Another Summer, Another Pageant

I'd have to say that the highlight of Hannah's summer was almost certainly the Miss American Coed Pageant, where she won the state talent title and also was named Miss Keystone State (one of three overall titles awarded).
Hannah and I got to spend the weekend in Harrisburg, while Rob and Lizzie did fun things (I hope!) at home. The pageant was live-streamed on the internet so I know a lot of you got to see it, but here are some pictures from the weekend.
Oh, and Hannah's win qualified her to compete in the National MAC Pageant, Thanksgiving week at DisneyWorld. I think we are ALL excited about that.

This pageant system separates talent, photogenic and modeling and a couple other categories into optionals. To win an overall crown you are judged on your personal introduction, you eveningwear choice and modeling and you interview outfit and content. This pageant system also sends out their scores, so you know how well you did and where you need some work.

Hannah won talent, so we know she's good with that. Here she is singing "On My Own." We are doing something different for the National Competition because even though she won, the judges thought the song was "too old" for her division, which is 10-12 year olds. I completely do NOT agree, but since we're in it to win it, we've made a change:

Here she is accepting her talent award and check. YAY!!!:

In between the optional and the required competitions there was a pajama party with a frozen them. It was FUN. The girls all got to make their own sashes and give themselves a title. Hannah was Miss Hamster Lover. They also played a game where they were in teams and the girls had to dress one of their members up and then they had to model. Here's Hannah with her sash:

There was lots of dancing. Our friend Cassidy (last year's Miss Pennsylvania Sweetheart) is right behind Hannah.

 And then they finished it off with a giant "Let it Go" sing along.

The next morning we were up bright and early for interview. I love Hannah's interview suit and although she was a little nervous about interview she did well (she actually won interview for her age group). The judges noted that her skirt was a little big (that's how specific they get!) so I took it in for Nationals. It's even prettier in person and green is a good color on Hannah (really any jeweltone works!) This picture is her with Miss Patty who is the National Director of this pageant system.

And now on to the main event! Hannah modeled really well, and got great scores for her smile. I got pretty awful scores for the dress (not to mention that the top came unhooked when she was onstage .. luckily she caught it before there was a wardrobe malfunction!!) so we have something new and stunning for Nationals! Here she is modeling. The dress was pretty but it really did not fit her well as it was a little short.

 We ran into some Cinderella friends, too. Daniela (in the yellow) and Adriana both won their titles, too, so we'll see them in Florida. YIPPEE!!

And the winner of the Miss Keystone PreTeen title is: HANNAH RASMUSSEN!!

Here she is with her crown, sash and flowers. Next stop FLORIDA!

 Oh, actually our next stop was Aunt Terry's house for a party. It was on our way home and even though I was exhausted, it was fun to see Hannah get to show off her new crown and sash!

Since I don't want to leave Lizzie out of this post, here's a picture of her photo bombing the picture of Hannah's MAC stuff. NOW, on to Florida!

Pokyournose!

August is the month of the yearly gathering of the Garrity clan up in Split Rock. This was our 10th year in the Poconos and our eighth at the Split Rock condos. It really feels like "home away from home" since we know where everything is and where to eat (or not eat!) but we always try to do something new each year. This year that meant horseback riding for the girls. Both Rob and T.A. has to leave for a while to do work or pick up the groceries I left behind or whatever so we did make some other changes this year, too.

The one thing we didn't change was the FUN. We always laugh a lot in the Poconos and while there is a lake and a lagoon and karaoke and movies and bowling and an arcade and several pools... we really spend most of the week sitting outside the condos just talking to each other (and laughing). So here are the photos:

Fun at the Lagoon:

 They have turtle races (which go a lot faster than you'd think) and for the first year ever, I think all the kids won something (or were given a parents' winnings) So everyone was happy and got to spend money in the gift shop:

 A rare sighting of Uncle T.A. smiling:

 Lizzie learning to drive.  (Yes she's only 12. Yes she's probably better than me.)

Our annual photo at the Dam. I wouldn't be surprised if Hannah is taller than Rob in next year's photo:

 Dinner at the Boulder View over looking Big Boulder lake. Hannah had the shrimp and  both girls had a Shirley Temple which for them means a cup of maraschino cherries with just a splash of ginger ale.

 And so here we are at the farm for the riding. This is a huge shoutout to Aunt Tina who bravely sat where none of us wanted to sit -- atop the horse. Here she looks pretty happy.

The farm also had goats and chickens and other things with wings. And bunnies, too. Here's Lizzie feeding a goat. (Which she can do at our neighbors, but it's more fun on vacation!)

