It's spring! Well, at least it is in SL. I'm excited to put away my SL sweaters, jackets, jeans and bring out my tank tops, shorts and flip flops! The sim I live on has been changed to grass, the snow has melted, and I've put in a pool!

I've been kind of playing with the idea of taking a trip to Heritage lately. While Misty will forever be my adorable child, she's seemed to have other RL priorities lately, and not logging in to SL much anymore. Which is perfectly fine, most of us go through this, and I hope she'll eventually come back to me. But, I'm finding some days difficult, especially around the holiday events (more recently, Easter) without a child around. No one can or will ever "replace" my Misty-child, she's a much better human being than I'll ever be, but I do miss the family RP. 

In other news, I've been really loving the photos that I can take now. A new computer really is amazing for the motivation and capabilities for SL photography. I really love taking the time in perfecting photos, and I really hope that other people enjoy them as much as I do.

I hope that I can continue to improve and get better with my photos, I really want to try actually hand painting elements like shadows, and maybe adding just little tidbits to make the photo really come alive. That takes quite a bit of practice though, and every time I try it, I'm happy with nothing. I won't give up though, I'm going to continue to try! Maybe a couple years from now, I'll look back at the photos I'm doing now, and be able to see how far I've come. Who knows.

Yesterday was day number 6 of the Playdate Cruise, and we had arrived at the Mermaid Sea! I was AFK quite a bit yesterday, and didn't get to as many events as I wanted. But, we did explore Mermaid Sea, I helped a special camper find the hunt sticker, and the biggest part of yesterday - the talent show! I was one of the judges, and trust me, it was hard to judge all these adorable kiddos and pick a winner. But it was done, whew!

Of course, we had the obligatory camp fun before the talent show started! It was a fun day, I always love watching the talent shows, and the creativity that the kids have. The creativity these special kids have though was amazing, seriously! There was a video that the camper, Kit, recorded! If you wanna see, here is the link!


Day 7 was the last day of the Playdate Camp. (So sorry for the lack of pretty in this photo, there was ALOT of kiddos, and ultra graphics... just wasn't going to happen). We had to go to town today in RL, as we had tickets to see Beauty and the Beast, and had to do some shopping. So we rushed home, to try to make it in time for the closing ceremony. I was a little early, and got to do some "HECK NO!! WE WON'T GO!!"-ing with all the kids. Flag waving and all! After closing ceremonies, we did another bit of camp craziness!

Closing ceremonies was so touching, tearful, and such a beautiful sit down with the kids. They shared their feelings, how much camp meant to them, and the counselors did the same. I cried, they cried, it was emotional. But, camp is officially over, as sad as it is, we all go back to our normal SLives.

I will write more about camp, my feelings and how big of an experience this meant for me. But, for now, I think I need to get caught up on some sleep, relax a little and process everything. Oh, and I absolutely must sort through my post-camp inventory, omigosh, it's an official mess!

Day five of the Playdate brought..... The Land of Giants! I did the usual daily fun stuff, like getting the golden goat of the day, the daily theme hunt, and exploring the land of Giants. There was even a special hunt around the ship for the super-secret Clown Town pin for our lanyards! Every item was a clue to the next item, and we had to collect words in each item to unlock the chest the held our pin! It was great!

In addition, I attended a couple of events - Story with a Hole was fun, as you got a little bit of a story, and had to figure out the rest of it. It was fun, though it made me feel a little stupid cause the kids are so smart! Miss Late and Radio's Great Toyroom Escape was fun but really hard (it probably wasn't too hard, but with the amount of kids pushing each other off ramps and blocks, plus lag, it made it super difficult to navigate, Ohhh, the joys of camp!), Miss Jewel's Toypocalypse was super fun! She had all the kids make a base, and then made toys come to life and come after them! Miss Jewel has some of the absolute best events, they are always so thoughtful and focuses on teamwork. That's why she's so great at doing the Neverland Scouts!

And lastly, story time with Miss Allex. Even as a counselor, there's something soothing and relaxing about someone reading stories to you after a busy day of camp. Even if it's something as obnoxious as the entire book of Stinky Cheese Man. *laughs*

Yesterday we were at the port of the Dark Isles! It was filled with quite a few creepy things, and the port looked like we arrived at Heck itself. *laughs* It was good though. Misty was AFK whenever I logged in yesterday, so we didn't get to get our photo together yesterday.

