School was very busy with lots of homework. But now we are on holiday.

The name of my school is Franklin Elementary School. It has under 300 kids, so it is not too big like my school in Espana.

I have lots and lots of friends there. I had a really nice teacher called Ms Kelley. Her son isn’t in my class but he is one of my friends.

We did lots of field trips.

For example, we went to Coyote Hills which is an old Indian village site. But we didn’t see any Indians while we were there. We played some Indian games and saw an Indian house made out of reeds. There were reeds growing everywhere, as there was a lot of ponds nearby with reeds and fish in them.

Another trip was to the Academy of Sciences in the huge Golden Gate park. There was an earthquake room so you could experience being in an earthquake. We did it 2 times! There was an aquarium and also a rain forest which had an albino crocodile. It was a shame because there is a big butterfly room, but it was closed that day.

The Golden Gate park is really huge, there is even a part of it where there are herds of bison everywhere.

One day we went to the Chocolate Factory, as well.

I had some field trips with my science teacher, too. They were close to school. Mr Brantley is  one of my favourite teachers!

On the last week of school we went across the road from school to the park and we had a picnic day.

For my birthday, Mum and Dad wouldn’t tell me where they were taking me. It turned out to be Disneyland!

We stayed at the Disneyland hotel for two days.

My favourite ride was Star Tours which is really Star Wars. My other favourites, I’d have to say, were Splash Mountain and Cars.

For Easter we went to Yosemite park. We went with three of our friends, Tomas and Serena and their dad, Eduardo. We stayed in a big cottage which was not quite in Yosemite. The adults slept on the main floor and the kids had the attic bedroom. We had lots of fun at night time because we were playing all of the time! It snowed when we were in Yosemite.

Three weeks ago, me and Mum went to Hawaii. When we were in Hawaii, we went on a helicopter flight over the volcanoes on Hawaii Island, and we also went on a helicopter ride over O’ahu Island and Pearl Harbour. One day we went on a catamaran for the day and we saw some dolphins and one dolphin was doing lots of tricks. We saw flying fish and swum with some turtles and other fishand an octopus.

We stayed there for four nights.

One weekend we went to a rugby game on Treasure Island where Tonga played San Francisco and Tonga won. When it looked like Tonga was going to win by miles, they just stopped the game, even though it wasn’t full time yet!

On the fourth of July, there was the America’s Cup Opening Ceremony in San Francisco. It was so hot, because we were sitting in the sun all of the time. By the time it was over, the shade had reached to only one seat along from us. My Dad went up on stage. And they had some Maoris singing and dancing and doing a haka for Team New Zealand. We got there by catching a ferry, then walked for the rest of the way. On the way back we had to wait in a queue for about 2 hours, because the ferries were full, so they didn’t stop where we were. So they had to send another one, but that could only fit 20 people, so they had to send even another one.

In the morning before we went to the ceremony, we went to watch the Alameda Independence Day parade. We didn’t get to see all of it, because we had to leave to catch the ferry to San Francisco. We saw quite a lot of it, and our favourite Mexican restaurant, Ortaez, had lots of Mexicans on horses which were dancing. My very favourite one was the Alameda theatre because they had lots of people dressed up as Lone ranger, Tonto, Batman and Ironman.

Recently we fostered a pussycat. He is stripey and looks a lot like Jamie did and the vet says he is about 2 years old. He is cute and has strange habits like being a lump under the bedcovers, and getting into cupboards. His name is Jake. He is like a bundle of precious. He cuddles us a lot and likes being the only cat in the house. He came from a place where there were eleven cats living there. He was rescued from a place near Dad’s work, so that was a sign we should have him.

I like living where we are. There is a recreation room across the road and that is where I had my birthday party. We watched a Star Wars movie, and had tacos and birthday cake. We had played tennis and basketball on the courts where we live, and had a swim in one of the pools before we went for the movie.

They had an ice cream social in the rec room this weekend, and one weekend they had a little carnival where you could play games. It was for fundraising.

One weekend we went across to San Francisco and went on the submarine that is there. There is a Liberty ship at the same museum, but Mum and I are going to go there next week, so that we have more time to look around it and find the same place where Papa’s room was on the Liberty ship that he was on.

