Sam

Birthday Bonfire at Muir Beach

2008-07-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

On his 11th birthday, Sam went kayaking in Birch Bay, Washington.

The following day, he tandem-paraglided down Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver.

While those were remarkable experiences, he didn't get to celebrate with you.

Please join Sam for a bonfire at Muir Beach on Saturday, August 2nd from 4pm-Sunset (8:15pm). (Your presence is the only present requested.)

If that date doesn't work, don't dismay. We're already planning a make-up party for people who can't make the first one.

Let us know if you would like help with transportation or will meet us there. Thanks for your friendship.

SNOWBOARDING!

2008-02-24T16:53:00.002-08:00

On Saturday, we went snow-
boarding. We had a lot of fun.

We got up before four o'clock in the morning to go catch a but that would take us to Lake Tahoe. My friend, Leo spent the night at my house on Friday so that he wouldn't have to get up even earlier to come over to my house.

Leo had gone snowboarding before but the only thing he remembers is that he had hot cocoa. It was almost like we had both never gone snowboarding. We had an awesome time at snowboarding camp. It felt like bare feet, strapped by some invisible force, skating across a slick, steep ice rink where you fell down a lot. I loved it.

We got back at eleven o'clock in the evening. I'm excited to go again.

Letter to Edvard Munch

2008-02-12T07:14:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. Munch,

One thing I like about your art is the way your pictures make the person looking at them feel like they are there.

All of your paintings make me feel very emotional.

The first painting of yours that I liked was The Scream. I feel like I can hear the scream even though there is no sound. You are that good at making it feel real.

Then I started looking at more of your work and I noticed that it can be both terrifying and beautiful at the same time. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Sometimes the paintings make me feel like I am walking on a sandy beach. Other times, they make me feel like I am in a horror movie. Everyone sees your paintings in a different way.

I like the way you use such soft edges in your images. You make everything swirl and seem like a circle. The colors in your pictures are true to life. I think your sunsets look beautiful and your horizon line is just right. Your art seems to pop out at me but it doesn’t quite, since it is really a two dimensional picture.

To be honest, there is nothing that I don’t like about your paintings, except that maybe I wish there were more.

Sincerely,

Sam Engle

5th Grade Begins

2007-08-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

I've had two days of fifth grade, already, and they've been great.

My teacher's name is Ms. Gaine. I think she is really nice. She lets us play games a lot.

She gives us rewards when we deserve them. When we don't, she can take them away. On the first day of school, she put out a bowl of Hot Tamales. I'd never had them before but when I tried them, I liked them a lot. I think all that is very good and nice.

She tries not to give too much homework. So far, she's kept that promise. The first homework assignment she gave us was to find items to describe ourselves. The items were supposed to be 3-D and unique and had to fit into a small brown paper bag.

A talent or special ability I have is wood-
carving. I brought a rocket ship I'd made in the wood shop at the Planet to share with the class. I think woodworking is fun because you get to create your own things. Here are some things I made. I'm also working on a sword.

I brought a statue of the Sears Tower to represent something special about my family.

I talked about how we have lived in Chicago and gone to the top of the tallest building in the United States.

To share one of my future plans or goals, I brought in a tiny toy dog. I might like to become a veterinarian someday. I like animals and think that they are fun to be around. (photo credit)

I told my class that the best part about my summer was that my Uncle John came over to my house. We would sword fight and have a whole bunch of fun.

Something that I dislike is homework. I brought a math page from last year. I really, really, hate boring homework but not this type of homework.

A place that I would like to visit is outer space. I think it would be really fun to just float around in mid-air, not supported by anything. So, someday I would like to go there.

Something that I would like to improve at is writing. I would like to be able to write quicker, better, neater...

To represent a memorable event in my life, I brought in the medical bracelet that I wore in the emergency room when I hurt my face and had to get stitches.

It still fits on my wrist but it is hard to get on and off.

An activity I enjoy is cooking. I like to cook eggs for my family because I think learning to cook is fun and I think I would like to improve on that too.

My favorite color is silver, I brought a silver ball from my Magnetix to represent the color silver.

During recess, I've had fun playing with my friends. Some of my friends are Sean, Jake, Matthew, Eric, Aeddan, William, Jarred, Cameron and Ram.

Most of my friends were able to come with me on my first birthday hike over Ring Mountain but some of them weren't so we had a second party where we hiked over Ring Mountain and had dinner. That was fun. I think it will be a good year.

My 10th Birthday Party

2007-07-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

For my 10th birthday, my mom took me and a bunch of my friends on a hike over Ring Mountain. She had created a quest that directed us. It was exciting.

My favorite part of the adventure was climbing to the top of Turtle Rock.

Next, we had pizza at Milano's. It was fun. We played and joked around while we were eating.

Then we went to see the new Harry Potter movie.

Almost everyone in my group thought it was good.

I thought it was extraordinary.

We waited until my cousin went back to Iowa to open my presents. I opened them last night. I know I will enjoy them. Thank you very much.

I also appreciate the friends who helped me celebrate my birthday. Thank you for being extremely fun and awesome.

Click here to see more pictures from my birthday.

Happy 90th Birthday, Lurene

2007-06-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

Lurene is Cameron's grandmother on his Dad's side. She had her 90th birthday last week. I went all the way to Maryland to celebrate with her.

Here, in this picture, I am in a museum that features a lot of things that are in Maryland. One of the things was this model of the skeleton the biggest shark ever to live in the world, the megalodon.

It was over 50 feet long and two to three times the size of a great white shark. I think it is awesome because it is huge. In one of the pictures I saw of it, it was eating a whale for food.

At this museum, they also had otters, which were awesome because I thought they were pretty friendly. The otters would come up to the glass and push off of the glass over and over again. I also saw sea horses which were cool since I didn't remember ever having seen one before.

Also, we were able to sort through a bunch of sand and pick out a fossil to take home. I chose a piece of a gray shark tooth. We were supposed to have gone on a hike that day but instead we went to the museum because it was too hot to go hiking.

