Little Navy Pier Adventure

I had heard that there was a new interactive art exhibit called Impulse at Navy Pier where there are light up, motion activated see saws. I really wanted to go see them but I kept putting it off and never getting there, or getting there during the day when they were locked up and couldn’t be ridden (they put bars on the bottom so they wouldn’t go up and down). I knew the exhibit was only for a short period of time, and when I read that it only went through May 21st and I still hadn’t gone to see them, I contacted my friends and said We have to go!! 

Well, we went on May 21st, the last day. We got there, and the see saws were already gone!!! So sad. But that didn’t stop us from having fun! I hadn’t been to Navy Pier in so long.  We went exploring and I brought Alexis and Tanya to see the sights.

 Tanya and Alex really wanted us to ride on the ferris wheel (and take them with of course!) but we just had fun taking pictures instead.

 This new Ferris wheel, built for Navy Pier’s 100th anniversary which is in July, is higher than the old one, it goes faster, and the ride itself is longer.

 Of course it’s still not even close to being as big as Chicago’s original Ferris Wheel made for the 1893 World Exhibition. That one was 264 feet tall!!!! This one is only 196 feet tall.

 What’s cool about this one is you get to go around 3 times instead of just once, and the gondolas are enclosed, air-conditioned, and contain flat screen TVs. Though, why you’d want to watch tv when you’re on a Ferris wheel is kind of beyond me!

 Of course it’s more expensive to ride than the old one too, which is another reason why we decided to just take pics.

 My sister and I! Hillary’s not really a doll person, but her favorite doll I own is Alexis (she told me to bring her!)

I think Alex and Hillary even look alike!

 Selfies!!

 Tanya and Alex enjoying the city-scape and gardens.

 Chicago is really the prettiest city I’ve ever seen. But I suppose I might be biased since I live around here!

 There was a mirror-wall so we were able to take much better selfie pics!

 Friends!

Girls being super silly! We went down a glass elevator and Hillary cried, “Quick! Take a pic!”

 As we walked along the pier we heard some music: What shall we do with a drunkin sailor, what shall we do with a drunkin sailor, what shall we do with a drunkin sailor early in the morning!” 

It was a tour boat pirate ship!

 “Can we go on it? Pleeease?” Alex asked. But it was late and everything was closing down.

“Well,” said Tanya, “If we can’t go on the Ferris wheel, and we can’t go on the pirate ship, can we go swimming in the lake?”

I always have a hard time saying no to swimming, but it was SUPER cold (my hands were frozen!) and the last thing I wanted to do was get wet! No way were we going swimming!

And no way were we getting in a lake that was 50 degrees either!

So, we just stood by it and had our picture taken.

We had been walking along the pier outside, but by now it was dark, and much, much colder so we decided to go inside and visit the little stained glass museum which will sadly be permanently closing May 28th.

Louis Tiffany was a versatile artist and began making stained glass windows in 1877. He even created a new way to make the glass so it would be brighter in color. When you look at it up close, it almost looks 3-dimensional.

 Jesus surrounded by the apostles.

 The Angel Gabriel announcing to Mary she will be with child.

 King Solomon in his splendor.

 On our way back to the car we just couldn’t resist taking a nap on these snazzy looking chairs!

 I guess we took more than just a nap….

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good night!

Heather

PS. Did you hear the good news about AG doing away with the permapanties!!!?? They have finally come to their senses! At last! And the packaging too! Whoo hoo! Now, I am super duper excited about Nanea. I wonder if the first batch will have permapanties….I sure hope not!

The Beauty of the Earth

It has been rainy and cold for what seems like a long time, but now we are in the full bloom of spring – one of Felicity’s favorite seasons! Lissie decided to head outside and smell the little lilac bush I planted outside my house three years ago. There are so many more flowers on it than when Felicity had visited it last.

 “Oh my!” Felicity exclaimed, “It’s so huge now!”

 “Yes,” I agree, “you won’t be able to stand on the ground like you did before.”

 “I love how the blossoms are kind of two toned colors; light purple and white.”

 “They’re really pretty, aren’t they?” I nod, “I remember being so disappointed when I first bought it because I expected it to be dark purple like the most common lilac bushes. The tag’s picture showed the dark purple, however the bush itself wasn’t. But I’ve grown to really love the flowers from this bush.”

 “Oh my goodness! They smell so good!” Felicity took a deep breath.

 “Their scent is so strong, I can smell them all the way down the alley!”

“Every time I view the wonders of God’s creation in the springtime I often think of this hymn;

‘For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies,

for the love, which from our birth, over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to Thee we raise, this our joyful hymn, our hymn of praise.'”

