Massachusetts Vacation Day 4: Provincetown!

Hi everyone, it's Reese! Here's what we did yesterday:

Around 11 a.m., we decided to visit the very end of Cape Cod- Provincetown! It was an hour drive from Brewster and we got there around noon.

In Provincetown, we walked around and went to different little shops. We went to a stores that sold shells, sweatshirts, and even shoes! After walking around for a bit, we got pizza for lunch. We then went to an ice cream place and visited the beach. After spending our afternoon in Provincetown, we drove to the end of Cape Cod and then headed home.

After dinner, we went to Mayflower Beach in Dennis, my mom's favorite beach. We played in the sand and walked in the cool ocean. We even played on the lifeguard chair!

Today we are going to the beach again! :)

Love,
Reese <3

Massachusetts Vacation Day 3: Exploring Brewster

Hi everyone, it's Reese! Sorry for no update yesterday, but I wanted Emma to have her blog post at the top. This is what we did yesterday.

Around noon, we headed out with no destination in mind, just to see a bit of Brewster, the town we're staying in. We went to a pond near our house, drove around in our car, and went to a small craft show. Afterwards, we headed home for lunch.

Yesterday we just relaxed a lot, because we were all tired from driving for 2 days. My mom and I filmed part of a video that will hopefully be up next week sometime. We also played the game "Sorry!" and ate snacks.

Around dinnertime, we decided to go to a seafood place called JT's near where we're staying. The food was excellent and I enjoyed my chicken strips. ;) We then headed to Dennis to visit a souvenir shop called Cuffy's. Mom was looking for a hoodie, but none of them were the right size.

After some shopping around, we drove home. I am loving Cape Cod! Today we are going to Provincetown, and I'll tell you all about it tonight (or maybe tomorrow)!

Love,
Reese <3

Summertime and Shows: Part 2

Hi, it's Emma! You may be wondering why I am typing right now instead of Reese. Ree e-mailed me and told me that she would like me to write Part 2, because I am playing Belle in Beauty and the Beast. I was surprised, but also excited. This is my first blog post!

Last Friday was my first play practice with only Mr. R. and myself. I was a bit nervous because I usually have others with me at play practices. When I got to the theater downtown, Mr. R. probably knew I was nervous because he reassured me that everything would be fine.

We went over some music and I began to practice my lines. Despite reassurance, I was still scared. About an hour after we began, I set down my music and stopped singing. Surprised, Mr. R. said:

"Emma, are you okay?"

"Yes," I said. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? It's not like you to stop in the middle of something Emma. Would you like to talk about something on your mind?"

"Well, I suppose. You see, my sister Reese left on vacation today. I miss her a lot."

Afterwards, we chatted for a few minutes and he gave me some extra reassurance that I would be a great Belle. We practiced for another hour, and then my Aunt Alexis came to pick me up.

On Friday, I also met my cousins Maggie, Anna, Katie, and Grace for the first time. You see, Isabella, Samantha, Nellie, and I are staying at their home until Reese and my mom return home.

Anyways, Anna wants us all to play a game of soccer now. I'll talk to you soon! :)

Lots of Love,
Emma :)

Massachusetts Vacation Day 2: Brewster!

Hi everyone, it's Reese! We made it to Cape Cod! :)

This morning I was rushed out of bed and scrambled to get ready before eating breakfast. I was still pretty tired. Down at the hotel lobby, I ate some cereal and a yogurt.

After we ate, we decided to visit Harvard in Cambridge. It was only a 20 minute drive from our Natick hotel, so we got there at 10:30 a.m. The campus is ginormous! So many buildings in such a busy city!

We then walked to another part of the campus to a t-shirt shop. It was a very small space with far too many people!

Today we also drove to the house we are renting in Brewster, a part of Cape Cod. There were many traffic issues and the drivers were crazy. Instead of 1.5 hours, the drive took 3. :( We made it to Brewster by 3 p.m.. Our rental home is large, 2 floors and lots of new places to explore!

I'm sorry for the short post, but it's 10:30 and I'm pretty exhausted. Good night! :)

Love,
Reese <3

Massachusetts Vacation Day One: Natick!

