A Trip To Virginia, by Annabelle (Disney Frozen Anna Of Arendelle by Mattel)

 

(Note from Treesa: This post has been in draft a 'lot' longer than planned, but Annabelle was having trouble stringing together the photos I'd taken into a cohesive story.)

When Treesa started packing her bag for a long weekend trip to visit her sister in Virginia she didn't get the idea to bring a doll with her right away. Treesa hadn't been bugging her dolls for blog posts as much as she used to either. At least that's what I heard. Everyone I talked to felt like she'd been giving us dolls less attention. Halle thought this was a bad sign and said we should all prepare for the worst. But Suzanne told us Treesa sometimes goes through phases where her priorities shift and things get put on the back burner for a while. Suzanne said she'd seen it before and she didn't think it was anything to worry about.

What matters is almost at the last minute Treesa remembered the blog and decided she needed a doll to take with her. Word got around that Treesa was looking for a doll who would drop everything and come to Virginia. I'd heard of Virginia before at my old home. I knew a little about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson from my first owner's history textbook. Treesa is my second owner. I also knew that a lot of important things in American history happened in Virginia like the founding of the Jamestown settlement and several Civil War battles. I've always liked learning about history. It's kind of my thing.

But I knew my chances of getting picked to go on the trip weren't good. I lived in part of the house where Treesa keeps dolls she thinks need some work. Nude dolls she can't find the right clothes for or dolls with molded clothing pieces she wants to cover up are kept separated from the rest of the collection. Treesa says it's because she wants all of us to have the chance to make a good first impression. But some of us end up waiting a long time before Treesa can rework our looks into something she's happy with.

I knew I had at least two strikes against me if I wanted to go on the trip and get my picture posted on the blog. For starters I had a molded top with molded sleeves. Treesa never liked molded doll clothes. When she redressed Sabine in that Princess Leia poncho Treesa was really happy with Sabine's new look and called it a "redress success". Treesa said the poncho made Sabine look "less like an action figure and more like a doll". I don't really understand what's wrong with looking like an action figure. Then again Treesa's a doll collector. She's not an action figure collector. So maybe she's worried her collection will get too big for her to handle if she starts adding too many 12 inch action figures. Maybe she's trying to stick to buying mostly dolls to keep her collection smaller and easier to manage. But if that's the idea it's not working very well.

The other thing that made it a lot less likely Treesa would want to show me on the blog was my failed makeover. My first owner had tried to give me a whole new look by chopping my hair short and adding to my paint. She'd covered my fingers with messy black paint that was supposed to be nail polish. Treesa stopped trying to clean it off when she realized my arms were molded from blue plastic with painted skin and the skin was starting to rub off along with the black paint.I also have a paint rub on my lip from Treesa scrubbing too hard when she was getting off some matching black lipstick. I never really liked how the black paint looked so I was glad when Treesa tried to clean me up. But I knew my paint issues would probably look bad on camera. So I knew my chances of getting picked for the trip weren't great.

I really wanted to go though and I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. So I went to see Treesa in her room. Getting up the stairs was a trip on its own but Halle helped me and made sure I didn't get lost. Treesa was packing some last minute things and didn't notice me right away. "Treesa," I said. I tried to talk loudly enough that she would hear me but quietly enough that I wouldn't startle her. But Treesa must've been distracted because I ended up startling her anyway. "Annabelle,you scared me!" she said. I tried not to feel hurt when Treesa said it but ever since Halle told me where the name Annabelle came from I'd felt sort of bad about that. 

"Is there something I can do for you?" Treesa asked at the same time she was turning back to her open luggage. Treesa does try to keep her dolls happy and she knows we depend on her for a lot of things. I looked down nervously and said, "I was wondering if I could come to Virginia with you." Treesa seemed surprised. "I'm not sure," she said. But then she stopped. Maybe she didn't want to hurt my feelings. But I was pretty sure she really meant no and I tried not to feel hurt again. But this time I couldn't help it. "Is it because I'm scary looking?" I asked Treesa.

She turned around real fast and looked at me. "Who said you're scary looking?" she asked.

"You named me after a doll in a horror movie," I said. Treesa looked angry. "Who told you that?" she asked. I didn't want to get another doll in trouble so I didn't answer. But Treesa figured it out anyway. "It was Halle, wasn't it?" she said. "Seriously, that doll needs a new hobby. All she ever does is cause trouble."

Then Treesa took a deep breath. I guess she was trying to calm down. She bent down closer to me and said, "I named you Annabelle because you're an Anna doll, and I thought you should have an old-fashioned name, since you like history so much." I watched the look on Treesa's face change. It was like she was thinking over what she'd just said. "Maybe it would be a good idea to have you come along," she said.

