Catching up time

Hi Kids, I have been very busy traveling all over our country. I went to see the Clydesdale Horses. They are really big. If you look at theeir horseshoes you can see how much bigger they are than ponies and regular horses. I went to St Louis and to a zoo. I saw a little bird called a bleeding heart. Can you seewhy it is called that? I saw lots of penguins and puffins too. More Dinosaurs and space ships too. I learned it cost a lot of money to send something into space. I went on a bridge that crossed the freeway. There was a glass window in the floor so I sat on it. I was a little bit afraid when I saw the cars zooming by underneath me. I went in a flight simulator so I could feel what it was like to fly. I wish monkeys had wings so I could really fly. Do any of you know what a planetarium is? I went to one and laid on the floor so I could see all the stars and planrts over my head. I also learned you should never look at the sun. It can hurt your eyes. I found the worlds biggest rocking chair. It was so big I could not even climb on it. I would not like to see a giant that would fit in that chair. Cmor was driving along a country road and he stopped because there was a turtle crossing the road. I got out and talked to him and then I picked him up and put him in the grass. He was very slow and I was afraid a car would hit him. I went tovisit a Limo factory for a tour. I learned that they buy regular cars and cut them in half. Then they put in new sections to stretch the bodies and make them longer. They add fancy lights to the ceiling and comfy seats. I even went into the paint booth. I like learning new things.  Next we went to the Fantastic Caverns in Missouri. We rode around underground in a jeep and saw all the beautiful rocks and formations deep under the earth. A farmer found this cave when his dog disappeared and he could hear him barking. He found a little hole and when he crawled in, there was a huge cave. It was very exciting.

Have any of you gone to the Bass Pro Sop? It is a store where campers and fishermen and hunters go. I went to the  ery first and biggest one. My favorite thing was the ceiling. It looked like Imwas underwater with ducks swimming over  my head.

Next on the Mother road I found an old park where children used to play. Have you ever been on a long car ride and you got so tired of having to sit still? This park had a blue whale that kids could go into and then go down slides inside him and into the water. I think if I was stuck in a car, I would have loved to take a break and go swimming. We found an old bridge that had bricks for the floor. Cmor was too tall to go on it so We had to go around. Do you think old bricks would be bumpy or smooth to drive on? Then I got very excited because I went into the Rock Cafe. This is where the Disney people got ideas for the Cars Movie. I had jagerschitzel there for lunch. Isn't that a funny word?  There were drawings of woody and Buzz lightyear on the wall from the artist that made that movie. The walls in the bathroom and in the hallways were covered with peoples names. This time it was alright to write on the walls. I went down the road and saw the Mystery Machine. Do you know who drives in it? I went next to another old museum. It had a little diner outside that was just the size of Cmor. People ordered the pieces from a factory and put them together. They were called Valentine diners but I thought they looked like playhouses. I think I am going to stop my blog for now so you do not get tired of hearing Bout me. I will write more tomorrow. Hugs from Junior

Candy and traveling

Hi kids. I have been having more fun. I went to one of the biggest candy stores ever. I climbed around the shelves trying to find a different kind of candy for you. I found a box I had never seen before. I sent some to your school for you to share. I hope they taste good. I visited the housefrom A Christmas and had my picture taken with elf. Cmor to me to a Merry go rou d museum and I went for a ride on an ostrich. I saw lots of the horses that were on Postage stamps and athe deer that were used as decorations in The White House. What is your favorite animal to ride on? I went to see the Stadium where the Detroit Tigers play ball. There were lots of tigers nd bats and baseballs all over the place. There was a ferris wheel that was all baseballs. Then I went to the Ford Museum and saw the Wiener Mobile. It is really big. I fot to work on a little car and saw the second biggest locamotive in the world. I sawlors od cars and one race car that was so long, your whole class could fit on top of it. Even your teachers. The driver sat way in the back. Look at the pictures of the school bus. It is very old but it is the same company as some of your schhol buses. Some of the airplanes I saw werea lot different than the airplanes now. The early pilots were very brave. The bicycles were different too. Do you think you could ride an old time bicycle without falling off?

