I've arrived safely! Here I am on my third trip to America. There's so much to see and do! I hope I have a chance to do new things on this trip.
Disaster struck right away. Phoenix is a big city and it's easy to lose things, or have them stolen. My wonderful diary, prepared for the trip by Mrs. Reading, is gone! It cannot be found anywhere. Fortunately, no one had written in it when it disappeared. Mrs. Nixon has made a new one for me, and it will travel wherever I go.
I hope my whole trip doesn't go the way this week has! I went home with two students and had a wonderful time. They wrote excellent information in my diary. Alas! The pages they wrote on were torn out of the diary by someone's younger sibling! I hope I will have a chance to return to their homes for more adventures. Things have to get better!
Me and Crystal played school and watched a movie together in my house. We played with my dogs and played ball. Me and Crystal went to the park today and had fun. We fell asleep in my room. We rested for a long time. She dance good, pretty. We played hide and go seek in my room. We watching Winnie the Pooh and sing songs with Pooh Bear.
Maria
Me and Crystal went looking for fossils! My mom found 3 egg fossils. We cracked them. Then after all the excitement, we went to the zoo!Crystal was about to fall in and be gobbled up by a lion and tiger.
We ate at Red Lobster. {a seafood restaurant} I asked her what she wanted but she didn't answer! So we just bought lemonade. And then we went to sleep. I woke up and went running. I took a shower.
Nancy
Crystal and I went to Castles and Coasters. We went on the log ride. She or him set in front. She got wet, then we got on the Dragon. She was scared. Then we went to eat pizza at Pizza Hut. She ate two pizzas. Then she got on the Little Roller Coaster. It was fun. Then we went on the Big Roller Coaster. She screamed loud!
But then we went on the race car. Crystal was with me. She wanted to drive, but I didn't let her. She was mad. Then we went home. We had to go to sleep. She jumped on me. Then we played in the morning.
Michael M.
Crystal is being good today. I wish I could keep her. We played hide and seek.
Cayla
Today was Read-A-Thon day at Cartwright School. Students did nothing but reading and listening all day! Several celebrities visited the classroom and Mrs. Nixon took my picture with some of them. I'm a star! I can hardly wait to see what I look like with Cinderella and Arthur!
I also had my picture taken with several students who were following directions and reading quietly. Some fourth grade reading buddies came in to read with Mrs. Nixon's class. Guess what? I knew some of them from my first trip over! We had a great time getting reacquainted.
I'll post some pictures as soon as they come back from the photo shop. I surely hope Mrs. Nixon can use that camera!
Mrs. Nixon brought me home for the weekend. She is a quilter, so I watched her quilting someone's quilt during the morning. She has a big sewing machine. It's on a table twelve feet long! She was using it to make pretty designs on the quilt.
After that, Mrs. Nixon treated me to her favorite drink at Sonic.
Sonic is a drive-in. There is a little building in the middle and cars can park all along the sides of the building. There is a speaker set in each parking place. You press a button and order what you want. It is brought to you by teenagers on roller skates! We had fresh lime slushes. Yum!
We watched TV together and we help my mom a little bit. We had chicken. We get on our bunks and went to sleep.
Dominique
Mrs. Nixon got those pictures back and they came out great! She and I spent Sunday morning putting them in my journal. Her scanner isn't working, so you will see them when I get home.
Crystal and I played soccer. We practiced our words. She helped me with my chores today.
We went to the park. We went fishing at the park. I caught a little fish. Crystal didn't catch any. We went swinging until a mountain covered the sun.
Sonia
Me and Crystal listened to the radio and we played hide and go seek. It was fun. I had a great time with her. Then we played school and I read to her the Furby's book. I had a good, good, good time with her.
Love,
Deziree
It's the last day before Spring Break! Mrs. Nixon was cleaning off the back cabinet and found my diary! Yeah! We were worried it was lost forever, or even stolen, but there it was. Someone must have put it there while looking through my backpack. All the children are looking forward to a week off of school. They are talking about something I never heard of. They have Easter Egg hunts. They are trying to explain, but I am confused. I guess I will just have to see what it's all about for myself.
My name is Crystal, too. I have Crystal, the frilled lizard from Australia for the week of spring break.
Crystal said she didn't know how to make Easter Eggs, so we made some today. First we dissolved the color tablets in cups of water and vinegar. Then we hardboiled some eggs. When they were cool, we dipped them in the color cups. We kept them there for a while. Then when we pulled them out, they were that color. We made blue, pink, green and yellow eggs.
