In Her Own Words

On October 24th, Abby's 3rd grade class took a field trip to the Camden Aquarium. Below is her account of the trip. Word for word.

I have a feeling that you're going to like this story. It's about our field trip to an aquarium. First I'll say that it was raining. The bus ride was very fun! (Even when it took 1 hour) Kylie and Ashley were in my group. We took pictures of each other. Next I'll tell you about the aquarium. There is a tunnel with glass all around. All I saw were sharks swimming around me. That was probably my favorite place. Next I think we went to the gift shop. I got a gorgeous bracelet. Me, Kylie, and Ashley got dressed up in pirate costumes. It was funny to see all of us like that! We went to this place with just holes with fish and other creatures. There were jelly fish and they looked like they were glowing. And I saw a tank with these weird looking things. Over there, there were even ducks. When we had only a couple of minutes left, we went to the gift shop again. I got a necklace that said my name. Abby. Oh, and I forgot to tell you about the petting tanks! I was anxious for the time to come to pet fish! One petting tank had jellyfish in it. I did not want to touch them at all. Next, here comes the lobster. First I said, "No! I am not touching this!" And then my mom said, "Its claws aren't able to nip you." So then I finally touched it. I said, "Now that I touched this, I can touch anything." The shrimp are coming right up! They would not, and I mean would not let you touch them! They would go from one place to another! It was like they were magic! There was a giant tank with sharks. They were gooey on their sides and rough on the top. Kylie, I think was so scared, that she splashed me! Now I can tell you about coming home! We found Mrs. Gorgoni on our way to the buses. So we said, "Hey, Mrs. Gorgoni, come over here. We want to get your picture with us!" We did it. So you've got to say that was fun! Hope you liked my story! The End.

Iron Hill Field Trip

This past Monday, I played hookie from work for the morning and joined Amanda on her first 1st Grade field trip. Destination: Iron Hill Museum.

Partnered up with friends Juliana, Jackie, and Rebbecca, we got an education on the original inhabitants of our region: The Lenape Indians (pronounced len-o-pee).

We learned about their homes (wigwams and long houses), about their clothes (animal skins...which the girls all found gross), about the way they hunted (no bows and arrows yet; just spears thrown with a device called an atlatl) and we saw some of the holes that they had dug looking for Jasper stones.

Rounding the morning out, I stayed with the class for lunch which I think greatly amused all of the kids...as well as some of the teachers.

A Little Friendly Competition

At the close of each soccer season, the league we participate in holds a 3-on-3 Competition for those who wish to participate. We've never taken part, but this year, a few kids from Alex's team specifically asked if he would join them in the team they were assembling. Alex rose to the challenge and accepted. Game day was this past Saturday.

The morning kicked off with a 3-game Round Robin competition where each team faced off in 3 10-minutes games to determine the seeding for the competition. The first game was against some familiar faces from the GRPC league. Despite the imposing appearance of their pro-looking uniforms, our team, the All Stars pulled off a shut out. The following 2 games didn't go so well with our guys losing both.

Despite the setback, the All Stars were still in it for the actual competition. These are longer games with two 8-minute halves. The first game caught everyone off-guard when the opposing team never showed; apparently something was lost in translation and they left after the first round. So our guys walked away with a bi and got some much needed rest. The second and final game found the All Stars pitted against a comp team from MOT.

Now, keep in mind that, Alex's team was made up of a 5 kids who have only ever played in a non-comp league. And at least one had only played 1 year. Some of the teams that signed up, liked the team from MOT, were local comp teams who have been practicing and playing together for some time.

The All Stars were able to score 2 very impressive goals against the MOT team and held off some fierce charges on their goal. Despite this, they lost 4-2. But watching these kids grow as a team in such a short span of time was amazing.

The morning ended with the All Stars placing 6th overall. Congratulations Team.

One of Those Weeks

Ever have one of those weeks? You know the ones...

Ours began last week; indirectly. Grammy informed us that Hammy, her hamster had passed away suddenly. Hammy was originally intended to be a gift for Alex. Before giving her to Alex, we discovered her to by nippy. She was replaced with Squeaky and Grammy kept Hammy for herself. She was approximately 2 years old.

On Friday, things began to hit home for us. Mommy discovered that Sadie has round worms. This discovery was quickly followed on Saturday with the discovery that she also has flees.

Saturday evening, we suffered our second loss: Annie was a cat that Mommy had given to me for our first wedding anniversary (Get it? Annie? Anniversary?). About the time we moved into our current home, Mommy's allergies worsened and we were forced to have Annie live with Grammy and Granddad. In any event, Annie had become very sick over the past couple of days. Grammy took her to the vet on Saturday evening and the determination was quickly made that there was nothing that could be done for her. The difficult decision was made to have her put to sleep.

Continuing the trend: Over the course of the last couple of weeks, Squeaky, Alex's hamster has been slowing down. Last night, we discovered that she, too, had passed.

And finally, capping things off; this evening, Julie became very dizzy and sick to her stomach.

Its gonna get better soon. Right?