NorthBay Educational Adventure Camp Review...well, that's what it was supposed to be : )

Last week I went to an educational adventure camp along the Chesapeake Bay. Oh, wait, I have just had a great idea, let me record it very quickly. Okay, back to describing the "adventure of a lifetime". I can't help but think that this is inaccurate. Will a week doing awesome things ever outshine being baptized, being married, or becoming a parent? This is simply my opinion though it may be false. After all I have not done the latter two things, and will not for a very long time. Am I waxing too philosophical? Sorry if I am being confusing (which is very improbable), but I have just finished Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox. That is the best series I have ever read. Alvor would beat it if it was a series. Believe me, if it is going to be, I cannot wait! I am straying off topic though. It is most likely because of the fact I went there a week ago and, er, may have forgotten some unimportant details. In other words, this might be the worst review you have ever read on NorthBay, not to mention the first. But it is much better than it may sound. There are some pictures of me on the ropes course 50-60 ft. up! Snap, I just revealed part of it. Well, there is at least a virtual tour on the website right here. They have a gourmet chef there, and they serve dessert after every lunch and dinner. There is a zipline I went on, but the camera wasn't allowed. ; )  Don't worry it wasn't scary, it was the most exciting thing I have done where I hang from a wire and zoom above the swimming pool at 80 mph. I wish. More like the fastest speed on the fastest bike, unless that's as fast as a car, in which case I might have gone as fast as the slowest speed of that same bike, but that's probably stopped. So middle speed. Moving on. They are on the Bay, so once we went kayaking. Let's see, that's one...two...three...four! Four people who "fell" out. More like jumped. Anyway then- We interrupt this message for an important bulletin! I just checked my Aunt Laura's blog and learned the release date of Alvor 2, WINGS OF LIGHT, February 11. I can't WAIT!!!!! Back to our originally scheduled sentence! -we did a ropes course and these are the pictures.

 Believe me, it is up high. First you are on a log that looks rotten, then you are on a thin wire that has ropes hanging down, then just a wire, then a tippety canoe that sways from side to side, and finally those wooden boards that you can see.
Scariest thing I've ever done? A ginormous swing that goes higher than the ropes course, where you go up to the top slowly, then one kids chops the line and you think you are plummeting to your doom. I would not have gone on it at all if not for the desire to do something completely terrifying and this weird part of puberty that has to do with feelings! For the most part that's over though. Anyway, that's pretty much the whole week- Oh yeah! There is one thing. Two comedians came once and sung dumb songs that were really hilarious. Their link is here. OK, that's a whole review of NorthBay. Please check out that link to the virtual tour so you can see the place better
 .
Now that's a satisfied customer right there. Not to mention handsome. I have to be a little conceited, correct? After all, I got to go to an amazing place for four days. Awesome, huh?

Moms Review:

When Michael walked up the driveway after being gone all week I could have sworn he was 3 inches taller. And tanner, and  cuter!  I'm so proud of him.  This truly was an adventure.  We haven't done sleep overs so being away from home in itself was a big thing.  Michael told me about new foods (AMAZING grits!) and new friends and new adventures.  I love thinking of him trying new/hard things!  He also went clamming and learned a lot about the environment. For more amazing pictures go to here. (click on the photo album for Elkton/Cherry Hill Middle School) About 2/3 into the pictures you'll see kids on a giant swing. The middle blond haired girl is Julia. The pictures crack me up, you see pure terror in her face, then shock, then joy.  I love it!  I can't believe Michael did it!

One more thing,  Our scripture for the week was Joshua 1:9
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Appropriate right? 

Exclusive! Extra! Extra! Read All About It! 2

Here's the second chapter of my book.

