Did you know that I am famous?

Hi, class! This my last report from Hollywood before I head east for Thanksgiving with Ty's grandmother.

Aunt Susie took me to The Queen Latifah Show.

Latifah told Aunt Susie that she already knew about me! Her best friend is a teacher and her friend's class did a Flat Stanley project just like ours. Latifah took her friend's Flat Stanley to the Oscars! Wasn't that cool?

Look, I'm not the only one made from paper! I wonder if Flat Latifah has been around the world?

Aloha KORE Academy!

This is Mrs. Gutteridge's Flat Stanley and I have a surprise for you. I got to go on vacation with the Marleys! They took me to the island of Kauai in Hawaii! Mrs. Marley didn't take very many pictures. We mostly went to the pool and the beach. I think my tan looks pretty good though. :)

We did get to see some hula dancers and a cool Green Winged Macaw named Rico. 

They were doing a parrot talk at the Hyatt, which was near our condo. So Marina, Silas, and I went to hear it.  Macaws are not indigenous to Hawaii, but the Hyatt has some beautiful Macaws and it was fun learning about them.  Macaws are from Central & South America and Mrs. Marley actually saw a wild one in Costa Rica.  Rico is known for squeezing and dipping his oranges into his water for a juicy drink! 

Mrs. Marley did some research on Kauai for our class. Kauai is the oldest and most northern of the Hawaiian islands. It is known as the "Garden Isle" since it is very lush and green. The beautiful vegetation can be attributed to a rainier climate. Some say Mt. Waialeale, the tallest mountain on Kauai is the rainiest place on earth with about 400 inches of rain per year. Luckily, most of the rain stays just in one spot leaving the island a true paradise. To find out more information about Kauai, you can visit the website that Mrs. Marley used, http://www.gohawaii.com/kauai/about.

Well, I'm on my way back to the mainland. The next time you hear from me, I'll be in Oregon. TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)

Ciao, ya'll!

I'm visiting Austin Texas with the Jones family. Austin is the capitol city and this is a picture of me in front of the Texas state Capitol building downtown.

Austin is a big city and the population is about 1.8 million people!  It is the 11th largest city in the United States.

The University of Texas is located in Austin. There is a big tower on the campus that lights up orange every time their sports teams win a game. That is the tower behind me. The University is very large, with 50,000 students! It is not too far from downtown. They say "hook 'em horns", because Bevo (a longhorn) is their mascot.

Austin has a lot of lakes and this one is called Lake Austin. It goes through the center of town, and it changes names when it gets close to downtown...called Lady Bird Lake. It is named after Lady Bird Johnson... President Lyndon B. Johnson's wife. It gets very hot in the summer here, so lots of people like to go to the lakes and go boating and swimming to cool off!

First of all, the lady who is driving did not take this picture while she was driving!  That wouldn't be safe!! She had a friend in the car who took the picture:)

Austin is very hilly. Lots of big hills to climb if you are walking or riding your bike!  It makes it very pretty. There are lots of woods around that they call "greenbelts". They won't ever build anything on these greenbelts, so that it stays pretty and woody. There are a lot of deer, so you have to be careful and watch for the deer when you are driving! Austin does not get much snow. People get really excited if it's going to
snow, because it only happens about every 5 years! Sometimes, they do get ice storms. Those are really bad because of all these hills! Everyone has to stay home on those days.

The people that I'm visiting just got back from Italy. I was waiting for them when they got home. Even though I didn't get to go, I thought I'd send a few pictures from Italy!

This is a picture of a famous volcano--Mt. Vesuvius. When it exploded, the ash completely covered up a town called Pompeii!!!

This is what the volcano looks like inside!!

This is a city in Italy called Venice. They don't have roads, because the city is built on the water! They use boats to get around!!!  The city is actually sinking a few inches each year, so they are trying to figure out
what to do to stop that.

Italy is a beautiful country...the one that looks like a boot (if you look on a globe!) They eat lots of pasta here...if you like spaghetti, you would like their food! They speak a different language
here called Italian. Some people can speak a little bit of English, but the Joneses had to learn a little Italian.

