Cliff Kid Contest

This summer, I was in a contest for the Clif Bar brand for inventing a game you can play in your backyard with things you could find in your house.  I was chosen as a finalist to go to San Diego for the weekend.  This is a summary of what happened.

This is me getting on the plane in Flagstaff to fly to Phoenix and then after Phoenix, to San Diego.

This is me with my really tall driver of my mini-limo.  His license plate said "RD CRPT" and he said it was for VIP only.  He said I would be the winner.  

The morning of the competition, I got my picture taken in front of the sign for my game.  I felt excited and confident.

Tony Hawk, one of the judges, introduced all of the finalist and their games to the crowd.

I got interviewed for the news and newspapers.

This is my game!  It was called "Monkeys Go Bananas."  You can see me in the background trying to explain the rules to one of the teams (I'm the little guy in the background wearing red shorts and a beige shirt).

This is me with Tony Hawk and my ginormous check of $1,000!  The first thing I asked was, "Wait!  How's this going to fit in my wallet?"

We got to stay at a very fancy hotel where I almost got lost in my fluffy pillows.

We did some fun things besides the Backyard Games.  We rented a taxi to go with La Jolla Cove for the afternoon with some of the other finalists.  We also rode a roller coaster at the beach, swam in the ocean (my hand almost got eaten by a sea lion!), and best of all...

JET SKIING!!!

This is me on our final flight back to Flagstaff.  All in all, it was a great trip!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Here's a little story I wrote for you, Grandma, and by the way, Happy Birthday!

Once upon a time, in the forbidden land of Placentia (just kidding), there lived two brothers and a sister.  On a day in late November, it just happened to be their grandma's birthday.  They were walking to their grandma's birthday party, looking for a gift in the shops along the road.  They saw an old abandoned house on the street with mysterious boxes inside.  Voices were whispering words inside the house, but the children couldn't see where.  So, they went inside to look around. Little did they know, the house was full of surprises.  Oh, by the way, the kids' names were Sam, Evan, and Annie.

Sam said, "We can't take too long because we still have to get to grandma's birthday party."  With caution, they peered around corners and up into the attic for anything interesting.

Evan, who loved raccoonees, found a little wee bit of raccoon fur.  He picked it up and put it in his pocket.  He began to feel funny and noticed that his hands were changing; they started to grow fur.  Then, he felt his face and his furry mask.  He was a raccoonee! He found out he could change back into Evan if Annie beeped his nose.  Evan became Super Coon!

Annie, who wished she had mad ninja skills, found a karate dummy.  It was just her size.  And, when she decided to give it a couple kicks (flying ninja kicks), she found she was pretty good!  So, she tried doing punches, kicks, headbutts...she found out she had mad ninja skills.  A dream come true!!!!  (but not a dream come true for Mr. Karate Dummy)  She found a purple ninja costume behind the dummy and put it on--it was just her size.  Annie became Purple Flying Ninja Girl.  But, she would lose her mad ninja skills if Sam gave her a rug burn (which used to be called an Indian Burn when their mom was little).

This brings us to Sam.  He found some stairs and decided to go up them because he had found nothing of his interest downstairs.  Some of the steps would creak and he thought there would be something very scary at the top.  But, the top floor was just filled with crates and crates of Legos, which were Sam's favorite!  He decided that he wanted to build a little creation because Evan (a.k.a. Super Coon) and Annie (a.k.a Purple Flying Ninja Girl) were having fun downstairs and there was still time until the party.  When he touched the Lego that he needed, he found that it was gold.  He put the Lego in his pocket and went downstairs (because he had seen what had happened to his siblings and didn't want to turn into a Lego brick).

While plain old Sam was upstairs, three bad men (who were hiding in a closet) came out and captured Purple Flying Ninja Girl and Super Coon.  When Sam came downstairs, he gasped at the sight of them tying up his brother and sister.  He threw his Lego brick at them, hoping to distract them so that Super Coon and Purple Flying Ninja Girl (she really needs to get a shorter name!) could escape.  He was thinking about capturing the bad guys, and when he threw the brick, he realized that many many more bricks came flying out of what he thought was his empty pocket.  They landed in a pile at the bad guys' feet.  He thought about building a cage around them.  The bad guys were amazed at what they had seen moments ago by an 8-year-old boy when he had thrown all the bricks.  It put them in a daze.  In an instant, Sam sped over to the bricks (he didn't know he could move so fast!) and built the cage (he didn't know he could build so fast either!) around the bad guys.  As he finished the roof, he realized that THIS was his super power.  He had extra-speedy reflexes and everlasting bricks!  (Little did he know that he had one more power, about to be discovered)

When Sam heard the bad guys come out of their dazed condition and start muttering words he couldn't understand, he thought about running because he was worried they would break the Legos and get out.  But, they cried in pain when they hit the Legos, and the Legos didn't break.  He found out his third power:  Very STRONG everlasting bricks.  He had become...Captain (because he was the oldest) Speedy Lego Mastermind (oh great, another long name!).  Sam could use his superpowers whenever he wanted, as long as he had a Lego brick in his pocket.

