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October
2007 Journal
We are
ALWAYS busy in October! There is just so much fun
stuff to do. So, this year is not any different!
Plus, I now have school activities in the mix.
Can you believe the weather was still in the 90's this
month! WOW!
Lots to write about...hope you don't get bored.
If we haven't talked to you in awhile, drop us an email or
two!
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Pizza Hut
Days
October 2, 2007 |
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We have "Pizza
Hut" fundraiser days for my school. They are every first
Tuesday of the month. 20 percent of our bill goes directly to
my school! How great is that! Daddy and me are going to
do this activity together every month that we can!
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Columbus Day
Weekend
October 4 -
8, 2007 |
Thursday ~
October 4th: My grandparents Proper headed down to our
house tonight on their way to visit my Aunt Susan & Uncle Allen in
Maryland, and then to visit my cousin Nickoli, Aunt Atina & Uncle
Will in Virginia. I was already in bed, but I was still awake
and heard them coming in the door around 8:30pm. I stayed in
my room, like a good boy, but Mommy came up and got me! We
visited and Grandma & Pa Pa had brought me some stuff from their
Alaskan Cruise they went on for their 40th anniversary! They
also brought their pictures and we watched them like a slide show on
our TV! It was sooo cool. I want to go on a cruise ship
now! I needed to get to bed since I had school in the morning
and they were heading out for Maryland early as well. Pa-Pa
took me up to bed and read me a book and I was fast asleep.
Friday ~ October 5th: Friday morning, I had school.
I got to see Pa-Pa before I got on the bus. We wore Grandma
out, she was still in bed! I had a pretty good day at school
and we just had hung out watching TV for the night.
Saturday ~ October 6th: Today we headed up north to
Carbon county, PA. We have had this Earthcache marked on our
"to-do list" for like, forever! It was a pretty long drive,
but I brought a movie to watch in the car, so I hardly noticed.
Mommy and Daddy thought it was funny that I could watch the same
Star Wars movie over and over again! Anyway, we went to
Hickory Run State Park to see the boulder field, which is a
National Natural Landmark! This landmark is one of the most
striking geologic features in the state of PA. A true relic of
the past, it has remained relatively unchanged for more than twenty
thousand years! It was really cool and a lot bigger than we
expected it to be. The "field" measures approximately 400 feet by
1,800 feet and is at least 12 feet deep! It is the largest of
its kind in the Appalachian Mountains. We had to walk across
the field, stepping carefully on the boulders, which surprisingly
were quite stable, but it still was tricky. Also, it was
pretty stinkin' hot out there on those rocks! We needed to
find a certain large rock in the middle of the field and guess how
large we thought it was to get credit for the geocache. I did
pretty good, other than the fact that Daddy and I had to take a
detour so I could pee! Oops! It was weird just thinking
about how all of these rocks came to stop here during the ice age
and be piled up so nicely with absolutely nothing growing up between
them.
It was much later in the afternoon by the time we finished with this
adventure but we had one more place to go find, Hawk Falls.
Thanks to our PA Waterfalls book, we noticed that while in Carbon
county, it would be home to at least one waterfall we could visit
while we were here. We quickly found the beginning of the
trail and there just so happened to be a geocache here as
well...bonus! It was a delightful hike thru rhododendron
tunnels and alongside a rushing mountain stream to visit this unique
waterfall. The place was really popular, their were at least a
dozen families there and kids swimming in the 2 pools that lay below
the falls. Yes, swimming in October...I told you it was warm!
Anyway, I tromped right in! I didn't go far before I had to
have Mommy go with me, but she did like a trooper. She just
wouldn't go in passed her shorts! We all had dry clothes in
the car, we've gotten accustomed to bringing extra clothes,
especially for me when we know we will be near water! Anyway,
it was chilly and numbed the legs, but felt refreshing at the same
time. I didn't get really cold until I would get out of the
water and stand in the breeze! We hung out here for quite
awhile taking pictures and exploring the falls. Daddy took
right up to them but I was not really liking that much, they are
kind of noisy and scary up close. Anyway, the whole area
cleared completely out before we were ready to head home so it was
nice having the place to ourselves for a little while. It was
a cold hike back up to the car and while Mommy got me changed, Daddy
headed off and found the geocache. Normally, you aren't'
allowed caches in State Parks but the owners grandfather used to
have a farm on the property so he was given special permission to
hide it near the Falls but not actually "on" the State Park
property. It was a nice day and was dark out by the time we
got home. I was tired and went to bed! I was excited
because Grandma & PaPa would be coming back to our house tomorrow.
