Obstacle

Courses
This week our highlight is obstacle courses!

We raced each other lots of times! Evelyn and Andrew raced each other so we had to help them. Mom and Dad raced each other too. We did some kids vs. parents races too. We all got a turn with everybody. We had a fun time.

We made an obstacle course with things around our backyard. To do the course, you swivel around three cones, pick up a tennis racket and a ball and balance the ball on the tennis racket until you get to the Frisbee. On the Frisbee there was a football. You pick up the football and try to throw it and hit the base. If you did not hit the base you had to try again. If you got it on the base you run and jump over the baseball bat and touch the chair. If you touch the chair first, you win!

Blueberry Picking
We went to Butlers Orchard to go blueberry picking a while ago. There were lots of ripe, fresh blueberries for us to pick! Of course Andrew ate ALL the ones he picked! We picked lots and Mom made a blueberry pie with them for us!

VBS

July 15, 2011

This week we went to VBS (Vacation Bible School). Mom was a crew leader, Emma was a preschool helper, and Joel and Evelyn were kids attending it. We learned that God is wild about you! He made you, listens to you, watches over you, loves you no matter what, and gives good gifts. We went all week and there were crafts, snacks, stories, games, and lots of fun singing! The theme this year was PandaMania. The animals that helped us remember our verses were Fez the pheasant, Page 1 of 3

Amanda the red panda, Boomer the giant panda, Pogo the snow leopard, and Lulu the monkey. We had a fun week!

Other Happenings
Emma and Joel went to a pep rally for swim team. It was a fruit and dessert pep rally! It had lots of dessert and fruit for us to eat! There was jell-o, cake, brownies, donuts, and more! We did cheers and swam too. It was fun to spend time with friends!

What Were Reading

Joel

Summer of the Sea Serpent by Mary Pope Osborne This Magic Tree House book was about Jack and Annie whisking back to a time before Camelot. When they were walking out in the water, they saw a tornado of water coming toward them. When it got closer, it turned into a water knight. The water knight took Jack and Annie to the cave of the Spider Queen. The Spider Queen was glaring down at them with her eight glowing red eyes. She shot webs to make a ladder. Jack and Annie climbed the web, got out of the Spider Queens cave, and walked around. They saw Teddy, who introduced them to Kathleen who was a selkie. Selkies can turn into seals. They all swam into the cove of the jellyfish until they saw an island. Just when they got to the island, the cloak of the old gray ghost appeared right on top of them. (Dont be scaredits just a fog!) July 15, 2011

They saw that the mountains were not mountains, they were actually part of a sea serpents body. The sea serpent wrapped its tail around the island. Luckily, Jack and Annie had the sword of light. They scared the sea serpent away by answering a special question. The question was about what was the purpose of that special sword. They answered right that it was not for defeat but for love. And then Merlin showed up behind them, whisked them to the tree house, and led them back home. This book was fun to read because it had a bunch of different odd situations. I like odd situations in books. I also liked when they half-defeated and half-scared away the sea serpent. I like Magic Tree House books because they have different cool adventures. All of the stories are about Jack and Annies mystery adventures. My favorite character is Jack because he always comes up with good ideas.

Emma

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling This book is about a boy named Harry Potter who is a wizard and goes to a school called Hogwarts. He has two good friends named Ron and Hermione. Things are very suspicious. Their enemy, Draco Malfoy is acting oddly and Lord Voldemort is hunting for people. Another funny thing is that Snape, former potions master, now has defense against the dark arts and Slughorn has the potions job. Harry didnt know he would be taking potions so he did not have the right books. So Slughorn lent him one. Someone had put in different notes than the book told them to Page 2 of 3

do. He called himself The Half-Blood Prince. Harry won a bottle of luck potion for doing so well in class. He had also become quidditch captain and there was a game coming up his team did great and they won! Then they went to hogsmeade but Katie Bell got cursed by a necklace! Harry started to have private lessons with Dumbledore. He learned about Voldemorts past to help him survive. One day, Ron swallowed a love potion and Harry had to take him to Slughorn. When they got there, Ron got poisoned! Harry saved him. They started Apparation lessons and it was hard! Then, one day Harry was playing quidditch and fell and cracked his skull! Harry thought Malfoy was getting more suspicious and he sent two house elves to follow him. Then, Harry fell in love with Ginny. Harry went to lessons one day and Dumbledore told him he thought he knew where a Horcruxe might be! A Horcruxe is a part of someones soul that they split in half by killing someone. Voldemort made seven! Harry and Dumbledore went to find the Horcruxe. They sailed across a weird sea in a weird boat to a weird island. There was a potion there that you had to drink. Dumbledore drank it and didnt like it, but he had to keep drinking. He was very weak but they managed to get back somehow. When they got back there were death eaters at the school! Some came out and Snape came out too. He killed Dumbledore! Harry started fighting people and followed Snape and Malfoy out the door. Snape told him he was the half blood prince and disappeared. Harry was sad that Dumbledore died so at his funeral he cried. July 15, 2011

There are more parts to this book that you will have to read yourself. Voldemort is my least favorite character and Harry is my favorite. I like this book because it has lots of action and humor. I encourage you to read this book if you are O.K. with a little horror.

Evelyn

No Jumping on the Bed by Tedd Arnold In this book, Walters dad says No jumping on the bed. But at night, Walter jumped on his bed anyway and crashed through the floor. Miss Hatties dining room was down below, and Walter crashed into her. She wasnt expecting company. They crashed through the floor again and kept crashing down and crashing down and crashing down. At the very bottom, Walter was back in his room. He realized that it was a dream and that no one had really crashed through the floor. I like this book because its funny. Everything was funny. My favorite part was when Walter crashed into the stamp collection. That was silly because he got all sticky and stamps were all over him.

Family Survey
What is your favorite dessert food? Dad Chocolate Mom Klines ice cream Emma Ice cream cake Joel Cupcakes Evelyn Crazy Vanilla flavor ice cream Andrew Cupcakes Page 3 of 3