  Like Buzz and myself.


There is also a small collection of farm machinery, mostly those once used for bulb planting and harvesting.


Buzz could fly into the tree to get a better view of the largest windmill, so I climbed up too.  Mel asked me to pose as long as I was there.


After we had seen everything that we could in the gardens, we went back inside so Mel could shop for postcards and Dutch chocolate.  Buzz and I explored, and he even convinced me to try on a pair of wooden shoes.  I guess that they must have looked good on me, I got a lot of attention with them on... I'm glad that you can't tell, with my skin color, how much I am blushing...


Mel got her cards, an Buzz posed for a few more photos, and then we went off to find supper and home.  I had a very nice day, I hope that you had one as well.  Thank you for reading so far.

It is a gorgeous Spring day here in Michigan!


And how are we spending it?  LAUNDRY.


Mel is in charge of hanging the towels.  I am in charge of handing her the clothes pins.  I'm...  a little short to do the rest.


OKay, that's done!  Good job, Mel.  Now let's look around and enjoy some sunshine!  I'll check and see how the composter is doing after a cold winter.  Hmm.  Not bad.  I think it's time to add to the garden!


That little ball should be plenty, since the garden is super tiny.  It's actually in the neighbor's yard.  It needs to be behind a fence because there are so many deer here.  They come up from the river at night and eat everything they can.  You can see the Grand River in the background there.


Oh yeah.  As I was heading outside, Amanda yelled at me, "Show them my flower!!"  So here's Amanda's silly flower.  You're welcome.


As long as I'm at it, the pansy's she helped pick out are looking nice, too.


Mel has to work tonight so I guess it's back to more laundry.  Later!  *waves*

Hi everyone.  Just a placeholder here to let you know that Mel is still alive, though her allergies are so bad she says she sometimes wishes she weren't.  Buzz and us big dolls are still getting attention, but Mel says when she can only stand to help so many people with the computer, guests come first.  So we're still here, I assume Drew will get to post about Niagara and Raven and Amie went to the steam Expo for one day at least, and Buzz went to both, and Mel promises computer time soon.  As soon as her head stops trying to explode.

Raven went to Pirate fest with Mel and Madison!  I know we re horribly behind on updates here, but these pics were too cute to share. He even got in on the costume contest!