Nate JR is in Seattle

Hi Nate,
I miss you, but I am having so much fun in Seattle with your cousins and grandparents. Today we visited the University of Washington book store where I made a new friend named, Harry the Huskie. He is the mascot for the university. Later we are visiting Pike Place Market, one of Seattle's most famed open air markets where the fishmongers are known to throw fish to each other. See you soon!
Nate Jr.

Ralph

Hi Allie,

I am now on my way to Georgia. I am so excited. I had my picture taken at a field, I am told it goes with a souvenir in my travel box. Any ideas? This is the girl whose house I stayed at, she was super nice.

Miss you

Ralph

Jackson's Thanksgiving in New York

Coffee

We had a fun day of snorkeling at Buck Island. There was a ship wreck there. We rode on a 65 foot catamaran to get to this place that is about three nautical miles off the coast of St. Thomas. There were a lot of fish and sea urchins in the water. It rained a lot this morning so I hid in Sandy's bag so I would stay dry! Tomorrow morning we are due back in San Juan, Puerto Rico to end our cruise. :-( we have had so much fun I don't want to see it end!

Miss you Lauren,
Coffee

Ted is in Texas

Hello Ryan! Ted is having a marvelous time in Texas! He wanted me to tell you that even though he is having fun, he misses you very much! We just finished our Thanksgiving dinner. He tasted the Southern version of Dressing that goes with Turkey. It is made with cornbread and a little jalapeño to give it a kick.

We are packing his bags and getting him ready for his next traveling adventure.

You need to know that Ted has been all over the state. He visited some of our most popular cities. He visited our State Fair in Dallas and Six Flags over Texas in Arlington. The six flags represent the different nations that ruled over Texas at some point. (Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. France held a short-lived colony in Texas. Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence. In 1845 it joined the United States as the 28^th state of the union.) Ted got to see the Alamo in San Antonio, where the Texans fought for their independence. He loved it!

We took him to the stock show in Ft Worth. He got to see the “Oil” city, Houston and our capitol, Austin. He has learned so much about our state. Ted found out that Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy and longhorns. He learned that our state bird is the tiny little humming bird and that our motto is “Friendship”. We now have a new friend! Thank you for allowing Ted in our lives!

He learned a few southern words “Howdy” and “Yehaw”.

I must go for now. We are preparing a going away dinner for Ted. See attached image of Ted at the Alamo!

Your Friend from Texas, Carmel

Coffee is in Grenada

We had a fun filled 7.5 hour island tour today. I don't think there was any part of the island that we didn't touch. We visited a cocoa processing facility and saw how they process cocoa, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and more. This island is called the island of spice. We also went to the oldest rum distillery on the island where the machinery was run by a huge water wheel. We visited Fort Frederick, this fort was once used to protect the island from it's invaders, and also right in the area that the US troops invaded the island to help Granada in their emancipation from the communists back when former President Ronald Reagan was in office. The islanders are very grateful to the US people for helping them gain their freedom. Have a great Happy Thanksgiving!

Love and miss you all,
Coffee

Ralph is in Texas

Hi Allie,

It has been so cold and rainy the past few days. There was even some snow just north of us. I am told that never happens in The Woodlands, TX. It is very sunny today so we are heading out to do some sight seeing. During one of the rainy days I was very lucky to see a monarch caterpillar change into a chrysalis. The family I am staying with had the caterpillar in their house. It was very cool. We went to see the local waterpark. It was closed for the season but I would love to come back and swim there. It looked awesome!

I miss you,

Ralph

Mini Munchkin's Last Day in California

Hi Carissa!

Today is my last day in California! We stopped by California School for the Deaf. There are two deaf schools in California.

At this school, everyone communicates in sign language as students are not able to hear. After spending a good two weeks with Lisa's family, I must say that I am almost fluent in American Sign Language. Maybe you could practice some and then we can converse in sign language when I get back in spring?! There's a lot of resources available like this video: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IbXFipZUTaA&feature=c4-feed-u.

Anyway, Lisa and her family are sending me off to Washington! I really cannot wait! I'll miss Lisa and her family for sure but I am really excited to see what Northwest is all about!

Here is a picture of me with Magnolia and Rye.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Please give the family our love!

Love,

mini munchkin

Coffee in Dominica

Well another adventurous day! I found out that Dominica is not a part of the US Virgin Islands, it is considered part of the West Indies. We traveled to Trafalger Falls and walked through the rain forest to get to both of the falls. We then went to the other end of the Island to a rain forest that was home of the Emerald Pool and a lot of people were being refreshed by the cool cool water. We also found out that if the children are bad they will be spanked by their parents, teachers, neighbors and even strangers to keep them in line. This is a very beautiful country with only a 2% crime rate and most people grow their own fruits and vegetables.

 

Mini Munchkin is in Monterey

Hi Carissa and friends!

Last weekend, Lisa and her family took me to Monterey Bay. it was about an hour and half drive. we got to go to the beach, wow - the Pacific Ocean is really cold! We got to see wild dolphins and porpoises swim by!

We also went to the aquarium. My favorite exhibit was the jellyfish experience. Wow! There are so many types of jellyfishes. here is the link for more information: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/jellies.aspx

And of course, pictures!

Carissa, I miss you but I'm having a lot of fun!

love,

mini munchkin.

Mini munchkin

Hi Carissa and friends!

Lisa wants to apologize for not getting in touch lately. her iphone is broken, so she can use only her laptop for the time being.  I'm liking it very much as it means more attention coming from her!

On Thursday, Lisa took me sight seeing in San Francisco. it was sunny and dry out! She showed me San Francisco's beautiful city hall! She shared an interesting tidbit, when there was an earthquake in 1989, the dome twisted four inches on its base. how interesting is that?!

