Tag: summer 2020

Things I love August 2020

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! August has already flown on by so it’s time to take a look back at the things I loved. Let’s dive on in!

Thrift shopping – I went thrift shopping twice in August. I found some really awesome stuff including some great books!

My birthday – I had a really great time celebrating my 30th birthday! ( You can read about it HERE)

Making paper airplanes – I finally learned how to make a half way decent paper airplane ( You can read about it HERE)

Sharpie tie-dye art – I had a fun time crossing this item off my bucket list ( You can read about it HERE )

There are some of the things I loved in August 2020! I wonder what things I will enjoy in September.

Thanks for reading ! Rock On Christina Epperly

Summer 2020 wrap up

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello,my bucket list friends! Well, it’s time to say goodbye to summer. Summer is my favorite season and it’s always hard to say goodbye but let’s look back on my summer 2020 fun! Here we go !

When I think about this summer the first things that stand out are my vacations to Idaho and Montana. Even though I’ve been to Idaho many times I got to go to the botanical gardens for the first time and I really enjoyed it. This summer was my first time going to Montana and I really liked their zoo. Some other summer  highlights include going thrift shopping, going swimming,going to the mall, getting my haircut and spending time with some great people! As always I get sad when summer comes to an end. It’s my favorite season because it is often filled with fun and adventure. I wonder what adventures I will go on next summer.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Light heart book club August 2020

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello,my bucket list friends! Since it’s August 18th ,I figured now would be a good time to announce my book club pick for August. Without anymore delay let’s get to it!

I had a hard time choosing this month’s book. I had one in mind but when I started reading it, I didn’t know if it would be a good fit  for the book club. I actually ended up choosing a book that I got at the Goodwill on Saturday. The book is part of the whatever after series. The title of the book is Dream On and it’s written by Sarah Mlynowski. I’ve already started reading this book and I can’t wait to discuss it later this month! It’s a fun adventure story that I think is perfect for the Light Heart book club!

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Light Heart book club July 2020 discussion

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I know I’m behind on my book club posts but I’m ready to catch up. July’s Light Heart book club pick was Melanie’s Last Ride by Joanna Campbell and Alice Leonhardt. As always one more thing before we dive into the discussion. The following post contains major plot points ( Spoilers ) for the book . If you want to read the book and haven’t yet, I suggest you wait to read this post until you have finished the book. Now, let’s dive into our discussion.

 

Light Heart book club July 2020 discussion

My favorite part of the book – My overall favorite moment in this book is when Melanie’s father shows up at camp and surprises her. Throughout the book Melanie is upset that her father’s work schedule often prevents them from spending time together. I was so happy for Melanie when her dad surprised her!

My least favorite part of the book – The part of the book I liked the least was when a fire threatened the horses! Lucky Melanie and the other campers were able to get them to safety.

Overall view of the book – One thing I really liked about this book was that it took place at a summer camp. It was fun reading a book that was set in the same season that it was in real life. Another one of my favorite parts was when the campers went swimming and there was a rope swing that you could use to jump into the water. This is actually an item on my bucket list! This book gave me memories of being at summer camp and I really liked that. One thing about the book that I didn’t like so much is that there was a good amount of drama happening but that’s how kids are at that age. If you like horses I would recommend this book just remember it is full of age appropriate drama!

Activities

Art activity – For this book’s art project I knew just what to make. I had gotten this arts and crafts kit at Goodwill awhile ago where you make paper plate animal faces. Since a horse was one of the animals that you could make with this kit. I knew it would be perfect to make for this book’s art project. It was a quick and easy project to make. I was happy with the was this project turned out.  If you are not able to find a kit like the one that I used it’s pretty easy to make this project on your own. You can use a regular paper plate and cut out your own shapes.

Question – This next activity is a little different but I has fun with it. Did you ever notice how race horses have really long and sometimes funny sounding names? When I was probably around 12 years old I used to play this horse racing video game. I remember thinking about how silly some of the horse’s names were. For this activity I asked myself if I had a race horse what would I name it ? I think I came up with the perfect name for a race horse and that name is Sunshine City Coffee ! It’s long and funny but also cute! I would love to see your answer to this question in the comment section.

Happy reading !

Rock On – Christina Epperly

 

 

Montana adventure part 4

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! Welcome to the last part of my Montana adventure. I’m excited to tell you about the last part of this fun vacation so let’s get to it!

 

Montana adventure part 4

Day 7

This was our last full day in Montana. We had a few more things that we wanted to do before we headed for home the next day. Our first stop was the Yellowstone Kelly interpretive site. It’s a interesting place with a lot of information about the man known as Yellowstone Kelly. After exploring the interpretive site we went on a walk before getting an Uber to the Yellowstone county museum. I’m really glad that we went to this museum it was one of our favorites. The museum had exhibits inside and out. My favorites are the big train outside of the museum and the exhibit about baseball inside. This museum also had a gift shop and I got a really nice snow globe.The museum is located next the airport. If you ever fly into Billings and have the time I highly recommend going to see this museum. After our museum it was time for something that we were both really looking forward to massages! We had made appointments at the Massage Envy in Billings for some much needed relaxation. After our massages we went to eat. Then we headed back to our hotel to pack. I  really enjoyed my last full day in Montana!

