The Easter Picnic

Hello future readers,

Happy Easter!

Today was a super groovy day! It started like always; Boomer jumping on me and waking me up. I'll sure be glad when my playful pooch outgrows this! (at least I hope he'll outgrow it!)

Anyway, after I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I remembered that today was Easter! I left my purple Easter bucket out on my toy box for the Easter Bunny to fill. And he did!

The first thing I saw was a doll! There was a doll in my bucket....a Blythe doll! I love her commercial! "Open your eyes to the world of Blythe..."

She's so pretty and she came with a comb and a pinwheel that really spins!

I also got an Easter coloring book, 3 chocolate bunnies, eggs filled with candy, and the Easter Bunny found the eggs I colored and put them in, too!

Outta site! I wanted to play with my new doll, but I had to get dressed for church. I put on my pretty new Easter sundress. The weather man said it was gonna be a beautiful day!

After church, my mom and I met up with Cheryl, Kim and their parents and went to Springfield Park for a picnic!  Our parents let us pick the spot to set up. Our parents wanted to sit at a picnic table, but we wanted to sit on a blanket on the grass.

My mom packed sandwiches, chips, cookies, fruit and a big thermos of lemonade, yum!

We laughed and talked and ate. It was really fun!

After we ate, Cheryl wanted to fly her new kite she got from the Easter Bunny. It was a beautiful butterfly shaped kite. She ran across the grass to get it into the wind.

She finally got it to go nice and high. Some other folks were flying their kites, too, but Cheryl's was the prettiest one in the sky.

After we got the kite down, Kim wanted to pick flowers for our moms.

I picked another one for me to put in my room, so I could remember this day.  It was really dynamite. I hope you all had a Happy Easter too!

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

Coloring Easter Eggs

Hello future readers,

It's almost Easter! I'm off from school this week for Easter vacation, and I decided to invite a few friends over to color Easter eggs with me. My mom went to the store and bought all the stuff we needed.

Robyn, Wendy and April came over right after lunch. They couldn't wait to get started!

As we were coloring our eggs, we started talking about our Easter plans. Robyn was leaving tomorrow for a big family reunion up north. She has so many cousins, aunties, uncles and even a great-grandma! She's lucky. Wendy and April are gonna spend Easter up at their uncle's beach house, and have a clam bake! That sounds like fun! My mom and I, and Kim's family and Cheryl's family are going to Springfield Park for a picnic right after church. Picnics are really groovy and I can hardly wait to go!

Back to the eggs! We didn't dunk the eggs in cups of egg dye like most people do. We used paint brushes and egg dye with only a little water in them to make the colors come out brighter. April was making polka-dots. Robyn made herself! I was making a butterfly and Wendy put stripes on her egg.

It's not easy painting pictures on eggs. Sometimes they roll a little bit. But I think they came out really pretty. And I know this means I'm gonna be eating egg salad sandwiches in my lunch all next week. I guess I don't really mind, as long as my mom puts the bacon crunchies in it. That's my favorite way to eat egg salad. It's super yummy!

We each colored one more egg. When we finished, Mom wanted a group picture of us holding our eggs.

We all decided to wait until Easter Sunday to eat our eggs. I think I was gonna save mine for breakfast on Easter morning! We sat around and rapped awhile, and then it was time for my friends to go home. We were having so much fun, that before we knew it, it was dinner time! I guess it's like that when  you've got good friends.  I gotta go now, but I'll tell you all about my picnic in my next entry!

Until then, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

Kickball at Springfield Elementary School

Hello future readers,

On Friday afternoon, we had our weekly kickball game at school. It was Miss LaSalle's class against Mrs. Johnson's class. Playing sports really isn't my scene, but I like playground games like kickball, tether ball, and wall ball. But the funny thing to me is that regular sports games like baseball and football always have the same rules, but playground games always have different rules depending on who you play with, or what school or camp you go to. I guess it's because kids are making up the rules, and not grown-ups. Anyway, Mrs. Johnson's class had scored 2 homers, and had 3 outs, so it's was Miss LaSalle's class's turn to kick.

Cheryl was the game pitcher because we have 8 kids in our class, and Mrs. Johnson only has 7, and Crissy was absent that day.

Lisa was up first. She's a really good kicker. She made it to first base and stayed there.

Danny was up next. Even though I like Danny, I don't always like playing kickball with him, because he always thinks he's got something to prove 'cos he's the only boy in our class. He made it to first, while Lisa ran to second.

I was up next. I'm an OK kicker, but I always get nervous that I'm gonna kick a foul ball.

I made it to first , Lisa just made third, but April caught the ball in the outfield and threw it to Melody at second before Danny's foot touched the base. Lisa's a faster runner than Danny. So Danny was out. He grumbled all the way back to the bench.

Sunny was up next. I hope she could kick Lisa home!

She kicked a foul ball. Susan caught it and threw it back to Cheryl.

Sunny kicked again and it was good. I ran to second. I didn't know if I could make it to third, but Sunny kicked the ball way in the outfield.

 Sunny went to first and Lisa bolted from third. Would she make it home?

She did it! Lisa made it to home! Miss LaSalle's class got a homer!

We all slapped Lisa some five, even Danny. We had lotsa fun. I hope kids still like playground games in the future. (I wonder if they are even still playgrounds?) Gotta go now!

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

Rolling, rolling, rolling along!

Hello future readers,

Yesterday, after my mom and I got back from the grocery store, Boomer was yipping, barking and panting, and kept jumping for the knob on our front door. He really wanted to go out! So I took him out on the  front lawn to play a game of fetch.

It was a really dynamite day. Nice and sunny with a little breeze blowing. I couldn't blame Boomer for wanting to get out. I guess he gets "Spring Fever" just like the rest of us. After awhile Stephanie and her cousin Melody came rolling up on their roller skates and scooter.

Stephanie's dad had made the girls this really groovy scooter out of an old orange crate and wheels from an old metal strap-on roller skate. Melody and Stephanie put a funny license plate on the front and painted flowers and things all over it. There were even footprints were your feet go! It looked  really cool. Stephanie let Melody have the first ride, and she used her new roller skates. They wanted to know if Boomer and I wanted to go for a little ride around our neighborhood. Melody explained that the scooter had enough room for Boomer to ride inside! Far out! So I got out my bike, and we went for a ride.

Our neighborhood has a lot of hills, so I was worried that Stephanie wouldn't be able to keep up. She did pretty good, though and she only fell once. But that didn't slow her down. She got right back up and caught up to Melody and me. She even passed us!

After riding around for almost an hour, we needed a rest. We stopped in front of Stephanie and Melody's house, and talked, and told jokes, and laughed ourselves silly! Stephanie asked "What's the last thing you take off before you go to bed at night" I didn't know, and neither did Melody. She said, "Your feet off the floor!" Hahaha! That was a good one!

Well, it was getting late and I had to go home for dinner. Mom was making chicken ala king with rice, yum, yum! So I put my puppy in the basket of my bike and took off for home.

I wonder if kids still ride bikes and scooters and go roller-skating in the future? Maybe you have mini spaceships and go streaking through the stars and race your friends to different planets and asteroids.  But whatever you ride in, I hope you still have sunny Spring days, and groovy friends to hang out with, like I do.

Until next time future readers,

Your friend,

Julie Newman