Kids' Journals
*Journals are posted newest entries to oldest
MadisonHey again, The next day was the last day of Loreto Fest. We woke up listening to the morning nets. At 9 o'clock we went into Escondido and started decorating the dinghies for the dinghy parade that would start at 11 o'clock. All of the kids dresses up in pirate costumes and painted their faces. We had two dinghies, one was the "Good Ship Lolly pop" and the other was "The Pirate Ship of Doom." Kate was the driver of the "The Pirate Ship of Doom" and I was the driver of the "Good Ship Lolly Pop." Each of the boats was decorated with balloons and streamers and flags. They turned out really cool. After the ships were done we all walked over to the main building were they were serving a Pancake Breakfast. By the time we got there we were 25 minutes late and all of the pancakes were gone. Some of the kids got a piece of bacon and other had to wait for the hotdog stand to open. Kate and I hung out there for a while. Kyle wasn't there because all the kids on Lemuria were going to be in the parade with another boat called "Lazy Days." Right before the parade started my dad and Tom on Dragonfly (Storms' dad) brought over the pirate ships. When the parade started my ship was the first boat in line. The parade began and I lead the dinghies over along the beach so that people could see them. After going around 3 times and lots of clapping from the audience I went back over put the dinghy up and met up with Kyle and Kate. Kate and I both had face paint on I had a butterfly that went all over my face. Kate had black around her eyes so she looked like a pirate. We had lots of pictures taken by all the parents, then we were free to do whatever we wanted until 6 o'clock. Kate, Kyle, and I hung out in the library for most of the day then we walked around at 5:30 we walked over to the main building and climbed up on our hill. There we sat until we were called down because we had to sing the spam song again. We were so good at singing it two days before that the crowd called for an encore presentation, so we sang it again at the awards ceremony. After singing we went and walked around, my parents, Kates' parents and my brother went and watched the final Horatio HornBlower movie. After walking around we started to play a game where we would see who could say good-night the fastest when people walked past. We played that until I said good-night to two people that walked by and they didn't say good-night back, they said Buenos Noches and came over to talk to us. I knew that we had made a big mistake talking to them. They come over and they were Mexican Federales. They asked us if we had been drinking. Luckily, I could speak Spanish and I answer them that we had only been drinking sodas and they asked questions like what were our names and how old were we. It was really scary because we were kind of sitting in the dark and you could hear the metal of their guns being rattling. After talking to them for thirty minutes we left. They were really nice I think that they had just been sitting in the back of a truck for a while and wanted someone to talk. They enjoyed talking to us about their favorite ice cream and soccer teams. The next morning I did a little school and then Kate, Kyle, and I went to get cappuccinos. We got there and the coffee shop was closed, so instead I went and got a frozen tube of chocolate. We all sat on the couch while I eat it. We were talking and laughing and when I was about half through with my ice cream the bottom broke off and spilled all over my lap. I stood up and and chunks of ice cream fell onto the floor and I turned around and Kyle and Kate were looking at me and laughing their heads off. I turned back around and accidentally kicked over the soda that I had set there only moments before!
May 9-11 maddie April 30 -May 8 Hey, After a three hour sail from Agua Verde to Escondido, we finally arrived. When we first came to the entrance it was really funny because all I saw were a few boats. Before we arrived I thought that there would be a whole bunch of boats because Loreto Fest was going to start in a week. I asked my dad he said that we were only in the area called the waiting room. The waiting room was where all the boats waiting until high tide to go into the main harbor. Luckily for us, it was high tide when we went in. Once we got into the main harbor there were at least twenty boats, on both mooring balls and anchors. We found a mooring ball and jumped in the dinghy to find kids. It only took us about two seconds before we spotted another dinghy full of six kids. We zoomed over there and met the kids. Their names were Kyle, Cory, and Heidi on Lemuria and Patrick and Charles on Sun Flower. We talked to them for about twenty minutes and then Collin and I went and got our suits on and went back to swim with them. When we came back, our parents came with us and they ended up talking to Greg and Suzan from Lemuria while we swam. After an hour of swimming, we left to go hang out on our boat for a while. When my grandpa came back, we went over to Sun Flower and swam off their boat. It was really fun because they have a hard dodger on their boat that we were able to stand on top of and jump off. We listened to some music and then went back to Lemuria for dinner. There were about 10 people that arrived on there boat since we had left a couple hours before. They were all preparing food and talking and having a great time. We hung out over there until about 10 or 11 and came back. The next morning we woke up really early because we wanted to drive our friends to the dinghy dock because they had to bus back up to the states. The next couple of days we woke up, did school, swam for hours at a time, and watched all the new boats come in. Two days before Loreto Fest all the parents of all the kids asked Charles (the oldest boy on the boat Sunflower) and I to baby sit while they put together a schedule. From about 3 o’clock in the afternoon until about 8 o’clock at night we watched 11 children between the ages of 3-8. It was really exciting there were kids jumping all over some were jumping off the boat into the water and others were just sitting down below playing play stations. A little after the meeting started one of the girls got cold so we went to get her some clothes. We went to her boat and got her some clothes. When we were there my parent told me that a new boat came in that had a girl my age. After hearing that I flew in the dinghy over to her boat. We picked her up and took over to the boat where she hung out with us. When the kids started to get hungry we made two pots of Mac-n-cheese. After the Mac-n-Cheese was done the parents came back and picked up there kids so Kate (the girl on Carmelita), Charles, and I went over to Carmelita and watched a movie. The next day we woke up and went out to breakfast with them. After breakfast Kate and I were pretty much inseparable and we still are pretty much inseparable. The rest of the day Kate and I walked around Escondido talking and looking at the decorations for Loreto Fest. That night we had a sleep over and woke up to begin our exciting Loreto Fest. The first day was really exciting. We made instruments in the morning out of stuff we found on boats and at the beach. After we worked on a banner that said “Kids Loreto Fest 2004” and we had all of the kids sign it. Then, we took a break and had lunch. In the afternoon, we had water activities on one of the boats. At the water games, they had kayak races for the kids and the adults. There were also prizes and snacks. The Kayak races were really fun, they split us into groups of three and we named our teams. In my group I had a boy named Storm (on Dragonfly) and Marina (on Shea La Vie), and the name of our team was “The Blues” because we all had blue eyes. There were three other groups. We all got into our Kayaks, grabbed our paddles, and lined up. When they waved the flag, we started to paddle. The track went from the left side of the boat up about a 100 yards off the bow around a buoy then down the right side of the boat to about 200 yards behind the boat around another buoy and we repeated it twice. In the end my team received second place and Collins team received third place. After we climbed aboard the boat and all the adults took lots of photos and then they raced. Afterward Kate and I took our dinghy, changed into dry clothes, and left to go get cappuccinos in Escondido. During the whole day we had been waiting because the family on Lemuria was coming back. As we were driving in the dinghy, we saw them going back in their dinghy to their boat. Kate and I decided that we would let them settle in before we went over there, so we went in and bought cappuccinos and then came back. By the time we