We also went to the Exploratorium one day. It is a science museum where you can do lots of sciency things like in the Museo de Artes y Sciencias in Valencia.

I am looking forward to getting home soon, but I will miss all my friends here in Alameda.

James’ Dad woke him up at eleven o’clock at night, because they were going on a plane to England. So they caught a taxi to the airport. They decided not to drive to the airport, because when they went to Italy, they had to pay $100 for parking at the airport.

When they landed in London, they caught a taxi to Manchester. When they got to their hotel, they didn’t go to bed because it was five o’clock in the morning (James usually wakes up at 5.30 am). When it was 9.00 am, they got up and went to the hotel restaurant to have breakfast. the breakfast was free to guests, and so was lunch and dinner.

Then they went back to their room, and started planning what they would do in London for the next four days.

They worked until lunchtime, and then they went downstairs to the restaurant again, to have their lunch. Then they decided to have a nap until it was seven o’clock.

At seven, they caught a taxi to the Manchester United soccer field, and when they got there they went down onto the field and met his Dad’s friend, whose name was Wayne Purry. He took them to their seats, right on the side of the field. He also gave the their tickets so they could go out and in.

The game didn’t start until 8.00pm, but they had to get their tickets from Wayne before 7.15pm.

At the game, Manchester Miewnited beat Miaoulsey 5-0!

After the game, they caught a taxi back to their hotel. They had already had dinner at the game, so then went to sleep.

When they woke up in the morning, they got in a taxi going to London…………

…………..to be continued.

One day, my Mum said that we were going somewhere special for my birthday, and we had to fly there. Those were all my clues.

On the Friday before my birthday, we packed our bags and caught a flight to Los Angeles, California. When we got off the plane, I went to the toilet with my Dad and when I got back there was a tag on my bag which said “DISNEYLAND RESORT”!! So then I knew where we were going!

We caught the Disneyland Express bus, and about an hour after that we were at the Disney Grand Californian Hotel where we were staying. When we got to our room, we unpacked our luggage and looked outside, and saw that the park was right outside our window! We saw a ride that we really had to go on, called Goofy’s flight school.

We went to bed early, ready for an early morning start. We were able to start an hour before the park opened to the public, because we had tickets for the extra ‘Magic hour’.

When we got into the park, we went to Star Tours (a Star Wars ride) which was a ride that a lady in the hotel  recommended to us. We liked it so much that we did it two more times before the Magic Hour ended. We then tried to do the Indiana Jones ride before the hour ended, but the Indian Jones ride was being worked on and they said to come back later.

So we then went to Tarzan’s treehouse, then we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which had a few sudden waterfall drops, which I love.

Then we went to the Haunted Mansion ride. At one stage we had a ghost sitting in the car with us. On me!!!!

After that we went to play Astro Blasters which was a game when the aliens from Toy story were shooting down the baddies.

By then, Indian Jones was working again. Me and my Mum got whiplash! It was worth it, it was a really cool ride. There was a giant snake that tried to bite Dad, and a room of cockroaches, Mum’s favourite part! (ha ha). Then we almost got run over by a giant rolling rock, but just in time we fell down a hole. Indiana Jones said “Tourists!”.

Then we went back to Star Tours for another ride. At the beginning of each ride they chose a person in the audience to be the Rebel Spy, and this time it was me, which meant Darth Vader was after me!

The last thing we did was we went to see the Jedi Training. I was one of the kids chosen to do the Jedi training! We had to put on a Jedi robe and learn how to use a light saber. Then we all had to fight Darth Vader or Darth Maul. I fought Darth Vader, and was the only person to get him on the head. He said “The Dark Side is growing in you”. Then at the end he said “The Force is strong in this one.”

Then for dinner we went to a Mexican place, and I had burritos and a virgin Margarita.

While we were eating dinner a man came to our table and made me a balloon chainsaw! It was so cool! When we were walking home to the hotel, almost everyone stopped to look at it. One person stopped us and asked if they could take a photo of it, and one little girl’s eyes almost popped out of her head!

MY NEW HOME

A KEEPER

Then we gave up and went to South Shore Apartments a nice block of apartments.