 

Day 8

On day eight we spent a lot of time in airports. Our flight wasn’t until evening but check out time was noon so we spent quite a few hours in the Billings airport before our first flight. The one highlight of spending that much time in the Billings airport was getting a huckleberry chocolate bar! Our first flight took us to Salt Lake City. After spending some more time in that airport we were headed for home! I had great time in Montana! Thanks for reading.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

 

Montana adventure part 3

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello,my bucket list friends! Welcome to part 3 of my Montana adventure! I can’t wait to tell you more about this fun adventure so let’s get going!

Montana adventure part 3

day 5

On day five we went to check out a Goodwill store in Billings. I like going thrift shopping in different places because every area has a different style. I really enjoyed the Goodwill in Billings. It was very clean and organized. I was able to find some nice things including a book on how to style an American girl doll’s hair, a TY beanie boo puzzle, a shirt with purple stripes and a few DVDs. After thrift shopping we went to down town Billings for lunch. We went to the Montana Brewing Company. I really enjoyed the flat bread that I had there. If you are ever in Billings I would recommend eating here. After lunch we took a walk around downtown. It was a Sunday and most places were closed. It felt weird walking around downtown with hardly anyone else around. That night we went for a walk at a park. The park had a beautiful river but it also had lots of mosquitoes so we had to cut our time there short.  Overall it was a nice relaxing day except for the mosquitoes!

 

day 6

On this day we had a booked a tour that would take us to some of the most popular spots around Billings. We got picked in a pretty amazing Jeep. Then we were on to our first stop at the Little Big Horn battle field.This well known historical place is worth a visit. There is a lot to see there. After exploring the battle field we went on to explore Pompey’s Pillar. The pillar is mostly famous because Clark of Luis and Clark carved his name there. The area itself was beautiful and I really enjoyed exploring it! After that we made a quick stop for lunch before going to explore the Moss mansion. Going in to this house was like going back in time. I loved they way it was decorated. They also had a game going on at the mansion where they hid school supplies in each room. I wasn’t keeping count of how many I found but it was fun to see what I could spot as we explored each room. After we finished exploring we stopped at the gift shop. Then it was time to go on to our last stop of the day. The last spot the we explored that day was Pictograph Caves state park. This park is well known for it’s cave paintings. Even though a lot of the cave paintings have chipped away you can still see them a little bit. I  heard that you can see them better on a rainy day. Even without the drawings the caves are pretty cool to look at. After our very fun tour we went back to the hotel for some much needed rest! This day was filled with lots of adventure.

Thanks for reading

Rock On – Christina Epperly

 

Montana vacation part 1

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I recently came back from a vacation to Montana. My mom and I had a lot of fun. I can’t wait to tell you about my Montana adventure so let’s dive on in!

Montana vacation part 1

Our Montana adventure started with an early morning flight to Salt Lake City. Then after about two hours in the airport my mom and I were on our way to Billings Montana. After a stop at the airport gift shop and a much needed rest in our hotel we decided to go to the Rimrock mall. I was excited to go to the mall because they have a Build a Bear Workshop there and it was open! The locations close me were still closed. When we got to the mall we decided to eat dinner at the food court. We went to a pizza place but I wish we would have gone to this restaurant that looked like it had really good sandwiches but I didn’t see their menu until after we got our pizza. After dinner we headed to Build a Bear Workshop! My mom decided to walk around the mall while I built my bear. This store had not received shipment since March so they did not have the summer bear that I was planning out getting. I decided to get this bear that was covered in colorful hearts. I named my bear sugarplum and picked out a dress for her. She is a very beautiful bear! It was a great first day of vacation!

Day 2

On day two we went to zoo Montana. When I was doing research on things to do in Billings Montana I was excited to see that there was zoo there and not just any zoo. Zoo Montana is home to mostly rescue animals! When we got to the zoo I was excited to see the animals that lived there but before I saw any animals I quickly discovered just how beautiful this zoo is.  There are some really lovely gardens at this zoo. The gardens are definitely worth checking out. Of course the animals are definitely worth seeing as well. One of my favorite animals that I saw at the zoo that day was the grizzly bear. The bear was eating food they had been left right by a viewing area in the enclosure. It was so cool to see the bear up close! I got some great pictures of the very beautiful grizzly bear. Another animal that I enjoyed seeing were the red pandas. One of the pandas was laying in a tree. The other was walking around the enclosure. I was happy that I was able to get some really great pictures of the red pandas. Another cool thing that happened at the zoo was getting to see the tiger move around. I know it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal but tigers sleep a lot so they are usually sleeping when I have seen them before at zoos. I was glad that I was able to get a picture of the tiger standing up. In addition to the gardens and the animals the zoo also had playgrounds! I had a fun time going on the slides with my mom. After exploring the outdoors we went to see the animals that were housed inside. I liked watching the armadillo run around I also enjoyed seeing the Kookaburra. After seeing the animals in the indoor exhibit we went to the gift shop. I got some pretty nice items at the gift shop including a bookmark and a magnet. With the change I got from the gift shop I went to the pressed penny machine. I’ve been getting more into using these machines lately. I was excited to see the zoo also had a photo booth. My mom and I had a fun time taking pictures and I’m happy with how our pictures came out. After the zoo we went to downtown Billings to see the Western Heritage Center. This museum had some very interesting exhibits including one about bees. I also enjoyed the exhibit that was called saints and sinners. This exhibit was filled was interesting stories about some famous women who lived in Montana. Before going to explore more of downtown Billings, we went to the museum’s gift shop where I got this really nice travel cup. While walking around downtown I saw this ice cream shop that I had heard about in a travel video called Big Dipper ice cream. When we went to the ice cream shop  I saw that they had a flavor called apple walnut and I just had to try it. It was fun to try something new and I’m glad I did. After the ice cream shop we got some food at a restaurant called Well pared. This healthy restaurant turned out to be my favorite in Billings.