When we got to Virginia the first place Treesa tried to take pictures was in front of the large photo prints hanging on the wall in the hotel room. But those photos didn't turn out. Treesa said there just wasn't enough light in the room to take good pictures. She tried using the flash but she said that washed everything out and reflected off the artwork. So we had to wait until we visited Treesa's sister on the farm where she's working and living before we could get any photos for the blog.

This first picture was taken at a rock garden that Treesa's sister and another farm worker set up. They named it Stump Rock Village. The other farm worker made a sign and everything.

Then Treesa's sister showed off where she was living and I was left there while Treesa and her sister and the other family members Treesa came on the trip with went out to dinner. There was a cat named Shera who belonged to the other farm worker but Shera was old and she stayed curled up on a cushion the whole time everyone was gone so she didn't bother me.

The next day Treesa's sister met up with the rest of the family to tour the Civil War battlefield at Manassas. Treesa's camera couldn't seem to focus on the field and me at the same time.

 

A lot of the trees there were blooming and looked really pretty. So Treesa held me up by one of the branches to take my picture.

Then Treesa took my picture in front of a wooden fence.

Treesa saw this spot where the fence was a little overgrown and said it was a good metaphor for war. She said during war the ground gets torn up and life gets turned upside down but when the war ends things start to grow back and life goes back to normal. And people forget.

Here's a photo of one of the Civil War monuments. Treesa doesn't remember exactly why she took this picture but she said she thinks it's because the gates gave her a cemetery vibe and were a reminder of just how many people died, on both sides.

The next day Treesa's sister took the family on a tour of a hiking trail that's on the farm property. The trail is mostly for guests who are staying at an inn that's also part of the farm.

Later Treesa's sister showed off the farm staff's vegetable garden. Here I am next to a small tomato plant.

Since everything growing in the garden was for the farm workers and not for sale Treesa and her family actually helped Treesa's sister pick some of the vegetables.

And that's about all there is to say honestly. It wasn't a long trip so there wasn't enough time to see any more historic places. But I'm glad I got to go even though most of the stuff we did was sort of outdoorsy and I'm not really that outdoorsy. Just being somewhere and knowing that before I was even made something important happened there sort of made me feel like I was part of history.

Respectfully Yours, Annabelle

(This was a popular type of closing for letters written in the 19th century.)

Walt Disney World Winter Vacation: 2019 (Part 2)

(This post will be picking up where Part 1 left off. Just a reminder, there are two dolls who are coauthoring this post with me and their words have been labeled and color coded to avoid confusion over who is speaking.)

Treesa: The day after I got sick, we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom park. Although the park is known for its live animals, Stormy didn't like the idea of getting too close to the windows of the animal enclosures. Gala didn't seem to mind though.

Gala: Treesa took a bunch of pictures.

Treesa: Unfortunately, this is the only photo of Gala with an animal that turned out at all, due to lighting conditions and reflection. Gala did say no to getting her picture taken with any of the local lizards.

Treesa: These little guys were all over the parks, sunning themselves in any convenient spot.

Gala: I didn't want a lizard jumping on me.

Treesa: I was pretty sure that wouldn't happen. But I could see that Gala was scared, so I didn't push her too much about posing for a photo.

Treesa: This picture of Gala on top of a rock wall was also taken at Animal Kingdom park. Stormy, meanwhile, preferred getting her picture taken with some of the flowers that made up a portion of the park's landscaping.

Stormy: I liked the pretty flowers.

Treesa: And here's a photo of a 'butterfly crossing sign we saw in the park.

Gala: But we didn't see any butterflies.

Treesa: I think it was the wrong time of year for them. Anyway, the day after that, which happened to be my birthday, was spent at Magic Kingdom park. We visited a lot of the classic attractions, like Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Stormy: The pirate ride was scary. There were skeleton pirates, and canons shooting, and at the end the buildings were all on fire.

Treesa: We also rode on the Jungle Cruise, only it had been given a holiday overlay and was called the Jingle Cruise. And here's a photo from the preshow of another classic Disney attraction, Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

Gala (singing): All the birds sing words and the flowers too,

Treesa: It's 'and the flowers croon', Gala. Croon is another word for sing.

Gala: Stormy got scared when the building came to life.

Treesa: Gala means the part of the show when the tiki idols sing. I'll admit, the Enchanted Tiki Room finale may be a little intense for youngsters.

Stormy: But I liked the singing birds part.

