The Trip, Mt. Rushmore, and Devils Tower

This is Mt. Rushmore - up close and personal. Amazing!

My family and I just got back a few weeks ago from a wonderful road trip to visit my grandparents in Iowa.

It was really such a great trip. The driving wasn't even too bad. ;) We drove through about five states: Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, and then part of Iowa. Wyoming was so...western! (It's called the 'Forever West' state...) It was really cool! It definitely feels western...and looks it. ;) In the part of Wyoming we drove through, there were definitely not many cities; a lot of open land with rolling hills and farmland. On the drive home we even saw a herd of wild horses! I think it was my favorite state we passed through.

South Dakota was pretty too! On the way to Iowa, we passed a field of sunflowers, and the sun was setting...it was beautiful! South Dakota has a bunch of flat land mixed in with rolling hills as far as the eye can see, so it's somewhat similar to Wyoming, but not quite the same.

Montana? Well, it seems a lot like Idaho and Washington. ;)

Staying at my grandparents' house was really great, o' course (we always sleep out in their camper in the backyard). We did so much while there! One Sunday we got together with some of our relatives and had a fish fry. (My great-uncle Ed made homemade ice cream...but it was sugar-free, so it didn't taste very good.) ;)  Then there was a whole day of shopping in Des Moines, a trip to a fun tea house (where my sister bought a light-up cherry blossom bonsai tree!), and mowing yards - yes! I learned how to mow. :) My grandpa taught me! Then there were the good ol' days - and evenings - of just relaxing together playing Dominoes Train, and sometimes drinking blended coffees. :) 

Mowing! That's me on the mower, and my grandpa and younger brother, Jeremiah in the back.

Bike rides around town - some days to visit with some of my grandpa's buddies at coffee time at 4:00pm, fishing, kayaking, and even speaking at a Night Owls' meeting about homeschooling! (That was frightening. I don't necessarily want to do that very often.) And there was helping out around my grandparents' house trimming trees, cleaning out the gutters, and hauling it all to the shrubbery-dump on the lawn mowers. And on the last day we were there I had the really fun idea to have a water-fight, complete with buckets, hoses, and...eventually puddles. That. Was. Fun. Crazy, right!? ;) 

Oh, and I actually got to watch Little Women! It was on TV when we were there. I must admit, I was rather disappointed with the second half - we watched it in two nights. I was loving the first hour and fifteen minutes - so fun! I loved Laurie, and they all got along so great, and then.... Part two came along. And it was horrible! Okay, so it wasn't horrible...but maybe it was. Let me explain: Laurie becomes some completely different person when Jo rejects his proposal, and then he ends up with Amy!? I loved him in the beginning! And then Jo marries a German professor, and I admit, he was probably better for her than Laurie was, but... *sighs* Anyways, it had a super fun beginning half, and the ending just...ruined it for me.

I got to reread my favorite book while there (if you guessed Brothers at Arms, you'd be right). Again, it's such a good book. I love it! If you haven't read it yet...read it! ;) I will be updating my review on here soon - well, just posting another - so be on the lookout for that. Oh, and in August I reread Secret of the Lost Settlement, the third installment in the Men of Grit series by Mr. John Horn. It was a lot better the second time around. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it more because I knew what was going to happen - I wasn't completely freaked out wondering... "What is going to happen to these characters!?" Yeah...so, I am hoping to review that soon too. :)

I believe fall is finally upon us. It got down in the 40s last night! Granted, it's still about sixty-four out right now, so that's not cold at all.

On a whole different note, you might've noticed that I added a page to my part of the blogosphere, titled 'My Reviews'. This is just a page listing all of the reviews I have on my blog, with links to all of them. If you're looking for a new book, go check it out! :) Oh, and I updated my 'About Me' page - I like it better now!

Now, below I'm sharing some pictures from vacation with you. On the drive back home, we stopped by Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, and Waldrug (also in SD). Mt. Rushmore was...really cool; amazing. I would recommend going. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip! I got a snowglobe of both Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower too... So now they're on my bookshelf. :)

And more good news: My brother, Jesse, fixed my computer. (Thank you!!!!) It was running incredibly slow on the internet - so much so that I didn't even get on it anymore. All he did was shut down some programs, and a few other odds and ends, and it's working so much better now! Just thought I'd update y'all... ;)

Seeing in detail - and there is a ton of detail! They even carved the pupils of everyone's eyes. It's really amazing to look at!

The gals. (Mom, me, and Ashley)

The badlands - well, in the distance, that is. We didn't drive through them this time.