had driven half way back to the boats we saw Kyle paddling on his surf board towards us. He paddled over to us and we talked for a few minutes and decided that we would meet Kyle at his boat and we would hang out and swim off the back of his boat until we had to go back into Escondido for dinner. We both arrived at Lemuria about the same time because we only had a 2 horse motor on our dinghy. Ok here I will update you. The day after I met Kate we became really good friends and so we decided that because we were always stealing our parents dinghies or getting rides from people we wanted our own dinghy, so thanks to the adults who helped us, we set up our own dinghy. It was really cool. It was our hard bottom dinghy formally known as “Time Out” and Kate’s two horse motor. After about 4 hours of cleaning it out and getting it put together we had our own dinghy which at first was named “Our Ferrari”. Then after a few days and when Kyle came back we decided it wasn’t a proper name and renamed it “Dumb Blonde Dinghy” because we are all blonde. When we got over to Lemuria we all talked and hung out for a little while. Kyle told us about what the states were like and we filled him in on what had happened since he left. After we went swimming around 6 o’clock, we jumped in the dinghy and went into the dinner. When we finally found a place to tie up DBD (short for Dumb Blonde Dinghy) went in to see everyone. Tons of people from all over were there talking to old friends that they had met earlier and people meeting other people. It was fun. When the sun started to go down the parents started a small fire and we roasted marshmallows. After we wanted to go talk some more so we climbed up this big rock. It was really high up so no one could hear us. We stayed up there until it got dark. After we climbed down we walked around. At around 9:30 a movie started. We decided we would rather walk around. We walked all over the pier and bought a whole bunch of sodas. At 11 the movie ended and we went back to our boats, and that night Kate slept over on my boat. The next morning we woke up really early and called over to Lemuria. We woke up listened to the morning net that filled us in on all that mornings activities for both the kids Loreto Fest activities and the adults activities. Kate and I got into DBD zoomed over to Lemuria picked up Kyle and went in to get ready for the morning scavenger hunt. When we got there they split us into groups again this time I had Storm (off dragonfly), Thor (off Faithful), and Olivia (off Sunflower). We ran around for about and hour and a half. You could tell that the adults set it up to where you could get all the items from different people. But it was still fun. No one really won we all tied, but we had a really fun time. After that we went back over to the main building were they were holding most of the events for the Fest and grabbed a hot dog and a soda and walked over to the t-shirt booth. The day before my mom had signed me up to sell t-shirts and cookbooks so Kyle, Kate and I sold t-shirts for an hour and a half. It was fun we just kind of sat there and yelled that we were selling t-shirts and cookbooks and to by one. We ended up selling like 11 cookbooks and 4 t-shirts. After that we decided to drift around the bay in DBD. When you drift it means that you just turn off the motor and go where ever the boat takes you. We sat in DBD for about 3 hours. It was really fun drifting because ever time you were just about comfortable, Kyle stood up and started shaking the boat making Kate freak out and we would all laugh and then do it again about 10 minutes later. At 3 o’clock they had tubing, knee boarding, and surfing games. That was really fun. Kate and I decided that tubing sounded like fun so we went tubing. We had 2 different boats to choose from one had a 25 horse motor and the other had a 10 horse motor. Who would you go with? We ended up going with the 25 horse motor. It was so fun, Kate and I went together. I was really worried though because the day before I had sprained my thumb and it was sore and I didn’t want to hurt it any more. We would get going so fast that when the driver came out of turns we would slide so far out that we would come parallel with the boat. We went tubing a couple of times then we went on a different type of tube that you laid down on. That one wasn’t as fun as the other tube was but the motor wasn’t as fun. After tubing we went back over to Lemuria where we hung out until we went to the appetizer party. When we got there we were about half an hour late and pretty much all the food was gone. There were a few pasta salads and a lot of crackers and dip, but all of the deserts were gone. At 7 o’clock we met behind the main building with all of the other kids. We were supposed to sing a song about Spam. The song was really funny it was to the tone of “A Pirates Life For Me.” Jane on Shea La Vie created the song. During Loreto Fest they had a Spam contest and that was our entry. The people who watched liked it so much that we had to do an encore presentation at the awards ceremony 2 days later. After we were done singing Kate, Kyle and I went up on our hill that we later called KMK hill. The abbreviation stood for Kyle, Maddie, and Kates hill. March 27-April 11 Hey again, We have been up to a lot since the last time that I wrote. We started the week off by doing school every morning and hung out in La Paz still. It has been fun. We have also found some really good taco stands. We go to the pool a lot and do the normal stuff but on Saturday we decided to go on an excursion to a small mining town and a really cool beach were you could rent surf boards. We left at ten in the morning and piled into a van and left for the small town. After an hour and a half of driving we arrived. It was such a cute town! There was a small stream that went through the middle of it, a giant smoke stack, and the town was famous for its piano museum. First we walked over to the smoke stack. The guy that took us on the expedition told us that the stack was created me Eiffel. The same man that made the Eiffel tower. He also told us that when the mines were still running they produced twenty tons of gold per month! We walked over to the stack and it was about 13 stories high. It was really cool, then we walked down this dirt trail that lead to a few houses and old building. When we started back toward the middle of the town we stopped at the church. It was really beautiful inside. We walked over to the store to buy some drinks for the beach. When we were in the store we were looking around and we saw a small boy sitting in a cage on a bed. It was really sad, but we thought maybe the kid didn’t behave so that is how they punished him. After we left toward the piano museum. In the piano museum we saw lots of really old pianos. A lot of them had been imported from the states when the mines were running. The rich people of the town would have them in there homes. After we left for the beach. After when we arrived we searched around the town of Todos Santos, because the guy that was our guide had to go to his mom’s house and prepare the food for the beach. In the town we found a book store, a hotel named Hotel California, and a lot of artwork from the man land. In the book store we picked up a couple of books. My parents had their picture taken in front of the hotel. We also looked around at the art but it was really expensive because they had to import it from the man land. When we were done we left for the beach. The beach was really beautiful and there were a lot of people. We ate lunch when we first got there. After one of the people that went with us rented a surf board and when he was done he let me borrow it. At first I was really nerves, because I had no idea what to do. So, Mike (the guy I borrow the board from) taught he how to ride the waves lying down. After a little while I started to become more confident and I got onto my knees. By this time I was so tired. I really didn’t think that it would take that much effort but it was really hard. When we were ready to go we all piled back into the car and went back to the boat. The next morning we woke up and the Easter bunny had come. Collin and I got a whole bunch of candy and stuff to do. After we opened our presents we walked over to our friends’ boat and took their dogs for a walk. After we went out to brunch. Then we walked over to the internet café. When we went to a restaurant named Buffalo BBQ. There we had really good burgers, and for entertainment they had fire jugglers. It was so cool, because they had them on strings and they would fling them all over the place. After we walked back to the boat and went to sleep. That is all that has been going on. Update soon. Maddie March 8-25 