The American Bullfrog

Bullfrogs are the largest frog in North America. They are not picky eaters; they eat snakes, lizards, small mammals, birds, and other frogs. They grow up to 16 inches long! Bullfrogs are very invasive; they are invasive because people brought bullfrogs to the west for their legs. People would eat a bullfrog legs regularly. Bullfrogs live in warmer water than normal frogs. A male bullfrog has large ear drums female has smaller ear drums.

- by Eliot Martin, 3rd Grade

Ralf and the Invisible Mansion

Chapter 1

I had been thinking about last summer when I had almost killed the governor.

Today I’m waiting for my friend, a “bear”. I’m a mouse, which is very small. The bear was hairy and weighed about 200 lb. Me and Frensky [the bear] would sit under the stars. Or, sit in a river doing Olympics. Today we would go to the beach on a stranded island. The island was amazing, yet I had never gone. Finally after what had felt like a thousand years of waiting, Frensky arrived with string. Me and Frensky put together a huge raft. We hauled it off to the ocean. My arms ached from carrying the heavy raft. We set it down in the water. The waves sounded soothing washing up and down the beach. Suddenly, Frensky picked me up and chucked me into the raft. “Can I push us out?” yelled Frensky. “Yeah” I yelled back. Suddenly, the raft jolted forward making me fall back. I saw Frensky had pushed the raft into a wave and jumped on.

Chapter 2

I think either the string holding the raft together, or Poseidon decided he hated me. And I saw a purple headed goldfish about 20 feet long, with shiny white fangs. Its eyes flared with hatred. I wondered if this was natural, or a monster. I reached for my sword, but it was gone. Monster for sure. It was about time to start paddling back to shore, when I remembered we hadn’t made oars. We were trapped. Then I had an idea. I told it to Frensky. He nodded. I laid on the raft, the monster lunged at me. I jumped off the raft as soon as the monster touched it. And Frensky leaped on the opposite end of the raft. Catapulting the monster through the air. Then I remembered I couldn’t swim, so I would drown.

Chapter 3

My lungs were popping. I couldn’t remember why. Either one, last night I ate too many truffles, or two, I was drowning. I kicked and squirmed, but I sunk faster and faster. Then, I saw something that chilled me all the way to the bone. My bones were already chilled, with the drowning stuff. This time, something really scared the you-know-what out of me. I saw a tiger shark, creeping up on me. It came closer and closer until it could take a big bite out of me. But instead, the shark said, “Now a mouse. What will they send next time? A horse?” I didn’t understand, why would a shark hesitate to kill me? Or was it because Poseidon didn’t hate me? Suddenly, a blast of light sprayed through and at first I thought Poseidon didn’t care for mice. Then, I saw it wasn’t Poseidon. It was Frensky, he had obviously learned how to swim. “Help!” I yelled. It sounded more like, “Gurgle gurgle,” but I hoped he got the idea. He did. He scooped me up. It was too late, though. My vision went black.

Chapter 4

I woke up in a comfortable bed, no, actually, I woke on a hard rock. And a mile away, my friends were at battle. When I say friends, I mean a bunch of rabbits, moose, and others. My sword was still missing. I would have to make one. One problem, it would have to be carved of rock, and rock is hard. Then I had an idea. I would launch a water rocket. I snatched up a bottle and filled it with vinegar and baking soda. Poured in some Sprite and shook it. Then, I blew into it. I let go; it flew into the air. If I was lucky, it would destroy a monster. It did. The monster sank into the dirt. One big problemo. Every monster charged me. I was defenseless. One monster got grabbed by the throat. It disappeared. That wasn’t a monster at all. It was an illusion. Then, they all disappeared. I knew exactly what was happening. A decoy! “A DECOY!” I shouted. “I am going to find their headquarters” shouted a rabbit named Bobby. “No way. I will!” I screeched. “You guys attack every monster you see. I’ll be back.” I ran out of the sandy, rocky place and ran into a grassy meadow. Then my face hit an invisible thing. It was a door. I opened it. Inside I saw a whole mansion. I shut the door behind me. I wondered why they would need a mouse sized door? Then I heard marching. Now, I knew why there was a mouse sized door. It wasn’t mouse sized at all! It was my enemy’s size. My enemy is …RATS!

Chapter 5

I was panicking. Then an idea hit me. I would swing over the rats. I hadn’t read the sign above. I grabbed the wire firmly, then pulled. Then, a bell wailed and in a few seconds the mansion collapsed onto everything near it. The battle was over, and so was I. I didn’t get to finish writing my will. It said on it: “Than…”, instead of “Thanks”. I had passed away too fast.

