Explosion Day

We had Explosion Day last week when my friend Jesse came over. Earlier we made volcanoes out of paper mache and we painted them. Here we are with our volcanoes and my sister:



This is my volcano:



There is a Lego guy on top because he doesn't know it's a volcano because it never erupted before.

We made the eruption by putting baking soda in the volcano and then putting vinegar with red food coloring in it in the volcano:



And that made it erupt!



Poor Lego dude on the top! The Lego dudes on the bottom were floating in the lava.

Another part of Explosion Day was Mentos and Coke. Mine worked better than Jesse's because all of his Mentos didn't fall in. Here is his:




And since Jesse's was so small, he was drinking it as it came out!

My mom couldn't take a picture of mine because it happened so quickly.

And we also almost had digestive explosions because we had Hubba Bubba bubblegum ice cream and Mentos for a snack.

Ka-boom!

Pancake-A-Thon

This morning I cooked breakfast for everybody and I made pancakes.

This is me eating a pancake. I ate 8 pancakes (I would have eaten more if I didn't have to cook them - at least 14).

The book in front of me is Farmer Boy. It is a story about Almanzo Wilder and our mom is reading it out loud to us. Almanzo loves to eat! Just like me! His mom made pancakes and put butter and maple sugar on them in stacks. I did stacks today. I had a 6-stacker and a 2-stacker because there were only 4 left and I had to split them with my sister.

I wish I could have eaten at Almanzo's house!

Pie Eating Contest (with Puny Pies)

Where: St. Matthew's Church

Who: Me and my friends

What: A pie-eating contest (junior division). None of the adults would compete! There was also a chili cook-off going on.

When: Saturday, after mulching our whole yard

Why: I wanted to go because of the pie-eating contest, but the chili was good, too.

This is before we started and we are getting ready. Our hands are behind our backs because you couldn't use your hands.



This is us when the pie-eating contest started.



I had a technique of slamming my face into the pie to break it into smaller pieces to make it easier to eat. I chose cherry pie to eat. We had little pies because the contest was for kids and they didn't want anyone throwing up. I wasn't expecting a pie so small, but it was a good idea because it didn't take as long to eat. The pies that we could have had were pretty big, but we didn't get those and got the little pies.

This is me and I am smiling because I won First Place!!!



And here are all of us after we finished.



I won a prize. It was these things called Silly Shooters and they are rubber and you can stretch them a ton! You can also shoot them.

I had a really good time.

The Basketball Blog

I went to a UVA basketball game with my dad and some of his friends on Sunday evening. It was my first full basketball game and it was my first UVA basketball game and it was my first visit to the new arena (John Paul Jones).

When I got there I was pretty much just bouncing off people because it was so crowded. But in some spots you could still move.

My mom packed me $20 to spend for food. I spent it on hamburgers, fries, a drink, and cotton candy, which came later. During the game there were games that people did during breaks. One was when there was a guy and they had challenged him to hit a golf ball into a hole for $50 and Pepsi combo. And he got it! There was one game where there was a contest. It was a free throw contest. One person had on an orange jersey and the other had on a blue jersey. Whoever rooted for the color who got the most free throws would get something, but I forgot what it was.

And here is a picture of the cheerleaders on the court:



And here is a picture of the Cavalier:



And this is a picture when they finished introducing all the players for the Cavaliers:



Here are the Cavaliers warming up:



And here is the scoreboard before the game started (it cost $8 millions!):



And here is me and my dad. I'm on the left and dad's on the right.



I was wearing a UVA-colored striped shirt and a glow necklace which came from the stadium.

I had a REALLY good time!

Pinewood Derby Car

For Cub Scouts, you have to make a pinewood derby car. And since I am in Cub Scouts, I made one. Here's how I did it:

My dad and I bought a block kit at Hobbytown U.S.A.

I made a picture of the car before we carved it. I made a side-view picture of the car I wanted to make that was the same size as the block. And then I colored the picture.

We started carving the car with a saw. After you cut out the design, you sand it. And after you sand it, you start to paint it.

First you put a coat down of white, then you let that dry and if your car is two colors, paint it all one color.

Here is the car painted white:



And here is the car painted both colors:



It used to be just yellow, but we don't have a picture of that. But then I just painted the front green.

Here is the car in its work station. That's where it got painted and sanded.



On my car, I took two colors and blended them together so it looks like yellow changed into green.

Next, we took care of the wheels. But we did so much stuff to the axles, I could write a whole big, fat book about it. So I won't tell you that much about it. But, I'll tell you a little bit. We sanded the axles, polished the wheels, put the wheels and axles together, and put them on the car.

After we put on the wheels, we found out that the car was a little too heavy. So while I was asleep, my dad cut a ridge out of it so it would be lighter.

Anyway, after that we put on the decals.



I put on the number ("57") and the sponsor decals. I picked enough for some to go on one side and the other.

I took a pen and drew a motor on the bottom and some scales on the front. I forgot to say that when we were painting, I painted an eye on both sides on the front of the car. It is glow-in-the-dark with bloodshot eyes.

After we took care of all the decals, we put over the car a coat of varnish. And here is the finished car:



Here is the dragon decal that I put on the back overhang. I picked out a dragon because my car is kind of like a dragon: because my car has fangs and scales, it has eyes, and is partly green.



