December 24, 1998

The plane ride to Arizona was fun. The plane went very high and fast. In the a
irport, I saw Uncle Jim, Grandpa, and Grandma.
We went to Grandpa and Grandma's house. Their house is pretty and they have a b
ackyard. I saw a dog in the backyard and Uncle Jim told me her name was B'Elena
. She flew on the airplane with Uncle Jim from Florida to Arizona. I played w
ith her.
After lunch, I met Ruffy, a dog who lives near Grandma and Grandpa.
I opened some presents at night and I had a Matchbox Car Airport in a big box. B
'Elena knows how to open her presents by chewing them.
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December 25, 1998
In the morning, Santa came to give our presents to us. Grandma and Grandpa didn
't have any presents from Santa, but everybody had a stocking. Santa gave me a
painting set and model car.
We ate lunch. We passed out the bread and had ravioli and turkey with mashed po
tatoes.
After we ate, we went outside and played. My dad fixed my airport and I played
with that.
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December 26, 1998
When I was playing outside with my brother, Junior, and B'Elena, we saw a big ba
lloon coming. We drove to the store on the Indian reservation and we saw the bi
g balloon in the park. I walked up to the balloon and the man said he would giv
e me a ride, but I didn't want to go because it was so scary.
That night, we went to Garcia's for dinner. After dinner, Grandpa and Grandma a
sked the waitress to bring hats with balloons on them and fried ice cream to the
table for Junior and I.
At night, Grandpa brought his telescope out to the backyard. I saw the moon, st
ars, Jupiter and Saturn.
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December 27, 1998
B'Elena and Uncle Jim had to get on the airplane to go home from Arizona to Flor
ida. Florida is far away.
We went to Casa Grande to see the Indian ruins. We saw the walls, and we went i
n the rooms. The walls and the rooms were pretty. I walked through the mazes.
We saw a little door and everyone else was too big to walk through, but I coul
d.
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December 28, 1998
We went to the Phoenix Zoo. I saw zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers, cheetahs, rh
inoceros and flamingos. We rode a bus through the whole zoo.
At night, we went back to the zoo to see ZooLights. There were giraffes, lizard
s, monkeys, birds, and turtles made of lights. There were trees that danced to
the music.
Then we went to the Tumbleweed Tree. It was very tall, and made of tumbleweed.
It had silver glitter and lights on it. It had a big star on top.
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December 29, 1998
We went to the Hall of Flame. It is a big museum with fire trucks. Some are ne
w and some are old. Grandpa was a fireman. Grandpa told Junior and I to find t
he blue patch with an Indian on it. He gave the museum that patch because that
was from his fire company. My dad, Junior, and I put on fire jackets and fire h
ats and Grandpa, Grandma and, my step-mom, Linda took a picture.
We went to Papago Park and Linda, Junior and I climbed up the mountain. Then w
e waved to my dad, Grandpa and Grandma and then we went back. My dad and I went
up. I climbed up the rocks and thought I was going to slide and fall down, th
en I climbed back down and we went to the other side of the mountain. I almost
fell and we held each other and I went down straight, but I didn't run, I just w
alked. Then we made it to the car.
That night we went to Organ Stop Pizza. We saw a man playing a large organ that
moved. When he finished, it went back down under the floor. Then it came back
up and he played again. When he played, it was dark and then the ball went aro
und and bubbles came out. Then it stopped and the lights came back on. There w
ere flashing lights and cat puppets dancing.
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December 30, 1998
We went to the Arizona Science Center. At the fountain, I pressed a button and
the water came over the fountain. We saw a racing car. I did an experiment wit
h a color marker. I drew a circle and the lady put water on it and the color mo
ved on the paper. We went into the Planetarium. We saw Saturn, the moon, and J
upiter. Then the man put up questions and we had to push buttons to give him t
he answer. We went to see the movie "Super Speedway". It was about fixing a r
acing car. The movie was very loud and the cars went very fast. Then I dug in
the rocks and moved them with a shovel. I did more experiments. We went out si
de and saw two big things (satellites) that were very far apart. Junior talked
into one and I heard it through the other one.
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December 31, 1998
Linda worked with me doing my letter books and my phonics book. And after that
Grandpa helped me play on the computer with my Jump Start Spelling and Numbers g
ames.
Grandpa showed us antique gramophones. They are old and play records. You have
to use the crank to turn them on. The records sound like songs and talking.
They sound funny. They belonged to Grandpa's dad.
That night Tyler, Kristine, and Ashley came over with their dad and mom for a Ne
w Year's Eve party. We played on the computer and we went to the park. We play
ed on the monkey bars. Then I went on the swing. Then Grandpa pushed me and Li
nda pushed Kristine. I told Junior to move away please and I made a score with
the basketball. I painted wooden decorations with Kristine. Then we colored f
elt decorations with markers and crayons. At midnight we all said "Happy New Ye
ar" and gave hugs and kisses to each other.
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January 1, 1999
I put on Grandpa's fire hat, fire jacket and fire boots. The clothes were very
heavy and the boots were big. When I tried to walk I fell down and Grandpa and
Junior had to help me up. Everyone took pictures. Junior, my dad, and Linda dr
essed up in the clothes too.
Tyler, Kristine, Ashley and their mom and dad came over for dinner. We had lasa
gna and roast beef. We went and played football in the backyard. After that Ju
lia came over with her mom, dad and brother. We played on the computer. We pla
yed with bubbles outside while our parents were talking.
After everyone left, we went to say goodbye to Ruffy.
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January 2, 1999
We all got up early and got dressed quickly. We went to the airport.
We went back home on a very big airplane. On the airplane I sat with Linda and
my dad. Dad was in the middle and I was by the window so I could see everything
. Junior was behind us. I played and went to sleep.
When we got home, it was very cold. We all had to hold suitcases on the way hom
e because we brought back so much stuff.
I thought the vacation was very nice. I liked it because Arizona is very fun.
My favorite things to do in Arizona were going to the zoo, Zoolights and the In
dian ruins.