Back in the USA

6 Dec - Another very, very long plane ride. I got to watch one movie, play on my dad’s computer a little, and then I was bored the rest of the way to the U.S. It was very boring, but I survived. When we walked out of the airport, we heard some cheering. When we got outside, we saw dozens of people holding up signs, cheering for the soldiers. I was a little embarrassed since I wasn’t a soldier, but I thought it was great that people would enjoy the night cheering for the soldiers coming back from Iraq instead of doing something else like work or video games. When I got home I set up the bedding and crashed for the night. The next day we got up at 6:00 because my body was used to Europe’s time zone. We got dressed, ate breakfast did some school, and by 1:00 we would take a day trip to our old house. I couldn’t wait!

France and Switzerland, Dec 1

The people who my mom used to work for in France were really nice. The father’s name is Pierre-Yves, the mother’s name is Marie-Luce, and they have four children (one boy and three daughters). I enjoyed hanging out with the boy. At age 13 he was tall enough to be 18! His name is Julien, and he knows a little English and is learning Spanish. Julien, Robby and I slept downstairs while everyone else slept upstairs. We stayed up awhile talking, and it was very interesting. The next day we got a tour from Pierre-Yves of where he works. He works at his winery. He told us how wine is made, where it is put in to ferment, and my parents even got to do a little wine tasting while we drank some of the juice right before it is fermented. We loved it and before we left we bought some wine and juice. The Perrachon Family was very, very hospitable to us and I’m glad we came and visited them.

Then we drove a while and came to a person’s house who is a great friend with both of my parents for a long time. Her name is Mrs. Lisa, and her husband’s name is Mr. Frits. They gave us our own apartment building with everything we need. Then we went to their house and had some magnificent pasta and then talked a while and got to know each other. After that we brushed our teeth and went to bed. The next day we got dressed, ate breakfast and went over to Mrs. Lisa’s and Mr. Frits’ house. They planned that we would go to another market before it closes. I got to go to the market in a Smart Car! Everyone else rode in the van. My Dad went shopping while I went and found a young swan that lost its mom. I hand fed it some chocolate and then when my Dad finished shopping we took a walk, ate some pizza, then went to a massive dam where you can go and bungee jump in the summer time. The very dam I’m talking about, actually, was where James Bond bungee jumped in the movie Golden Eye. We got back to the car, and this time I rode in the van and made it back to the house. When we got to the house, we watched a couple movies on their movie theater, ate some dinner, and then went to sleep. The next day I ate some breakfast and went and saw Mr. Frits’ Mercedes 500 SL, one of the fastest cars in the world! Now we are driving to the air port to go back to America. I don’t really want to leave, but at the same time I can’t wait till I get back to America! See ya later

Paris Nov 28

I got a great dinner of lasagna and then an almost perfect night of sleep at an, okay (worst one yet) hostel. The next day we took a walk to a metro system. When I got into the metro, we were packed so tight that if I lifted my legs off the ground it would take about 5 seconds for me to hit the ground. We got off at the Arch of Triumph. It was built by Napolean in the early 1800’s to commemorate his Armies. It has plaques for other wars too, like World War I and II. They added the flame to remember all the soldiers who died in World War I.

Next we got off at the Louvre Museum. I went inside and it was breath taking art. I saw Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and Mona Lisa. We also saw a lot of other miraculous art like Hercules fighting a dragon, Spartans wrestling and killing a deer, a lot of pictures and sculptures with people’s privates exposed. After that we went to the information booth to meet one of specifically, Robby, my parents’ and my friend, Yolanda.

When I was about two and Robby 3, Yolanda watched over us. So we spent the day with Yolanda and her friend David. I had a magnificent time with them and I can’t wait until I go to Spain with her for a whole two weeks. We had lunch together, saw Notre Dame Cathedral, an astounding cathedral with over one hundred sculptures carved in one doorway. There were three doorways. How could anyone make that?! We also went to THE Eiffel Tower at night (except Yolanda and David weren’t with us because they already went there.) The view was amazing. Then we went and had dinner with Yolanda and David and Ben choked. But he’s okay now. We just now were driving for a LONG time to Macon to visit some friends that my mom lived with back in her college days. Bye!