Ashley, Jeremiah, and I! Oh, and don't forget the fluffy thing on the right: our dog, Azaliah.

A cool looking bridge we saw on the way to Mt. Rushmore.

Driving through Wyoming on our way to Devils Tower.

We're here!

Devils Tower, up close. So big!

And....there are more pictures of course, but these are mainly from our trip back! My grandparents took more photos while we were there that we'll have to get some of. :)

-Micaiah-

The Island Queen (Book Review)

My hardback edition!

The Island Queen
By: R.M. Ballantyne
My Rating: 4 stars
Ages:
(Family read-aloud) 11 and up
(Personal Reading) 13/14 and up (for sometimes difficult-to-understand words and phrasing. Also, there is a scene with drunk men, and in the beginning chapter there are some deaths that can be skimmed over when reading to young kids. And there is a skeleton.)

I had The Island Queen by R.M. Ballantyne sitting on my shelf, left untouched, for some months before I picked it up one Saturday morning a while back and started reading it (randomly. I do this sometimes - haha!). The beginning line has such a poetic, scene-setting touch that I decided to read on, completely interested.

And it was a fun read.

It felt a bit different from the other Ballantyne books I've read. It was shorter, or felt shorter, for one thing, and everything moved rather quickly (which wasn't necessarily a bad thing).

I really enjoyed two of the main characters' playful banter - they made for moments of laughter! I also smiled through almost a whole chapter, which never happens to me! The three main characters - Pauline, Otto, and Dominick - are a good bunch, if a bit too perfect.

Plus, one of my favorite authors used a quote from this novel in one of his blog posts, and when I came across it, I thought 'That's familiar!' and then realized where I had read it before. I was slightly excited... (Okay, so, yes, I was excited...)

I do want to note that I would've preferred a different ending. Not that the ending was bad (it wasn't), but, I suppose, I just wish things would've happened with more of an actual end. Something from the book leaves us hanging, and there weren't really many hints as to what happened afterwards.

Overall, I enjoyed this book! It was a quick, light, and charming read, with funny moments and some enjoyable characters. Recommended!

View all my reviews

Fighting the Flames (Book Review)

Fighting the Flames: A Tale of the London Fire Brigade
Rating: 4 stars
By: R.M. Ballantyne
Ages: 13 and up (an attempted murder, the subject of fires, a death, etc.)

I've waited quite a while to review this book (I read it in May of this year). But during the months after having read it, I would periodically think of it and I'd just get happy inside (or tell my sister that she had to read it, of course). Fighting the Flames was really the most enjoyable book by Ballantyne that I've read to date.

Willie Wilders. Enough said. ;) He was my favorite character, by far. At first he seems like just a mischievous boy, but as the story progresses you see more of who he really is. Yes, he had fun confusing his uncle (granted, it would've been funny, considering the situation!), and then his uncle never got to find out the truth until a good bit of time later, but, aside from that...Willie's not too terribly mischievous. ;) I just loved how sweet he was! He was incredibly giving, even when he didn't have much to spare. I really liked that you see him as a young man (I'm not actually sure how old he was. I think he was a young teenager in the beginning - maybe fourteen or so?) and then the story skips ahead to when he's maybe twenty-one. It was cool, because the whole book had progressed during the seven years that you didn't read about, and everything was coming to a climax by that time.

I enjoyed the glimpses into the fire-fighters' lives and reading about their adventures. Plus, Willie's older brother Frank is part of the fire-fighting team you hear about, so everything weaves together in a really cool way.

Plus, Ballantyne managed to engrain his faith into the story as well. It's somewhat subtle, never thrown at the reader. I enjoy finding little moments of wisdom in his books!

And I just have to mention: It's inspiring to find that Ballantyne did his research the old-fashioned way: he went into the 'field', spending time with the fire-fighters and even going on runs with them. How cool, right!?

Anyways, back to the book.

As I mentioned a little earlier, everything weaves together - or, I should say, everyone. Ballantyne did something really neat with this novel: he connected every character through another character. All of the storylines overlap. Each character's story intertwines with someone else's. I've never read a book like that. Suffice to say, I liked it. A lot. He definitely made it work!

The book, as with all of Ballantyne's, can be somewhat long in descriptions, so it did take me a little while to get into it. And there is a somewhat intense scene that pops up nearer to the end that two characters' stories have been building up to. Someone also dies in one of the fires and there is a character who is often drunk (though, Ballantyne always discourages drinking in his books), but nothing is overly described (except for the scene mentioned above).

