A Long Long Adventure...

Well, I bet you've all been wondering, "Where is Flat Stanley?" I can tell you, he has been a busy little guy! It all began when Stanley left Liam, Connor, and Caitlin's house and headed off to Florida to visit Laurie and Julia. The mailman delivered him safely to their mail box, but Stanley just sat there for days and days. "Where are my friends?" he wondered. Then, just when he thought he couldn't take the heat anymore, along came their Mommy. They had moved! She was just coming to pick up the mail from their old house to take along to their new house. Whew! That was a close one! Stanley was almost lost! As much as Julia and Laurie wanted to play with Stanley, they had a lot of work to do, unpacking their clothes and toys and furniture at their new house, so they had to send Stanley on his way to visit Michael and Katelyn again.
So, back at Michael's house, Stanley arrived on a very exciting day. The first day of school! Michael was about to walk to school with Mommy and Katelyn, but we decided to check the mail first. What did we find? Mail for Michael!!  What could it be?

Michael was very excited to see his friend again!

Time to walk to school!

Michael was also very excited to meet new friends at school while we waited for the bells to ring. Can you find Flat Stanley in this picture?

After 2 days of school, there was some more excitement around here. Michael's Grandad came for a visit from Washington! That's a long trip from Washington to Virginia! Even longer than Stanley's flight from Florida to Virginia. We all went to the National Zoo that weekend, and Stanley was excited to take his first trip to a zoo.  Stanley had a great advantage when we visited the aquariums...he could get very very very close to the glass.

Stanley loved seeing the sting rays glide by!

But Michael was afraid he might get stung, so he rescued him. Stanley was safe behind the glass, but Michael wasn't taking any chances with his buddy.

Turtles!

This cute little guy was not so little compared to Flat Stanley!

Stanley's favorite part of the zoo was watching the orangutans swing high above us, traveling from one play area to another. They were 40 feet in the air, swinging right above the sidewalks, and they never fall down! Stanley really wanted to try it out, but swinging around like that is hard when you're flat. A strong wind would blow him away! We just settled on taking a video to watch at home.

The Greatest of Ease... from Leslie Reedy on Vimeo.
After the weekend with Grandad, we had another fun weekend planned with Liam, Connor, and Caitlin, because they live really close to our house. We all went camping together! Stanley had fun playing in the tent, but he couldn't keep up with the boys as they eagerly explored the forest.

On the way home, we visited the Birthplace of George Washington. Sadly, George Washington's boyhood home burned down, but no one was hurt, thank goodness! The park rangers have made an outline of where the house once stood, and Michael ran around the perimeter as fast as he could go.

Here they are learning about the Outdoor Kitchen that was typical to the time when George Washington was a little boy. They didn't have electricity, and they cooked over an open fire in the fireplace.

There was a workbook to fill in so you could get a Junior Ranger badge, and Stanley helped Michael write down all the interesting facts they had learned that day about George Washington's life.

We also learned that the National Park service has a Website just for Junior Rangers. It's really cool, and you can learn all about our National Parks and our Nation's History while playing games. We like to log on and play on rainy days, like today!

Once we arrived back home, Flat Stanley and Michael decided to play a game of hide and seek. You know, you have to be careful when you play hide and seek, because if you hide really really really well, it might be hard to find you again! Flat Stanley took advantage of his shape and hid under the floor mat in the van. We thought we lost him for a while, but we finally found him again! Flat Stanley has been through quite a lot in these last few weeks!

On to Stanley's questions. He had some fun questions for Michael this time.
*Stanley - What do you like best about school?
*Michael - "Playing outside with Luke!"
*What is your favorite thing to eat on pizza?
*Michael - "CHEESE!"
*What is your favorite animal to visit at the zoo?
*Michael - "Uhhhh, alligators!"
*What do you like to do in the summer?
*Michael - "Uh, play with Daddy outside on the patio and throw meatballs on the kitty and on my face and throw apples on me and throw cheese on me and eat apples, bananas, pie, frosting, chocolate, and ice cream, and cake, and pizza, and a bunch of pears, and lemons, and lemons, and lemons, and watermelons, and grapefruit!"
And now, he's off again to visit Evan and Chloe. He'll be seeing you guys soon!

Flat Stanley Goes to Washington

Liam, Connor & Caitlin's Mommy felt kind of bad that Flat Stanley got forgotten in the backpack on their trip to Williamsburg. So she decided to make up for it by hosting Stanley one more week. We had some exciting plans for this week and we wanted to include Flat Stanley in the fun.

