Friday, June 5^th

Today I rode home with Brother and his sister and their mom. We had supper and went to bed a little early because Brother’s mom says we have a big day tomorrow.

Saturday, June 6

This morning we traveled to Bartlesville for an outdoor festival called SunFest. First we got to jump on some cool blow-up toys.

Then we played games like toss the bean-bag and knock over the cans. At one booth Brother decorated a cookie for me. It was really yummy because he used LOTS of frosting.

Later we watched some dogs catching Frisbees and doing special tricks. That was cool because all of the dogs had been rescued from shelters and now they were famous for their catching skills. I guess you can teach old dogs new tricks. Also, I found out why they call it SUNfest. When we got home Brother’s dad covered our burns with cool washcloths and that helped a lot. His mom also told us we could use apple cider vinegar on the washcloths instead of water but Brother and I thought that sounded yucky so we just used the water.

Tuesday, June 9

Today we went to with Brother’s mom to see her midwife. A midwife is a lady who helps mom’s to have their babies. Brother’s mom is going to have a baby in July though she says it might be earlier or it might be later. You just never know with babies. Whenever it is time, the midwife will come to Brother’s house and the baby will be born there instead of in a hospital. Brother and his sister will even be able to see the baby born if they want to!

At the appointment, the midwife checked Brother’s mom’s pulse and blood pressure just like a regular doctor would. She also listened to the baby’s heartbeat with a special tool called a Doppler. The heartbeat sounded very fast to me but the midwife said it was normal because baby hearts beat faster than grown-up hearts. After that the midwife started pushing around on Brother’s mom’s belly. When I asked her what she was doing she said feeling the baby’s position. She showed me how you could feel where the baby’s head or bottom was and that one especially pokey part was a little foot.

Wednesday, June 10

We visited Brother’s grandma today. His cousin E. was there. She will turn three this month. It was very hot so Brother and E. and I got into our swimsuits and Brother’s grandma sprayed us with the water hose. Then she used the hose to make a water slide on the swingset. It was much faster than a regular slide and once I almost fell in the mud at the bottom.

After we got cleaned up and had lunch, we drove over to the library for Lego club. Lego’s are one of Brother’s most favorite things in the world. At the library we found out that there was a rock concert in the same building so after we played Lego’s for a while we walked over to see it. There was a big dinosaur on stage playing the drums. He was really good. There was also a man playing guitars and singing. Most of the kids were up at the front dancing but Brother and I just danced near our seats. At one point in the show, the dinosaur (Thaddeus Rex) ran through the audience and shook hands with a lot of the people. When he got close to us he shook Brother’s hand; then he went over to Brother’s grandma and PUT HIS MOUTH ON HER HEAD! I know you shouldn’t laugh at people but it was so funny that Brother and I both laughed and laughed. We had never seen a dinosaur try to eat a grandma before.

Thursday, June 11

Brother’s sister, Sister has been going to Horse Riding Camp all week long. This was her last day so family and guests were invited to come watch her ride. When we got there Sister and some of the other campers were washing one of the horses. They had painted the horse just like Indians might have done before battle but since they weren’t planning on going into battle anytime soon they also had to wash the paint off.

Before we watched Sister ride, Brother took me through to the barn to see some of the other horses. Most of them were very big but then we found one I thought was just my size. …. UNTIL it tried to eat me. Fortunately, Brother saved me. I thought maybe this happened because of how I laughed at Brother’s grandma yesterday but Brother’s mom said it was probably just a coincidence.

Friday, June 12

We spent this morning at the house. It was very stormy outside and Brother’s mom thought it might start to hail so she ran out in the rain and drove her car into the garage. Then we all sat down on the couch to read a chapter from a book called Henry Huggins. It was a very good story about a boy who finds a stray dog. He names him Ribsy. In the chapter we were reading Henry enters his dog in a contest. Because he wants the dog to look nice Henry sprinkles Ribsy with talcum powder except it isn’t white powder. It is pink! Just as Henry was about to show his pink dog to the judges we heard a loud CRACK! from outside. It was so loud we all jumped. Brother and Sister and I ran to the window and saw that the wind had blown down part of a large tree in front of Brother’s house. It was a good thing his mom moved her van because the tree limb was laying in the driveway right where it had been parked.

Later that afternoon, Brother’s mom and dad had to go to a meeting to sell their old house so Brother’s grandma came to stay with us. We did lots of stuff but one thing we did was read a chapter from the book Homer Price. It was about a doughnut machine that keeps making doughnuts and won’t stop. It was a funny story. When Brother’s parents got back they had a plan to put up the swimming pool for the summer. We worked all evening on getting it set up and filled and then we discovered A LEAK!

I think it was frustrating to Brother’s dad but we kids had fun anyway because we still got to swim for a while.

Saturday, June 13

This morning when Brother and I woke up the first thing we thought about was the story of Homer Price and the doughnut machine. We told Brother’s mom about it and she said that sounded yummy and maybe WE should have doughnuts for breakfast. Of course this was what Brother and I wanted her to think but we didn’t say that because sometimes it’s best to let grownups think that they come with ideas all by themselves. When we got to the doughnut shop Brother got a chocolate one with rainbow sprinkles for us to share.

Wednesday, June 17

Finally, the pool is really ready to swim in.  After Brother’s dad found the leak on Friday, he had to empty the pool AND let it dry out.  This took a long time because when the pool was finally empty it started raining.  Eventually, everything did get dry and we put a patch on the leak.  Then the patch had to seal overnight.  Once the patch was sealed we filled the pool AGAIN and it took most of the day.  But even then we could not swim in it.  Brother’s pool has a saltwater filter.  That means that you put salt in the pool and let it dissolve. Then you turn on the filter and it turns the salt into chlorine.  This is cool because even though it is chlorine and will keep the pool clean it is not as harsh as regular chlorine and it doesn’t hurt your eyes.  It is also not cool because it takes a long time for the filter to generate the chlorine for the first time. When it was finally finished, we swam for about an hour but then we had to go inside and get ready for bed because tomorrow we are going on a field trip!

Thursday, June 18

This morning we met up with some friends and traveled to Bartlesville to see a bird show by the Sutton Avian Research Center.  It was awesome!  The birds flew right over our heads and one of them even touch Sister on the cheek.  Even people who don’t know about the Sutton Center have probably heard about the work they do.  For example it was the people at the Center who invented programs to keep the Bald Eagle from becoming extinct.  They have lots of information about birds on their website (www.suttoncenter.org).

After the bird show we found a spot downtown to have a picnic lunch and after that we went to the Phillips 66 museum.  Actually, I got lost in Brother’s mom’s purse so I didn’t go to the museum but Brother said it was really neat.  It tells a lot about the history of the Phillips Petroleum Company.  Also, they have a biplane INSIDE the building which is really cool.

Brother’s mom found me just in time for the next event – a science show.  A man from the Tulsa Air and Space Museum showed us all sorts of experiments with water and air and even electricity.  Did you know that you could make water boil just by removing the air around it?  Pretty cool, huh?

Tomorrow I will go home to be with my own family but I had a great time with Brother and think that I’d like to come back again someday.

***Don’t know who Flat Stanley is??  Look here.

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