I Got A Snail His Names KIng KEVIN!

Okay so in class we are learning about Organisaims, the animals we are leaning about are bettle, Patato Bug, snail, Guppy. So we have a trarium for the bettles and Patato bugs and aquraruim for the snails and guppies. My teacher Mrs. G said we get to take home our animals on May 22 right after my mom's B-Day and Celebrate Learning night! Our table group deicided who was getting who but sience all our guppies died, I know it is sad, so anyway sience al our guppies dies no one could have them. We had 3 snails and on the day we got to take them hoe one of our bess bettles dies so now we have 1 bess bettle and 1 patato bug although we used to have two.

On May 22 I ot a snail I named him King Kevin because the named just seemed grand like him. When I brought him home he was only in a little cup. than one day my mom bought him a new home that was a total upgrade. Wescott of course not a surprise said "It's just a snail! You pampor it too much."

You may think it's boring and not cool but to me he's the perfect pet!

King Kevin's first house

His new castle!

Angkor Thom

When we were in Cambodia for 4 days we went to a lot of temples maybe like 4 or so. The one I am going to tell you about is Angkor Thom and the temple Bayon.

Angkor Thom was one of the largest of all the Khmer cities. It's name, wich dates from at least the 12th century, means 'great city.' Bayon lies in the exact center of Angkor Thom, the city founded by the last great Khmer King. Bayon is a Buddhist temple and it is like a forest of stone face towers.

I thought we packed a lot of stuff into our 4 days but the Bayon temple really was cool because of the faces and also there was a lot of like little rooms in the temple where a buddha was but they took all of them out except one so they could only have one that you could look at in the temple. I think they put the other buddhas in musuems or they all got stolen.

A Fish Massage

OK so, just to give you a little info that might come in handy, we took a little break from Hanoi and went to Cambodei for 3 nights and 4 days. And for one of those days we went to te night market and you know what we did, we got a fish massage! Wait wait I bet you want to hear all about it beiging to end don't you, well ok here it goes.

We were walking down the aisles of the night market when we saw a sign that said "fish massage" and wondered what it weas. There also was a second night makret next to the first one wich had the fish massage in it. Mom and everybody, I mean not dad he didn't want to try it because he thought it was too weird and gross but he did it anyway. And also he stuck his feet in before mom when mom was the one who wanted to do it more than dad.

It was weird at first because when you first put your feet in all the fish start comeing to you and eating all the dead skin and making the fresh skin appear. The fish were like some special fish that cleans your skin I think. Dad of course couldn't help it he laughed so hard there was also some other people too. A lot of other people came and crowded around to see it. It was super random but it was really fun and if we come back to Cambodia we might have to do it again.

A Fun Dinner

Yesterday night, we had dinner with Dr. Hong and her husband and two of their children, Hou and Ming. Dr. Hong is the person that works with the Dong Anh orphanage to help the families from the US while they are in Hanoi. Dong Ahn is the orphanage that Tuck and Jones lived in their hole life. Never mind, let's just get back to the dinner.

So after a hole day of fun with Dr. Hong and her family, we went to a place thats like a garden center mixed with a restaurant. But before we had dinner, we played some games...just the kids though. After we were done playing the games we went to a little room that had two mats on top of each other on the ground, a guitar hanging on the wall andone light bulb on the ceiling. Oh yeah, did I mention that the room is in the middle of a pond!!! Also the guitar was no use because nobody really knew how to play it so yeah.

When the food came, we all dug in. Here let me be more pacific. What we dug into was pumpkin blowsems. Then the next dish we dug into was the most freshes chiken (2 plates of it.) Don't forget the drinks. Plain water and of cours beer.

Vietnam does something different when people order chiken. We learned that last night when we ordered the chiken that the people at the restaurant waited until we ordered the chiken and then they went in the backyard and found a chiken running around and killed it and cooked it. That is why it was so fresh but took a long time.

We found a ligo!

One night when we were making the fort we diecided to put the tv in the fort. So when mom picked up the tv Wescott saw a ligo. So did mom but the ligo was too blurrie for mom to see it clearly because it was running too fast.

A ligo is a lizards and gekkos name combined together. I know a ligo does not exist but it will in my story so deal. I combined the two names together because I was not the person who saw it, mom and Wescott saw it. And you know Wescott, he doesn't always tell me the truth so first he told me he saw a lizard and then he said he didn't see a lizard he said he saw a gekko. Then he changed his mind and said he saw an iguana (I bet you know what I am thinking...Wescott couldn't have seen three anphibeans.)

Since I couldn't trust Wescott, I went to mom and said what was the animal you saw was it a gekko or a lizard? Mom wasn't sure which one so I decided it was a ligo.

