laurie – Page 5 – Emmerson's Journey

Clear Kayak Trip with CMERA

We had a clear kayak trip with our 4-H club today. We always have a marine focus even though we are not a marine club right now. We hope that someday the marine contest comes back and that we can get a SPIN club set up again.

We were pared off by weight and age for the trip. Ms. Tina bravely tolerated by silliness, splashing and almost littering. Logan road with his grandma. We paddled and learned from a biologist along our way. We learned the history of the river, about lots of other life, but mainly about manatees. We saw so many in the river today. the water was really clear and warm for the manatees. There were lots of mama and calf pairs in the springs too!

A Week without Dad and Breighton

Dad and B are off to the entomology conference in St. Louis and Mom and I had a packed week of fun. We started with paint your own pottery and remaking a bowl like the one I accidentally broke. It is my hamsters food bowl.

That evening we zipped over to Disney Springs to go make me a scarf at the art store. I have always wanted to try this but we never really had the time when we were there. We enjoyed a leisurely walk around Disney Springs. At the art store I made 3 Christmas ornaments and 1 scarf. It ws such a fun process. They use a technique called Suminagashi which means paint floating. It was really neat to see the entire process unfold.

We went to Grandma’s house the next day and made an apple pie. I have been craving apple pie lately and she knows how to make the best pies!

Up next was a fun evening at Busch Gardens Christmas Town with Logan and friends. We had a great time watching the ice skating show, seeing animals and making memories.

We had archery club too and I had to finish brushing my hair at the range because I didnt get it done in time to leave. Mom helped finish it up but it was mostly dry so was all tangled. I can’t believe my hair is this long! I still haven’t cut it!

We went bowling with Grandma and went and visited the new At Home store. Mom was being silly. They have far too many pillows but otherwise some cool stuff.

The day the family came home I spent at Muddy Potter working on my bee bowl for the 4-H Insectathon. I hope to win first prize this year. I always try to outdo my art from the year before.

B and Dad brought me home a huge tarantula from the conference! I am so happy!

4-H Entomology club – Galls

A few weeks ago Mom, Grandma Susie and I all went to a talk at Brooker Creek on galls. Mom asked the speaker, Christine Leonard, if she would come speak to our group. She accepted and we had a wonderful time learning all about galls from her. We knew what galls were but I had no idea that there were so many! It was awesome to go looking for them and find various galls around the trails. I can’t wait to go do this again in the spring and see if we can find even more!

Farm City Day and Tarantulas!

Today was Farm City Day at Heritage Village. Every year 4-H comes out and helps run the event with carnival type games for the kids. B helped Mom make some games for our club this year. He is a good club helper. We both ran the table and helped wherever else we were needed. B helped the Farm Bureau and the event coordinator set up tables, chairs and anything else that needed done. He hauled pies and didn’t eat any!

We had a fun time playing the games and teaching kids how to play. My favorite part, however, was break time with homemade shakes bag ice cream. It was a wee bit salty!

When the reinforcement shift arrived we packed up and headed to Tampa for Replicon. I have been dying to get a new tarantula. I finally found one that I loved. He is super friendly and loves to be held! Right now it is very small but will grow to about 5 inches.

Mid-November Blues

I suffer from an inability to get my schoolwork done at home somedays. Mom knows when these days roll around and wisely changes the scene of school. This week we enjoyed some time in the library on the SPC campus. I had a lot of vocabulary to finish up before the holiday break. For some reason this was always my last subject each week and I fell a little behind. I caught back up in one week of really hard work.

Dad finally came home from Washington State after a long business trip. We went to the airport to fetch him and enjoyed some wandering around and shuttle riding before he got in to the terminal. I was amazed how fast and smooth the new tram is at the long term parking area.