Hi everyone, it's Reese! Right now, I am sitting in a hotel in Boston! Tomorrow we'll head to Cape Cod. :)

This morning at 8:30 a.m., we (my family and I) left on a long drive to Boston. Luckily, the drive seemed to go by quickly because we had a lot of fun. We watched Modern Family on the portable DVD player, ate lunch, and relaxed.

At 1:30 p.m., we arrived at our destination: Natick, Massachusetts! For an hour, we relaxed at the hotel.   At 2:30 p.m., we drove across the street (literally!) to the Natick Mall.

Our first stop was the American Girl store!!! We spent an hour walking around the two levels, taking pictures and admiring other dolls. I made a good friend named McKenna, but unfortunately we did not chat for long. I met many other kind dolls as well and I even saw some animals such as horses and a cat that looked similar to Katie's cat Licorice. My favorite item in the store was easily McKenna's fabulous loft bed! I begged my mom to buy it and even reasoned with the fact that more than one of us dolls back home could use it. However, she decided that she was not going to spend that much money. At American Girl Place, I got a pair of pink pajamas, logo jeans, a Boston t-shirt, and...

Okay, now here's the big surprise- I got my ears pierced! I also bought the Birthstone Earrings separately. Right now, I am wearing the star-shaped silver earrings. My ears are sore, but it is so worth it! I am so happy to finally have pierced ears! :)

Afterwards, we went shopping at XXI Forever (a.k.a. Forever 21). We also went to the Lego store. We also went to another small toy store. One of the boys got a strawberry smoothie at Red Mango. There were other stores that we went to, but these are just a few.

For dinner, we went to P.F. Chang's for Chinese food. I ate pork dumplings and they were delicious! Another 10 minute AG stop took place. We also got two slices of cheesecake to eat in our hotel room later, Hershey's and Snickers. Yum!

The Natick Mall is so ginormous! It has 2 floors and it is amazing! The decorations were beautiful. They had food from sushi to frozen yogurt!

Back at our hotel called the Hampton Inn on Speen Street, I received an AG bed! It is a pink flip bed with a pillow and a blanket. I love it so much! It is so wonderful to be able to sleep in a bed just my size.

Right now, I am typing this blog post while I am cuddling with my unicorn pillow pet. I miss my sisters and pets, but I'll see them soon. Emma was going to come with me, but she found out last-minute that she had to stay home for rehearsals. I really wish that she had came, but I know that she is having fun with all of our sisters and the people at Beauty and the Beast musical practices.

I am so glad and grateful to be able to have come along on this amazing trip and I am having the time of my life. I miss everyone at home a lot, but mom is here and I'll be home in a week. Oh, I have also claimed mom's stuffed animal bear mine, mwahaha! (lol) :) I am working on a vlog of my trip. It should be posted when we get home next week.

Tomorrow we are going to downtown Boston to see Harvard and then drive to our house in Brewster in Cape Cod! :)

Love,
Reese <3

Summertime and Shows: Part 1

Hi everyone, it's Reese! Welcome to my summer blog series! Do you remember when I told you that I was going to be in my school's summer show? Well, Emma and I are gaining show experience in our first show. Our school Ridgeway is located a good distance from where we live. And because kids from all over the world attend Ridgeway in Washington D.C., Ridgeway is putting on separate shows across the country.

Our show is (insert drum roll here) Beauty and the Beast! Auditions took place in late June ad rehearsal has been everyday since at the local theater. Tech week (The week before a performance with lots of dress rehearsals and testing) begins right when we return from Cape Cod. We have three performances following tech week.

Now I suppose you are wondering about the auditions and roles we received.

When I attended my audition, I was so nervous. I met my Theater teacher on the stage of our local theater. I was the first to audition. I sang A Place in This World by Taylor Swift. At first, I was so nervous. However, by the second verse, I got really into the music and my nervous feelings faded away. Meanwhile, Mr. R. (I'm not allowed to say his full name) wrote in a notebook and nodded. Afterwards, I read some lines. I read the scene in the library as Belle and the scene where Beast turns back into a man. Mr. R. wrote down a few more things and then dismissed me. I was not allowed to watch Emma's audition after mine. However, I could hear Emma sing Untouchable by Taylor Swift and read about five sets of lines as Belle. When her audition was over, we walked the short distance home.

