Port Isobel

Oh, what can I say it was so much fun! Well Dad drove the bus that we were going in with a bunch of AP Biology students to a town called Chrisfield. Then we got on a boat called the Loni Carol 2 (we don't know what happened to Loni Carol 1)the captain's name was Captain Charles. We went on a 45 min. ride over to Port Isobel a neighboring island to Tangier Island. We stayed in a building called the Snow Goose. There was also a building called the Bakery which we hung out in and ate in. Then we had an introduction meeting to learn names and introduce rules. The first thing we did was set the crab pots out(well it was unpack.) Then we went back to land and we ate Lunch and Supper. The students made our food, it was good. The students went on a night hike, but we were too tired. The next day we started off the day with a hot breakfast. Then we went Marsh Mucking! Most of the people were covered in marsh muck from head to toe. I got covered from toe to knee. Then we came back and had some free time and snacks. Then we headed out to Tangier Island. The little island has a big heart! Everybody was so friendly there wasn't a person that went by that didn't wave. I got to experience my first crab cake, YUM! They had a history museum that we went to with lots of cool facts. Then we got back to Port Isobel. Next we got our crab pots. We got a total of 28 good crabs. One of our leaders and Captain Charles caught some striped bass for supper! We had bass and a little bit of crab for supper. Then we went on a short night hike into a forest of bamboo. The next morning we had a closing meeting and had to clean up the Bakery and the Snow Goose. Then it was back to the bus for a long ride home! It was a great experience, Thanks CBF.

Hatching Chicks

On Monday the 16th we got a call from our neighbor (Carmen) that one of their eggs had a little hole in it and that we could come over anytime to see it. Anya didn't have to be at school for about a half hour. So,when she was ready we went over and watched. The hole didn't get bigger, we waited and we heard some chirps and and the egg shake. Other than that nothing happened for a long time. So time passed and Anya had to go to school so Dad took her to school and we stayed and we were going to walk back as soon as it hatched. Well we waited and it didn't much of anything, so Dad got back and it still hadn't hatched! We were getting impatient so we got some paper and pencil. Clint made the stages of the egg hatching even though he had only seen one. Ginny did an ocean and Emily and I just kinda doodled. So we ended up staying there the whole day! When we left it still hadn't hatched. Later that night at 11:30pm it hatched! That chick wasn't very healthy but they now have 2 other that hatched later.

!!!!!!Grandparents!!!!!!

This week our grandparents came! So we got to slack off a little :):):):)! Well we did lot of other things instead of what we normally did. They brought down two desks and a dresser and a chest of drawers. The desks were from a discount place at Sauder and the dresser and chest of drawers were from an estate sale. The desks were for Emily and I and Anya got my old desk. the dresser and drawers were for my mom and dad. We had to put together the desks so Grandpa helped us. We did the first one (Emily's) in about maybe 4 or 5 hours and the second one(mine) in a little less than 2 hours!!!! WOW! We went really quickly the second time because me and Emily knew what we were doing. Grandpa knew what he was doing both times so he helped more on the second one!!!!! My grandma worked in the kitchen a lot she made applesauce and dried apples (Grandpa helped her some.) We went disc golfing with grandpa. Then Emily and I did interviews with our grandma and grandpa. I did Grandpa and Emily did Grandma. I think we learned a lot from it. We each did essays on our interviews. I thought it was fun to get to know more about him and hear the different stories.

Crickets Chirping

Here is my poem I wrote in Pennslyvania:

Crickets Chirping

The crickets are chirping,

The birds are singing,

Thunderous cars interupt,

The wind starts to blow,

The cars and wind stop,

The chirps and sweet songs come back,

All is Peaceful.

By: Kate Kauffman

Pennsylvania

We have been at my Aunt's house for just about two days. Here strengths are in music, reading, art, other languages and cooking. All of which my dad does not, well except reading. So the past days we've been liveing in town which is a big change for me and Emily. We are liking city life. ha. We are each taking a turn doing our meals Emily's day was today we had pea soup. yum. We are practicing our harmonizing. Em sings Soprano some and Alto some I sing mostly Alto. Our aunt is sweet and our uncle is funny a great mixture! We have also been learning some Portuguese like oi, bom dia, and ate amanha! It is so cool to know another language not really but close! Today we made cards out of dried flowers. Kandace's were way better than mine!