It was four years after the orphanage burned down. Everyone had pretty much forgotten about Adonis disappearing, and a grave stone in the cemetery proclaimed,

Here lies the coffin made in honor of

Adonis Abel Akbar,

who died in a fire in 2006

Rest In Peace

Twelve miles away, the dark forest surrounded a school that was not on the map. It was, in fact, the school that the Blue Knight had built for his descendants with three or less powers. Today was the fourth anniversary of the fire at the orphanage. Inside, things were going along like normal. Mean kids bullying the young kids, at one person in class turning into a frog, Astronomy going on during the day... The seven-year-olds were having Astronomy, and a kid with blue eyes and brown hair slicked forward was getting bored. This kid was Felix Alexander Tidro. His power was water. Anyway, he looked at his watch. It was 10:37 am, one minute before the fire had started. He looked through his telescope, when the minute ticked onto 10:38.

"OH SNAP!" Felix leapt backwards. "Some kid just materialized out of the forest!"

Indeed, a boy had appeared on the exact date of the fire, the exact time even! He had bright red short hair that stuck in many directions and eyes that flashed many different shades of green. As Felix and the others watched, the boy walked up to the main door of the school and knocked on it. Quickly, a kid named Quigley Ty used his power to produce a length of rope, which they then used to lower down Leo Lowdmowth who's power was to magnify whatever he heard. Mean while the door opened.

"WHO ARE YOU?" said Leo in the crispy strict voice of the Alchemy teacher Mrs. Ledd.

The young boy responded, and Leo magnified. "IF YOU HAVE THE CASUALTY LIST OF BLUE FAMILY MEMBERS, YOU WILL FIND ME FOUR YEARS AGO, ON THIS EXACT DATE AND TIME, IN THE NEARBY PLACE WHERE AN OLD STONE ORPHANAGE BURNED DOWN." The boy had a strong clear voice with a hint of a Southern accent.

Mrs. Ledd looked in a scroll she was holding and then gasped. Leo quickly magnified. "YOU MEAN, YOU'RE........ ADONIS ABEL AKBAR?!"

"IT'S NOT UH-DAWN-ISS, IT'S UH-DOUGH-NISS. BUT YES." Leo stifled a scream as the rope holders quickly recovered from dropping him. They hauled him back up. All of them except one. Felix Alexander Tidro. The one who's uncle had started the fire trying to end Adonis' life.

***

Adonis was sent to the town nearby to figure things out. He told the Alchemy teacher over and over, "I can't tell anyone. It's a dangerous secret. I'm not even sure what happened." On one such occasion, Adonis said instead, "I'm sorry I can't tell you. You've cared for me so much these past days, I so want to tell you. But you'd never believe me."

Mrs. Ledd sighed. "Then Adonis, can you tell me what your power is?"

"Oh yes. That's not a secret. But..."

"But what, Adonis?"

"Will you believe me?"

"Oh Adonis. I would believe you if you said you had all the powers in the world."

"Oh. Then this won't shock you. I have all the powers in the world."

"What?"

"Well, not technically. But I do have most of them. Only perfection and darkness, and who needs them?"

"Oliver Prectefe, I suppose, but then that's because perfection is his power. But then again, he's not exactly normal. He is impossible, being perfectly right and perfectly wrong at the same time. However, I believe you wholeheartedly. But we must change the subject. Do you know of any friends you can stay with until next marking period? That is when you will begin. I must go back to school and teach Alchemy. Even though Miss Shift is fine at transforming her lead into gold, she can't transform her teaching ability into my power, which is turning lead into gold. She still teaches Time at the same time. I'm so happy Mr. Clok got fired, but too bad he made it happen in a second instead of a year. He was so good at tick-tocking people off!"

Adonis laughed. "Well, I suppose my friend Samuel could take me in. His adopted parents were about to adopt me when the fire happened, so I guess they'll be fine."

***

A week later, Adonis was dropped off at the Streek house. Samuel raced out and hugged his old friend. "Oh Adonis! I never forgot you!"

"I didn't forget you either. C'mon Samuel, let's see your parents then go to wherever I'm staying. I've got a lot to tell you." The Streeks were a couple who had adopted Samuel and were about to adopt Adonis. Mrs. Ledd had called them, said she was the police, and told them a story about Adonis. They thought that Adonis had been kidnapped by the people who started the fire because he saw them. For four years, the kidnappers had kept him, making him terrified. He had escaped with a photo of the kidnappers and the police had captured them and sent them to Fort Knox, which they pretended was an incredibly guarded jail.

