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

St. Patty's Day Class Party

Hello future readers!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Did you remember to wear green? In our school, if you don't wear green, you get pinched! This morning before the bell rang, Danny and his friend Jason went around pinching everyone who forgot to wear green, even the 6th graders! Man, they're lucky they didn't get creamed! Anyway, last Friday, Miss LaSalle told us we were gonna have a party for St. Patrick's Day. Do you know how hard it is to pay attention in class when you know you're gonna have a party? After we came back in from the playground after lunch, we took our weekly Monday spelling pre-test, and then Miss LaSalle put on a party hat, took out one of the cookies she brought, and told us it was party time! YAY! Far out!

She passed out party hats, and we each got 2 different kinds of cookies, and some lemon-lime green punch in green plastic cups.

Cheryl liked the mint chocolate chip cookies so much, she had 4 of them!

It was really fun! After we stuffed ourselves with cookies and punch, Miss LaSalle told us that leprechauns had left some gold coins for us behind her desk while we were at lunch.

I don't think any of us believed her, but we all played along like we did. She asked Cheryl to pass them out.

The coins were chocolate wrapped in gold foil. Yummy! Miss LaSalle is pretty groovy. She likes to send us home with goodies on holidays, and makes being in school a little more fun with these parties. I think she's the nicest teacher in our school! Erin Go Bragh! (Ireland Forever!)

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

Happy Birthday Barbie!

Hello future readers!

Before we went to church this morning, my mom was reading the paper, and it said that today is Barbie's birthday! Barbie is a super groovy fashion doll. You can change her clothes and get cool stuff for her like her Country Camper, and her Town House. And today she's 16 years old! Wow, Barbie is a teenager! My mom said she got her first Barbie when she was 10. It's hard to believe my mom played the same kind of dolls I like to play with! Well, after church, Cheryl invited me and Robyn over to play Barbie birthday party. I grabbed my Barbies out of my toy box and walked over to Cheryl's house.

Well Cheryl has a Barbie Town House, and she even had a cake. I thought that was pretty groovy.

The Town House is really outta site! It has 3 floors, 6 rooms and an elevator. I've always wanted one, but my mom said it's too big and there's no space in my room for it. I only have 3 Barbies. My favorite is Malibu Barbie (or Suntan Barbie as I call her). I love to take her to the beach.

We put all our Barbies around the table and sang Happy Birthday. It was fun. I hope girls like me play with dolls in the future. I couldn't imagine life without dolls!  I hope Barbie will be around for a lot more birthdays. Happy Birthday Barbie!

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

My Friend Crissy

Hello future readers,

Well,  it's raining here in Springfield again. There have been a couple of sunny days, but it's been raining a lot these past 2 weeks. It's been a real drag having to stay indoors so much. My mom says I'm getting "cabin fever". I don't care what it's called, I just wish the sun would come out already.

Since I can't go out and play, I decided to record some music. My mom gave me a bunch of blank tapes, so I got out my radio and my tape recorder, tuned into my favorite station, and whenever a song came on I liked, I hit the record button.

Boomer likes to keep me company when I record, but sometimes he messes up the recordings with his barking and panting. He's being pretty good today, though.

I was halfway through, and I was just about to turn the tape over, when my friend Crissy came in.

Outta site! I really don't spend a lot of time with Crissy anymore because she's always so busy. You see, her mom used to be a big fashion designer from Chicago. Now she designs groovy kids clothes for a company outside of town, and Crissy is one of the models for their catalogs. She has photo shoots almost every weekend now, and I hardly ever see her, except for school. When she first started modeling and making her own money, I was kinda jealous. But now I kinda feel bad for her, because it seems like she never has any fun anymore. I was really glad to see her, and so was Boomer. When she sat down on the beanbag, Boomer went right over to her. She asked to see my radio. I passed it to her and she changed the station.

Far out! "Get It Together" by the Jackson 5 came on. We started singing with the radio, and Boomer started barking! It's a good thing I wasn't recording.  Then I got a great idea. I turned my tape over, hit the record button, and started pretending I was a big radio DJ! "This is Joyful Julie, coming to you on your AM dial!" Crissy started laughing!

Then Crissy jumped on my bed and joined in as my special guest. We did a radio interview, jokes, and funny voices. It was really fun!

Then we played it back and really got a case of the giggles. We sounded so goofy! My mom must have heard us downstairs, because a few minutes later she came upstairs with a couple of cans of soda, saying that she thought the "radio stars" might be thirsty. Right on! Have I mentioned how groovy my mom is?

Crissy and I had so much fun. I wish it could always be like this. I know she's saving for college and a new car for when she gets old enough to drive, but she's just a kid, like the rest of us. Kids are suppose to have fun. I know I sound selfish, but I miss the old days when Crissy would come over on Friday nights, and we'd watch the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family together, eat pizza and ice-cream, and listen to records while we sang into our hairbrush "microphones". Her mom said she could quit anytime she wanted to, but I guess she just isn't ready to yet. Oh well...at least we can still play on the playground at school. *sigh*

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