Champlain Islands

Whites Beach, South Hero, VT Photo captured by Kathryn Robinson

My dad’s side of my family is from Grand Isle, VT and that is where I have lived my whole life. The Champlain Islands and especially Grand Isle is a wonderful place to live. I live about two seconds from the lake and that is where I spend most of my free time in the summer. I love Grand Isle because it is so pretty with all the open land and the sunsets over the water. One thing I love the most is camping near the water at my grandparents beach lot because waking up to the smell of the fresh air and the sounds of nature around is a wonderful feeling. Their are five different islands hooked together that make up the Champlain Islands. The five islands are, South Hero, Grand Isle, North Hero, Alburgh, and Isle La Motte. They are all great, but Grand Isle will forever be my favorite.

Hometown friends

Is everyone ready for Winter break?? I know I am! I have finished my first semester of college and I feel very accomplished. I can not wait to go home and be with my friends and family for a month. I get to see my old hometown friends that have been away at school in different states. Also my best friend is supposed to have her baby any day now and that is just so exciting. I am very happy about not having to worry about any school work over the month long break. I can just have a good time with my friends and family. Coming home to see my hometown friends is probably the thing I look forward to the most when it comes to breaks from school and when I go home on the weekends. I have a couple friends that I have had since kindergarten and we are still going strong, but we all have busy lives now where we don’t see each other all that much. We always keep in touch though! I hope it snows a little over break because having no snow this time of year is crazy. I love having a white Christmas, but I don’t think that is going to happen this year. I hope everyone has a great break! See you in the new year!

Senior Prom

Senior Prom 2015, Essex High School

When I was younger I always dreamed about going to prom. Through high school I always saw pictures of my friends going with their dates and the cute promposals. I never had anyone to go to prom with until my senior year of high school. It started out with me talking to my friends and planning on going with a group of friends to prom because I was not going to miss my senior prom just because I didn’t have a date. I was always looking at prom dresses online to find the perfect one. My best friend Darren always told me that he would never be seen at prom. One day he told me he was going with this girl that he really likes, and they planned on taking his friend’s mustang. A month or two before prom she ditched him, so he decided he was going to go alone and have a good time anyway. One day after school he asked if I wanted to go with him to Men’s Warehouse to find a tux. We met his stepmom so she could go with us, and when we went inside a woman approached us to see if she could help us with anything. Darren had a picture of the mustang on his iPad so she could find him a tux to match the car.

I started thinking and came up with a creative idea. I messaged Darren’s stepmom Sandy on Facebook and told her my idea and asked what she thought about it. My idea was to ask Darren to prom with a promposal. Darren and I have been friends and neighbors since we were in kindergarten, so I thought it would be a great memory for both of us to remember forever. I planned out the whole thing and got Sandy and my friend Maggie to help me out. I made a scavenger hunt for him to go on that would lead him to the mustang where I was waiting for him. 

When he showed up I had a sign that said, “Mr. Future EMT, Mr. Firefighter, My best friend. D, will you go to prom with me?” He said yes and I went home that night and looked and looked for a red dress to match him and the car so it would be the way he imagined it to be. We had a pretty good time at prom and he had a better time then he thought he would have. I brought my selfie stick and he took so many pictures with it with so many different people, but it was kinda funny. Senior Prom is one event we will always remember because we shared the experience together as best friends.

 

Fireworks

Knight Point’s 4th of July Fireworks 2015

Every year on the 4th of July my friends and I always go to the fireworks show in North Hero, Vermont. They are the closest to where we live and we can sit by the water to watch them. We always show up a couple of hours early to get a good place to sit, get food, and then sometimes we play Frisbee or just chill until it gets dark. The fireworks show is usually not to bad, but each year I feel like the show gets shorter but it is still a great tradition. I used to not like the loud sound of fireworks because when I was younger I had tubes in my ears because I had trouble hearing. That means louder noises bothered my ears. Also, now my mom tells me I have a super power because I have a very strong sense of smell. Apparently when one sense is weakened the others get stronger. That is what happened to me when my hearing was weak my sense of smell got stronger. It honestly is horrible because I smell things I do not want to smell and I always can smell certain things other people cant. Also my sight is a lot better compared to my mom and two sisters. They all have glasses but I do not need them because my vision is 20/20. My family and friends always tell me I am one of a kind.