Cmor took us to another State called Indiana. We went to Chicago and saw lots of huge buildings. Now we are driving down one of our counteies oldest roads. It is Called The Mother Road. It stretches from Chicago to Santa Monica in California. It is called Route 66. We Re going to follow it all the way home. Yesterday when we were in Juliet,we met some of the characters from Star Wars. They were very nice about taking pictures with me. I saw the old VW Bus that was the model for Fillmore in The CarsMovie. I was full of lots of stuff. I played in lots of little vars in the town of pontiac. I went into a museum and found a little race  ar that was just my size., I meta giant man with a giant hot dog. Cmor found us a camp in the middle ofacorn field. There is corn everywhere in Illinois. Do you like corn on the cob or popcorn better?  Today I went and climbed on the worlds biggestcovered wagon. Can you see e in the picture with Abraham Lincoln? I went to Springfield to see the only house that Abraham Lincoln ever owned, and I saw the rIlroad station where he left for Washington when he became president. All over here arethings about Lincoln. I am a very tired monkey nowso I am going to bed. Goodnight from Junior.

Happy Memorial Day

Hi Kids, I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I have been a very busy monkey. I have been driving through lots of states. Cmor drove me through Ohio and West Virginia and into Pennsylvania. We went to see  Locks. Not the kind that you use keys for. These locks are for boats. They are elevators in the water . They can make boats go up and down by putting a fence in front and in back of boats and then either raising or lowering the water inside where the boat  is. The boats in the old days were filled with coal that people used to build fires in their homes and businesses. I got to see what the boats were like inside and I met a sock puppy and a sock rabbit. Thursday and Friday we spent in our countries Capitol, Washington D.C. I went to see lots of monuments and museums. I learned that chocolate beans are a fruit and grow on the outside of a tree. I saw bananas growing but they were not ripe yet. I saw lots of airplanes and tried on an astronaut suit. I even saw a copy of the giant balloon that was the first thing that ever took a person up into the sky. I climbed all the stairs up to the Lincoln Monument and saw the statue of President Lincoln. I saw the very very tall Washington Monument . I even saw an astronaut inside the space station eating his food from a tray full of little compartments so his food would not float away. One of my favorite things to see was the flag that Francis Scott Key saw that made him write The Star Spangled banner. Now that song is our National Anthem. The flag was so big it would not even fit in your classroom. I went to see the White House and I met a secret service man. He is one of the brave men that help to guard our President.

I went and saw a giant elephant and stood next to an elephant leg bone and toe bones and saw how big elephant teeth are. They spend 18 hours a day chewing so they need big teeth. I even saw the ruby slippers Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz movie.

I went into Baltimore and toured a baseball field. The Orioles are the State bird in Maryland and that is what their baseball team is called. I saw a picture of an Oriole that looks like Angry Birds grandpa.Then I went to a Grist Mill. Remember all the things I told you people had to do themselves. They grew corn and wheat and after they dried it so it was hard, they took it to a mill to be made into flour or cornmeal. When the Indians used to grind their corn they used two rocks. There are no rocks in Maryland so they had to trade for them with other Indians and they carried them everywhere with them.  The settlers put the corn in the top of the big grinding wheels and a waterwheel outside the building turned the wheels around and ground up the corn until the flour came out the bottom. I was very sad to learn that children were sent to learn how to work when they were 10 years old. They stayed with the people in the mills until thay were 18 years old. When they were done they knew how to be a miller. Children had to work very hard in those days. Sometimes they had to stay home from school and help with all the farm chores. I am glad I did not have to work that hard. The next state I went to visit was Deleware. It was our countries first State. All of you are very close to The Pacific Ocean. I was at the Atlantic Ocean all the way on the other side of our country. I was as far from you as I could be and still be in America. When I walked onto the beach, I thought I saw lots of turtles in the water but when I got close I saw they were Horseshoe crabs. They are very strange looking. They look like they have a long pointed stinger but it is to help them if they get turned over. I have one more thing for you to think about. The houses along the Atlantic ocean are built high on stilts. Why do you think they are built that way? Think about that and I will tell you tomorrow. Hugs from Junior.