As soon as you turn onto our driveway, you can see our bird feeder hanging from our front tree. Our front tree has a thick trunk but has skinny branches, so skinny that I would fall if I climbed on them. Be careful where you step! The grass feels sharp, but it’s really the pine needles that have fallen from our pine tree. When you walk up our steps, you will hear the birds tweeting and eating from the feeder. Today, there is a soft breeze that gently moves the leaves on their branches. In our back yard, the deck smells like dirt because we’ve dumped a lot of dirt on it.

Mary Breckinridge was a nurse who helped the people in the mountains by giving them medicine. She lived back then because they only had horses to ride. (We don’t do that now, we ride cars now.) They needed the medicine or they would get more sick and die. No one else had the medicine so only Mary could. She lived on one side of the Rocky Mountains and the others lived on the other side. The people loved her because they had been waiting for the medicine but when she got there lots of them had died.
One time she helped a little girl named Sue. Sue got sick because her grandmother had got sick and she had gone too close to her and got her sickness. Mary Breckinridge went to help Sue but Sue was already half dead. But she gave her medicine and then the part that was half dead healed. And her grandmother died though.

The end.

Before we moved to Calgary, we went to the Ford Museum in Windsor. We took Grandpa there.

In a pretend mini-garage, we found a car that you could fix. We slid under the car, holding mufflers. We removed the mufflers that were already attached, and attached the new ones we were holding. There was also an engine that we got to pour pretend-bottles of oil and fuel into. It was fun sliding under the car – we slid in from the back, crawled under the car, and popped our heads out of the engine!

There was also a big train that you could get on, but it didn’t move. The only part that you could go in was where the engineer sits.

We also got to make cars out of tinker-toys and race them down a ramp. There’s a gate that blocks the car at the top of the ramp, and when you open the gate, the cars can go at the same time. One of my cars had so many wheels, it was heavier than Gabe’s and went much faster so I won. Another time I built a mini-tow truck, and I could even tow Gabe’s car.

This field trip was super fun, I didn’t even know that I was still learning!

I’d like to tell you about an Excavator, which is a machine that helps you dig. It has a big cab where you can sit, and that cab turn in any direction. The cab sits on tracks that have wheels inside to help them move. They have tracks instead of wheels to help them move through mud and keep them from slipping and sinking in mud. Attached to the cab is an arm, not like a person’s arm, but an arm with hydraulics. At the end of the arm there is a metal bucket with metal teeth to help dig into the ground. They are sharp, pointy metal teeth – not like your teeth! And it’s a big bucket, like a scoop, not like a little pail bucket. It can dig much faster than you can, dig much deeper, it is much more powerful than you. It’s so much stronger than you that it could even pick you up! There is a piston with a circle on the end that pushes through the cylinder and when it pushes deeper into the cylinder, the bucket pushes deeper into the ground. Oil comes from a long pipe and goes into the cylinder and out a short pipe.

I’m not quite sure I understand how the hydraulics work, so I’d like to tell you instead about Toilets; I learned about these yesterday with Daddy.

A toilet is something you sit on when you need to pee or poo. When you are finished, you flush, and the dirty water is taken away. When you push the handle down, it lifts up the disc and the water in the tank goes down the hole that was under the disc. The water from the tank goes through a pipe and into the toilet bowl, and pushes the dirty water down the drain pipe at the bottom of the toilet bowl. As the water goes down to flush the dirty water away, the ballcock, which floats on the surface of the tank water goes down too. This ballcock is attached to a valve, which opens to let the clean water into the tank. When the tanks is full, the ballcock rises and pushes the valve closed, so no more water can get into the tank. Now, the dirty water has been flushed away, and the tank is full of clean water, ready for the next time.