We walked over to asian art museum.  The museum have over 18K works of art and artifacts from all major asian countries and traditions. Wow!

San Francisco is big on biking.  There are bike lanes everywhere.  People ride to and from work.  There are even couriers on bike.  Lisa showed me this cool bike sharing system, where there are 350 bikes available for rent.  I got to get on one!

Lisa took me with her family to Monterey last weekend, where I had a lot of fun.  I'll send you a separate email tomorrow about that, along with pictures!

And she'll be shipping me off to one of her good friends, who lives in Washington. maybe I will get to see the space needle?!  She said it is really beautiful there, with mountains everywhere.  I really cannot wait!

love,

mini munchkin.

Coffee is in St. Kitts

We had another fun day today. We went for a bus and train ride around the island of St. Kitts and saw some wild goats, pigs and a couple of monkeys.
I was afraid of the monkey that we saw up close as he kept wanting to grab me but Sandy kept me safe!

 

Cinnamon is in New York

Cinnamon is visiting with Cousin Emma's "little pim panda" in Amenia NY

 

Cinnamon bear going on make believe 'hunt'

Abby's uncle plays polo and belongs to a hunt club in Amenia NY

Coco in Rhode Island

Hi Caitlin,

Here I am in Rhode Island. It's really beautiful here. The state is surrounded by water, so they nicknamed it the 'Ocean State'. We went for a walk on the beach and collected shells. It was a little cold, but so nice that I didn't care. There are so many different kinds of shells and seafood. I tried oysters and LOVED them!

I'm staying on an island in the middle of the bay. It's called Jamestown. You have to go over a bridge to get here. We visited an old windmill that was used to grind corn and Beavertail Lighthouse, which is at the entrance of Narragansett Bay. Before they built the lighthouse, local Native Americans would keep pitch fires burning, to warn sailors away from the rocky coastline. Can you imagine?!

Yesterday we went to Newport. We had to go over another bridge to get there! It's a very old town with a lot of interesting history. We visited IYRS (the International Yacht Restoration School). They teach people how to make boats by hand and restore old boats. We got to see a HUGE yacht that they are fixing up. You can learn about it here, http://coronet1885.com/

 

Rhode Island has been fun, but now I'm on to my next adventure!

I miss you!

Coco

Jackson is in New York

Hello From Jackson,

I am having a blast in New York! I spent a couple of days getting to know everyone in the Sammon family.

Today I went to work with Brian (dad). He works in a part of New York City called the Bronx.

While we were there we swung by the World Famous Bronx Zoo J

I am having a great time!

Love and Miss my buddy Christopher

JACKSON

Afro Jack is in Maryland

Hi everyone!

I have been having a blast here in Maryland. Maryland is a great state but it has been cold these last few days. Here in Maryland I have been so busy. For example soccer seems to be a very popular sport here. I even went to a game. Soccer looked so fun I just had to try it myself! That is not all though I even made a new friend. Her name is Roxy (she is a dog) and she told me all about Maryland like that the capital is Annapolis, the state flower is the black eyed Susan and the state dog is the Chesapeake Bay retriever.

From,

Afro Jack Gelly Belly Honey Cone (and Melanie, Brandon’s cousin)

Coco

Dear Arianna,

   I arrived safely in Gahanna Ohio, the home of our cousin’s the Clarks. Gahanna is a very funny sounding name for a town. Our cousins Reagan and Caedmon explained that Gahanna is an old Shawnee Indian word meaning “where 3 become one”. It is what the Shawnee use to call this area of Ohio.  The Alum Creek, Big Walnut Creek and the Blacklick Creek, all come together here and merge with the Scioto River. This area was a Shawnee Indian hunting ground because herds of animals would come here for the natural salt licks. The Shawnee hunted the animals as they migrated to and from the salt.

 Today Gahanna is a suburb of Columbus Ohio, the state capitol and the home of The Ohio State University. Caedmon and Reagan brought me down to see the famous Horseshoe shaped stadium on the Ohio State campus. This is where the Ohio State Buckeyes football team plays! Wow it was very exciting! The stadium was beautiful and is open at the south end. So from the sky it looks like a horseshoe. This stadium is also where Jesse Owens set some world records in track and trained for the 1936 Olympics and showed the world how great American athletes were.

     I went to Conrad’s Buckeye gifts to find some souvenirs. In the store I met a new friend, Buckeye Bear. He showed me around campus and we became great friends. I told him about my trip and he asked if he could come too and then travel back to Boston to meet Arianna and the rest of the Vieira family.  We took this “selfy” in front of the Fischer College of Business on the OSU campus.

We walked around campus and picked up some Buckeyes, which are big brown nuts with a light circle mark on them. The Indians said the nuts look like the eye of a buck dear and so that is how they got their name. These nuts are the symbol of Ohio and the mascot of the Ohio State University. In the fall Buckeyes football fans use the nuts to make necklaces to wear while rooting for the Buckeyes football team.  We took our buckeyes home to Gahanna and made Buckeye Necklaces ourselves! It was so much fun! Here is a picture of me and Buckeye Bear making a necklace for you Arianna. We will bring it home to you.

Rosie is in Naples, Florida

Hi Erica and classmates,

I am having a wonderful time in Naples, Florida. The temperature is in the 80's.

We went to the beach today and saw people riding jet skis on the Gulf of Mexico.
I have been very busy playing golf with Grandma and this week we are going over to the East Coast and I will see the Atlantic Ocean.
We will ride across Alligator Alley--I should see many alligators in the waterways and sunning themselves on the banks.
Grandma said you are coming down to Florida this week we hope you have a great stay and enjoy seeing Harry Potter--I know you love his books.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Hugs,

Rosie