"Darn." said Mr. Streek. "I wanted to give him a piece of my mind."

So there you have it. Chapters 1 and 2. Soon coming... Chapter 3!

Michael

News Update

Well we have a list of posts to do.

LIST
1. A Really Cool Visit
2. Independence Town Day
3. Latest Reads

1

So, on Sunday night our cousins the Peels came to stay for almost a week.
Introducing the Peel Family

Uncle Jason, awesome dude
Aunt Sally, very good cook
Nathan Peel, incredibly fun
Benji Peel, amazing droideka/clone-trooper-with-the-circle-gun-that-shoots-blue-bullets
Lainey Peel, adorable petite cute precious and did I mention adorable?

2

On Wednesday we all went to Philly and did Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. After they left (sniff, sniff), we went around doing the story tellers, Once Upon A Nation. We did all of them and earned a free double scoop ice cream from Franklin Square and a carousel ride. It was awesome!!! With ice cream and a merry-go-round ride for listening to thirteen stories, who can go wrong. Next time though, Michael hopes to do the mini golf course.

Latest Reads

Michael's New Favorite Book List of All Time
1. Redwall
2. Artemis Fowl
3. The Boxcar Children: The Amazing Mystery Show

Clothes pin dolls

Hi I am Eve ! This is how you make a clothespin doll.
What You Need
felt scraps, clothespin, string, scissors, felt glue, and a marker

What You Do

1. cut a piece of felt 3in up & 31-2 across this will be the dress
2. cut another piece of felt in the shape of a strip with a square hanging off this will be the apron
3. cut one more strip 1-2in up&11-2 across this will be the bonnet
4. wrap dress around bottom of the clothespin
   
5. wrap apron around dress
   
6. glue string on top of clothespin
   
7. glue bonnet on top of string

draw face
Happy Pioneer Day!

pioneer adventure

Today we had a primary pioneer day activity to go to and my Mom got to help.
She got to set up an obsticle course and this is how it went.
First you would wheel your wagon through the chairs * Then you piled up a bunch of sticks *
Then you got to a part where their were two buckets full of water with gloves with little holes at the end you filled up the gloves and milked the cows * Then you circled the laundry baskets * then we jump roped.
It was fun! We also made butter tasted hardtack made clothespin dolls & boys made tin punches.
! Happy Pioneer day!
Jane

Pictures!!!!!

Here it is, what you've all been waiting for, the pictures from our trip!Here is our adorable family at the Aaronic Priesthood Restoration site!Silly boy!Cousins!The Sacred Grove!These are pictures of us with the Howards. And one of Stephanie's friends I guess.

Meet the Wise Men!

That is the Maid of the Mist boat ride which we went on.




The High Seas! Or, the High Falls. Niagara, Niagara, I love ya, Niagara! You're only 454.2 miles away!
Well, that's about it.
Michael

Exclusive! Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Hello! How are you? I'd like to know what you think of me writing a book. I'm way too young, but I'll find a way! Just like that girl in the book The School Story by Andrew Clements. Anyway, I'd like to share the prologue of my new manuscript Kids Of Power. Here you go.

