The Zoo

Man I have been busy this summer. So busy that it got in the way of blogging. Last Friday we went to the Zoo (as you can tell). It was really fun. We probably wouldn't have gone if we didn't get free passes through a reading program. So anyway we went to the Zoo last Friday with our friends. They have a boy my age who is probably my best friend here in Knoxville. Back on subject again. The first thing we did at the Zoo was see a bird show. At the bird show we saw bird named Einstein. She was very smart. So after the 30 minute bird show we went Back out to our cars to eat lunch. We were out there for probably an hour. Now you have to remember that grown women (my Mom for example) LOVE to have a nice lunch and talk, and talk... and talk some more. You also have to remember that kids (me for example) can get very impatient when there is something fun to do and your mother is just sitting there chattering without a care in the world! OK. So I finally (as kindly as possible) convinced my Mom that it was time to head back into the Zoo. So we pack up our lunch and go back into the Zoo. Then we went to the more dangerous animals. Like lions, tigers, leopards, etc... Well here's something funny. We were over at the gorillas and one of the beasts lifted it's leg and then Franklin yells "Ah look, he's takin' a whiz." Of course my Mom was mortified. So she turned to her friend and said "I can't believe your son would say that." Then Janet (the Mom of the family we went with) said "That sounds like something my son would say. Next we went to the chimps. Well we had been looking at them for about a minute when one of them rolled over and we realized she had a baby. Everyone was saying "Awww. He's so cute." Well the baby chimp was on it's back and Tyler (my friend) said "Well... it's a boy." Everyone started cracking up. Now you have to admit that is kind of funny.

After everyone could control their laughter we went on. There wasn't much else on that trail to see except some hogs. After that loop we went to Kid's Cove, a spot in the Zoo where they have stuff for kids. On our way we passed these turtles that were ginormous. I mean your couch put into a circle would be the size of this baby.

Alright this is the funniest thing that happened at the Zoo. At Kid's Cove there was a little stream that you could put your feet in. Braden got permission to put his feet in so he took his shoes and socks and rolled up his pants (Braden is a pants person, he also has a tendency to wear several outfits in one day). My Mom found that Braden had worn two pairs of socks. One was a brand new pair of ankle socks and the other was just a regular pair. My Mom asked why he had worn two pairs of socks. Braden picked up the ankle socks and said in a serious tone "Mom, these are my under socks." My Mom explained to him that you don't wear under socks. Now that is true humor. I have run out of time so I will blog again soon.

The Purpose

Okay I know it is a weird name for a blog but that isn't the only thing that the name will be for. I am planning on writing a book called The Purpose. I want to base it on one of my best friends point of view. In the book his best friend moves (that's me). About three months later his Mom dies. Nothing seems to be going right for him.

One night he is talking to his Dad and asks him "What is my purpose in life? Why was I even created?" A few days after that he takes a walk in the woods. All of a sudden everything goes dark. He thinks it is just an eclipse so sits down until' it pases. But after sitting there for about 30 minutes he sees a strange glow. He thinks it is the Sun coming out but after another 5 minutes of siting there he realizes this is no eclipse. He starts walking towards the light. He finds a glowing door and then ...... I don't tell you any more about the book.

I really hope I find a day when I feel like sitting down and doing this. Although it will take up more than one day.

Miniature Mechanics

About a week ago Franklin I helped our Dad put some pieces onto his car. Well that day turned to be a lucky day for us because Weston and one of our 7 cousin's Camden were having a b-day party at our grandparents house that night. Number two my Dad's car wouldn't start and the next day was a work day. Number three we were having the van (our other automobile) worked on that night. Well our very kind grandparents were nice enough to let us borrow one of there automobiles.



Doing the car was pretty easy. All we had to do was unhook a wire from the battery that has deadly acids. Okay know one died ,thankfully, but my Mom was about to be screamed at. I told her that she had taken enough pictures and that she needed to go inside. All we needed to do was screw and unscrew some bolts. Oh and we had to put in the starter and this other piece that I forgot the name of.

When we were finished our Dad said that we might be able to buy a really old car and work on it until it looks almost brand new. I hope we do get to do that.