After the museum, we went out to eat at a seafood restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay. For an appetizer, we ordered crab balls. I enjoyed them very much. I got fried shrimp for my meal. We had a good time.

When we finished eating, we went for a walk. It was hot. We got to a picnic table under the shade of a nice tree and stayed there for awhile. It was cooler there.

Mom took a few pictures of Cam and me by the Chesapeake Bay.

The Bay is an amazing thing that makes travel by ship easier and makes it easier to get places.

I hope that it never gets dried out or evaporated by Global Warming.

That night, I had fun hanging out with Cameron's family. This is Cam's cousin, Kenan. They hadn't seen each other since Kenan was my age. He and I had fun playing with a ball that was green. We were playing tug of war with it and I managed to win somehow. I think because I never gave up.

Now, it is the next day. I am at Annmarie Garden, It is a place with a lot of artwork that people from all over the world have done. It is basically like a national park as in that it is outdoors and there were some living creatures including all of the trees you see behind me. You might think this is a painting that I took my picture next to but it is actually real and the tree guy is taller than me. A carved wacky tree guy with a beard and very long hair that is blowing in the wind (that there was basically none of).

Here, there were a lot of standing stones and seats made of stone. In the middle was a Council Circle. I was sitting in the middle of it. There were two circles. The inner one was smaller. The outer one was bigger. Even though my mom thinks it looks like I was thinking about something very important, I was not. I was just sitting there.

Me and my mom. My mom is standing next to me and I am sitting on one of the standing stones that were behind me, in the last picture.

It is fun to sit in high places.

We went to the garden with Cameron, Jim, Liz, Eric, Sarah, and Baby A and Baby B.
I heard they have come up with names for the babies but that they aren't telling anyone. I think that's cool. I think the fact that that they are having twins is awesome because I will have two new cousins. Seeing Eric and Sarah was fun. They are nice and I can play with them.

After the garden, we went to another seafood restaurant to meet the rest of the group for lunch.

For my meal, I ordered the kids crab leg cluster. Crab tastes good.

I enjoyed cracking and eating the crab legs. I sat next to Cameron's cousin Kayhan's son, Sinan. He is fun because he is a kid and plays with me a lot and is nice.

I don't know what he thought about my crab legs. Obviously, he was surprised or interested. I can't tell which one, though.

I liked crab. Eating it from the shell was fun because I had to work to get food.

We had a little bit of time before the boat ride so we went back to the hotel. My mom and I exercised a bit in the workout room with the air conditioning running. I thought the sprinting machine was fun because it stretched my legs. I also ran on the treadmill. I had used one of those before so I knew how to work it. I like using exercising equipment.

Then, we went on a boat to celebrate Cameron's grandmother's 90th birthday.

Happy Birthday!

As the boat was leaving, we saw a couple of swans guarding a nest.

Here, Cam and I are sitting on the boat, looking at the water, all-in-all just having a good time.

I am trying to listen to Sarah's twins. I couldn't hear them on the boat. Another time when I was listening, I heard some popping sounds but that was it. I think it will be nice when I meet them.

Here, I am sitting with mom. During the ride, my mom sat next to me near the front of the boat. I thought it was nice.

In this picture, I am sitting near the tip of the boat with Kayhan and Sinan. They were nice. I liked being with them.

Here, Sinan and I are sitting on the front of the boat together.

Here, Sinan is driving the boat and acting like the captain. He looks like he is having fun.

Here, I am captaining the boat. He asked me to try to turn us close to the Harbor and I did. It was hard.

Sinan and I enjoyed rocking this rocking chair back and forth.

We took turns rocking each other in the chair.

Sometimes, we would sit in it together.

On the way to Maryland, I listened to The Best of Bill Cosby, two times. I kept cracking up and laughing out loud.

On the way home, I fell asleep while listening to System of a Down. (My favorite SOAD song is B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own Bomb) from Mezmerize.) I still had one piece of the headphone on my ear. For awhile, the music was still on while I was sleeping.

I liked our time in Maryland. It was wickedly awesome.

My Old, Awesome Roboraptor

2007-04-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here, I am playing with a toy I got awhile ago. I just started playing with it again recently. It is called the Roboraptor. He is knocking down walls that my grandma and I made from Jenga pieces. It was awesome.

I think the video that was captured is cool.

Sword Fighting

2007-04-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here, in this video, Ash and I were sword fighting. It was very fun.

P.S. Listen in the background for the voice of my grandma saying "flowers."

I Just Got Some New Heelys!!!!

2007-04-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here I am Heelying down a small slope in my new Heelys that I got a few days ago. I have wanted Heelys for about a year. I first saw an ad for them on TV at someone else's house. A few of the kids out here wear them.

I think Heelying is incredibly fun. I Heely at Blackie's Pasture sometimes and wherever I am (except school).

I was excited to finally receive a pair. My Grandma Marilyn paid for them. Thank you, Grandma.

My Scar's Getting Better

2007-03-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Friday, my mom took me to the city to get my stitches out. It didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. They didn't numb it or anything. It didn't take as long as I thought to would either.

It felt like something getting pulled out of my body with tweezers and coming out. He did it over and over again until they were all out. They left the stitches on the inside of my mouth in because they will eventually dissolve on their own.

After they took them out, I looked in the mirror and I thought it looked a lot better.

Saturday morning, we went on a hike that Cameron had already gone on. My scar was feeling a lot better.

We hiked all the way to the top of a mountain to get a good view and have a picnic.

Here, I am showing off my strawberry, happily, with mom.

"Hey."

"Stop it."

"That tickles."

I was small enough to fit in this crevasse in the ground and I still had some room to move around by my sides.

The crevasse ran all along the trail. In some places it was smaller than others.

Thanks to everyone who has helped make me feel better.

Sunday's Accident

2007-03-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we were at Golden Gate Park.

We were just hanging out, having a good time.

And then, all of a sudden, I got hurt.

Me and Cam were playing catch just doing the usual. We read some of our book together. Then Mom & Cam told me to go play.