That doesn't mean that I didn't get a photo! She just didn't know it. She leaves herself logged in at night while she sleeps, so I snuck into her bunk and took a photo with her. It was probably one of those embarrassing 'mom' moments, but, I needed our daily photo!


I didn't really go to many events yesterday, cause I was very tired, and feeling ill, but I did find the theme's hunt, the day's golden goat, and went to Scary Stories with Late and Radio! This event was actually one of the best, because it was actually Miss Late's birthday! We all surprised her by telling her Happy Birthday at the end of the event. It was amazing, extremely touching, and she rewarded us by singing to us! It was wonderful. I adore Miss Late.

Yesterday was day three of the Playdate Cruise 2017! Our port for that day was.... Unicorn Forest! It was such a beautiful place, lots to explore! There were unicorns everywhere, an abandoned playground, a little gnome village, caves and a gorgeous pond where the unicorns came to drink. Our hunt item prize was even a little carton of Unicorn Milk! I was joking around with one adorable camper, saying that someone should steal a unicorn and market this unicorn milk to sell in SL grocery stores! They'd make a fortune!

But, aside from unicorn forest... it was my first event - Paintball! I was so, so nervous going into it! I'm not a huge voicer, but I decided that I was going to voice to the kids during my event. Misty and I practiced, got my microphone working well, and I headed to my event, set it up. It went well, all things considered! Lag was bad that day, all around. Then when I added many paintballs rocketing off everything, lag got worse. LOL. But it's okay, all that is part of camp! The kids were tired out, so it worked out pretty well, I think. Misty said afterwards that I didn't sound silly or anything, and no one even seemed to notice that I was sick and only had half my voice, *laughs*

After paintball, we tried to save a unicorn who forgot he could fly, I made balloon boxmobiles with Miss Jewel, and tried to play "Funky Monkey" which turned out to be a fast paced version of Greedy. I, however, am stupid and Greedy never makes any sense to me... but it was fun to watch the kids play!

I found the day's golden goat, found the theme hunt diamond in Unicorn Forest, and tried really hard to stay up for Late and Radio's Fireworks and Fishing event, but I was really tired and couldn't make it. Being sick during camp is no good at all!

Day two on the Playdate Cruise came, and we arrived in the Port of Cloud Town! This was really great, every day on the cruise is a different location, a different scene to see each day. I never feel bored, as there really is a lot to do, a lot to see! From exploring each port we come into, to the daily diamond hunt, to all the back-to-back events... it's hard to stay still!

I'm still happy to see that Misty is running around, collecting stickers, exploring, and having fun! I'm really glad that I can experience this with my child. I do feel that if she was by herself at camp, she might not have had as much fun as she is, cause, camp is always better with friends, and people you know. I know it's not cool hanging out with your mom, but I want to think that I'm a pretty cool mom. *laughs*

Surprisingly, she has yet to do anything to be grounded at camp, and embarrassed by her mother in front of her new friends. LOL. She'll slip up eventually though, right?! (No, I'm just kidding, she really is a great, well-behaved kid, hahaha)

Yesterday, was the first day of our Playdate Cruise camp! It was mainly a day of arrivals, getting to know the ship, golden goat hunting, exploring, and decorating bunks. It was a super-busy day, yet we had a lot of fun! We did some Zumba, some picture taking... and lots of sticker collecting! I was even more happy to see Misty having so much fun.

After the opening meeting, Misty and I set off for our day one photo! The ship was super crowded, I was lagging bad, half my HUDs weren't even loading for me (and naturally, one of the unloading HUDs was my smiles. Gah!) So, don't mind my grouchy face, my animations were not loading! Me and my Playdate Camp sign... and well, my child loves her pizza. I hope they serve pizza some day on the ship for her! Otherwise, she'll me making me hire workers for our Pizza Hut back home on the sim. *laughs*


In a little downtime, and once the sim calmed down a little, I was able to take a photo of myself at the docks. I'm so, so excited for the rest of the week! It's gonna be so fun and amazing, I can tell already!

On my little, I love camps. This year, I got the opportunity to become a Camp Counselor for the Playdate Cruise Camp! I was so happy and excited, it was unreal! I had heard that last year's cruise was incredible, so I am really excited to participate this year!

