Surprises, Surprises!

Hey Hannah, Zac, Garrett, Mommy, Daddy and Everyone!

We are so excited about Mrs. Jane and Mrs. Elaine coming to California. Mrs. Jane and Mrs. Elaine have been best friends for almost fifty years!

Today, we heard a knock at the door and there was a box from Mrs. Jane. Guess what she sent us!!!

YIPPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Boiled peanuts and country ham and country bacon and yellow grits!!!!! We can hardly stand ourselves we are so excited.
Mrs. Jane has only been to Hollister one time and that was a few years ago. Mrs. Elaine has never been here so they have a lot to see on their vacation.

I am going to be sleeping with Sophie and her Mini-Me because Mrs. Elaine will have my bedroom. I cleaned my room really good for Mrs. Elaine:
This is where Mrs. Jane will be sleeping, it is a daybed in the other bedroom; it is really comfortable:
We made them surprises and I am so excited for them:
Mrs. Elaine and Mrs. Jane will have big monogrammed towels on their bed when they arrive. We hope they can use them for a long time and remember their trip together.
Then, of all things, Mrs. Debbie came over today and gave Mrs. Juli a surprise! Mrs. Debbie has been reading about my adventure since we visited her and her horses and she read that Mrs. Juli collects cups and saucers so she brought Mrs. Juli an antique cup and saucer to add to her collection!
Today was a magnificent day!

We have big adventures ahead for the coming week. We are going to San Francisco on Saturday and coming back to Hollister on Monday. We will be taking tons of pictures of my adventure but Mrs. Juli isn't sure that she can post pictures of me while we are in San Francisco so you may not see a new update until the beginning of next week. We will try to leave you comments if we can't post a new update.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend and the fish fry sounds awesome! Mrs. Juli does love to fish and the last time she was in South Carolina, she was hoping for a fish fry but only caught one catfish so they had to eat at Lizard's Thicket instead. I can't wait to hear about your fish fry! I hope you catch lots of catfish.

Love,

Flat Stanley

We Had A Very Difficult Day

I was going to say that today was a horrible day, but that would be exaggerating a little bit.

We are so excited about Mrs. Jane and Mrs. Elaine coming so we are trying to make sure that everything is clean and orderly for their arrival.

Mrs. Juli, wisely, decided that her carpets should be cleaned so she set up an appointment several weeks ago. Unfortunately, she thought they were coming tomorrow and instead, they knocked on the door this morning! Because we have been doing so much laundry and straightening up, the house was really in more disorder than usual with piles of stuff to be put in storage, etc...

Mrs. Juli had a little gasp and panicky moment when the doorbell rang and then we all ran around the house throwing things out of the way for the carpet cleaners.

The worst part was that we had to stay outside all day without anything to keep us busy. Sophie was none too pleased.

Mrs. Juli took us in the car for some small errands - Mrs. Juli had the car running, the air conditioner was on, and the windows were rolled up when she ran into the little Tres Pinos post office for one minute and a lady in the post office thought that Mrs. Juli left Sophie in a locked up car in 85 degree weather so she told Mrs. Juli that she shouldn't leave her dog in the car. Because the windows were closed, I couldn't hear all that Mrs. Juli said to the lady but it looked like the concerned lady apologized. I can't believe that someone thought Mrs. Juli was a bad mother.

Mrs. Juli was steaming about the accusation for a few minutes and then calmed herself down. She said that she wasn't going to give that lady the power, so we didn't let it ruin our day. The carpet cleaners did a pretty good job of ruining our day because:
1. We didn't have it in our agenda
2. We were completely unprepared
3. We had to stay off of the carpet for 4 (FOUR!) hours
4. We were supposed to play golf but Sophie couldn't play so we had to stay home with her.
5. All of the above, meant that we had to stay outside on the porch for hours and hours without any activities.

I was very good and relaxed in the sun and Sophie was an angel. Mrs. Juli was very proud of us and was beginning to nap herself, when all of a sudden, of all days, Mr. Michael came home at 3:00 this afternoon! He NEVER does that and with it being today, the day that we have to all be off of the carpet and outdoors, he was not very happy.