I'd seen a good sized branch earlier. It was about five or six feet long. I went back for it. Then, carried it over near where Mom & Cam were resting and began to play.

I was having a nice time playing. The stick was curved. I was pushing on the front end of it to make it roll on the ground like a wheel would roll if the stick were a wheel. It worked really well the first few times. Those times, when I pushed the stick away from me, it went around in a circle about two times before falling to the ground.

The last time I pushed the stick, the back of it came up and hit me in the face. It hurt. Actually, it didn't really hurt too much because my face felt numb. I felt sort of weird and I moved my hand up to my chin to see how badly hurt I was and I felt a deep cut. It felt bad, really horrible. And I said, "Oh my God." Then I ran over to Mom & Cam and they reacted a lot the same way.

Mom was all nice, keeping me calm. "Sam, stay calm." "Cam, call 911." While we were waiting for the ambulance, Mom had her hand cupped underneath my chin to catch the blood. When I saw the blood, I thought, "Oh my gosh, that's a lot of blood." But I was not afraid. I felt ok. It seemed like it took a little while for the ambulance to come but not too long.

When the ambulance guy got there, he talked to me for a little bit. Then, he wrapped my head in a bandage type thing. Like Cameron said, "mummy style."

The ambulance was a little ways away from where I had been hurt. As we walked up to the ambulance, we passed people who were playing in the park. It was weird.

I went into the back of the ambulance. They didn't run the siren or anything.

Then we went to the hospital and I got stitches.

It wasn't fun.

Not one bit fun.

Except that Cam and I kept making funny faces at each other.

He made me laugh.

It took a while and then someone finally came in and stitched me up. The whole thing took about five hours.

Then, we left and went to In & Out Burger. Cam went inside and got the food while mom was getting my medicine. I drank some of my vanilla milk shake and ate some French fries. That night, we watched a movie when we got home. The movie was called the Invincible Iron Man. I liked it a lot. Then I went to bed and that's about it.

On Monday, I stayed home from school and played around a little bit but not too much really. Mostly just recuperated. Today, I'm still feeling tired and just not too good. So, Mom let me take another day off of school to rest.

I hope that nothing like that ever happens again.

My Bow & Arrows

2007-03-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

As I am covered in wrapping paper, unwrapping my most favorite gift in the world, I am getting extremely excited.

Woo-Hoo!! I got a bow and arrow.

I had asked my Grandma Bucklin for one and now she had given it to me.

It was a new kind and it was build for shooting very far. The box said you could shoot an arrow 100 feet up into the air.

Here I am putting an arrow into the string on the bow, taking my first shot.

My first shot went, oh, I don't know, five feet at most.

I had just shot an arrow and this was probably one of the arrows that went about 12 feet then sunk to the ground.

Sometimes I strung the arrow badly and it didn't go as far.

Once I got the hang of it, they went FLYING at least 50 feet.

Thank you, Grandma Bucklin. I really love this gift and you too.

My Stick Collection

2007-03-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

I like sticks.

My friend, Timilla has come down and is on the second floor overlooking my entire stick collection.

I am holding a stick with reddish bark that looks like a bazooka.

Currently, I have the red stick, shaped like a bazooka, over my head like I am about to pound it down on somebody's head, but I'm not of course.

Here, I am holding it up above my head like we had just won a battle. VICTORY!!!

In the background, you see a plant pot full of sticks. That is only one small piece of my stick collection.

eating alligator

2007-01-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

After the swamp tour, we went out to dinner. I ate alligator. It tasted like chicken.

After dinner, we saw some alligators in a pin outside.

They looked rough and scaly.

When you go in search of alligators...

2007-01-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

When you go in search of alligators but find none, you may still find many other interesting creatures.

We went on a swamp tour. While we didn't find any alligators, we did hear a few funny Buodrow and Tibedeax jokes before the ride was over.

One of the interesting creatures that we found was a great horned owl.

We also saw a strange bird that looked like a penguin but could fly very well.

One of the things we wanted to see was a nutria. We lucked out.

I thought the swamp tour was incredibly fun.

Sam, Warg Rider

2007-01-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

I am at Cameron's college in Louisiana. The name of it is LSU. We went there over Christmas break.

While I am sitting on the LSU mascot, I think I look like an orc riding on a warg with my stick in the air.

Now, I look like a nice kid next to my dad while the tiger is still roaring and growling.

We were having a good time.

North Beach

2006-11-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

Last month, we went to North Beach at Pt. Reyes. My mom and Cam wrote about it too.

The drive was incredibly harsh and made me incredibly car sick. Once we got there, I felt better.

We had to climb down a few rocks that looked like a mini mountain to get to the beach from the parking lot.

Here my mom and me are standing in front of North Beach feeling perfectly fine, just a tiny bit cold and that is why I have my hood up over my head.

There, we found a dead seal washed up on the beach.

Here, I am acting like this stick is a spear or a javelin. I'm going to throw it at the water.

In this picture, I am running towards mom while holding the same stick. I am acting like I am going to stab her with it.

We found a small fort. I am about to go inside it. Inside, I found sticks. It was like a tiny, itsy, bitsy cabin with no food, water, furniture, kitchen counters or drawers.

Here, my mom and me are in another fort. We were playing tug of war with a stick that we found inside of the fort. It was like having a one on one tug of war game.

Here, Cam is acting like a cave man and is getting up to scare me (the other cave man) away from my mom (the cave woman).

Here, Cam is actually trying to scare me away. Mom (the cave woman) took a picture.

Here, I am walking across a log that fell down. It felt like walking on a balance beam that is very high and had sharp sticks and sand under it. You may call me tight rope walker.

Here, I am walking off with two sticks and looking at Cam, hoping he doesn't scare me away.

Later, I found a stick made of bamboo. It broke a couple of times and then it formed this stick. It looks like a brand new sword.

I am glad we went to the beach that day, except for the car sickness. The car sickness was horrid.

Rescue at Golden Gate Bridge

2006-11-12T07:14:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody. Mom has horns. Do you see the spires of the Golden Gate Bridge sticking out of my mom's head?

