T-y's teacher requires a literature response each month. This month, T-y had to give a literature response to a book that has received the Caldecott Award or honor. T-y chose to give his response to "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Stupid Fairy Tails". It's a pretty funny book, in a stupid way. He had to give the class a response to what the book was about and why he liked it. Shantell helped him create the poster board that described some of the tails. The class thought the "Ugly Duckling" tail was funny.
Once upon a time there was a mother duck and a father duck who had seven baby ducklings. Six of them were regular-looking ducklings. The seventh was a really ugly duckling. Everyone use to say, "What a nice looking bunch of ducklings; all except that one. Boy, he's really ugly." The really ugly duckling heard these people, but he didn't care. He knew that one day he would probably grow up to be a swan and be bigger and look better than anything in the pond. Well, as it turned out, he was just a really ugly duckling. And he grew up to be just a really ugly duck. The End.
I passed out some stinky cheese on crackers to the class after he finished his presentation. Some of the kids thought it smelled like stinky feet. T-y's response was critiqued by his peers. Here are some of their responses to his presentation:
Your dad is "hairlarious"
You did awesome. Nice stinky cheese.
Speak Louder
You did really good. I liked the appetizer's.
I liked how you passed out stink cheese
Dude! That was really awesome.
That was a really great poster.
I like how you did more then one story.
I liked your dessert at the end.
I liked how Mr. Z had the class critique each of the presentations. T-y did kind of struggle and mumbled through some of it. At least now he knows how to do it and what he can improve on the next time. I was pretty darn proud of him today.
Today T-y and his class had a field trip to the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. I was lucky enough to be one of the chaperons. I took T-y, Taylor, and Lawry with me to the festival.
I went into the festival thinking that someone would be reading stories out of books. Boy was I mistaken. They were 4 storytellers that told some amazing stories.
The first storyteller was Kim Weitkamp. She told her story so well that I able to imagine myself flying on a sled as she told the story.
The second storyteller was a 2nd grade student from a local elementary school. Her story was about her families nightly ritual. She was very animated and told a great story. Really made me laugh.
The third storyteller, Antonia Rocha, was my favorite. He included his extensive mime experience in his story. This really made the story come alive. He involved the kids in his story and that made them pay attention. In fact, he recently released a DVD that won "Parents Choice Gold Award for 2008". He did a mime impression of blowing up a balloon that had all the kids standing up to see if he was really floating away. It was unreal.
The final storyteller was none other then the Grammy award-winning performer Bill Harley. He sang a song that involved the kids learning some sign language and asked them to sing along. Yes. I sang and it was amazing. That was a blast. He even taught the kids how to sign "I have to p".
It was such a great time. If you haven't ever been to the Festival, then get off you butt and go!
Floyd Robert Berrett, aka "Dad", was on Fox 13 "Good Day Utah" this morning. Cottonwood was nominated to be Fox 13's "Cool School of the Week". He coaches the girls volleyball team and Big Budda got some pointers on how to play the game from him. The ending of the video is the best. (Sorry dad, but it is!)
When he called to talk to me today, I said that he should have ended the segment by saying, "Now back to Ron and Mary in the studio". Now that would have been funny.
T-y and I tuned into the Olympics this morning. They were broadcasting the US vs Serbia water polo match live, but it was really the day after it had been played. T-y knew that I had played water polo in high school, so he started asking a bunch of questions about the game.
T-y: Can the players touch the bottom of the pool?
Me: No.
T-y: How deep is the pool?
Me: About 10 feet deep.
T-y: So the players can't touch the bottom and have to swim the entire time?
Me: Yep.
T-y: That would be a tough sport to play.
Me: Yes it is.
My photo scrapbooks were already out from looking for pictures of Rus, so I looked for some pictures of me playing water polo. It turns out that I was number 12 on the team. T-y choose to be number 12 on his baseball team. He had no clue that I was number 12 on the water polo team.
The US went on to beat the Croatia team 10-5. It was a fun game to watch. Especially since the US wasn't supposed to beat the Croatia team. In fact, the US team hasn't medaled in the sport for 20 years. Now they will be playing Hungary, ranked #1 in the world, for the gold medal.
A blog that I recently started reading wrote an entry about attitude. They mentioned that the following quote was on a wall in the Middle School they attended.
"Life is 10% what happens to us, and 90% how we react to it."
That got me thinking about my own attitude. I remember one of my high school coaches reinforcing the following quote.
"Your attitude determines your altitude."
I don't think I really ever knew understood why he kept saying that phrase. After all, I can't fly so why should I be worried about my altitude. I eventually came to understand what that saying meant. Our attitude is what determines the paths that we take in our lives. Our attitude affects everything in our lives. Our attitude determine the ways of responding to people and situations. Our attitudes are then manifested through our behaviors.
A positive attitude is what will carry us through the low altitudes, while a negative attitude will keep us in a low altitude.
In short, our attitude is what makes us who we are.