FINALLY

We signed a contract that said we could live there. We are on the top floor.

ACTIVITIES

We can play on the tennis courts and basketball courts if we like. Or we can play pool or table tennis in the Rec room. And there is a gym too.

SPLASH SPLASH

There are 4 different pools and a spa pool.

MEOW

WE GOT A CAT !

When they got to Paris, they caught a taxi to the hotel they were staying in. It was right next to the Louvre.

When they got there, it was lunch time, so they had some lunch in a French restaurant. They had French fries.

After lunch they looked around the Louvre, and then they decided to go back to the hotel. When they got to the hotel, they had a little rest, and then it was dinner time.

After dinner they went to sleep.

In the morning they had breakfast and then they decided to catch a bus to the Eiffel Tower. When they got to the Eiffel Tower,  they went to the very very very very very very top. They could see the whole of Paris from the top.

They went down to the bottom again and had some lunch on the river bank.

Then they caught the bus back to the hotel, so they packed their bags and caught a taxi to the airport.

They got a plane flying all the way back to home.

The End.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              By Oliver Graham

When they got to Venice, James’ Dad’s cousin Riccardo was there to meet them. Riccardo took them back to where he lived and they liked the place.

It was dinner time when they got to Riccardo’s house. Riccardo cooked lasagne for dinner.

The next morning, they woke up and decided to take a boat to the  Doge’s Palace. When they finished at the palace, it was time for lunch. So they went to the Palace cafe and it was very expensive.

After that they went back to Riccardo’s house and then they went up to their room. They were unloading their stuff when Riccardo said it was dinner time. They came down to eat, and he said they were going to go out to a restaurant. At the restaurant, when they ordered the food, James’ Dad ordered roasted duck. And when they came with his food, he got rabbit instead!

When they finished dinner, they caught a gondola back to Riccardo’s house.

In the morning, they went down to have breakfast, and Riccardo had already made breakfast. After breakfast they caught the one-hour gondola ride.

Then after that they went and had lunch in a very very very very very very very very very very American restaurant.

After lunch, they got in their car and went to the airport, and dropped off the rental car, because they were flying from Venice to Paris.

When they got on the plane, they sat down and then the plane took off.

The next morning, after breakfast, they drove to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and walked up a hundred stairs to the very top, all by themselves.

When they went down, they went and had lunch. It was a nice Italian lunch, at a Roman restaurant.

Then they drove back to the motel. When they got back it was dinner time, so they had dinner.

After dinner, they went to sleep.

When they woke up, they went to have a look around town again. And then they went back to have lunch.

Then it was time to leave PIsa, because his Dad’s cousin was expecting them at three o’clock.

So they got in the car, and started driving to Venice.

When James and his dad got to Pisa, they caught a taxi to the rental car company, because they were staying in Pisa for 4 days, in a motel.

When they drove to the motel, they parked their car outside, and went in to check in.

They had afternoon tea, and unpacked their luggage.

Then they had a rest.

When it was dinner time, they went to the motel cafe.

When they had finished dinner, they went to their room and went to sleep.

In the morning, when they woke up, they walked down to breakfast. After breakfast, they went to have a walk around the town.

They had lunch in the town.

After that, they went back to their room, and had a little lie down from their walking.

When they finished that, they had some food at the cafe, and went to sleep.

When they arrived in Rome, they caught a taxi to their hotel. Then they went to sleep because it was 8.30 at night.

In the morning, they caught a taxi to the Colosseum, and they went to the ticket stand, and they bought two tickets.

When they got inside, they first went into the underground bit. Then, after that they went up onto the top floor. Then they went to the next floor, and then the next one after that.

When they got down to the ground floor, they went outside and had lunch.

After lunch, they went to the taxi stand and caught a taxi back to the hotel. When they got to the hotel, they got all their things and hopped back in the taxi to go to the train station.

When they were waiting on the platform, the speaker said “The train going from Rome to Pisa has been delayed for another hour.”

After the hour went by, the speaker said “Sorry if you are on the train going from Rome to Pisa has been cancelled. So you have to wait another 50 minutes for the next train.”

They thought that stunk, so they waited for another 50 minutes. And when the train finally came, they got on and sat down.

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