I'm the wickedist witch in all the land!

Welcome to Ashland, OR.


Magnolia flower in Ashland.


Taylor wandering about in Ashland.


Fourth of July Fireworks.


More Fireworks.


More Fireworks.


Picture from our hotel window in Ashland.


Ma Famille in Ashland.


Hello everyone-
First of all, happy belated birthday Poppy! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I have been busy. Ashland was wonderful, after we got back from that, we had bagels with Margaret, Kevin, Andi, and Sam as they were heading south towards Corvallis. Soon afterwards, I spent five days with them there in Corvallis, where I had lots of fun! We biked a lot (thank goodness I know how). About two days after I got back to the coast, my drama camp started. As some of you may already know, I was casted as the wicked witch of the west, which has been tons of fun. Tomorrow, Angi and Danijela are coming down. Tomorrow is also a big day in this house because it will be Zia's sixth birthday! Angi and Danijela will get to help us celebrate (though they may think we are insane). Anyways, I can't wait to see you all very soon! It's going to be so much fun!
Kelsey

Squeeze

Uncle Danny was pretending to be fast asleep on the living room floor. Danijela conducted a serious investigation which led to her discovering his nipple. Yep. She started squeezing it pretty hard so I was compelled to intervene after taking a snap. Danijela is headed to Oregon in 5 days. Keep your shirts on!

Catching Up: Mad Hot Shakespeare/Forza Italia

Bongiorno,
It seems that our family's blogging devotion is seriously lacking with no posts for over two weeks. My entire post was just deleted so I am currently retyping it. (I tried to post more Ashland photos but the blog wouldn't upload them).

First of all, there was our trip to Ashland. This year we saw two plays - The Winter's Tale and The Diary of Anne Frank. The former wasn't terrific, but you must understand that there is no such thing as a bad show at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The play itself isn't great, but the acting and production quality were.
Anne Frank was better, but much more tragic; no perfectly happy endings here. The woman who played Anne was wonderful, and so was the rest of the cast. I will never forget that moment the Nazis entered. You could hear people sobbing in the theater at the end, and there was complete silence as everyone left. Because it was the last performance, the actors were visibly affected more than usual, some of them also crying. Afterwards we attended the public talk in another theater that succeds every matinee at the Angus Bowmer. The man who played Mr. Dussel was the man who gave the talk, and it was very interesting to hear his insights. He had gone to Amsterdam before rehearsals started and stayed for a few hours at the miniscule apartment where the Franks and their friends hid for over a year.
Then there was the World Cup final, which we saw while in Ashland, in our hotel. I was rooting for France, mostly because of Zidane, but would not feel too disappointed with an Italy win because they're one of my favorite teams. Well, after Zidane's shameful red-card departure it didn't matter so much (what was he thinking??!!). It's an awful way for such a great player to go. So in the end I was happy about Italy winning. I was disappointed it had to end in PKs. We had to rush out of the hotel directly after the winning penalty kick or we were going to be late for our play. That night we ate at an Italian restaurant but it didn't matter because there were no Italians working there and the place is not Italian-run. I doubt anyone there even knew that Italy had just won the World Cup. Oh well.
Ciao!



Goalkeeper Gigi Buffon kisses the cup.



Zizou leaves the pitch for the last time.



Italy celebrate a goal.



The goal.



Cute, no?



Making up.

Red, White and Blue!

We've all been celebrating France's victory, as Taylor already mentioned. I am still working on my biking, I am now able to do the U-turns well 90% of the time, and I've gotten stopping down, though I am still working on starting a little bit. Yesterday, we went to the parade, the sandcastle competition, and the fireworks. I had lots of fun at the fireworks with my friend Katie. Today I saw Kelsey, who I haven't seen since Christmas. I am still waiting to post homemade photos (I got some of the fireworks). Anyways, talk to you all later!
Love you all tons!

GO FRANCE!!!
Kelsey

Vive La France!

Hello,
As you all know we are quite involved in the World Cup at the moment. Today France beat Portugal 1-0, which means they will be moving on to the final against Italy (the Italy-Germany game was very exciting, by the way - I'm very glad they won)! That is France's best player, Zinedine Zidane, scoring the winning goal, above. He is retiring after this World Cup, so I am rooting for France, although I love Italy. Kelsey's friend Kelsey is over, so we made some French flags out of paper and went marching through the village chanting Zidane's name, etc. Well, this is America, so no one knew what we were talking about.
Anyway, we're back on the coast and enjoying it a lot. We leave for Ashland on Friday, and hope to have a great time Shakespearing.
In other news, Zia went to the vet today and the vet said she has an infection, so she is taking it easy and being spoiled (I mean more than usual).
Love all of you so much and miss you.


(Zizou and Thierry Henry celebrating after the match)
Love,
Taylor

July 4th (Apology)

I'm a lame aunt. I've caught up on some blogging tonight, but not our July 4th (as promised). This is a 'teaser' of what is to come. We actually had a great time. Love you all ...

Bicycle!

Hello everyone-
I just wanted to inform everyone that today I learned how to ride a bike. I have got the basics down (after practicing for about three hours), though I am having trouble making U-turns. Unfortunately, I didn't make it in time for this year's Tour de France; maybe next year. I love doing it and cannot wait until I am skilled enough to bike around the village (will be a good way to get to the rental house while you are here). Other than my new skill, I don't have much news to report. I love you all so much and miss you a ton!
Love,
Kelsey

P.S. I will post a photo of me on the bike next week.