Here we are on the Golden Gate Bridge but not yet over the water.

Here, Cameron and I are discussing what a gulf is.

We are almost walking on the water. I am looking out to see how far it is until we are above it.

Don't I have a nice, lovely, huge horn sticking out of my head? No really, don't you see a piece of one of the spires of the Golden Gate Bridge sticking out of my head?

Here is Cam standing on the Golden Gate Bridge with Angel Island in the background.

"I'm gonna jump for it."

Here, me and my mom are spitting off the Golden Gate Bridge into the water. The spit seemed to fall forever.

Here, I am watching the waves as they come forth from the tide.

Here, we are having fun talking on a pier and watching the sea gulls and seals.

This is a fort that they used to keep incoming ships from attacking the Golden Gate Bridge. We learned that when cannons fired, the cannon ball could ricochet (bounce) on the water twice and still have enough force to smash a hole in the side of a ship.

Hooray! Gunpowder!

Oh, look. Even better. More gunpowder. Inside the fort, they had barrels and barrels of gunpowder.

This was the biggest cannon they had in the fort. The sign next to it said that this cannon was never used in the fort.

We found a slug and we compared it in size to mom's shoe. Isn't it giant?

It was on the sidewalk so I decided I would pick it up and put it in the mud where it would be safer.

Good luck, ginormous slug.

Here are two seals that we saw on our trip back.

I took this picture of one of the spires in the Golden Gate Bridge while looking straight up. It looks taller than it really is, doesn't it?

On our way back, we were almost to the car. We just had to go underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and get in our car and drive home.

What do we do on Saturday mornings

2006-11-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I set out to capture the morning.

This is what I look like in the morning. Don't I look grouchy? I wasn't. I was just making a grouchy face while trying to take my own picture. Actually, I was having a rather grand time.

Mom enjoyed the morning.

Mom was enjoying her Saturday morning.

Cam likes to stretch in the morning and this is what it looks like when he does (in a blurry sort of fashion).

Mom and Cam were both having a great time that weekend.

The cat was even enjoying the morning and celebrating by eating her food.

Cam likes to drink his drink and think his think.

Cam was drinking coffee.

Mom likes to drink breakfast drinks in the morning.

We have a magnet collection on our fridge. It has magnets of different types of dinosaurs and from all over the world.

The kitty wants outside.

The other kitty likes to sit on chairs.

The kitty that wanted to go outside runs away.

This was a very good morning.

Granny & Gramps

2006-10-29T07:18:00.000-08:00

These pictures are of my grandparent's (my mom's parents) and what they look like. Last month, Granny & Gramps came to our house for a visit.

We chilled out on the couches and talked for a bit.

Then, we went down to the creek and I showed them how I can walk across a large pole that goes across the creek. There are many large, sharp rocks below that you can crack your head on if you fall. It was precarious but I think it is sort of fun to do dangerous stuff - go across the creek the treacherous way.

On the way home, Gramps climbed the sort-of difficult shortcut up the hill with me.

I like this picture because my eyes are glowing red. They look really weird and scary. I look sort of like a vampire or like I have laser eyes.

Here, Grandpa, me and Cameron were all sitting on the couch in our living room, talking together.

The next day, after school, we decided to climb Ring Mountain. I ran ahead and climbed a rock. I am the tiny little speck on top of this boulder.

This is a picture of me on top of the boulder, up close. It was very fun to climb the boulder.

Grandma even climbed the huge boulder. I felt proud of her. Not many grandmas are brave enough to climb huge boulders.

While we were climbing the boulder, Grandpa ran far, far, far ahead of us. We couldn't catch up for a really long time. Finally, he stopped at the top of the mountain and waited for us.

This picture shows I took a hell of a short cut to get to him first.

We both climbed the rest of the way to the top peak of the mountain together. We got there before the rest of our group. While we were waiting, we sat on top of two small boulders and waited for Mom and Grandma to catch up.

Mom got to the top of the mountain next. Grandma took a little bit longer because she was taking pictures like this one.

Here, I am standing on top of a huge boulder at the highest point.

Granny & Gramps climbed up with me. There were people trying to climb up the over hang the really hard way using rock-climbing equipment.

We just walked up the hill-type way.

The next morning, I took some random pictures. This is one I caught of grandma. She sometimes does this face when she is annoyed.

I caught this picture of Trix running off down the hill.

Later that day, we went to Muir Woods.

Here, I am standing on a bridge made of a fallen redwood tree. I felt good.

On a trail outside of Muir Woods, I found this huge tree that was easy to climb. I climbed it and surprised both my mom and grandpa when they caught up to us. At first they did not see me.

It was fun.

That afternoon, my grandma and I played in my room and went back to the creek. That evening, we went to Rodeo Beach.

I liked playing with a dog I met there.

Mom found a clear, green, crystal-like rock. It was smoothed by the waves. It looked almost like the stones in her wedding ring.

There were also some large rocks shaped like huge spear tips sticking out of the ground. They reminded me of The Lord of the Rings.

Here we are with the dog we met and his owner.

I threw the tennis ball to him over and over again. It was incredibly fun.

I wish I had a dog. I have wanted one ever since I was three. But we have to go to school and work and a dog would make a mess around the house. And I don't really like the idea of cleaning up after one.

On our way home, we decided to stop and take some pictures by the Golden Gate Bridge

I like this picture of us. It was like getting a poster of the Golden Gate Bridge with us in it for free.

This is a picture of Granny & Gramps and me standing next to the Golden Gate Bridge. I am glad they came to visit. We had a fun time. I hope to see them again soon.

The Half Dome (and an interesting little furry creature)

2006-10-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

After playing in the boulder fort at Yosemite, we decided to go see the Half Dome. (Mom and Cam wrote about it too.) On the drive into the valley, we stopped for a small break and went down to see a waterfall that was big in some points and small in others. I am standing next to a small point. A big point is to my left. I could barely hear anything because my ears were popping from the change in elevation.