Hey, After a day and a half on the boat we finally made it to La Paz. We arrived at about two in the afternoon and docked at Marina Palmira, and went into town. We walked around and found that La Paz is a really beautiful town with trees line the streets, and people all around. After wandering we found an internet cafe and played there for a little while then went to find a pharmacy for my mom because she needed some Tylenol for her broken ribs. After we wanted to catch the shuttle back to the marina but we missed it and had to walk back. The next morning we did school and then went into town and walked around some more and found a Spanish school. We decided that we wanted to go back to Spanish school and refresh our memories. We arranged to start on Wednesday. The next couple of days we did school and walked around town. On Wednesday we started to study Spanish and we learned a lot that we had forgotten. That afternoon we met some other kids that lived on a boat out mooring. The were on a boat called Tea Leaves, the girl was 14 and her name was Kristi and her brother who was 18 named Zach we hung out at the pool for a while then we went to a class on chocolate at the school and then they had to go. We saw then once more before they left to the islands. We continued Spanish school and regular school. On Saturday when we didn't have school we went to this restaurant named Rancho Viejo that had really good tacos. After we walked over to the go-carts. The first time we went I went out with the adults and that helped me because I had to go fast to keep up, but the second time I went by my self and it was so fun. I went really fast and skidded out of the corners and I really liked driving around!!! It is really exciting because when we were in Stockton we met a couple named Bob and Doreen and they had trouble with there boat. So we haven’t seen them in a really long time and finally we met up here. We have been spending lots of time with them. A week ago we got a message from some friends back home that they would be in Cabo and they would love to see up if we could come down and visit them. We arranged it so that we could come down and see them for 2 days and have lots of fun. When we left La Paz it was noon and when we got there it was about 3. I was really funny because in the bus I got car sick where I never did before. I think that it has some thing to do with the boat trips. In Cabo we stayed in this really nice hotel. That had like 3 or 4 pools and huge rooms that were bigger then the boat. It wasn’t as warm in Cabo as it is in La Paz there is like a 15 degree difference. We had lots of fun and it was fun being back in Cabo and seeing friends from Elko. On the night that we were in Cabo my parents went out and partied. It was funny. We spent most of our time at the pools. On Friday night we came back to La Paz. That is about all that is going on here. I will up date soon. Maddie March 5-7
Hello, After a day and a half of sailing down to Cabo we finally arrived. We motored and anchored onto a mooring ball, called a water taxi, and went to see what there is to see in Cabo. When we got there we walked down the main street for a while then went to go find a laundry mat and an internet cafe. After finding both we went and found a place to eat. We ended up at a place called Captain Tony's that had really good pizza. When we were ready to go back to the boat we called a water taxi and realized that they weren't going to answer because they stopped running them at 6 o'clock and it was about nine. After 30 minutes of wondering what to do my mom went up to a guy and asked him if he could give us a ride back to our boat. Luckily people around Cabo are really nice and he gave us a ride back. The next day we did school and went to a beach called 'Lover’s Beach" or in Spanish "Playa Del Amor." They beach was really nice but the sand was really coarse and there were lots of small flies all over. It kind of stunk because you couldn't go in the water because there was a lot of surge and the waves were huge. When we got back to the boat, we cleaned up and got dressed. We got in the dinghy and went into town. My parents left one way to get the laundry and we went the other with my grandpa to see where our friends were. After waiting about 1/2 an hour my parents meet up with us in front of the dinghy dock. They told us sorry for being so late but the dinghy had broken down and they had to tie it to the back of a really nice guys' boat while they ran to meet up with us, and they would fix it in the morning .After we went to a restaurant named Johnny Rockets. It was kind of like an old fashion '50s or '60s dinner. They had mini jute boxes at the tables, and burgers, hot dogs, and fries. After dinner we went to the movies and saw Master and Commander. It was really cool because they were playing it in 2 different theaters. One was the V.I.P. room and the other was just in a normal theater. We got seats for the V.I.P. room. Inside they had leather recliners that were really nice. My mom didn't end up watching the movie though she slept the whole time. I really liked it was a good movie. After the movie we asked our friends for a ride back to our boat because the water taxis were closed and the dinghy was broken, when we got back we went right to sleep because it had been a long day. The next day we finished school and went back to lover’s beach. The beach is really nice and you can get a pretty good tan but the flies were bad and there were these surfer guys that really got on my nerves. After we went back to the boat and went into town and wondered around. The next day after school my mom, brother, and I decided that we wanted to go snorkeling and we had heard that the fish would eat crackers right out of your hand. We called a taxi and told him to take us to Pelican Beach. When we got there we realized that it wasn't a beach but it was a bunch of rocks and we also realized why they called it "pelican" beach. There were tons and tons of pelicans all over the rocks. We got our gear on, jump into the water and found that it was a lot colder then we had thought it would be. My mom went out first to see how it was and if it would be safe for my brother and me. After 15 minutes she came back and said that I could go out there but she didn't think it was a good idea for my brother because he forgot his life jacket. I went saw lots of beautiful fish all different color from black to yellow to green to neon blue they were so amazing. We got another taxi and took it over to lover’s beach to hang out. We hung at lover’s beach for an hour and then went back to the boat. We went back into town and looked around some more. The next day we decided that we were getting tired of that beach and went to another beach with lots of music, bars, and people. It was a really nice beach with guarded off swimming areas. The only down part was that there were lots of venders always asking you if you wanted to buy something. My parents went over to one of the bars to get a few drinks and when my mom came back she was in a really big hurry. She told us to hurry because she had entered my dad into a beach contest. When we got over to the restaurant there was a stage, lots of lawn chairs, and people. In the contest first my dad had to run down to the beach, then turn and run about 30 yards, and spin around a pole with his forehead 10 times. After that my dad was really dizzy. Then when he had to run back to the stage he couldn't see anything and fell down about 5 or 6 times into the crowd. It took him about 1 minute and 6 seconds. The fastest time was 56 seconds. It was really funny watching my dad do a contest like that and I would have never guessed him to do a contest on the beach of Cabo San Lucas. After we sat around for a while and we all got henna tattoos from one of the venders. I got a superman sign with swirls around it, my brother got a Fox sign on his arm, and my parents got the same sun on their backs. The tattoos ended up lasting about 2 or 3 weeks. We went back to the boat, got ready, and had some friends come over for our friend Claudia’s birthday. It was really fun and when they left we went to bed. The next couple of days we hung out at Mango Deck. On the last day we were there I met this guy nicknamed Nemo who worked for a Jet Ski company on the beach. He took me out on one for free and we had lots of fun. We went out under the infamous Arch out side of Cabo and went around it and there was a whole bunch of sea lions in the water swimming around. When we got closer they would swim under us and wave to us with their flippers. It was amazing. Then we went out into the bay and did a whole bunch of donuts and 180's and stuff like that it was really fun. That night at 9 o'clock we left for Los Frailes.