A long time ago, a man came to a land. He was known throughout the land as the Blue Knight since all he wore was shades of blue. For this reason all records with any mention of him in it was printed in blue. These records were written by his descendants who inherited his mysterious powers. Strangely, many generations of the Blue family went without powers. While he was in the country, he built two schools for his descendants. One would be for people with two or less powers, people with three to ten of his powers would go to the other. He never considered that someone would have all the powers but two. (Perfection, the boring power even the Blue Knight did not have, and darkness which no one had ever had yet.) The Blue Knight was chased out of the country by one of his sons with the first power of darkness and evil. His minions were shadows, and he used them to chase all the other Blue family members away. But he didn't stop there. He tried to take over the schools, but the headmasters, also sons of the Blue Knight, returned and fought him off, with fire and ice, the brothers two powers. Unfortunately, he escaped and the two brothers had an argument about whose fault it was. They separated and had each of their family members vow not to intermix with the other side. This was hundreds of years ago. All the original Blue family members had died. At least, that's what their descendants thought. Rumors flew around that the Blue Knight had not died and he was in a disguise, having no clue who he really was. Another flew around that the evil son had managed to find a way to live for 1700 years more than he was supposed to. That he had gathered an army. And that he was looking for a secret weapon. On the next year it was the 1600th anniversary of the brother's fight. On one part of the world, where the fire son's descendants had settled, there was a huge fire. In the place where the ice son's descendants had settled, a huge blizzard raged. Beggars were taken in. One of the beggars was a young man named Fred Akbar. Unknowingly he was a powerless descendant of the Blue Knight. He pulled himself to a door and knocked on it, then he collapsed. The door opened and an old woman peeked out. When she saw the poor beggar, she pulled him inside. When Fred woke up, he was surprised to see a very pretty young maiden nursing him back to health. Even after the blizzard, he stayed with the old woman and her daughter, until the maiden and he were married. They had a honeymoon to Arizona, where they and the old woman later moved in. After a while, they had a son named Adonis Abel Akbar. He was a powered descendant of the Blue Knight and they were surprised to see him exploit so many abilities, much more than ten. In fact he was the only descendant with all the powers of the Blue Knight. One day when he was two, his parents and grandmother disappeared into the darkness in a movie theater. He was sent to an orphanage, which one year later burned down giving off much smoke and almost killing everyone in there. Everyone survived- except that Adonis disappeared into the dark forest behind the orphanage. No one ever found him and he was assumed dead- until four years later when he turned up at the school built for descendants of the Blue Knight with two or less powers. This is the story of Adonis' first adventure at the school.

I'm going to print it with blue ink since it mentions the Blue Knight. I thought up the plot in the middle of the night trying to come up with an original idea. Some of my other ideas were Aiden Jet (based on Harry Potter), Battles Of The Galaxy (based on Star Wars), and Chronicles of Mythology (based on Percy Jackson). Pretty sad. I have had one other original idea, Snow Chicken, which is basically Frosty the Snowman turned into a chicken who fights crime. That was 3 years ago at Christmas. I wrote it as a gift for my sisters. This led to Snow Chicken 2: Birth, where Snow Chicken fought the same person (Zeb) disguised as a kid from Lucy's karate class. Then, Snow Chicken had chicks! Lucy was Snow Chicken's human sidekick. In the third book, it was revealed that Zeb was hypnotized by aliens. The spell is broken when he and Lucy get a good look at each other and they fall in love. That's as far as I've gotten. Anyway, comment whether you think this is an interesting idea, or a oh-boy-that-kid-is-crazy idea. Thanks!

Michael
P.S. Mom hasn't uploaded the pictures yet. But she will!

Our Latest Adventure

Hello everyone! On Thursday we drove to Palmyra for the Pageant. That's 6 hours 10 minutes/361.83 miles according to Map Quest. At the Aaronic Priesthood Restoration Site, we stopped. Coincidentally coincedently coincidently who cares? Anyway, the stake was there too. OUR stake! Afterwards, we finished the trip, met up with Aunt Emily, Uncle Joe, Ruby Jane, and Joey Plicka, went to the Sacred Grove, and then drove to the Pageant. Sister Howard from our ward had gotten us second row seats! EIGHT of them! (She, her husband and her daughter were in it.) The pageant was amazing, more than worth the drive, and I advise everyone to try to go see it someday. The next day, we had an amazing breakfast at the Microtel Inn, went to the Book Of Mormon Publication Site (Did you know there are 108 languages including Persian, Serbian, Laotian, Japanese, Chinese, etc.? Amazing!), and then we drove all the way to Niagara Falls. People say that it's not interesting on the Canada side, and they have no clue what a big lie they're telling. On the American side, you can't really see the whole thing unless you go on the Maid of the Mist. On the Canadian side you can see EVERYTHING!!!!!!! It's striking! We went on the Maid of the Mist boat, and I LOVED EVERY SINGLE PART OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Except for when we turned around and went back. We got wet and it was awesome! We left the falls and headed for home. Today we got home. I miss the waterfalls already. I think that someday after I get married, my wife and I should have a honeymoon there.