From Glacier Point, we could see two waterfalls in the distance. One of them was big and one of them you shall see up close after a few more pictures. I thought the view was magnificent.

This is the Half Dome. Cam and I are standing next to a map that shows what you could see from this point. I thought the Half Dome was amazing because of its gigantic size and because of how long it took people to climb it. Cameron said that most people did it in 18 hours. I think I would like to climb it someday but that day is not anytime soon. Maybe I'll try when I'm 17.

Here I am squatting on a rock that is close to the overlook and giving my mom a massage.

Here I am standing next to an interesting little furry creature that was quite curious and brave. He got very close to me. I felt surprised. I had never seen a squirrel so close before.

On our way back to the campground, we decided to stop for an up-close look at Bridal Veil Falls. It wasn't very wide because it wasn't rainy season. You could watch a drop fall all the way from the top to the bottom. I got pretty close to the base of the falls. I thought it was cool.

Then, we stopped at a creek. I wonder if it was caused by Bridal Veil Falls.

Cam picked me up and acted like he was going to throw me into the creek but he really didn't. It was fun and a little bit scary.

Here we are acting cool on a rock near the creek. That night, back at the campsite we roasted marshmallows and had smores. It was one of the most fun days I have ever had.

The small fort of rocks at Yosemite

2006-10-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

At Yosemite, Cam found a small fort made of rocks. In one part, there are two rocks leaning against each other. They formed a cave that made shade, making it cooler. There was also an open free area that you could get warmer in. There were lots of small passages to explore. It was very nice.

Here, Cameron is sitting on a very large boulder that helped form the small fort of rocks. It was very easy to get onto from the outside but from the inside, it was really difficult.

These are a few more of the rocks that helped form the fort of small rocks. My mom and I are sitting on two of these boulders. On one of the boulders, there is something that looks quite a bit like a chair. It is next to the boulder I am sitting on. I felt incredibly relaxed.

On our way back, at the small creek, we found a tiny waterfall with some small fish in the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall. In this picture, I am walking over a shallow area in the creek. The waterfall is right next to the shallow area.

I really enjoyed the trip to the amazing fort of rocks.

The lake we went to at Yosemite

2006-10-09T18:31:00.001-07:00

When we were at Yosemite, we went on a long hike. It took a couple of hours but then we got to this small lake. The lake had some fallen over trees that went into it. I liked it quite a bit. And there were lots of water bugs in the small lake as well. (Mom and Cam wrote about it too.)

One part I didn't like is when I picked up a blade of grass and was making noises with it by pulling it between my fingers until I looked at my hands and saw that the grass had given me quite a few small cuts that lasted awhile. But they are all faded down now. At Safeway, I got another paper cut. It is kind of funny because the store is called Safeway but I got cut on cardboard there.

But back to the lake... Cam was on the other side of the lake when he took this picture. He was using one of the cameras where you can zoom in and out so he got us up close even though he was far away.

This is a picture of all three of the members in our family at the lake. Also, at the lake, there was a tree that had a small fork at the top.

Just before we left, we saw a deer come out of the woods and start trodding around on the opposite side of the lake. He started trodding towards the water as if he was going to the lake to get a drink. And we did see him drink.

And then we went back to our campsite and had a picnic. I felt like it had been a really good morning.

Camping at Yosemite

2006-10-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

One time, when we went camping in Yosemite, there were a whole bunch of boulders around our campsite. The campground we were in was called White Wolf. I liked climbing on the boulders a lot. (Mom and Cam wrote about it too.)

We thought we might see bears at Yosemite. There was even a bear box we put our food in because we were afraid the bears might come and take it. We had to put everything that smelled like food in them.

The park ranger told us about some bears that were coming into the campground regularly. She said there was a sneaky bear that would even get the sack of marshmallows off the table right behind you when you were making smores. I thought that was a bit funny and I joked around about it. Unfortunately, we didn't see any bears. But we did see a coyote.

Also, there was a creek near the campground that had this natural bridge that wasn't made by people. I collected firewood and put it on the bridge. Not all of the firewood was good to work with though.

Cam found this really cool fort-type thing which you will hear about a little bit later. We climbed on top of a giant rock and I got on his shoulders and mom took a picture.

Back at the campsite, we roasted marshmallows. Sleeping in the tent was extremely cold. I didn't like it so much but I didn't complain about it. It was worth it.

Happy Birthday, Eric!!!!

2006-10-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

Have a wonderful birthday, Eric.
I miss hanging out with you and Sarah.

Love, Sam

When we finally got to Tennessee Beach...

2006-09-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

After a long hike, we finally made it to Tennessee Beach. We went with a co-worker, friend of my mom's and her family. My mom and Cam wrote about it too.

This is a picture of me, Liam and Liam's dad, Jon at Tennessee Beach on a rock that is surrounded by the tide but it is not touching us. When we were there, there was a sea wall that had these small caves. When a wave came, it would make a loud drumming sound when the water hit the caves.

Liam and I went on a rock that was flat and when a big wave came, it would ride up and curve away from the rock. None of it got on us unless we hung our feet over the edge.

This is a picture of when Liam and I went on one of the high sea walls. We were pretending that the tiny pebbles that were on the beach were hot lava. We wouldn't touch them.

The great battle

2006-09-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

Here I have most of the weapons that are in my weapons bin while still having one hand free. I am wearing ten weapons. Later I will have eleven. One of them is a shield that I use to bap people in the head.

My other opponents are John and Johanna, my uncle and aunt. (My mom wrote more about their visit.) They were fighting against me. They had six weapons between them, three light sabers and three foam weapons. I was wearing all the rest.

Here I am holding Johanna's light saber with two of my foam axes. It works because I have it locked and I am pulling it in two different directions so it won't go either way.

Meanwhile, John comes up with a Fluffy action figure and almost bites me. I was surprised. I hadn't thought of my action figures as weapons.

Now, I have eleven weapons. The weapons that I am holding are two sheilds, two axes, four swords and three light sabers.