Feb 22-27 Hey, The last couple of days in Mag Bay were a lot of fun because we went hunting in the water for animals like baby crabs, octopus, and sea urchins on the beach. We ended up finding a lot of neat animals, and while my mom was holding one of the octopus we found it bit her and she said it felt like a bee sting. On Monday all the kids went to school and my mom asked their teacher if we could come too. Monday was kind of a stormy day and we wore our foulie gear into town, when we got there we were all excited and Collin and I were really anxious to start. Finally when the teachers arrive we took our stuff into the classroom and walked back out to where they lined up around the outer edge of a cement pad, the started to recite the Anthem of Mexico. I felt kind of funny standing there and not knowing what they were saying and not knowing what to say, so Collin and I stood there listening and saluting when the flag went by. When we returned to the class Collin and I were in two different classes. I was with the students 4th through 6th grade, and Collin was with the younger kids. It started off kind of bad because I didn't know what they were saying because they spoke only Spanish and I listened to what I could. When the teacher was talking to me he had to repeat himself about a million times. We started to do school work and at first I didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing and I felt pretty stupid but finally I started to work with other kids so I realized what I was doing. At 10:30 we left for lunch. We went to the only restaurant and had a sandwich and soup. At 11:00 school started again and we went back to our class. When we got back I went and did my work with the same group which made it a lot easier for me to understand what to do. The school work was pretty easy for me because we looked words up in the dictionary then did science. When we were finish with science the other girls in my group asked me if I would like to go with them to get some coffee. I was confused because we still had half an hour before school was out and they said we could leave right then. We went in they told the teacher that we were done and that they were going to leave, he assigned them homework and we left. After we had coffee at one of their houses we went and got some of the other kids and started a soccer game. At 3:00 we left to go back to the school because my mom had asked that morning if any of the children would like to learn a little English. It turned out that all the kids in my class wanted to come. When we got there my mom started off with the alphabet and reciting the vowel. I was really amazed at how much they wanted to learn and because they wanted to learn they learned it really fast. After about 2 hours my mom started a game with some of the body parts like the ears, eyes, nose and mouth that was really fun. Right before we were finished my mom played the Hokey Pokey and it was really funny. At first no one really wanted to do it because they felt stupid but before the game was over we had everyone spinning in circles. Then we went back down to the soccer field and played another game of soccer before everyone left to go have dinner. The next morning we left with two other cruising couples to Cabo San Lucas. Feb 16-25 After we got in the dinghy and motored back to our the sailboat but before getting back my mom and I got soaked with big waves came over the sides and bow. One reason that we ended up staying in Santa Maria for so long was for one we meet 2 really nice couples and were hanging out with them and second was because of the weather, that day there were 20 to 30 knot wind gusts with is pretty close to having gal wind which is like off shore storm winds. That night we really felt the winds because we were anchored out in the bay. When the wind came in that night at about 2 or 3 in the morning our anchor started to drag which means we started to move and luckily we started to move out into the middle of the bay vs. onto the shore. After about 30 minutes we found out were dragging and decided that we should just go out of the bay and charge our batteries by the motor. The next day we got everything packed up early and left for Bahia Magdalena it was a 5 to 6 hour sail from Santa Maria. On the way down there we saw a lot of whales that came right next to our boat like 20 to 30 feet it was really awesome. When we got to Mag. Bay we talked to one of the ponga drivers and he took us into town. The first thing that happened was a group of kids asked us to play kickball with them. My mom and brother played while I played soccer with some other kids. The first night was fun because after we ate dinner at the only restaurant in town and after we played hide and go seek. When we left we were asked to play again the next morning. We accepted the invitation and motored back to the boat. Feb. 7 -14 Since I last wrote we have gone to a few small pueblos or fishing towns. One of them was named Bahia Tortuga or in English Turtle Bay. In Bahia Tortuga I had a really fun time, because when we were at the beach there were some kids that lived in the town and we started playing soccer together. Afterward my mom bought us all these fruit bars and my mom, my brother and I went back to the boat. Later when we came back to the town the kids were in the town square playing soccer between the benches. They asked us to play with them and so we did. It was really cool because we got to practice our Spanish speaking skills and we made a lot of new friends. Also in the bay everyday when you looked out into the water you could see seals, dolphins, sea lions, lots of pelicans, and sea gulls. Jan 31 - Feb. 7 We stayed at the police docks for 3 days and meet 2 kids that lived in Canada and are sailing down to Mexico too. When we left San Diego it was 4 in the morning so I was sleeping the whole trip. When I woke up 12 hours later we were right outside of the marina in Ensenada. The area was so beautiful. There were high mountains all around, marina all along the bay, and really blue water. We got off the boat and walked up to the city. There were tons of shops selling everything from bracelets to ceramic animals. In the fish market, it was really gross because there are lots of fish that….. smell like dead fish. We also found a McDonalds here .It is really cool because they have these potatoes called McPatas that are really spicy and thick. It´s weird because they only sell then in Mexico. Also while we were in Ensenada my dad had his 37th Birthday. We went to this nice French restaurant. After that, we went back to the boat. Yesterday it was fun because there are a whole bunch of Sea Lion that live on the end of the pier. My brother bought a bucket of fish to feed them and when he was throwing the fish a bunch of bird kept trying to steal his fish. When my brother was finished with the bucket of fish we were walking away. I think that the birds got mad at him and pooped on his arm. It was really funny for me but I don´t think my brother thought it was. Tomorrow, we are leaving for Turtle Bay and I’ll update when we hit land again. Maddie Jan.18- Jan. 31 A lot has happened since I wrote last. We have left Ventura gone to San Diego and stayed at the police docks for a few days and finally made it down into Mexico. When we first left Ventura I was really excited because it was my first time sailing the boat on the ocean. For the first 30 minutes it was really fun because the boat was bouncing in small waves. When we were bouncing on small waves I was wishing that they were a little bit bigger but then when I went down into the cabin the waves got much bigger and because of this I got really really sea sick. I found out that the best way to get over sea sickness was to sleep. When I woke up it was really really dark and about 1 in the morning. I went up on deck and saw the most amazing thing! There were 200 or 300 hundred dolphins jumping toward the boat. When they were near the boat they went under and around it. It was so amazing. After that I went back to bed. When I woke up we were right outside the bay of San Diego. I was so happy because we were supposed to be going all the way to Ensenada which would have been another 10 hours. We pulled into the police docks and it felt so nice to jump off the boat onto solid ground, after being on the moving boat for 2 days straight. Jan 5 - 17 The last week here in Mexico was pretty much as normal as the first four but on Friday it was really sad because we had to say good-bye to everyone at the school. It was kind of funny though because since we´ve been here it has been warm and sunny everyday but on Friday it was really cold and rainy. That night the school had a BBQ. There were lots of people, drinks, music, and food. I didn’t end up going until it was almost over because I was talking to the family that we are staying with. After the BBQ, my family, one of the students from our school, and two people from our mexicana family went to the movies. It’s really cool because the movies are really cheap. On Saturday, we went to these
really amazing pyramids named Teotihuacan located right outside of
Mexico City. At the site there were two big pyramids. One was the pyramids of the sun and the other the
pyramids of the moon. The pyramid of the sun is bigger then the pyramid
of the moon. We
climbed both of them, the sun pyramid first.When we got to the top
the view was really, really, beautiful. You could see millions of
trees, and see a church. When we walked down the pyramid we counted
the stairs and there were two hundred and thirty six. After, we
climbed up the pyramid of the moon that one wasn’t as big as the
sun but its steps were like twice the size so I made it really hard
to climb. For lunch, we went to this really cool resturant that was
in a cave. There were tons of candles and the food was good. We
drove back to Cuernavaca. Today is our last full day here before we
leave, so today has been a total rush all day so far. I don’t
really want to leave on Monday because I really like it here. The
next time I write I will be back in the U.S.A. Well, I’ll
update soon. Maddie December
17-January 4 I have learned that here in Mexico they have two separate holidays for gift giving. One on December 25th which is Chistmas, and another on January 6th which is The Three Kings. On December 25th Santa Clause brings presents to the kids, and on January 6th the Three Kings come and fill your shoes with presents. I celebrated my 13th birthday on December 22. It was a little different than what I am used to, but it was still a lot of fun.