Hunting Season

November 14th, 2015 Rifle Hunting(Grand Isle,VT)

My family is very into hunting, so when hunting season comes around we all get excited just like little kids on Christmas morning. The tradition in my family is that when someone shoots a deer it gets hung in my grandparents garage and usually all my uncles come to cut it up. I can remember when I was younger always getting bundled up to walk to my grandma’s house with my sisters whenever my papa or uncles would get a deer. Last year I got my hunting license and the second time I ever went out hunting with my dad I shot my first buck. I was so excited, but I think my dad might have been more excited then I was. The buck I shot was a six pointer and 140 lbs. This year on opening day when I woke up around 9 am I had a message on my phone that said “Got one!” and this message was from my older sister. I rushed around to get dressed up warm so I could go see her deer. I watched her and my dad gut the deer and then we had to go weigh it in up at the local store. Her buck  was a nine pointer and 143 lbs. I went out later that day and didn’t see one thing, not even a bird. Over the years there has been so many deer in my grandparents garage and hopefully there will be many more in the future. Our Grandfather would be so proud of all of us. When ever a deer is shot by one of my family members our grandfather is always on our minds because hunting was one of his favorite things to do.

Before the Ice Forms

This photo was taken at my family’s camp in Grand Isle, VT this past weekend.

The period of time between the end of Fall and beginning of Winter is a time when the world around you is not as pretty as it was at the beginning of Fall. Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees and are now the color brown and laying on the ground. It is very chilly to be at the beach but it is still nice to go take a stroll along the water and see what has washed up and to feel the wind against your face. It is not shown it the photo above but off to the left the seaweed has piled up on the shore and laying on top are the clams and zebra muscles that have washed up. It might be cold but not cold enough yet for the ice to form on the lake, but the water is very low where you can see  all the rocks that are usually covered in the summertime, and the leaves have fallen in between them. This time of year you don’t really know what to expect with the weather here in Vermont. It could sunny and warmer one day then snowing the next.

The Promise of a Pencil

Tonight I got the opportunity to attend the dinner for Adam Braun before the Creative Audience event in Dibden. It was such a great experience and I loved to hear him speak about what he has accomplished and also what he plans to do in his future. One thing that I liked the most was that he didn’t just talk at us he included us in the conversation. Who knew stepping out of your comfort zone could get you so far in life and get you to a place you never imagined to be in before. Adam was very inspiring and I left the event thinking about what I might want to do with my future along with becoming a teacher. I am going to take Adam’s advice and start saying “yes” more then”no” and “will it make a memory?” when someone asks me to do something that will have me step out of my comfort zone. As you can see in the picture above Adam signed my book, The Promise of a Pencil at dinner and he said “Inhale life and Exhale fire.” I hope everyone else left this event with their minds thinking just like mine was, and wants to try to step out of their comfort zones to see what it can do for their futures.

As the leaves fall

This photo I took when walking down a road in Essex,VT with a friend. We were checking out the beautiful leaves falling everywhere. 

In the Fall I love to put my rain boots on and go for a walk. The breeze hits my face as I walk down the road and it is that time of year when the leaves are falling off the trees and layer the ground. I always stare up into the sky to watch the leaves fall from the tall trees surrounding me.The different colored  leaves on all the trees are beautiful but I love it the most when they are on the ground and I can walk through them and kick them around. When I was younger my sisters and I would jump into the piles of leaves our dad would rake up over and over. It was so entertaining, we never got tired of it but eventually he would get tired of reraking the pile so we would have to find something else to do. I always say that Summer is my favorite season but Fall is just so beautiful here in Vermont.