We went to Lansing for 9 days! [note: actually 5 weeks] We were sad when we left 3 weeks after fishday’s. I was sad because it was sad leave grandmas house. Then we went to Kentucky. I was sad when we left her house.:(
I liked fishday!:) I liked our sleepover! Have you ever ben to Lansing befor?
Getting ready to hit the road for the last leg of our journey
Yesterday we went to nell house we watched solserfer it is about a 13ten that got her arm bet off by a shark I watched the shark atak it was not scery. Then later on in the move she went serfing agen. Then in the moning we hade to leave.:( Ween we got home are baby cozen was there Oden! He was stell sleping so we hade to be quiet we ate are Luch in then he wock up.:).
With Grandma and my cousin, Owden.
[Editor’s translation:]
Yesterday we went to Nell’s house [for a sleepover]. We watched Soul Surfer. It is [a movie] about a 13 year old that got her arm bit off by a shark. I watched the shark attack; it was not scary. Then later on in the movie she went surfing again.
Then in the morning we had to leave. 🙁 When we got home our baby cousin, Owden, was there! He was still sleeping so we had to be quiet. We ate our lunch and then he woke up. 🙂
September 8th, the new principal, Mrs. Hogan, gave Ellie, Ana, Greta, and I permission to attend class for one day. I was put in the class with all my friends. In the Lansing school, there is only one sixth grade class and there’s only 24 people in it. Last year, near the end of fifth grade, I had joined the school for a few weeks. That’s how I knew everybody. One of my best Iowa friends, Annie, took me to all her classes and included me in everything. She was so nice, and all my other friends were too, but Annie made me feel the most at home.
The school day was really fun, and my second favorite part was lunch. We had mini corn-dogs, cheese sandwiches, applesauce, a salad bar, Dorito and pasta salad, pineapple fruit cups, peaches, muffins, vegetables and dip, and milk. What a lunch! My favorite part was the corn-dogs.
My favorite part of the day was PE. We played capture the flag, boys against girls. At first, the boys were all excited because they always think they’re better, but the girls won every single time.
Everything was so fun that day. DEFINITELY beats homeschool! Thanks everybody!
On September 5th, Me and Nell got back from her house and our cousin Jahmuna was at Grandma’s house. We decided to play Beckon Beckon. It is a fun game. After a while we got bored and decided to bike around the alley. I let Jahmuna use my bike. Me and Nell were playing with Thurgood, Jahmuna’s three-year-old brother, and he actually talked a lot more than usual.
After playing for about an hour, we went in and got ready to go to the Red Barn, a really yummy restaurant in Lansing. Thurgood and Jahmuna loved riding there in the RV. When we got there, we went inside and ordered our food. While waiting for our food to come, all the kids went down to the playground to play. We played Watermelon on the slide. We also went on one of the twirly things and we slid down it. We also went on a baby helicopter and played with Thurgood in it.
Mommy and our cousin Jahmuna
After a while, Mommy and Daddy and Grandma called us up to eat our food. I ate a hotdog with French fries. It was delicious! After that we all hopped in the RV and started on our way back to Grandma’s house. It was a very fun day!!! 🙂
Our cousin Thurgood
On August 26, me Nell Ana Stella and our other friend Jena went to Gary’s ( my uncle) farm. We all got the RV and when we started moving we all told funny stories. All of a sudden Ana yelled WE’RE HERE!!!!!!! Yay!! We all said! We hopped out and tried to find Gary, be was not there so we went and saw Clayton our cousin. He told us that Gary went to go buy some cattle and that he was on his way back. We went and saw the pigs. They were so scared of us because whenever we walked by they would run away. They stunk.
With our friends, Nell and Jena, on the farm
After that we asked Clayton to show us the chicks. There were so many of them and they had some red on them. Clayton caught one and let us hold one. When it was my turn it was so soft and then all of a sudden it started to get away so I let Stella hold it. After that we went back to the farm house and Clayton gave us each a popsicle.
Ana has a new chick
After that we started driving home when all of a sudden Gary came from the other way so we had back up. We said hello and then we left. I had a great time at the farm.
August 25th, we were planning to go out on Mike and Lisa’s new boat. Suddenly, like two hours before we left, Ellie got sick. So she decided to not come. But that didn’t keep us from going.
We wanted to get some exercise so we rode our bikes down to the marina where the boat was. It was a nice ride. We finally made it and I hopped off my bike. I spotted Lisa and I ran over. Then everyone finally came and Mike showed us the boat. Wow! It was really nice! There were four pink deck chairs that were sitting on the flat boat. Then there was a roof kind of thing and that’s where the driver sat. There was also two booths in the back under the cover/roof thing. There was a cooler in the back, too. I plopped down on on of the pink deck chairs and we started moving.
