Hello Again!

hiit has been, what, like 3 years? I just wanted to tell you curious minds, that, yes, I’M STILL AlLIVE

A Long Way Home

We got up at the hotel. We tried to reheat the domino’s pizza but the microwave didn’t work. It only heated the bottom. We went down to the continental breakfast but they didn’t have much. There were two kinds of loops: Fruit Loops and Honey Nut Cheerios. The stuff we put in the freezer didn’t freeze. I don’t like that motel. I hope I don’t have to stay in a motel again.

We decided to go back to Zion. First we drove to the visitor center and got my stamp for my passport. I also got chippy my chipmunk. He is a puppet. And he is wild. We saw lizards outside of the visitor center. They were small and had yellow stripes on their backs.

Then we went on the bus and drove all the way to the last bus stop. We had to ride the bus because they don’t let cars drive up there. Then we went on a path and saw weeping rocks. There was water seeping out of the rocks. The bus driver said the water was thousands of years old. We also saw sand. It was red. I stuck my foot in the river. If we kept hiking the path disappears and we would have had to hike in the river. We only went half way down the path and then we turned around. There is was a snake in the path. We also saw a deer and a squirrel.

Then we went back and took the bus to the Zion lodge. We had lunch. My lunch was quesadilla with sour cream and salsa and apple sauce.

Then we went on the bus again and went back to the car. We decided not to go the Grand Canyon because it was out of the way and I wanted to go home. So we got back in the car and drove home. We had to drive through the desert. It was really hot and only had tumble weed and small cactus. It was 117 degrees. One stop we got out to get drinks and it was hot holy moley. And there was a roof over a patio and it had mist coming out of it. Auntie Erin and I stood under them.

We drove through Las Vegas. We saw some really weird buildings. There was a castle, a black pyramid and a shiny gold building.

We got home. I was so excited to see my mom. I gave her a huge hug. I gave Eamon a hug. I like the new house. My favorite part is the pool. It has a fountain and at night it has a light that makes the pool change colors.

Home sweet home.

-Eden

Day Seven, In the Red Lands

When we woke up really early. We got dressed and went down to the main office to get breakfast. There wasn’t much to eat except cereal. I took some cereal and a spoon. We drove to a store and bought some milk. When I finish with my cereal, daddy poured granola into the bowl for himself.

We drove a short while up to arches. And then we did a hike up to Land Scape Arch. The name of the trail was Devil’s Garden. It was very beautiful. I made sandcastles but daddy squished one with his big foot by accident. The sand wasn’t rough like beach sand. It was very soft and very red. We saw lizards. The arch was big. A piece of it broke off in 1991. Thats why we couldn’t go under the arch.

On the way back I counted 108 stairs. The trees were cool because their trunks were all twisted and cool. It was a breezy warm day and the sun was just coming up. During the day it was supposed to be 110 degrees. I would not like to be there in the middle of the day.

Then we went in the car for a short drive and we went to canyonlands. We didn’t stay very long. We took some pictures from the edge and we got a stamp for my national park passport and then we went.

After canyonlands we went to Bryce Canyon. It was a long drive. We listened to Harry Potter. On the way to bryce we drove through Red Canyon. The road went through holes in the rocks.

Bryce was cool and I like all of the rocks sticking up. The colors were like stripes. Dark, light, dark. They were all shades of red. I didn’t like it when someone was being very dangerous. He went over the fence. He had this big camera. He was right on the edge. He ignored the signs. I was afraid he would fall off. Daddy said he wasn’t being very smart. I don’t think he fell off that I know of.

Then we got back in the car and went to Zion. To get across we had to go through a really long tunnel. It made me sleepy. We couldn’t stay very long because it was dark and we were all sleepy and hungy. So we went to this little town called Hurricane. We ordered pizza and then went to our inn. The pizza guy delivered our pizza and breadsticks and pizza right to our room.

My presents yesterday were elephant sewing kit and clothespin cuties.

-Eden

Too Sleepy

I’m too sleepy to write tonight. Will write tomorrow when I wake up.

Good Night.

