Issue 35

Pinewood Derby by Daniel

The pinewood derby was a neat experience. Although I didn’t win anything, I had a great time and I made it into the finals. My car is purple with a yellow stripe. First we cut the wood with a saw to get the shape of the car and then we sanded the car and then I painted it. My car was number nine and I came in 7th overall in the pinewood derby.

Daniel's car on the far right

Daisy Scouts

Janey is active, outgoing, creative and persistent. All good qualities in a scout. She has watched her brothers do fun activities, earn badges and go camping as boy scouts. Never one to be left out she has been begging for over a year to become a girl scout. I figured if it still meant so much to her after so long she deserved to be a scout. As with most things I have found, if you want an experience for your children you have to be willing to run it yourself. Who has more vested interest in a child's success than mom and dad? My dear friend Denise and I both have 6 year old daughters, so we created a daisy girl scout troop. We have 11 of the cutest girls who can now recite the girl scout promise and are learning all about the girl scout law. The program is very values based and adorable. The best part is we got trained and started just in time to sell girl scout cookies. Cookies anyone?

Pollution Awareness by Whitney

(Note by Mom: The pollution has been so mucky this week. Whitney took photos of it this week for a photography class. Her assignment was to take pictures of some issue to help raise awareness of it. You can hardly see the mountains in these photos because the haze is so bad.)

When I set out to take these photos, I wanted to raise awareness about the pollution in Utah. It is really disgusting that some days we have to stay inside because it is so bad! The health specialists say that on days like this Tuesday and Friday, that if you are outside for an hour, you’ve just done the equivalent damage of smoking a pack of cigarettes. That’s how much gunk accumulates in your lungs. Bleah!!

Call it Courage by Daniel

Call it Courage is about a young Polynesian boy a long time ago. He was afraid of the sea because his mom drowned when he was really little. He went out to the sea to try to overcome his fears. It’s a good book and you should read it to find out what happens.

The Greatest of Ease

Remember the crazy, dangerous playgrounds I told you about? Well you should see their adventure parks! We went to one at the Bay of Islands that had giant slides, and real tight rope walks a professional sized flying trapeze! I never thought I'd have to see my husband and daughter "fly through to air with the greatest of ease," but watch I did through the cracks in my fingers that were over my eyes. Well they obviously lived (and loved it by the way pictures) to see another day.

Daniel, not so sure about the giant slide.

Steve L. on the monkey bars.

Dad on the trapeze

Whitney ready to take the plunge. (We took video of her swinging, so I don't have more pictures.)

Good old NZ humor.