Greetings,

I am alive and well. Sorry for the lack of communication. I think my head is still spinning from the county spelling bee I attended recently. One of the students in my host’s  class represented Hainesport School in the bee. It was quite impressive to listen to 5-8 graders spelling words I did not even know existed. And I thought I was pretty smart!  After about 3 1/2 hours, there was finally a winner. She is a 6th grader and will head to Washington, D.C. in May for the national bee. I am sad to say it wasn’t Hainesport’s representative, but she is to be commended for her hard work. Here are just some of the words the participants had to spell: philanthropy, pneumonia, eythromycin, mercurial, duenna, boudoir and flavescent.

Yesterday, being March 2nd, the birthday of Dr. Seuss, was suppose to be a fun day at school. Mother Nature changed all that by dumping up to 10 inches of snow across the area. Needless to say, we had a snow day. I was very cooperative and helped my host teacher shovel her long driveway and sidewalk.  

Dr. Seuss Day went on as planned today at school. The students and teachers were able to wear pajamas and slippers. The highlight of the day was the pie throwing contest in honor the students reading a total of 6,344 books in the past month. The entire school was witness to the winning classes’ teachers creaming other staff and administrators all for the sake of helping to promote a love of reading. It was quite enjoyable.

I am pictured here with one of the gym teachers. She was a good sport.

I couldn’t believe my hears when I heard what sounded like babies crying. It was babies! Actually, they are not real but are part of the 7th grade health curriculum. Every student has to take a baby home and take care of it. I feel sorry for the students who have to take one home over the weekend. It could really wreck their social life.

                          Luckily none of the babies started crying during the Talent Show. They were on their best behavior.

Hainesport’s  Talent Show was very… how do I put it talented.  Many kids sang or danced. We even had a song and dance from the middle school’s play, Seussical  Jr.   A child from kindergarten  sang   the  Star Spangled  Banner and probably knew more of the words than most adults do. It took a lot of nerve for kids to get up on our stage and perform. Everyone had a fun time! I know I did. I had my picture taken with some of the performers and in front of the camera.

Today I made a trip to the T.A.G. room with some kids from our class. The room is pretty small, and it was crowded, with eight kids and supplies. The game I’m standing in is Kalah (some of you might call this game Mancala). It’s really fun! Too bad I can’t play. The pieces are almost bigger than I am!

After school I went with some kids in the class to their chess club meeting.  I thought I could beat them real easily, but I guess I was wrong.  One of the kids brought this weird four way game of chess, so I was caught off guard.  After a couple of tries I finally got the silver player in check.

Sorry I have not been in touch for a while, but I think I needed to recover from my glorious trip to California. Since I have been back in New Jersey, the weather has beentypical winter weather-freezing cold. I hope the weather back in Missouri hasn’t been too severe. I think it is going to be almost 60 degrees on Friday, but I know it won’t last. Hurry up spring! Work at school has been varied and busy. The host students keep busy working hard and enjoying their school activities. They are getting ready for Dr. Seuss Day on Monday. The highlight of the day will be a pie throwing contest. Winning classes for the most reading will get to throw a pie and the principal and other lucky people. I can’t wait to see that mess.

I visited my friends in the tank each morning.  I hated to leave them, but we moved up north to Carlsbad, California for the rest of the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the view from the room at the Four Seasons Resort in Carlsbad, California.

 

 

 

 

While waiting to get my picture taken there was a class of second graders taking pictures. When they saw me I thought they were going to take me away. Their teacher told them I am like the Flat Stanley project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Boy, they were big!

The man in the picture was reading a book about gorillas to the baby gorilla. It was really neat the way the man was able to communicate with the animal. The picture shows them giving kisses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view was great, but I am afraid of heights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucky for me, flamingoes don’t like gnomes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Mr. Peter Lemon, a Congressional Medal of Honor winner. I was quite honored to listen to him speak and pose for a photograph with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m buckled in and ready for take-off. San Diego here I come!

Here I am in the cockpit. I’m standing next to the compass.

View from the 5th floor of our room over looking the harbor.

This was the biggest rainbow I have ever seen!

This is the Pacific Ocean in Coronado, California.

The town is known for its hotel which was built in 1888.

Check out this tree. Do you see me?

 

On Friday morning as part of the meeting, there was a comedian for the entertainment. Boy, was he hilarious! My sides were hurting from all the laughing I was doing.  If that wasn’t enough, after dinner we had a comedian/magician to entertain us.  He had a parrot named Luige to help him with his tricks. I’m still recovering from his humor and trying to figure out how the tricks were done.  For one trick, he actually had a person in the audience phone someone on their cell phone to help with the trick. One of the ladies in our group phoned her daughter in Mississippi. The magician had the caller think of a card and tell it to her mother. Meanwhile, the magician had a deck of cards facing the audience with only one card turned away. The caller thought of the 10 of clubs. That was the same card the magician had facing away from the group. It was pretty amazing.

After breakfast on Saturday, the speaker during the meeting was a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Mr. Lemon earned his award after serving as an Army Ranger during the Vietnam War. He is now a motivational speaker who through his story of serving his country, helps to inspire others to be loyal, honest, trusting and courageous in all aspects of their life.  At the age of 25, having served his country and owning his own business, Mr. Lemon decided he wanted to go to college. Because of his GPA in high school, he was denied entrance to  college.  Through perseverance and determnation, he finally was accepted into college and went on to attain a maters degree. I wish all students could have heard Mr. Lemon speak, so they too could be inspired to do the right thing and go after their dreams. I am quite honored to have had my picture taken with Mr. Lemon.

The convention ends this evening, so we will be heading back to New Jersey on Sunday. School is closed Monday for President’s Day. This will give me a chance to recover from this vacation. I am looking forward to seeing the students back at Hainesport School and getting all my pictures posted on the web.  

Enjoy,

The Roaming Gnome (RG)