Well, arrivederci from Texas, I'm off to my next adventure!

Lin-ho!

Lin-ho from Taipei, Taiwan! Meredith's granddad brought me to visit this beautiful city halfway around the world.

The first two photos show me in front of the entrance to Christ's College in Taipei, and in front of the Chapel at Christ's College.

In this photo, I'm in front of a large Baptist church (Grace Baptist Church) in downtown Taipei, Taiwan. Granddad Ben performed a concert there on the same evening as the photo was taken.

In these two photos, I am in front of famous landmarks in Taipei, Taiwan. The first one shows "Taipei 101" in the background. Taipei 101 is 101 stories tall, and used to be the tallest building in the world. The second one shows a Chinese "gate" in front of the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial.

These two photos show me in front of Granddad's favorite building in Taipei, Taiwan, the National Concert Hall.

Wow, can you believe I left the United States? And I didn't even need a passport! I'm off again. I'll let you know about the incredible sights I see as soon as I can.

Greetings from the land of 10,000 lakes

The land of 10,000 lakes? Confused? So was I until I visited Carolyn's aunt, uncle, and cousin in Minnesota. They have soooo many lakes here that it's nickname is The Land of 10,000 Lakes.

I have been visiting Rogers, Minnesota with Carolyn Walker’s cousin Nicole Kreider and her parents Janet and Clark.

The weather here is MUCH colder than Florida! Because of the difference in temperature I needed to get some new clothes. Now I have a few pair of pants, shirts, even a coat!

My visit here is during the fall season. I had the opportunity to play in leaves that fell from trees in the yard. There are LOTS of leaves to play in. I was a little late to see them when they were different colors on the trees. Nicole told me it is very pretty.

Winter is just around the corner so it is starting to get rather cool at night. Sometimes we have a fire in the living room to keep warm. The fire is pretty and very toasty. It sure helped me stay warm but I was very careful not to get too close. I was told that snow should be coming soon. That would be exciting to see but I will be leaving soon.

Nicole is a competition dancer and spends at least 25 hours each week at the dance studio practicing different types of dance – jazz, tap, ballet, point, lyrical, hip hop, ballroom, and samba.

I tried several of the shoes, but found the pointe and ballroom shoes were definitely NOT for me.

Rogers is a quiet northwest suburb of Minneapolis. Minneapolis is home of the Mall of America, the largest indoor shopping mall in the United States. It even has an amusement park in the center!

There are many professional sport teams here. We drove around downtown Minneapolis and saw the stadiums for the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team, Minnesota Twins baseball team, and the Minnesota Vikings football team. In downtown St. Paul, the capitol of Minnesota, they have the Minnesota Wild hockey team.

I enjoyed visiting Minnesota, but am looking forward to my next stop in California, where it will be warmer.

Howdy from Houston

This is Caitlin's Flat Stanley reporting from Houston, TX. It is the largest city in the state and has several sports teams. Caitlin's cousins, Nic & Noah, took me to visit all of the professional stadiums and arenas in the city.

Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans (NFL)

BBVA Compass Stadium, "The Nest," home of the Houston Dynamo (MLS)

Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros (MLB)

George E. Brown Convention Center

Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets (NBA)

This is us in front of Nic & Noah's house.

Here is Nic & Noah's school, Atascocita Springs Elementary

We had a great time checking out Houston. Thank you Nic & Noah for being such great hosts!

Happy Thanksgiving From Virginia

Hello! Ty's Flat Stanley here in Gloucester, Virginia! I am standing in front of Ty's grandmama's house near the York River. Her house is called Free School House because it was established in 1675 as one of the first free schools for children in Virginia! In other words, it was one of the first public schools ever!

Here I am getting an art lesson from Ty's grandmama. She is a well known folk artist in Virginia!

Ty's grandmama, Kacey Carneal, is showing me one of her finished paintings called His Story Matters. The boat in the painting is called a Chesapeake Deadrise and the man in the painting uses it to find crabs and oysters. The people in Gloucester mostly fish and get other types of seafood and they can't imagine doing anything else!

