Saying Goodbye to Maine...

Well, I guess the time has come where we are leaving our host family here in Maine .... but guess where we are off to now!?

CHINA!

We are super excited to get there and meet are awesome new host family!!

Ready or not, here we come!

Goodbye, Maine, USA!  We loved being here, but we must keep traveling!!!

Love Always, 
Stella & Luna

Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  Yes, Mom, that is what today is here in the United States!  We have learned a lot about Thanksgiving in the USA, why it is celebrated, and it's typical traditions!  Did you know it all started here in New England, where we are right now!?  Awesome, huh!??

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26. As a federal and popular holiday in the U.S. , Thanksgiving is one of the major holidays of the year. Together with Christmas and New Year, Thanksgiving is a part of the broader holiday season...

The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621.  The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, and was attended by 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans.  The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating "thanksgivings"—days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.

Awe, Mom, there was SOO MUCH food!  There is a "traditional" menu, but each family is different.  But, if you want to stick to tradition, most Thanksgiving meals consist of the following items, in some fashion:

Our only problem was which one of us was going to operate the fork and which would handle the knife!  LOL!  

:: burp ::

Ooops!  Excuse us!!!

Autumn Is Here!

New England is said to have some of THE BEST fall foliage anywhere in the world - and all we have to say about that is WOW!  Maine is amazing!  The colors, the leaves, the crisp air!  It's wonderful - you really have to experience it for yourself!

The great foliage over here in Maine even has it's own website: http://www.maine.gov/doc/foliage/index.shtml.

How about that!?

Can you believe that people come from all over the world to Maine, and New England in general, just to experience the Fall Foliage!?  The locals even have a name for people who come here to see the leaves - they are called LEAF PEEPERS!  Hahaha!

Here are some more images of the Fall / Autumn season up here in Maine, USA!

Cooking and Baking!

Hi again, Mom!  Thought we would check in and let you know what we are up to here in West Newfield, Maine in the U.S.A.!  Our host Mom looooves to cook, so we promise we are being well fed!  Know what we made today??  Poppycock!  It's an awesomely sweet, salty, nutty, toffee popcorn treat!  Oh it was soooo good!  

Here is the recipe if you are ever interested in making it at home - we wouldn't object if you wanted to!!  Just make sure to share!!

POPPYCOCK RECIPE

It's not always sweets and treats though!  Did you know that our host Mom has a little Aerogarden in her home??  It's real neat; she can grow lettuce, tomatoes, and even herbs like basil or oregano!  We sometimes like to lay under the lights and catch a little tan - heheee!!

The fall is coming, Mom!  Pretty leaves are going to be starting to fall from the trees!  We are excited!!

Love,
Stella & Luna  xoxox

The Nephews!

Hey Mom!  Though we would take the time and introduce you to our host family's nephews: Jake (16) and Zach (11).  They hung with us often when we did things!  We also tried to help out as much as possible too! For example, while at a restaurant, Zach was discussing a Math problem he was having trouble with.  Of course, we tried to assist in the equation.....but then decided just to eat more French Fries!  

Mom, we are in love with Heinz ketchup, by the way....we need to make sure we have LOTS at home!  hahaa!

With Jake, we love to watch Basketball games with him on the BIG 70" TV and also just sit and relax playing games on the iPad.  Regardless of what we do, the nephews are fun to be with!

Talk to you again soon!  Love you, Mom!!!

Looking Around Maine

There is so much around here to do in the state of Maine in the United States!  It's a good size state, compared to others, especially in New England, but what makes it so unique is that if you travel from one side to the next, it's like you are in another world!  The shore line is all about the ocean, lobsters, and lighthouses.  Inland, it's all mountains, lakes, Moose, hunting and camping.  In the Winter months, skiing and ice fishing is big here!  In the fall, the hunters come out to capture their prized deer, bear, or wild turkey!  Fishing and lobsters are the big catches from the ocean during the Summer!  There is so much to see and do!  

Our host mom conveniently carries us in a mesh pocket on the side of her bag to make sure we don't miss anything!  

Acadia National Park is one place that if you visit Maine you should see - it' s BEAUTIFUL any time of the year......but Summer and Fall are our Host Family's pick for the best times!  It's home to the tallest Mountain on the US Atlantic Coast and a definite treasure not to be missed.

Here are some pictures of the park so you can see how much appreciated beauty Acadia National Park holds.....

New Addiction!

Hi Mom!  We thought we would let you know that we have a new addiction.... Words With Friends!  Our host mom, Michele, showed us how to play the word game, which is very much like Scrabble, on her iPad.  Well, we really like it and are doing real well!  We are also learning new words!  LOL!  

Just wanted to say "Hi" and let you know we are happy, safe, and love you!  

We will try not to stay up TOO late playing!

