Alex and Leperdy

Los Angeles, California

2009-11-14T22:40:00.001-05:00

Today , I went to Phillippe's, a sandwich place in Los Angeles. It was good.

I also went to the La Brea Tar Pits.

I saw some ice age mammals: saber toothed tigers and a mammoth that fell and got stuck in the tar!

Mission San Juan Capistrano

2009-11-14T21:29:00.001-05:00

July 6, 2009

Today, I went with Di and Mom to Mission San Juan Capistrano. I prayed and lit a candle.

Glacier National Park

2009-10-15T15:59:00.001-04:00

Last summer, I saw the glaciers at Glacier National Park, but scientists predict that they will be melted by 2030.

8/13/09

Today, we got to Glacier National Park. It is beautiful. On the first day, we went on a very pretty walk in the rainforest on the Trail of the Cedars.

On the next day, we went on the Mary Falls Trail. On the way, we picked raspberries! Driving home, we saw a Bighorn Sheep by the side of the road.

The next day, I went on a death march at Logan's Pass! I saw a ground squirrel, 2 marmots, and a mommy and baby mountain goats. The view was pretty (top photo.)

8/17/09

Today we went to the west side of the park. When we got there, we went on a boat trip to an island. There, we went on a hike through raspberries.

Then we went on another boat to the other side where we took a 2 mile hike. If you want any details, read Kayla's blog.

This post is for the 2009 Blog Action Day on Climate Change.

Blog Action Day:

Help Save The Penguins (2007)
Pictures On Poverty (2008)

Technorati Tags: glacier national park,climate change,family

Review of Bearstone

2009-09-14T19:12:00.001-04:00

I listened to a book called Bearstone by Will Hobbs. It was OK, I guess....

It's about a boy who stays with an old man and finds a carved stone in the shape of a bear in a Native American cliff tomb! I think the main intent is that revenge is bad. I think that because when he cut down the old man's plum trees, he got to go home. Plus, he said so.

I don't really recommend this book. It put me to sleep.

Bearstone (9780689870712): Will Hobbs: Books

ISBN: 068987071X
ISBN-13: 9780689870712

The Grand Canyon

2009-09-14T13:59:00.001-04:00

July 4, 2009

Today, I went to the Grand Canyon! At it, I survived a talk about the California Condor. I also saw the sunset there. It was pretty!

I also survived a trip to a Native American Fair...I made a pot!

July 5, 2009

Today, I went on a fossil walk. I saw a bunch of fossils. I saw a shell, coral, and a sponge! I also learned about the Grand Canyon and geology.

One Day In Arizona

2009-08-17T00:20:00.001-04:00

July 3, 2009

Today, I saw a Petrified Forest in Arizona. There were tons of mineral logs EVERYWHERE, and they looked like a rainbow! It was fun.

I also went to the Hubbell Trading Post. It was boring until, guess what, I saw Jack again! At the Trading Post, I got a Hopi Squash Kachina doll. He has a really weird head.

Later, I went to a Meteor Crater, and got a dinosaur egg that grows in water.

Canyon De Chelly, Arizona

2009-08-13T00:34:00.001-04:00

July 2, 2009

Today, I went on a jeep tour of Canyon De Chelly in Arizona.

I saw a pictograph of a horse.

It was so fun because I snuck my DS, and I also made a new friend. His name is Jack, and he has a big plush Pokemon collection too. When I get back from vacation, I want to get a Squirtle!

The jeep tour ended with a big splash of rain! I’m starting to see a pattern.

Four Corners

2009-08-10T12:04:00.001-04:00

July 1, 2009

I went to Four Corners and I stretched my arms and legs so that I was in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. It was so fun. I felt (See Native American Symbols)

Mesa Verde National Park

2009-08-02T22:06:00.001-04:00

June 30, 2009

Yesterday, I went to the Cliff Palace and Balcony House in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. They are the homes of the ancient Indian pueblo civilizations. The people who lived there must have been really athletic to get around their buildings because they had to climb cliff rocks and ladders to get to their farms from their homes.

