Have you heard the news?

Did you know that I moved? Can you guess where?

Maybe this will help...

That's right! I live in Washington DC, our nation's capitol!

Have you ever been here before? Anything special you think I should go see?

Send in the clowns...I had a birthday!!

Hey guys!! I just turned 11 at the end of June (the 27th, to be exact) and last weekend I had a super fun carnival party! I wish you all could have been there to celebrate with me, it was so much fun!

All of the invitations came with little tickets the guests brought in order to be admitted to my carnival.

Let me show you around!

We hung up a striped fabric outside to be a nice background.

Lots of carnival themed threats!

A delicious cake...

and lots of games!
Erika and Annie try to guess how many M&Ms are in the jar -
How many do you think there are?

While they put in their guesses, the rest of us had a 3 legged race!

Jayda and I had a great plan to win - we kept practicing - "inside, outside, inside, outside"! We are a great team!
But then the actual race began and I'm not sure what happened...
Lanie and Kennedy sailed right past us and by the finish line.

Where did we go wrong?
Next we played the duck pond. We had to race our rubber ducks across the water, using straws to propel them.
 My favorite activity at my party was the photobooth! We had lots of silly props for everyone to play with - Time for presents! A cowboy hat! And boots! Don't I look stylish? One present left.. Wow!! What an adorable owl pillow for my bed! Only one thing left to do now, and that's cut the cake! Everyone gathered around and began to sing, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to yooooou, Happy Birthday dear Piper! Happy Birthday to you!" Sharing cake with friends is the best part of my birthday! What is your favorite thing about your birthday?

Beach House

Last week I stayed up on the coast of Washington in a perfect beach house! The beach up there is not hot and dry and you need a sweater instead of a swimsuit, but we still had some great sunny days!
 I cruised around the little town on my bike, and then on down to the beach. The beaches aren't crowded at all, and it's a lot easier to find neat shells and things! Do you like my starfish?
 Will you be going near any beaches this summer?

Home Again

I had such a wonderful time in New York with Inky, but at last it was finally time for me to go home.

Why is it that nothing seems to fit when you pack it up to come home? It all fits fine when you pack to go there!
"

I waved goodbye to Inky. I hope that I see her again soon! Do you have any friends who live far away?



Visiting is fun, but coming home again is always one of the best parts. I missed my room - but now I have more fun things to put in it to remind me of the time I spent back East!

I pinned my Junior Ranger badge onto my bulletin board..

Put the awesome stuffed panda bear Inky bought for me at the zoo on my shelf...

And my ugly doll found a new home on my bed!

And I get to wear the shirt I got at my favorite place we visited - American Girl Place New York!

Life seems quiet after all of the fun things I have been doing, but it's nice to have some quiet time. Right now I'm going to snuggle up, relax, and read Meet Cecile - remember how I got her for Christmas?

Valentine Crafts with Inky

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

This weekend, Inky and I got out her craft supplies and set them up on her dining room table. We were making valentines for our friends!

I made pink valentines, of course! I used stickers with kitties saying "You're the Cat's Meow!" and stickers with honeybees saying "Bee Mine!" I think they look beautiful.

To help keep our energy up, Inky's Mom made us a plate of sugar cookies with pink frosting and sprinkles. Not only were they delicious, but they were the perfect cookies to eat while making valentines.

Inky and I dressed in our best Valentine outfits. I wore my valentine skirt and my special pink and red argyle tights. Inky wore her new narwhal tee. The dinner room looked perfectly lovely with all the heart garlands that Inky and I had made.

Before long, we had made enough valentines to send to our friends all over the country. (Of course we made some for our families too!)

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Make sure to give your family lots of hugs and your friends lots of high-fives!

National Zoo & Washington Monument

Remember how Inky and I went to Washington, DC to see the Mariinsky Ballet with Inky's aunt? We actually got to stay for the entire weekend. While we were there I got to fulfill one of my goals for the year- I wanted to see a real, live Giant Panda! Inky and I had the chance to visit the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park- aka, the National Zoo.



We started out at the Panda Pavilion, where there is a big gift shop full of panda-themed items. There is a big panda statue outside, so we had to climb on it for a photo.



Then, we went to the Asia Trail- the section of the zoo where the pandas live. There is a big building with different exhibit spaces for both kinds of pandas- Giant Pandas (my favorite!) and Red Pandas (Inky's favorite!). We saw two big adult pandas eating bamboo. There were some little exhibits for kids to look at. In this photo, Inky and I are playing in one of the crates the zookeepers use to keep the pandas active and busy.



In the outside exhibit area, the red pandas were exploring their exhibit. Just like Giant Pandas, the Red Panda's main food is bamboo. Inky told me she loves to eat bamboo shoots in stir fry; we promised we'd ask her parents to make some for us.



There is a cute statue in the Asia Trail of two little red pandas, so Inky and I had to have our photo taken there too. Inky kept saying she wished she had a magic cupboard like the book Indian in the Cupboard, so that she could make the big panda statue come alive! I thought that might be a little scary, but a baby red panda would be pretty cute.



After we visited the pandas, we walked around the rest of the zoo. Most of the animals were inside, because it was very cold. Luckily, we found the Small Mammal House. There was a big statue of an aardvark outside. We had to take a photo to send our parents. The National Zoo really has a lot of animal statues!



As we left the zoo, we walked past the cheetah exhibit. Don't they look a tiny bit scary in their den? I bet they were cold- none of the other African animals were outside that day.



We stopped by the gift shop on the way out. Inky and I decided to buy each other a present- but we're going to keep them hidden until Valentine's Day, when we'll surprise each other with our presents.

After that, we rode the DC Metro to the National Mall. It was really cool! So far, I've only been on subways in New York City and Washington, but Inky said I was a pro. I figured out our route all by myself!



There's a ranger station near the Washington Monument; we went there to turn in our Junior Ranger workbooks. The Junior Ranger program is a little bit like Girl Scouts. Kids can do a little workbook about a National Park and then earn a badge. Inky and her friend Violet have about twenty badges each, but this was my first one. I was proud to earn it in our nation's capitol. When the ranger swore us in as official Junior Rangers, I knew I would keep my promise to protect our nation's treasures.



After we got our badges, we had to go to Union Station so we could catch the train back up to New York City, where Inky lives. Before we left, Inky snapped this photo of me in front of the Washington Monument. We had a great trip! I hope I'll be back someday!