I have been to many camps before on my little, so being able to experience this as an adult, being around all the kids, is going to be so amazing! So, Misty and I, we got our camp shirts on, tickets in hand, the Jeep loaded up... we are going to camp together! We're both so very excited! Although, to be honest, I think I'm  just a wee bit more excited than her!

We're going to have so much fun!

In my last post, I mentioned two people entering our little family. Rayito was one, this post will be about a special little girl. I've mentioned Liiani a couple of times, mainly when she went on vacation with us. Several weeks ago, Misty mentioned to me that she wanted Liiani to be "official" family. This is where it gets complicated, as Liiani already has a family she loves very much. Misty and I talked about it, and decided that we'd ask her to be her cousin/my niece.... just... without me having a sister. LOL, SL families are weird, right? Your world, your imagination.

So, anyway, we waited several weeks, waiting for her to either forget or assume I said no. And all the while, we planned this little event for her. Some backstory: we have a mine on the sim we live on, and it's boarded up, abandoned and scary looking. Liiani's always wanted to go in there, explore around... but obviously, it's too dangerous for kids,so I've always said NOPE.

Except for last week. We gathered our flashlights, and I opened up the mine, told Liiani we're going to explore! She was very excited! I set up this big maze mineshaft thing up in the sky for us to explore. It was long, fun and filled with turns and inclines... and at the very end of the mine, when we couldn't go any further.....

We found treasure! Liiani was surprised, happy and excited! And thankfully, said yes! The space was so small in the mine, and lighting was so horrible, we all just sat on the treasure for our photo. It was still perfect.

Misty and I are so very happy to welcome Liiani into our family!

My adorable kiddo has bought a fancy, shiny, new sim from Linden Labs! She's been wanting one for a while, and was able to get one for Christmas! And that being said, I've been given the task of sim design. It's a HUGE job, much bigger than I've even encountered, really. Sure, I've had homesteads before, but... there wasn't that many prims to play with, so it wasn't such a daunting task.

Merry Christmas from the Pennell Family! I hope your Holidays are safe, amazing and filled with love!

(This pose is up for sale on my marketplace page if you'd like to do any last minute holiday photo-taking!)

Recently, Misty and I went on our fall vacation! Well, it was a winter wonderland in fall, anyway. We invited a family friend (who is pretty much family anyway), Liiani to come on vacation with us, as well! It was fun, we had such a great time! We didn't do nearly as much as I wanted to though, as Liiani had work some days, and I had RL obligations to tend to for several of the days. But, it was still a successful vacation! (This will be a image-heavy post, as I'm going to dump the week's worth of photos here!)

Naturally, we have to pack up! The three of us got our stuff together, packed up the car and away we went! We had to have warm blankets, heaters, and lots of pillows, because where we were going, I had heard it was going to be COLD!

Once we got there, I made sure the kids were bundled up, everyone had long sleeves on, and we went exploring! Of course, once we were done, we had to stop and pose for a photo. They look tired after our explore adventure, don't they?


We also settled in the cabin for a movie night! I had put on Finding Dory for us, and we all really enjoyed it! It was great to bundle in the cabin on a winter day with a movie!


Next activity on the list... snowman building! The best part of snow, is being able to play in it! There's no better way to play in snow than building a snowman, for sure!


Of course, I definitely cherished my time with my favorite family member, my adorable daughter. I snapped this photo, and this is probably my most favorite of us right now! It came out so great, I knew it was going to be perfect even before I took it into Photoshop.


What's a winter wonderland vacation without being able to stay in the cabin in your PJ's? To me, there's nothing better than spending time with loved ones, in your pajamas.


I had a lot of fun, and I was even more glad to hear that Liiani and Misty had fun as well. We're already looking forward to our next vacation together!

Halloween is quickly approaching us! Misty and I have been chugging away at a lot of the fun and scary events in SL lately! We did the Halloween Tour last week, watched the Nightmare before Christmas, and last night, we did the Trick or Treat Neighborhood! It's been fun!

I've also signed our house up to participate in the [free bird] Live Trick or Treating. I really enjoyed the House to House trick or treating last year, and I really hoped something similar would go on this year! This one seems more involved, as you have to be online and at your house when the trick or treaters come knocking. We're signed up for the 9-11 slot, so it should be awesome!

We dressed up as witches for this Halloween, and I think we look pretty adorable, if you ask me! (Well, Misty looks adorable, I look.... I dunno). So, here's our official Halloween photo!