I am trying to knock John's light saber down but instead it goes right over my shield, rests on it and almost pokes me. We don't know who won. We stopped fighting so we could go to Mt. Tam.

On Mt. Tam, I climbed very high. I could see for miles up there. Cam showed me Mt. Diablo. We might go there sometime.

The hole in my teeth

2006-09-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Recently, two of my teeth fell out within about a week of each other. One was on top and one was on bottom. They were both just to the left of my buck teeth.

This created a hole in my teeth as you can see in this picture. The second tooth was very loose the whole time we were in Yosemite but it didn't fall out until the following Monday when I was back in school.

I like to poke my tounge out through the hole.

Muir Woods

2006-09-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have been to Muir Woods a few of times with my mom but last weekend was the first time Cam was with us. Mom and Cam wrote about our trip too.

This is a picture of us at the entrance to Muir Woods. We always take our picture in front of this sign so we can remember where we are.

This time that we went there, it was early in the morning and it was cold. I hadn't brought a sweatshirt to wear and at first I was a bit cold. But when we got hiking and in the afternoon, I was warm.

The hiking was great.

One of the coolest things we saw on the hike were the deer. We even saw couple of bucks with big horns. This one was drinking the water from the creek. It was looking right at us.

This is a fawn that we saw above the creek and trail. He got really close to us. He was watching us curiously and eating leaves. Another fawn was with him.

This is a picture of when he made his head go in cicles flopping his ears. That is the disk-like shape around his head.

This is me when we were hiking back to our car. There was a burnt-out tree trunk along the trail that was so big you could fit inside easily.

The rope swing.

2006-09-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

Near our house is a hill that has a rope swing. We've just discovered it and have only been there twice. Mom and Cam both wrote about our second trip there.

Here is a picture of me getting ready to swing. I am not in mid-air yet.

Here I am actually swinging on the rope. It was fun. I felt like I was really, really high but I was only about five feet off the ground.

Here I am going back to the tree so I can get off and get back on again. It was like a swing only better because you had to hold on and you were dangling by your hands.

My shadow trick

2006-09-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is the first part of my shadow trick. I invented it at Rodeo Beach last Friday. Mom and Cam both wrote about the trip. It was lots of fun. But back to my shadow trick.

All you have to do is look at the shadow and put the stick right next to your side and it looks like you stabbed yourself right through your stomach in the shadow. But that's just the beginning.

This is what happens next in the shadow trick. You make the stick go right down and hold it to your side so it looks like you stabbed yourself in the stomach if you look at the shadow.

Then you just act like you are about to die. Go on your knees, acting like you are trying to stay alive and it will appear like that in the shadow.

Now just fall to the ground, lying on your back and act like you are dead.

5 foods you should eat before you die

2006-09-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

This is my response to Cameron's tag. 5 foods you should eat before you die are:

1. Krispy Kreme Donuts.
2. Cheese Pizza from Pizza Hut with stuffed crust
3. Seedless Watermelon
4. Golden-brown, self-campfire-roasted marshmallows
5. White rice with butter and salt...

There is my list. Eat it.

Letter to my teacher.

2006-08-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

I had to write a letter to my teacher. Here is what I wrote:

Dear Ms. Bouton August 28, 2006
I am 9 years old. I didn’t always live in Tiburon. I was born in Des Moines, Iowa. I stayed there for a couple of weeks and then I went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house so that Grandma could take care of me, staying home and mom could work at the same time and I didn’t have to leave the house.

When I turned two, my mom and I got our own apartment. Then when I was three, we moved to St. Louis. Our downstairs neighbor was Carmella. I had my fourth birthday at a park in St. Louis. Then we went back to Iowa for a little while. We lived there for a couple of years. Grandma came to visit often and we had lots of fun.

When I was six, we moved to Chicago and stayed there for a couple of years. That’s where my mom met my step-dad, Cameron. They got married about a year after I met him. Now we live here in Tiburon and I go to Bel Aire School.

I like to play on the computer. My favorite computer game right now is The Lord of the Rings the Battle for Middle Earth. This is a game that is sort of like The Lord of the Rings but it only has the action parts and there is a battlefield that you have to claim and you get a certain amount of points. You can also get different amounts of points while playing the game while fighting and doing different tasks. What you usually do is try to destroy the enemy. But in one of them, what you do is run away from the enemy.

I have two cats. Their names are Dixie and Trixie. Dixie has a moustache and Trixie has a beard. They are entirely black and white. Last night, Trix was biting at my toe when it was underneath the covers. It didn’t really hurt, it tickled, actually. We were watching a movie. Mom and Cam asked me to be quiet and so I stopped bothering Trix.

I like music too. My favorite band is Green Day. They most definitely aren’t appropriate for school. The CD has a lot of bad words in it and it is very hard rock. The title of my favorite one even has a bad word in it. I like Kaiser Chiefs too. I think you might like that. It is hard rock but it doesn’t have that many bad words in it. There is a band with a funny name. It is called Chumbawamba and I like one of their songs. It is called, “I Get Knocked Down.”

So far, I think school is going great and that you are one of the best teachers I’ve had.

Your friend,

Sam E.

Music I like

2006-08-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

My new teacher told us we could bring music to school. She was going to burn a couple of each of our favorite songs onto a cd that we could listen to in class.

I picked "Jungle Gym" from the soundtrack to Curious George by Jack Johnson and "Move Along" by the All American Rejects. Here is a letter I wrote to her about the assignment:

Dear Ms. Bouton, August 24, 2006

I like music too. At first I didn’t want to bring any music to share with the class because most of the songs I like best aren’t appropriate for school. My favorite band is Green Day. But my mom thinks some of the music I like is appropriate. She encouraged me to listen to some songs I like and divide them into groups.