Luxembourg, Belgium, and Holland Nov 25

Next we went to Trier. The first stop we made was a HUGE rock tower built in 300 B.C., called Porta Nigra. It went very high and had a lot of history to it. That night we went to a place called a Youth Hostel. A Youth Hostel is a place for college students with not a lot of money.
After the HUGE Porta Nigra, we were famished and wanted something to eat. So we went over to the town square and found some people singing a German song. We found a restaurant close by and I ate something fantastic called a Giro (Hero). It is a kind of meat (I had pork) and white sauce put in some bread. It was great and the music was fun too.
The next day I went to a city called Luxembourg, in a country called Luxembourg. It had gigantic walls made at around 900 AD. Everyone fought over Luxembourg: Spain, Austria, France, and Holland….over 1 town! We think it’s because of its roads. Luxembourg had very good highways.
Sam and Ben also wanted to go to a pirate ship park (as they call it). I have to admit though, it was pretty fun.
After that, we went to a new country called Belgium. First, we went and got a hotel. We found it in a city called Mons. That night we took a walk to the town square. We were very lucky because there was a carnival. We walked around but didn’t do anything. When we were about to leave I spotted a BB gun booth. So I went over, my Dad paid and I hit every single target with “deadly accuracy” (as I call it).
The next day, we drove by an amazing cathedral. When we went inside, there were statues everywhere you could look. They were made out of alabaster marble. It was very beautiful.
After that we drove to another city called Brussels. When we first drove into Brussels, we came across a flea market. A flea market is a place where you can get things for a super cheap price. We parked the car and went out for awhile. When we came back, I had a warm coat, my Mom bought a hat, scarf, and pair of socks. Ben got a sweater and Sam got a sweatshirt and we all had new gloves. After awhile of running around like some helpless mice, we came across a little statue of a peeing boy as a fountain.
Next, we came across a very colossal place called the Grand Place. When you go and see it though, you’ll know why they called it The Grand Place. Everywhere you look, you see 100 statues at least! When we were leaving, we could go up and rub a low relief of Christ. It is supposed to give you good luck.
The next day we arrived in a different city called Mechelen. We went to a toy museum. The first floor had mostly dolls. The second was tin soldiers and trains. The third floor had Legos. I liked the tin soldiers the most. They were even educational. They taught me what happened in Waterloo.
The Legos were amazing too. They had a life size lego statue of Hagrid in Harry Potter. His beard even had different colors!
The only good thing about the youth hostel was the shower. But we couldn’t take one because we had no towels! There were 6 mattresses strewn across the room. But we still slept on them.
The next day we took a long drive and ended up at a city called Soust, Holland. It had a pool table and we got very good over the next two days.
The next day, we packed up some rain clothes and walked to the train station. We were going to a place called Amsterdam. First of all Amsterdam is not a regular city. Number 1, it has marijuana in “coffee shops.” Number two, it allows something called the Red Light District. I shouldn’t tell you what that is. It’s inappropriate. When we got to Amsterdam, the first thing we saw was a person with an amazing yoyo thing. Then we went to a museum about a person named Anne Frank. She was a Jew. When the Germans attacked, she and seven other people hid in the back of one of their friend’s houses for two years. Then the Germans found her and her family and friends, and she died one month before the war ended. People found the diary she kept and it’s been published all around the world. People found out how wrong it was.
Then we walked around a little, and then we went to a boat tour. It showed us a lot of canals and a drawbridge so perfectly balanced that the bridge drawers could lift it with a finger.
After that, we tried to get to another flea market but it turned out that it was closed. So we started wandering around town a little and my Dad walked through the Red Light District.
We got back to the hotel and went to sleep. Now after about 6 hours of driving, we’re in Paris! I can’t wait to tell you about it later. Bye!