Treesa: To get back to the trip, this next set of photos was taken at the Swiss Family Treehouse attraction.

Gala: There were lots of steps. It took Treesa a long time to walk up all of them.

Treesa: Okay, Gala. I know I need to get in better shape. But we need to finish writing about the trip right now.

Treesa: Here's a photo of the Cinderella fountain at Magic Kingdom park.

Treesa: And speaking of fountains, here's a picture of another fountain that we saw the next day at Epcot. If you look closely, there's a stream of water shooting out from one of the 'launching pads'.

Gala: The water kept jumping back and forth! It was really cool.

Treesa: Here are a few more photos of Stormy posing with some flowers. This shot was taken at the United Kingdom pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase.

Treesa: And this photo is from Epcot's China pavilion. Unfortunately, that's the last photo I have with Stormy or Gala in it. Like I said at the beginning, it was difficult finding photo ops for dolls their size. Also, I've noticed that when I'm on vacation I often forget to take pictures. Oh sure, I'll remember to drag a camera around with me day after day. But then I get so busy trying to make the most of the trip that the thought of stopping to take pictures completely slips my mind. Not to mention the Disney parks have a 'no flash photography' rule for many of their indoor attractions.

I really wanted to get a picture of Gala and Stormy at Be Our Guest Restaurant. (My family had breakfast reservations there the day before we were scheduled to fly home.) I even packed a table setting from the discontinued Disney Happy Places line for the dolls to share. Unfortunately it was so dark inside the restaurant that I could barely see what I was eating.

Gala: And the fruit bowl had lots of melon in it. Treesa doesn't like melon.

Stormy: But all the food smelled good.

Treesa: Anyway, I guess that about wraps it up. We got back home a week and a half before Christmas. It was a nice vacation overall, though the first several days it felt like my family and I were running around so much trying to see everything that I wasn't getting the time to enjoy anything. I was so exhausted in the evenings that I skipped a lot of the nighttime light shows and fireworks.

Gala: But we saw the show where the elves rescued Santa!

Treesa: That was Jingle Bell Jingle Bam at Hollywood Studios park, and I'll admit I enjoyed that one. Still, it wasn't quite the vacation I'd imagined when we first booked the tickets at the beginning of the year.

Stormy: Me either, too many scary things.

Treesa: I'm sorry, Stormy. But think of it this way. If you hadn't gone with me, you would've wondered what you missed out on.

Anyway, I think it's past time that I got this posted. Goodbye for now.

Signed, Treesa (and Gala and Stormy)

Walt Disney World Winter Vacation: 2019 (Part 1)

Hello friends and visitors. It's Treesa again. Back in December of last year, I took a roughly week long trip with some family members to Walt Disney World resort in Florida. I knew I wanted to take some photos for the blog while I was down there. However, I've learned a few things about traveling with dolls since I first started blogging. For example, when I brought Odessa with me to Ocean City, New Jersey back in 2018, the poor doll spent most of the vacation stuck in the hotel room, alone. This experience made me realize that, on longer trips at least, it might be a good idea for me to travel with more than one doll. That way they can keep each other company if I'm not around.

I decided to bring two of my Kelly-sized dolls with me to Walt Disney World, thinking that they'd be easier to tote around than my larger dolls. However, it turned out that finding photo ops for such small dolls was a lot harder than I realized. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, let me introduce you to my two doll traveling companions. They're going to be helping me write this post, with their words labeled and color coded so that you readers know who is speaking.

Treesa: This is Gala.

Gala: Hi!
 

Treesa: Gala is a redressed Fruitastic Happy Apple Marisa doll by Mattel. This explains why I named her after a type of apple. If you're familiar with the original outfits from the Fruitastic line, this also explains why I color coded her words in green. Gala's rather adventurous, so I thought she'd enjoy getting out of the house and touring 'The World', as some books refer to the Walt Disney World resort.

Gala: We went on lots of rides, and saw lots of shows, and Treesa went shopping a lot. She bought keychains and pins and...

Treesa: Okay, Gala. I think they get the idea, and I still have to introduce the other doll who came with us.

Treesa: This Funville Sparkle Girlz doll with pale blue hair is named Stormy Weather. Would you like to say hello Stormy?

Stormy: (quietly) Hello.

Treesa: Stormy's a little shy, but when she found out I was going to Walt Disney World she begged to come along.

Stormy: I wanted to see Elsa.

Treesa: Stormy is a huge Elsa fan. She has a coronation Elsa figurine that she carries around with her everywhere she goes.

Stormy: I took Queen Elsa to Disney World, but we didn't see the real Elsa.

