Into the Archives 69-Braithwaite Cousins

I'm visiting family this week for a cousins wedding so here's a throwback to when we were all together for my oldest cousins wedding in 2003.

Into the Archives 66-Bury the Baby

Oh you know, just some quality time burying the baby in the Red Chair. The Red Chair was one of our favorite toys that provided may hours of entertainment. We would pretend it was a rocket blasting off as we spun around in it as fast as possible.

Into the Archives 43-Christmas 2003

12/22/2011

Christmas 2003 is the second Christmas I remember from my own memory (2000 being the first...its weird how my memory skips the 2 years in between).

One of my favorite toys I got was a Tinker-bear. I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking here...

 Oh but I loved her. (I think she came form Aunt Kari and Uncle Allen)

 A big marble run still loved by the whole family. (From the Reinsteins, I'm pretty sure.)

 And my first real porcelain doll from grandma and grandpa Webster.

And then there was the food machine...but that must be saved for a post of its own!

Into the Archives 37-Toad

11/10/2011

Toads have always been one of my favorite animals. They are extremely easy to catch and their care is minimal, I just let them go after a week or two. 2003 was the first year that I started this little hobby of mine.

 A direct entry from my nature journal:

Toady and Spring

Spring 2003- 6 years old

It all started when we found a boy toad. It was April 1st and mom found a toad in the garden. Then mom called me, "A toad! Come and see a toad." I came and saw the toad. It was sitting on the dirt very still. When I tried to touch it, it jumped into the leaves. I dug into the leaves and I got it. But it wasn't easy but it was fun.

Mom got a tank ready for the toad. We brought him inside the house. Mom looked up "toads" in a nature book we got from the library. Later we checked out more books about toads and we learned that boy toads don't croak and they are a lot smaller than girl toads. And girl toads croak because they call the boys so they can spawn their eggs.

We brought the toad to the library to Teddy Time, then on Wednesday we brought it to story time to show the children.

Mom thought that we needed to let April Fool's Day go (that's what I names the toad). I said, "I don't want to let him go." Dad said we needed to get Toady Crickets so that he could stay alive (we started calling him Toady because it was a shorter name). So dad went and bought the crickets at the pet store. Toady ate them so fast that mom couldn't see his tongue catch the cricket, but I could. 

He started to look sick so we called Anna-Lisa, our friend that works at a nature center, and she said we should put some water in the tank and feed it every other day.

A few weeks later I was looking for lizards on the rocks. Instead I found a girl toad. I came running in the house and yelled, "A toad! Come and see a toad! I think it's a girl toad!" Mom came running out and I showed her the toad. I tried to catch the toad-it was as hard as catching the first. I finally caught it and I brought the tank outside and put both toads in a wading pool. I names the new toad Spring.

The first time I heard the girl toad croak was an hour later when I was getting ready to go to mom's concert. I was way in my bedroom and Spring was in the kitchen and she croaked so loud that I could hear her from my bedroom. We found out that Spring croaks more in the night time.

One day I put her into the wading pool. I was playing with some friends and when I went back to get her she was gone. In a few weeks mom was digging in the garden bu the gazebo and mom saw something moving in the dirt. It was Spring. we caught her and took her inside to the tank. I taught her toads tricks.

And then it ends right there. But the end of the story that is unwritten is sad. I was so attached to these first animals I had ever caught that I didn't want to let them go. But I also seemed to forget to feed and water them. One day I found Toady dead in the bottom of the tank. It broke my heart but I still refused to release the other one. A few days later she was gone too. I felt so guilty. To this day I still am. I still catch toads and many other little creatures but I always take good care of them. I learned my lesson and I am proud to say not one has died in my care since then.

Into the Archives 34~School Time

10/20/2011

This is my kind of homework style. Yes. Hat and all. At least back in 2003. 

Now a-days I prefer sitting on my bed with the iPad when possible.

This is really random but look at the time I scheduled/posted this post. There is a reason for the time. The school year starts in August (08) and ends in May (05). I do something like this with most of my posts. You know. Just in case you want a puzzle to figure out.

Into the Archives-27

9/1/2011

I have no idea when and why this was taken but I don't really care. I think its just a funny and cute picture of dinner with me and my two brothers and that little boy in the front right corner. We can't figure out who he is. Awkward. Well I'll let you know if I ever figure it out.

Into the Archives-22

7/28/2011

November 2003 I lost my first tooth!

I had a special case to put the tooth in and the next morning there were a few quarters that had replaced it!

By the time I was loosing my molars I just wanted to finish the process. Loosing teeth just became a pain. Literally. Thankfully that's over now!

Into the Archives-14

 6/2/2011

My Self Portraits in 2003

I've always been the crazy one that wanted my picture taken. If it isn't taken enough then I do it myself. This was especially the case around 2003 or so. This is just a glimpse of it:

Into the Archives-6

4/7/2011

As you might know we have a pretty big yard. And with it comes lots of little creatures. Sometimes we find Black Swallowtail caterpillars on our dill. So we collect them and and raise them in one of our animal tanks. Soon they form chrysalises and we wait for a few weeks until they emerge and we have butterflies! 2003 was a pretty good year and we had 2 or 3 butterflies to release after their wings dried.

Into the Archives-2

Its "Into the Archives Thursday"!
3/10/2011

 Since I did a picture of some of my Webster cousins last week, I decided to do something from the Braithwaite side (mom's side). I'm pretty sure this picture was take in July 2003 (maybe even possibly on the 28th if the date on the picture is correct). All of the cousins were visiting Nana, who lives in Utah.

Zachary, KEW, Me and Lexi

Here I am with the Reinstein cousins and my brother KEW. I have fond memories of this day.
I remember that one of us had the great idea of running a lemonade stand. So we went up to Nana's art area and found plenty of paper and coloring supplies and made a great sign. 

Next we went to her freezer and pulled out some of her frozen lemonade and put it in a large measuring cup. Then we brought out her plastic toy organizer and put it at the end of the driveway, taped the sign to it and set the lemonade on top and decorated the ground around it with pine cones. And we waited. 

We waited through the heat. We waited some more. Then our first costumer...sort of. She said that she would come back later and get some. (she never did) It was so hot that we brought it back into the shade. We did end up with a few costumers! In fact there was one time that so many people came that we had to go raid Nana's freezer again!

This was so long ago (at least it feels like it) that I find it funny that I remember it in detail. I think we ended up using all of Nana's lemonade. But in the end I know we some had money. I don't know how much. I don't know who got it. I just remember we had fun sitting in the heat and getting excited over costumers.

Want to see more pictures of this fun adventure???

https://picasaweb.google.com/beautyoftheearth3579/IntoTheArchives2Lemonade?feat=directlink