#43. Dance in the rain.

#43. Dance in the rain.

I love rainstorms. I love everything about them. The thunder and lightening may be a tad bit scary if you’re outside, but if you’re safely inside, it’s so fascinating! I remember when I was younger I would go out and dance in the rain and jump in all the puddles I could find. I would like to say that because I’m older now that I don’t do that anymore… But I still do it, or at least when I get the chance to. J On this rainy day, I wandered outside to see if any neighborhood kids were out playing. It just so happened that Olivia & Annika were outside, so I danced with them! We used our umbrellas as props at first in our elegant dances. Then we ditched the umbrellas and did some interpretative dance in the rain. They tried to convince me that it would be a good idea to jump on the trampoline, in the rain with our umbrellas. They wanted to see if we would float down after jumping in the air with our umbrellas open. Although I wanted to see what would happen, I had to be the responsible adult and I said no to the idea. Maybe if I ever have a trampoline of my own I’ll try it. If not I’ll just leave the flying with umbrellas to Mary Poppins, she’s the master of that.

Olivia, Annika & I dancing in the rain! 

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#41. Go bowling.

#41. Go bowling!

I chose to go on a bowling adventure with my neighbor, Olivia, who is about 7 or 8. She is very competitive so I was interested to see how this was going to go. We decided that we would not use bumpers because we are big kids! Luckily the correct pound balls were our favorite colors. I was on the bowling team in high school, but I was never any good. It was more for fun and to be with friends. Olivia insisted on bowling for both of us instead of just her own. It was good to have some fun bonding time with her. Neither of us have siblings, so I consider her to be like my younger sister. I ended up winning the game and she was a little bit bitter about that. Ha! 

The results from our game! 

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#37. Hand wash the car.

#37. Hand wash the car.

Word got out about my bucket list in my family. I come home from babysitting one day and my mom greets me on the driveway right before I pull the car into the garage. As soon as I stepped out of the car my mom was standing there, smiling slyly. The first thing she asked me was, “Hey Jen! Wanna give the car a bath?” I was kind of puzzled to why she would ask me now, right after I got home from a long day and before I was going out to dinner with a friend. She then told me that she saw that it was on my bucket list and because I already have my swimsuit on, I should just wash the car right now. I agreed and pulled out the boom box so I would have tunes to wash by. So I jammed out to my music while making the car look squeaky clean! 

#33. Celebrate the 4th of July

#33. Celebrate the 4^th of July.

The fourth of July marks the independence of he United States of America. It is a spectacular day to step back and think about what it took for our country to be free. Obviously another part of the 4^th of July is the festivities that go on around town. One of my favorite things is the parade! Throughout high school I would sweat and melt in my marching band uniform while playing sweet and wonderful music for the people standing on the street watching us. Now that I am in college, I can enjoy the parade from a different view. This year I went with my dad to our town’s parade. We ended up meeting up with our neighbors at the parade also! My neighbor is about 7 or 8 and is still very much into getting candy from the parade. I teamed up with her and contributed all the candy that I accumulated into her stash. The parade was filled with Veterans continuing to serve their country, politicians trying to get their name out, bands playing groovy music, sports teams chanting their cheers, and others smiling and waving. Later on that night I went to my friend’s block party and ate some very yummy food. We then watched the fireworks from the side of the road. It was a great way to end a super day. J

My dad & I after the parade. :)

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#21. Go on vacation.

#21. Go on vacation.

My mom & I standing in front of the White House. 

The Washington Monument!

Vacations are probably one of the highlights of summer. The travel bug has definitely bitten me. I love going to new places and seeing how they live and taking in all the sights! This summer my big vacation trip was to Washington DC with my mom. There was a special celebration going on in DC that we were planning on taking part in. Girl Scouts is celebrating their 100^th year this year! So to celebrate, thousands (more like 200,000+ people to be exact) of Girl Scouts gathered on the National Mall in DC for a sing-a-long called Rock the Mall. My mom & I went a week before the actual event so we could go sightseeing around the city! It was my first time visiting the Capitol and I was SO excited! My mom & I were your stereotypical tourists and we were totally okay with that. J Some of the highlights of our travels included going to the Capitol Building, getting a tour of the Bureau of Engraving building, seeing the White House, visiting the different Smithsonian museums and seeing all the amazing monuments. One of my favorite things that we did was the night tour of the city. The night tour took us all around the city to see the different monuments. Our tour guide was amazing and gave us loads of information about the various things around the city. Everything was much cooler at night. The lights really accent the monuments and their marvelous presence. Unfortunately we did not get a tour of the White House. I’m still a little bit bitter about it… Ha! It would have been really cool to meet the President of the United States. Seeing that we are both from Chicago, we would have some things in common. Although we didn’t get a tour there, we did get to tour the Capitol building. One of the coolest things in the Capitol building, besides all the history and stories that it holds, was the ‘Whispering Spot.’ Our tour guide had us stand in one place in this room and he went and stood in another spot. He then whispered something to the person that was standing next to him and we could hear him loud and clear! It was so cool!

Where all the Girl Scouts were from.

When it started to fill up with people. 200,00+ people to be exact.

Celebrating 100 years of Scouting :)

My traveling cow with the Monument. 

 The day of the Rock the Mall event was so hot! We knew that there would be about a billion people there, so we decided to get there early to get good seats. The event didn’t start until 9 o’clock in the morning, but we got there at about 6:45 am. So early! But so worth it because we got seats right in front of the stage! People started flooding in between 7 and 10 am. Soon enough the lawn near the Washington Monument was filled with Girl Scouts, young & old! It was neat to talk to people and see where they were from! Girls came from ALL over the United States! I met people from Florida, Tennessee, Alaska, Pennsylvania and many more! The day was filled with singing from guest artists and step performances from a few Brownie troops. It was really remarkable to hear the voices of thousands of Girl Scouts coming together to sing the same songs. Overall it was a wonderful trip. I loved having some mommy-daughter time and seeing the sights of DC.

A beautiful sunset. I wish I had this view everyday! 

{Peace&Love} Jenny