Disney's "BRAVE"

Hey Mom!  Today we went to this real cool movie theater here in Maine called Smitty's Cinemas!  What makes this movie theater different from the typical one you find here in the US is that the seating isn't in rows in front of a big screen, but actual large tables with big, comfy chairs around them!  "Why," you may ask?  Well, they serve food and drink to you while you watch the movie!  There is a full menu of burgers, fries, pizza, and even salads for the ones who want to eat a bit healthier....not us though!  Ha ha!

We went to see the latest Disney Pixar film called "Brave"!  It was real good!  Mom and Dad brought their little friend Bridgit too - she was cute and fun!  This was her first time going to see a movie in a big movie theater!  She is three years old and had just as much fun as we did!

Bowling!!

Hello Mom!  Still here in Maine, seeing and doing new and different things!

Today we helped Michele (our host mom) make lunch for everyone!  We made Chicken Salad sandwiches and some sliced peaches!  It was TASTY!  After lunch we went BOWLING!

Bowling is a pretty popular American leisure activity in which a player rolls or throws a bowling ball.  It's this big, heavy, solid ball with three holes drilled on the top to stick your fingers in.  

The target is to knock over these 10 pins at the end of this looong hallway, type thing.  

We watched mostly - and helped keep score of course!  Ha Ha!

They have to wear these real funny looking shoes while they play.  I guess it's to protect the wooden bowling lane surface or something like that.  

We thought the shoes made a comfy spot to sit and watch the game! 

Guess what we are doing next??  

We are going to the MOVIES!  Woohoo!!!

See you later, Mom!  Love ya!

Our New Host Home!

Hi Mom!  We have been having great fun just enjoying nature and the beauty of western Maine!  One of our favorite things to do is sit out on the front porch and just watch nature!  Michele and Aaron, our hosts, have a house here in West Newfield on 30 acres of land!  Their house is set back from the road down this looong drive way!

Another thing we enjoying doing is sitting on the front porch swing!  Weeeeeeeeeeee!  It's so nice just to sit and listen to the birds and smell the fresh air!  Maine has some of the freshest and cleanest air in the United States!  It sure is much better than being inside that box when we were traveling here!  Hehehehee!

Michele showed us around and we looked at some of her pretty flowers and bushes.  Did you know that Maine is known for their abundance of wild blueberries??  We LOVE blueberries!  Maine produces 25% of all lowbush blueberries in North America.  It isn't time to pick and eat them yet but we were happy just enjoying the other vegetation that surrounded us.

Boy, we were thirsty after all the nature stuff, so Michele shared with us one of America's favorite beverages: Coca Cola!  It took a little effort but we were able to manage getting some good gulps of the carbonated delight known to most as Coke.  We think we are going to like our visit here....as long as they keep supplying us with this tasty drink!  

We Made IT!

Wow!  What a long journey to the USA but we are here and it's amazing!  

We have landed in a little town called West Newfield in the state of Maine.  We are staying with Michele and Aaron and their family!  This is going to be great fun!  But first, we want to tell you what we have learned about where we are!!

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost portion of New England. It is known for its scenery—its jagged, mostly rocky coastline, its low, rolling mountains, its heavily forested interior and picturesque waterways—as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobsters and clams.

As for where we are in Maine....Newfield is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,328 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowbrook Museum Village, Newfield is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford metropolitan statistical area.  West Newfield is a populated place located in York County at latitude 43.644 and longitude -70.924.  The elevation is 518 feet.  York County is in the Eastern Time Zone (UTC -5 hours).

Newfield was part of the large tract sold on November 28, 1668 by Newichawannock Indian Chief Sunday (or Wesumbe) to Francis Small, a Kittery trader. The price was two large Indian blankets, two gallons of rum, two pounds of gunpowder, four pounds of musket balls and twenty strings of beads. The township was surveyed and first settled as Washington Plantation in 1778. A number of settlers had been soldiers in the Revolutionary War. It was incorporated as Newfield on February 25, 1794, and by 1859, the population was 1,418.

The Little Ossipee River runs through Newfield village and once provided water power to operate two gristmills, two lumber mills, a barrel stave mill, a shook mill, a planing mill and a carding mill. West Newfield (specifically where we are at) had a sawmill, gristmill and stave mill. There was an attempt in the community to mine silver and iron, but it was not profitable. By 1880, the population was 995. Newfield would be heavily damaged by the Great Fires of 1947.

Check out additional info here if you want!

We are happy, safe, and will share what we learn and see soon!

Thank you for letting us visit Maine, USA!!!

In the envelope - Travelling to USA

Ooooooh, it's so dark here!

We are in the envelope to travel to West Newfield, USA. 

It's very long journey. Hopefully our journey is safe, comfortable and quick. 



We are looking forward to see USA. We will meet Michele there.

<3 Stella and Luna <3



To see the Midsummer Bonfire - Jyväskylä, Finland

Hello!

It's Midsummer's Eve today.

We went to see the Midsummer bonfire in the evening.



Can you see the bonfire in the opposite side of the lake? Yes, it is the Midsummer bonfire.

We went to see it closer.

Happy Midsummer to all!

<3 Stella and Luna <3