Learning how to make carrot flowers and more

When we went on a boat for two days in Halong Bay we had some pretty amazing food, and I am not just talking about the food, the side decorations were just fabulous. Most of the decorations were made out of carrots, like carrot flowers, carrot house and one was the 11 layer pagoda. And what was cool was we thought the pagoda was separate pieces of carrot but it really was one whole carrot! There was also other stuff like tomatos carved like a swan and a bunch of other stuff I can't name. The one everybody loved was the watermelon with a big huge but not that huge flower carved in it with "HALONG" carved on one side and "PHOENIX" carved on the other side.

All the side decorations are beautiful until a big mouth comes up and takes a big huge bite on the top (Otto your looking guilty...did you do it?)

The decorations looked so good Mom, Terry and PopPop couldn't stand how good they looked so they asked the chefs if they could take a lesson and the chefs said "oh, no problem." So then the next day, Mom, Terry and PopPop had a lesson about 2 hours before lunch so some of the things they made we saw with the food. As you can see, they learned how to make flowers with many different vegetables.

Happy or Sad?

Everyday, we either see Tucker Tuck-Tang cring and Jones-Chien happy or is it the other way around? Anyways what I am trieing to tell you is that everyday Tuck and Jones always switch off being sad or happy. So if one day Jones is really happy you'd think "oh, maybe since Jones is happy today, he will be happy tomorrow" but then he isn't and Tuck is.

You see it is very complecated knowing who is going to be happy or sad? Sierecly sometimes they are both happy, and then one falls down and starts crying then you pick him up and he is fine, but suddenly you aren't fine because the other one bonked is head in the chair and wants you to pick him up, so after a while of listening to him cry you pick him up or give him a time out.....

If you pick Tuck or Jones up when they are crying for no reason they will stop immediately until you put them in a time out then they really get sad.

So where was I? Oh yes after a while of listening to him cry you pick him up and put the other one down because they are two heavy if you pick them both up. So the one you put down will start to cry because he wants you to carry him and sometimes their crys are so loud that you just have to pick him up. And in the end you'll be carrying both of them.

I don't know but to have an hour of peace and quiet while the babies are sleeping to one of them waking up and starting to cry and make the other one cry is total trouble until one fo the big kids makes them happy. Putting on music and having dance partys and running around the apartment to having a nap and a baba itn is total chaos then it is mellow a little then it is back to chaos.

The thing is you never know who is going to be happy or sad.

How a Village grows Flowers

One day we went to a village that is famous for growing flowers and making tofu. When we went to see the flowers we didn't just see 1 or 2 flowers we saw fields of flowers, yes I am telling you fields of flowers all over the land... but the flowers you couldn't see that well as much as the stems. You couldn't see the flowers that well because the villagers or one villager wrapped every single bud with newspaper. Why they wanted to wrap the flowers in the newspaper is so they could keep the flowers longer until the holidays are nearby or special occasions are right around the corner and then they bring the flowers to the city to sell them. The types of flowers they grew where lilies, Gerber daisies, Chrysanthemums, asters, flax, and last but diffidently not least roses (many verities of them and most of the roses are wrapped in newspaper). We also saw what they do after they cut of a flower from its stem, yes I don't now why they want to cut the flower? Maybe the flower is dead I don't now but after the bud is cut off they put some stuff on the tip of the stem and put it in water or dirt and then after a while of waiting a new bud grows on top of the stem! The village didn't only grow flowers it grew vegetables too, they grew lettuce, pumpkins and a lot of other stuff I don't now are. I remember when we were walking in the fields near the flowers that were wrapped in newspaper and we saw a man and a woman loading there motorbike with bundles of roses with newspaper around the bud, then we saw the man and the woman getting on the motorbike with 3 or 2 bundles of roses on the back and ride off to the city to sell them. I thought seeing how a village grows flowers in a different country was pretty cool.

The Silk Village

When we went to the silk village the first thing we we saw was how silk was made. On the railing there were three baskets, the three baskets had baby silk warms, grownup silk warms, and last but not least silk cocoons. After the silk warms made the silk cocoons the people who work there unravel the silk and spin it into thread. Then the thread gets hung up in the silk machine and it starts to make cool designs in the fabric, the fabric is made from wooden things {that I don't now are} that connect to the silk machines. After we saw how silk was made we went to some silk stores, dad bought a cool rob that's green and it is reversible so if dad wants to wear it inside out he can! The other side is black with dragons on it. Also I bought an awesome outfit, it's a traditional Vietnamese dress with pants that's red. I thought seeing how silk was made was really fun and interesting because I never in my life saw that before.

I love the way Tang smiles

I love the way Tang smiles because it is so big and happy, also when Tang smiles you can see all of his teeth.