Mrs. Juli said that there will always be days like this and it is how you deal with twists and turns in life that determines happiness.

All of us decided to enjoy the outdoors so we ended up having a picnic and a great afternoon together.

Today's lesson was making lemonade out of lemons.

Love,

Flat Stanley

California Missions Are Awesome!

Hey Everyone!

I had such a busy weekend. Mrs. Juli has been doing more laundry than I have ever seen in my life! In her guest bedrooms, she probably has thirty pillows and she washed and dried and decorated with all of her pillow cases and then I helped her clean all of the bed linens in the guest bedrooms for Mrs. Jane's arrival. Mrs. Jane is coming early Saturday morning with her best friend, Mrs. Elaine. Mrs. Elaine has known Mrs. Juli since before she was born! We are so excited about them coming and we have so many wonderful surprises planned!

This weekend, we went to San Juan Bautista and I got a neat lesson on the California missions. In the 1700s, Spanish settlers tried to spread Christianity to Native Americans by building missions. All of the California missions are spaced within one day's horse ride from each other and many people come to California to tour the mission trails. Lucky for me, Mrs. Juli lives very near the largest California mission in San Juan Bautista (named for "John the Baptist'). The reason that this mission is the largest is because it was built on the San Andreas Fault and was almost destroyed in a very large earthquake so when they re-built it, they made it larger than any other California mission.

This is the mission and a statue on the San Andreas Fault:
This is the smallest jail that I have ever seen! Can you imagine being put behind bars in the 1800's and people coming to look at you through that door?

This shows how close San Juan Bautista is to Hollister on the San Andreas Fault map:


This mission was founded in 1797! That is a long, long time ago!

Below, is a picture of the inside of the chapel:

I have been reading so much about the California missions.

http://www.californiamissions.com/cahistory/background.html

http://missions.bgmm.com/bautista.htm

There are a total of twenty-one California missions:

You can see how they are within a day's horse ride from each other.

I wish that I could see all of the missions in California.

Soon, I will get to see the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco! I can't wait!

I hope that you had a fun time with grandmama and grandaddy this weekend.

Love,

Flat Stanley

I Love Animals!

Hey Everyone!
I had so much fun today! I finally got to meet Mrs. Juli's friend, Mrs. Debbie, and she took me to see her horses!
Mrs. Debbie is originally from South Carolina and we talked about all of the food we miss like boiled peanuts and real bar-b-que and even fried chicken livers and black-eyed peas. People eat soybeans out here like we eat boiled peanuts. Mrs. Debbie is so nice and she thought I had really good manners.

This is Sweet Pea and he hurt his leg yesterday and the veterinarian had to come to the farm and give him twenty six stitches.
He is so sweet!
This is Wild Thing and he is beautiful and SO sweet. He really liked me!




This is Fiero and that means "wild beast" in Spanish. He is hardly a "wild beast" because he was so nice and gentle.


The flies love to bother Fiero so Mrs. Debbie put on his fly mask so he would be more comfortable.
He actually likes his mask and can see out perfectly.

He has beautiful coloring!

Sophie is still acting like the devil. This is what she does all day with her monkey:

She takes her monkey everywhere!


Miss Dayna came again and did her hair but she didn't keep the bow in long.

She does not like Miss Dayna's pretty bows so Mr. Michael didn't get to see it.
I hope you are having a good week!

Love,

Flat Stanley

What I've Learned About Earthquakes

Hey Hannah, Zac, Garrett, Mommy, Daddy and Everyone!

I am really learning so much with Mrs. Juli and she let me know that I need to start writing down what I have learned more because I will be leaving in a few weeks and may not remember everything.

The biggest thing for me is living with earthquakes and becoming accustomed to it. Last week, we felt a pretty good earthquake for about 20 seconds and although I got a little scared, it was also kind of cool.

We have what is called an "earthquake survival kit" just in case there is a big earthquake and that kit has water and snacks and batteries and Mrs. Juli even has a little battery powered television.

