Book Review: Silver In the Blood by Jessica Day George

I try to read a William Allen White book to my children every summer and last summer wasn't any different. I took the suggestion of the school librarian and picked up Jessica Day George's book Tuesdays at the Castle which opened the door to a summer of Castle Glower adventures. When I discovered Jessica Day George had a new book/series, I was elated! George does her research on her books, so my excitement was at an all time peak when I discovered Silver in the Blood beings in 1897 in New York with two cousins who are on their way to meet their Romanian family, the Florescu, in Bucharest. 

The cousins are separated on their journey across the ocean despite their own desires. Dacia is extroverted, troublesome and quite the flirt. She was going to elope with a young, handsome aristocrat of New York society when her family discovers this and ships her off with a maiden aunt. The first of the family secrets to be discovered is when Dacia discovers this maiden aunt to be kissing a man on the train into Bucharest. When the two girls are reunited, they learn their family has old magic; they are shape shifters. They are on this Earth to protect the ancestors of Vlad the Impaler: the family of Dracula. The girls are informed of a Prophecy stating two girls from the New Country will help 'the dark become light' by their position to help the family overturn the King and put the Dracula family on the throne. Thanks to the dark and mysterious man in Paris, the girls discover a secret society who wants to destory the monsters of the night and keep peace within Romania. The girls must learn to control the silver in their blood while also keepign peace in a kingdom and within their own family.

To see the complete review go to Books & WhatNot.

Hallmark Ocean Front Resort is amazing!

When we visited Portland, OR one of the goals was to drive down the Pacific Highway and see the sights the coast offers! This is an amazing coast and one everyone will appreciate if they have watched The Goonies. Every turn provides an opportunity to say, "That looks like the setting in the scene where One-Eyed-Willy's ship comes out of the cave." Although we were two hours away from Astoria, OR where the movie was shot, it was hard to not imagine it was at many of the scenes we viewed!

Unfortunately, I didn't catch any of the great views due to driving, but they are there. Goonies never say die! 

The Hallmark Resort is where we stayed the first night down the coast. I did a quick review of TripAdvisor, and found this amazing resort, and it was spot on AH-mazing! 

Upon our arrival to our room, we were greeted with the ingredients for S'Mores and a bundle of wood for a fire on the beach. What native Kansas girl would ever have the ingredients for S'Mores on the beach? It was awesome. Prince Charming carried out the bag of wood and I carried out the bucket full of S'mores ingredients! 

Portland Aunt helped arranged wood and we got settled. J-Bird instantly went to the water and discovered how cold the Pacific ocean is! He thought it would be Florida warm and he could conquer the waves. Silly boy. 

 We went to bed that evening with the door open as we could hear the roaring, crashing waves throughout the night. It was a breath taking full and right on the ocean.

The room was spotless, large and had a balcony. Aunt Ree had a fireplace in her room. Totally romantic if you wanted it to be!

FIVE STAR RATING FROM THIS FAMILY! 

Hallmark Resort 

Day at the Pacific Ocean

 We went to the beach on three different occasions. Every time J-Bird was convinced he would be going into the waves. I amused him and let him put on his swimsuit. Poor kid. The water was freezing. The good news is it never rained. Bad news is the coast is suffering from a drought. Global warming and all that...




We did manage to find two sand dollars. That was pretty cool. They are extremely fragile, so it broke before it made it home, but was still cool to know we had found one!

Aunt Ree & her boys

A visit to see Aunt Ree in Oregon

Two sisters---2.5 years apart. I'm the oldest! 

We arrived on Sunday, June 28 around 10 in the morning. The time difference really helped out. I didn't sleep much due to having to catch an early flight and being nervous I didn't pack everything needed. Prince Charming flew in from Louisville to meet us. His flight was delayed three hours! Ouch. We went to Aunt Ree's place to meet her cats and for me to take a nap. It was delightful. The boys watched Jurassic Park with Aunt Ree and Uncle Clay.

Aunt Ree & J-Bird

I woke up, we loaded up and went back to the airport to get Ryan and then hit the road to Newport, OR. We were going to go to the Rogue Brewery for dinner. Nothing like finding the local brews! YEAH!

Prince Charming and myself at Rogue Brewery

All you can eat Salad Bar!

I posted several weeks ago about my amazing raised garden at the end of my property. I had mentioned my neighbor told me I was making a deer garden. I had only ever heard about BEER gardens, but this weekend I got to see first hand what a DEER GARDEN looks like. 

EVERY ONE OF MY APPLES IS GONE. Really? Okay, the twins are super cute, but dang it! So, thanks to my subscription to Country Gardens my Mom gave me I was able to dig into my last issue and find an article about how to RID YOURSELF OF DEER. 

Plants DEER won't eat!

Mama deer heard me open my back door.
Sure didn't stop the twin from eating my tree!

Book Review: Jedi Academy, The Phantom Bully by Jeffrey Brown

I have raised my two young boys (who I usually refer to as my young Padewans) to be respectful and quiet when in hospitals and libraries. They are to use their indoor voice or fear death. It was too my chagrin when I heard them YELLING in a bookstore two days ago. I couldn't give them the death stare fast enough, but as my eyes glazed to my boys I noticed the end cap they were standing in front of----the newest addition to the Jedi Academy series by Jeffrey Brown--The Phantom Bully. I started yelling with them! IT--the end of the middle school years--wasn't supposed to be on shelves for another two weeks. We had to fight for who would read it first!

Brown has created another fun filled adventure for Roan and his gang of young Padewans! Cronah and his gang of bullies has ganged up on Roan to torture him in his last year. They take his backpack and fill it with horrible food and damage weeks of his homework, along with other mean antics to keep him fearing for his passing of middle school. Roan also gets to officially call Gaiana his girlfriend. The comic book pages, along with Brown's amazing ability to draw, and the ability to capture Yoda-ize is truly remarkable. I will know start the series again and read them more slowly as I had to pass this along to my own Padewans. 

100th post! Christmas In July on the Hallmark Channel

WOW. So, this makes 100 posts talking about myself. It is great to know I can talk to myself in a daily online journal--or something like that?

Today is a simple Sunday. I have dedicated my entire day to watching Christmas in July on the Hallmark Channel. What a fun time! I have been sitting here watching them, but now it is time to get up and walk on the treadmill while watching them.

Happy Christmas in July!