Home Sweet Home!

The Mother’s Day holiday brought us home to Michigan to share special days with Grandma and Grandpa. One of the things I focused on while in Michigan was my report on Henry Ford. This was my last project for the school year. It was awesome that I picked Henry Ford because my Grandparents live right outside of Detroit which was where Henry Ford lived and the Henry Ford Museum is just 30 minutes away.

The museum was amazing. Every Ford car ever made was on display as well as the chair Abe Lincoln was shot in and even the car that John F. Kennedy was shot in. Did you know that Henry Ford was the first man to use the assembly line to make automobiles? Well he was. The Ford Model T was introduced in 1908 and by 1919 Ford’s Assembly line had put out over 4 million Model T’s. I sure learned a lot.

A few days later we flew to Santa Barbara. We were all excited to be
California for a few weeks with our friends and boy did we see a lot of
them. We stayed with our close friend Julie. We went to the Santa
Barbara Zoo with the girls who babysat me when I was little and who are
now like family. We saw lions, giraffes, elephants, and many more. Did
you know that elephants in captivity and in the wild don’t like peanuts?
Did you also know that elephants recognize themselves in the mirror?
Another day Everest had a picnic with all his buddies from preschool.

One evening we went to The Mission and had a picnic. Another afternoon
we went to the beach with my friend Maddie who met up with us in
Katmandu. We swam and saw dolphins in the beautiful but VERY chilly
ocean. Did you know that dolphins sleep with one eye open? We spent our
first weekend with some of our best friends Sue and Alex. They live on a
ranch in the mountains of Malibu. We went for a ride on a quad through
the wild terrain and played with all their two cocker spaniels and two
new dogs. We went on bike rides along the seacoast and ate at our
favorite Mexican restaurant with our special friend Melina. One night on
the beach we saw a gorgeous house on the cliffs and learned that the
man who created Beanie Babies lives there.

And…drum roll please… the
most exciting thing we did in California was buy a little ranch in the
Santa Ynez valley which is just 30 minutes outside of Santa Barbara. We
didn’t think we would buy a house this soon but we did. We have room for
gardens and animals like goats, chickens, dogs, and cats. The Valley is
so pretty. I might get to ride horses just like in South America, but
we won’t have the amazing gauchos to teach us and train the horses. I
may also join 4H, a club where you raise farm animals and compete with
other kids (I would like to raise a goat). I am super excited to move
there next summer but for now we are off to the Rocky Mountains in
Colorado for some hiking and a fun family wedding.