Michael
stay tuned for pictures

Michael's First Talk

Don't worry about the schedule. Whenever we want to post, we will. By the way, on Sunday, it was the Austin show at church. Our stake was re-divided a few months ago, and the new bishopric (bishopbric? bishobric?) has been having whole families do talks in sacrament meeting. It was our turn, the girls were singing a song, and my parents and I were giving talks. When on Monday (6 days before it happened) we got the topics. In about thirty minutes, I had written a talk. Here is the full text of it.

My talk is about how scripture study blesses our family. In preparing for this, my first talk, I read about President Monson's first talk. It then talked about how to write your own talk. One of the first instructions was to find a scripture that compared to your topic. I couldn't think of one at the moment. I used the search tab on the church website to look for one. Then I saw an article by L. Tom Perry called “Back to Gospel Basics” from the Ensign for May 1993. He says,

"Let us consider again the blessings promised us if we faithfully practice daily family prayer and daily family scripture study. The scriptures are filled with admonitions to stay close to the Lord and call upon His holy name in prayer. In the latter days of Alma’s ministry, he instructed his sons on how they should live. After Alma’s remarkable conversion, he spent his life proclaiming the gospel and perfecting the Saints. Before he died, he wanted to instill in his sons a desire to be obedient to God’s will. To Helaman he said:

'O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.'" (Alma 37:35)

In our family scripture reading, we had recently read these chapters, which are chapters 36-39 in Alma. I realized that, like Helaman, we too must learn wisdom in our youth. One way we can do this is by reading scriptures as a family. In this way, the parents can help their kids understand the scriptures better and they will learn lessons in the scriptures and become wise as Alma wanted Helaman to. In a way, we are Helaman, struggling to be good while Satan acts as Corianton, running around being bad. We too have someone who wants us to learn wisdom in our youth. He is our Father in Heaven. I bear my testimony that our Heavenly Father loves us and He wants us to return to Him someday. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I was super nervous on that morning, but when I had finished, I felt happy. The best thing about talks is that once you do one, you don't have to one again for a while.

Michael

P.S. Even Henry helped. At the beginning of Dad's talk, he said into the microphone, "I luh tures." A.K.A. I love scriptures. :D

Hot Day Treat

Whew! Today is super hot in Maryland it's at least 99 degrees Farenheit. Yesterday I sucked on two ice cubes and ate like 4 or 5 freezer pops. On one of these days it might be refreshing to have a rainbow yogurt pop. Mom found this recipe on someone's blog, but I've modified it.

YOU'LL NEED: vanilla or plain yogurt,food coloring,& a popsicle holder

WHAT YOU DO :
Place yogurt into pop holder at reosonable amounts
Then drop a few drops of food coloring (For bubbly effects shake )
freeze

ENJOY!

Jane

The History of America (as far as I know)

OK, we slacked off, but who can help it? Our last post was on Friday, June 25, 2010. That means that in between we had a bunch of stuff, including swimming, the movies, swimming, feeding ducks and a goose, swimming, Dad's B-Day, swimming, the pancake breakfast, swimming, movie nights, swimming, and a presidency meeting at our house. You get the point.


The History Of America
Once a long time ago, in 16-something - Wait. Even before that. Before even Christ was born, Lehi took his family to the Promised Land: America. Then after wars and contentions, all the Nephites died out and the Lamanites ruled the land. In 1492, explorer Christopher Columbus,
under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the native people. These were the descendants of the Lamanites. Soon, Britain found the land North America and started the colonies. France also wanted land in the New Land. So when they started inching over into the colonies, Britain was angry. They sent the soldiers to fight off the French. The British won. After the French and Indian War, the British had lost money. So they taxed the colonies to pay themselves back. People got angry. Soon, they had the Revolutionary War. After many battles, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at the Battle of Yorktown. After that, the Americans voted Washington to be their President. They created the new plan of government, and all that. We haven't gotten to the Civil War in Social Studies this year. I wonder if in 6th grade...

Sorry!

The power went out on Wednesday and we weren't able to post Eve's blog, which is why we decided to change our schedule.