First, Flat Stanley visited the White House. The White House is where the President of the United States lives. Right now, the President is Mr. Obama. He wasn't at his house while we were there; he was on vacation with his family. But Flat Stanley did get to meet the Uniformed Secret Service!

Can you spot Flat Stanley?

Then we took Flat Stanley to a Washington Nationals baseball game! The Washington Nationals are a major league baseball team. They (fittingly) play in the National League. Flat Stanley sat high up in the stands so he could see everything. He even saw a home run (unfortunately hit by the St. Louis Cardinals).

Now that Flat Stanley has really seen some of DC, we are sending him on his way. Watch your mailboxes; Stanley's on the move!

Flat Stanley Meets Michael & Katelyn

Flat Stanley just visited our house, and we had a great time showing him around our new city! We're still exploring our city and learning where everything is, and Flat Stanley was excited to explore with us. We decided to go for a walk around Old Town...that's what they call the area of the city where we live. We all loaded up in the stroller and started walking with no particular destination in mind.  On the way, we discovered a beautiful old tree that had dropped so many little flower blossoms all over the sidewalk. Michael and Stanley thought it would be fun to run and jump and slide in the blossoms and toss them up in the air.

Katelyn was strapped into her stroller, so she just watched. Michael and Stanley took a quick break from their shenanigans to pose for a picture with Katelyn.

Then, Michael and Stanley thought it would be fun to have a wee bit of a wrestling match, but that pushed the stroller around on the sidewalk and you have to be very careful in a city so that you stay safely on the sidewalk away from the cars on the road, so we stopped wrestling.

After we all climbed back into the stroller, we kept walking and walking, looking for interesting places to stop and explore. We found a book store and Michael and Stanley had fun looking at books, and then we got back to walking. We walked along and found a great big fountain in Market Square in front of a large brick building. Turns out the building is City Hall. It had a big American flag draped across the front that was quite beautiful. Michael and Stanley splashed in the fountain a bit. The water was not too hot, not too cold...it would have been perfect if it was a swimming pool! But it wasn't, it was just a fountain, and we're not allowed to swim in fountains. Bummer.

So, off we went, continuing our stroll through town, when we came to a little teeny tiny toy store.  Stanley and Michael could barely contain their excitement as they ran into the store and ran around checking out all the super cool toys.

After all the toys had been carefully examined and added to our never ending birthday gift lists, we jumped back into the stroller and walked over to the playground. Michael and Stanley played and played, and paused for a quick picture as they built a sandcastle in the sandbox.

Finally, we were all hot and hungry! Time to head home for lunch and naps. All in all, Stanley, Michael, and Katelyn had fun walking around and exploring our new city.  After nap, Stanley and Michael decided to play fire fighter a little, and they put out several fires that afternoon. Stanley asked if we could make a firefighter uniform for him next time he comes to play at our house because all of ours were too big for him. We told him we'd make him one.

Stanley was anxious to get off and meet all of his new friends, so he decided to only stay for one day at our house, but he promised he'd be back to play again another day. We can't wait! He did have a few fun questions for us before he left, though:

Stanley: "Hey Michael, if you were going camping on the beach for a whole week (that's seven days and 6 nights), and you could only bring one very special toy (in addition to Buh-Bear because he's your friend and he doesn't count as your one toy), which toy would you bring?

Michael: "I would bring my, uh, my, uh, army set. And it has lots and lots of toys in it!"

Stanley: "Katelyn, what would you bring?"

Katelyn: "Maa Maa Maa Baa Baa..."
Michael : "Katie said she wants to bring Mac to the island."
Mommy: "You mean Lightening McQueen's friend Mac? She's too little to play with Mac, Michael."
Michael: "That's what she said."

Stanley: "So, Michael, I know how much you like fire trucks and fire fighters. When the firefighters were just little boys and girls, why do you think they wanted to grow up to be firefighters?"  

Michael: "Because they if they wouldn't have firefighters the fire would be inside the house forever."

Stanley: "Is that why you want to be a firefighter, too?"

Michael: "Yeah, because the firefighters need lots and lots of help."

Stanley: "Katelyn is napping and we don't even know what she wants to be when she grows up, so I won't ask her that question."

Stanley: "Michael, do you think the mail man will be gentle with me when he carries me to Evan and Chloe's house?"

Michael: "OK...Mommy, remember this? Mailmans aren't bad guys so they won't squish people up and stick them in a box. They don't do that to envelopes. If a bad guy squishes you up then you tell a policeman and he will take that bad guy away and fix Stanley. The mailman is not a real bad guy. He's a real mail man."

Stanley: "Katelyn?"
Katelyn: "Bah bah bah bah...."