Chet went to Oregon

Hi, Ms. Cothern and Ms. Ellis

Chet and I had a wonderful time in Oregon. We went to Portland, Newport, the Pacific coast, Eugene, Bend, Sisters and back to Portland. We landed in Portland.
We went to Powell's, the world's biggest bookstore. It was Chet's first time to see that many books! Next stop was Newport. There were so many sea lions just laying on the dock!! Chet and I made friends with them.

In Eugene, We met our relatives. Playing with uncles, an aunt and a cousin was lots of fun. We left Eugene and went to Bend. We had so much fun hiking at the Deschutes river surrounded by nature and animals. The water fall was beautiful.

On the way back to Portland, we stopped at Sisters. The snow capped three sisters' mountains were such an awesome view. Chet and I saw and did so many amazing things. It'll be a life-time memory for me.

A and Chet

Chet went to the Blue Ridge Mountians

B. and Chet had about a 8 hour drive up to Blue Ridge, Georgia...it was a long ride but they had a good time. We arrived at our first cabin but it was infested with wasps but everyone in the family survived no wasp stings and was moved to our new cabin which was located in TN. B. and Chet had a great time playing with B's sister, A. and hanging out in the cabin. B. and Chet also went to an Apple Picking Farm where they got to pick apples and purchase them and at the Apple Farm got to run around in the field. Also, while in TN got to go to some really cool shops where they had tons of Native American stores and they thought that was really cool since it is being discussed at school. When we were leaving B. and Chet were upset they had to leave the really cool cabin but were excited to come back to school.

Chip

Hi, I’m Chip! My brother Chet was already travelling with one of his class friends, so I got to take a trip to Colorado with T and her family! We flew on a big jet to a place called Atlanta, which is in Georgia. I learned that is a state next to us in Florida. From there, we took another plane to Colorado. It was so far away, we had to set our watches back two hours because we got there before the sun did.

It was pretty cold in Colorado, partly because it is North of Florida, but also because it is at a higher elevation. Jacksonville is at sea level because it is right next to the ocean, but when we landed in Denver we were 5,280 feet – or a whole mile – above that. Thankfully I have a thick coat, and I really needed it for our first adventure: a visit to a town called Estes Park. Initially I thought we were going to play in a park, but that’s just the name of the town. It’s even higher (and colder) than Denver – 7,522 feet – because it is even closer to the Rocky Mountains. While at Estes Park, we saw wildlife just walking around the town! There were elk white-tailed deer and even bighorn sheep (though I thought they should have been called smallhorn sheep!)

Next to Estes Park is the Rocky Mountain National Park. Here we actually got to drive up into the mountains and saw snow flurries during the drive. T and I climbed up a rock at one of the scenic lookouts and with beautiful snow-capped mountains behind us. Unfortunately so much snow fell the previous day that they closed off part of the road for the rest of winter, but where the road ended we were at a place called Many Parks Curve at an elevation of 10,829 feet. The air was so thin up there, it was hard to catch my breath!

Near the end of the road were more scenic lookups and some signs that showed us what mountains we could see and T and I also read how the mountains and valleys were formed by large glaciers, which are solid blocks of ice, cutting through the land over many, many years The adventures of the day really tired out my good friend, T.

The next day we went to a place called the Butterfly Pavilion. I thought we were just going to see butterflies, but they had exhibits of insects and fish, too! We saw some creepy critters, like bees , scorpions, fiddler crabs, Madagascar cockroaches and they even let T’s daddy hold a live tarantula EWWWW! Of course, we also saw a wide variety of butterflies including some that hadn’t been hatched yet. These butterflies were in things called pupa where caterpillars change into beautiful butterflies. According to the sign we read the Pavilion gets these pupa from all over the world for their collection – they even had some from Florida
Even in all this excitement, T and I were feeling a little homesick and missing our friends back at school. On our last day, we said goodbye to T’s great-grandmother and braved the freezing cold to journey back home, bringing with us treasured memories…

Chet Goes to the Hospital

Wow, was I a lucky bear. I got to go to work with E’s. mom. She works at a hospital and helps little babies being born. When I visited the hospital, I got weighed. Then I warmed up underneath the heating lamp. I felt like I was just being born like a real baby. Next they took my vital signs, meaning they checked my heartbeat to make sure I was healthy. After all of this I was tuckered out so I snuggled into my new blanket to take a nap. It was a fun day.

Chet Goes to St. Augustine

C. was thrilled to take Chet on a trip to St. Augustine with her big brother D...better known as "Bubby". Grammie and Grampie took us in their beautiful motor home to a St. Augustine Beach camp site. My parents went on a date weekend to celebrate their 21st anniversary. After setting up camp we took a walk on the beach. The weather was wonderful and Chet enjoyed watching the waves roll in. Luckily my Grammie loves to take long strolls on the beach so Chet and I were able to go on many adventures. Later that day my Bubby and I grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. He thought we were great at cooking. Later that night we played Scrabble and Bingo and even later we made some yummy smores. I tried to get all of the sticky marshmallows off Chet... he really liked that yummy treat!The next day Chet was very sleepy and took a nap on my Grammie and Grampie's bed. When he woke up I gave him lots of love and we took another walk on the beach looking for shells. We had so much fun. I enjoyed being with my family and Chet enjoyed meeting and playing with all of them as well. We made some wonderful memories that will last forever.