At the end of the day, I saw the most beautiful sunset that I have ever seen.

Taos, New Mexico

2009-07-31T14:15:00.001-04:00

June 25, 2009

Today, I went white water rafting. It was OK. At the end, it rained! And it stung a lot! But, the river was sort of mellow.

June 26, 2009

Today, I went to a ski place, Taos Ski Valley. It was really scary looking down from the top from our chair lift.

June 27, 2009

Today, I went to a rodeo!!!! It was really fun!!!! There was a kid thing where you catch a calf, and I won! I had to pull a ribbon off a bull (calf), and the winners got a dollar. Later, I got a dinosaur egg with that dollar.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

2009-07-23T02:27:00.001-04:00

Today I went to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Georgia O’Keeffe was a good artist. She drew both abstract and realistic paintings. She liked to draw flowers like the Jimson Weed. She inspired many people to become artists. My favorite Georgia O’Keeffe painting was Mount Fuji.

A Visit To Colorado Springs

2009-07-18T14:00:00.001-04:00

In Colorado Springs, CO, we stayed in a cabin in the Garden of the Gods Campground. Garden of the Gods Park is a beautiful place with huge red rocks that were formed over millions of years by the earth’s tectonic plates colliding.

I went to Pike’s Peak, a mountain that settlers went to in search of gold in Colorado. I did not like it there at all, at 14,000 feet. My ears were all plugged up. It was really cold at the very tippy top. I threw snow balls at Kayla!

We went to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. It was a really, really big huge big huge big huge petrified forest. There were really huge redwood tree-mungous tree fossils.

Next door, there is a fossil quarry where I collected leaf and bug fossils. This was fun, and interesting, because you never know what you’re going to get when you crack open a piece of shale.

On another day, I went to a talk about buffaloes. Well, it was very sad. Do you know that people used to go on trains, and they would shoot buffalo through the windows for target practice, and they wouldn’t even collect any meat from them? And, when they did go to collect something from the buffalo, it was just the tongue for fancy restaurants? I think it’s horrible what people did to buffalo. At least now, buffaloes are being preserved.

I also went to a gold mine. The gold vein was a 1,000 feet deep in the ground. In the mine, I didn’t find gold but I found tons of copper, oxygenated copper. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty is made of oxygenated copper? The mining trip was awesome, and at the end I got my own piece of gold ore.

Colorado Springs was a very cool place to visit because there was lots of fun stuff to do!

Discovery Of A Lifetime At The Sternberg Museum

2009-07-04T03:08:00.001-04:00

I went to the Sternberg Museum in Hayes, Kansas. I saw the fish-within- a-fish. It’s really a fish, within a fish, within a fish. The fish-within-a-fish was really big. The biggest fish had big, sharp teeth and a top and bottom rib cage.

I like fossils so I thought it was really cool. They had a mini movie theater where they showed how they excavated the fish-within-a-fish. Later, that day, we went to Monument Rocks, Kansas where they excavated it.

Back at the Sternberg Museum, I had to run to avoid being eaten by the huge, life-like dinosaurs, especially the T-Rex in the walk-through diorama whose head turns and roars at you as you pass by.

In this picture, you can see me running from Stan, a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I think this is a funny picture. Stan sure is nomadic. He always moves from museum to museum.

This is a picture of a giant plastic fish. This fish appears to be carnivorous. I would most definitely not like to be in the water with one. I’m not certain what his name is though.

I highly recommend the Sternberg Museum because it has so many great dinosaur related things.

Review of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn

2009-06-27T13:18:00.001-04:00

I listened to Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, on audiobook. Part of it was really funny, and the rest I didn’t really get. Some of the time, I didn’t get what was going on.

Like, I didn’t really understand how Becky and Tom suddenly walked into the cave, and got lost.

In this book, Tom Sawyer, a young conman, who wishes to be a pirate or an outlaw robber when he grows up, searches for a treasure of great value (lots of money.)