Sunday ~ October 7th: I spent most of the day playing
outside in the near 90 degree weather! I voluntarily washed
the car! It was really dusty from our drive up to Hickory Run
and all the off-roading we did. I played with Grandma and PaPa
and then we all went out to eat at my favorite place in the whole
wide world...FRIENDLY'S! Yummy!
Monday ~ October 8th: Today is Columbus Day, so I had
the day off of school and Daddy did not have to go to work!
YAY! Grandma & PaPa had to head home but we all got up in the
morning and headed to this new donut shop, The Fractured Prune, for
breakfast! OH MY....were these donuts tasty! I had 3 of
them. The fun part about this place is that you can create
your own donut, by telling them what topping to put on it! We
just used their examples...this time! I keep asking to go
back! I had a carnival one, it had sprinkles all over it, a
French Toast one, and a Mint Chocolate Chip one. Everyone
pretty much made themselves sick on these donuts. We got back
home, Grandma & Pa finished packing up their things and they headed
home. Mommy had plans to walk with Amanda, so Daddy and I
dropped them off at the park while we went and found 2 geocaches.
The one was near a creek, yay, more water to play in, but I didn't
get too far into it, it was kind of yucky! I found some neat
toys in the caches though and that is always fun!
What a nice holiday weekend...company was good, weather was perfect,
a nice time was had by all! It's over already?!
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Week #6 ~
Kindergarten News
October 12, 2007 |
We are almost
done with our alphabet letters! I have learned letters "Aa-Ss"
to date (what they look like and how they sound). I do have a
harder time remembering the lower-case ones, I still like to write
using all capitals. Except in my name, I have mastered the
"school way" of writing that. We are starting to learn to
write down our own words to accompany our pictures. I am
learning to say the work slowly and write down all the sounds i
hear. It's hard for me because I want to know how to write the
word the correct way, but Mommy and my teacher both said I'm not
allowed to do it that way anymore. It won't help me learn to
write. We have learned more Kindergarten Wall Words: a,
go, I, my, like
We finished numbers 1-10 in our math books and are now learning
basic geometry. WE are identifying two and three dimensional
shapes, building and exploring with shapes and comparing them.
We have gone on a shape hunt around the classroom. Mommy,
Daddy and me are going to practice this game at home too.
A few other exciting things that have begun this month are:
Take Home Reading. I get a book to bring home. Mommy,
Daddy and I have to read the book and talk about what is happening
in the story and then I need to remember what I read. Mommy or
Daddy sign the book off on a special tablet with my name on it.
I bring it back to school and then get a new one to bring home and
repeat the process all over again. I think I have read like 10
books already, well not quite.
Another reading project we are working on at home is the Pizza Hut
sponsored "Book It" program. I need to read 10 books, that
aren't my Take Home Reading work. I have until October 31st to
finish this and I will get a coupon for a free personal pan pizza!
YUM! |
Cherry Crest
Amazing Maize Maze
October 12, 2007 |
We have been
trying to get to this maze for years! Finally, tonight was the
night! We decided to go for their "flashlight" experience
since we couldn't seem to get anyone's schedule's to coordinate for
going in the day time. We still had a great time!
Amanda and her Mommy joined us for the night! I was a bit
nervous about the idea of walking around a corn field in the dark
but Mommy assured me that it would be FUN!
We decided to eat out for dinner first, we were all hungry and we
had to kill some time waiting for it to get dark! We ate
dinner at Texas Roadhouse where I filled up on their oh so delicious
buns! I had a hot dog....shocker, I know. Everyone else
ate big juicy steaks!
We got to the farm, paid our way in, jumped in line and were at our
first stage, the briefing section, where they explained the rules
and gave other useful information. Boy, it was dark! The
guy was funny because he had us all put our flashlights on him so we
could see! We had our game piece and off we went!
