America Joshua Tree National Park and in the Car

On Saturday 29 March Robin, Mama, Papa & I went into Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP). The tallest Joshua Tree in it is over 43 feet. Robin & I were doing an activity to become a Junior Ranger for JTNP so we were doing lots of activities. We saw lots of rocks and boulders, most of them bigger than me. The thing that I noticed most was the landscape. I had expected that it would be barren with nothing but it had lots of wildlife and plants. 

We saw Butterfly's, Lizards, Kangaroo Rats, Darkling Beetles, Scorpions, Ground Squirrels, Tarantulas, one Gopher Snake, a Beavertail Cacti, a Chia, lots of Joshua Trees, Cholla Cacti, Mojave Yucca, Creosote Bush, Californian Fan Palm, Juniper & Barrel Cacti.

The places we went were Joshua Tree Visitor Center, Oasis Visitor Center, Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Skull Rock, Arch Rock, Keys View, Cholla Cactus Garden & Ocotillo Patch.  

Then we went to the visitor center & we got our Junior Ranger Badges. After that we went to our hotel & went to Crossroads Cafe for dinner.

Personally I enjoyed Joshua Tree National Park.

Today we woke up and had porridge for breakfast, packed our bags & Robin & I watched TV while Mama & Papa packed up. Then we got in the car and started driving. 

I started my blog and when I finished I was doing some other things on my Chromebook.

After that we drove on Route 66, an historic route. We were still in the Mojave Desert which is where JTNP is. Later on we went into Oatman where we fed wild Burros (a donkey) that used  to work in the mine and they were left by the mine. 

We've ended up in Kingman which is still on Route 66, and we are getting to the Grand Canyon.

                 

 

America Trip

Today we were driving to Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP for short). When we were in the car Robin and I were playing with our new Lego. 

While we were driving we stopped at some places on the way. Julian is an old Gold mining town where we stopped to have an old fashioned Soda Float. I had the Vanilla flavour, Mama had Root Beer and Papa had Sarsaparilla.

The next town was Sultan Sea which was a low lying desert with no outlet. It was accidentally flooded in the winter of 1905.

On arriving at JTNP we went to the visitor centre and then to our hotel. After we put our things in the hotel we went for a swim in the pool. It was freezing, but I went in (nothing like a good swim in a pool during a hot day). Then when we got inside I broke my lego up to make a tank. 

After that we went up to JTNP to watch the sunset and we could also see the San Andreas fault line, Papa and Mama felt the shaking of it last night.                  

America Legoland & Kids Muesum

On 26 March, Robin, Mama, Papa and I went to Legoland for the day - it is about 30mins north of San Diego, in Carlsbad.  I was excited to go there because I would get to see lots of Lego blocks and models, and also go on rides.  One thing I was surprised about was that in the queues for rides, there were play areas for children with Lego blocks, and also that some of the things in Miniland could move.

Some of my favourite rides were a dragon roller coaster, the Coastersaurus (another roller coaster, this time with dinosaur themes), and driving small Lego cars around a set of roads complete with stop signs and traffic lights.

My favourite attraction in Miniland was the Star Wars dioramas, scenes from the different movies.  The one I enjoyed the best was the scene from The Clone Wars.

Before we left, Robin and I bought some Lego each - we both bought Star Wars Lego.

After a good nights' sleep, we went to meet up with Tante Thea for the day.  We also got to see and say good-bye to Miss Ronnie, who went to the beach for the day.

We went to the Children's Museum, which was interactive activities for children to play, learn and create.  There were messy things (bubbles, painting pictures and farm machines, making clay models), noisy things (a music kitchen, climbing ropes which had noises and music attached to them), and very colourful things (the Rain House, a bouncy castle, and the Rainbow Bridge (it had pictures of bananas on it which you could scratch and smell) - all things with hidden meanings and uses).  There were also chickens and an outdoor garden, where we made newspaper pots for dwarf beans.

After a few hours there, we walked around San Diego for a while, mostly along the waterfront.  We got to see lots of statues and memorials for US Servicemen along the waterfront, as well as a pelican and a sea lion or harbour seal.  We then drove up to the Presidio, which was an old fort above Old Town San Diego.

We ended our day by having dinner in an Italian restaurant in Little Italy with Tante Thea, our last time seeing her on this trip.  It's been great seeing Tante Thea while we've been on our holiday.

America San Diego #2, 3 & 4

On Sunday we went to USS Midway an old Navy Aircraft Carrier which is now a museum. When we got there we bought our tickets with Tante Thea. Once we were on board we got our audio tours and we got our headphones to use on  board. We went to all sorts of places that I can't remember but I can remember that we could not go on the bridge. We went to the Admirals Quarters, the Captains Quarters, the Pilot Briefing room, the Plane Control room and many others. The Midway planes shot the most MiG's in the Vietnam War.