We went and saw the 3rd Lord of the Rings movie and even though we are in Mexico all the movies are in English with Spanish subtitles. On Christmas day we had a picnic with some of the other students that go to our school. It was really fun because before the picnic we walked over to the store near our home and bought a whole bunch of food like enough food for 20 people and there were only 12 of us.We had sandwiches by the pool and talk for a couple of hours. Other exciting things that have happened is that yesterday we went to pyramids that are near the center of the city we are living. They are really historical, there was a temple dedicated to the wind god and the war god. That weekend we went to Mexico City, in Mexico it is called Ciudad de Mexico or City of Mexico. While we were there we went to the Palace of Fine Arts which was really really amazing. There were 3 floors of beautiful art. We also visited the Palacio de Nacional which is the presidencial palace. It was built by Hernado Cortez in the 1500’s. Another intresting fact is that Mexico city was built on a lake by the Aztec Indians, and that the city is slowly sinking. While we were at the Palace, we stood on the same balcony that Cortez watched the first bull fight in Mexico from 500 years ago! When we returned to Curnavavaca it was really late. Spanish school has been going really well. Most of the time when I need something I can ask for it, and our mexican family understands what I’m saying. We have one more week of school and we well return to the United States. It’s kind of funny because they don’t call it the United States the call it Estados Unidos which means the same as united states but in spanish. Well that what’s happened so far, we will be returning to the states next Monday. November 28-December 16 Since I last wrote in my journal a lot has happened! During Thanksgiving weekend my family and I drove to Utah where my aunts, uncles, and grandpa lives. While we were there we decided that we wanted to learn how to speak Spanish, and what better place to learn then Mexico. We got onto the internet and found a few Spanish immersion schools in a city in southern Mexico. There was one school that really caught our attention, it had this theory that the best way to learn Spanish is to use it first hand in conversation, also as part of the school they would find a family for you to live with while you were at the school. We got our airline tickets and within 10 days we were on a plane to Mexico City. When we arrived we met the family. They are extremely kind and have children that are near my age. The first day of school was really hard because in the afternoon we had conversation and I didn’t know any Spanish. I had a lot of trouble. People only speak Spanish in the school, no English. I didn’t talk much the first day. After a few days of school I started to understand a little Spanish, and could say easy things like: thank you, please, and talk to people as long as they talked really slow. On the third day a few of the people in our Mexican family were going to this contest that their cousin Luis was in, and asked if I wanted to go. At first I was a little hesitant because I didn’t speak Spanish very well and knew if I got lost I wouldn’t be able to get back to the house. I ended up going had having a really good time.
November 5-10 On our second day in Antioch, we expected to be out of there and going further down the Delta. That didn’t work out because the marina where we were planning on staying was dredging because the water was too shallow for boats to come in during low tide and they weren’t taking any guests. We ended up staying in Antioch another day and were going to leave really early the next morning to have a six-eight hour ride to Berkeley. The next morning my parents woke me up at 6:30am in the morning. If you are anyone who knows me you will know that I sleep in really late whenever I can. After a long day of motoring we were all ready to dock and take a long nap. Instead we went to the harbormaster and paid for our stay and found the bathrooms and showers, all of the good stuff in the marina! The next day, our friends from Stockton drove the car down to Berkeley for us. We went to San Francisco and hung out all day. We drove them back that night. That is about all that has gone on around here. Remember to post all your questions for us on the bulletin board. Talk to you all later. Maddie October 13 Hey everyone, Everything is going good, we moved the boat (FINALLLY) from Stockton to Berkley!! Halloween was a little different than what we were use to back in Elko, but we still got a whole bag full of candy. We weren’t sure where to go trick-or- treating so we went to the mall. There were at least a thousand little kids running around and getting miniature pieces of candy. We went around the mall going from store to store. It was kind of dumb, because the big major stores like Limited Too, the Gap, and K B Toys weren’t handing out candy. Isn’t that weird!! (I know where I’m not going Christmas shopping this year?!) The other mall stores also had really cheesy candy like a tootsie roll. Then we decided that we would hit some of the houses that were around the marina. They gave out lots of really good candy. My brother and I got two gigantic bag full of candy!! It really stinks though because our parents made us split it into week bags! That will make our candy last much longer though. Saturday we kind of had a mellow day. We just hung out and it was good because my feet were sore. That was also the day my parents and my grandpa had another talk, this was one of those talks where they were telling him that they were tired of being in Stockton and wanted to get to Berkley before the weather was too bad to go. That’s when we decided that we were going to get all of our stuff together and move down the Delta. We left Stockton the next day. It was a long trip. On Sunday we were planing to get to Antioch. It was really fun motoring the boat. All those months that my parents had been working on boat finally paid off. We motored all the way there. That was because there wasn’t enough wind to pull up the sails. We arrived in Antioch at about 3:30. We decided to get all checked in and go look around the town. We ended up walking to a restaurant and having dessert before dinner. It was so good!! When we returned to the boat, we decided to let our dessert settle in before we had dinner. After dinner and had our first port drinks (apple cider for Collin and me, and champagne for my parents and grandpa.)
October 1-12 Hey, There was a machine where you put your eyes on it and you look at this blue light, and then you started to see these little tiny things moving on the blue light. That was the blood moving through the blood vessels in your eye. It was really cool! After that we went back to Sasilito and went to this store call Mollie Stones to pick up food for dinner. When we were done shopping, we asked our friend to come pick us up in their dinghy (a small motor boat to get from your boat that is on anchor to land). We made dinner and played cards for the rest of the night. The next day came and we decided that we would go to something called the Bay Model and the San Francisco Zoo! The Bay Model was interesting. I learned a few things while I was there. I learned that 90% of the delta fish were killed when the water became polluted by all the motor boats that come through it, and also that during WWII there were lots of women welders, and they built submarines during the war. Later that afternoon we went to the zoo. It was really funny because my brother decided that he was year he was going to be a monkey for Halloween, and so he wore his costume to the zoo. When we came to the monkey houses he was trying to talk to the monkeys, and they looked at him like what is that thing making all that noise? Then we walked to the children’s part of the zoo. They had a building full of bugs. That was really gross! It had lots of beetles, spiders, and roaches. They also had a petting zoo filled with farm animals. There were goats and sheep that you can feed. We enjoyed that part of the zoo the most, even though I got bucked but a big, fat goat. After the zoo, we went to the library to make plans to go Six Flags and Marine World. When we looked on the internet, we found out that they were only open on weekends because school started. The next day we drove down to a little place called Villaho where Six Flags and Marine World is located. We stayed in a hotel over night and then went to the park early in the morning. We spent a whole day there and meet a nice couple who had two sons. We hung out with them for the rest of the night. We got talking to them and they know some people who we know that live back our land home of Elko, Nevada. It was weird because the world really is a small world after all! Six Flags really sucked because in order go on a roller coaster you had to wait at least one and a half to two hours to get on almost any ride. I ended up waiting to get on a coaster for two hours. The roller coaster wasn’t really the best I’ve been on, and wasn’t worth waiting two hours to go on. It was really fun going on an adventure in Northern California this week, but all good and fun things must come to an end so we went back to Stockton that night. We had a lot of fun and we’ll never forget it. Talk to you later. Maddie September 14-20
