Hi, this is Amy.

I finally found a place I can post my thoughts without my mom peeking in. She found my FB page, and INSISTED on being my friend, so she could track what I was saying. And she’s got my twitter name, and I can’t block her, or she’ll remove me completely. Sometimes I just want to tell her, You know I’m (almost) 16 now, and I do know what’s right and wrong. You’re not the only one in the family who has a brain! (Well, I guess Dad’s pretty smart too–but I’m not going to vouch for Ben.)

Anyway, the Author Guy was kind enough to leave his book of passwords out where I could see it, and saw he had a blog. If I can’t do FB, and I can’t twitter, then I might as well blog. Ugh.

We took a trip last week, to some national park. I told mom and dad I’d rather stay home and read, but they dragged me along anyway. Dad lectured us the whole way about “spontaneous pair production” until mom finally told him to can it. Three hours of that sort of family time, and I was ready for a break. But, no. We hiked around some dead volcanoes, and saw some bubbling mud things, until my legs were ready to fall off.

Ben, of course, loved it, and bounced from one natural attraction to the next. He swore he wanted to be a park ranger when he grew up. As if. I told him I could make him a permanent part of the park. We were near one of the boiling lakes. Mom told me to watch it. Oh well.

Anyway, bored at home now. Both Clara and Beth are at camp (hi girls!), but will be back next week.

Will post more later, if the Author Guy doesn’t catch me and toss me out. (Please, please please, let me stay? Thanks, A.G.!)