-Eden

A Long Day of Driving

After we ate a breakfast of halah bread french toast (it was yummy) we said good bye to Leah and Hannah and got in the car and started to drive. I did my usual webkins and listen to harry potter. We finished the third book and started the fourth. Then we got into the mountains and I had to just look at the scenery. We made a few stops. One time I got a huge pickle. It was good but it was sour too.

Another time we stopped by the Colorado River. I put my foot in. It wasn’t too cold but it was really muddy. In the mountains we saw ski lifts. That means there are ski places in the winter. I thought all the mountains we pretty because of their trees and bushes. And some were pretty because they were made of rock. And some looked like they were made of sand. We went up to 11,000 feet. It was so pretty with all the beautiful colored rock. We went through alot of tunnels. Some times the road went around the mountains and sometimes it went right under them.

After the mountains the land started to get very flat. It looked flat like a prairie but the plants were different. I didn’t want to get out of the car because it looked very hot. The sunset made the clouds look very pretty. I could see birds and dragons in the clouds. But Daddy couldn’t see them.

Then it got dark. We got off of the highway and went on this narrow bumpy rocky road. We passed an empty town. All of the buildings were smashed. The road was very twisty. We saw the Colorado river again. It was still muddy. We kept driving for an hour and then we came to an inn. It had a water slide into its pool. We managed to get the last room no smoking room. The sign said no vacancy but we got a room because we reserved.

We’re in Moab, UT now. We drove through Nebraska, Colorado and Utah.

My morning present was what a girl loves puzzle book. The afternoon one was a mood bracelet kit.

-Eden

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A Day at the Zoo

We didn’t go to the kids museum like we planned. Instead we went to the zoo. After getting up and eating breakfast we got in the car and went to the Omaha Zoo with my cousins Leah and Hannah. When we first got to the zoo we went to the aquarium. First we saw the penguins. They were all different sizes.
Then we went through a tunnel that was made of glass. We saw sharks, turtles and sting-rays swimming right over us. Then there was a cylinder tank with fish going around and around in a school. Every once in a while a fish would go down and scratch themselves on the bottom and then they went back to the rest of the fish. We got to touch a tiny shark, horse shoe crabs and sea urchins at a touch tank.
Some of the fish were really weird but I liked all of them. Except for one fish that looked dead but wasn’t. There was a fish with really bright blue eyes. And one that looked like a dragon. Daddy tried to take a picture of it but it came out too blurry. Then we went to the gift shop and got a special surprise for Eamon and some more post cards.

Then we went to this ball that went spinning around and around because there was water underneath it. It had a map of the world on it. It weighed 18,000 pounds! It was about as tall as me.

After that we went to the kingdom of the night time. There were bats and crocodiles and beavers. And there was a special white alligator that wasn’t albino. There are only 13 of them in the world. It was really dark and spooky in there. Soon we got out and went to the jungle. Leah had to go take her nap so it was only me and Auntie Erin and Daddy and Hannah Rose. In the jungle there was alot of bamboo, monkies and fish. We saw some turtles and some orchids. And there were these neat fake vines that you could swing on. Next to the jungle path there was a pool and you could put your hands in. I caught a fish in my hand.

After the jungle we had lunch. We had grilled cheese. It took forever to get our lunch because the line was really long. We couldn’t get tops or straws for our cups because they are afraid you might feed them to the animals. I don’t think the animals would be that dumb not to realize that it wasn’t food.

After that we went on a real steam train. It took us around the zoo. We saw lots of animals. The conductor told us stuff about what we were looking. But he was at the end of the train and we were sitting in the first row so we had already past the stuff he was talking about. He told us about how the spider monkeys had bones as dense as rocks. Thats why they are afraid to escape their island. One island had a rope bridge to another island. We saw a monkey go across. Near it was a bridge for people. Underneath it were thousands of koi. Big and small. After we got off of the train we went and fed them. They were crazy. When one koi ate something all the other ones near him tried to topple on top of him to get the food. After the koi we went to a garden where they had birds that were roaming free. They were parrots. There was one sitting on a bench and someone was trying to make it talk. The rest of the birds were staying on their perches. I don’t know why they stayed there. I would roam around the garden.