That’s the end of part one of my Montana adventure. Thanks for reading.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

 

 

Idaho vacation summer 2020 part 4

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! It’s time for the 4th and final part of my Idaho summer 2020 vacation posts! In this post I do one of my favorite things swimming! Without anymore delay Let’s jump on in to this post!

Idaho Vacation summer 2020 part 4

This post starts out on July 3rd. We didn’t have any solid plans for the 4th of July so I asked my grandparents if we could have a a small get together at their house with local family and they said yes! It was a very small get-together but I wanted to decorate like it was a big party. My mom and I went to the Dollar Tree for decorations. There were not many 4th of July decorations left at the store but we were able to get a a few things like  July 4th window stickers! After the Dollar Tree we went to get food for our  July 4th celebration. My favorite food item that we got were fourth of July cupcakes! After we finished getting everything we needed for our celebration we went to Starbucks and got coffee. That night we walked to the pool by grandparent’s house. We had a really fun time at the pool. There were a few other people there when we first got to the pool but because it was nighttime people started leaving and before we knew it we were the only people there! It was so nice having the pool to ourselves! I really love going swimming and I don’t get to do it very often so that made it extra special! It was overall a really great day now it’s time to tell you about our July 4th celebration. Before our celebration I had a lot of fun decorating the house.  I really liked putting up the window stickers even though not all of them stayed up! My grandparent’s enjoyed our celebration and our family liked the food that we picked out. The best part was that we didn’t have to go anywhere to see fireworks they were all around us!  I had fun taking pictures of the fireworks . The next morning we took a very early flight home.  I had a fun time in Idaho and I can’t wait to tell you about my next adventure.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

 

Idaho summer vacation part 3

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! In this post we continue on with my Idaho adventure. Get ready for lots of animals and more thrift shopping! Here we go!

 

Idaho summer vacation part 3

On this day of my vacation we went to visit family and they live on a farm! I love animals and that day I got to see all kinds including horses, goats and some really big dogs! I get happy when I’m around animals and most of the time they are happy to be around me too. The goats were very friendly and funny.  When we left their stall They didn’t want us to leave without them. I have met  the goats before but it was just as exciting to see them this time. I also really like the mini horse Jazz he is such a sweetheart! After visiting with the animals we went to lunch at a very yummy cafe. There was a thrift store in the shopping center where the cafe is. After we ate we all went on a thrift shopping adventure. Some of my favorite finds from that thrift trip are a Photo album with hearts on the cover, Lisa Frank party favors and a Christmas craft kit. After lunch and shopping  we went back to the farm. My mom and I had a really fun time kayaking on the pond. The pond was filled with bullfrogs and their tadpoles I enjoyed looking at them while I was in the kayak. I found kayaking to be very relaxing. I would love to do it again sometime. That concludes part 3 of my summer 2020 Idaho adventure. There is one more part to come before I wrap up this adventure!

Rock On – Christina Epperly

 

Idaho vacation summer 2020 part 2

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! Welcome to part 2 of my latest Idaho adventure! In this post I’ll tell you about a thrift shopping trip and a really beautiful place that I got to explore for the first time. Without any more delay let’s get to it!

 

Idaho vacation summer 2020 part 2

On July first my mom and I had a fun day out. First we went to the Goodwill for some thrift shopping. I was able to find some great items including a bag of three Beanie Babies, some shirts a book and two Barbie dolls. After our shopping trip we headed to the Idaho botanical gardens. Neither of us had been here before and I was excited to check it out. Let me start off by saying that I’m so glad we decided to go here. There was just so much to explore including, a fish pond, a swing and of course lots of beautiful flowers. As you enter the gardens there is a large sculpture of a tree made from found objects. It’s worth a good look before you move onto the rest of the garden. It was on the warm side when we were there but there were a good amount of shady places in the garden. There was just so much to look at including quite a few art pieces. I have a fun picture of myself standing in a big nest! If you are a lover of the outdoors I highly recommend this place but remember to bring your walking shoes and your camera. I got so may great pictures in the garden. It would be a great place for a photo shoot. The gardens did have there own store but it was closed while we were there. I hope it is open the next time I visit the garden. I hope you enjoyed part 2 of my adventure this so more to come it part 3!

Rock On – Christina Epperly