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September 2008 Journal
Summer is over
and school has started! Can you believe that I am in First
Grade?
School and Karate should keep me pretty busy this month. I may
start bowling in a "league" but that is still up for discussion.
Mom and me may try and enjoy the last few weekends of Hershey Park.
However, I think the plan is to start keeping things simple until I
get adjusted to this all day school thing.
We are waiting for Fall to begin and bring some cooler temperatures.
It's been a pretty hot start to the month!
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Happy
Labor Day!
September 1 ,
2008 |
Well, we
thought about sitting around and doing nothing today but we did
that on Saturday! Mom and I were talking about
Lake Tobias
the other day while we were splashing around in the puddles at
the zoo - so Mom thought let's just go there today! I have
been here before but I don't remember it, I was very young.
We went in October with Amanda and Uncle Mark.
It was a fun time. We got there shortly after they had
opened, so we were able to get on the very first Safari bus!
I thought it was funny that they cut the top off of school
buses! It was a bumpy ride, but I enjoyed feeding all the
animals. I must admit I liked throwing it at them better
than feeding them by hand, those elk get pretty feisty!
Made me a little nervous, but if they didn't see a cracker in
your hand they moved on. We saw all kinds of animals, Emu,
Buffalo, Sheep, Fallow Deer, Elk, Whitetail Deer, Yak, Water
Buffalo, Texas Longhorns, Llama and a few Zedonk - just to name
a few. Zedonk? What's that? Well, it's a
half-donkey and half-zebra! Once they are born though they
can't have babies. These animals are all out in the "wild"
- it was nice to see them have so much space to roam. Now,
there were some animals that are in cages - monkeys, lion,
tiger, ostriches, lemurs, a momma bear with her two cubs and
some tropical birds. I guess the monkeys were doing some
kind of morning grooming thing that Mom and Dad didn't want me
to see....so we had to skip them and come back to them later!
We then got to see the Reptile Show, which I was not a big fan
of. I did not like the noisy Macaw birds, they were so, so
loud! We did get to see a cool two-toed Sloth, Chewie -
yes, he was named after the character in Star Wars, a baby
alligator, a few snakes and the coolest thing - a big porcupine!
She was awesome - Lucy was her name and she came on stage with
her quills standing straight up and she would stomp her foot to
try and scare us away.
After the show, it was time for lunch. This place is nice
because you can pack a picnic and eat there. Mom packed a
few snacks and a lunch for her, while Dad and me got food there.
Dad had a Buffalo burger and I got pizza! Yum!
We finished our visit with a trip to the petting zoo. We
had some crackers left from the safari but the animals had been
fed all morning long, so they were not that hungry. Mom
did feed the giant camel...man, they are big! The goats
weren't' hungry but apparently they wanted some paper, as one
grabbed the pamphlet from Dads pants pocket and ate a big bite
of it before we got it away from him! We saw some smaller
elk, llamas, a baby goat, cow, and my favorite was the pen just
full of guinea pigs! I want one! Mon's not so sure
about that. I've been taking good care of my goldfish -
Tom & Jerry so maybe she will change her mind...it's not like I
am asking for a puppy!
We tried to do a geocache on the way home, but Dad had not read
the entire write up to get us closer parking coordinates so
after our already hour long - 1 plus mile hike we decided we
better turn around - we were switch backing up a mountain and I
had just ran out of steam. My complaining was minimal, I
was just slow moving. We decided to turn around, head back
to the car and go for ice cream! Yum! Chocolate chip
cookie dough for me please!
It was a nice fun Labor Day activity spent with the family!
Back to school tomorrow!
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Karate Class #47
September 3 ,
2008 |
We've gotten
our new "assignments" for this month. Our home project is
all about Anger Management. I have to read a story about a
turtle who has some anger issues and how he solves them. I
have about 10 questions I need to read and answer. We are
working on answering two a week. I like doing these
papers, they have got some pretty good stories and lessons on
them. Plus, I get those cool stars for my pants, I can't
wait to have them up my leg like the bigger kids do!
Our stripe for this month is
RED
- for INTENSITY. Sensei Justin was our teacher tonight and
he did a pretty good job at explaining it too me. I got to
be the leader because I have a yellow/black belt and the rest
were white belts. I need to work on projecting and being
confident while "leading"....Sensei Justin said he couldn't hear
me. I got better toward the end. We practiced our
Universals and practiced our self defense. It was a bigger
class than normal. I think some new kids have joined the
school. Mom said it was one of the more fun classes to
watch. Sensei Justin is one of her favorite teachers...she
said that "he gets me". Not sure what that means!