Gala: We saw Cinderella's stepsisters on the merry-go-round!

Treesa: Gala means the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel in Fantasyland. One of the official Disney photographers was taking pictures of Anastasia and Drizella on the carousel horses. Speaking of pictures, let's take a look at the photos I took on the trip.

Treesa: This picture was taken on the plane as we were approaching Florida. I was trying to photograph some interesting looking cloud formations with Stormy beside the window.

Stormy: The clouds were really puffy and lumpy. Treesa thought they looked like snowdrifts.

Treesa: I thought it would be fun to have Stormy pose with her arm stretched out towards the window, like she was Elsa and the clouds represented Elsa's ice magic. Unfortunately, my camera was having trouble with focusing and with the low light conditions inside the plane. This was the best shot I was able to get, and by the time I took it the cloud formations were nearly gone.

The next day was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios park. I wanted Gala and Stormy to see as much as possible, so they rode around in my fanny pack with the zipper slightly open.

Gala: So we could peek out but nobody could see us.

Treesa: The first area of the park we checked out was Toy Story Land. Gala and Stormy seemed to like the idea of a place that showed humans what it was like to be toy-sized.

Gala: But Stormy got dizzy on the spinning spaceships ride.

Treesa: Gala means the Alien Swirling Saucers. I got a little off-balance on that one myself. I think I liked the Fantasyland Mad Tea Party attraction at Magic Kingdom park a little better. Riders on that one have a bit of control over the spinning.

Anyway, here's Gala standing in one of the giant Tinkertoy pieces at Toy Story Land.

Treesa: And here she is on a giant domino bench.

Gala: We watched the green army men play drums too! They threw the drumsticks up in the air!

Treesa: There were other things we checked out while we were at Hollywood Studios park. We walked around the then new Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge area. If the designers were going for a fully immersive environment, they nailed it. Gala and Stormy actually seemed a little nervous when they saw stormtroopers walking around and questioning park guests. I think The Voyage Of The Little Mermaid live show that we saw next was a little more their speed.

Gala: No it wasn't! It was too fast! It kept fast-forwarding stuff! I didn't like it.

Treesa: I agree with Gala that the show cut down the story quite a bit. But I understand why it was presented that way. If the show had gone through the whole movie in real-time it would've been so long that park guests would've been waiting forever to get in. However I'll admit, it wasn't one of my favorite live shows that we saw on the trip.

Stormy: I liked the bubbles.

Gala (to Stormy): You were scared of the sea witch.

Treesa: Our next stop was the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Gala thought it was very exciting, and a little scary.

Gala: Stormy thought it was a lot scary.

Stormy: There were big fires, and loud booms, and the man almost got squished with a big rock!

Treesa: It's okay, Stormy. Remember what I told you? The people who do the show want it to look dangerous, but they're really very careful to make sure everybody stays safe. Okay?

(Stormy nods)

Treesa: We actually didn't get to see as much of the park as we wanted to that day, because I got sick and threw up right after lunch. My brother thinks it was food poisoning. But I felt better later that evening, and made it back to the park in time to get a seat for Fantasmic. My family and I were staying 'on property' at Disney's Pop Century resort hotel, and we had park hopper passes for the trip. So I was able to take the Disney Skyliner back to the hotel and rest awhile before rejoining my family at Hollywood Studios park. The photo below shows the Skyliner in action. It was taken at Pop Century, but on a different day.

Treesa: I'll admit, when I first found out about the Skyliner I was a little nervous about trying it. But taking the Skyliner was so much more convenient than taking the buses, even though it did get a little chilly up there in the sky gondolas.

Stormy: I didn't like when we flew over the lake. We saw alligator signs near the lake at the hotel.

Treesa: I tried to tell Stormy that the Skyliner is safe. But then she overheard other members of my family talking about an accident that had happened when the Skyliner first opened and she got nervous.

(Stay tuned for Part 2.)

Odessa's Ocean City Vacation (unidentified Disney Frozen Elsa by Mattel, redressed)

(Hello again friends and visitors. This is Treesa. I want you all to know that I'm really sorry this post was delayed. I was having some trouble getting the photos off of my 'new to me' camera after my card reader broke. The rest of this post will be from Odessa's point of view.
Signed, Treesa)

Near the end of July, Treesa, her best friend Jenn and I went on an 'extended weekend' trip to Ocean City, New Jersey. Jenn had been planning the trip for months. She made the hotel reservations back in January, and Treesa said that after the reservations were taken care of the upcoming vacation became Jenn's favorite topic of conversation. I think the reason Treesa decided to bring a doll with her was because things had been rather quiet here on the blog. Treesa also thought the beach would be the perfect location for a doll photo shoot. Treesa picked me to be her 'travel buddy' because, as Treesa put it, I was already dressed for the beach.