On Monday Mama, Papa, Robin and I went to Balboa Park. First we went in the Museum of Air and Space. I went into the museum and I saw some of the things at the start and then I went on the flight simulator. It was awesome. Then we saw Tante Thea and Ms Ronnie and we saw a man making sail boats and he let us use them. That was the best thing I did that day. After that we saw the Cactus Garden. Papa, Ms Ronnie and Tante Thea got left behind. Then we went to the motel with Tante Thea and Ms Ronnie. We had pizza for dinner and then we went on a Carousel. Last we got some fries and an ice-cream.

When we woke up on Tuesday (Wednesday in NZ) we had breakfast. I had one waffle, scrambled eggs on toast with sausages. After that I had four packs of raspberry yogurt. Then we went on the train to Old Town and walked around for a while until we saw the Covered Wagon and we played on it for ages. When Mama and Papa arrived we went to them and we kept playing on the wagon. Then we went to look at the cemetery and had dinner at the Mexican restaurant. Then we came back to our hotel.

    

America #3 & 4 (California Land & Disneyland)

Thursday 20 March

Today we woke up early and went to go and have breakfast. First when we got to Disneyland we got our tickets and went down Buena Vista Street where we had to wait for 15 minutes. Once we could go through we were going to go to Cars Land but too many people were already going there so we went to Paradise Pier. The first thing we did there was California Screamin' a high speed roller coaster. Then we went on Toy Story Midway Mania. I can't remember what we did in order after that but what I did will be in the next sentence. We did Disney Junior Live on Stage, Monsters INC, It's Tough to Be a Bug, Francis' Ladybug Boogie, Flik's Flyers, Tuck & Stamp; Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Luigi's Flying Tyres, Radiator Springs Racers, Goofy's Sky School, World of Colour, Grizzly River Run (which I did 4 times) and Soarin' Over California. After that  we went home to the motel.

Friday 21 March

This morning we woke up later than we wanted and had breakfast then we walked to Disneyland. We went through the ticket place and waited for 10 minutes. I again can't remember what we did in order but here is what we did. We did The Disneyland Story presenting Great Moments with Mr Lincoln, Main Street Cinema, Jungle Cruise, Tarzans Treehouse, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Gadgets Go Coaster, Chip 'n Dales Treehouse, Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin, Donalds Boat, Matterhorn Bobsleds, King Arthur Carousel, Disneyland Monorail, Autopia, Innoventions, Captain EO, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster and Tomorrowland Terrace Stage.

America #2

Tuesday 18 March 2014

We had a safe landing in Los Angeles today but, once we got inside the Los Angeles airport terminal (LAX), Robin was sick. Then we went through customs. On the plane I watched three movies called Happy Feet, Bedtime Stories and Frozen.  It is still Tuesday today because from New Zealand we take away 4 hrs and go back to yesterday because we crossed the international date line. We got our rental car and came to the hotel where we played some CA Rugby Challenge. Then we did our blogs. On the first plane we went into the cockpit. Driving to the motel we saw lots of yellow school busses like the magic school bus.

America #1

Tuesday 18 March 2:56

We are now at Auckland Airport getting ready to go on to the aircraft. I am excited as well as nervous. (Next entry will be from the USA!!)

Studyladder

Today I was doing studyladder and I got Elite 1 by doing heaps of reading activities like The Ants and the Grasshopper.

Kakapo

The New Zealand Kakapo

1. The Kakapo is an flightless parrot.
2. The Kakapo is only found in New Zealand.
3. The Kakapo is nocturnal (it means it only goes out to roam the forest at night).
4. The Kakapo is a large, rotund parrot; the male measures up to 60 cm (24 in) and weighs from 2 to 4 kg (4 to 9 lb) at maturity.
5. The Kakapo has whiskers.
6. The Kakapo is critically endangered.

By Karl.

The New Zealand Kiwi

The New Zealand Kiwi

1. The Kiwi bird, of the order Apterygiformes-Ratitae, occurs only in New Zealand.
2. Kiwi are native to New Zealand.
3. Kiwi cannot fly.
4. The Kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand.
5. At present, the greatest threat to the Kiwi’s survival is predation by invasive mammalian predators like Cats, Dogs, Stoats, Weasels, Ferrets, Possums and Rats.

By Karl.

Round the Bays 2014

On Sunday 9 March Robin, Papa, Mama and I went to do Round the Bays. When we got there we went to the toilets before going to where the Compac team were meeting.

The results were:
Karl: 0hrs: 50min: 12sec. 4223 overall.
Robin: 0hrs: 50min: 10secs. 4207 overall.
Papa: 0hrs: 51min: 37secs. 4868 overall.
Mama: 0hrs: 50min: 50secs. 4531 overall.
Jonathan (someone from my dads work): 0hrs: 25mins: 56secs. 1st overall.

When we finished we went to the Compac tent site to have drinks and a BBQ.

I felt happy when I finished, and exhausted and tired.

The New Zealand Moa

The New Zealand Moa

1. The tallest bird that ever lived was New Zealand’s Moa, which became extinct about 600 years ago – a century after the arrival of humans in New Zealand.
2. The largest of the Moa species were up to 13 feet tall.
3. It is generally considered that most, if not all, species of moa died out by A.D. 1400.
4. A few Moa survived into the 1600's.
5. The largest species of moa was Dinornis maximus.

By Karl.