I did decide to start putting the poses I make for her and I on the marketplace, so if you're interested in purchasing this pose for you and your family, you can grab it here, for $10L. It even comes with mirrors!

In my opinion, fall is the best time of the year! The gorgeous colors, the smells, the crisp air, but best of all, all the foods laced with pumpkin spice! I love the fall season sooo much! And, recently, we've been getting ready for our fall family photos.

First, I did one with just Misty and I. We had a visitor who was around exploring the sim we live on during this photo, and she came over to have a chat with us! Making friends everywhere we go!


And this, our official family photo. while Jeffry doesn't log in much anymore (other to buy me $Ls), he's still part of the family. So, he was forced to sit for a photo with us.

They both turned out so beautifully, I'm so proud of my amazing family, who sits so patient during making poses, taking photos and holds smiles for what seems like forever. Well, except Jeffry, who's head makes him perma-mad.

It's been about 2 weeks now since I had asked Misty to be my daughter. Things are still going really, really wonderfully! I really found the connection with a child that I've been really striving for. She's much like a little compact version of myself. Very much my child, in many different ways. LOL!

When I first met her, I mentioned that I have many photo frames in my house that needs to be filled up. Well, Misty and I seem to have taken up the challenge to fill all those empty frames up. Of course, though.... I know we have a lifetime together to take ALL the photos together!


We've been doing all kinds of things, from exploring, shopping, PaleoQuest (even if we do get frustrated at it), to even watching more movies! Some days, it feels like I haven't only known her for three weeks, it feels like so much longer.

This one, I'm keeping forever, no matter what happens.

Over the course of about three months, I have had a panel up at Heritage. I've been really wanting to adopt a child, and it's been a heartbreaking process. It was the same the first time we adopted, but for some reason, it seemed harder this time. I have been on trials with great children, and met several more. Although it didn't work out with them, I still hoped for the best for them. I had decided, that once this last panel expired, I wasn't going to put up another one.

One night, I was standing at Heritage, when I was IM'ed by a special little girl. I felt that her and I instantly had a connection, which is what I really needed with a little girl. For the next week, we spent more and more time together. We killed zombies, watched a movie, went to Arcade yard sales, and I made her move in my house with me. Pretty much right away, I knew I wanted this adorable girl to be my child. I struggled to not call her my daughter during the trial, to try to hold off asking her to be my family!


When I finally asked her, she said yes with no hesitation! I was so excited! So yesterday, she became my daughter, and a Pennell. Compared to other trials I have had, I've known her a short while, but it already feels like I've known her forever already, in a good way, of course! She changed the way I live my Secondlife already, in just the matter of a week. I wouldn't have it any other way! I adore my new daughter, and hope she sticks around with me for the rest of my SL existence!

Oh, yeah, I have a blog! Let's drop down another blog post today, shall we? Tonight, we leave for Greece de la Oleander! When we visited the Rainforest, Jeffry wanted to do a vow renewal. Well, we booked our honeymoon to Greece, and put down a wedding area. One thing lead to another, and well, it didn't happen. Because, reasons that I'll not talk about today. But, the honeymoon was all paid for and the date has been set, so I'm deciding to go anyway.

I was intending on taking the packing photo by myself, but Jeffry decided to be in it at the last minute. I'm not sure he plans on going to be logging in much at all during the vacation, really. To be honest, I feel a little bit like Carrie in Sex and the City, going on her honeymoon with her group of best friends. But that's okay. Like Carrie, I plan on surrounding myself with friends and some awesome Dragovars while I'm there! We'll have a lot of fun, I'm sure!

Off to Greece de la Oleander I go!

The last day of the Start of Summer Camp was yesterday, and I will be honest... It did not get any better for me, like I was hoping it was. Sadly, I really looked for reasons to not be there, to do other things. The experience was not personal, I was ignored/overlooked by the counselors, and it was just in general, not fun. But, I did get a few photos.

One of the nights was movie night, and I took this photo. The plan was to watch Finding Nemo that night, but I couldn't get the movie to work, got frustrated, sat alone, and in the end, I just logged off and went to bed. I heard it was fun though.


The best time I had though, was during parent's night. I had asked my grandpa, Envi, to come for me, since mom had RL to do that night. So, he came to camp to visit, and I forced him to find a semi-photogenic location at camp and snap a photo with me. It was great to actually have a good time while at camp.