The End

- by Eliot, 3rd grade

A History of the Chinook Tribe

The Chinookan tribe used to be here 300 years ago. They would harvest a plant called Wapato. They would put a special type of rock in the fire and they would pull it out, then put it in a tightly weaved basket. Then they would pour water in it, then, they would put in the Wapato. The hot rock would cook it. Salmon were important to the Chinook people because there were so many salmon, and there was so much nutrition in them.

The Chinook people traveled everywhere by canoe. Some canoes could hold up to 30 people. The Chinook lit fires around their village to burn trails and put nutrition in the ground to grow grasses, to attract deer and elk. The native northwest tribes used dip nets, harpoons, and fish spears.

Native American tribes had totems that represented their tribe. Potlatches were thrown by the Chinook tribe. At a potlatch, they would dance, tell stories, stuff themselves with food [this was considered good manners] and most important, give gifts.

Noble elders were known as chiefs. Nobles hunted, and fished. Commoners did the same as nobles. And slaves did the things that nobody else wanted to do. Since the river was so rich with salmon, it was easy to trade for things like rocks to make arrowheads, mortal and pestle, and so on. When settlers came, they traded with the Chinook. The things that the settlers gave to the Chinook gave them the flu and measles and wiped out most of the tribe.

- by Eliot Martin, 9 years old

Williamsburg & Washington DC Trip: Day Four

Wednesday had been another great success. Dave’s presentation to Mars Drinks was a “grand slam.” Several of the Mars representatives told Dave they were “inspired” following his presentation, and as a result, he was in very high spirits as we hit the road from Williamsburg to Washington, D.C. I realize that this post is about our fourth day, but I’d be negligent if I didn’t provide a few additional details about our arrival in D.C. First, our hotel couldn’t have been closer to the US Capitol Building and the museums. We were on 5th and C Street, two blocks from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and a short walk to the Capitol building itself. Giddy with our location, we made plans to head out for a celebratory dinner that night. I had mentioned that it would be great to find some Maryland crabs, so after conferring with the concierge, we were advised to go to Phillips, which was about seven or eight blocks away, on the Waterfront.

Phillips is this sprawling tourist draw, but it also seems to be popular with locals. It is a buffet-style place, but with such foods as Cajun crawfish, jambalaya, clams, mussels, Alaskan king crab legs, crab cakes, prime rib, you name it. Eliot was nuts with excitement about all the food and ate like a champ. He loaded his plate with all of the above, and I must say I was amazed that he (a) ate it all and (b) didn’t throw up. Both boys did manage to synchronize spills. First, Eliot. Two minutes later, Gavin. We had some concern we’d be shown the door after spill number two, but the wait staff looked the other way, brought a lot of towels, and were very gracious.

Bellies swollen, we hailed a cab and headed for the Lincoln Memorial. Dave engaged the Ethiopian driver with discussions of famous distance runners from Addis, and got him so excited that he turned left into a one way (wrong way) major intersection. After checking that we were all still in tact, the cabbie said prayers under his breath, reversed, and got us going the right way again. Whew.

Arriving at the Lincoln Memorial at around 9pm, I was amazed to see so many tourists still buzzing about. The Memorial itself is something to see—breathtaking, really. We soaked in the Lincoln-ness, and after we had our fill, walked the length of the Mall, along the Vietnam Memorial, by the Reflecting Pool, up to the Washington Monument. The boys chased each other, giggling and tumbling the whole way, and we marveled at just how much marble and white stone we had seen in D.C. so far. The Washington Monument was quite impressive to see—to say the least.

Dave and I each called our respective spouses while we strolled the remainder of the way. Feet and legs were tired, but wow—what a day!

Day Four: Seriously

After a mediocre breakfast experience at the Holiday Inn café, which met our expectations, we walked two short blocks to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to kick-off our Thursday. I had vivid memories of this museum from when I was in fourth grade, on a talented and gifted group (irrelevant footnote: this group was called, “THRUST,” if you can believe that) field trip from Galax, Virginia. I was starry-eyed and impressed as a kid, and I remember the Grey Hound Bus ride back home, with a gyroscope I had bought. Amazing memories. For our kids, circa 2009, while I think the kids were interested, I think times are different today: there is so much more stimulation, so much interactivity and choice…the Air and Space Museum grew a bit tiring for the boys after an hour or so. That said, we enjoyed all the old aircraft, the Apollo exhibits, and touching the moonstones.

After some hot dogs from a street vendor, we played some football out on the Mall for a while, allowed the boys to tumble and giggle some more, then marched our way towards the Capitol for our 2:20pm tour. My brother, Ken, will appreciate this part: as luck would have it, all the conservative kooks came out of the woodwork that day for a protest. Fox News set up shop to bring live coverage of the 10,000 or so conservatives who were protesting the Health Reform legislation, and give their representatives a piece of their collective minds. We needed to meet a Congressman (Democrat, Wiener, from NY) to pick up our House tour passes, so again, as luck would have it, we spent 30 minutes standing in line with all the conservative patriots who assumed we were one of them. Ha.