HA!
I really like karate! I have to work extra hard this
month....I can graduate to the next belt level on the 27th!
*Earned my gold/black star for Honesty! Now I have 4 stars
up my pant leg!
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First
Grade News - Week #2
September 5 ,
2008 |
First Grade
is going great - I really like it so far. My teacher is
really nice, I like the whole lunch thing, I prefer to pack but
on the days that I do buy, I like to buy an extra Rice Krispie
Treat. Yum!
The beginning of school has been all about reviewing and
learning the new rules and routines and mostly adjusting to
being in school all day. We are reviewing initial
consonant sounds, color and number words. We have been
doing graphing and practice with writing our numbers correctly (
I still like to flip some of mine) and practice with number
words.
We have been reading the book Moonbear. We made a
book about things that we like. You'll have to read mine
when you visit.
We have gotten our fist homework assignments that is kind of an
ongoing all year kind of thing. We have word wall words to
practice, these are common sight words that help with
independent reading. We have a special folder that we have
to practice writing them in. My teacher gives me 5 new
words on a Friday and I have to practice writing them 3 times, 2
times from memory and then I need to write them 3 days a week.
I then turn the book in on Friday and get 5 new words. So
far, I already know the words she has sent home. I can't
help but wonder just how much harder they will get.
My teacher has a behavior system that she uses for us. We
all start our days out with a green card, yellow card for a
warning, blue card, we lose recess, and a red card means a note
home! I had a bumpy first week, (green, blue, yellow,
green) and a better week this week, now that I am adjusted
(green, green, yellow, green).
I have brought home a lot of papers and Mom and Dad are proud of
my work, they can't believe how neat it is!
So far, I like to do my "homework"...Mom put her desk in my
room, so I have my own nice quiet spot to work at.
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Karate Class #50
September
10,
2008 |
Wow! I
have been to 50 karate classes! I have learned a lot.
Tonight's class was a fun one. Sensei Justin is just a
great teacher, he helps us to learn so much and yet, makes it so
much fun.
I was very "intense" today. Mom said that she was finally
glad to be able to hear me when I was speaking. Now, as
for my karate "key-i" (sorry no idea how to spell that so I did
it phonetically), which is my karate yell....Mom thought people
could probably hear it in the parking lot. Sensei Justin
said that he loved it! :)
We played
some new games in the beginning of class - we had to lay on our
bellies with our hands behind our backs, then on go, get up, on
our hands and knees and crawl to a pad that was in the middle of
the dojo floor. Now, I had a competitor on the other side
racing against me to get to the pad. Whoever got to the
pad first got to take it, and hold it up and then who got there
2nd got to punch and punch and punch it. My opponent was
fast! I got to do all the punching, but that was okay with
me - I thought that was fun! We are talking about anger
management this month and I think this was an exercise in that.
Either way, it was fun. We then practiced our Universals -
both one and two for me. I got to go first to show off my
Universal Number 2. Sensei Justin said it looked awesome
but I need to practice getting my side kick up a little higher.
We ended class with a game of Sensei Says - you know, not to
toot my own horn, but I ROCK at this game! I have won this
game the last 3 times we have played it! He didn't even
trick me with his silly "Santa", "Salami" or even "Spaghetti"
says!
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The Couch
to a 5K in 9 Weeks Running Program
September
2008 |
Mom and Dad
are "training" to be able to run a 5K some day or just to be
able to run 3-miles just for exercise/fun! Mom does her
"running" during the day and Dad does his at night.
Here is a link to the program if you are interested.
www.c25k.com
9/29
~ UPDATE: So far so good. Dad is on week 5
and Mom is on week 4
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Karate Class #55
RED STRIPE
Testing (Intensity)
September 24,
2008 |
I had my
stripe test today and did a great job! The class was
really big and Sensei Dave (owner) helped. He took me
along with half of the class to the smaller room in the back and
we had to do our push-ups, sit-ups and perform all our basic
moves with as much intensity as we could muster. It was a
more "intense" testing procedure this time...I am thinking
because of the belt graduation coming up. Next, we
switched with the other group and Sensei Justin tested our
Universals. I had 2 of them to perform. We also
ended with demonstrating our self-defense moves we had been
working on all month long. It was a fun class and I
proudly left wearing my red stripe!