I felt excited as I watched Treesa pack my luggage, thinking about all the things I might see and do. I'd been on vacation once with my first owner, but that had been a long time ago. I was really looking forward to getting out of the house and getting away for a little while. I was also looking forward to getting some time by myself, since it can get a little crowded in Treesa's collection. However, the vacation didn't turn out quite the way either of us planned.

Treesa, Jenn and I arrived in Ocean City on a Thursday morning. Neither Treesa or Jenn know how to drive, so some of Treesa's family members offered to drive us down. When Treesa tucked me into the top of her beach bag the night before, she'd reminded me that I couldn't show anyone else I was alive. This sounded reasonable, and I didn't realize then just how frustrating it would be. Jenn's mother was worried that it wouldn't be safe for two young women to be traveling around the area alone, so Treesa had promised her that they wouldn't separate. This meant that wherever Treesa and Jenn went, they went together. And because Jenn didn't know I was alive, whenever she was around I had to stay in a silent, motionless state. Dolls aren't normally bothered by this kind of thing, but I'd gotten so used to moving and talking in front of Treesa that going back to not doing it was a big adjustment.

We left so early on Thursday that I barely stirred when Treesa packed the beach bag into the car. We arrived in Ocean City too early for Treesa and Jenn to check into their hotel. So everyone left the bags in the car and headed for the beach. Treesa thought she'd have plenty of time to take pictures later in the trip, and she didn't want to hold everybody up while she changed me into the bathing suit she'd packed for me and dug out the doll-sized beach chair and the other photo props. So I was left behind. Because the car was parked in the hot sun, it became unbearably warm inside. Time slowed to a crawl, and it felt like I was stuck in there forever.

Finally, it was time for Treesa and Jenn to check into the hotel. After they'd unpacked, Jenn suggested that she and Treesa head for the Boardwalk to get something to eat. They ended up browsing through a number of the shops, and they didn't come back until after dark. The next day, after breakfast, Treesa and Jenn headed for the stores on Asbury Avenue to do some shopping. I was left behind at the hotel. Being alone in the room wasn't too bad, once I figured out how to work the tv remote. At least the room had air conditioning. When Treesa and Jenn came back, they stayed just long enough to drop off their shopping bags before they went out to dinner at the grilled cheese and quesadilla shop near the hotel. Then they headed back to the Boardwalk. It was late when they got back, although it wasn't as late as the night before because Jenn had a stomach ache.

The next day was very windy, and the sky was overcast with gray clouds. But Treesa and Jenn headed for the beach early in the morning, in spite of the weather. We would be leaving early the next day, and Jenn knew this was the last chance they'd get to visit the beach. Treesa knew it was also the last chance she'd get to take some beach pictures for the blog, so she brought me along. Jenn had seen the blog before, and she asked Treesa about me while Treesa was setting up for the photos. "Hello Odessa," Jenn said after Treesa introduced me. I knew Jenn was old enough to have outgrown the childhood habit of treating toys like living beings. So when Jenn kept talking to me I wondered if she also knew that I was alive. When she asked me a question, I almost answered her. But Treesa must've known what I was thinking and sent me a warning look. Right after that, Jenn said to me, "Why am I talking too you like you're alive?"

"I must be rubbing off on you," Treesa said before she quickly pulled out her camera.

 Treesa managed to get a few pictures, but then one of the screws fell out of my beach chair and the wind picked up even more, so Treesa called it a day. After we went back to the hotel we got a message from Treesa's father, warning us that there was a big storm on the way. Sure enough, it started pouring rain not long after that. Treesa and Jenn had adjoining rooms, and they spent the rest of the day doing crossword puzzles and Mad Libs and talking about how much they wished they could be out doing something. I knew how they felt. I was bored out of my mind and more than ready to go home. I'd also had way too much 'alone time' and missed all my doll friends. Treesa did get a few photos of me that night in the cute, doll-sized pajamas she'd packed for me.

Treesa and Jenn also made a few trips to the hotel pool during their stay, but I can't remember when those were. To be honest, there were times when I wasn't sure where Treesa and Jenn had gone. All I knew was that they weren't in the hotel room. I think the next time that Treesa wants to bring a doll along on vacation, I'm going to suggest that she brings two dolls, so they can keep each other company. I also don't think I'll be volunteering to go on vacation again any time soon.

Odessa