Volume 10

Saturday by Janey

On Saturday I went on a bike ride, then we drove to a fishing spot. Then we decided to go to Grandma's house and get our cousins to go fishing with us after dinner.

We went fishing and as soon as we put our fishing poles in the water it started raining and thundering and lighting. It made me kind of scared. We stayed a long time (3 hours) and got really wet. We saw some fish jumping but we only caught seaweed. I liked fishing, but next time I want to go to a different lake.


When we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and got ready for fireworks, but they ended up cancelling the fireworks because there was too much wind. We still had a good time!

Getting wet at Grandma's house, before getting wet fishing.

Glow sticks were as close as we got to the big fireworks show.

Same glow stick picture, with the flash on!

The Glen by Whitney

Dark, and silent.
But in a way so loud you can not bear it.
Trying to imagine what is happening,
that you have not been blessed with the ability to hear.
Close-set and foreboding. Jealously guarding its secrets.

The learned one makes it his path.
The predator, his hunting ground, the prey, its shelter.

So hostile, yet somewhat tame.
So mysterious. Not knowing, knowing all.
From it, nothing is hidden. Yet it willingly hides,
all.

(Note by Mom: Whitney is away at our Ward's Girls' Camp this week, but I have included this poem of hers that she wrote in New Zealand. She said the "learned one" made her think of Bro. Solomon, a man in our ward that was a talented bushman and taught Whitney how to catch eels.)

Americone Dream by Steve

After committing myself to testing only top ten flavors listed on the B&J website, Noreen brought this flavor home. I read the label and thought to myself, what could a vanilla ice cream based, caramel swirled, and chocolate covered waffle cone bits ice cream possibly hold for me. Seemed too plain, too simple.

I cracked the scriptures and began reading the story of David and Goliath as I ate my ice cream. Five smooth bites later I realized that I had a David on my hands, a real fighter. The vanilla base was pure and simple. The caramel stream was flavorful and creamy. The legion of chocolate covered chocolate waffle stones I slung into my mouth defied my expectations and nearly conquered me. I had found a contender.

This is the only ice cream pint I have completed and enjoyed to the last bite as much as NYSFC. In fact I would have to say that this crunchy last bite might have even been a better than the last bite I took of NYSFC. Hard to recollect at, oh my aching head. Let's call it a draw, for now.

Tree House Museum by Daniel

We went to the Tree House museum. It had a tree house slide that was very dark. It was really fun because there were lots of different things to do at the museum. There was a Tepee, a fire engine, lots of activities, dress-ups and crafts. They had a medieval section and it had a giant chess board and they had a puppet stage and thrones and dress ups. They had a cool knights action figure set. My favorite part was probably the giant tree house slide.

Daniel - Future firefighting, US President?

Steve - Hanging out in Central Utah

Ellie - A little Spanish senorita

Janey - Helped put on a puppet show at the museum.

Jurassic Encounters by Steve L.

On Wednesday we went to a Dinosaur Park. First we went and saw the indoor museum where they had a lot of dinosaur skeletons, a section on minerals and they even had a robotic mother triceratops protecting her young from a juvenile T-rex. Then we went outside and looked at a ton of dinosaur statues including: a T-rex standing triumphantly over his kill, a dinosaur being attacked by velociraptors, a Triceratops that bit Daniel's hand, a group of large amphibians, and dozens of other dinosaurs. I definitely recommend this park to anybody who likes dinosaurs. (Bring a water bottle, because the park is BIG! It even has a playground for littler kids.) Dinosaurs rule! (Or at least they used too!)

Photos also by Steve L. A T-Rex

Ouch!

Imagine THAT thing lunging at you!

A baby triceritops

If this guy was still around giraffs would have have someone to look up to.

Look behind you!

(Note by Mom: We got to spend the afternoon with my good friend Alesha and her children. What a treat!)

Beautiful Butterfly by Janey

Aquarium Camp by Daniel

(Note by Mom: I let each of the three older kids pick one special "camp" to participate in this summer. Whitney went to Beehive Camp, Steve L. went to chess camp and Daniel picked Aquarium Camp.)
This week at Aquarium Camp we made necklaces out of real shark teeth, dissected a shark's stomach (a fake one), and played some really fun games. We went on a treasure hunt and we also made our own fish and we hid them and everyone looked for them. Mine was the last one found. I got a prize (a giant lollipop) because my fish had the best camouflage. We got to touch a cobra snake and saw a cockroach, a scorpion and three kinds of parrots. I'm starting a shark tooth collection. I really, really want to go back next year!

Lunch with Great Grandma

My Grandma R has recently moved to a very nice Assisted Living home, about 25 minutes from where we live. We had the opportunity today to pick her up and take her to lunch. I'm so grateful to have her living near by and the children have the chance to spend time with their Great Grandma.

Antarctic Adventurers

The day after Christmas in New Zealand is also a holiday, called Boxing Day, but we couldn't find anyone that could tell us why they celebrated it. We called our parents from a pay phone (it was Christmas Day in the States, as NZ is almost a full day ahead of the US) and then took the kids to the Antarctic Adventure Center. The kids loved seeing the injured Little Blue Penguins they had rescued, some of them wearing little green socks on damaged feet. We took a roller coaster type ride in a real snow cat on a test course, and experienced an Antarctic spring storm. They provided thick winter coats and galoshes and you went into a room filled with snow and an ice slide. Every half hour they would dim the lights and blow the wind and have you experience the wind chill. Steve and I laughed and agreed that if felt just like going from your car to the grocery store in Minnesota in January. Maybe we'll summer in the Antarctic next.

We spent the next night (Dec. 27, 06) in Oamaru, to get a glimpse of yellow eyed penguins in the wild. They are the rarest penguins, and we spent almost 3 hours in the pouring rain watching eight or nine of them swim up to shore and hike a steep hill to their nests. One of them came ashore and turned around and waited very patiently. We didn't know why until about a half hour later another penguin arrived. The first penguin ran out to greet it and with their little flippers out they looked like they were hugging.

We decided to stick out the cold like Antarctic explorers and learned a lot about meeting a goal, even if it's not comfortable. We learned a lot about penguins in the wild, but even more about ourselves.

To see a map of the places we traveled so far in this series, click on this link: <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ie=UTF8&ll=-40.359103,172.875366&spn=8.067848,12.128906&z=6&msid=116765397961150020384.000451b63510a46db34d4>

End of Issue 10