The Bike to the Farmers Market and Back

We rode to the Farmers Market from our house. It was about 5 mile to get there. When we got there we locked up our bikes. We went through the different booths there was fresh produce, decorative gourds, pastries, candles, jewelry, perfumes. We had a limited amount money and space. We got 8 cookies from friends of mom and dad. They were Ginger Molasses and had candied ginger inside of it. Yum!!! We also got a couple heads of broccoli, because most of ours got eaten by worms! It was fun to see all the different backgrounds to where the food came from! On the way back we stopped into see mom she was on a break so it was a good time. We needed a break from the wind. On our way out from EMU we got to see one of our youth sponsors. Then we got home and didn't do much after that. But it was a great exersize.

Jr. High Retreat

This weekend Emily and I went to the Jr. High Retreat. The retreat was in Virgina at Smith Mountain Lake. It was really fun! We had three different sessions and a lot of free time. When we got there we unpack. I stayed in a room with Breanna, Kailyn, Erica (our youth sponsor), Emily, and Megan (from HMC.) Which is basically the only room that Ridgeway girls stayed in. In our first free time( atfter we got there) John, Andrew, Erica, Collin and I played Phase 10. I won, it was really close though. We went at 8:30 am on Saturday and got back at 3:45 pm on Sunday (due to traffic.) The theme was "What is your purpose in life?" It rained all Saturday. Some people played Capture the Flag in the rain and if your youth pastor says so you have to (John, my youth pastor) do a people scavenger hunt. I did it a little then talked to my friends. We went to bed at 1:30 or 2:00. It was nice on Sunday. I had a BLAST!

The Hurtful Incident

Today while outside identifying trees for our Plant Study, I sprained my ankle. This is how it happened: First of all I was trying to reach a leaf on what we now have identified as a Silver Maple. So I put my right foot on the fence beside the tree, pushed off not catching the leaf and fell landing on my left ankle. OUCH!! (I had sprained my ankle) Did that hurt or what?! I got piggy back rides the rest of the Plant Study session. And so right now I am laying on the couch with my foot elevated, and Emily my older sister is writing this entry for me. (Hey, this is Emily, her nurse and servant for the evening, not so happy about the servant part, but I think I will survive). My dad studied athletic training in college so this is what he had to say about it all:

Here is an acronym for ya.

Rest

Ice

Compression

Elevation

So that is what I am doing right now. 20 minutes ice on, 20 minutes ice off, repeat that twice. Then you have 2 hours rest and then repeat it again.

Take Care.

Sunny Days

Today we went on a bike ride. It was nice and sunny. Yesterday, we did math which we changed a bit. Emily gets all the math time with Dad and I'm doing mine self paced and on my own. Kind of being my own teacher and student. Then we were going clean out our goat pen. But, Dad couldn't get any straw yesterday but he will today so we are going to have the adventure of cleaning it out today. Now we are at Organic Grounds (a coffee shop.)

Projects for this Week

This fall we are going to go to Tangier Island. It is my job to research a little bit about the island. I haven't found lots yet but I'm working on it! We are also doing current events. This week Dad wanted us to do our current event on the health care reform. We came up with an idea to do a debate b/w me and Emily. She is the Republican side and I am Democrat. In this process we realized that we both didn't really know what health care was before this. But we have learned lots already.

Measuring the Property

On Tuesday we had to measure our property while Dad was driving bus for a soccer team. Emily and I were pretty successful! We were two feet off in measurements on one side of the length & close to perfect on width. But for the other length we were tired and thought its approximately the same length as the other side so we just put the same length. Well it was 30 feet or so off. I guess it wasn't a perfect rectangle. But, other wise it was good. We were measuring our property because we are going to attempt to make a model of our property.

Long Term Projects

• We are going to try to make a 3-D model of our property.
• We are keeping a blog(obviously.)
• We are going to make a list of all the birds on our property.
• We are going to make a list of all the plants on our property.

The First Day

The first day we went on a bike ride in the morning. Then we came in & we started reading a book called "Great Possesions" by David Kline. We read it to start our discussion on our theme healthy community. After our discussion we went to the store to get supplies to decorate our classroom with quotes & definitions our or theme. I defined it "were everything works together". We finish our day by getting Anya from the bus.