We did not find out our roles until three days later, but Emma and I both got callbacks! This was so surprising and wonderful, since we are only in tenth grade. However, only five juniors and two seniors are in the production. (It's usually more, but the summer show usually has less people due to people traveling.)

The next day at rehearsal, we found our our roles.

The lead of Belle was cast as Emma! I am so happy for my sister. :) Emma repeatedly read lines as Belle and Mr. R. always smiles when Emma reads lines and sings. She has a wonderful voice and is a very talented actress! Most of the juniors and seniors are so happy for Emma because it is so rare for a sophomore to be cast as the lead. Emma has been working so hard as Belle and practicing lines nonstop.

I was cast as Mrs. Potts! I didn't want a super large role, as this is my first show. Coincidentally, Emma and I have a bunch of roles together, which is wonderful! I am so excited for the finale number when I sing Beauty and the Beast. I am so happy with my role! :)

That's all for part one of Summertime and Shows. Part 2 will talk about our beginning rehearsals and getting to know our characters.

Love,

Reese <3

Cousins

Hi everyone, it's Reese! (Sorry for not posting in a while, but nothing much has happened.) How's your summer so far?

In this post, I will be talking about my cousins, Maggie, Anna, Katie, and their baby sister Grace. As some of you may remember, these four girls have been talked about before as my sisters. It feels like we're sisters because we're pretty close. However, Maggie, Anna, Katie, and Grace are my cousins. I will be telling you a bit about them in this post.

Maggie is 15 years old (Her full name is Margaret, but prefers to be called Maggie). She looks very similar to my sister Isabella. She loves dogs, outdoors, and photography. Maggie is pretty shy around new people.

Anna is 13 years old. She has long black hair with brown highlights and big brown eyes. Anna is a JV level soccer player. She is a star athlete and loves running. She always has a ton of energy. I have a particular memory of one year when we had a sleepover. Anna wanted to pull an "all-nighter" and stay up all night. We all loaded up on sugar and fell asleep at 7 a.m.! Anna's real name is Annemarie, but she prefers Anna.

Katie (Kaitlin) is 10 years old. She looks just like a younger version of Maggie, her older sister. Katie is a gymnast and she is very sweet. She is very shy around new people, unlike Anna who loves to talk. At family gatherings, she is usually off somewhere playing with her dolls or Praline, my grey tabby cat.

Grace is 4 years old. She is an adorable toddler with black hair and dark brown eyes. Grace is so cute, but I can't think of a lot to say about her.


My cousins and I are all pretty close. We like to FaceTime (the iPod version of Skype) and text. However, my cousins live in sunny California, so we don't see them a lot.

Last night, I got an email from Anna. She mentioned coming to visit them in California this summer. We want to visit, but we're not sure what we could do. Emma and I will be going to Cape Cod soon and we're all busy with rehearsals for the summer show (More on that soon). I don't know how I can see my cousins and still keep up with my own life. What should I do?

Love,
Reese <3

A note from Emily, Reese's mom/ the human: Maggie, Anna, Katie, and Grace do exist in doll form, but right now they are in storage. It was overwhelming to have out 9 dolls (Katie's a Gotz Precious Day Kimberly and Grace is a Bitty Baby). Samantha, Brianna (Nellie), Isabella, Reese, and Emma are my "Favorite Five". The four others were formerly sisters of the "Fav 5" but now they're considered to be cousins.

Hiking :)

Hi everyone, it's Reese! Yesterday my family and I went hiking at a place far away from our house. It was about 2 or 3 miles long, and while it was fun, it was also really exerting! Most of the hike was uphill, and since I thought we were going to a beach, I wore sandals. (By the way, not a good idea for hiking!) Here are some of the 150 pictures we took:

I am pretty exhausted today from our hike! It was a lot of fun though! Do you have any places you like to visit for a day?

Love,
Reese <3

P.S. A note from Kara: No, I have not forgotten about the summer  blog series. It should be coming soon, but sorry for the wait!