Here is some music I like but don’t think I should bring to school:

1. American Idiot, Green Day, American Idiot

2. Kaiser Chiefs, Employment

a. Everyday I Love You Less & Less

b. Rest of CD

3. Recognize, Better Than Ezra, Closer

4. Easy, Cowboy Mouth, Easy

5. Devil’s Haircut, Beck, ODelay

6. Beverly Hills, Weezer

7. Detroit Swing 66, Gomez, In Our Gun

8. Mr. Brightside, Killers, Hot Fuss

9. Undone – the Sweater song, Weezer, The Blue CD

10. Rhett Miller, The Instigator

a. The El

b. This is What I Do

11. Where is the Love? Black Eyed Peas, Elephunk

Here is some music I like and think might be OK for school:

1. Jungle Gym, Jack Johnson (featuring G. Love), Curious George (#6)

2. Move Along, All American Rejects, Move Along (#3)

3. Jenny Was A Friend of Mine, Killers, Hot Fuss (#1)

4. Cowboy Mouth, Are You with Me?

a. Love of My Life (#7)

b. Jenny Says (#1)

c. How Do You Tell Someone? (#2)

d. Take It Out On Me (#4)

5. Do What You Want, Gertrude, Gertrude

There are more songs I like but Cameron is home and we are going to have dinner now. Let me know if you want to hear more or would like me to bring in more music.

Your friend,

Sam E.

A day at Agate Beach

2006-08-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

Almost a week ago, we went to Agate Beach and spent a while there playing on the shores. It was very rocky. Small crevices in the rocks that are full of water during high tide. When it gets to low tide, you can see the small craters in the rock. There are some sea creatures there. The beach was also full of seaweed. It would be almost impossible not to step on any seaweed when you go there.

We went at low tide. I got wet. That was the worst part, except for the stickiness. You could even touch all of the sea creatures in the tide pools but you had to get your hands wet first. You could even touch the sea creatures that are out of the tide pools. There were about 8 starfish there and there were even nudibranches. There were a lot of tide pools at Agate Beach. They were different shapes and sizes. There were also lots of slugs and a few crabs in shells. There were even a few empty shells.

This is a picture of a few sea anemones. When you put your finger in the center of one in the water, it would tickle a little bit. It would close up on your finger which you could just easily pop out.

This is a nudibranch that we found in a tide pool with the first starfish we saw. I thought it was very cool because of its gold body and its blue tail and head. I had never seen anything like it before.

This is a picture of what we think might be another nudibranch. I also thought it was cool because of its orangish spots all over and the whitish parts in between. It looked like the orange spots were popping up.

We didn't touch either nudibranch.

We are standing on seaweed looking into the tide pools and occasionally putting our finger into a sea anemone.

We saw a rock that was hollow on the inside. You could see into it. It was arched on the top.

I am standing on the rock that was in the last picture. It is in front of a very tall and steep sea wall.

Here is a picture of one of the starfish we saw. I think it is the one from the first tide pool with the first nudibranch.

Here I am holding a starfish that somebody else took off a rock. It is very hard to take a starfish off the rock. It hurts your hand to try.

Mom was trying to take a starfish off a rock. I tried to take the same starfish off the rock. We couldn't get it off. It hurt our hands to try because the back of the starfish is very rough (and pretty). I think the starfish's skin is ridged to protect the starfish. No wonder we couldn't get it up.

The first sea anemones we saw were green. We also saw a few sea anemone that were pinkish-red.

Here I am standing and sliding down the rock. It was very slippery.

Here I am putting the starfish I held back on a rock. It was half submerged and half above water. I thought I did a pretty good job.

This is the biggest sea anemone we saw out of water. It was about 3 inches wide at its widest point and 2 inches at its narrowest.

These shells were sticking to the bottom of the hollow arched rock. They looked like stalactites.

Here I am standing on a huge boulder. I don't remember much about this.

These are very beautiful rocks. I think what may of made them beautiful was the coral on them.

This was the biggest sea anemone we saw under water. None of us stuck our finger in it. It actually might have taken them off. It seemed to be glowing.

Cameron is wearing his Project Homeless Connect shirt at the tide pools. He looks cool (but I am just saying that, so Cameron won't make me write another sentence about this picture.)

Here I am holding a dead crab that I found in one of the tide pools underneath a rock. The back of his shell would open up but not fall off.

This is the dead crab with his shell flipped up. On the top it was purple. The brownish-whitish things we think are gills. Its legs were about 2 inches tall. Its pinchers were about a centimeter tall.

Here I am standing up high on a tree that fell over, using it as a balance beam. My mom was being my spotter. I felt a bit scared. Before this, I had used a different log as a balance beam, and I didn't fall off once. But, I wasn't scared then because it was lower.

Here I'm looking at the ocean waves and holding my walking stick. I felt vibrant and free.

On the way back, I ran through a small bit of water. My shoes got soaked. I also slipped into one of the tidepools. My shoes are still outside drying.

This is the earlier log that I was going on like a low balance beam that I went on on the way back. I fell off this one a few times, because I didn't have the walking stick. But my mom went back to get her coat. So, I asked her to grab it. And when she came back with it I said, "It wasn't hard to find was it?"

And she said, "No." This is because I stuck the stick into the sand right next to the place where Mom and Cam were sitting ... seen here and here.

Here my head is poking out of the sun roof. We stopped so me and Mom wouldn't throw-up from car sicness, because the road was windy.

These are pictures of rocks that we found at Agate Beach. The rocks there were very interesting. Here are three pictures of what three rocks there looked like.

Happy Birthday, Gramps!!!!

2006-08-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

You are the best grandpa a kid could ever have. Lots of love, Sam

Climbing Mt. Tam

2006-08-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here I am on Mt. Tam, sitting on a rock and getting a drink. I thought the view was amazing. I even took a few pictures.

I took this picture of the bay from Mt. Tam.

I made it to the top of Mt. Tam and I am standing next to a plaque. The plaque is engraved onto what was supposed to be a guard tower of Mt. Tam.

Here I am sitting on a rock next to the guard tower on the point of Mt. Tam. You can see this tower from our house. It is cool to look at it and know I've been there.

Here Cam is sitting on a rock that we found at the top of Mt. Tam. It is very close to the edge. I would be scared if I were there.

Here is a picture of Cam climbing another rock.

