A Math Tutor and a New Puppy

Okay, I know, totally weird title, but both are important for this post. I'll try not to ramble on too long, but when have I ever not done that?

Yesterday Mother decided to spring on me that I needed a math tutor for the summer. I'm doing average in math, but I would spend hours with Mother and Elizabeth helping me do homework. So Mother figured a tutor would help me figure out my problem spots so I'll be ready for fall. Perfectly logical, but right now I hate logic. I don't want to spend my summer doing math!

Anyway, Mother apparently enlisted Casey's help in finding someone and he called yesterday and told Mother there was a "math genius" that lives near us who would help me. And it turns out he doesn't just live "near" us, he practically lives next door! How terrible is that?

This all happened in the morning, so after lunch I talked Kit into taking Coconut for a walk with me and figure out where this guy lives. Chances are I've seen him before and with Coconut with us we could "accidentally" "lose" our dog in his yard. Yeah, that was my bright idea for the day. Sometimes I amaze myself with my cleverness.

So we found his house and I recognized the motorcycle in the driveway. I must have waved at him dozens of times! Coconut decided then would be a good time to put our plan into action and he yanked free of Kit's grasp. He started snuffling around in the bushes by the front door. And with my grand luck the door opened. But it wasn't a guy, it was a young woman and another Westie. Coconut and this Westie stared running around like terriers do and neither obeyed (another thing terriers do). Finally I managed to grab Coconut's leash and apologized to the woman. She was very kind and said it was okay, her dog needed the exercise anyway. Her name was Nora and the dog was Kyla.

That's when I noticed a guy standing in the doorway. He didn't look like the guy I usually saw on the motorcycle; he was much younger. But by then I was out of breath and a bit embarrassed at how bad Coconut was to say anything.

By now you are probably wondering where the new puppy comes in. I'll get to that now. Nora asked where we got out dog and I told her we got him from a shelter in Nevada and she asked if we had ever been to the local shelter. The shelter had gotten a one-year-old female Westie that was now ready for adoption. Like we really needed another dog, but when we got home the first thing Kit told Mother was about the Westie. We had to go see it, she said. Amazingly Mother agreed and we stopped at the shelter after picking up Nellie from her art class.

Well, we couldn't leave without the dog. So, here is Knut our newest Westie.

 

 

There you go, a math tutor and a new puppy!

Hiking

I got to go hiking on Saturday! It was so much fun and a perfect day to be outside. I haven't live in Montana long and it's totally awesome to see how beautiful this state is.

 Below me is the Stillwater River. Very ironic name right now because the river was totally raging. That pictures does not show how powerful and crazy the water was. And, honestly, I'm not hanging over the cliff. That's just the awesomeness of photography.

 Again, I'm not going to tumble into the water.

 These first three pictures were taken at a huge rock I got to climb and below was a wider part of the river and where the rapids wouldn't kill you (at least not as fast).

 Here I am at the lake. It was so beautiful, but I was starving and just wanted to get back to the car for lunch. The smart thing to have done would have been to bring our food with us. Right, Mother?

 After lunch (peanut and butter and jelly), I was ready for a few more pictures. This pic shows how fast the river was going. It was so loud! I kind of liked it 'cause it meant I couldn't hear Mother or my sisters!

This is me just being totally awesome. Can't wait until I can hike again! Summer is awesome!

The Pirates and Pet Store

Hey, this is JJ! Emily is allowing me to post the pictures from my day at the museum. I got to see real pirates! Well, not the actual pirates since they died back in the 1700's during a storm at sea (two managed to survive but were arrested!). But I did get to see real pirate treasure! Sadly I wasn't aloud to take pictures in the exhibit, but I still got a few.

 This is me under a banner of the 9-year-old pirate boy John King. I got to see his femur bone that really proved he was a child. No one is quite sure why this boy was aloud on the pirate ships since children normally weren't. I wish I could be a pirate!

I got to sit on the lap of a pirate statue. It was so cool! That little black dot on my overalls is my Pirates of the Caribbean pin that I got at the mall. In the pirate exhibit there was a lady walking around dressed in colonial clothes. She was funny! She liked my shoes since they covered my toes and she wondered about the people with funny colored toenails. She thought they had some kind of disease! Another thing I learned is that pirates were really honest amongst themselves. All their treasure was split equally between them, not even the captain took more. And if there wasn't enough hammocks for everyone to sleep on then everyone slept on the floor. I can't wait to learn more about pirates now!

I also got to go to the pet store. This was taken at the pet bar. I was wearing my Montana pin that day.

 

The Zoo

I got back from my trip to Denver with JJ a few days ago. Now you get to put up with several posts of pictures! Aren't you excited? These pictures are of me at the Zoo. It was totally awesome to see all the animals and get my picture taken. It was quite hot and I was lucky I didn't melt!

 This is me with a sign about Wolves: my favorite animal

 

Here is the actual wolf. I only saw one since they seem to prefer hiding to getting their picture taken, though I don't blame them. I would hide too if screaming children watched me all day.

 

Here I am with a wolf skull. It's as big as me! I tried to fit my head in it's jaws but I couldn't quite fit. If the skull wasn't stuck to the sign I could have done it. Morbid, I know.

 Here I am riding a hippo. Don't laugh! It's not like I chose to sit on a hippo. Mother made me... sort of.

And this is me next to a Penguin sign. As you can see I'm about the same size as the little Penguin, but no where near as big as the Emperor Penguin. I would be scared to meet up with that fellow. (But not to meet the wolf whose mouth could fit over my head...strange).

 The two-headed Giraffe.

 Banded Mongoose (I wanted to take him home. So cute! Look at that mug!)

 Me and a Monkey (He wanted to take me home, I think)

And this is me watching some wild horses. I think they are from Mongolia and they are, like, the last true wild horses.

So, that is me at the Zoo. Tune in next time for JJ's trip to the Museum.

Alex

I learned some stuff about Alex last weekend. Since Casey works at the same hospital as Alex's dad, he knew a bit about the family. However I don't think I was supposed to hear any of it since the grown-ups were talking while us kids were supposed to be upstairs playing. But I was thirsty and came downstairs.

Alexandra Hayden Woods is 13 and lives in the city and goes to public school. She spent most of her childhood (from, like, 3 to 9) in foster homes. She got moved around a lot due to aggressive behavior and being unruly. She was adopted by the Woods family at 10 after being fostered by them for several months. The Woods have an older son who was also adopted.

Her early childhood situation sounded similar to my own. Her father was abusive and she was sent to live with her grandparents who were also unkind to her which is how she ended up in foster care. I'm not sure why she couldn't live with her biological mom, but I think she just got the short end of the stick since her mom had too many other children to care for.

Knowing all of that I went to karate on Friday ready to make the best of it. She was probably bullied a lot and her way of defense is to now be the one to bully first. I've seen her pick fights with some of the other girls, too, but I seem to be more "special" in her eyes.

The same rotten teacher was still there. JJ's dad couldn't stay, but JJ did. It was a typical class. Alex kicked me a few times and stole my water bottle. I told the teacher; he told me to "toughen up". Even though Alex still wants to chew me up it didn't hurt me as much. I can understand her and I could just as easily ended up like her. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do because she really shouldn't be hitting anyone even if it's not entirely her fault. And that teacher still needs to go. If not because of his attitude to me then because of his crude remarks to JJ's dad about his children.

On a sunnier note, the sun has been out for a few days! It's hot out and I think summer has finally arrived. Yay!