Overall, the story ends satisfactorily, and maybe even a little surprisingly! I liked most of the characters, I liked the story, and it was informative. I enjoyed Fighting the Flames, and it has officially become my favorite of the Ballantyne novels that I've read. Do I see a reread in the future? Probably.

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An Update + Birthdays + Road Trip + Book Challenge

Wow, is that a title... ;)

It has been a long time since I last posted (sorry about that!), but a lot has gone on in the interim. I have been working towards tying up the loose ends of school, and I literally just did my last test in Home Ec. yesterday!

I finally finished the quilt that I've been sewing, and it actually turned out rather well. (I even used an even slipstitch to sew the spot left open for turning the quilt right side out! I was pretty happy with it...) All that's left is some writing and drawing - hopefully those will go easy enough! :)

This last week has been the week of birthdays (still is, actually)! I had my fifteenth birthday on Monday the 27th, and had a ton of fun. I got some great gifts, including a new purse with a compartment the perfect size for a book, the 2009, mini-series version of Emma (we watched the first episode last night. Mr. Knightley is quite a good friend to Emma, and I must *cough* admit that so far he's my favorite character.), a novel - Ashburn by Julia Erickson (which I've already read!), and even some new music - Luminate's Welcome to Daylight - which is great if you're looking for music with a lot of depth and message - and Crowder's newest: Neon Steeple.

My niece, Stephanie, and I on my birthday. She's eating a banana. Her face is so funny!

Tuesday, my older brother had his birthday, and we made him a S'mores Pie. Yes, you heard right! S'mores Pie! It was so good I thought I'd share the recipe with you (thank Pinterest!). It's super sweet, but good. And Jesse liked it so much...I've made it again today. (It's cooling.) It's great for a once-in-a-while-treat!

My pie from today!

All right, enough rambling about the pie. ;)

Tomorrow is my sister's twenty-second birthday. She's requested banana bread for her special dessert, so Mom and I will throw that together tomorrow morning.

(Can you tell I like baking?)

I'm also very excited...because in exactly 11 or 12 days, we're going on a road trip to visit my grandparents! All the way from Washington to Russell, Iowa! That's a 1,600 mile trip through Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, and through parts of Iowa I've never seen...

And I'm actually looking forward to the trip (albeit, it'll be long. Two or three days long.). I'll get to see new places, stop by Waldrug, South Dakota, and Devil's Tower in Wyoming, and I'll also bring a book along. (When Jesus Wept, Into the Depths, and Ain't We Got Fun will be making the trip with me... As long as I don't cave in and read one first! I'll make sure I don't...) ;) I am so excited to go back to Russell - we haven't been on vacation there in nearly three years! - and spend time with my grandma and grandpa. We'll go to tea houses, shop, play Domino Train, maybe kayak and fish, and just hang out. Oh, and my grandpa goes up a few blocks for coffee everyday, so we get to go get frozen yogurt with him! Perhaps I'll do a post when we get back detailing our adventures!

Oh...and one last thing: While there, WE'RE GOING TO SEE TIM HAWKINS LIVE!!!!! I am so excited. Tim Hawkins, the Christian comedian, is hilarious to watch, and I can't wait to see him in person! It'll be so fun!

Aside from all the wonderful craziness (okay, so it hasn't been that crazy), I have been endeavoring to finish a book challenge a friend and I decided to do together for 2015. It's actually a pretty short one, but it's been kind of fun. I have read a book in each category listed except one! I thought I'd share with you:

(Links go to my Goodreads review of that book!)

Read a book that...

Takes place in your state or country... Quiet in His Presence
Makes you cry... The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
You love as a child... Millie's Faithful Heart (based on the books by Martha Finley)
Your best friend recommends... The Heart of Arcrea by Nicole Sager
Features someone that shares your eye color... Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (on the cover I'm pretty sure Marianne has brown eyes, but I may need to read another book in this category!)
Is over 500 pages long... Hebbros by Nicole Sager
Begins a series... Ashburn by Julia Erickson
Is in a genre you don't normally read... Hope in Front of Me by Danny Gokey
Has a child main character... The Island Queen by R.M. Ballantyne
Takes place in your favorite time period... It Took a War by Emily Ann Putzke
Is written by an author you've never heard of... Eric Liddell by Catherine Swift
Was made into a movie... Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
Reminds you of someone you love... Bruchko by Bruce Olsen
Includes a Christmas scene... Where Courage Calls by Janette Oke
Is a classic you've never read... Persuasion by Jane Austen (this was actually the first book I read in 2015!)
And last, but not least: Has a great cover... To Be Decided (But I'm pretty sure THIS book - To Get to You by Joanne Bischof - will take this category if I get to read it!)