Citizenship

This last week we went to see our brother get sworn in as an American citizen. Well, he is not legally our brother but we like to call him that. We also stayed with our cousins for a night.



Our schedule was kind of rushed. Tuesday we had co-op and we didn't leave there until about three and we left from there to pickup our grandmother. When we left co-op there were tornado warnings and terrible rain. You couldn't see five feet in front of us for two and a half hours straight on our way to our cousins house!!! When we finally got to our cousin's house, we were welcomed into a warm home with dinner on the table. Mom, sorry but that was the best meal I have had in a few years. We played several card games plus hide and seek. We had a blast.



The next day we played some more hide and seek and we also played Apples to Apples, Disney Scene It, ate breakfast, and got packed up. We left the house around 11:45 and thankfully it was a nice day. We drove to Charlotte, NC and got lost about, maybe, let me think, 1,401 times. Not really. We only got lost once and it wasn't to far away from the building we were looking for. Once we were at the building, my Mom took some pictures, (you probably know my Mom and sometimes she gets a little carried away with photography) and we went in side. We had to go to security and my Mom got stopped for having a paper mache egg in her purse (they thought it was a bomb) so other than that we were fine.



The swearing in was very neat. There were 22 different countries being represented at the ceremony and there were even military men and women there!! After they were sworn in they said the pledge of allegiance and there was even a video from the president saying he was proud of each and every one of them. And it ended with God Bless The U.S.A. and a video playing with it. When the ceremony was over we got our picture in front of the American flag. When Mathiang (he was the one being sworn in) got to his car we got out silly string and sprayed him. He loved it.



After we had had our fun (and my Mom had gotten her pictures) we headed off to Chili's. I had some good food there. We talked and gave him a framed "Certificate of Excellence" (b/c we couldn't find anything else) and best of all we ate! It was kind of sad to leave him but we both needed to get home. He said we would see him in June. I wish we could have stayed longer.

Christmas Day

Now everyone knows that Christmas Day is the best part of Christmas. Opening gifts, seeing family, and best of all knowing it is Christ's birthday!

Well Christmas morning everyone was up at about six o' clock, except Mathiang. Then we waited and waited for Mathiang to get up and for the grandparents to get here. It always takes a long time for them to get on the road and get going. First they have trouble with the car, then they need to go to the bathroom and while they're doing their business they play a whole game of handheld yahtzee. Curse you yahtzee, making kids wait to open their presents on Christmas morning. Well anyway we woke up Mathiang and our grandparents finally got here. At last it was time to open gifts. I received a guitar pedal, an MP3, a game where you have about 7 pieces to make an exact rectangle, a puzzle that was framed that me and my Dad got from Baltimore (read about the trip a little further down), a camping set, a sweater and a toboggan, and a few other gifts that I cannot remember. Now for the gifts I gave. I gave my Dad a nutcracker I painted, my Mom a Bible verse wood burned onto a block of wood, Mathiang got an ornament I painted (my parents gave him a small Christmas tree b/c he didn't have one at his apartment) and also a block of wood that had a verse wood burned on it, and my brothers got a set of attac tix. Here is some of the gifts everyone else received. Braden got a Webkinz, a construction machine set, and game called Leaping Frogs. Weston got an MP3, K'nex, a paper air plane set, and a Blue Angel model (a navy air demo team). Franklin got an MP3, something called Card Works, a brain game, and Monopoly. Mathiang got a set of towels, a movie, a book, and a basket of food. Mom got a desk chair, a long sleeve shirt that said Arrow Academy Teacher of the Year (we home school and our school name is Arrow Academy), and a picture that Franklin painted that was framed. Dad got a turkey fryer, a turkey fryer book, and a huge jug of peanut oil. Our grandparents got a computer, a photo book from a trip we took with them, and a disk that showed them how to use the computer. We had a wonderful Christmas this year and had the most gifts than we've had in a long time and hope yours was the same.