Once upon a time there lived Grandpa. And once he took his dog out for a walk and when he was going home his dog stopped because he was looking up at a dot. It was small then it got bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER. It was a fly saucer! Then the flying saucer landed and opened the door. To their surprise when they saw the door open right in front of them…out walked Grandma! She brought out a shirt for Grandpa and a washing machine and started washing the shirt. She started to fan the shirt when she got it out to dry it off. Then she printed a picture of Grandpa and the word “Grandpa” on Grandpa’s shirt. Grandpa thought it was excellent. The dog was sad because he didn’t get to wear a shirt. Then Grandma asked Grandpa and the dog to go in the flying saucer and they went home. The End.

I do not like blue tuna melts. I do not like them with a belt.
I would not eat them on a train, I would not eat them in a plane.
I would not eat it in a box, I would not eat it at the locks.
I would not eat it in a cave, I do not think I am that brave.
But Gabey says that I should try it, and if I did that I would like it.
He says that they’re very yummy, especially when they fill his tummy.
So I tried a little bite, but it’s still something I don’t like.

Once there was a dinosaur named Roar. He was called Roar because whenever someone tried to talk to him he just roared at them, which made them really angry, but just made him laugh. One day he was laughing, but suddenly stopped because he heard a siren. He knew what that siren meant: the police were coming! And they were coming towards him! Before he knew it, they were right beside him. The police chief, which was also a dinosaur like the other dinosaur police, said, “Roar, you have been bad. You’re coming with us in the police car.” Roar thought that they were going to give him a ride around the city, but they were not. They put foot-cuffs on him and brought him to the police station to be tried by John the Judge. The foot-cuffs kept him from running away. When they got to the station he said all the right answers about himself (note from mom: he admitted to and pleaded guilty to all of the charges) and was put in jail. While in jail, they took his cuffs off. Roar was thinking of a plan of how to get out. Roar remembered that they would put chains on him, but not till tomorrow, and that gave him a great idea. When the guards were sleeping (but still standing), he took the keys from the guard and unlocked his door, stepped out, and locked the door again. When the guards woke up, they thought Roar was still in jail, and that they still had the keys. But when they checked on Roar, the door was locked, Roar was gone and so were the keys! Now they couldn’t get out, and couldn’t tell the police chief dinosaur that they had lost Roar! Roar thought he was free, but soon he was caught again, and escaped again, and the same thing happened over and over again. The end.

May 16, 2014

Dear Grandma & Grandpa,

It has been a long time since I’ve promised you a card with tic-tac-toes, I’m sorry I’m sending this so late, but here it is now.

I have been busy doing school and have learned lots of things, like music, acting, dancing, and lots of other things. In science, I learned about an egg’s shape and how hard it is to crack an egg with just your palms. I’ve also read a few Curioius George stories and a lot of bible stories. We also finished a book called “In Grandma’s Attic” but she was a grandma a long time before you guys were born. Next year we will read a book about Greek Myths. There are so many things that I’ve done in school that I can’t think of all of them!

(note from mom: the above paragraph was shortened to the paragraph below when he realized how much he had to write!)

I have been busy in school learning about science, the world around us, a few Mother Goose nursery rhymes, music, art, and how you can make music.

I miss and you and I love you and I’m excited to visit you this Sunday after church. Please send me a letter after you read this one.

Love,

Nathan

There’s nothing like Mom’s Chicken Broccoli Casserole! The Broccoli makes a nice crunch when you chew it. And whenever you eat the cheese a nice smell floats up to your nose. The rice is the best part – it tastes very good because of the way it’s cooked – it’s very soft and chewy. That’s why I always pick it for dinner whenever I get to choose. It’s very lovely tasting, very good indeed. Gabe didn’t like it before, but now he does, indeed!

Mom, on Thursday can we have Chicken Brocolli Casserole? It is good for our family because it has veggies in it, the brocolli, and veggies are healthy and good for you. The rice is very good tasting, too. And the chicken, I like the way it’s cooked. I can help you make the rice and set the table, so we can spend some time together. It’s easy to make, everybody likes it, and it’s my favorite 🙂 So can we please have Chicken Brocolli Casserole?