The three Super Siblings looked at the dazed men in the cage.  Captain Speedy Lego Mastermind noticed that one of the bad guys had a badge on his vest that said "The Most Evilist League of the World" with their symbol on it.  Captain Speedy Lego Mastermind, Super Coon, and Purple Flying Ninja Girl whispered a plan which the bad guys just happened to hear.  The Super Siblings returned to the cage only to find that the bad guys had duggen a hole in the ground back to their base.

The Super siblings had a dilemma:  Chase the bad guys or go to their grandma's party?  Because they loved their grandmother, they decided the bad guys could wait but Grandma's party happened only once a year.  They walked along toward the party and remembered that they still needed a present!  So, they went into an alley to make a quick and easy present where no one could see them.  Sam made their grandma a sewing machine because she liked to sew.  Evan clipped off some of his fur and made a blanket out of it. Annie beeped Evan's nose and Sam gave Annie a "rug burn" and then hid his last Lego brick in his pocket.  They wrapped the presents and went to the party and had a wonderful time as normal kids.

After the party, Annie treated them all to frozen yogurt because everyone knows that ninjas get free frozen yogurt at Yogurt Land (if they have the best moves, which she has, even if she looks just like normal Annie).
As they finished their yogurt, they saw an airplane pass by with the Most Evilist Villian League of the World symbol on it.  So...Evan became a raccoon, Annie got her ninja skills ready, and Sam built a jet with his Lego brick.  Super Coon, Purple Flying Ninja Girl, and Captain Speedy Lego Mastermind flew away into the sunset to go destroy the Evilist Villian League and bring peace to the world...or at least their city.

Until next time...THE END

End of School Fun

I had lots of fun with my family and friends at the end of the school year.

I had a carnival on April 19th and me and my friend Jayden got face paint mustaches and took this picture.

                                                    I also went to my friend Cole's house.

Box Canyon park=One of the best playdates ever!

I entered this in a lego building contest but didn't win.

I was in the Wizard of Oz play.

This is me and my mom at CA Adventure.  I went to a Disneyland musical and I got a free pass at the end for any Disney park.  One day I was in school, we had just started and my mom pulled me out.  I went to the car, mom and dad were in there.  We started driving on the freeway and dad told me we were going to the dentist.  Mom showed me the ticket and said, "You're going to need this." and I said "Dad, I'm not going to the dentist."  

Tower of Terror:  we did it 2 times and I almost threw up.  It was scary because you go up, you stay there, and then you fall.

Me with Mickey Mouse.  He sent me a telegram!

This is me on California Screamin'...I was scared!  The first time I went on it, I closed my eyes on the giant loopdy-loop.  After going on it 3 times, I wasn't scared anymore and mom almost threw up.

Carsland is awesome!  We went on all three rides in it!  If you plan on going to CA Adventure, I recommend you going to Carsland first because it gets really crowded.

I bought these two things that I'm holding and wearing.  And we watched a really cool show at nighttime called World of Color.  My favorite part was when Jack Sparrow said, "Did everybody see that?  Because I will NOT be doing it again."

We wrapped the house with VCR tape and then had a picnic outside to look at it.  (It was pretty hard to take down!)

Last but not least, I was in a Munchkin Mediation play and I got to be Toto!

**My mom typed most of this but I am learning how to type so I'll be typing it myself soon!

Ms. Mulkey's Class

I go to school at Golden Elementary.  My teacher is Ms. Mulkey.  She has class parties for us every holiday.

Here I am with Ms. Mulkey on the first day of school.

This is also me on the first day of school, sitting at my desk.  Carson (but I didn't know him at the time) was sitting behind me with the SAME pencil box.

This is our Halloween party.

First, we had a parade (I am watching other people from the school in their parade and then we joined after it passed).

Here is some of the boys eating lunch on Halloween. 

We played lots of games at the Halloween Party.

Jake rolled me up in lots of toilet paper and made me look like a mummy!

This is me yelling at my mom!