After we had finished at our house and just relaxed a bit and then we went to our Grandparents house. That was a lot of fun. Once we were there we practiced a play that we were doing that night. Whew! I'm glad that is over. When I got to a really funny line I could not stop laughing. I finally got it out! Overall it turned out pretty well. Then we opened presents. I got The Lord of the Rings series plus The Hobbit and a gift card so I could buy music for my MP3. Weston finally got what he wanted. He had been wanting one and it made him upset when everyone else had one. Yes he finally got a Barbie doll. When he opened it he ran around the house like a wild savage screaming "I love my Barbie"! Alright I think you've figured out by now that I am joking about the Barbie thing but to get down to the point he finally got a Webkinz. There were some really neat gifts that our cousins got. Like one of our cousins has a Colts (the football team) based room. He got a rug that had the Colts symbol on it, and our other cousin has a Tennessee Vols room and he got a lamp that had a power T on it. After that it was just play kids play and eat everyone eat. That is what we did Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve

I know I haven't typed in a while but I will blog about Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve we went to our cousins' house, played, opened a few gifts, and snacked. We played keep away with a football downstairs then we watched basketball and football. After that, we went upstairs and opened some gifts. I got a Webkinz, some spy gear, and some money. Of course we got a family picture. We did several of those. That is what we did at our cousins' house.

After we goofed off at the house, we went to our aunt and uncle's church. They sure do a lot of singing at their church. Another thing they did is communion. Braden didn't like the crackers to much and carried the cracker in his mouth all the way down the aisle to his seat! I think he didn't like it because you had to dip into grape juice. I didn't like it so much either.

There is one quote I have to share. "Thousands of times in history a baby has been born and become a king, but only once in history a king has been born and become a baby." I have never heard it put that way but that helped me understand a lot.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas Eve.

True Christmas

The reason I named this blog true Christmas is because I wanted to blog about keeping the Holidays true to Jesus. During Christmas it gets stressful because you you don't have presents for anybody and there is still ten days until Christmas. Christmas was not made to be a stressful holiday. It was made as Christ's birthday. Sure there is Santa Claus and Rudolph But we need to remember Jesus and the true meaning of the holiday.



This is some thing that I thought was neat and something I needed to blog about. Well every night we try to do a devotion.Well the other night we were having our devotion and my Dad was talking about how Jesus would get the throne of David. Well if he was going to be king then he would get the kingdom and the people are the kingdom. So we are presents to Jesus as well as he is to us. If you would like the reference it is Luke 1:32.

The Answer, and a Little bit of Christmas

OK I know I probably got put on the naughty list for this but I found one of my Christmas presents. It was a puzzle that I got from Baltimore (scroll down the page to read about that) and my parents were going to have it framed. My Mom was pretty mad but she said that was just the one she was most excited about and that she overreacted.

Today we finally got our tree up and thankfully I am done with my parents gifts! I can't wait for Christmas.

The Beach?!

Yes it is December and yes my family and I just got back from the beach a couple of days ago! I had a blast! We went to a place called Patriots Point (I will do a whole other blog on that!). And we did a little bit of surfin' and swimmin' (I'm kidding about surfing but we did do the jump into the pool and get out as fast as you can thing)! My favorite part was going down to the beach and playing in the sand. We had "World War Three"! We did this by building sand castles and pelting them with sand balls! We also went to Fort Moultry. I have always loved that place until' now because my Mom made me read a bunch of signs. I mean really don't we learn enough by just using our eyes! I'm just messing with you Mom. Now back to Fort Moultry. Now I know you wouldn't want to get hit by a cannon ball what so ever but this one you wouldn't want to get hit by even if you were in heaven. The cannon ball weighed over 300 pounds and took two 25 pound bags of gun powder to fire it!!! Hey I learned that by reading a sign! You may not think the beach is fun in the winter but it actually is!

History

Now when we usually think about history we think of it as "boring". Well today I did some history that was actually fun! We went to John Sevier's home in Marble Springs. We learned some pretty interesting things. I learned that in the Revolutionary War John Sevier commanded more soldiers than George Washington! And he actually started the town of Marble Springs.

Now this was actually a thing to get volunteers to work there so we did some things that they would do to train you. We learned how to start a fire (without using matches or lighters) and we also got to use axes to chop some wood (my four year old brother got to use a hatchet on the log). For lunch we had gruel (actually beef stew) that was actually pretty good!