Stamps From Grandma

So today is the 27th of December. My Grandma Barbara gave me part of her collection of UN (United Nations) stamps. They are really cool. Some of them are even 59 years old! The collection was started by her Uncle Herman in 1951. She gave me stamps that are from 1951-2009. I have already put about 50 or 60 stamps in my new album that has stamps from 1951 to 1971. There is also an album that is from 2000-the end. Right now it only has stamps issued for that album from 2000-2009, but more stamps will be issued for that album in the future. She basically gave me 1 year's worth of stamps, not to mention the 80-100 stamps I have from my Grandpa Dan. I am having lots of fun with these stamps. She also gave me a stamp catalog from Amazon. Thank you, grandma!     

Skiing with mom

So today, (December 19), my mom and I went skiing at the Cross-Country Ski Association near my house for the afternoon, and I had a lot of fun. We took a lot of trails that I haven't been on before. There were a lot of hills to go up on the way there, but we went down them on the way back. I did really well on the downhill parts, but that's because I go to an afternoon downhill ski program after school on Tuesdays in January and February. As I said, I had a lot of fun this afternoon. Speaking of which, I have new skis! My dad got them for me when a ski swap was happening. Until next time!
                                                                       -Ethan                                                                                         

K-nex Land on Thanksgiving?

So, my Thanksgiving was pretty good. I did go to the F.A.T. Chain-Reaction,(see my post:F.A.T. Chain-Reaction Rocks), and it was really cool. I was staying over at my Aunt's house in Massachusetts, and I did alot of playing with my 15-Year-old cousin's K-nex set. My Aunt helped me look online to print out directions for a design that we had never seen. I printed out a design called Helicopter Ride. It was really cool, but very complicated! I was really glad that I picked the one I picked. It took about a day of on-and-off building. If you want to see it, watch this video! 

F.A.T. Chain-Reaction Rocks!

So. Hi there! Let's get down to business. Anyway, now that I've said hi, I should get started. So. This Thanksgiving, my family is going to go to my aunt's house in Arlington, Massachusetts. As always, we always go to see the F.A.T.
Chain-Reaction. It is a really cool chain reaction at the MIT.(Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The chain-reaction happens in a big gym at MIT. It is a bunch of chain -reactions that lots of different people make. All the chain-reactions are connected together so that the first one triggers the next one and so on.

Sometimes at the beginning there are big cardboard half-tubes,(cylinders),and people send lots of tennis balls down them for about 10 minutes. Then, they trigger the chain-reactions and those last about another 20 minutes. Last year, there was a glowing golf ball that made it about half-way around the circle of chain-reactions before it was lifted by a mechanical arm into a holder where it rested for the rest of the chain-reaction. Another time there was a crimper that squeezed a metal can with a lot of peoples' names in it so that it turned into a time-capsule. Then, (another from last year), there was one for the golf ball that used counter-weights to lift the golf ball up to the top. The really cool ones are like, well, the kind where there are boards with magnets that somehow push the marbles on the other side of the wood.(There were a couple of marbles that went up a slant). Then yet another one had a Thomas-The-Tank-Engine, that went around a track a couple of times.     

Don't you want to go there?     

          The End                   

For more information, visit http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/fat.html

Plan B is always more interesting...

So you might be wondering if I have another story at hand. Well, I do. So yesterday was my dad's birthday. Of course, my grandparents came. They were not planning on staying for dinner. But they did. That is because they had their 2 dogs with them. The dogs were very antsy, because my grandad forgot to bring their dog-food. Then they left. My mom and sister were in the bathroom washing up for dinner, and my sister said:"Oh, look! Grandma left her camera in the bathroom!" So we left a hilarious message on their answering machine. It said something like, "So, we have your camera, and we could mail it to you, but we want to know if we shouldn't. But we are going to mail it to you so there!" Then, about 2 minutes later my grandparents' car pulled up in the driveway! My sister was by the door when my grandma came in! When my grandma came up the porch stairs, my sister was by the door, held out the camera, and asked:"Did you want this?" So my grandma laughed, and my mom asked if they did actually want to stay for dinner. So my grandma went out to the car, and asked my grandad if they should stay. My grandad turned off the car and my grandma and grandad came inside. The only problem was that the dogs needed food. But my dad and I came up with the fact that we have a neighbor that has a dog. She has lots of dog-food. So I ran over to her house with a 1 cup measuring cup, and a paper bag. I asked her if we could have 3 cups of dog-food. She gave me 3 cups of "Purina 1 lamb and rice" to put in the paper bag.When I got home, I said "score 1!" and gave the food to my grandad. So the dogs are fed, and we're finally sitting down to dinner. Dinner was good, and my grandparents have left. We haven't heard from them since!

                                                   (that probably means that they got home safely)

                                                                                          The End

How it all started...

So you may have been wondering how my blog started. It all started at recess last Friday 
 when I was having a conversation with my school's Guidance counselor. He suggested I start a podcast, so I can tell my long stories to anyone, but they can only listen when they want to. (A podcast is like a blog, but you mainly use a podcast to record stories). I knew that I could definitely do that, since my dad is a technology person. So when I got home, I told my parents that I wanted to start a podcast to record my stories. My dad said that I should start with a blog, so he set up the blog I am writing on now!:)     
                                    (that smiley face has a baseball bat on his head)

English Candy

So, my family has a friend living in England, and just yesterday I got a box from England. I was told that  my grandmother had just had a two-day layover to England. There was a postcard from Fairlee VT, near where my grandmother lives. But no! It was a postcard from our friend that moved to England! There was 3 kinds of English candy,(see title), and a book with 8 stories. It was so awesome!

                                    (I haven't eaten the candy, nor read the book)