I highly recommend this book to people who want a funny read.

I visited the Mark Twain Cave, the same one where Tom and Becky were lost. At the beginning, this cave has glimmering rocks, then later on, I found something that looked like a crystal. Later on, I found out that this was the purest form of limestone, but it was so pretty that I kept it.

We listened to another book by Mark Twain called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this book, a boy named Huck Finn must face his blood curdling drunk of a father, and the rest of the world. When I say the rest of the world, I mean a large portion of the world, the Mississippi River.

Huck Finn doesn’t have the best life, but he tries to help a Black slave named Jim from slavery. They must face the horrors of the Mississippi River such as the monstrous rapids, and the large rocks, and the big steamers.

At the end, the runaway slave, Jim, was attempted to be freed by Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. I can’t tell you everything, but I can say that the main idea of the story is that slavery is wrong, which I totally agree with.

If you want a good adventure raft story, this is the book to read.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Penguin Classics): Mark Twain, Guy Cardwell, John Seelye: Books

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Mark Twain: Books

Review of Wright 3

2009-06-24T23:44:00.001-04:00

In the book, The Wright 3 by Blue Balliet, three kids who call themselves the Wright 3, try to save Robie House (designed by the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright) from demolition.

I think the author tries to ask the question of whether the Robie House is a piece of art, or just a house. I believe that the Robie House is just a pretty house, not a work of art.

You want to know why I think that? It’s because there is one thing that defines a house. Is it a building that is lived in, or was lived in? Yes, Robie House was lived in, so it is a house, not a work of art.

I know it goes against the spirit of it all, but I’m a big picture kind of guy.

The story was a good mystery, but I didn’t completely enjoy it because it’s not my kind of book. It was a suspenseful mystery that left you wondering what would happen next. I recommend it for people who like a thrilling mystery.

An Architect’s Dream

Wright 3: Blue Balliett: Books

Review of Yolonda’s Genius

2009-06-24T02:52:00.001-04:00

Yolonda’s Genius, by Carol Fenner, is about a girl named Yolanda who has a brother who supposedly is a genius on the harmonica, but no one knows this except her. Yolanda must get her brother noticed by everyone else.

Throughout the book, Yolanda learns what it means to be a genius. It means to be smart, but also to be able to take old material and turn into something new. In a way, Yolanda is also a genius because of the way she encourages her brother to play the harmonica well again, and how she gets him noticed.

It wasn't my favorite book, but it might be good for anyone who likes realistic fiction.

Yolonda's Genius: Carol Fenner: Books

Review of the Dinosaur Resource Center

2009-06-23T12:42:00.001-04:00

I visited an amazing dinosaur museum that had a whole bunch of really cool dinosaurs. They had:

a T-Rex
a Pteradon
a Plesiasaur
and a whole lot more.

We had a really good tour guide, who is pretty much a real Paleontologist, named Stephen. He is in college, studying to be a paleontologist, and he works for the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center. He’s gone on 12 digs in only two years. That’s a lot!

Stephen encouraged me to be a paleontologist. He said it was really fun, and not to worry about making money. As long as you enjoy what you you’re doing, you can find a way to make enough money. He’s my role model!

In the gift shop, they had real ammonites, and casts of lots of other dinosaur bones. The Dinosaur Resource Center makes casts of dinosaur bones for museums around the world.

They even made made casts for the movie Sea Monters!

No museum in the world could top this one, they had everything, or a whole lot. If you’re in Colorado, that’s the place to go.

Have a funasouraus day!

Sickening Prairie Dog Town

2009-06-18T00:56:00.001-04:00

Today, we visited the Prairie Dog Town in Oakley, Kansas , or should I say, Animal Torture Ground. There were several animals, treated like slaves, or at least that’s the kind of leisurely home they got. You know how wolves need a lot of land to roam around in? Well, there were two wolves stuck in a cement grounded, hole in roof so that rain can get in, teeny cage.