My dad will hide them tomorrow and we will look for them after church. Little kids think the Easter bunny brings them and hides them. My mom will add plastic eggs which have candies inside them.
Finally, a boy gets to take Crystal! Me and Crystal were roller blading on my street. Crystal had a hard time standing up in two roller blades. She fell over. We had pizza for dinner.
Stevie
If you want to take Crystal home, you have to really be good. I got Crystal today. We played in the yard. All my friends came over to meet Crystal. My baby sister cried when she saw Crystal. We watched TV after we ate dinner. Crystal helped with my homework.
Michael G.
Crystal wants to go to Disneyland with me this summer. Mrs. Nixon said that we couldn't, because Crystal has to go home. I was sad.
Billy
Someone was absent and didn't bring me back from their house for almost a whole week! I was stuck in the backpack. No matter how much I hollered, no one let me out! They were busy with a wedding. I didn't even get to go. That's not fair!
I got to take Crystal today. First we went to daycare. I had to leave Crystal in the backpack because other children would hurt her.
When my mommy picked me up, we went to McDonald's for dinner. She was very tired and didn't want to cook. Then Crystal and I played Nintendo. Crystal was getting good at it when it was time to do homework. She wants to have my game, but I said no.
My homework was math. Crystal tried to help me do it. Then it was bedtime. I asked Crystal why she doesn't wear pajamas. She said frilled lizards don't need them. We had a good time. I hope I get to take Crystal again.
Dominic
It's the last week of school. I got to take Crystal. Mrs. Nixon was worried I would forget to bring her back. I didn't forget. I forgot to write in the journal. Mrs. Nixon letted me do it at recess.
We had fun with Crystal this year. She got to listen to Harry Potter. Now we are reading Junie B. Jones. She is dumb. I like Harry Potter better. He is smart.
School is out, and Crystal is coming on vacation with my husband and me before I send her home. We are going to Utah to see the canyonlands area. I will send some information home with Crystal so you can see why it is called canyonlands.
Today we are driving to Flagstaff, Arizona. We will camp out in a cabin at KOA. I think that means Kampgrounds of America. It should have a C, of course, but it's the name and they can spell it that way.
The cabins have one built in double bed, and one bunkbed. The bathrooms and showers at at the office. There are also pools. Some have movies, snack bars, and miniature golf.
We had a problem with the car! We managed to get to Flagstaff and spent the night at the campground. Every time we turned it off, our car wouldn't start again. This morning we took it to the shop. It needed an alternator. Better here and now than later. Crystal was very patient. We had to wait until noon before we could leave with it fixed.
Mrs. Nixon doesn't give all the good details! Yesterday when we got to the campground, it was in the pine trees. There was a swimming pool, so we all went in. There were a lot of children playing, some with their parents. They splashed me a lot, but it was fun.
This morning, there was a lot of smoke in the air. We asked the gift shop clerk what it was. There was a fire started 3 weeks ago on the side of one of the mountains. It is still burning! The smoke blows across the whole sky. Someone said it was visible from space.
We hope to stop in another KOA tonight. This one is in Utah, close to Bryce Canyon. Mrs. Nixon told me all about Bryce. I can hardly wait to see it!
Today we saw Bryce Canyon! It was fantastic! There are lots of rocks sticking up out of the ground. They make all kinds of shapes. One looked like a Disneyland castle. The road runs along the top of the mountains, and you look down on the rocks. They are all red-orange colored. It is wind and water erosion which caused the amazing formations of rocks. It washed away a lot of the mountains. It is all sandstone.
Later we drove to Torrey, Utah. The road was labelled scenic. It wasn't very scenic for the first part! Well, it was if you like a lot of rocks - mostly white ones, and no grass or trees. That's what we saw. We stopped in a small town for lunch. It was a cafe. There was a sign that said, "This isn't Burger King. We serve it our way!" Mrs. Nixon thought that was funny.
Later the road went through very high mountains. We were over 9,000 feet high! That's about 2700 meters. It was very cool there, and there were a few pine trees and lots of aspen. We stopped at one place where there was a big meadow of grass covered with little yellow wildflowers. I wanted to roll down the hill, but Mr. Nixon said no.
We didn't stay in a KOA this time. We stayed in a Best Western Motel. It was brand new. We went across the street for pizza. It was the best pizza I've had here. I also got a pineapple/coconut slush. It was delicious!