Years ago, Mrs. Juli was in a very strong earthquake that occurred at 4:30 in the morning and everyone was sleeping and it was dark outside and so many things broke because it was so strong. Mrs. Juli was trying to get out of her house and there was glass everywhere so she learned to always have slippers under her bed just in case there is another big earthquake during the night. She also makes sure that she has on cute pajamas!

Mrs. Juli has slippers under all of the beds and tells everyone who visits that the strongest place in a house is the door jam, so that means that if I feel a big earthquake, I need to make it to a doorway and wait for the rocking motion to stop.

The San Andreas Fault is the most active fault in America. Do you remember going to Charleston and seeing the earthquake bolts on the old buildings? Even South Carolina has earthquakes but they generally aren't common like they are in California.

Here is a map of the San Andreas Fault on a North American map:

Here is a map more up close and you can even see where I am in Hollister if you look close enough:

I actually was ON the fault!:

California is very beautiful and most people attribute the millions of years of earthquakes to the beauty.

When Mrs. Jane comes here, I will be going to a place called "The Pinnacles National Monument" and I will get to see an even more beautiful place on the San Andreas Fault that is also an old volcano!

I am not scared of earthquakes but I am prepared in case there is a very big one. At least with hurricanes, we can see they are coming ahead of time but they still don't have the earthquake prediction perfected.

They say that every day in Hollister there are several very small earthquakes. This is called a "shifting zone" on the San Andreas Fault so it is very active. We don't feel most of the shifting so it is okay.

I'm not scared and I have enjoyed learning about the earthquakes. I am enjoying my California adventure!

Love,

Flat Stanley

(P.S. Hannah, Mrs. Juli even got tears in her eyes when she heard of your parent's letter, we are so proud of you! Zac, Garrett, Mommy and Daddy, I miss you and love you!)

CONGRATULATIONS HANNAH !!!

WOW! STUDENT OF THE WEEK! We are so excited and proud of you Hannah.

I told Mrs. Juli that I wanted to write you a note so she taught me how to write real pretty.

This is called calligraphy and Mrs. Juli has had her set for 20 years! She said that it is good to have calligraphy pens so that when you send invitations for parties or holiday cards, it makes them more special and pretty.
The calligraphy kits come with pens and an instruction book and practice paper and lessons. Mrs. Juli is going to buy me my very own calligraphy kit so that I can take it back to South Carolina! I will share it with everyone.
I practiced writing all of our names.
Mrs. Juli helped me draw a pretty flower.
I just started with a dot and added pointy petals all around and then I filled in the gaps with more pointy petals:
Then I added a stem and leaves and VIOLA! I made you a pretty card!:

Mrs. Juli was telling me about when you were a baby and how Josie had a puppy. Aunt June and Mrs. Juli couldn't believe it when your mommy called and said, "Josie had a puppy!" because, really, what big dog has only one puppy and your mommy and daddy didn't even know that she was pregnant. Your grandma found the puppy while your mommy was rocking you. It was like Josie wanted a baby like your mommy.

Sophie thinks that she is getting ready to have babies, it is called a "false pregnancy" but she isn't pregnant. She is nesting and carrying her favorite monkey around all of the time and she tries to keep us in a hidden place. This is under a tablecloth in the family room. She protects her "babies".

Here we are up close:
Sophie didn't like Mrs. Juli getting so close so she carried me away.

Mrs. Juli tried to take me but Sophie took me back to her nest:
Sophie loves me.

Frankly, Sophie is aggravating all of us with her digging and nesting and carrying us all over the place. Mrs. Juli read on the internet that this will last about three weeks so Mrs. Jane will get to see the crazy Sophie when she comes to California next week.
It's a good thing that Sophie is so cute. Mr. Michael is calling her "Lucy" because it is short for "Lucifer" and she is acting like the devil.

Tell everyone that I said, "hello". We are so proud of you Hannah!

Love,

Flat Stanley

(P.S. Have fun at the dentist! Mrs. Juli used to be a dental hygienist and she loved cleaning children's teeth. She called the suction "Mr. Thirsty" and the polish brush "Mr. Tickle" because it tickles when they polish your teeth. I can't wait to hear if your dentist makes grillz!)