Daddy and Amanda leading the pack! Hidden throughout this
15-acre maze were mailboxes. I think there were 15 of
them! Inside the mailboxes were pieces to a puzzle, that when
all put together, made a map of the maze. The theme of the
maze changes every year and this year it was "The Wild, Wild West"
so the maze was a picture of a cowboy on his bucking bronco, with a
lasso in his hands, there were stars, a moon, cactus and a horseshoe
in the background. We walked around for 2 hours before we
accidentally found the "out". Daddy was kind of bummed because
we had only 5 more pieces to our "map" to find. We decided to
head out only because I had been super good up to that point with
minimal complaining. I would every so often make comments
about "I'm so hungry, it's been so long since I have seen food, I
almost don't remember what it tastes like". This got chuckles
from quite a few people! I love to make people laugh.
Anyway, this place was so cool...Daddy couldn't get over just how
big it was and we all were "amaized" by the size of the gigantic
corn stalks! They towered over the grown-ups heads by about 6
feet or more! I had thought if we had gotten lost, Daddy could
toss me over his head like Homer did with Lisa when they got lost in
the corn maze! Fortunately for us, we weren't brought to using
those tactics! Anyway, to break up the frustrations of going
in circles...they had little stations set up....we found a giant
slide, that shot me out like a cannon, I almost bumped my head on
the ground! They had a haystack you could climb on and see the
train go by, zip lines, lassoing stations (this was my favorite) and
a bucking bronco! Now, I was hesitant about getting on this,
but only because I was being strange with the employee that was
trying to help me out. Once he showed me what I was supposed
to do, I did a pretty good job of riding to my 8 seconds of fame!
Next, it was Daddy's turn...Mommy no sooner got the camera up,
Daddy's hand was up all professional and ready...and off the thing
he went flying!
Before we headed home, I got to pick out a light up toy and we all
got some hot chocolate and sat by the campfire to warm up! It
was a fun night....tiring too....I think everyone took a nap on the
way home...because it was really quiet!
We are planning on making this an annual event!
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Mommy &
Daddy Go For a Hike ~ Thousand Steps
October 13, 2007 |
I was left with
the Martinelli family for the day so Mommy and Daddy could do a
strenuous hike to a very popular geocache in Huntingdon County, PA.
After hearing their stories I am glad they didn't take me. I
enjoyed my time playing with Alex and Drew!
Mark and I have been wanting to do this geocache for at least a
year. We found ourselves with available babysitters, so we
"seized the moment". It was a tough climb but we managed
without feeling like we were going to have a heart attack on the
side of the mountain. It was tiring and we took lots of
breaks. First, a little history about where we were...it's
kind of long, but it's interesting. I took this information
directly from this
website:
Jacks Mountain is home to
the famous "Thousand Steps" which are part of the National Heritage
Trail. Jacks Mountain at 2,321 feet is quite a large mountain,
especially for Pennsylvania. Also, when you consider that the base
to summit elevation gain is 1,715 feet, you'll understand that
you've got quite a hoof ahead of you. Jacks Mountain is located in
PA's central mountain region, also known as the main range of the
Appalachians. This area in Pennsylvania is quite rugged and the
mountains are a lot steeper and higher than many people realize when
they think of PA.
Located between Lewistown and Huntingdon, PA, this mountain affords
magnificent views in all directions from its scree slopes. The
little former-mining towns of Mount Union and Mill Creek are at its
base. Also, the Juniata River cuts this mountain in two and creates
one of the more rugged and spectacular areas in the state, known as
Jacks Narrows. You almost get a western feel standing at the
trailhead as the two mountains rise nearly 2,000 feet above you on
either side.
The
Thousand Steps Trail is not something to be taken lightly.
Just doing the steps themselves (going 1/2 of the way up the
mountain) is quite a task on its own. You can compare this venture
as an hour and a half work-out on a stair master as you will
definitely feel it in your legs once you reach the top.
There are actually 1,043 steps in the Thousand Steps Trail. They
were created in 1936 as a means of transportation to work for the
miners high up on the mountain.
