The Fifth Adventure: Chico, CA

Dear Flat Mama,

We sure had a very good time in Italy. I had been wishing to go there and have fun with some cousins. And we did!

We flew all the way back to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said goodbye to Uncle Chris, Aunt Becca, Emily and Sarah. Then we flew all the way to Chico, California and stayed with Oma and Opa. Here is a picture of Oma holding us in their backyard in front of the swimming pool with Flat Stanley too. Then she let us down and we went around showing Flat Stanley their yard. But after a while of exploring we started climbing up some very tall things and got caught in a bush of flowers. Opa was taking the leaves out of their swimming pool and fortunately he stopped for a rest and noticed us caught in the bush and came over to help us. When he saw us caught in the bush he thought it was so funny he took a picture and then helped us out and we went exploring again. And we sure had a lot of fun!

I'm so excited because next we are going to go to India! And I've always been wishing to go there too.

Love,

Merry Flat

The fourth adventure: Amazing Italy!

Dear Flat Mama,

We have been staying with Aunt Becca and Uncle Chris and our cousins Emily and Sarah at their home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. But there was a special choir concert all the way over in Italy, and so we got to go with them!


When we were leaving the United States the weather was bad and so the airplanes did not fly and so we were stuck for a night at a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. We went to a restaurant called The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The cheesecake was delicious. The cheesecake we got had powdered sugar all over the top and a cherry on top. It was cherry cheesecake and it had a chocolate pudding served with it.I wish you could try it.


When we finally got to Italy we stayed at another hotel. Italy is really beautiful. We went to lots of wonderful places. Maybe Paul the Apostle walked in those very same places! After the concert in Florence, we went to a restaurant for dinner. At night the city was beautiful with all the lights.


The Leaning Tower of Pisa was one of my favorite places to go see. It is SO tall! It is tall enough to lean, and it does! That is why it is called The Leaning Tower. It has a big building next to it that is the cathedral. The Leaning Tower is the bell tower of the cathedral. Lots of people visit it every day, so it is very busy. There is a big, grass area on the other side of the street. After we visited the Leaning Tower we played in the grass. I learned some facts about the Leaning Tower: #1 It is 836 years old. #2 To reach the top, you have to climb 294 steps. #3 When they were building it, they had to stop at the 3rd level because it was sinking into the earth.


I am having lots of fun, but I still am still missing you.


Love,


Sunny Flat

The third adventure: Tuscaloosa, Alabama

My eldest Flat girl, Sunny, writes:

We are in Tuscaloosa, Alabama right now. Tuscaloosa is named after the Choctaw Indian Chief "tushka lusa", which means black warrior. According to history reports, chief tushka lusa was very wise and tall. He fought the Spanish explorer Hernando Desoto around 1540, at a settlement near Tuscaloosa. He disappeared in that battle. The city of Tuscaloosa is 1 day older than the state of Alabama, and the university of Alabama was the first public college. Next we are going with one of our aunts and her family to Rome, Italy. Ciao!

The second adventure: Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

Dear Flat Mama,

we are visiting Grandma and Papa in Champaign, Illinois. When we first arrived, Papa took a picture of us with Grandma in front of their house. Then, we played in their frontyard on the small patch of snow: the only one left, maybe. No flowers have come up in the yard yet. Then we went to the fabric store and Grandma bought some fabric. She likes to shop there because she loves sewing.

Almost all of the next day, we played outside in the sun in the flower garden. When we were not outside, we were reading or eating. At the end of the day, we took a bath because we were very dirty.

The last day of our visit, we went to a playground. We played on the playground for a while. It was very big to us! Papa took a picture of Grandma and us in front of a rock. It had our cousin Patrick's hand print on it and had his parents' too. Then we went to Twin City Bible Church in Urbana and Papa took a picture of us and Grandma because that is the church they go to. Then they took us to the University of Illinois and took two pictures of us there: one at the Assembly Hall and another in front of a sign that said "The University of Illinois." To us, the Assembly Hall and University were HUGE!

The last thing that we did that day was to go to a party at someone's house after a Bible study for International students. Why do you think Grandma looks sad? Because she had to depart with us in the morning. And since we are so small, she was worried that we would have a hard trip.

I'm having a lot of fun but I'm also looking forward to June first because then I will come back to you. I miss you.

Love,

Sunny Flat

The first adventure: Colorado!

Well, my dear Flat sisters have sent their first report in from their travels around the globe. The have been staying with dear friends of the family in the beautiful (and sometimes very snowy) Colorado Springs, Colorado. Colorado Springs is home to the majestic Pikes Peak, seen here in the background. Way back during the gold rush era, Pikes Peak was the first prominent mountain travelers from the East could see as they approached, which made it a great landmark and led to the slogan "Pikes Peak or Bust." It is also famous for being the mountain upon which Katharine Lee Bates stood and looked out over "spacious skies,' "amber waves of grain" and "purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain" and which inspired her to write the beloved American anthem America the Beautiful.

I am so glad my Flat girls are getting to be with people we love, seeing places that are special to our nation's history. I wonder where they will end up next?

Thank you so much, Susan, for hosting my girls, and for taking the picture. And Lauren, thank you for holding the Flat Sisters so well!

The Adventure Begins!

Well, my three dear girlies--Sunny, Merry and Happy--made a visit to Seacliff State Beach here on Monterey Bay, CA just before they crawled into their envelope and headed out on the first leg of their whirlwind international adventure. There they are, smiling and waving in the brisk February ocean breeze, before the locally famous concrete ship, the S.S. Palo Alto, that is living out its final years as a marine refuge. Beyond the Bay is the Pacific--beyond that is the Great Wide World. Who knows where my dear girlies will end up?

But first, they are headed not over the Pacific, but in the opposite direction, towards the mountains. . . . Flat Papa and I will post their stories and photos as soon as the hospitable people who host our girls send them to us. : )

In the meantime, it seems only fitting to send our girls on with an old Irish blessing:

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

The sunshine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again may God

hold you in the palm of His hand.