Heading up the Mississippi on the pontoon boat
It was pretty slow going, but that was good, because it meant we’d have a long way back. Then I noticed Dad and Mike getting out a big container. I peeked inside and there were crackers, slices of summer sausage, and cheese curds. Then Mike brought out two bags of sliced cheese: one cheddar, ( which I LOVE) and the other bacon somethin’ somethin’ somethin’ somethin’, as Mike called it. Hahaha! Well, he also brought out two different kinds of crackers and then a different kind of sliced sausage! I made a cracker with cheddar cheese and sausage and it was delicious! We rode around on the boat and stopped at the sandbar to feel the water and play in the sand.
Sinking into the sandbar
Then we left and rode around more. We got a call from Cassie, Mike and Lisa’s daughter that’s 23, and she said she’d like to come out and join us. So we picked her up and went a little longer. We went to see some lily pads and they were really pretty, especially against the sunset. That was where Mike had gotten stuck a few days before.
We spotted a bald eagle hanging out on one of the islands in the river
Finally, we had to head back. We said bye and hopped on our bikes. On our way home, we saw lots of bats. One flew right into Dad’s face. Then one flew into mine. I was disappointed when we had to go inside and leave the bats, but we had made it home.
Yesterday I Went out to Luch with my onocole Mike we went out to the redbarne I got a hot dog mike got a . Then we went to a nother store we looked for a berthsay present for me.We anded up in up to in hourse falls I got a house traler a hourse blacket a set.
Me and Uncle Mike
[Editor’s translation:]
August 22 I went out to lunch with my Uncle Mike. We went out to the Red Barn. I got a hot dog, and mike got a [?]. Then we went to another store and we looked for a birthday present for me. We ended up in Horsfalls. I got a horse trailer and a horse blanket set.
On Sunday August 21st, we drove to DeWitt, Iowa to go to our cousin Laura’s bridal shower.
It was a looooooong 3-hour drive, but we finally made it. The shower was at a cute little community center, and when we stepped in we made name tags and put our gifts on the table. Then we were served tea and lemonade and we sat down at one of the tables with our Aunt Mary, Laura’s mom, and a few other people. We chatted for a few minutes before we were served lunch. After we were finished eating, Laura opened her presents and we made a game out of it. We were each handed a bingo sheet, and we had to think of gifts that a bride would get at a shower. We wrote them down on our bingo sheets, and then we crossed items off when Laura opened them. If we got Bingo, we got a prize. If we didn’t… well, we didn’t. It was fun even though I didn’t win.
Then, unfortunately, the shower was over. We helped Laura load up her gifts in the car, and then we dropped them off at her house and we drove to Mary’s house. I enjoyed my cousin’s bridal shower!!! 😉
Yesterday, on August 18th, Uncle Mike called and invited us to go out on the river with him in their boat to go tubing.
We were all super excited. We got our swimsuits on, covered our bodies in sunscreen, (at least I did) and got all our stuff ready to go. Then, I decided to call my friend Alanna and invite her to come with us since she had never been tubing before. After much convincing, she finally said yes (she was terrified to do it) and we left the house to meet her down by the river.
When Alanna arrived, we got in the boat and rode to a quiet spot on the sandbar. We put up our chairs and hung out there for a while, playing in the water and relaxing on the beach. Alanna and I tried to find the lagoon to go swim in, but the path led to some BURNING hot sand that scorched our feet, so we turned around and went back. When we got back to the boat, Mike was attaching the tubes to the back of the boat. Yay! Alanna was still scared, so we decided that I would ride with Ellie the first time and she would watch. So that’s what we did. And you know what? She decided to do it!!! Ellie moved to Stella’s tube and she got on with me. We had such a great time! I wiped out twice, but it was still awesome. Alanna loved it, and she tubed with me for the rest of the day. When we took breaks at the beach, we always wanted to go tubing again!
Zipping down the Mississippi River
It was sad when we pulled in to the dock and had to stop tubing for the day. We had such an amazing day! I’m so glad Alanna got to come and share the fun with me! 😀
August 14th, Dad and I were kind of bored, so we decided to go out for a bike ride. First we went down to Mike and Lisa’s house down by the river. We stopped to say hi, but then a ton of teenage boys came by so Dad and I moved on. Dad suggested the Blackhawk Bridge, the one that the second you are across, you’re in Wisconsin. At first I was a little too scared, since we drive across it a lot and it goes over water from really high up. And you can see right through the bottom of the bridge because it’s made of metal bars. But I said I’d give it a try. So we started across. Dad said, “Whatever you do, don’t stop. You can’t stop.” So I didn’t stop. I stared straight ahead and tried to concentrate on the road ahead of me, but once I accidentally looked down. To my surprise, it wasn’t scary, just cool. And for the rest of the bridge, I was confident. Finally we made it across. We were in Wisconsin! I had never biked to Wisconsin before! Hahaha!
We made it back across the bridge and Dad decided it was a good time for a treat. We stopped at the Skinny Dip and we both got chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cones. They were delicious. Thanks, Dad!
Eventually, we had to head home. But I had a nice ride with Dad. Thanks again!