The mining history in this area
is very rich as sand was the most popular resource mined from Jacks
Mountain. Mining for sand started on Jacks Mountain and in the
narrows around 1900 by Harbison Walker Corporation and it continued
until about 1950. The sand mined from the mountain was used for
silica bricks which were heat resistant and at one point, Jacks
Mountain was known as "The Silica Brick Capital of the World." Both
sides of "The Narrows" on Jacks Mountain were loaded with railroad
tracks and at one point six inclined planes existed. Harbsion Walker
Corporation, at its height, employed 2,000 people and produced half
a million silica bricks a day.
Jacks Narrows which is cut by the Juniata River also housed some of
the most famous transportation means in the history of east coast
transportation at one time or another. The PA Turnpike, Pennsylvania
Canal, William Penn Highway, and Pennsylvania Railroad all passed
through Jacks Narrows at the base of this mountain. This goes to
show how important a roll Thousand Steps and Jacks Mountain had to
the early 1900s industrial boom.
It took us about an hour to get to the top. We passed a family
on their way down with their little girl, who appeared to be around
Cole's age. They said she made it up all by herself but that
this was their second attempt, she didn't make it the first time.
We also heard that people do this "trail" as their daily exercise
and can do it in about 20 minutes! Once we did reach the top
we did some exploring before actually heading to the cache site
itself. There were remains of the old train shed that
surprisingly enough there wasn't graffiti with foul language,
graffiti, but at least is was just peoples names and who they
"love". HA! Time to find the cache, we hiked further up
the trail, did a little bushwhacking, and found the cache very
quickly. We took some nice pictures from the first view point.
We could see the Juniata River and the town of Mill Creek from
there. We decided to follow the trail to the other view point,
trying to imagine what it would have been like for a train to travel
along here and or to work on the side of this mountain and have that
daily commute of a thousand steps....two thousand, once you went
home for the night! We sat, rested and had a snack before
looking at the watch and seeing that we needed to be heading home
soon to pick up Cole. The trip down was quicker but I little
harder for my balance. My legs were a bit shaky on the way
down, I had to be careful. I did slip once just in time for
Mark to snap a photo! Overall, it was a great hike. We
would highly recommend it if you are ever in the area of Huntingdon,
PA!
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Happy Birthday to
Maysen
October 14, 2007 |
We were invited
to Maysen's 3 year old birthday party! Can you believe that
she is 3 years old already? YIKES! The weather was so
nice that we were able to spend most of the party time outside!
I bet she never thought she would be able to have an outdoor party
in October! Anyway, we had a nice time. I picked out a
Little Mermaid Floor puzzle for her and she was really excited with
it! I also got her Disney Princess patterns to cut-out on a
pumpkin! I hope they work!
We ate yummy food and cake with ice cream! Thanks for inviting
us and Happy Birthday Maysen!
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Mommy's
First Day in Kindergarten
October 17, 2007 |
Mommy
volunteered to help my teacher today! I was excited when I
heard her at the door and my teacher knew I would be, so she let me
go first. We sat in the hallway at a desk and practiced
recognizing, matching (upper case/lower case), sounding out and
saying a word that started with the letter of the alphabet. I
thought it was easy, I got stuck on a couple but after a little
thinking, I figured them out. Then I had to write my name on a
piece of paper and practice writing the "wall words" (a, I, go, see,
my, like) that we have learned. I can spell most of them
without looking. Mommy practiced reading them with me when I
was done. Mommy got to stay and work with two more of my
classmates and then it was time for her to go home. I think
Mommy is going to come again next week and help out. Daddy was
supposed to come, but his work scheduled a meeting, bummer. I
hope he will be able to come be a helper someday.
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Making
Strides for Breast Cancer 5K Walk in Harrisburg
October 20, 2007 |
October is
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so what better way to
support the Cancer Society than volunteering to raise money and
participate in this year's 10th Anniversary 5K Walk to raise
awareness and funds.
Mommy, Amanda and Sue all walked in the event. Each one of
them raised over 300 dollars! I believe so far the entire
event had raised over 150,000 dollars.
The weather was perfect and the walk was really nice, there were a
lot of people, estimated around 6, 000 or more. People of all
ages, sex and abilities were out. Mommy got a nice t-shirt to
"thank her" for participating and a breast cancer pink ribbon pin
too!
They had a nice memorial section during the walk set up, you were
not to talk and there were signs everywhere with people's names that
lost their battle with breast cancer, it's hoped that those signs
will become fewer and fewer with all they are learning about early
detection of this disease.
