After Bryce, we had another incredible drive along one of the top scenic routes in the USA, passing through Grand Staircase Escalante National Park and Capitol Reef National Park before reaching Moab, the outdoor adventure capitol of Utah and our base for the next two nights. The highlight of the trip for Claudia was staying in an RV which surprisingly was more fun than some of us anticipated! Day 4 was a highlight for Jonathan as he rented a mountain bike and spent the day biking down Utah's famous routes including the Slickrock Trail. Meanwhile, us girls spent the day visiting Arches National Park, which includes more than two thousand natural arches and more spectacular landscape. On our third day it was time to explore the incredible hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. We were able to hike down into the canyon and explore the surreal and stunning landscape which was formed by weathering and erosion.
Our first night on our trip was spent in Springdale, a small village at the entrance to Zion National Park. The next day, we were up very early to beat the spring break crowds to take the free shuttle bus into the hugely popular National Park. We hiked a spectacular and famous trail up to Scout Lookout, near the top of a peak called Angel's Landing, which included a series of 22 switchbacks called Walter's Wiggles. Later that day we drove on through more amazing landscapes to Bryce Canyon. During spring break we went on our final American adventure, this time to the canyons and National Parks of Utah and Arizona. We flew to Las Vegas and enjoyed a spectacular view of the Grand Canyon from the air. Our first stop on our road trip, after driving through Las Vegas and out into the desert, was Zion National Park, Utah.
This weekend, Kerstin created a popcorn business, selling freshly popped (in the pan by her!) popcorn, which is already proving very popular in our house!
The girls have also had a wish come true as they are now in the business of dog walking! One of our neighbours is unable to walk her beautiful and well-trained dogs for the next couple of weeks so the girls have got themselves a daily (and active, yay!) job. Today, the girls participated in our school district (Atlanta Public Schools) Technology Fair, as they had both won first place in their respective categories in the school Technology Fair in December. The winners of each grade level and category at the APS fair will go on to represent the district at the State Technology Fair in March. Claudia and her friend came 1st in the Productivity Design category for their s'more about Swedish Winter Traditions! Well done girls!
Today was the monthly International Baccalaureate breakfast at school where one student from each class is awarded IB super star of the month. This month Claudia was chosen by her class for the 'principled' award. The ten global IB learner profiles are inquirer, knowledgeable, thinker, communicator, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-taker, balanced and reflective, and the school focuses on a different one each month. Well done Claudia!
On Saturday Kerstin competed on the school team at the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl against 22 other local elementary schools. The Reading Bowl is an annual statewide competition where teams of 4th and 5th graders answer questions about twenty recently published fiction and non-fiction books. Each team consists of 5 students who compete in rounds where ten questions about any of the books can be answered by a team member 'buzzing in'. Our school team were great and came 8th out of the 23 teams.
Last night was the annual school family night at the Atlanta Hawks basketball and and this year both girls were singing the National Anthem with the school chorus at the opening of the game. We all had a great evening out, although the Hawks lost against the Washington Wizards.
We were impressed with Kerstin's finished individual science project this week. The task was to create a poster about an element of choice. Kerstin was creative in her use of a shoe box for the poster base!
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AuthorsSusan, Jonathan, Kerstin & Claudia Archives
September 2017
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