The tour of the Capitol was really cool. The security was as you’d expect: extremely tight. Lots of large men with automatic rifles slung over their shoulders, and very little humor. We started the tour under the Capitol, then watched an excellent 13 minute film about the history of the Capitol Building. A fact: the Capitol was built about 200 years ago, then burned down in the War of 1812, and rebuilt following this. The dome of the Capitol was originally smaller, and metal, but was rebuilt—and completed—during Lincoln’s term. The dome itself is beautiful on the inside, ornately decorated with paintings, which all tell a narrative of American History. As another interesting tidbit: the dome is so tall that the entire Statue of Liberty could be fit within it. Picture that!
We wrapped-up our Capitol tour by sitting in the gallery of the House, where not too much was happening. There were some issues being debated, but most members were absent for this particular Bill, presumably off working on the Health Care Reform Bill that was to be voted on the following day.

We completed out day by having dinner with Tom and Karen Friedman’s house for dinner. Tom is an old friend of Dave’s—they go way back to time spent together in Africa. Today, Tom is an influential Washington insider—sort of a political consultant to the big league. He regularly is called to the White House for meetings, worked under the Clinton Administration as a campaign strategist/manager, and above all, is a really nice guy. After so many adventures, it was great to spend a little time in a home, with a home-cooked meal, with the familiarity with little kids under foot. Tom and Karen have three kids: Noah (4), Mattie (2) and Abigail (6 months). Between the intermittent phone calls from Nancy Pelosi's staff (I counted four calls!), we ate a delicious meal and got a lot of dirt on what it's like working in and around the White House. I must say, the Washington lifestyle is different, to be sure, so I enjoyed soaking in the culture for these couple of days.

Next up, the White House!

Trip to Williamsburg, VA and Washington, D.C.: Day Three

We had a great time Tuesday in Williamsburg. The historical aspect was immersive and experiential. This really worked for Eliot and Gavin...because as opposed to the passive experience of standing and observing in a museum, the Williamsburg experience was complete, an active lifestyle.

So we woke Wednesday with this experience fresh in out minds. Dave had prepared the night before for his presentation to Mars Drinks, so he'd be away until after lunch. I thought it would be interesting for the kids (and me) to continue with the theme of historical authenticity and take a short trip 10 miles East to the Jamestown Settlement, the original English Colony in the New World.

First, a refresher for the history-challenged amongst us: Jamestown is understood to be the first English settlement in what is now America. It was settled in 1607 by an English expedition, primarily in search of gold and silver, as well as commodities like furs, to send back home. The war with Spain had emptied the coffers, so this particular expedition was one that was largely focused on material goods. The English were exclusively men at first, and since most warring parties looked like this, the native Indian tribe in this area--the Powatons--did not provide an altogether warm welcome to these newcomers.

This context aside, Eliot, Gavin and I arrived late morning, to another crisp, Fall day in Virginia. After passing through the mammoth visitor center, we followed trails in back to a recreation of the original fort. There, we toured the barracks, saw how the soldiers lived, and even

tried on some cool metal helmets, which you see here.

One of the guides demonstrated how the soldiers would have loaded and fired a musket (loud!), and we investigated some of the tools of the day, clothing, bedding, etc.

Beyond the fort, a narrow path led to the inlet, and the waters of the Atlantic (a first experience for Eliot!) where we could see the sailing vessels that were functional replicas of those original ones that brought the settlers to Jamestown. We boarded several, descended steep stairs into their galleys, saw and touched the cannons aboard, and imagined our lives aboard a ship like this. The boys were impressed with the simple controls of the ships, and wondered a

loud about the sailors who climbed the rope ladders into the crows' nests.

On our loop back to the visitor center, we stopped by a replica Powaton Indian village, that included probably 10 huts that were made by tightly woven and lashed sticks, and covered by tightly lashed reeds that protected families from the elements. Most of these huts had many different animal furs inside, from white wolves to minks, skunks, bears and racoons--typical of this time period.

Eliot and Gavin wandered about, found what appeared to be arrowheads, or at least flakes of rock that easily could have been, and they were able to mill corn in a hollowed-out log with a thick, blunt stick.

After wrapping-up a short, but worthwhile trip to Jamestown, we headed back to Williamsburg to pick up Dave. His presentation to Mars was a great success, so we all left Williamsburg to DC in high spirits, looking forward to new adventures in a decidedly different environment.

As usual, see my Facebook page for all of our pictures.