We are so very thankful that Grammy has been able to be on the
winning side of this disease.
After the event we took some pictures by the fountain at the Capitol
building. They had colored the water in it pink!
Although, Daddy thought it looked a little like blood! Silly
Daddy!
*Thank you to all who donated to this special cause! We are
looking forward to participating in this event every October!*
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Mommy's 2nd Day in
Kindergarten
October 24, 2007 |
Mommy
volunteered at my school again today! Daddy was supposed to
come but he ended up having a meeting at his work and couldn't
reschedule...bummer, but I was thrilled to have Mommy come again.
I got to go first! YAY! Today, we practice matching
letters to pictures and repeating the beginning sound they make.
Again, we practiced writing our wall words," I, a, go, my, see,
like, the".
I was extra excited today because Mommy picked me up after school
and I didn't have to ride the bus home! I don't mind the bus
too much but it takes us forever to get home!
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Week #8 ~
Kindergarten
News
October 26, 2007 |
We have finally
finished our Alphabet Adventure. I know all my letters.
Well, I did know them before kindergarten but I know them even
better now and all the sounds they make and the lower case ones.
We have learned 7 of our wall words and I can write them with no
help. I know, I, a, like, my, see, go and the.
We finished our math chapter on shapes. I made a really nice
shape fire truck and a shape snake that is hanging in the hallway at
school!
My favorite thing to do in kindergarten, besides recess, are "center
jobs". This weeks theme is Fall/Halloween.
We had a special visit from the fire company...that was cool, we got
to see different fire truck and Sparky the fire dog!
I'm excited for next week. It's our "Fall Party". We can
dress in our costumes and Mommy & me are making a special
"graveyard" treat!
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My Kindergarten
Fall Party
October 31, 2007 |
We had our party
today and it was crazy fun! Everyone dressed in their costumes
and we ate a lot of sweet treats, one being my "graveyard" dessert
that Mommy, Daddy and I had made the night before! It was
spooky looking! We painted pumpkins, sang silly songs, had a
costume parade and pin the stem on the pumpkin.
My favorite part about the whole day was that Mommy & Daddy took me
in to school AND made me a parent pick-up! :)
I was Harry Potter and my other friends had great costumes
too....like Thing from the Fantastic Four, Frankenstein, witches,
princesses and others I can't remember.
Time to go home
and get ready for Trick or Treat night!
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Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2007 |
Tonight was my
best trick or treat night ever. Mommy & Daddy weren't' too
sure how it would go as I have been giving some grief and
apprehensiveness about wearing my Harry Potter costume out where
people could see me. I really do not like any attention put on
myself. Anyway, when it came time to get ready...I
cooperated for everything...first, Mommy has to make my blonde hair
black...Harry Potter is not a blonde! I didn't want people
thinking I was his "enemy" Draco Malfoy! So, Mommy got some
colored spray and put it all over...I thought this was cool! I
finished my costume with black pants, shoes, white shirt, special
Gryffindor tie, cape and Harry Potter glasses! Also, a must
have to be Harry and I kept them on the whole time! Topped the
costume with a hand drawn lightening bolt scar and magic wand.....ta-da....Harry
Potter....even cuter than the one in the movie! Or so I kept
hearing all night long.
Now, typically...I go to a dozen or more house, out for about 1/2 an
hour and I am done and wanting to go home but Mom and Dad convince
me to keep going. This year we met up with my new friends from
the neighborhood and we had a blast! We went up almost every
street in the development and to all the "haunted houses". Our
neighborhood really gets into this holiday...people have completely
transformed their homes! I wish we could have gotten pictures
of them. Some were just for looking at while others you could
walk thru. We were in one of the haunted garages and Mommy was
looking at a table they had set up, she figured they took all this
time to do it that she should look at everything...well unbeknownst
to her...creepy guys were sneaking up on her and Daddy and I stayed
quiet.....BOO! AHHHH...Mom screamed like a little girl!
Soon our 2 hours of fun were up! I ran to check our bucket on
the porch and it was empty. It always is...you never know if
people are only taking one or handfuls, whatever...we are pretty
sure that we passed at least 200 different kids during the night!
I have already informed Mom that I want to make our house all spooky
for next year! She said she's think about it!
I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!
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