Hey everyone, Maddie September 7-13 Hello, Last weekend we were all over the place. On Saturday we went to San Francisco, which is a first for my brother and me. We also went to Oakland. In Oakland we went to this thing called the nautical flee market. There were lots of things for your boat and lots of dogs running around. We also meet these people who just got back from going on a trip like we’re going on. They had lots of advice and stuff like that. We also meet a writer to a famous book called "The Cruising Woman’s handbook." She was really nice too. Pretty much everyone we’ve meet here has been really nice! But I wish that the where more kids our age around. I also really miss all my friends back in Elko and I kind of wish that they would email me more. If anyone who reads this would like to talk, make sure to post questions on the bulletin board. Well anyway we had a really good lunch at this place down in Stockton before we got on the ferry. Then we walked over to the ferry so that we could go to San Francisco. The first thing we did when we got there was go over to Pier 39 and see the about 100 sea lions (you can see pictures of them in the photo gallery) and man they were cool but they smelled so bad. It wasn’t even funny how bad they smelled. After that we decided to go explore the shops on Pier 39 so we went through there and went out onto the street. There were lots of really interesting street performers. Like there was this guy that played the harp and a cute little monkey that I sat on my lap (you can see a picture in the photo gallery.) Then on our way back to Oakland well… my brother had to use the bathroom on the ferry so I went down the hall to buy a snack. When I came back Collin being a boy I thought that he would be done. So I knocked on the door and Collin told me he was stuck and there was something wrong with the door lock. I ran up and got my mom who got a person who worked on the ferry to help him out. Well altogether it took about 20 minutes to get him out. It was pretty funny in the beginning but then I thought he might not get out. That was pretty much our Frazier Family Adventures for that week. Talk to u all later, Maddie
September 1-6th Hey again, How is everyone doing everything is fine here. This has been a really fun week/weekend! This week we started school. In my opinion it is a lot better than regular school. I mean don’t get me wrong you know it really cool to be around you’re friends and everything and I’m kind of sad because I would have been in seventh grade and had lockers and change classes. But it’s a lot better then people think home school (boat school) would be. For instants school can be in lots of different places like one day I had school by the pool of our hotel. The next day I had school in our hotel room. Then the rest of the time we’ve had school on the boat. And school has started at like 12:00 and ended at like 3:00 or 3:30. Even though we only school for about three and a half-hours we have to stay focused and on task. You can also do stuff in the middle of class like on day I went swimming and another day we went jetskiing. Even thou I’ve also met a lot of really nice people. The first day we were here we met this couple named Bob and Doreen (we went jetskiing with them.) We have done a lot of other things with them like the they took my brother and me to their grandson’ 12th birthday party. Their grandsons’ name is Anthony and their granddaughter’s name is Madison also. They live on a walnut farm! (You can read more about Anthony in our meet a friend section.) Then the weekend rolled around it was probably one of the best weekends in while. First on Saturday we were going to go to a Scottish festival in Alameda. But because we didn’t turn on this short cut my dad found out about we ended up going to the Jelly Belly factory. It was a lot of fun we got to go on a tour even though the machines weren’t running because it was the weekend. We ended up leaving the factory with 6 pounds of things called belly flops (jelly bellies that weren’t perfect) and JBz (like M&Ms with flavoring in them!) Then we left the factory and went to Napa Valley because it was like 20 minutes away. Our parents decided that since we got to go to the Jelly Belly factory they wanted to go to a place called Cakebread Cellar. We had to drive back to Stockton to go to one of our friends Bon Voyage party. So we made Quasilla, brought 4 pounds of belly flops, and my parents brought wine. On Sunday, we cleaned in the morning then at 3:00 we went boating on the river. We went out with two of our other friends. We went tubing off the back of there boat. It was so much fun. We went by this island called Lost Isle. Then we went to dinner at this place called the Garlic Brothers it was great. Monday came and we drove to Oakdale were we went to Anthony’s farm. We drove back and went to the California State Fair. In Sacramento! Well a couple days before that we looked in the news paper and saw that Arron Carter was going to be playing there so we left over there to go check it out. We found out that you had to get into with these little wristbands. Well let’s just say Aaron wasn’t singing the best songs and so a lot of people were leaving. My mom borrowed some wristbands from people that were leaving. In our new seats, we were about 9 rows from the stage it was lots of fun. Then we went home. Well talk to everyone later, Maddie 8/17/03 Today was an awesome today. First thing we did this morning after waken up. We started working on the boat. My mother, my little brother, and me started cleaning the boat. It was extremely hot. We started by cleaning my room (the berth) it was really messy, Then we after we cleaned my grandpa’s room (captains’ berth), then continued onto my parents and little brothers room (middle berth). After that we decided that it was way to hot to keep going, so to cool ourselves down by going down to the river and put our dingy the water. It was so fun. It took us a few minutes to figure out how to row (and can I tell you its not as easy as it looks) first my mom started by rowing but then she needed a break so she let me take over. I really sucked until I figured out how to do it right. Then it was much easier. After I tried then my brother gave it a go. That is where everything went wrong. He had a lot of trouble. At first my mom tried to help him row but that didn’t help so then I decided to step in, that helped a little because it is extremely hard to row backward. Anyway, then I took one of the ores and Collin (my brother) took the other one. We had a lot of trouble with that. I swear we were going in circles for about 10 minutes after that Collin moved out of the way and I rowed us to shore. Then we had to find a place to keep it. So my mom, dad, and grandpa walked down the dock when the found a place to store the dingy. They found a little place between two boats. We all climbed back into the dingy. My dad decided to row. Well he had a little bit of a hard time. After he figured out how he tried to park it in the spot they had chosen. He was doing ok until he broke off the ore holder so he had to get into the small area with only one ore. Well that’s all for today talk to you all later. Maddie
|
Collin
Hi
Everyone! June
10 - 11 I
have been very busy traveling lately, we just arrived in Creel, México.
We rode the Pacifico al Chihuahua railroad from Los Moches to Creel.
We left Los Moches early in the morning. The train was really slow,
but fast compared to the boat. We went through many small towns,
stopping for other passangers. While we were stopped people walked
through the train selling things. We bought some roasted cactus
fruit, and it tasted like pumpkin. The train went through a lot of
tunnels and over a lot of bridges. We went high in the mountains,
about 7000 feet! It took us 13 hours to do the trip, but it was
worth it. In Creel, we have done a lot of exploring, we went to a
dinosaur museum, and walked through a lot of neat shops, I found a
bow and arrow that I really wanted. Tomorrow we are going on a hike
in the mountains to a hot springs. June
6 - 9 Today
we have left San Carlos and the boat and are going to Alamos, Mexico. On
the drive into Alamos, there was a huge lightning storm over the
town, it was really bright. We have spent a day and a half exploring
Alamos, it was a very beautiful town and it reminded me of
Cuernavaca. The streets were made out of rocks, and the buildings
were really old, some of them were built in the 1700s. The church
was really cool, it is 200 years old, we met Mexican kids there, and
they were really excited to talk to us. We went on a tour with a guy
named Candy Joe, he took us all around town and to an old silver
mine, where we walked into the shaft and saw a lot of bats! Cool.
