Will you give this to my Daddy?

"Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen. Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and Cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families. Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal. Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our Service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said 'hi.' The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her. The young soldier, who didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek. The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter's name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up. When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it. After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.' He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying 'your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and He is coming home very soon.' The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom.. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event.. As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. at young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's good to be an American.RED FRIDAYS ----- Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the 'silent majority'. We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing.. We get no liberal media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our opinions. Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday - and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear Something red..By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers. If every one of us who loves this country
will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once 'silent' majority is on their side more than ever; certainly more than the media lets on. The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you?' is...We need your support and your prayers Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example; and wear something red every Friday.

IF YOU AGREE -- ...(THEN HELP SPREAD THE NEWS)

IF YOU COULD CARE LESS ... (THEN IGNORE THIS POST)

(As a Company, Southwest Airlines is going to support 'Red Fridays.')"

-from an email from my friend, helen

p.s. i am still working on the d.c. posts!

day two of d.c.

i was sick. so sad.

day one of d.c.

so here is the post you've all been waiting for...

i'll skip the unsleepable (is that a word?) bus and plane rides.

on april 15th, at 9:50 am i was on the bus to williamsburg, our nation's previous capital.

this is the old virginia capitol building. i may have possibly sat where thomas jefferson, john adams, and their cohorts sat.


me and my friend, cami s. by a british flag in america.


me, cami, hannah s. is the doorway of the town jail.


me and hannah on the "throne" (that is the toilet). the cell may have been the actual cell in which blackbeard and/or his cohorts were incarcerated.


me by the old wooden fence.


the veiw of the D.O.G. (Duke of Glouchester) street.


our williamsburg guide.


the wig maker. she told us all about the fashions during that time.


the female fashions


the male fashions.


aren't these horses awesome?!?


in the stocks with audrey r.


the ghost house. there has been many stories stories about ghosts.


the old fashion windmill.



sheep!


what is a ninja doing in the 17th century?


the governor's palace.


the governor is a show-off!


we also went to jamestown on the 15th. we saw the replicas of the ships, the susan constant, the godspeed, and the discovery.. that night we had a story teller. she was so funny and fun. she was a "slave" and made us learn our courtesies.

a three part harmony

part one: reflections of the everyday scene


is it dead or golden?

it's up to you to decide.

part two: what a friend can give you

"love the people who treat you right.
love the ones who don't just because you can."
-an email from "lulu"

part three: announcement

the camera is FINALLY back! thank you lisa for the charger! promised post coming soon!

p.s. visit lindsey's blog for a fun give-away!

happy now?

many thanks to my two contributers and opinionists, lisa and austen! thanks for the recommendation of CUTEST BLOGS ON THE BLOCK! love it!

technical difficulties

we need a battery charger now! still working on it!

p.s. do you think my blog needs a new look? please state your opinion and don't try to be nice!

apology

for those of you who don't know what is up with me not posting, here is the deal:

1. my mom and i went to WASHINGTON D.C. with my school on April 14th through 18th.
2. i was going to do a huge blogpost about my adventure, but this was postponed because...
3. ...we left the camera battery in the hotel in which we were staying.
4. they were going to send it back but never did and i think that words without pics (at least in this situation!!!) is meaningless.
5. however we just obtained a new battery yeasterday and ...
6. ...you'll have to wait to hear about my adventure!!!!

sorry! i promise i will post asap!

futsal . . . not footsal

"Futsal is an indoor version of association football. Its name is derived from the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol sala/de salón, which can be translated as 'indoor football'; however, this is not to be confused with modern indoor football which is played in a court of artificial grass enclosed by walls that are used during the game.

Futsal is played between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. In addition each team may have seven substitutes. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the court is delimited by lines, and not walls or boards that players can use to rebound the ball. Futsal is played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a football. The emphasis is on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces."
-Reference.com

this is the sport that i am playing at present.
my first practice was today.

please . . .

. . . visit Sk8erboi's cool blog! if you are wondering, skaterboy is my cousin and best buddy, austen. he lives in escondido, cali. he is coming up on the 9th for easter and his birthday is on the 3rd. he will be turning 12. please comment on his latest post and tell him that you saw my blog! thanks!

this is us in january . . .







. . . but normally he looks like this!







this is us in the summer of 2006 . . .







. . . but he looks like this more often!

great light debate

ever heard of it? it is light behaves like a particle vs. light behaves like a wave. we are learning about it in science (thanks, mrs. frago) and we get to join it ourselves. i believe light is a particle because ...