Previous
Monday-Michael
Tuesday-Jane
Wednesday-Eve
Thursday-Eve/Michael
Friday-Jane/Michael
Saturday-Jane/Eve for 1st half, ALL for 2nd half

USUAL
Monday-Michael
Tuesday AND Wednesday-Eve
Thursday AND Friday-Jane
Saturday-ALL 3

UNUSUAL (If the power goes out or we aren't able to we will resort to this. IF there is a special event, we will ALL post about it together.)
If someone can't do it EVEN with double days, they shall share a post with the next person.

Again, Sorry about yesterday, but we couldn't help it.

My Favorite Books

This is Jane. I am writing a list of a few of my favorite books. You might want to try them.

-Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling (I have just started, but so far it's been good.)
-The Clementine books (Clementine, Talented Clementine, Clementine's Letter)
-The Daring Book for Girls (It isn't a story, but it has some cool things in it.)
-Because Of Winn-Dixie (Also other books by Kate DiCamillo)
-Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (If you want I can tell you about this book in comments, but then again Michael would have to do it since I haven't read all of it yet.)
-Almost all the American Girl Doll books I have read, plus Snooza-Palooza
-The Cam Jansen Mysteries by David A. Adler
-The Animal Ark books by Ben M. Baglio (Michael loves them too!)
-the Shiloh books Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
-the Boxcar Children series/specials by (It's a family favorite!)
-Michael wants me to recommend Alvor even though I haven't read it yet. It's on my to-do list. It's by Laura Bingham. (Ditto about Fablehaven summary in comments.)
-It's Fine to be Nine by assorted authors

Well, that's all for now. I might list more in the Comments section if I remember any.

Jane

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things!

Michael Austin presents
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things
Summer Edition

First comes the kickball game against the teachers.
That night's the 5th grade graduation thingamajigger.
Last day of school half the kids aren't there.
These are my favorite things for summer........

Sleeping in and having a new blog.
Not getting to swim yet is such a bummer.
I can't imagine what's happening next.
These are my favorite things 'bout summer...

WHEN THERE'S THUNDER!
WHEN THERE'S LIGHTNING!
WHEN I'M SCARED BEING!
I simply think of more summer things...

Friend birthday parties with badminton and waterslides.
Happiness that David S. Austin's our father!
Friends that come over and play
These are my favorite things from summer.

Soon Hill Cumorah and maybe Erie Canal.
Potato chips from the factory called Herr's.
Books from the library, and movie nights.
More favorite fun things in the summer.

WHEN THERE'S SPIDERS
WHEN WE QUARREL
WHEN I FEEL REALLY BAD
I simply remember my favorite things
and then I don't feel so bad!

Each night we go out and catch fireflies.
Henry goes SMACK and it suddenly dies.
Maybe we'll picnic and also play!
And all through the summer days!

AND ALL THROUGH THE SUMMER DAYS!

Michael

Hello!

Welcome to our new blog. We are the three oldest Austin kids, Michael, Jane and Eve! We are very excited to have a blog and we want to tell you about us first.

Michael- I am eleven years old. I love to read and write stories. My favorite color is red. My favorite animals are (1) the leopard and (2) the peregrine falcon. Another of my hobbies is technology. (I got a Greymark build it yourself programmable robot for my birthday.) I am excited about having a blog.

Jane- I am nine years old. I love to sketch animals like puppies & kittens.My favorite colors are yellow & green. I don't really have a favorite animal as long as it is a baby animal! Another one of my hobbies is playing soccer. I am very excited about having a blog.

Genevieve (Eve)- I am seven years old. I love to bake yummy stuff. My favorite colors are yellow and purple. My favorite animal is any animal that is a baby. Another one of my hobbies is sock skating in the kitchen. (That's when you slide around on a polished wooden floor with socks on.) I am also super excited about a blog!

That's about all for now. Here's our schedule if you want to see it.

Monday-Michael posts
Tuesday-Jane posts
Wednesday-Eve posts
Thursday-Mike/Eve post
Friday-Jane/Mike post
Saturday-Jane/Eve post 1st half and all three for 2nd half