In which Hitty Grace Goes Out

Hitty Grace & Austrailian Croc
Originally uploaded by JLP2000

Can you guess where Hitty Grace has gone?
The croc behind her is from Australia, but she actually went to The National Aquarium in Baltimore, and got to see some other sights around town on her day trip. You can see everything she saw in this photo set:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlp2000/sets/72157625540907830/

In Which Hitty-friend Carol Visits Chestertown

It has been many months since we've visited our Person's parents on the other side of the Bay.  Today, it  was Hitty-Friend Carol's turn to go along.  She was excited to go, since she had never been there before, and the weather was delightful.

Shortly after our arrival to their house on the edge of town, we all piled into Grandaddy's mini van and drove to the center of this historic town to shop in the Farmer's Market.  There were vendors' tables with fresh vegetables, hand made goods and other interesting things to see.

The Farmer's Market is held in Fountain Park.  At the intersection of the brick paths that cross the park, sits the Fountain.

Back at the grandparents' house, we had lunch and then went on a tour of the garden.  Since they've lived there not quite a year, they've added a lot since our last visit.  This hydrangea is a new variety that will bloom all summer long!

A miniature butterfly bush...

Attracts miniature butterflies!  This one has found another flower to visit.

Beyond the edge of their yard is a field.  They are not sure who it belongs to.  The bird house was a gift from Grandaddy to Grandma. 

 

They hope to have a lot of bird and butterfly visitors!

Hitty Carol insisted on being photographed with these mushrooms that she found at the edge of their yard.

She says a lot of her friends have shared photos with their local fungi!

It was a most excellent day!

In Which Hitty Rachel has a new dress made for her

Hitty Rachel was looking through the Hitty wardrobe and realized that there are many more dresses in the trunk for the Brown and Wilson Hittys than for the Raikes Hittys.  She insisted that this situation be rectified immediately!  Several dresses were cut out on Sunday, and one dress and apron were completed.  She is modeling it here.  Our person took an on-line Hitty dress class from Julie Old Crow years ago, and this is still one of her favorite patterns for Hitty couture.
Ironically, the person had been sewing for a doll 3 times the height of the Hittys, and was getting frustrated with the project.  She found sewing for Hitty Rachel much more relaxing and familiar!
Who would have ever thought she'd say that!?!!

In Which Hitty Rachel Goes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg

On Wednesday morning, I was woken up at 4:30 in the morning and told that I would be the Hitty chosen to go with the family on a day trip!  Can you imagine the excitement I felt when our car left 95 South for 64 East, heading towards Williamsburg, Virginia?!  I love early American history.  We stopped at a rest stop on 64, and I loved the architecture of the buildings there.

   

But then, they told me that we were not going to Colonial Williamsburg, as I had hoped.  While my person loves to visit Colonial Williamsburg, the rest of her family has been there several times and would rather do something more exciting.  We were going to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg.  Well, I do like gardens, and I've heard that it has a European feeling to it.  The adventurous spirit of Ancestor Hitty in me made me believe that I could enjoy this destination, too!  Here I am, waiting to get admittance to the park:

 

This amusement park is not just about thrilling rides!  They also have some very interesting animals.  We got to speak to a man about his peregrine falcon:

Did you know that these birds are the fastest animal on earth?  They can fly faster than a cheetah can run!  This one is living at Busch Gardens because it was struck by a car in Ohio.  We also saw several of our national bird, the Bald Eagle.  This one was sunning himself so that his feathers would dry:

They also had wolves, lorikeets and other birds, border collies, sheep and clydesdale horses!  My person and her family got their picture taken with a clydesdale horse.  My, they have large feet!  Their shoes are much bigger than those of a normal horse!

Busch Gardens has some excellent entertainment, too.  We ate lunch in the German Festhaus, and saw the Oktoberfest show.  Our table was right next to the stage, and a dancer came to our table several times.  We didn't take pictures because we were too busy enjoying an excellent meal!  We also saw the Celtic Fyre show in Ireland.  It was great to see, too, but we didn't take pictures.  There are pictures on their website. 