I've also been reading to complete my Goodreads challenge for this year! Are any of you doing it too? It's a great way to keep track of books, page count, and keep you motivated to read. I really like it! (It's great for keeping the books I've read and want to read in order. I'm not sure how I'd find books to read without it!) Be sure to get an account if you love reading... ;)

To end, I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs from each of the albums I got for my birthday:

'Love is Loud' from Welcome to Daylight:

And Crowder's 'I Am':

Enjoy!

Are you doing any reading challenges? If so, which ones? (I'd love to find some new ones!) Have you watched Emma? What did you think of it? Would you make S'mores Pie - or is it too weird? (It's really good!!)

~Micaiah~

P.S. I probably won't be able to do much, if any, blogging while in Iowa, so I may officially disappear for about three and a half to four weeks! I'll try to post an update or two, but I apologize in advance if I don't get to!

Adventures In the Snow

These pictures were taken all the way back in January, I think, of this year. We're kinda die-hard hikers, you see, (well, at least my brother is, and he gets us all to go along) and we took a hike in the snow!!! It was so fun, and I hope to do it again this winter. We bundled up in our winter jackets and set off...

Where we took our hike was really pretty covered in white. We even got to cross a bridge over rushing water (pictured below)! I only got a few pictures during the start, though. Nonetheless, it was lots of fun - we even broke off icesicles and ate them! Hahaaha! Yeah, we did. ;)

Standing in the cold before we begin...

The bridge! Beautiful, isn't it?

My brother at the top of a snowy hill.

Jeremiah and my nephew, Nathaniel, heading back down!

The bridge.

Heading...down?

Me! :)

Boulders! :)

Heading across...

On the bridge! From left to right: My older brother, Jesse, our dog, Azaliah, my younger brother, Jeremiah, and my older sister, Ashley.

Looking out at the waters.

My brother and his wife (Stephanie, their daughter, is in the baby backpack!).

Looking back!

On the other side - Ashley and Jeremiah.

The forest!

A steep, rocky hill covered in snow. On the way back this is where we found the icesicles. :)

More water on the way!

That hike sure was fun! I hope you enjoyed that journey through...our journey? Haha! Never mind. ;)

I'll be back soon with another post, so be on the lookout for that!

-Micaiah-

One Summer's Desire (Book Review)

One Summer's Desire
By: Abigail Prigge
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ages: Probably pre-teens

When the author of One Summer's Desire, Abigail Prigge, offered her book to me in exchange for an honest review, I have to admit I was hesitant when I found out it was contemporary fiction - a genre I rarely ever read. But I accepted! I also felt rather honored to be asked! :)

This story is simple and short. It has some fun moments and some relatable happenings. I liked that it was staged in a summer camp, and the main character, Hadassah (cool name, by the way!), faced trials that I can see myself facing - wanting a friend was something that I was not too long ago struggling with. I liked the message of finding true satisfaction and joy in God - because, honestly, that's the only place where we can be satisfied: resting in His love and the knowledge that He is good and He has great plans in store for us.

I do think I would've liked more of an ending. It seemed too abrupt for me, somewhat making me ask: Is there going to be a sequel? I think the main thing was probably Espen. I know that the book ended with the main character putting her relationship with Espen - or her want of one - in God's hands, but there wasn't resolution to the prank that the campers played on Dassah, and I was kind of disappointed in that. I wanted to see them get together, kinda, but it's actually, come to think of it, good that they didn't, because that was one of the main points of the book: being satisfied in God. Plus, Hadassah is only 16, so that would've been slightly un-relatable or unrealistic in a sense. However, maybe if they would've talked again and smoothed things over I would've been happier! :)

I think the message and the writing were a bit too forced. Also, in the beginning especially, it was rather randomly placed together...one moment the characters are in one place and then all of a sudden you find out they've moved somewhere else, or it just completely switched to something new. That got better as the book progressed, however.

Overall, it had a good message and a diverse cast of characters, but the writing needed to be smoother and maybe not so forced.

*Thanks to the author for letting me review her book!*

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Quote of the Week

"They did not believe that a strong mind means a mind strong enough to exercise its own powers to the ascertainment and reception of truth and the rejection of falsehood and fallacy; strong enough, under the the influence of God's love, to perceive the paths of duty in all their ramifications, and to resolve to follow them. They did not believe that a high spirit, in the true sense of the word, meant a spirit broken down altogether and brought into subjection to it's owner's, not another's, will."

- R.M. Ballantyne, Fighting the Flames