In the gift shop, they even made fun of the animals. They cut a cow’s butt off and glued googly eyes to each cheek. And, they had rattlesnake heads displayed everywhere. The person running the place was no better. He was a freaky looking guy who acted as if the animals just meant money. He even gave us dog biscuits to feed the prairie dogs, and I do mean dog biscuits.

An Architect’s Dream

2009-06-13T22:55:00.001-04:00

I figured out what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be an architect. First of all, I want to be an architect because I really like to design buildings and build them on Roblox. Second of all, I want to be an architect because I have all these great ideas for new houses of the future. I even have a cool design for a really strong bridge. I had a really good idea for an eco-friendly city, but Kayla teased and criticized me about it. So, I gave that idea up, but I still want to be an architect.

We went to see the Robie House that was in Blue Balliett’s Wright 3. The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the same architect who designed the Guggenheim, the round building. I don’t usually enjoy visiting buildings, but this one had a very interesting design. It was interesting because it had all these art glass windows, and when you’re in the area that leads to the front door, it feels like you’re already inside. Plus, when you’re inside, it feels like you’re still outside. It’s an inside-out house.

Another thing we did today was we went to the Chicago Blues Festival. It wasn’t my ideal time for a Saturday. There are a few reasons why I didn’t really enjoy it that much. One was that it had just rained so everything was soaked. Although I guess I should be happy that it wasn’t still raining. Another reason was that all the singers were yelling, and it was so loud, I was afraid that I would lose my hearing before I even reached my 20s.

Wrap it all up, and it was just an ok Saturday.

The Beginning Of A Cross-Country Trip

2009-06-11T22:45:00.001-04:00

Today is the first day of a trip across the country named the United States of America. So far, on my trip, not much has happened yet. Supplies are running low, and I don’t know if I can survive the whole summer, although we are getting back in time for my birthday at the end of August.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’ll be sure not to tell you anything about that. And the day after that, we are going to be in Chicago, famous for all its famous things.

What I Do During Tests

2009-06-05T17:23:00.001-04:00

When I do math and stuff, I can't concentrate, so I doodle, next time I'll draw a poodle. I drew a flying crocodile, then I drew a person strapped to a rocket with a time bomb. That is why the person is unhappy.

Mom's Note - Alex sketched this while taking the CAT-E Test, a standardized test that can be used to satisfy New York's Homeschool Requirements. Do you think he was not too happy to take this test? I asked him that question, but Roblox beckoned. He didn't want to waste his precious screen time on silly questions.

Report on Viva Piñata Pocket Paradise DS

2009-06-04T15:12:00.001-04:00

Up there is an amazing video but it isn't for Gameboy DS. This amazing 3d game teaches how grass vs. water can can change so much. In the game, you grow your own garden plus you get to attract your very own piñata. I’m a level 4 gardener. Does any one know how to get a jack lantern or how to get bread because I’m stuck? Can you garden your way to the top? Good luck. I had to do a lot of research during school to maKe this post.

Review of A Writer's Notebook

2009-06-03T14:07:00.001-04:00

A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking The Writer Within You by Ralph Fletcher is an exquisite book that gives you ideas for and helps you understand the writer's notebook, a writer's best friend.

Right when you look at the cover, you know that it's going to be fun, with the literal pictures of a girl capturing the past and the picture of an arrow shooting a heart that says, "If you don't write your heart will burst."

In the book, the author tells you useful information like how to read back your notes, how to pick the right notebook, and how to pour your heart into your book. The seeds that you plant in your notebook, may grow to be a great forest of ideas.

For example, I was waiting for the UPS or Fedex guy to bring my Viva Piñata DS game. I waited such a long time, one day to be exact, so this is what came out of it into my writer's notebook:

I felt like a kernel of popcorn in the oven.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Then I saw the Fedex truck.

I felt like I was going to explode,

I jumped up and down, and I grabbed the package, tore it open.

But, it wasn't there.

I felt the shell come back on.

I felt like I fell when I almost made it to the top of a long climb.