Praise the Lord for springtime and flowers!

-Heather

ps. I’m writing this on Mother’s Day, so happy Mother’s day to mother who might be reading this!! God’s blessings!

Doll Hairstyles (or at least, my attempts at them!)

Even though it’s been more than a month since I saw the musical, Hamilton, I have still been on a Hamilton high. Ha! I’ve actually been on a Hamilton high since I started listening to it way back in September, but it has escalated so much that I decided to memorize the entire musical! Yes! Every single word! I know, I’m a completely insane nut! But, it’s been super fun, and I’m actually finished!!  Yes! I can say every single word from the musical! I still need to work on getting some songs faster but at least I can spit it all out. One of the ways I ‘study’ Hamilton is by doing something mindless, like doll hair. I am not AT ALL even close to the talent that so many of you bloggers can do with doll hair. Jessica over at americangirlfan JUST posted a stunning tutorial on a circle braid. I tried it and there’s no way I can get it to look so perfect. Madison over at delightfulworldofdolls also does incredible things with her dolls hair and there are so many more of you who do the same!

I use books to do doll hair. My favorite book, DIY Braids is what I used the most for this post. I can’t do any of it on my own hair, I could probably do it on another human’s hair but I’ve only actually done that once! I use the book all the time for my dolls. The other book I used for this post is the American Girl doll hair book. So, for the past couple weeks, I did the opposite of how I normally dress/get my dolls ready. Normally, I decide what doll I want to play with, then what clothes she’ll wear, and finally what hairstyle she’ll look good in for whatever story/scene I’m setting up. For this post, I picked a hairstyle I wanted to do from the book first, decided what clothes might look good with it, and then chose the doll who would wear it! It was different but a really fun way of playing with my dolls that I will probably continue to use.

 The simplest and easiest is actually something I do with my own hair – make a loose pony tail, make a hole just above the hair tie, and flip the pony through – and you’ve got a pony-tail flip! Here’s Miranda with the ‘do:

 I did a double ponytail flip on Ashleigh and it almost looks like a fancy fishtail braid but it’s not!

 Suki’s hairstyle is easy but time consuming. It’s a ponytail veil. You make 3-4 ponies at the top of the head, split each pony in half and combine them together with elastic. I could have kept going, splitting the ponies but I stopped after 3.

 Lea’s is also super easy: just twist, add more hair, twist again, repeat, and clip it.

 Kaya’s is actually a normal braid, except instead of using three equal strands of hair, I used one thick strand and two very thin strands and braided them together to get this different look:

 Kirsten’s hair looks fancy but it’s really just two braids wrapped around her head. I did not divide the hair evenly in the back, instead I made a side part so more of the braid could wrap around her entire head.

 Getting a little more complicated with Nicki, this is an under-sided (in other words, the braid is braided upside down) Dutch French braid.

 Amy’s ‘do is just a normal French braid.

 Julia’s French braid is a little variation of a French braid. You make it on the side, and instead of adding hair to every strand you cross over, you only do it to one side. I find it’s actually easier to do than a regular French braid because of that.

 Tanya’s is the same as Juila’s but this time I added strands from the front instead of the back of her head.

 Raven’s hair looks like a French braid but it’s called a skeleton braid because you make it really loose so you can see the holes in between the added strands.

 I am so bad at making corn rows. Here’s my attempt on Melody. I was at a market in France one time and I got to watch someone make corn rows on a little girl’s head. I could not believe how fast her fingers moved and how quickly she did it, and so tight too! I thought about getting my hair done that way, but blond haired people look terrible with corn rows!

 I did a four stranded braid on Kanani! It looks like her hair is about to become a basket! You even weave the hair like you would a basket too! The tricky part of a four stranded braid is holding all the strands in between your fingers.

 One of my favorite braids is a fishtail braid and I think it goes so well with Emma’s Celtic outfit.

 This is my first attempt at a French fishtail braid. Lauryn and I think it turned out rather well!

 There are different ways to do rope braids. I think the most common is to take two strands and twist them. But with Rose’s hair, I used three strands, twisting the actual hair the opposite way I twist the strands together, if that makes any sense. Doing that makes it look much tighter than if you just use two strands.

 I saved Jessica for last. She is wearing my very favorite hairstyle, and I’m still not good at doing it! Everyone says it’s easy, but I always have such a hard time with it! A waterfall French braid!

 I still need to practice more to get it even better, but this attempt isn’t too bad.

What are some of your favorite hairstyles?

‘Til next time!

-Heather