Once upon a time ago, I hired a fellow named Jon Tomlinson. Jon no longer works for me, but taught me a valuable lesson about attitude. He is one of those people that always sees the sun through the clouds. Nothing phased him. He always had a smile on his face and a great attitude to go along with it. Jon applied for a supervisor position. While his technical knowledge was lacking behind the other candidates, his attitude was far superior then the others. Jon wound up getting the position because of his attitude. His attitude is contagious. You couldn't help but feel better about anything after talking with Jon. He was always positive about the situation no matter what. Jon left you felling better about yourself, or whatever situation you found yourself in.His attitude definitely keeps his altitude above the clouds.
I need to do a better job of maintaining my altitude above the clouds.
"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude. Just like a great building stands on a strong foundation, so does success. And the foundation of success is attitude."
Brielle completed her first homework assignment! She received a rubber duck and had to name it and write a report about her duck. Here is her story.
The Duck in the Lake with the
Diving Board
By Brielle Berrett
My duck's name is Shantell. She is cute and small. She is cool. She likes swimming in the lake with her mom and dad and her friends and her brothers and sisters. Her brothers and sisters are really nice. She and her friends wanted a diving board for the lake. She typed a note to the owner of the lake to ask for a diving board. She got the diving board. She did a front flip. It was awesome.
The End
Speaking of lucky ducks, I am one lucky duck for being the father of Brielle. She has a fun adventurous spirit and I love her big much.
PS. Brielle enjoyed her first school lunch. It was a hotdog with mustard and ketchup.
What do you call a guy that is Brents bestest big brother?
Russell
My big brother Rus, note he spells his name with only one 's', is celebrating his birthday today. So far, he has been a great big brother. The only bad memory of Rus that I have is when he tossed a Rubiks Cube at me.
He on the other hand probably wanted to trade me in a countless number of times. Like the time I crashed the car on our way back from Grandma K's house. It was the first time that I had ever driven in the snow and I rear-ended the car in front of us. I think Rus got in more trouble for that accident then I did. To add insult to injury, then made him pay half of what it cost to fix the car.
Or the time when I read his personal journal and then told everyone the name of the girl he liked.
Rus is one of my heroes. Always has been and always will be. I have always know that he loves me and that he is there for me through the thick and the thin.
Summer went by way to fast! The kids made it back to school without any drama. Amanda started her first year of middle school, and T-y and Bre started their first year at Amelia Earheart. Everyone was so excited that they could hardly get to sleep last night. They were all up bright and early and were ready to go to school by 7:00. I wish I could get that excited to go into work everyday.
One of the reason why we decided to take the kids to school was because of Jason Zimmerman. Jason, "Mr. Z", received the
2004 Provo School District Educator of the Year.
In 2006, Mr. Z received a Milken Educator Award. This is no small accomplishment. The Milken Family Foundation gives out $25,000.00 to the top 100 educators in the Nation every year. He probably won the award because he is a demanding and caring teacher. Here is Mr. Z's teaching philosophy;
I'm going push you. I'm going to make you the best students that you can be. I want you to realize that by doing that you become something greater then you already are. If you ever give up on trying, then you have really lost. But if you don't, and you keep trying and do your best, then it will eventually work out. It may not happen today or tomorrow, but it will eventually work out.
Mr. Z is T-y's teacher this year. I am very excited for T-y to be in his class. I am also a bit apprehensive of the challenges that will be coming T-y's way.
Bre has two teachers this year. Mrs. Wood in the mornings, and Mrs. Anderson in the afternoons. She is really excited for school because she will finally be able to eat school lunch. Our neighbor is one of the school lunch ladies, so hopefully she will give the best quality hotdog to Bre for lunch.
I don't have any pictures of Amanda, as I haven't been able to get any of her. I think that she became allergic to me when she started middle school.
Jason Hopkins and I took the scouts on a camping trip to Maple Lake this weekend. I am not very familiar with car camping destinations around the valley so I am glad that Jason decided where we were going camping.
I don't have a lot of equipment for car camping, as most of my equipment is specifically made for backpacking. Guess I will have to get a collection of car camping equipment put together. We arrived at camp around 5, so I setup my makeshift shelter. I didn't want to set up a tent, so I strung a line between two trees and hung a tarp over my cot.
The kids spent some time wandering around the lake, some of them went swimming in it, and some of them went fishing. I went fishing and caught nothing more then thin air. The lake reminded me of my grandparents pond, so I don't think I would recommend swimming in the lake.
Saturday was spent fishing, swimming, and burning cow pies. Apparently the area is open range, so there were a ton of dried cow pies around. The kids thought that the poop would stink up the place so they really didn't want to burn them at first, but later warmed up to the idea. I must have rounded up 30 or more cow pies to burn. It was a grand ole time burning them pies. I even used pie coals to cook my lunch. I wrapped my ham and cheese sandwich in aluminum foil and place it in the coals. The sandwich was perfectly toasted and delicious. I opted for cooking mine in the fire, as Jason forgot the condiments to put on the sandwiches. A good time was had by all.
A beautiful day in Provo turned into a rainy day in the Uintas. It started raining about the time we hit the Upper Provo River falls.