This is us doing different crafts.  They were tasty crafts (most of them).

In December, we had a Christmas party.  It was my birthday the same day!

Me and Aiden

My class--our class has 31 students.  (at Thomas it was something in the 20's)

This is Paul. On the second day of school, he was the first person to offer to play with me.

This is us doing finger painting.  We were making cards.

We hang our backpacks outside.  The weather is nice so our lunches don't freeze...in fact, we put ice packs in them so they don't melt!

This week, I am Star Student.  I get to bring a special backpack to school with something in it to show for show n tell.  I am bringing...it's a surprise!  When I am Star Student, I get to be line leader and I get to check off the schedule on the board.

I wish we had a class party every day!

At Thomas, our school had snow days and I had less friends as I do now.  I miss the Fantastic Four!  But, I have lots of friends at Golden.

With Crampaw

Now that I live in California, I get to do a lot more things with my grandpa (but we call him "Crampaw"). 

With Crampaw, I get to:

1) Play games with him (Hungry Hungry Hippos is the only one we like to play really)
2) Go with him to church a lot of times to help with him fix things.  One time we fixed a box for a speaker and the other time we moved the organ to a storage room.  And we go and pick oranges.
3) Play in the backyard like baseball and light-saber fighting.

But my favorite thing to do with Crampaw is woodworking.  I call it Creative Woodworking. 

We've made 2 bowls, a crane, a hammer, a wheel, a little table, and a shot gun.  First, we figure out what we're going to make.  Then we find the right piece of wood.  If we're making like a bowl or something like that (like a round thing or something), you'll usually want to do it on the lave (lathe).  Because it spins it and you don't have to go all the way around, you put it in one place and it spins and grinds it down.  Then we get it off the lave and we might polish it if we're all done, or sometimes we might have to bring it to the saw or the sander.  We might have to buff it.  But if we're making a bowl or stick or something, it's usually a lot of it on the lave.

I like working with him because as soon as I saw how much stuff he had made out of wood (around the house and on the shelves he has a lot of stuff that he has made) I thought, "Well, he can help me make stuff."  We like doing it because he's the guy who likes doing it and I like doing it a lot, too.  I'm his apprentice in doing woodworking stuff.

Crampaw, if you're reading this, Happy Birthday and thanks for helping me make the woodworking stuff!

Differences

There are differences between CA and AZ.

In AZ, I liked going to FCF.
In CA, I like going to my grandparent's church, RCC.

In AZ, I liked going to Thomas Elementary School.
In CA, I'm looking forward to going to Golden Elementary School.

In AZ, I liked going to all the friends I have at church and school and everything.
In CA, I like going to my 2 friends that have pools and my one-house-away-friend that loves to ride bikes with us.

In AZ, I went to Phoenix and got locked in a bathroom (that was something I DIDN'T like).
In CA, when I was learning how to dive, I jumped I did a belly flop and looked like a scared cat and everyone laughed (and I didn't like that either).

In AZ, I liked having a group of friends called the Fantastic Four (which you heard about in one of my first posts--"Dylan and Lego Club").
In CA, we have a lot of friends in the neighborhood.

Here's a list of things I did in the 4 seasons in AZ:  building a snow fort in the snow, going on field trips in the spring, splashing around in the hose and doing our swimming pool in the middle of the summer, spending Thanksgiving in Tucson, setting up our little Christmas tree and decorating our room with our little Christmas tree with our train going around it.

Here's a list of things I like doing in the four seasons in CA:  in the winter I like spending Christmas with our neighbors (like going outside in the morning and seeing my friend, Andrew drive a new remote control car-type-jeep), going to Legoland or Disneyland in the spring, in the summer I like riding bikes in the street (playing a little army game with Andrew) or going to the beach, and going to San Diego for Thanksgiving and building a fort out of not-cooked spaghetti noodles and marshmallows.

If any of you are moving, I hope you can have as much fun as all the stuff on here (besides the going to Phoenix and stuff) because everywhere is really good.  In know in Kansas City, there's ice skating and stuff, and Atlanta there's a place where there's fish and you can feed the fish, and in Utah there's a lot of ranches which are really fun...so if you are ever moving to one of these places, I hope you can do the stuff I'm talking about.

Changing

I won't be talking anything else about Flagstaff so don't be prepared to hear anything else that you guys know about.

I moved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I moved to California because my mom and dad think it's just the right thing to do and my dad is trying to get another job. 

So I won't be saying anything else about Flagstaff, I'll be talking about California.  I'm just warning you.

This is Evan hugging our house the last day.