Flat Ebba Goes to New Hampshire!

Ebba has arrived in New Hampshire.  The weather has been very cold here, but, like typical New England, the weather changed yesterday and now it is hot, hot, hot.  Did Ebba pack a bathing suit?

We will be sending you some things to admire from New Hampshire soon!

Happy Spring to you all.  Daffodils and tulips are blooming here.

FLat Joseph Goes to Germany!

After his visit in Oslo, Norway, Flat Stan (Joe) travelled to Berlin, Germany.

 

Here’s Flat Stan (Joe) at Alexander’s Platz in (the former) East Berlin, again with cousin Erica.

 

While in Berlin, Flat Stan (Joe) also visited Brandenburg Tor... 

and Check-Point Charlie.

Flat Joseph Goes to Norway!

Flat Joseph has been visiting and travelling in Northern Europe since February.

 

Alas, Flat Joseph’s uncle and host (who shall remain unnamed) is sometimes often not very timely in giving reports.  Here, at last, is a summary.

 

Flat Joseph’s adventures began in Oslo Norway.  The must-see place for first time visitors to Oslo is Vigeland Park – a fantastic park full of sculptures (http://www.vigeland.museum.no/en/vigeland-park) .

 

It was created by the artist Gustav Vigeland eighty years ago.

 

Everybody’s favorite statue in Vigeland’s Park is “The Angry Boy”.  And Flat Joseph had his picture taken with him!  Stan was pretty excited.

 

Flat Joseph also said that he thought The Angry Boy looked a bit like Round Joseph when he was 2.

 

Oslo is very far north (almost 1000 miles north of Minneapolis!), so there is not much daylight in the winter.  For a better view of “The Angry Boy”, I attached a photo taken in the summertime (before Flat Joseph came to visit).

 

The other big attraction in the park is the monolith:    http://www.vigeland.museum.no/en/vigeland-park/monolith

 

The last picture is Flat Joseph with his cousin Erica – who lives just a few blocks from Vigeland’s Park.

 

Flat Naren Goes to New York (and New Jersey)!

Naren Flat Stanley visited his Uncle Sidhartha who lives in Manhattan, New York City.  His Uncle Sidhartha took him to the top of his work building and showed him the tallest building in NYC, the Empire State Building.  

His Uncle also took him to Rockefeller Center where he got a chance to the Ice Skating Rink and Rockefeller building where many NBC shows are taped.  (Uncle Sidhartha works for a cable channel company).  

Uncle Sidhartha also took Flat Naren to see Times Square during the day.  This is where the the ball drops on New Years Eve.  

Lastly, Uncle Sidhartha took him to NJ side and took a picture of the skyline of NYC from the Hudson River side.

Flat Andrew Goes to Massachusetts!

The Chiu Family was happy to have Flat Andrew visit us in Somerville, Massachusetts, a town just a few miles north of  Boston.  Owen knew that Flat Stanley was once made un-flat with a bicycle pump.  Owen tried it with Flat Andrew, but it didn’t work!

Instead, Nora and Addie made flat-selves so Flat Andrew would have some Flat Friends to play with.

Flat Andrew also had fun playing with un-flat Addie while Owen and Nora were at school.

Flat Andrew got to see Owen and Nora at the Benjamin G. Brown Elementary School, which has been a school for over 100 years.  Nora is in 1^st grade, and Owen is in 3^rd.

It was a warm day, so we thought Flat Andrew would enjoy seeing the Atlantic Ocean.  We went to Revere Beach and hunted for seashells, but it was so windy, we couldn’t stay to build a sandcastle.

Instead, we went back home and made one in the sandbox.

Our town Somerville has a historic sight, the “Powderhouse”, which is just a block away from our house.  It was built as a windmill in 1703, and was used to store gunpowder during the American Revolution.  Addie showed Flat Andrew some of the historic markings around the park.  We think it is very funny that the building was used as a pickle factory in the 1870’s.

 

Flat Andrew’s last adventure was joining Owen, Nora and Addie at marching band practice for the “Underage Marching Menace”…

It is really fun.  Owen even made his own instrument, a “Kazoomaphone”.  Nora plays the tambourine, and Addie plays a drum made from a coffee can.  We will probably perform at a big music festival called HONK! That happens in Somerville in October.

Here is the band website  http://kids-street-band.tumblr.com/ 

and here is a video of Flat Andrew marching (there are usually a few more kids in the band!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pvtW4rHpV4&feature=youtu.be

We hope Flat Andrew enjoyed his visit to Somerville, MA, and we hope un-flat Andrew and his family will visit us some day!

Flat Andrew Goes to another city in Michigan!

Hello to Room 240!

We are so excited - Flat Andrew arrived in the mail today to visit us in Olivet, Michigan!  We can't wait to show him around!

Olivet is a small town in the southern part of Michigan.  There are only about 2,000 residents in Olivet, but there are actually more people here because we have a lot of college students that go to Olivet College!  This is a famous school in Michigan because it was the first college that allowed women and African-American students to attend the same classes as other students.  When the college was started in 1844 this wasn't allowed at other schools.  It's hard for us to think that there was a time when only boys could go to college!

Flat Andrew spent a little time on the Internet tonight, visiting his many friends on your class website!  You can see the picture of him chatting with Flat Lucy in Ireland!  You have a very fun project and a great blog!

We'll write again soon!

- Kirsten Almo & kids (Zoe - age 11, Mimi - age 10)

PS.  I've been friends with the real Andrew's mom since we were Andrew's age!

Flat Lucy C. Goes to Ireland!

Flat Lucy visited Ireland! She was hosted by Lucy C.'s Aunt Eileen and Uncle Amal. Eileen and Amal showed Flat Lucy around their town of Rosslare Strand, Ireland which is a small village located at the southeast corner of Ireland and on the coast of the Irish Sea ...

Flat Lucy arrives in Rosslare Strand, Ireland.  She noticed that the place signs for roads and towns in Ireland are written in both Irish and English. 

First, Flat Lucy visited Tintern Abbey, founded in the year 1200.  The Abbey has a tower, chapel, and castle-like buildings.  Hundreds of years ago, the Abbey was home to monks.  Today, tourists like to go and see the grounds. 

Flat Lucy especially liked looking out from one of the Tower windows at Tintern Abbey.  It was a sunny day in Ireland. 

Since Rosslare Strand is located on the Irish Sea, Flat Lucy got to travel on a large Ferry Boat starting from Rosslare Harbor ….

Flat Lucy took a three hour Ferry Boat ride across the Irish Sea …. 

To Fishguard, England … then drove with Eileen to the English countryside and saw lots of fields dotted with sheep one sunny morning.

When Flat Lucy returned to Ireland, she had a day at the beach in Rosslare Strand, enjoying the waves. 

Finally, before departing to go home to the U.S., Flat Lucy visited Wexford Town, Ireland.  The nearest “big” city from Rosslare Strand village!

Thanks for visiting us Flat Lucy! We hope you had fun in Ireland.