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Karate Belt
Graduation Ceremony
September
27,
2008 |
I am now a
yellow-white belt! YAY! I get to move into a new
class too. I am still a Tiny Tiger but now in with higher
belt levels, so classes will begin to get a bit more challenging
for me. All of my classes are in the back room now, so
that is a bummer for Mom - as she likes to watch me.
The graduation ceremony was nice, it was much more comfortable
than last time. The weather was kind of rainy and cool
outside but it made it nice in the gym. I get a little
nervous in front of such a large group of people, but I did a
good job. The hard part is sitting on the bench and
staying focused on the rest of the groups that needed to
perform. I do like when the grown-ups show off their
skills. This time they demonstrated some cool defense
moves. I thought it was funny when Sensei's Cory and
Justin got "beat up" by some girls!
It was a nice ceremony and we celebrated by going to Hershey
Park! Yes, in the rain!
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Hershey
Park
September
27,
2008 |
Today was
the last day that HersheyPark was open for their regular 2008
season. We needed to at least go to the Season Pass office
and get our new passes for next year (THANKS AGAIN GRAMMY &
PAP). We are getting one for Dad this time and I am waaay
excited about that! Also, our neighbor had an extra ticket
for Dad to use, so we could actually all go to the park while we
were there. Unfortunately, it had been raining all
morning...not downpours, just annoying sprinkles of rain....so,
we were kind of on the fence about going. Well, secretly
Mommy KNEW we would stay and ride some rides, she knows me
pretty well...and when I am THAT close to the park there is no
way I would want to leave. Dad was indifferent, truly I
believe and know that he wanted to just go home...but he's a
trooper and off we went! I mean, we couldn't waste a FREE
ticket!
It was kind of funny heading in to the park, people were leaving
BUT people were heading in too! The park was busy, more
busy than we would have thought it would have been. I
re-checked my size and guess what?! I am now a Hershey
Bar! That means I can now ride the Bumper Cars! Did
I? No. Ooops, we actually kind of forgot!
First, and one of my favorite rides, the scrambler! Whoa,
there is nothing like riding the scrambler in the rain! It
was great! I had to ride it again...Mom and I were
soaked....this time we made Dad come. We all squeezed into
one car, bet we won't be able to do that next year! I
could just tell by the look on my Dad's face that we had made
the best decision ever! It was raining pretty hard
now...but I wanted to ride the train. We were able to get
right on it, kind of surprised the line was short, as it's
mostly covered ride. That was fun, and it didn't matter
that the snake got us wet, we already were...it sure did
surprise the people sitting behind us! I love that!
Next, I was hungry...funny, I always get hungry when we get
there. So Dad got me a Corn Dog. I had to sit on the
table under the umbrella so I could eat it. That was cool
too.
Okay, what I am about to tell you next has created some
controversy among the family. Everyone keeps saying it was
MY idea but it was Mom's - don't let her tell you any
different...we were walking passed the boardwalk, which is
closed for the season and they have already started construction
on next years new attraction...a wave pool (larger one) and a
lazy river - can't wait. However, they were running the
Tidal Force ride - which is this giant boat that goes up this
giant hill and then DOWN this giant hill and you get hit with a
huge wall of water. I guess Mom figured we were already
wet...I have no idea how they tricked me into getting on this
thing...but they did! I was not happy going up, would not
look around, Mom said she would protect me from the wave....then
we went down, down, down, so fast I lifted out of my seat and
WHAM - right in the face with so much water that I freaked out!
Mom and Dad were laughing....I was not. So, we thought we
were wet before...nah, now we were completely soaked. I
was upset, for a bit, Mom was able to get me to recover pretty
quickly...I did like watching the next boat go down so I could
see just how much water had pelted me in my face! Mom said
it had been years since she's been on that ride and forgot just
how completely soaked you get, the water went down in our
jackets and everything. So, it was getting to be about
dusk, yea, there were other rides we had wanted to get to...but
that kind of ended our day. No one was that thrilled about
being so wet now. I had changed my focus onto needing some
cotton candy, so we headed back to the car and I found some
along the way...whew, was getting a bit worried.
Dad had the joke about "it was a good thing that we didn't just
buy a new car or the upholstery would be ruined...oh yea, wait a
minute!" We managed, I got stripped down and dad had a
change of clothes in the car that we used to sit on - I ate my
cotton candy and we actually laughed (argued) on the way home
about whose bright idea THAT was!
Funny looking back now, we only rode 4 things! However, it
may be one of our more memorable trips to date! |
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