There was a lite drizzle when we got to the trail head. The kids wanted to stay in the car until the rain stopped. It wasn't letting up, so we decided to go. There were a trio parked in the car next to us that left while we were waiting. The rain wasn't letting up, so we decided to hit the trail. In case you are wondering, the extra girl in the picture is Arrie "Airy" Hernandez. Amanda wanted to take a friend along so we took Airy.
Brielle was a trooper. I bought her and T-y new backpacks. Brielle was super excited to carry her new pack.
The hike in was very easy. Nobody complained about the hike or the rain. It took 30 minutes to hike to the lake. The kids didn't want to hike into Cutthroat Lake. I think it was because they didn't want to hike in the rain. We quickly found a campsite that was about 50 feet away from a troop of 12 boy scouts. It was a bit close, but I wanted to get camp set before it really started to rain. It stop drizzling when I got the tent set up. I think Amanda and Airy went out gathering firewood or attempted to do so while watching the scouts gathering wood as well. T-y and Brielle started the fire and helped cooked dinner.
Amanda and Airy played in the rain for a while. Bre and T-y changed into dry clothes in the tent and played UNO.
Friday started off really nice. We were planning on taking a day hike into Cutthroat Lake. That plan was washed out by a 1.5 hour rain/hail storm. We all stayed in the tent during the storm. Airy and Amanda brought their "Breaking Crap" books and spent some of this time reading. The rest of us took a little nap. The rain had stopped while we were sleeping. I was worried about the tent leaking during the storm. My worries were eased as no leaks were reported. If any of you are thinking of buying a cheap tent, DON'T! It pays to buy a great quality tent.
We ate lunch and decided to hike to the cliffs located to the east of the lake.
There were a couple of groups climbing the cliffs.
There were a bunch of boulders at the base of the cliffs that the kids wanted to climb. Some of the boulders were taller then I. The kids wanted to climb the boulders to the base of the cliffs. Once we got to the base, the kids wanted to climb the boulders that took them higher. The kids were fearless. The view from the top was breathtaking. The look straight down was also breathtaking. We spent about 3 hours exploring the cliff area and some of the area around the lake.
We went fishing after we got back from the hike. We fished for about and hour with no luck so we went back to camp and had dinner. The kids went out fishing after dinner. The fish weren't biting for the longest time. I was helping Brielle master her casting skills using an open reel. She did a great job casting.
I went over to check on Amanda, Airy, and T-y. When I got to them, I had the following conversation with them:
Airy: There is something wrong with my pole.
Me: What's wrong with it?
Amanda: Dad, I can't see the bubbble.
Airy: It's hard to reel in.
Me: (I grabbed the pole and notice that it was arching.) It looks like you caught a fish. You better start reeling it in.
This was Airy's first ever backpacking trip, so it was fitting that she caught her first fish the first time she went fishing. Her and Amanda wanted to eat it, so I gutted it in front of them. I think Airy nearly lost her dinner watching me gut it. I took it back to camp to cook it.
Bre came with me. She said the following while I was prepping the fish.
Dad, is there a way to make fish without using fish?
Bre has always been very sensitive towards animals. In fact, she is so sensitive she cries when she sees some Humane Society commercials or when a animal is hurt in a TV or Movie.
It was a great trip, probably because it was such an easy hike for the kids. I would highly recommend hike to everyone. You can view all the photos of the trip here.
Shantell is out of town all week in Texas on business. That means that I am in charge of the kids and their safety. What better excuse could I have to take them backpacking? I have decided that my kids need to learn how to read a topographical map and how to use a compass. No, I do not own a GPS. However, I am open to any recommendations that you might have on purchasing one.
Climb Utah has a lot of outlined places to hike throughout all of Utah. Each of these hikes has been categorized based on how strenuous they are. I took a look at the "Family Fun" category and choose to hike to Ruth Lake. Their details of the hike suggest that it takes 1 hour to complete a round trip hike to the lake. It also states that Ruth Lake is a highly visited lake and it suggests to hike to one of the secluded lakes that are located nearby. I choose to hike to Cutthroat Lake.
I found a cool website called Gmaps Pedometer that will allows you to record the walking distance between two points. Gmaps shows that the hike to Ruth Lake is about .89 miles and the hike to Cutthroat Lake is 1.89 miles. Here is a look at the route we shall be taking.
The route in "Red" is that of an established trail. The route in "Blue" is the one that we will be blazing. If my map reading skills don't suck, it should be a somewhat of an easy hike from Ruth to Cutthroat. We wont be carrying a lot of stuff as I plan on leaving tomorrow and coming back Saturday morning. Hopefully T-y will be able to catch a fish this time.
Well, I am one year older then I was a year ago. I don't like to make a big deal out of my birthday. After all, it's just another day.
Shantell made some Carmel-Pull-A-Parts for breakfast. Don't ask her how they turned out. The kids and I were able to eat them, so it didn't turn out as bad as she thinks they did.
We had dinner at my parents house. My mom made her world famous spaghetti, homemade sourdough french bread, some salads, and homemade banana cream pie for dessert. Just a nice mellow day.
