Hi, everyone! Last week we took three days off school to go to Bangkok. We said good-bye to some friends who were going to Wales for a year, and hello to friends who just came back from meetings in Bangkok. The other special thing was getting in-line skates or roller blades (whichever you like to call them) from our Uncle Ted! Since we used to skate in Canada (notice, people there don't say "ice skate" or "ice hockey"!) it didn't take long to get skating on a parking lot!

Today, for our journals we described characters in books that we're reading.

Nate wrote about "Master Christopher" from the book, "The Skippack School"

It seems that Master Christopher is gentle but he will discipline kids if he needs to. But he hardly ever canes kids. But he'll give gifts if the kids do a good job at school. I would like to be one of his students because he is so gentle.

Pete wrote about "Big Bob," who is a cop bug and catches thug bugs:

Big Bob is a clever policeman. He is good at acting and he is good at making plans and he is good at nabbing bad bugs. I'm glad that Big Bob is alive.

Now, don't you wish you could read about these characters?

On Sunday we had a soccer game against a church team in Phra Phutthabaht. We had a great time, coming home not sure who had won the game (4-3 for who?) but knowing we had won competitions for juggling a soccer ball and penalty kicks. Mom and Dad are ready to give the team a rest, but none of the kids are... so we're praying about help to continue.

Nate and Pete decided this week's journal entry should be kept confidential, as it was about how we feel when we've done something wrong, and what we do about it. But later this week we picked some sentences to put into people's mouths as conversation and then explain what was going on. These are more fun:

from Nate:

"I can't believe you would do that!" said Mom.
"But it's so much fun!" I said, as I was handling the soccer ball.

from Pete:

"Can you help me?" Brer Rabbit said.
"That's so funny! I can't stop laughing," said Brer Wolf as Brer Rabbit got thrown in the brier patch.

This week the boys wrote what it might be like if they came to America around 1700. Here's what they wrote:, not as politically sensitive as I've taught them to be since a lot of the American curriculum we're using still says "Indians."

Pete wrote:
The Ship Going to America

One day I sailed to America and Indians did not like us and we had to fight the Indians.

Nate said he isn't finished yet, and I hope he finishes this good beginning:

About America

I'm in England and my name is Nate and my whole family wants to go to America in New York and we are on the ship to go to America and finally we reached America then we got shipwrecked on an island very close to land then we went on a rowboat to land. Then we saw Indians then the men picked up their guns then the Indians ran away then we went to cut trees to build homes.

Today our journal entry was really hard. Have you ever tried to tell about "the funniest thing that ever happened to me?" It's hard to think of one thing, and also hard to describe it in the clearest way so it's funny to others. Tim and I took time to sort out our own answers before asking Nate and Pete to think of answers. We told them about our own funny experiences and also funny experiences we'd had with them. These are the boys' answers about events that happened very early in our lives together:

Pete said,
The funniest thing that ever happened to me was when I played This Little Piggy to my Dad when he was sleeping. Good-bye, see you.

The other answer was,
Hi, I am Nate. I am going to tell you a funny story. One time I asked my Mom to help me with every single thing but I fooled my Mom and Dad by climbing everything that was made to be climbed. I sat there like, "I fooled you guys!"

I think they did a good job of giving enough details that you can picture us all in their funny experiences, right? We've sure had some good laughs over this journal entry!

This Friday we wrote summaries (like book reports) of "Secret of the Andes," which we've just finished reading as part of understanding the first peoples of the Americas.

Nate wrote:

When Cusi was a little baby, he was left in the mountains.
The Old Man, Chuto, looked after llamas and Cusi in the mountains. Cusi always wondered about his family.
As Cusi grew up, they had two visitors, one was a pan pipe player and a teacher. When Cusi left the mountains he was surprised that the outside world had so much families.
At the end of the story, Cusi realizes that he is royal and that his real home is Hidden Valley.

Pete wrote:

When Cusi was a little baby, he was left in the mountains.
The Old Man, Chuto, looked after llamas in Hidden Valley. Cusi always wondered about his family.
As Cusi grew up, they had two visitors, the Amauta and the minstrel. When Cusi left the mountains, he was surprised that so much children.
At the end of the story, Cusi realizes that he is a son of the High Inca and that his real home is with Chuto. Chuto realizes that Cusi is big.