 And here they are ready to ride, left to right, Aunt Tina, Hannah, Lizzie and Brenna:

 Lizzie desperately wants to take riding lessons, so she was thrilled with this part of the vacation:

Here's Hannah with her horse:

 Lizzie on the trail, thanks to my long lens. I was sitting under a tree watching the chickens at this point:

We always go to the Sunset Grill for a big family dinner. And while our family was a little smaller this year, all the important people were here (ha, ha!) So here are the younger cousins:

And here is my beautiful family (thanks to Ann for snapping the photo!)

We also spent time at the Waterpark. The other cousins didn't join us this year, so Hannah and Lizzie had to run around with each other or else make new friends. Here's Hannah's new friend:

Lizzie through the water mushroom:

 The girls on one of the water slides. I am so happy they no longer need me to go down the slide with them. Or really do anything except for sign into the free wifi and go in the wave pool every once in a while.

 Oh, and here's my favorite photo. It's Grandpa and the younger cousins and Grandpa's actually smiling (because we were all going home the next day???)

 Lizzie trying to be incognito as she sucks down her 4,000th Shirley Temple of the week:

This is why they call it Sunset Grill ... lovely scene for photos!

Rob and Tommy often coordinate their wardrobes for family gatherings:

 We finished off the week with Hannah singing "Jar of Hearts" at the karaoke night. She was awesome and so was the ice cream we bought to celebrate her success!

Summer weeks 6 and 7

Yes I know I'm behind. I cannot believe that school starts on MONDAY!! That's the day after tomorrow. I feel like summer is just getting started .... but when I look at these pictures I am reminded that we have, indeed had quite the summer. So here are pictures of more of our adventures!

We live very near the Ryerss Farm for Aged Equines and with Lizzie's renewed interest in horses and Hannah's general love of all animals, we decided to go spend the day with the old horses. We brought carrots and the place actually has treats that you can feed the horses, so we used some of those, too.

Hannah feeding a big horse:

Both girls feeding a mini horse (don't ask me why they are wearing matching tee shirts, by the way, as I have NO idea!)

Hannah getting bolder with feeding. The horses are nice, but some do bite, so you have to be careful.

See what I mean? They bite (but wasn't it nice of this horse to pose with the sign?)

We also spent time at Diane's Discount pets and ALMOST came home with this cat. I seriously wanted to. I loved this kitten and this kitten loved us. But we thought that Dad might not love the kitten and we love him more, so we left this adorable little girl at the pet store.

We also decided to have lunch at my office on day. Pizza and pierogies are always a happy lunch ... moreso when Happy Medium Intuitive Life Coaching is paying for it!

Here's another picture of (a couple?) of old geezers who have been/should be put out to pasture!

Lizzie was a little more worried about the whole biting thing, but soon discovered that horses don't leap for treats the way dogs do. :)

 This was the week that I built our fire pit, too! So we got to make s'mores in the backyard AND burn some of the brush that Rob's been clearing away. Win Win!

Here's a better shot of the fire pit. In the background you can see the box it came in that Hannah turned into a s'mores station, which the dog is guarding.

Oh, and Hannah invented the Oreo S'more, too. It's the regular s'more stuff, but you put it all inside an oreo cookie instead of the graham crackers:

We also put up the tent, although so far no one has spent the night in it. (Well maybe some spiders!) It's fun to hang out in during the day though!

Hannah used the last of the sparklers during our camp out, too!

There was some rainy weather during these two weeks, too, so OF COURSE the girls worked on a craft project. Here are the finished products. Oh and if you know the girls really well, you'll be able to figure out which girl made which cat. I'll tell you in my next blog post, which will probably be tomorrow, since I am behind!!

70s Summer, Week 5

What's summer without a few sniffles? A sore throat?
Or a 103.5 fever?

That's what stopped all the fun around here during the fifth week of our summer. Lizzie picked up a virus (probably at Hershey Park) that spiked her fever up to 103.5 for a couple of days, gave her a sore throat and a lot of congestion.

For those of you who know (and love!) Lizzie, like I do, she simply does not DO sick. She hates it more than anything and we must ALL hear about it ALL THE TIME. Her throat hurts. She's hot. Her back hurts. Her nose is running. Etc. Etc. Etc. Oh, and did you know her throat hurts and her nose is running and her back hurts?

But then you look at this face and you can't help but forget all the complaining (almost). Girly girl was sick for the better part of week 5 and even a couple days into week 6. I am happy to report that despite her best efforts, the complaining stopped and she was healed!

We did manage to get in a few activities before the sickness struck though. First and foremost (and always a favorite of mine!) we got to hang out with our friends the Entrekins. We don't see them much during the school year (well, I do) because Amy homeschools and I do not. So she's always busy doing fun things with her kids and I'm always busy filling out paperwork and buying school supplies for mine. So during the summer we try to get the kids together and this was the week that it happened.

And of course there was lots of swimming. There is always lots of swimming (although this summer the girls have been playing with our neighbor most days and going to the pool in the evening even though we ALL belong to the pool. Anyway, here they are working on their handstands:

And finally the happily jumping into the pool shot: