Today’s Fortune: Your hard work is about to pay off. Congratulations!

Finally!!! I actually get to blog today!  I have worked very hard to get my photos from Ashevegas ready to blog about. We got home on Tuesday, but we have been so busy that Mom has not let me use her computer. We had to unpack, and Mom had to spend Wednesday working. Thursday, we spent all day putting our good vacation pictures on the computer, and telling all of our Tractor friends who didn’t get to come to Ashevegas all about the neat stuff we did, so they would feel like they got to be there. Yesterday, my big brother and sister-in-law flew in from Fayetteville, NC to see us here in Oklahoma. We went to the Oklahoma History Center, which is a thing called a “museum”.  Then we went to dinner and we got to watch fireworks, even though it was not the Fourth of July yet.

Today is the Fourth of July. Mom says it is America’s birthday, and that the fireworks are to celebrate and remind us how much we love our country. I like celebrating birthdays, and I wanted to do something special, but I could not figure out how to bake a big enough cake for America. I could not figure out where to mail a birthday card, either, and I am not sure what to give America for a present. KnittyMac’s birthday was a whole lot easier.  We celebrated KnittyMac’s birthday while we were in Ashvegas, and I will tell all about it later.  That was where I got to see Dharma again!   Wow.  There is just so much news to share…

Anyway, I do have a good flag, and I will just wave it and say, “Happy Birthday, America! We love you!!”

Before I can start telling everybody about all of the great stuff I did in Ashevegas, I have to tell about the great presents that came while I was gone! Mom was recently in swaps with two of her Ravelry friends. We mailed out their presents before we left, and the ones they sent us came while we were on vacation, so it was like coming home to a big party!!

The first package came from our friend SDBrnCACherry. She lives in Canada, and her real name is Cheryl. This swap was an “About Me” swap, where we were supposed to send a skein of nice yarn, and a couple of things we love that we hope our pal will love, too. Cheryl sent way more than that! She sent a very pretty green yarn called “Briggs & Little Softspun”, which Mom really loves. She also sent some Twizzlers, which Mom and I both really love. And then there was the pink sweater for me to send to Dharma, a different kind of red licorice called “Young & Smylie” which is even better than Twizzlers, and a pretty watercolor card. There was also a sock coin purse that says “Canada” on it. Mom said I could have that one to keep my allowance quarters in.

But the best part of the present was for me!   Cheryl sent me some construction equipment!  I got a front end loader, a dump truck and a cement mixer.  Now I can play Construction Boss!  Playing Construction Boss does not work so well with a John Deere Tractor and a Porsche 911.  It winds up being more like Race Car Farmer, which is just not as fun.

Thank you, Cheryl for a fun box of goodies!

The next present was from our friend 2mayboys.  Her real name is Dawn and her boys are my friends, Niklas and Mattias.   This swap was a Dollywood Pincushion swap where we were supposed to make a doll for our pal.  We made one that looked like the Momji dolls that Dawn collects, and we sent her some pretty yarn and a book of costumes to knit for the boys.  The package she sent to us was fantastic!!  It had so much stuff in it!  She made me a knitted monkey, a sock monkey zippered pouch, and a sock monkey tape measure.  (Mom says I have to share the tape measure with her.)  She also sent me some monkey scissors for my craft projects, a Curious George magnetic notepad, and a pez for my collection.  But the very best thing of all was the pug she knitted for me!  He is my new best friend!  His name is Puglet, and he is very friendly and well behaved.  And housebroken, which is very important.

Mom’s part of the package was really fun, too.  Dawn made a wonderful patchwork project bag, and the doll was so cute!  It is short and blond and looks a lot like my Mom.  Mom absolutely loves it!  We also got a cute panda card, and a big bag of Swedish Fish, which is one of our very favorite things.

Mom says I should show a close-up picture of her pincushion doll so everyone can see how cute it is.

And I am showing a close-up picture of me and Puglet, so everyone can see how cute he is, too!   Thank you Dawn, Niklas and Mattias for a super-great package!

Puglet has been everywhere with me since I got home.  He got to watch fireworks with me last night, and he even got to go to dinner and the museum, which I will have to blog about later, I guess.   It will have to be much later, because I have so much to tell about Ashevegas, it will take me several days.   I have great stories to share, and I will start telling about the Ashevegas Adventure tomorrow, because we have lots to do today.

We are going to go to another museum, which has dinosaurs and stuff.  I am very excited!  I didn’t even know that museums existed until yesterday.   We are also going to see more fireworks and even do some ourselves!  We went to a fireworks stand yesterday, and we bought a kind that makes a pop when you toss them on the ground.  We also got some little bottles that you pull a string and fun streamers pop out.  The colored smoke ones are for my Dad to use when he is doing photography.  The ones for me and Puglet are very safe, and do not require fire.  We watch the fiery ones they do in the park from a safe distance.

Time to go celebrate….Happy Birthday, America!

Today’s Vocabulary Words: Museum