We did go on many rides!  My person's family went on a few that we did not dare go on:  the Griffon, and Apollo's Chariot. I did ride on The Alpengeist,  the Curse of DarKastle, Da Vinci's Cradle, Escape from Pompeii, Europe in the Air, the Battering Ram, and the Loch Ness Monster!  Here are some photos near the Loch Ness Monster:

We did not leave the park until almost 6 PM.  I believe it is the first time that my person has ever been to an amusement park from the time it opened until nearly closing time.  While the park had shorter hours than later in the summer, we found that going early in the season meant very, very short waits for all the rides, and we were able to do everything that we wanted to do.
On our way home, we grabbed a quick dinner at a Scottish restaurant with the golden arches.

The trip home was eventful, too!  We had an 18 wheeler truck almost pull over on us 3 times near Washington, DC! It was near a major split of highways, and our person's husband was boxed in by other cars and had no where to go!  It was as if the truckdriver thought we should move out of his way so he could move left, but we couldn't do that.  He was carrying a full load of wood, and my person was very fearful of the truck dumping his load on us as we swerved back and forth!
Then, since the GPS app on the husband's phone had taken us on such a good route around DC, we followed it again on the way home.  This time it took us through the city, and while we were stopped at a red light, we were rear ended!  We don't think there was any damage because the other driver was going so slow, but husband will be looking underneath the car today in better light to be sure.
We pulled into our driveway just before 10 PM.  We were so glad to be home!

- Reported by Hitty Rachel Raikes

Spring Party Flowers

On Saturday, our human companion and her family went to her mother and father's home to celebrate the birthdays of 2 nieces' 17th birthdays, as well as the birthday of her uncle and her sister-in-law, and Easter!  Hitty Beatrix was chosen to go along for the ride.  There was a lot of yummy food and desserts.

Hitty Beatrix found the flowers to be her favorite part of the visit.   A wonderful pot of tiny pansys greeted her by the front door.

These flowers were a gift from our companion's employer for her grandmother's funeral on March 26th.  Her mother brought them home for her, and we got to bring them home with us after the party!  There were other potted plants that her mother would keep as momentos.

The uncle brought these pretty tulips for our companion's mother for Easter.

This pretty gerbera daisy was on the table on the back porch.

We wish that our companion had inherited the green thumb of her mother, but perhaps it has not had a good chance to develop yet.  In any event, Hitty Beatrix certainly enjoyed the signs of Spring, regeneration and new life.

Wishing you a blessed Easter,

The Chesapeake Bay Hittys 

In Which We Receive a Birthday Surprise

We all follow the Hittygirls group as best we can, which is pretty tricky to do, since they are such an active group!  We couldn't overlook the invitation to sign up for the birthday drawings, as there were so many reminders to encourage us to sign up!  We were so fortunate that our person's name was drawn on Friday, January 22nd, at noon!  We had no idea what we had won, but we were all eagerly watching for mail!  The package came with Thursday's mail.

We found a box full of wonderful surprises!  There was a cute little card (perhaps we can frame it for a picture in our new house?), a knitting bag (with knitting supplies inside), a yellow knit shawl, and a wonderful yellow felt hat!

Since Hitty Rachel was already wearing a blue and yellow dress, we asked her to model our wonderful gifts!

We think she looks quite fetching with her new accessories.  The yellow is a very soft hue, but still sunny and cheerful.  Hitty Rachel is very glad for the shawl today, since there are 7 inches of fresh snow on the ground outside!

Happy Birthday, Ancestor Hitty

The Chesapeake Bay Hittys celebrated Ancestor Hitty's birthday with Hittys and Hittygirls all over the world on Friday and all weekend long!  It sure was fun - it left a big smile on all our faces!  There were drawings for prizes and surprises, tutorials, cake and hundreds of Hitty related e-mails!  We didn't take pictures, since our people are busy remodeling and have made a terrible mess - you'll have to trust us when we tell you we had fun!   We were happy to discover on Friday night that our person's name was drawn to win a surprise!  

Happy Birthday, Hitty - we love you!

In Which We Disclose Our Housing Project

 

Progress has been very slow, but we are sure that eventually it will be a very nice little cottage to move into. Our contractor is a perfectionist and is often distracted by working on too many projects at once, but she has good intentions.  Surely we'll be able to move in sometime this year.  Until then, we'll enjoy our little bookcase apartment.

- Hitty Grace

In Which the Hittys Enjoy A Good Book

The Hittys start the new year by taking turns reading from the wonderful book that they received from Hitty Robertson. They love all of their books from Esther Robertson's Hittys.