Then we went back to the main entrance and then we went home. We had khala bread. It was like what we had at the JCC but longer and more complicated. After dinner we went out and rode on a carousel. It was inside a store! We also got some new sandals for daddy because his feet were hot. Of course they were Keens. I tried on some high heels. Some of them fit me. Daddy didn’t let me get them. I tried on some other shoes like Croc’s but daddy didn’t let me get them either. Then we got ice cream. Mine was lemon and orange sherbert with gumballs. While we were eating our ice cream we went over to a fountain. On top was a bubble machine. Then we went home and Hannah and I took a bath together. We made the water yellow because we put a yellow tablet in. Then we got on our pjs and played a little before bed.

I had a fun day.
My morning gift was necklace making thing and the afternoon one was a candy charm bracelet that said I Love You. Momma, I like all the presents you’ve been giving me. I haven’t done all of them yet but I think they are all really cool.

-Eden

Fourth Day Vanished

I woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel. Auntie Erin was surprised they didn’t have orange juice. But then she found it. I had raisin bran, yogurt and tosted bagel with butter. Then we drove to the Laura Ingalls Wilder house. It was the last house she ever moved into. It was called Rocky Ridge Farm. She lived most of her days there with Almonzo. We got a tour of the house and guess what? It took 18 years to complete the house. The electricity things (sockets) where all on the floor because it wasn’t till later that Rose showed them electricity. There was a really skinny stair case to go upstairs. We didn’t get to go upstairs. I don’t know why. They had a chain across the stairs. I don’t think they had them there when Laura lived there. They made her house into a museum right after she died.

Rose Wilder (Laura’s Daughter) was a world traveler. She bought her parents a car and built them a house (the stone house). I don’t know if I would do that but I’m not too sure yet.

On the outside of the chimney there were fossils that Laura found. Almonzo wanted to build it out of brick because the stones were so heavy. But Laura cried so he built it out of her stones. They wouldn’t let us take pictures inside the house. We didn’t go to the stone house that Rose built because we ran out of time. Or atleast that’s what daddy said. Then we went to the gift shop and got postcards.

Then we went on the road. I played webkins and we ate snacks. We made a few pit stops. Then we got to Hannah Rose’s house. She is my second cousin. It was so hot when we got out of the car. (100F) Luckily they have air conditioning. I played with her a little while and then had dinner.

Happy Birthday Eamon

Good Night

- Eden

PS: my morning present was a giraffe stuffed animal kit and the afternoon one was a puzzle book.

Third Day Gone

When I woke up, I noticed panny fell off the bed. Uncle Doug was awake too. Then everyone else woke up. We had watermelon and toast for breakfast. Then we got packed up to leave. Then we went to the co-op. Auntie Erin got a wooden nickel for using her own bag. Then I got to choose a place to give the nickel to. I gave my nickel to the wild life preserve.

I played webkins some but it crashed and I couldn’t play it anymore. Then I made a daisy chain. And some animals. But the glue wouldn’t stick. And then I broke a tube of glue by biting it. I didn’t quite make all of the animals right. And then they fell apart. We listened to Harry Potter. We finished the second part. My favorite part was when Lockheart lost his memory and says “this is an odd place, do you live here?” and when ginny said to fred and george “you wouldn’t tease him about it would you” and they said “we wouldn’t dream of it”.

We saw the Arch today. When we ate lunch we sat on the grass and the ducks surrounded us. Then I scared them off. We went under the arch and got some stuff from our friends and family at the gift shop. I also got a stamp in my National Park passport. We didn’t go up the arch tho because it was too long to wait. But we took some pictures. Aunt Kiva said that the power went out in the arch last week. People got stuck half way up. I stuck my foot in the mississippi river. And there was a helicopter that landed on a barge in the river. There were huge chains keeping the barge attached to land.

When we finally got in the car we went to Laura Ingles Wilder’s house. It was 13 minutes to closing so we couldn’t go in. Laura Ingall’s house was so big and it was amazing to think that amonzo had built it. And the chimney had fossils in it. And did you know that Laura Ingall’s wrote her books after her daughter started writing? I thought her daughter got the idea to write from her mom but it was the other way around. I think that is so cool.