I think maybe in the future, I'll look back on this in my writer's notebook, and think about how much of a big deal I made over a little game.

My mother read The Writer's Notebook to me as part of my homeschooling for writing. She would read a chapter, like the one called Seed Ideas, and then I would go and write something. She would seriously hope that I would write something inspired by the book, but I'd go on writing something completely different like Superclean Versus The Grungenator.

When we read the chapter called Memories, Mom made me go around the house and yard collecting artifacts to put in my writer's notebook. I ended up putting in some of Leperdy's shed skin but I wasn't too happy putting in a Spectrobes card. Now, when I look back on it, I really wish I had kept the card instead of sticking it in there for all that time. Someday, if I don't take it out before then, I might appreciate all this.

I recommend this book for people who are thinking about starting a writer's notebook or people who want to become better writers. I became a better writer in the two years that we've been reading this book. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You: Ralph Fletcher: Books

ISBN: 0380784300
ISBN-13: 9780380784301

Book Review of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

2009-06-02T13:47:00.001-04:00

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is a an outstanding book where a girl, named Dorothy, gets whisked away by a tornado to the Wonderful World of Oz.

In this story, Dorothy has to talk to a talking Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and a Tin Woodman. She must find the Wizard of Oz to send her back home, but when she gets to Oz, she finds that he is an imposter. After that, Dorothy goes to Glinda, the good witch, who gives her a pair of flying shoes which Dorothy uses to fly home.

If you think about it, isn't Dorothy like the Greek God, Hermes, the messenger of the gods? They both have flying shoes. Hermes took people to the land of the dead, and Dorothy leads the tin woodman, lion, and the scarecrow to the City of Emeralds to find Oz. Could the Tin Woodman be one of Hephaestus' automatons? Could the Cowardly Lion be like the Nemean Lion, a vicious monster? Ha, Ha. Was this book inspired by Greek Mythology?

(Answer the poll on the right sidebar, or post a comment to give me your opinion.)

The moral of the story seems to be that there is no place like home. I think that because even when Dorothy had a whole kingdom at her fingertips, she still missed home.

This book also has flabbergasting ***chuckles*** illustrations. They are inked drawings, with amazing effects. For example, in the illustration at the beginning of Chapter 4 - The Road through the Forest, you can almost see into the forest with the 3D effect.

I recommend this book to anybody who wants a fantasy adventure story. It's a thrill ride all the way through.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 100th Anniversary Edition (Books of Wonder): L. Frank Baum, W. W. Denslow: Books

Review of Leon And The Champion Chip

2009-06-01T16:24:00.001-04:00

Leon and the Champion Chip by Allen Kurzweil is an awesome book about a kid named Leon who made a spitting image of a bully. A spitting image is a doll look-like that looks like a person that you are trying to control. The spitting image allows you to control the person. Leon enters a chip identifying tournament to get the money for the last part of the spitting image, and that is how he ends up earning the greatest chip award, the champion chip.

Before he earned the potato chip award, Leon spent a whole year learning about potato chips in science class with his science teacher, Mr. Sparks.

The author's intent seems to be that you can find science anywhere, even in potatoes. The reason that I think that this is his intent, is that he said so in an interview with his son on a podcast posted on his website. I also think that because in the book, Leon's science teacher asks the students what their passions are. For every one of the kids' passions, he describes the science in it. Like lever work and center of gravity stuff in a wrestling move. That's basic simple machine stuff.

This is a really crunchy read, that makes you crave potato chips. It has really nice pencil sketched illustrations. This book also describes a whole bunch of science experiments, like the Extermitator, a high-powered blaster gun, and the potato clock. The potato clock uses spit for its power. Did you know that spit conducts energy? That's the kind of useful science knowledge that you'll learn from this book.

If you want to learn more facts about this book, and other fun things about the author, then click on this tasty link to the author's website.

Here is a photo from Allen Kurzweil's website:

Leon and the Champion Chip: Allen Kurzweil, Bret Bertholf: Books