Next our guide took us to the town cemetery, that has been there 400
years. All of the people were buried above the ground. There were
some of the old graves that were broken into to get gold and jewelry
out of the caskets. Tomorrow we will be taking the bus to Los Moches
so we can get on the train and go to Copper Canyon. May
31 – June 5 Hey again! May 11 - 21 We are now in San Juanico, we left Puerto Escondido last week and have cruised to Isla Carmen. We stayed at 2 bays here, first was Bahia Ballandra, which we call Beelandra because of all of the bees, and V Cove, which is on the northern point of Isla Carmen. V Cove was cool because of the cave around the anchorage, on of them was about 10 feet high and 40 feet deep, and we could drive our dingy into the cave. On the beach at V Cove there are really tall sand dunes, which we tried to “surf” down on our boogie boards one afternoon. San Juanico is a really nice place there are big rocks that stick up out of the water around the anchorage. There are lots of fish here, and I caught a really big sea bass when I was trolling with our friend Paul on Carmelita. On the way back from trolling for bass, we ran into a school of Mexican barracudas, and caught 12 of them. We threw them back though, because we didn’t know if they were good to eat. There is a really neat place in San Juanico on the beach, known as the Sailors Shrine, cruisers that have stopped there, put something on or around the tree with the date and their boat name on it. We have seen some plaques from boats we know and a lot that we don’t. The oldest one we could find has been there since 1982, that’s 22 years! My dad bought a sling in Loreto, and has been getting fish on the reefs for dinner, my favorite is home made fish sticks! He has caught triggerfish, gray bar grunts, and snappers. April 30 - May 10 Puerto Escondido is a really big bay, where the water is really warm to swim in. Besides Loretofest, we have gone fishing, and rode into Loreto to spend the night. We have been doing a lot of really fun things during Loretofest, we watch movies about Horatio Hornblower at night. There have been lots of activities to do during the day, we have had kayak races, swinging off of the boats from the booms, boogie board riding behind the dingies, and marshmallow cookouts on the beach in the evenings. On Saturday, we had a treasure hunt around the bay, trying to find weird things. On Sunday, we had a dingy parade for the festival, my friends and I decorated our dingy as the “Pirate ship of Doom”, and my sister decorated her dingy as the “Good Ship Lolly Pop.” Our dingies got first and second place in the contest. We are running out of time on our trip, and we really don’t want to leave, because we are having such a good time, and learning so much about the sea. I am really excited to see my friends at home though. April 16 – 29 We are currently in Puerto Escondido having fun at Loretofest. Loretofest is a big boat festival that lasts for 4 days, where boaters from all over come to meet and have fun. There are a lot of kids here, I have met new friends from a lot of different boats. Storm from Dragonfly, Patrick from Sunflower, Cory from Lemuria, and Thor from Faithful, as well as my friend Christopher on Mariposa, who I met in La Paz. We left La Paz on the 16th of April, and sailed to Isla Perdita. We stayed in Ensenada Grande the first night. The next day, we met two families who invited us on their boat to go to Isla Islotes, where we swam with sea lions for the day, my sister got stung by a really big jellyfish. The next day we hiked on the beach up a canyon with a lot of rocks and cactus. It was really cool, we found a well that had been there a long time. Next we sailed to Isla San Fransisco, which is a really small island just off the coast of the baja. We met some kids on a big powerboat named Harriet Lee, where we played for the afternoon and ate dinner. They served us fresh dorado they had caught that day, yum it was really good! From San Fransisco, we went to Los Gatos for 4 days, this was the coolest place we have gone yet, because it was fun to hike on the mountains, and chase the crabs over the beach. One night we made a big fire on the beach, and stayed out till it was really late talking with other cruisers. The fishing here was really great, I caught a Sierra, and a big sea bass, they are real fighters. Next, we moved on to Bahia Agua Verde. We had lots of fun here, I swam in the reefs, got to see goats and pigs, and hiked in the mountains. After Agua Verde, we have made our way up to Puerto Escondido, where we are now. April 8-11 Hey again EASTER I got a fan, shirt, some candy and money. We had an Easter egg hunt. We had it at the pool. Because my Mom and dad bought and hid the eggs. March 17-26 Last week we got an email from our friends, the Gardner family. They said they were going to be in Cabo San Lucas for spring break, we made plans, to meet them for a day, and took the bus from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas. It was good to see William, I had lots of fun playing at the pool, watching movies and running around with a friend from home!!! I showed him where Recordulis was and we played games. It was a great time, but we could stay for one day. The next day we said our goodbyes and returned to La Paz. March 6-16 We left Cabo at night after me and my sister went to sleep heading toward Los Frailes, which means the Friars, it is named this because there is a spot on the hillside that looks like people climbing the side of the hill. We only spent one day here, because the weather changed and made for good sailing to La Paz. We did spend on day snorkeling in Los Frailes and a place called Mermaid rock on Dinosaur Egg beach. The beach was really cool, we saw iguana lizards in the rocks. There were tons of crabs on the rocks in the water, and lots of different fish, on the dingy ride back to the beach, my dad almost ran over two sea turtles, they were so close, I could almost touch them! We left Los Frailes late in the day, so we would arrive in La Paz in the morning. The weather was nice for the sail, but in the morning the sea was really rough! The waves were crashing over the top of the boat, getting everyone on deck wet, but the water was warm. We docked our boat at Marina Palmira. La Paz is really cool, it a really big city, and is a lot different than Cabo. No one here really speaks English, and the people are really nice here. This is the first stop in Mexico that we have met cruising kids like us. There are 5 other boats with kids in La Paz. We have been spending our afternoons in La Paz at the swimming pool in the marina, walking on the Malicon, visiting the museum, and going to Spanish classes for a couple hours a day. One night, we all went go carting at a place called Go Kart Fury. I got to drive my own cart! The track was really twisty and fast. Feb. 26 -March 5 While in Magdelene, we hiked in the mountains, where the local kids picked small chili’s out of the cactus to eat called chilitos, they were really good, they tasted like strawberries! We spent the week playing soccer, kickball, baseball, and running around the village with our new friends. On the last day we were there, we went to school with the kids, it was small school, with only 2 classrooms. School was fun, it was easier to understand the teacher because of all the time we have spent learning Spanish. The next morning, we left Mag bay with our friends on Wanderer and Naiad, for the overnight sail to Cabo San Lucas. On our way out of, we saw lots of humpback whales, some were within 20 feet of out boat, which was really scary because it was a lot bigger than our boat!! The seas on the way to Cabo San Lucas were really rough, and I was sick most of the trip there. Feb 19-25 Feb 8-18 While in Turtle Bay we played soccer with the local kids. They were excited to play with us when we asked if they liked soccer. I liked how quiet it was there and how friendly everyone was. We left Turtle Bay on the day after Valentines and sailed to Bahia Abre Ojos. We only stayed there one night. My dad fell in the water and went up to his neck. It was funny. We ate lunch and found some kids to play with for awhile. The next afternoon we left and sailed overnight to Santa Maria Bay. When we go there we met 2 cruising boats, The Wanderer with Paul and Joanne and Naiad with Steve, Charlene, and their really cool parrot named Tarzan. We spent 2 days in Santa Maria and had a beach Barbeque and went to sand dollar beach. I found lots of sand dollars and other sea shells. It was really cool because we were the only ones on the whole beach. February 3-7 When we got to Encenada, it felt good to be back in Mexico. I wanted to eat pizza and go to the movies. Yesterday, we took the bus to a blow hole. A blow hole is when the water comes in and blows the water up in the air really big. The blow hole was cool. In Spanish it is called a bufadora. Yesterday, we went to feed
the sea lions in the harbor by our boat. They are very stinky
and make arrrr arrrr arrrr sounds. I bought fish from a
stand. The fish were anchovies and about 5 inches long and
black and white striped. I threw them one at a time to
the sea lions. The sea lions grabbed them in their teeth and
swallowed them whole. January 23- February 2 In
San Diego I met some friends from Canada, Tyler and Nathan.
They are cruising with their family to Mexico, too.
On Friday we went to the San Diego Zoo.
It was a lot of fun. We
saw the pandas and the baby. You
can see the baby panda on a web camera at the San Diego Zoo web
site. We walked around
the zoo all day and saw animals from all over the world.
The monkeys were funny because they sat up against the window
and put their lips on it. Saturday morning we left at
5 am for Encenada, Mexico our first stop in Mexico.
The seas were really rough but it was better than last time.