Here is a picture of me perched on top of a rock. I found a trail in a pit that led to the rock that I am perched on right now.

Cam took this picture of my mom and me sitting on the rocks. The sun was shining so brightly that it hurt to look at Cam. There were lots of bees and flies on this part of the trail, more than any other place on the mountain.

Here I am standing on a path that we found that was that was on a different part of Mt. Tam. It had a lot of tall grasses. By the end of the hikes, I was tired.

Sculptured beach

2006-08-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

We decided to go back to the beach. We found these birds when we first got to the ocean. They were funny the way they ran into the waves in order to get food then ran away from the waves. I am having lots of fun in the very strong winds that are freezing cold.
I am running to chase after a quail, funny-looking birds with a thing like a rooster on its head.
This rock looks like it has the faces from Mt. Rushmore carved into it.
This is a piece of a creek that had a little bit of waterfalls.
Here, I am walking over the waterfalls and the creek. It felt like I was strong.
I think this rock would be very hard to climb.
There are three pieces of a crab here. It was pretty cool. The inside of the middle piece was hollow with absolutely nothing in it.
Here I am sitting on a huge rock. It was very cold and a little bit scary.
Here I am climbing out of the spot I was in in the last picture.
Here I am pretending to be strong. It was a joke.
This is a picture of the waves that are going into the small pools of water.
Here is a picture of me after I got wet from the waves. When I was standing on the edge of the rocks, a wave splashed up and got me all wet. I was very surprised.
Here is a picture of a hole in the rock that went all the way down to the sand on the ground.
These rocks are covered with clams.
My mom was a little afraid to climb on one part of the rocks. I helped her. Here is a picture of me and my mom in the big rocks.
Attached to a tree by the beach was a ball tied to a rope. Cam and I hit it back and forth. Later, I hit is by myself. I had fun hitting it as hard as I could. Here I am using it as a swing.
This is a picture of a wave crashing down at the beach.

The ocean.

2006-08-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we decided to go to the beach. We had a blast. This is a picture of my mom and me when we first got to the ocean. This was my first time going to the ocean since I moved to California.

When I got to the beach, this is a picture of my first time going into the waves with Cam.

In this picture, I am running out of the waves.

This is a close-up of a wave that was pretty small. But if you were out deep enough and the wave was strong enough and you were small enough, it would probably knock you down.

This is a big wave. It was about as fast as me. I had trouble out-running it.

This is a wave overlapping another wave which combines it into one wave and makes it faster.

This is a piece of a jelly fish's body that I found on the sand. It looked a lot like ice so I was going to pick it up and throw it into the ocean. I did pick it up but when I did, it felt like jello.

I am running into the waves and after a wave starts to go back into the water, then I start running.

Here, I am running backwards, away from the waves. The waves are coming towards me.

Here I am getting soaked because a wave is crashing into Cam and me.

There is a huge wave coming down in the background that Cam and I are watching. It was becoming high tide.

My first ever mountain climb that was on Ring Mountain.

2006-08-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

On my first Saturday in California, Mom and Cam took me for a hike up Ring Mountain.

Cam was hiking faster than my mom and me. He went ahead and climbed a boulder without us noticing him. We stopped to let some people by. When we turned around to say hi to the people, we noticed Cam sitting on a big boulder. We had passed him without realizing it. I asked Mom if I could climb the boulder and she said yes. In this picture, I am sitting on top of a big boulder next to Cameron on Ring Mountain. It felt like I was very powerful.

After Cam and I climbed down from the first boulder, we all walked up the path a bit and found another boulder to climb. Mom even climbed this boulder. This one was different from the first because it had plants growing on it.

There were some really cool trees on the path too. Here I am climbing a tree we found that was pretty easy to climb except that it was narrow so I used my feet and my hands to climb it. The tree looked like a hard to get through path of lasers.

Finally, we made it to the top of Ring Mountain. There we found an enormous boulder. It was bigger than both of the boulders we had climbed before. I could see the entire mountain range and the valley from the top.

I am on top of the big boulder that I talked about in the last picture. I climbed up all the way and Cam is coming to join me. This boulder is on the topmost point of Ring Mountain.

Here, it looks like I am on the tip of a huge rock. But actually, the rock isn't any bigger than what you see in the picture. It was very cold on our hike of Ring Mountain, coldest at the top where you could see the Bay. But it got warmer as we hiked down the mountain because we weren't up so high in the clouds. At the peak, there was a very heavy breeze that would knock my hood off. When we got to the bottom, I was very hungry so I had a snack and then we ate out for lunch that day. We left the house at 9:30 to do the hike.

My first hike in San Francisco and my first ever hike with the Sierra Club

2006-07-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

I am holding a piece of grass in my mouth and that is my hiking stick and I am standing next to a tree trunk. When we were on the way, my hiking stick broke. I think that someone cut this tree down.

This is me. I am standing next to what I call a spider tree trunk because it looks a little bit like a spider or a spider web. The hole in the middle looks like the spider. It is really big. It's like a giant spider tree trunk because it looks like a giant spider web. This tree was a redwood that fell over.

There is a hole inside of this tree that has two different entrances besides the one I am standing next too. It was next to a log that marked our path. It would make a pretty good hide-out if it didn't have all of the spider webs. I had never seen anything like it. It is astonishing.

This bridge was made by a redwood falling down and someone chopping off half of it. I am sitting on the edge of it. It looks like my backpack is on but it really isn't. There is lots of water underneath it. I was looking at the beauty of the water.

I am sitting on these very thick roots in the forest of Muir Woods. These woods have some of the tallest redwoods in the entire state.

This is me. I am reaching out to touch a banana slug which was very slimy. I asked the person at the desk a few questions. He told me that these slugs could get up to 10 inches long and they could live up to six years.

This slug is saying, "I am a banana slug and I am trying to escape from this horrible prison of leaves." And the other slug says, "Words are no use, Darling, gobble, gobble, gobble."

Hello. My Name is Sam.

2006-06-14T03:46:00.000-07:00