The person at the museum said that there was a little house Inn but we looked at it and it didn’t have a pool. So we went to another hotel. All of the rooms were full except a smoke room. It was a room that people had smoked in so it smelled bad. But we turned on the ac and we got used to it. After we got ourselves settled we went to the olive garden to eat dinner. I had bread rolls with pasta. I liked olive garden because the bread was so warm that my teeth felt like they were at a party. Then we went back to the hotel. We wanted to go in the pool but auntie erin didn’t want to go because she said she was so full that she would sink to the bottom. So me and daddy went. We played with diving toys and swam around. When we got back I changed into PJs and started to write in my journal.

My morning present was a daisy thing that you could make a daisy chain. The afternoon present was a dino dodge-em game.

Second Day Done

When we woke up and got dressed we went to Lynn’s Paradise Cafe. First I sat in a hand chair. Then I tried on lots of funny glasses in the shop (tm: the cafe had a funky gift shop) And then we got a table with a real model train going around under glass. There was also “Fork Forest”, “Orange Falls”, and “Mashed Potato Mountain.” They also had a jar of horses on the table and I made a herd with them. 28 horses. The cafe had lots of weird stuff in it. There were legs coming out of the wall. They were wearing funny pants. There was a picture made out of bottle caps. There were trees. There was a toy dinosaur in the tree. I think one of the trees was a grape tree but I’m not too sure. It had grape shaped lights in it. After breakfast we went outside and we took pictures with the stuff they had out side. There was an elvis bear, an yellow elephant, a blue cow. A fork and a spoon thing you could put your heads in for a picture. They also had carrot bike racks but we didn’t get a picture of those. They also had a teapot that was pouring water into a tea cup. The cup was full of foam. There were tiny pink specs in the foam but you can’t see those in the picture.

After breakfast we said good bye to Evan and drove off. I played a little more W-E-B-K-I-N-Z. Finally we got to uncle dougs house. First we had lunch (I had a peanut butter and honey sandwich) After lunch we tried to go swimming but the beach was close. We went paddle boating instead. There was a 4 seat paddle boat. Auntie Erin and Daddy sat in front and did all the work while Uncle Doug and I sat in the back. I got some nuts from when we went close to shore. We saw a blue heron on the lake.

We went back to Uncle Dougs house and hung around for a while. Then we went swimming at a really big pool. It went to 16 feet deep. And it had a diving board as high as our house. And it had smaller type diving boards too. After swimming we went back to Uncle Dougs house and had dinner. We had CORN! and tofu and cous cous. After that me, Uncle Doug and Auntie Erin played a game of flinch. Uncle Doug won. Then we got ready for bed.

Today we were in the states: Kentucky, Indiana and Illonois.

PS: My morning gift was a brain waves puzzle books and my pm gift was whistle pops. Daddy hasn’t had one since he was in high school with Mom.

I want to go to bed. Good night.

14 Hour Drive to Uncle Evbo’s

I was asleep in my old bed, in Auntie Erin’s, our old house. At 6 oclock we all woke up. And then we got ready to get in the car. My Mom packed two presents for each day. I opened the am present when I got in the car. The present was three finger puppets: an owl, a fox and a deer. I didn’t play with them right away because I had to make them. I still haven’t made them yet. I think I’ll make them tomorrow.

And then Daddy set me up with webkins. I played for a long time. Almost the whole trip. When I got bored me and Auntie Erin did a word search. We also listened to the whole first Harry Potter. And part of the second.   For lunch we went to Dibella’s Subs. We each got yummy subs. The booth we were in had a window and we saw a fountain. It had blue water. Blue!

We drove for 14 hours. We drove through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. My favorite state is still New York. Dad liked the water tower that said “Florence Y’all” in Kentucky. Finally we got to uncle evbo’s house at 9 o’clock. Then I opened mommy’s second present. It was a cat and mouse game. Me and auntie Erin played a couple rounds with each other.