Summer Edition
2003
This summer went by very fast. We were very busy and that's why I decided to combine July and August into a summer edition. The monthly editions will start again in September. So, here's some of what I did this summer.
In July boys' soccer season finally started. I played on the Orange Team this year. I played defense, offense and goalie this year. I liked playing offense the best this year, especially center! It's a lot of running though.
Later in July we went on vacation. We drove to Toledo, Ohio and stayed in a cool hotel and swam in a great pool. The water was so warm!! Even my mom thought the water was warm! The next day we went to the Toledo Zoo. The animal exhibits are built to let you have a very close-up view of the animals. There is only thick glass between you and the wild animals! When I was watching the seals, a seal swam right up to the glass and tried to kiss me! At the polar bear exhibit, we could see the bears jump into the water and swim because the glass went below the water.
The zoo also had a terrific aviary. There were birds from all over the world and in some of the rooms, they were flying around free. It was a bird watcher's paradise!
From there we drove to Chicago. My mom's family lives there. We had a surprise party for my dad's 40th birthday and for my Aunt Evelyn who is 80! I got a lot of time to play with my cousins.
We spent a day going to some of the sites in Chicago. First we went to the Field Museum of Natural History. We saw Sue, the largest, most complete T-rex ever found. We also went through the African exhibit and learned about how people in Cameroon live as well as the different environments and animals in Africa. After the Field museum, we went to Navy Pier to meet with some friends. I got to play miniture golf with David and Daniel. After a lot of tries, I finally got a hole-in-one near the end. We did learn one lesson: in miniture golf, you don't need to swing too hard or the ball goes right out of the golf course!!
The Chicago Children's Museum was also at Navy Pier and Gabrielle and I really enjoyed touching and playing with everything. I made foam airplanes and raised the planes on a chain lift. The planes got released at the top of a 40 foot tower and you could time how long it takes your airplanes to float down. There was a whole room with a huge water table, pumps and hoses where you learn about the power of water and how to make water move. When you go in the room you have to put on a raincoat, but it didn't help Gabrielle because I accidentally shot a stream of water on her head and face. She was soaking wet! There were also places to climb, a construction area to build and a place where Gabrielle could pretend to drive a city bus. After a long day, we went to one of the fountains in front of Navy Pier. We were able to play in the fountain and we got drenched! The water felt so good because it was hot outside.
Later in the week, my dad took me to my first Professional Baseball game. We went to see the Chicago White Sox. The only problem was that it poured and they kept trying to start the game, but then they would delay it. One time they even got as far as singing the National Anthem, but then it rained some more. Finally after 3 hours we left. Just as we pulled into my grandma's driveway, we heard on the radio that they started the game!!! So I still haven't seen a professional baseball game!
To end our vacation we visited Notre Dame for a retreat. There were lots of kids and I made a lot of new friends like Ryan. My parents knew Ryan's parents from when we lived in California. Ryan lives in Oregon so maybe some day I'll get to visit him or he'll visit me.
As soon as we got back from vacation, I started science camp at the library. We learned about simple machines and did some cool experiments. My dad and his friends from college also had a big 40th birthday party at our local hostel. Even though it rained a lot of the weekend, we had fun. There were lots of kids at this party too. We had time to fish and go out in the canoe and kayak in the creek. We even made little wooden boats and all the kids had a boat race which ended up with all the kids playing in the creek. It was a lot of fun!
This year instead of having a "Christmas in July" party we had to move it to August. This was our fifth year doing the party. About 30 kids came to our backyard to make outdoor Christmas decorations. We also played some silly games and got wet too.
To finish up the month we went to Belzner State Park and swam in the lake and did some fishing. Gabrielle and I both caugh fish. I caught a fish on my very first cast, but I didn't have much luck after that. We didn't keep them, we let them go back right away. It was very beautiful there. The next day we went to the Franklin Institute to see the "Grossology" exhibit. It was cool but about a lot of gross stuff.
I sure had a great summer and I hope you did too. I'm excited to be starting 4th grade in homeschool. I'll be studying lots of cool things I'll use this website to share some of it. Be sure to try the math challenge this month on page 3. As always, don't forget to sign my guestbook. I like to see who has visited by site.
Have a great September!
Page 1
Newsletter
Cool Links
Page 2
*Book Review - The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates
*Poetry Corner
Page 3
Math Challenge
(www.figurethis.org)
If you like doing the math challenges, this site is for you. It has over a hundred math challenges and ideas for parents, kids and teachers.
