Midnight Lightning Storms (by Allison)

The whole sky was just constantly illuminated. When I took this picture, the lightning was just beginning to form in the sky. It proceeded to reach across the whole sky and beyond!

So it was 11:00 p.m. My sister was already asleep next to me, but I could not fall asleep because lightning kept flashing across the sky. Eventually, I got up to close the curtains. But first, I had to investigate. I peeked through the blinds, intending to watch it for only a moment. There was so much lightning, and the whole sky was illuminated. I was mesmerized. Eventually, my sister woke up and got up to watch the lightning with me. At that moment, at least ten different streaks of lightning shot across the sky. It looked like a meteor shower because the lightning traveled from one end of the sky to the other. My sister and I got up and ran to the front of the house, where we have a big window. We pulled up the blinds and just sat there, watching. The storm was scary and wild and beautiful. We watched for a long time. Then we grabbed some delicious red velvet ice cream from the fridge and camped out while watching the storm. As the storm began to move towards the back of our house, we moved to my room. Nala was crying to join us, so we let her into my room. First, she sat at my window, just as mesmerized as we were. Then she started to act really weird. She ran around my room making weird noises and destroying my chair. She even jumped onto my bed and attacked our feet a few times (scaring us in the process of course!). Kylie and I are still in my room, watching this magnificent storm. I tried to take some pictures, but I didn't have much luck. My timing was off by just fractions of a second. Anyway, check out what I got!

Yours Always,

First blog entry: "decoding the secret" stage [by Loli]

Hello my girls, and hello world. 
This is my first ever blog entry, and at this stage, I'm not even sure it will work. But let's give it a try...
I'm in Romania, living it up. I'm tried by a weird feeling as I sense every single day slowly drifting behind. It's already June...The thought makes me want even more to make every day special. Tonight I am meeting some special friends, some of whom I haven't seen in two long years. One of the best feelings in the world is in that moment when you see your loved ones after much time elapsed since your last meet-up. The kisses, the hugs, the flashes of much loved memories, they all twinkle around you in that short moment of rencontre. 
If I'm at this point, I'll also upload some pictures for posterity.
Looking forward to tonight... But more importantly, don't forget that even across the ocean

life {by Jordan}

So guys, I'm finally making my first post. I don't have a relevant photo, but I don't like making blog posts without pictures, so here's an old beach photo (it's from our beach trip for Loli's birthday!).

This past month has gone by in a blur. AP tests, finishing up school, beach trips, sleepovers, bonfires, graduation, family visiting, and college orientation. It was crazy hectic, but in a good way. Where it forces you to really be in the moment, or it will pass you by before you realize what has happened. But I have to say, it's nice not having anything to do or worry about. I spent most of yesterday reading (I finished both the books you lent me Allison!).

I got back from orientation a few days ago. Is it strange that I still don't feel like a college student? Even as I was walking around my future campus, it didn't feel real. I don't think it will feel real until I'm actually living on my own, going to class, and beginning my college life. Orientation was fun. I got a taste of what my life will be like in a few months. The city I'll be moving to is really pretty, and I think it's the perfect transition for me. It's bigger than my current town, but not so big that I can't handle it. At first I thought I wanted to live in a really big city after high school (think NYC), but I think that would be really hard for me since I'll also be living on my own for the first time, hours from my family, trying to figure everything out by myself.

I'm very excited about my next few years. No, I'm excited for my life (haha, is that too broad?). But I really do have so much to look forward to. I get to move out and start college, meet cool new people, go on adventures, live in another country (study abroad program!), figure out my career, and so much more! I have the ability to do anything I want to do, and that's the most exciting part.

I'm so glad we have this blog, so we can follow each other's amazing experiences. And for the next few years at least, we'll be able to meet up each summer and holiday break to catch up on each other's lives.

Here's to our life adventures. ♥

Yours,

Alys Beach (by Allison)

Yesterday my family and I went to a wonderful place called Alys Beach. It's a beautiful beach town on Highway 30A. We ate at a really fancy restaurant (and I mean FANCY) with the most delicious seafood menu. I had mussels that had been cooked in a coconut sauce. It came in a really fancy, steamy bowl. Delicious!

I love how the population includes cats! (and dogs) We love cats!

Afterwards, we drove through one of my favorite Florida Beach towns: Seaside. My mom and I like to drive through Seaside when we go to the beach at Grayton State Park (Which is my favorite beach. Ever.). It has beautiful beach houses and lots of mangrove-y trees, and (of course) it lies right on the ocean. 

I love the buildings in Seaside. This is the post office. It's so cute!

It had been a little crowded earlier in the afternoon when we drove to Alys beach, but by the time we were done with dinner, the vacationers' commotion had died down. 


We parked our car and walked around the town for a bit. Then, we crossed a beach access to the wonderful beach. I love the beach accesses on 30A because they are all unique and creative and beach beautiful! The one we went on was just a plain wooden one, but it passed through a forest of trees and shrubs and also by a pretty blue beach house. 

You can't see the colors of the flags in this picture, but they were red and purple.

The flag for the water was red and purple, which means that the currents were rough and there was dangerous marine life in the water. When we got to the beach, however, the water looked pretty calm. Maybe it had been rougher earlier in the day? We also didn't see any dangerous marine life. I wonder was it was, though! 

The water was absolutely gorgeous. 

The water was nice and warm, which was surprising! Loli, Jordan, and I took a beach trip not too long ago and the water was pretty cold!

The sky was so pretty. Do you see the star in the middle of the picture? It was the very first star that night.

By the time we got to the beach, the sun was already past the horizon. On the east side, it was already dark. On the west side where the sun was setting, the sky was pretty shades of pink and orange. I took tons of pictures because the light and colors were just amazing! 

As we walked along the beach, my family and I saw this thing. I have no idea what it was, but I took a picture with some very bright flash for further examination. Any ideas? Speaking of strange things that the sea washes up, a long time ago when we lived in Maryland, my family and I went to the beach. My dad and I took a long walk and we found parts of a small whale that had washed up on shore. Poor whale. Anyway, that's what this mysterious beach thing reminded me of. 

What is this thing?

P.S. Sorry I added so many pictures! Here are some more that I wanted to share with you guys! I tried    

        to narrow it down the most I could.

I took this picture with a slower shutter speed. I love how it shows the movement of the waves.

All the beach towns along the 30A highway.

Look Jordan, it's our paddle-board/kayak stash!

Yours Truly,