Hai Bao!

  It was our latest trip to the Maritimes. We were in Gaspe in the province of Quebec (pronounced Gas-peh). We went to a beautiful park with a shining waterfall and we actually got to climb up it! I hoped that once we climbed up the waterfall we would get to see a seal, as there were many in the coast. In order to get to the falls, we had to cross a sparkling stream with a wet stepping stone in the middle of the stream. I didn't like the look of that slippery-looking stone, so I looked around until I found what I was looking for; a nice, dry board. My fourth grandmother helped me lift it across the stream, then we climbed straight up the falls. After that, my third grandmother helped my little cousin and I find crab shells. So far, no seals, I thought. My parents came a while later and called us to leave. As we went up to leave, my cousin accidently dropped her toy dragon Kapoo into a hollow filled with trees and vines. My cousin started to cry and I ran back down the stairs to get a stick to retrieve Kapoo, but once I got back, my third grandmother had already crawled into the hollow to fetch Kapoo. After that disaster, we took a few pictures. My mom was about to take a picture of my fourth grandmother. The picture seemed to be perfect. My fourth had a perfect posture, and the backround looked breathtaking. My mom was just about to take the picture when my fourth grandmother suddenly yelled "Hai Bao!!!!!" I whipped my head around to the sea because 'Hai bao' means 'seal' in Chinese. I didn't see the seal, though, but GUESS WHAT!? My mom took the picture as my fourth was yelling the 'Bao' part of 'Hai bao' so the picture ended up looking very very very funny!


    

The Wind in the Pines

When I was walking in the woods

with a backpack filled with goods

I was planning to walk

where the huge wildcats stalk.

I wanted to go to the pond to catch frogs

near the immense pile of logs

That were thrown there years ago and were forgotten.

Then as my legs began to moan

I sat down on a flat stone

I started to take out, from my backpack, a book

when I suddenly decided to take a look

at the nature wonderland before me.

So when I stopped to listen

To the rivers that glisten

On a great, shining summer day,

I heard the most beautiful sound

near two pine trees that were bound

together with a pile of rope.

I listened,

 and when I listened again,

 I heard, in the distance,

the loud sound of men!

When I hid,

the men slid

to a stop in front of the pines.

One man took out a knife

-I hoped he didn't plan to take a life-

but to my greatest surprise, he cut the rope

that bound the trees together in half!

Only once the men went away

then when I finally strayed

from the bush where I had been hiding.

The whispers of the wind whistled freely again

the sound that seemed to touch my heart.

So as I finished my walk

to where the huge wildcats stalk

I heard, for the last time,

the wind in the pines.

----Posted by the daughter of the family

----Dedicated to my mother

The River and the Horse

The Horse glides and flies with the wind,

while the River never looks behind.

The Horse runs to race the Eagle

and the River flows along to stay regal.

The beast, the Horse, is so beautiful and strong,

and for the River, she always knows exactly where she belongs.

When the Horse calls, his voice is filled with pure courage.

As for the River, her voice contains no rage.

As the Horse and River run along,

There is no mistaking their sweet song.

----Posted by the daughter of the family

----Written in memory of Twinkle, our loyal bird

A Week in the Desert

  For a week my dad and friends stayed in Yosemite,

They often said, "This is the right place to be!"

They took pictures all night and day

They didn't have any time to play.

They took pictures of the land,

and they took pictures of hills made of sand
They took pictures of the dusk and dawn,

One moment they were here, then they were gone.

After the last pictures of the moon and the sun,

Their work in Yosemite was FINALLY done.

----Posted by the daughter of the family

----Dedicated to my dad, the photographer

Yosemite Falls

    On top of that huge wall of crumbling stone,
    Below the vast sky where the lone bird cries,
    In the place where the thunder and wind moan,
    Above the pool when at dusk the sun dies.
    Through the sheet of wet mist from the dark sky,
    At the valley where the stars shine at night.
    Out of the place where the lost rivers die
    Within the cave where there's almost no light.
     Down the huge sculpture of wet rock that lie,
     Where the vertical river once gave birth.
      Under the loyal, glowing rainbow that
      Keeps God's promise to our weary, old Earth.
      The beautiful falls of Yosemite
      Is truly a wonderful place to be.
---Posted by the daughter of the family
---Dedicated to Lian Lian and Han Ming
---With thanks to Mrs. Cormode for teaching me how to write a Shakespearian-styled sonnet

Clouds (a poem)

Sometimes I lie down

On the sun-warmed grass,

When my mound

of chores cease to last.

Then, as I look up to the sky

I see

Clouds.

Clouds tumbling across the blue

Some old, some others new.

Each ones are different shades of hue.

That's what they are

Clouds.

For Aunt Anne

Snoopy?

Here's a follow-up of what I did at NASA. After the hide-and-seek thing, I took a little walk. After a while I found a statue of Snoopy! When I showed my mom, she said it was really cute and she forced my dad to take a couple of pictures of the Snoopy statue. You can see those pictures above.

I'm on the moon!

Hi, I'm Comet, Michelle's Webkinz Signature toy cat. I'm on the moon! Its so fun being on the moon.

Crane acting pretty

When we went on a family trip, we saw a crane. It sort of posed until my dad couldn't resist taking a picture of it. What a show-off crane!

Alligatorland: I spy the Loch Ness monster! (It's really an alligator.)

In Alligatorland, my dad saw an alligator. He took two pictures of it (second and third pictures), but the alligator got scared and splashed into the water (last picture). It was so cool, and funny! When it (the alligator) got in the lake, only its head and a bit of its back was showing, so he looked like the loch ness monster! (first picture.) Super!

-----Posted by the daughter of the family-----

NASA Fun!

    Our family was at the NASA Space Center. I (Michelle) was bored, so when my parents and grandparents weren't looking, I ran off and hid behind a tangle of poles a few feet away.
Hee hee! I played hide and seek! I won, too. You can see me hiding in the picture above.
----Posted by the daughter of the family

Cocoa Beach

      At Cocoa Beach, I (Michelle) decided to collect seashells by the shore. The problem was, the seashells were all dirty, so I found a small tidepool and washed my shells in them. I showed my mom the shells, and she told me that the seashells were pretty. I showed my grandmother the shells, and she told me to go wash my hands. You can see me in the photo above.

-----Posted by the daughter of the family (Michelle)