1. particles travel in a strait line
look at a laser. if you point it at a wall it goes strait to the wall. if you point it at a glass of water, it bounces off the water and goes strait up.
2. it would be way harder to communicate using light, if light behaved like a wave.
waves go all over the place. so if you point a light at a certain place, then the light goes strait to that place, not sideways and longways and up and down. there would be no way of telling where light could go!
3. if sound is waves, the logically, light would behave like a paticle.
look at it this way. if you put a stereo up to a solid wall, then you can still hear it on the other side. however, if you shine a flashlight at a solid wall, will you be able to see it on the other side? NO!

day three . . . i'm bored with camp

i don't really have anything to say about day three. i got a free t-shirt. period.

day two

"Today was even fuller. I woke up early, but couldn't get up until way later. Then we had to go to breakfast. Yum! Then we played Capture the Flag. I almost got it across the line within the first minute! Emma G. got it across the line two times! Yay! Then lunch, then zipline! It was awesom, but I wished I would have jumped. BB guns were next. I got a six, but my gun would not cock half of the time. The Fountain Walk was next. [we go to a candy/ice cream shop.] I spent $11.60 on candy, ice cream, and a cream soda. Yummy, yummy! I even got a candy for each of my family members. ..."

this is where i stopped.

the rest of free time was spent doing "quiet time" and helping with and riding on another ropes course-type ride. dinner was good as always.

to be continued . . .

camp

i will post a day at a time. i wrote up a little something, so i wouldn't forget, so that is why some things are in quotes. my camera ran out of batteries on the second day (and i didn't take any pics on the first day) so some friends are sending me some. will post when i get them.

day one

3/13/09:

"WHENEVER GOD SPEAKS, BOOM!!!! SOMETHING HAPPENS!

Psalm 34:8&9

Today was fun and full [at least for a half day]. On the bus, I spent pretty much all of the time trying (I said trying, not succeeding ) to entertain myself. I tried everything! I borrowed a game called Canoodle from [my friend] Hannah G. I borrowed Sarah G's book, The Demigod Files (a bonus in the series by R. Riordan! YAY!!!). I told stories, ate candy, and did all the other things that you do on a bus (there is a law ... [about] that, right?)[my last resource was the game, sweet and sour, where you count how many people wave or smile back at you and how many don't. we only counted two sweet people. how many sweet people are there in this world?]
We got here [at redwood camp] just as the other campers were starting dinner, but we had to get our luggage and lug it all of the way back to our cabin, The Bluebird. [these are the people in my cabin: my counselor, laurie k., hannah s., cami s., kaylee o., lucy i., sarah g., gia l., and ivee c.]
My counselor, Laurie, is nice and a lot like me. She gave us some candy (bad choice), two glow-sticks, a neat notebook, and a pretty pen.
Then we went to dinner. The food was great, especially the mashed potatoes1 YUM! I even ate green beans! ...
[we then played a game similar to sharks and minnows.]
The speaker Mr. J is just plain wacku=y! He has his own band, created his own Dr. Suess style skit, and gives away awesome mini prizes with Princess Truffles, BottaBing, BottaBoom, Muy-Muy, and Abba-Zabba. We talked about Genisis ... .
On top of that we got to go swimming! I went down the slide tons of times and played Marco-Polo. And guess what?!? [auntie amy, this is for you] I got through my hair!
When we went back to our cabin, we had Quiet Time. We talked about Psalm 34. My favorite verses were 4, 5, and 18. [if you are a curious person, go look it up!]
We told stories and then lights-out!"

to be continued . . .

this vs. that

this is the original and that (down there) is the makeover . . .



the second video was made (or remade) by the friends of my babysitter, jodi. hee-haw!

i hope i'm not boring you, but . . .

. . . I FINISHED THE SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES!!!

if you don't have the faintest idea what i am talking about, check out the previous post.

here it is, the sea of monsters, by rick riordan ------------>

it was awesome! i got it yesterday at school from my cousin, kyle.

while searching for this pic, i found the author's website and blog! they are pretty neat, so check it out!

i am leaving for camp tomorrow! i am so excited, i am not sure that i will be able to fall asleep tonight, so wish me luck!

ligtning thief

my cousin, kyle lent me this amazing book called the lightning thief, by rick riordan. it is awesome because it is a mixture of these books . . . :








. . .and greek/roman mythology . . . :


. . ., which are both subjects that i am VERY passionate about.

here is this amazingly awesome book:



if i were to explain it, i would give it all away, so you will have to read it for yourself.





*edit* on march 9 last year (a year and a day ago) i had just come back from redwood camp. now i am going there again this friday! hip, hip, hooray! will post about it when i get back!!

it's coming along

so . . .

we got our swing up (finally!!!) and we planted our first seeds at the wild hair ranch: strawberries, watermelon (this was haak's pick), and cilantro.

if you open the door of our house, you could totally tell that we lived on a "ranch", even without the amazing veiw. why? there are tons of muddy wellies and cowboy boots.

speaking of . . .



it turns out haaken has found out that he can pick up grasshoppers and rolly-pollies. he used to be aftraid of all bugs, but today he just went right up to this guy and picked him up. we were all very surprised. well . . . he is a boy.

speaking of movies . . .

. . . and leonardo da vinci here is another video that you might enjoy!

rube goldberg

in school, we just finished learning about simple machines. now we are working on rube goldberg. never heard of it? well then . . . here is an example:



cool, huh?

here is the official site:
http://www.rubegoldberg.com/