Guess who surprised me and Grandmama with a visit?? My friend Ty! We went out on the dock to see the water and Ty showed me that big Osprey nest behind us. This river goes all the way to the Chesapeake Bay!

Ty and his grandmother showed me another one of her paintings called Children Take Me To That Enchanted Land. It is so cool how detailed her paintings are and how she makes the frame a part of the painting! This painting was purchased by the University of Virginia Children's Hospital. I bet it will make those kids feel better.

There sure are a lot of pine trees around here! It was fun climbing this one!

Well, I'm off on my next adventure! Virginia was beautiful. I wonder what I'll see next.

More Adventures in Hollywood

Hi, class! I'm still in Hollywood with Ty's Aunt Susie. Today, she took me to work with her. We visited the Warner Brothers lot where they film movies and television shows. You will never guess what I saw today!

This is the house from the television show Bewitched! Will Farrell recently starred in a movie about remaking  this show. I wonder if Mrs. G watched this show as a little girl?

Here I am at the fountain where they filmed the opening of the TV show Friends. Aunt Susie wouldn't let me play in the fountain. :(

Next, I visited the set of a real TV show. Does anyone know where I am?

Did anyone guess The Middle? Great job! I think I'll help Frankie and bring the mail to the door. Maybe she will let me stay for dinner. 

Here I am with Patricia Heaton, the actress who plays Frankie Heck.

This is Laura Kesling. She plays Dotty Donahue, one of the Hecks' neighbors. You probably know her from the Adam Sandler movie Bedtime Stories. Laura played his niece, Bobbi.

Here is my final picture from The Middle. This is Atticus Shaffer. He plays Brick Heck, who is my favorite character on the show. <whispers> Favorite character </whisper>

WOW!! I had an awesome time visiting with Aunt Susie and where she works. Everyone was so nice and didn't mind posing for pictures with me. I'll send you more pictures soon. Bye for now!

Hello from Sunny Florida!

Dear Mrs. Gutteridge,

I have been visiting in Sarasota, Florida with Carolyn's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Roy.

Aunt Marilyn took me to Selby Botanical Gardens where she is a volunteer in the research department.  The Gardens are special for the orchid flowers and the epiphytes—(these are plants that live on other plants but do not hurt them).

Uncle Roy cannot walk very well and he uses an electric scooter.  He took me for a ride on his scooter which was fun—I wasn’t even scared!

Their house is on the Braden River and I saw an alligator and limpkin water birds. Limpkins only live in Florida. Aunt Marilyn said it was not a good idea to have my picture taken with an alligator.

Sarasota is on the west coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico.  It is a beautiful city and the weather is wonderful.  It is very sunny and it was not easy for them to take pictures of me outside—too much sun—but we tried.

We drove past the stadium where the Baltimore Orioles baseball team has its spring training.  We could not go inside since it is closed for the winter.

Sarasota has its own opera house, symphony orchestra, a repertory theater group (one of 3 in the country), performing arts center, the Ringling Art Museum, and many more things—I could see something everyday .

The schools are very good—there are several private schools and  New College which is very well known.

I hope that you have enjoyed hearing about my adventure. Bye for now!

Hey Ya'll!

Welcome to University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia! Athens, Georgia is an 8 hour car ride from Lexington, Kentucky. This is Wesley's Flat Stanley reporting from my visit with Wes' Aunt Connie and Uncle Tim. They took me to the UGA's campus. There are over 35,000 students that attend UGA. Some students are from Kentucky!

Aunt Connie works in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. You can study to become a teacher, dietician, or fashion designer, just to name a few. It is important to start thinking about all of your career options!

Saturday in Athens, Georgia. Go Georgia Bulldogs!

Before Uncle Tim retired, he was an optician. An optician helps people pick out glasses. This is a very important decision! He also made the lenses for the glasses and put them into the frames. He was an optician for 30 years in Athens, Georgia.

Visiting Athens was fun, but I think I'll stick with Kentucky blue because it makes my eyes sparkle. Well, I'm off on my next big adventure. I'll check in as soon as I can. Bye for now.