That being said, once this camp ended on Saturday, a new camp started up today! It took a lot of stress at first, but eventually I got into this camp! I was SO happy, when I heard I got taken off the waiting list and added to the camper list, it completely made my week. as soon as the FSE SOS camp ended, I went home and packed for Camp Neverwood. My mom was not avalable to take the packing photo with me this time because of RL, but that's okay, it still turned out adorable by myself!


Already, I am having much more fun that I was at the last camp. I feel like the 'getting to camp' experience was so much fun! We started off at the airport, like normal, then we were shot out of the sky by cannonballs from Captain Hook himself! We swam to the nearest docks, battled Captain Hook's crew to take control of the Jolly Roger, and then Peter Pan piloted the ship and flew us to camp, it was really fantastic!


The sim that camp is on... it's absolutely gorgeous! I was was struggling trying to decide on where to take today's photo, there was so many places that would have been amazing! And to be honest, I didn't even leave the bunk/campfire area. LOL! There is SO many events, And TONS that I actually can't wait to go to! Today was day number 1 at Camp Neverwood, and already I have had more fun than I did at the Start of Summer Camp. The counselors are also wonderful, even including the quiet, shy me, and including me even in RP. It made me smile even in RL, and it meant a lot to me, just the one thing that I was included in.

I am genuinely, completely excited for this week's camp activities! They all look fantastic!

Ennaline, my mini, is currently at camp! I've been really, really wanting to go to a real camp, and I have been waiting very impatiently for this one! This particular camp is put on by First Step Elementary school, the Start of Summer Camp!

Yesterday, mom and I did our camping photo, which turned out absolutely adorable! I couldn't have planned out a better photo, it turned out just as cute as I envisioned in my head. Well, to be honest, I didn't know what I envisioned when I was prepping this scene. I just started rezzing things out, and it really just came together on it's own. This is without a doubt, my most favorite photo of us right now.


The flight to camp was so much fun! I know and understand it's SecondLife, and to some people, it's just a "game", while on the plane, it really felt real! Our pilot really sounded like a pilot, the airplane had sounds like an real life plane taking off. It was great. We were even greeted by a counselor who showed us to our cabins! It was awesome!


On the first day, we all explored around, decorated our bunks, and at the end of the day, there was a performance by the FSE dance team. And also a luau. It was great! I, however, ended my day by taking a jump from the diving board into the ocean! (But, it's okay! Because I totally was wearing a life vest!)

I am so sad that last night was our last night on vacation! We had so much fun, I wish we could have stayed longer! But, a vacation isn't nearly as fun if you stay all the time, right? At least... that's what I'm telling myself right now. I will definitely miss it, but at the same time, I love being at my home. Anyway! The day started well, a very gorgeous day (as every day is in the rain forest, I assume), as I took my daily "waking up" photo.

Turned out cute! It was always so hard to get photos, because everywhere is gorgeous, I could never decide on a place to snap the photo! I wanted a photo in like, all the places! I really, really, really can't wait for out next vacation here!


But! Last night, was our "formal night". I set up the dance area with photos from the duration of our vacation, and some snacks. Jeffry DJ'ed country love songs to me. I really wanted to do a formal night, because I never get to dress up, and I really enjoy doing it. It was also a way to really celebrate the end of our vacation, and Jeffry had a surprise for me. He was talking about the "surprise" for the entirety of our stay, so I was really anxious to see what it was. As I touched on in a previous post, he had been sending me on a hunt through the sim, searching for bottles with messages in them. Then with a clue to the next one. He had also put codes in the notecards, that spelled something out... but I wouldn't know what it said until I had gotten to the last bottle.


So, what did the notecard say? When I got to the end of the bottle hunt, I put all the codes together, and found out that he had asked me to renew our vows in SL! We have been SL married for almost 7 years and married in RL for over 2 years now. I think it's about time we did so. We probably even should have done them at 5 years together, but RL got in the way, and all. We weren't really in SL at that point very much. Naturally, I said yes.

He already has plans, for our vow renewal ceremony. When we married in SL, we kind of eloped (much like our RL marriage at the courthouse). And we want it different now, filled with fun, friends and family. And afterward, he said we can go to Greece as our vow renewal honeymoon! So, with that being said, I think that I might talk to Lolita soon, and see when Greece de la Oleander will be open and prepare our ceremony around then.