Today we drove through Capitol Dome National Park. It was very different from Bryce. First of all, most of the rocks were white colored, with some brown. Second, the road ran at the bottom. We stopped at the visitor's center and Mrs. Nixon got some postcards for me to take home. She also bought a book about Utah quilts, antique ones from before 1940.
We drove down the road that goes through a small part of the park. There is a town there, or what used to be a farm community. Some of it is still there, and the park service grows the fruits. In fact, it was named Fruita. Mormons settled it a long time ago, but the last person sold their farm to the park service in the 1960s.
We wanted to tour one farm, but it wasn't open yet, so we drove down the road. We kept seeing signs that said not to park in the washes. Mrs. Nixon explained that was like a dry river bed. When there is a lot of rain, the water goes to the wash and sometimes people drown. The water is so fast, it will wash your car away!
It was not raining today. We still didn't park in the wash, though. When we got to the end of the road, though, we took the dirt road, which had the same sign. We went about 4 miles on that. The road goes really close to the towering rock mountains. At one point I thought we might be squeezed between the rocks! We made it okay, though. There are hiking trails in all the parks, but Mrs. Nixon said it was too hot to walk them. Little did she know I love hot rocks!
When we turned around at the end and came back, the farmhouse was open, so we went inside. It was very tiny! It was built before running water, so there wasn't a real kitchen. It is strange to think that any room you wanted could be the kitchen. They had some things for sale. There were quilts (but Mrs. Nixon said they weren't that good and not worth the money they were charging) and lots of jams and jellies and syrups made from the fruits in the valley. We didn't buy any, though.
I think Crystal got an experience she didn't expect! Yesterday, we were stopped by the highway patrol! Paul made a bad pass and got a ticket for it. Crystal seemed a little nervous, but Paul and the policeman got along fine. They talked about guns while the ticket was being written.
Last night, we stayed in Moab, Utah. We were in a KOA, but this one had a cooler in it. Moab is desert and it was hot, even with the cooler. It took a while for the cabin to cool off. We didn't go swimming this time, though.
This morning, we found a quilt shop in town. I enjoyed it, but I think Crystal was anxious to get going to Arches National Monument.
After a lunch of Chinese food, we went. It was very different from the other parks. These mountains, too, were eroded by water and wind. They are farther apart, and you look at most of them from a distance, unless you want to walk from 1-5 km. to climb them. It is called Arches because when the erosion happened, it didn't wear away the rock evenly. It wore holes in the rock, leaving a window, so to speak.
We took Crystal up to one that was only 1 km. It was very hot and we were not used to walking in the mid-day heat, so we were really sweating when we got to the rocks. We climbed up into the shade and sat for a while. Crystal sat in the sun. She enjoyed that. A lot of people were sitting in the arch with us. Some climbed all the way up to the bottom of the arch. It was a double - two windows right next to each other.
We left canyonlands after Arches, and drove to Colorado. We went through a lot of mountainous places. We drove on the edge of the desert, too. We went on a mountain called Blue Mountain. We could see it a long time before we got there, and it looked blue. It was very pretty. We got out at one place where there was a stream going down the hill.
Later, we drove through a town where they grow pinto beans. They also grow various kinds of Anasazi beans. Mrs. Nixon told me that the Anasazi were people who lived in the 4-corners area a thousand years ago, and more. They left behind a lot of ruins. No one knows what happened to them. Scientists found a lot of old beans when they found the ruins. They planted them and they grew. Can you imagine that!
People now grow a lot of these different beans. We stopped at a bean place where they sold all kinds. Mrs. Nixon bought some that are called Anasazi beans. There are others that come from there, but have other names. She said I could take some home. She also bought some blue popcorn, because she thought you would like to try some. It isn't dyed. It grows blue. There is also red corn. These are Indian corn varieties.
We spent the weekend in a little town and got steak for dinner! It was yummy. Today we drove on to Durango. It is another town that is really high up. It was much cooler there than in Utah! Of course, we had to stop at the quilt store in town, but it was pretty interesting, and we didn't stay long.
This afternoon, we are driving home. We will probably get home about midnight. Mrs. Nixon said as soon as she had everything in the journal, it would be time for me to go home. See ya soon!
I think Crystal has picked up a few American slang phrases! Hope you don't mind. Things have been so busy since we got back from Utah, I haven't gotten Crystal's journal done, in spite of lots of nagging from a lizard who is more than ready to come home!
With Crystal will be a new buddy. Crystal met Koko in the KOA gift shop in Flagstaff and insisted that he come with us on vacation and then return home with her. Personally, I think she might have a bit of a crush on him.