Germany Nov 21

The plane ride to Ramstein, Germany was OK. I watched a couple movies and then tried to go to sleep. But the truth is I never go to sleep on plane rides. I don’t because everything is so amazing to me.
When we landed, we got off the plane and went through customs. After that we waited at USO for a couple hours and I played XBox the whole time.
My Dad rented an awesome van that could hold 9 people! The gas mileage was still better than our SUV! Anyway, we got in the car and made some stops. Then we went to a hotel. I watched some hockey and then went to sleep.
The next day, we drove into Heidelberg, parked the van, and took a walk into a huge castle. We took a tour of the castle. Everything was great to me except one thing. Hundreds of years ago people found it stylish to raise animals, and when they were grown, the people would lock the animals in the moat and “daring, brave” men would go down and hunt the ferocious animals. The women would be above cheering them on.
Now we’re going to another country called Luxembourg, near Germany.
I forgot to mention our great friend, Mrs. Karin. She had a BBBBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGG, beautiful house with 4 floors, a swimming pool, an elevator and you could go on the roof. We had a lot of fun in the swimming pool, talked some, and had a super fun time eating great bread and ham from the Black Forest.

New York and Maryland Nov 17

Nov 17:
After awhile of driving, we came across a big, beautiful house owned by a nice family by the name of the O’Neil’s. That night we had a great dinner of spaghetti and we watched “Shrek the Third.”
The next morning our family loaded in the SUV and took off to Manhattan. We bought some bus tickets, and drove to the Empire State Building. Did I mention about how I almost broke Robby’s foot? Well, that day Robby was on crutches. A man said that it was about an hour’s wait to go up to the top of the Empire State Building. But then he saw Robby on his crutches and since he was “handicapped” he turned it into a 5 minute wait. In no time we got to the top of the Empire State Building and were outside, seeing the view. We could see anything in Manhattan you wanted to see. After that we took various stops, but the second highlight was going on a water taxi and checking out the Statue of Liberty! It was so big, and its toe was as large as 11 people!
After that fabulous day, we went back, said goodbye, and arrived at our cousins’ house before Halloween. We all got in some costumes. Sam was a banshee, Ben a pirate, Robby was a reaper thing, and I was a car crash victim. The best costume on the street was my uncle. He got in big, black polypro, got a 12 foot stick, put foil on it to make it look like a scythe, got on some stilts, and he was a death angel like the Grim Reaper, about 12 feet high!
We stayed about two more weeks. We went to a Boy Scout lock-in. We went into a scout house, got all the doors locked, and stayed up all night playing video games and dart gun fights.
After that we went to a place where I used to live for five years! We played and had fun with our friends for three days. The people who I liked to hang out with were named Kira, Shane and Scott. I played a lot with them and it was very generous of Kira’s parents to let us park in their driveway. After a while we had to leave. It was hard to say goodbye again. But I’m also looking forward to our next adventure. We are going to Europe on a military flight! I’ll tell you about it when I get there. Bye!

Oct 29

Rhode Island was very fun. We went on a 2 ½ mile long walk called Cliff Walk. Robby and I jogged in front. When we got to the end, I found out Dad had to run back. I ran with Dad and for the next 4 days my legs ached whenever I even power-walked!
The next day, we got to Mystic Seaport, CT. Mystic Seaport is a museum where we went on docked boats, saw a blacksmith at work, went to a printing shop, and met a boy named David. We went to the park and had a lot of fun.
That night we parked in an RV parking lot at West Point, put up the beds, and fell asleep. The next morning we got in our rain jackets and rain pants and went to watch a football game in the rain. We went to a parade, and then watched the football game. The Army beat Louisiana Tech 14 to 7! We stayed two more days. One of them I almost broke Robby’s ankle, but instead he sprained it very badly. (If you want to hear more about it, go to Robby’s blog.) We also bumped into some people with the name of The Johnson’s. They have 2 kids, one is Bradley and the other is Noel. COL Johnson gave us a tour of West Point. We went to the hall of fame, a lacrosse field, and the main weight room.
Then we went to a campground called Round Pond. We stayed there for two days. The first day was school, and the second was half school. Then we went in a paddle boat! We went to a rock in the middle of the pond, then on a dock on the other side of the pond.

