The Many Adventures of Flat Tyler

We hosted a Flat Stanley these past couple of weeks. He is in transit back to his classroom in Colorado now, but we sure had fun with while we had him. 

We kept him busy and made sure he wrote in his travel log daily. He was very good about posing for pictures and gathering local brochures.

Here is a copy of Flat Tyler's journal:

Flat Tyler’s Travel Log

I arrived safely into the mailbox of my cousins, The Schumacher Family, in California.

Uncle Keith (who is actually my grandma’s cousin) is a middle school teacher and he teaches college. Aunt Mary is the mom of the family and the kids are my cousins, Gracie and Libby. Gracie is 7 years old and in the first grade. Libby is 4 ½ years old and will be in Kindergarten next year. Gracie goes to school part-time and does homeschool part-time.

 They also have a dog named Sandy. She’s 12 years old and very sweet.  

While I was visiting, The Schumachers had company. I met Uncle Ed from Las Vegas, Grandma Helen from Wyoming, Aunt Patty from Montana and cousin Jennifer also from Montana. They drove to California to spend a weekend with me and the Schumachers. Mostly, they wanted to meet Baby Alfred, my newest cousin.

The Schumachers took me to lots of places to see the local sites and experience California culture.  Gracie and Libby taught me to say “Chaw” and “Dude” like a Californian. I never needed my jacket or hat because it’s nice and warm there.  I told them about Colorado; they’ve never been there. The girls didn’t know what skiing is, but they have seen snow and pine trees when they took a winter vacation to Wyoming and South Dakota last year.  

Western Science Center -  Hemet, CA:  Gracie, Libby, Henry and I went to a dinosaur museum. It was a lot of fun! We saw the bones from a mammoth and a sloth. We got to see a short movie about dinosaurs in the Inland Empire (that’s what they call this area of California) and we got to make a fossil out of clay .

Busker Festival at Seaport Village:  We went to San Diego to the Busker Festival. A Busker is a street performer. Seaport Village is a shopping and eatery center along the edge of the San Diego Bay. We saw lots of different street performers and artists. There were musicians, dancers, acrobats and magicians. We also saw an escape artist and a couple of unicycle riding jugglers. 

Duck Pond – Temecula, CA:  One day we went to a city park called the Duck Pond. All it has is a pond and a walking path around it.  It was nice and there were a lot of ducks!  I had to be careful not to flutter in the wind or I’d end up swimming with the ducks.  

San Diego Air and Space Museum: We set out for an adventurous day at the San Diego Zoo. When we got there, the parking lot was packed solid and so was the overflow parking and every parking lot in the area. Aunt Mary finally found a parking spot but it was pretty far from the zoo. Conveniently, she discovered that we parked close to the Air and Space Museum. Gracie and I thought that was a better idea anyway!

The Air and Space Museum has a special Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit and we were able to see the museum and the Ripley’s exhibit too.  It was a lot of fun. We came home with coloring pages and paper airplane origami pages for fun at home. I got to see Bumblebee there!

Cabrillo National Monument:  We drove out to Point Loma which is a Navel Base at the tippy end of a peninsula. It was really cool!  From the point, you can see the San Diego Bay, the harbor, and the Pacific Ocean in the other direction.

Cabrillo was a European explorer and he is the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the United States.  This monument recognizes his adventures. He’s just like me: an adventurer discovering amazing places!  Cha!  (I’m really getting a hang of the California language).

There is also an old lighthouse at the National Park and you can go down to the shore to the tidepools and caves. There are small caves in the sides of the cliffs that were made by erosion. The land is very interesting and goes from shrub covered hills on one side of the peninsula to sand covered eroded cliffs on the other. 

Coronado Island, San Diego:  We drove across a huge bridge over the San Diego Bay to Coronado Island.  We played in the sand on the beach by the Ferry landing where I met a friend, another Flat Stanley! He didn't speak English, but we played and had a good time anyway.

Balboa Park:  Balboa Park is in the middle of San Diego. It houses the San Diego Zoo, a couple of playgrounds, numerous museums and gardens. The day we went, we just strolled on the walkways and enjoyed the local artists, played in the fountains, and admired the architecture.  Luckily, the bird rescue group was at Balboa Park so we got to see the birds again. We saw them at the Busker Festival too! They save abandoned pet parrots and exotic birds and readopt them to new homes. We didn’t adopt a bird, but we did get to hold a few. Libby doesn’t like to hold them because she thinks they will poop on her. She finally decided to try it and it was a lot of fun.

 

Easter:  I celebrated Easter with the Schumacher family. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt party at a friend’s house. He name is Justin and he’s 5 years old like me. His back yard is landscaped with natural California grasses and plants, so it was a lot of fun. They have the best back yard for an egg hunt! 

On Easter Sunday we went to a friend’s house for dinner. We had lots of great food. The Sanchez family had two dogs and two tortoises. They were really neat! They had an area of the back yard underneath the tree house that was their home. They live outside in the yard. One tortoise lost a leg so the family glued on a wheel from a toy car so she could get around. They both crawled faster than I thought they would. They love to eat dandelions. 

Science Center:  This is a museum in Balboa Park. The girls love this place. When we entered the museum the employee who greeted us at the entrance said, “Have fun and touch everything.”  Awesome!  We had a great time playing with all of the science center exhibits. There is a part of the museum that looks like a city and we played there for a while too.

Montessori School: One day I went to school with Gracie. She is in Ms. Andria’s class. Gracie is in a mixed class of 1^st – 3^rd grade. They have lunch outside on picnic tables. Their parking lot is also the playground and the gym. Most elementary schools have a playground but they do not have a cafeteria or a gym. They eat and play outside every day. Gracie and her classmates have never had a snow day.

Disneyland and Cars Land:  On my last day in California, I went with the Schumacher girls to Disneyland and California Adventure.  Gracie and Libby go to Disneyland often because it isn’t very far away. We left after school and got home a little after bedtime.

First we went into Disneyland. It was very exciting! We saw Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Goofy right away. Our first stop was the first aid station because Gracie’s tooth was falling out and she wanted an envelope or something to put it in when it fell out. They were very nice and gave her a little container. We walked up Main Street. Gracie’s favorite part of Main Street is the Magic Shop. It was amazing! Libby wanted to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire. We saw Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. I was made an honorary citizen of Disneyland and I got a button to wear for the rest of the day. Then we rode the Small World. We then went into Fantasyland and rode Alice in Wonderland’s Teacups.

Next we went to California Adventure, which is where Cars Land is. Cars Land is amazing! It is just like you step into the Cars movie! I got to meet Mater and Lightning McQueen! I also got to see the main street of Radiator Springs and see Ornament Valley. When it got dark, all the neon lights came on and it was just like it was in the movie. We rode on Mater’s Tractor ride which was more fun than anything!