Trip to Williamsburg, VA and Washington, D.C.: Day Two

Today, we woke up to brilliant sunshine and a slight chill in Williamsburg, VA. Dave was preparing for his first meetings with the Mars Company, so for most of today, it would be Eliot, Gavin and me. We weren't terribly familiar with Williamsburg, nor had we prepped by reading many tourist guides, so we figured we would wander about and see what we could see.

Firstly, I should say that we are staying at the Williamsburg Lodge, which is very nice, and a short walk to the Duke of Gloucester Street, which is sort of the main drag through the historic section of Williamsburg. This

street, and many through Williamsburg, are gravel and closed to motor traffic. The entire historic district, which probably includes 30-40 different buildings and structures, are a part of a living museum, one of the most intricate town-as-museum concepts in this country.

We started the day outside the "Magazine," which is a structure the town had used to store its gun powder, muskets and weaponry. We saw, and learned, quite a lot about the weapons of the Revolutionary War period of time, and some of the gory details of how these weapons were used to gain advantage in hand-to-hand combat. Useful information for 8 year old boys.

Pretty close to the Magazine were the stockades, shown here, which every tourist knows is where the obligatory photo is taken, and especially with boys, this one is one for the respective family albums.

Around noon today, we took a tour of The Governor's Palace, which had originally been built from 1706 to 1722 for the Governor of the Virginia Colony. The original structure--and indeed, much of the original Williamsburg--had been destroyed during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars in America, so much of the present day Williamsburg had been rebuilt in the 1930s with funding from Rockefeller, and the Williamsburg Foundation. Painstaking attention had been paid to the original details, so structures like the Palace are today something to see. The boys were very impressed, though the 45 minute tour we took included probably more details than they could handle. That said, it was well worth it.

More fun for the kids was the Palace gardens, which included a Maze, and a canal, with bullfrogs.

After a quick bite of lunch, we spent an hour or so experiencing some of the Revolutionary War re-enactments. The entire situation of Williamsburg is supposed to be set in July of 1775, on the eve of war. The re-enactments were, therefore, exciting and...I must admit...FUN. The boys agreed. From a crier on galloping horseback, to the loyalist who was pulled from the Raleigh Tavern, tarred and feathered, to the "tri-corn" wearing actors mixed with the crowd, it was a realistic and riveting experience.

Making it all the more interesting, during one of the performances, a large hawk circled, then landed in a tree, mere feet above the actors...then flew away after a collective OOOOHHH from the crowd.

We finished the day alongside a pond, where the boys spent an hour (while I was on a work conference call) making rafts from leaves, and damming the spillway with debris.

For those of you still reading along, I am posting all of my photos to a photo album on my Facebook page.

Trip to Williamsburg, VA and Washington, D.C.: Day One

Our day began bright and early--harshly early--at 4:45am, PST. Eliot hadn't slept much the night before, so had first woken at 2am, checked the clock, then got out of bed the moment he heard me stumbling downstairs. Quick coffee and breakfast, and it was over to Dave, Marie and Gavin's house to meet-up for the taxi. Our taxi ride was pleasant--with a knowledgeable and chatty driver, and a full moon (werewolf moon) sitting large on the early morning horizon.

Eliot and Gavin were very amped for the trip back East, though the first leg of the 4 hour and 20 minute flight to Newark, NJ, was long...but good. Eliot had minor setback with a ginger ale spill, but as a low point, that wasn't too bad. The hostess liked the boys and put on a movie just for them--Ice Age 3. Kooky fun.

The second leg from Newark to Richmond was short, and somewhat eventful, because we saw the skyline at dusk of New York City, including the Statue of Liberty.

After landing at Richmond, the boys were hungry, so we ate at a TGIFriday's, and observed that we could have been at any stripmall in the country. However, a bubbly waitress named "Kee Kee" made the dinner interesting...and although she informed us that the election for Governor in Virginia was tomorrow, she couldn't recall who was running. Hmmm...

45 miles east to Williamsburg, and we are now all settled and ready for bed at the Williamsburg Lodge. Dave and I have laid down the rules that there can be no indoor football, because we have no idea how much these antiques cost, but we suspect it's more than we are willing to pay.

Now, the boys are doing some scrapbooking and planning their day tomorrow.

Some quotes from the boys...first Eliot:

"The plane ride was tiring, but at the same time, interesting and fun. I am looking forward to discovering facts about Williamsburg, Virginia. Here's a fact that I have learned today: some people say that the most dirty state is New Jersey and I believe it. Also, I know that Virginia is for lovers."

And here are some quotes from Gavin:

"If you look at Jersey's houses, they look a little 'play-toyish.' We saw the Rocky Mountains and they were awesome. Here is a fact that I learned today: most of the east coast states are named after famous English people."

Stay tuned.