Oct 22:
Hola! My Dad bought me a system called Rosetta Stone, so I’m getting active in Spanish. I’m learning so when we get to Mexico I’ll be able to interact with them. Anyway, when I was leaving Vermont, it was only a 2-hour drive but it felt like a whole day!
When I got to my Poppa’s farm in New York, I had to wait for my cousins to get home from school! I was so impatient! When my cousin Tucker finally came home, he showed us the garage, the barn loft, the tree house, and the chickens. My favorite was the barn loft. We brought scooters and skateboards up there and swept the floor clean so it would be smooth riding. After that we hiked all over the farm with the wheel barrow and picked up every wooden board we could find.
After that, when we had a wheelbarrow full of boards, we all went to work. We took the board and set it up so we could make a jump. We caught some air off the jump, and then collapsed in the hay pile.
It took a long time for that to get old, but when it did, we packed our knapsack high and started to hike up the hill in the pitch black night. When we got to the top, we started unpacking our tents. We finished one for Ben, Sam, and Tucker’s little sister, Avery.
We started unpacking our tent just to find out we forgot the tent poles! That night, Robby, Tucker and I slept under the stars. For the next week or so, we fed the chickens, did some school, and then played with Tucker and Avery. One time, we had to haul a bunch of logs from one place to another. We caught salamanders and a snake in the process. It was hard work, but we got to watch a semi-pro hockey game.
Another time my Dad found a mouse that climbed up on the tractor and was too scared to get down. It stayed up there for hours, till I caught him in a jar. When I examined him, I found out that his front paw was wounded.
After a couple weeks, it was time to leave. It was hard but when we did, we were on the road again. About 30 minutes down the road, we saw a car contest/show. N They were old and new, and down on the other side of the field there was a snow machine going across a pond. We pulled over, looked at some cars, then went over to the pond and saw Robby and Sam running over yelling, “The snow machine sunk!” So we ran over and found the driver swimming out, shivering like crazy.
Soon a truck drove up with a towing rope and the snow machine driver had to swim back in and connect the towing rope to the snow machine. The snow machine driver said the pond was iced over that morning too. I know it might not sound much for the people back in Alaska but you should have seen him! He went in, put it on, and everyone cheered! The truck started going and they pulled up an empty hook. The driver stared open-mouthed at that hook for at least a minute, then picked it up and walked in a 2nd time. This time he got lucky and the truck pulled the snow machine up with ease.
So the driver went to work on it, checked the engine, and no water was in the gasoline tank! After a couple jerks on the starter cord, it came to life! The driver was overjoyed and we went to check out some more cars. My favorite was a truck that was so low, it was resting on the ground. When the driver turned it on, he would pick it up a little before he drove.
We got back in the RV and started driving to my Grandma’s little brother’s house for dinner. In about an hour, we stopped and unhooked the SUV. After that we met the hosts and had some delicious spaghetti. After the dinner we played some and had fun finding bikes and shooting BB guns. Ben even took a swim in a pond that was iced over that morning. After that we were in the RV going on to Boston, the capital of Massachusetts.
The next day we were off to Boston. We went to Quisno’s, the Freedom Trail, Paul Revere’s house, and for the highlight of the day the fountain! There was a fountain on some cement, with water spouting up, and when the water was down, we printed across. It was loads of fun. Sam got blasted, and Ben got soaked. Robby got hit, but I stayed dry. That was a great day. The next day we made our way to Newport, Rhode Island.