Richmond

When we were in Richmond, we stayed at a campground that had a huge rocketship that you could climb up inside of. We tried to make a fort with some other kids by putting sticks through it so no one could see us. It was fun. We had dinner with my cousins, Gwen, Josh and Max. Me and Gwen played a game that was a talent show with animals. Then Jackson, Max and Josh came up and they were playing games with the animals too.

The next day we went to the Museum of the Confederacy. I was sick of museums at this point. Mom promised me we were done with museums for a while. Then we walked across a bridge that went over the James River. At the end of the bridge we saw a big rapids where ships can't go any higher. I think I saw a salamander. We stayed at my mom's aunt and uncle's house. We had pizza and I played in a really cool doll house.

                                                The James River

The next day we went to the Petersburg Battlefield where they fought the Civil War. On the way there our tire blew up. It was very scary. My mom and dad were trying to fix it. The van almost tipped over. A police officer came over and helped us. When we got to the battlefield, we saw a big circle with sticks sticking out so the enemy couldn't get through to the other side. We saw trenches where the soldiers slept. That night we had dinner with my great grandma. I got to play with Gwen again. We drove late that night so my brother and I got to sleep in the back.

                                         The Petersburg Battlefield

                                     These are my cousins - Gwen, Max and Josh

                                                     On our way to Charlotte

Washington DC and Seneca Rocks

We went to Washington D.C. for two days. We saw the Washington Monument was really really tall and it had a pointy triangle at the top. I took Flat Lily up to the Lincoln Memorial because it was such a big statue and she asked to see a statue. We walked all the way to Virginia to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We had to stay very quiet to have respect. We also had to stay quiet when we saw President Kennedy’s grave.

                                                       The Washington Monument

                              Mrs. Blackman's Flat Stanley and another horse (still looking for wild ones)

                                        A big statue for Flat Lily. This is the Lincoln Memorial.

                                             The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The campground we stayed at had a playground that was really cool. We had to take a bus and a train to get into the city.

The second day we saw a huge museum that had an elephant right when we walked into the building. It was called the Museum of Natural History. We got to see and touch a whale’s baleen. It felt like really prickly and it tickled my skin. My favorite thing to see was the whale. We also went to the Air and Space Museum. It had a lot of spaceships. We even saw a spaceship that came back to Earth from the moon and it was really tiny.

                                                             The Capitol Building

                                                                    The whale 

After Washington D.C. we went to a big rock called Seneca Rocks. It was in West Virginia. The first time I climbed up, I was a little scared. But when I got to the top I had fun. The rock was really skinny and I was sort of scared, but I got used to it really fast. The next day we went up there again and we went on a toprope, so I felt a little bit better. I only got halfway up because I was stuck. When Mom went up, she saw how I got stuck. She could do it because she is taller.

                                                      Getting ready to go climbing

                                                     At the bottom of the climb

Getting ready to climb over to the "Gunsight". You can see how thin the rock is from here.

                                         This is me and Mom on top 

                                                     All done

                   That "U" shape in the middle of the rock is called the Gunsight. It's really high up.

The campground was cool. It had lots of acorns around. I collected them. My brother and I played tag a lot. We even got to play hide and seek because there was lots of woods around there.

Now we’re headed to Richmond.

New York City

The first day we went to New York City. We went to the top of the Empire State Building. I saw lots of cool places. My favorite buildings were the ones with lots of gold on top of them. Then we went to the American Museum of Natural History. I saw lots of cool stuff like American Indians and dinosaurs. My favorite thing was when we saw the big moose.

We stayed at my mom's friend, Sarah's apartment. We call her City Mouse because she calls my mom Country Mouse. Her apartment was really cool and I got to sleep in a really high bed. Our camper was parked at a train station in New Jersey. Daddy was too nervous to drive it into the city.

The second day we went to see the Statue of Liberty. It was raining and we had to take a ferry there because it was on an island. We took lots of pictures. Here are some pictures of my classmates as Flat Stanley.

Here is David inside the Empire State Building.

Here is again at the top of the Empire State Building.

 Here are Lindy and Melissa at the Statue of Liberty.

Then we took a picture of Julia with a Statue of Liberty who moved and made us laugh.

 Here we are on the ferry. You can see the city behind us.

Then I took a picture of this horse for Mrs. Blackman. I hope we see wild horses somewhere else.

Hi, my name is Anna.

Hi, my name is Anna. But you can call me Sprout, since that is my nickname at school. The 3rd graders say it a lot because my brother's nickname is Bean.

My family and I are going on a trip for four months. I will miss my class a lot. I want to go and I don't want to go. I'm going to get to see a lot of fun places, but I'll miss the people I leave behind.

We'll be living in a camper van and traveling around the country. In the front it feels tiny, but in the back there is a couch. I hope we get to see a lot of fun places. I'll bet they remind me a lot of my class.

I'll write more and more every day.