Here is a picture of the motor that I drew. I used my mom's special pen, but it didn't work that well on the paint so I just used a Sharpie. I had already drawn a diagram of what I'd do on the motor, but I just modified it so it would look better.


And here's an angle shot, so you can see the fangs and the scales. The varnish unexpectedly crackled so it looks even more like scales.



I am going to weigh my car at the Pack weigh-in this evening to see if it is light enough to race. I'll get to see everybody else's cars! The race is this Saturday. I hope I win!

The Birthday Blog

I made a birthday card for my friend and my mom thought it looked cool. She said I should put it on my blog...so that's what I did!



I made a control apanel with message on the top. The message was made with the electricity that I drew.



I drew a little mouse with a sign that said "From: Brendan" (shown above).

The card came with a present that was an "Angel Wars" movie. We're going to drop it off to him today because it's his birthday.

Jamestown

We went on a field trip to Jamestown last Friday. We got to see the ships, the fort, and the Indian village. We went because we were studying Jamestown in history.



I took this picture of the outside of the hull of the Susan Constant. We also went on the Susan Constant. We saw tight beds, the captain's room, and canons down below, but we didn't see any chamber pots.



I took this picture also. It is part of the ropes of the Susan Constant. I took a picture of the ropes because I thought that they looked pretty cool.



This is a picture of me scraping out a canoe. The Indians burned out the middle of burned down trees (they burned them down instead of chopping them down) to make canoes. They burned out the middle so that it would be softer to scrape out with shells.



My mom, my sister, and I made a diorama of Jamestown and this is it here. The little people up on the corner of the fort are me and my sister. Mom cut us out of a photo of Jamestown when we were trying on armor at the fort and made the figurines. The thing in the other corner is a wigwam (an Indian house). We made a little felt baby to put in the house on the bed made of little felt pelts. The two people in the Indian part are his parents. The dad's sleeve got torn off in a fight with a bear. Then he hunted down the bear and got his pelt which you can see by the wigwam. Beside the wigwam, there is a little pelt stretcher. In the front of the wigwam, there is a canoe being burned out. We put a little bit of mud at the end to keep it from burning all the way. We made corn by sticking toothpicks in black Play-Doh and then put paper corn and leaves on with glue. The ships in the back are the ships that I drew of the Susan Constant and the tip to the Godspeed.

The diorama was fun to make and the trip to Jamestown was too.

Halloween!!!

This is me in my Halloween costume. I am a ninja. I picked out a ninja costume because I thought it looked cool and I got to get the swords. My sister was Cleopatra (not shown - see my mom's blog).



I got a whole candy bucket full of candy - it was up to the top because there was a Juicy Juice in it! One lady had little bags of candy with three pieces in it. I also liked trick or treating because I got to see everyone else's costumes. My friend, Alex L. had a mask with a little pump that was shaped like a heart and when you squeezed it, (fake) blood came down the mask.

When we got home, we swapped candy. Here are the rules for swapping candy:

1. First , you have to sort your candy by type (like any kind of Sweet Tart candies together)
2. You can't swap lollipops (because they are priceless).
3. Laffy Taffy's can be swapped for small bags of Sweet Tarts.
4. I traded two pieces of candy for my sister's Wild Berry Chewy Lifesavers.
5. You have to take turns.
6. If we don't agree on a swap (which is usually what happens), we try to swap for another thing.

This is us swapping candy - in full motion. My sister still has on her costume.

This is my loot:

I forgot to add that it was very hot - 73 degrees at least.

The Ballad of Pete and Joe

Here are the stars of the story:



Joe (left), Sheriff Pete (middle), and the Ghost of Cactus Bill (right).



Sheriff Pete said "Joe. We need to trade with the Indians, but we'll have to go through the ghost town".

"The ghost town!" cried Joe. "But that's where the ghost of Cactus Bill is!"



Twenty miles later, they came to the ghost town.

"This is the place where the Great Fire occurred. That's why all the town is black." said Joe.



"Let's rest by this cactus" said Sheriff Pete.

And then, the Ghost of Cactus Bill attacked them.

"Help!!" yelped Joe and Sheriff Pete.

The Ghost said "I will imprison you in my jail."



"How do we get out of here?!" said Joe.

"I don't know if we can." said Sheriff Pete.




"Let's push over here because we haven't yet." said Sheriff Pete.

And then when they pushed on the wall, it opened!



But then, the Ghost saw them and they started running.



"We have to split." said Sheriff Pete grimly. And then, they did.



"Let's go behind this rock!" said Joe.



"We can climb up the back..."



"...and pretend we are a monument built by the Indians!" said Joe.



"Smart plan, Joe! We get to trade with the Indians!" said Sheriff Pete excitedly.

"We are trading for good things."



THE END

Halloween Decorating

We did Halloween decorating with spider webs and little ghosts in the trees (not shown).

The person up in the corner is my Dad on the phone. He ruined the picture.

This is the spider web picture that didn't get spoiled by my Dad on the phone. It was a different kind of spider web. I liked the other kind better, even though my Dad ruined the picture.

The Super Short, Extra Short Post

This is before I got my hair cut.



This is after I got my hair cut.

This is why my post is called "The Super Short, Extra Short Post"