I didn’t throw up even though I felt like it January 17-January 22 This week, we flew from Mexico City to Los Angeles where my grandpa picked us up. I felt weird talking in English again. The next day, we went to the beach and played football and soccer. We left Ventura on the boat two days later for San Diego. We had an overnight sail for my first trip on the boat. We saw a huge pod for 500 dolphins swimming around our boat. The seas were rough and rainy. It was fun but we all got sick. Jan. 8 - 17 The last day of school I was sad because I will probably never see my teacher and friends that I have made here again. The school had a goodbye fiesta for us. I ate, danced with my friends, and I got a stuffed Mickey Mouse doll from my teacher. It was great! Yesterday we visited the pyramids of the sun and the moon. I like the pyramid of the sun the best. It took us 30 minutes to climb. Jan. 1 - Jan. 7 The next weekend, we
went to Xochicalco, which is an ancient city outside of Cuarnavaca.
There are a lot of big
pyramids
and houses from a long time ago. We
got to go inside the biggest
pyramids!
At school I learned more new
words and sentences. We had 3 new kids in our class this week,
Hunter, Taylor, and Mariah, Hunter is from Texas, and Taylor and
Mariah are from California. This week has much
different, I am the only kid in the class, on Monday my teacher
Carlos let me help him around the school, we played games in the
yard, and delivered messages to the classes around the school, it
was a lot of fun. On Thursday I went with my mom and dad to a dance
class and learned how to do the Salsa. Dec. 17 – 31 Hola! School has been a lot of
fun, I have met a lot of new friends in the last couple of weeks! I
have been studying about Mexican people and history.
The first weekend we went to the city of Taxco, it is where
most of the silver in Mexico is mined. We went to the Cathedral,
which was really cool, the inside of the church was covered in
gold!! This week, is Christmas week, we only have a couple of days of school. On Christmas day we had a pool party with some of the other families at the school. It was really different to have a party outside by the pool for Christmas. On Sunday we went to Mexico city to explore El Circlo, or the city center. We went to the National Cathedral, the Predential Palace, Tempo Mayor, which is the priamid of the Aztec Indians, and the Museum of Beautiful Art. December
12-16 The day is finally here, we
get to go on the plane today, my grandpa is dropping us off at the
airport in Los Angeles. The flight took a long time, and we had to
ride the bus 2 hours from Mexico City to a city named Cuernavaca. I
am really excited to be here, but kind of scared because no one
speaks English. From the bus station, we took a taxi to our host
family’s house. We were met at the gate by Betty, she brought us
in the house and introduced us to the rest of her family, Fermina,
her mom, her sisters, Brenda, Mariana, Andrea, her brother Jose, and
her niece Paola. None in their family speaks English, so it is hard
to talk to them. Today I start school, there
are 3 other kids in my class, Natasha, Jake, and Max. We are
learning Spanish together. I am learning the alphabet, names of
animals, fruits, people, colors, and how to ask some questions.
Learning Spanish is really hard!! The school is really cool, they
have a big back yard with a pool and a basket ball court. December 12-16 The day is finally here, we
get to go on the plane today, my grandpa is dropping us off at the
airport in Los Angeles. The flight took a long time, and we had to
ride the bus 2 hours from Mexico City to a city named Cuernavaca. I
am really excited to be here, but kind of scared because no one
speaks English. From the bus station, we took a taxi to our host
family’s house. We were met at the gate by Betty, she brought us
in the house and introduced us to the rest of her family, Fermina,
her mom, her sisters, Brenda, Mariana, Andrea, her brother Jose, and
her niece Paola. None in their family speaks English, so it is hard
to talk to them. Today I start school, there are 3 other kids in my class, Natasha, Jake, and Max. We are learning Spanish together. I am learning the alphabet, names of animals, fruits, people, colors, and how to ask some questions. Learning Spanish is really hard!! The school is really cool, they have a big back yard with a pool and a basket ball court. November 15-30 This is Collin, how are you all doing?? I have been very busy lately. My family decided to drive from San Diego to Odgen to spend Thanksgiving with my mom’s side of the family. It was a lot of fun, we got to play in the snow and visit with my grandparents, aunt and uncles. After Thanksgiving, we drove to Las Vegas and spent a couple of days seeing the sites. We went to Hoover Dam, where we walked across the dam, out of Nevada and into Arizona, and looked over the side, it was HUGE!! We went to Jean, Nevada and rode the fastest roller coaster in the world, “The Desperado”. Then we drove into to California where we stopped in Baker to have a home made shake and see the world’s biggest thermometer. Over Thanksgiving, our family made plans to spend a month in Mexico and go to a Spanish language school. We will be living with a Mexican family, and going to school to learn a new language. I am really excited to go!! November 9-16 My Grandpas friends, Stan and Gary came to help take the boat to San Diego for us while we drove down the coast. We started our trip by driving to Monterey. In Monterey, we went to the Monterey Aquarium. We saw otters, jelly fish, sharks, penguins, and sea turtles. I got to touch kelp, stingrays, starfish, and sea cucumbers in the touch pools. After leaving Monterey, we drove to LA to spend a couple of days at Disneyland. At Disney land we went to Toon Town, It’s A Small World, and my favorite ride, California Screamin’ roller coaster. We also went to a Bugs Life, and watched the Electric Parade, and Christmas parade. I got to go to Build a Bear Workshop and made a new friend named Charlie. We are now going to San Diego!! We’ll talk to you soon Collin
November 1-8 On November 4th we finally started our trip from Stockton to Berkeley. On the first day we went to Antioch. We went to a bird shop while we were there, they had a bird there that was different colors like a rainbow. The owner of the store was feeding baby birds that had just been hatched with and eye dropper. That night after dinner we went to an amusement park that had miniature golf and video games. The next day we kept on moving down the river. At Benecia we saw our first sea lions moving up the delta, they were resting on the channel boys. We also saw some big Navy battle ships docked at the base in Benecia. That afternoon we finally got to see the Golden Gate Bridge as we got to Berkeley. Our friends Kenny and DJ drove our car from Stockton to Berkeley for us, then we all went to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. We went to Pier 39, had lunch and visited Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum. The next day we went to the Lawerence Science Museum at the University of California Berkeley. We saw a life size model of a whale you could climb around, we learned about DNA, they had an experiment you ate Warheads and took a picture of the look on your face. October 15-31 We have had an exciting few weeks since I last posted to you. Right before Halloween, my mom took me, Maddie, and our friend DJ on a day trip to Yosemite Park. The park was GREAT!! We went hiking, looked at fish, had a picnic, and climbed on rocks. It was fun to be in the mountains again. On Halloween we went to houses and the mall. I went as a brown furry monkey. It was FUN because we got to go trick or treating in a new place. We got so much candy that we had to split it up into 9 smaller bags to have one each week. I got a new tackle box from my good buddy "Captain Jerry" who lives on a houseboat at the marina we are staying. We also got a great dictionary from "Grandpa Pete". October 1-12 Hi again this is Collin, Later in the week, we went to the Children’s museum. I got to dress up like a fireman, drive the big truck, and press the buttons for the sirens and lights to flash. I dressed up in policeman clothes and drove a motorcycle. The museum had a grocery store where I bought fake meat, milk, and fruit from my sister. It also has a play McDonalds where my mom ordered lunch from me. She ordered a Big Mac crabby patty and I made her a triple crabby patty and fries. It was fun to play in a make believe town. -Collin September 14-20 Hey again, |
