Jacob Van Antwerp                                                                                                              12/17/13

My Blog about Winter 

Winter is my favorite season! You know why? Because some wintery days it snows down blizzards and pours down soft snowflakes and creates snow drifts! I love the cold winter snow because my parents say that I'm a polar bear! Polar bears sometimes live in the Arctic! The Arctic is probably colder than OUR winter season. I love being in the cold because I'm a polar bear! Sometimes it sprinkles down snowflakes under my little pinky toes! Snow also falls from trees and roofs of buildings! It'd be so cold you can see my breath, so cold that icicles clung to building and houses and apartment buildings and HUGE icicles clung to the KDL (Kent District Library) Library! Yesterday I was pulling them off and then dropping them to the ground--crack! crack! crack! I sometimes want to sit in the cold without freezing and getting hypothermia and freezing to death. Last evening I made a little Snow Jacob, you know, a snowman that looks like me, only I made the eyes out of raisins, a carrot for my nose, a sugar snap pea leaf for the mouth, and also, the buttons out of raisins! Mmm-mmm! Delicious! On Sunday night, Sierra, Dad, Dad's friend, Lori and her kids, and I went to Richmond Hill to go SLEDDING! I probably went at an average speed of 20 miles per hour down the hill! Wow! That's fast! I went down a little gap in the snow hill then back out to form a sled jump! I could feel the cold wind go towards my cold red face! It's just cold. The pond kind of has thin ice when it freezes. The first few times I went sledding, I read a sign in front of a bare bush. It said: "DANGER: THIN ICE" The skies in winter turn grey and let it snow! Last night I had a dream that I crossed the frozen pond in the snow-covered ditch at Grandma's neighborhood, Green Ridge. Dad, Sierra, Grandma, and I were playing in the snow when Dad noticed something. He said, "I just thought of something! It's the newest joke. Here it is: Why did the..." I was looking at a blizzard twister. Dad said, "You're not listening, Jacob." I said, "Oh, sorry." Dad continued, "OK, here it is: Why did the boy...cross the frozen pond?" We were all silent, without saying anything. He said, "Well? It's a joke. You know what it is: I ask a question, and you guess the answer." Grandma, Sierra and I said at the same moment, "Oh, OK." I said to Sierra, "Why did the boy cross the frozen pond?" We were all chattering to know the punchline: "Why did he cross the frozen pond? Jacob, do you know? Do you know this joke?" Finally, Sierra said, "OK!... We have no idea." A half hour later we were thinking over the punchline to the newest joke. Sierra told Dad, "Who told you that joke anyway?" Dad thought and thought and thought. He said sadly, "I don't remember that either!" Sierra said, "Oh, brother." I suggested to them, "I know, I'm a boy, so if the pond is frozen solid in the ditch, I can cross the ice, and you'll know how I crossed it!" Grandma said, "Wow, good idea, Jacob!" Dad said, "You're an astrocagenius!! Let's go!" Then we went down to the ditch and to the frozen-solid pond. Ducks weren't there to walk on there. Dad stomped on the ice and said, "It is frozen solid... Are you sure about it?" I nodded yes and said, "Are you ready? Get your camera ready, Grandma! Here I go!" Grandma started recording me crossing. I started crossing the ice. Five seconds later, I called out, "I'm crossing it!" They all said, "Be careful, Jacob!" Then I continued crossing it. I saw a dark part on the ice, and I knew it was thin ice, so I ran around it to avoid cracking it and getting hypothermia. I ran past the parts where the fountains were shut off for the season so the flowing water won't freeze. Ten seconds later I reached the other side of the pond! I yelled out to them, "There! I crossed it!" And I saw a baby chicken in the snow. He looked so cold and sad, so I snuggled him close to my heart to warm him up, then I went back across the pond to the group. Grandma stopped recording. You won't believe what happened BEFORE I found him!

Jacob Van Antwerp                                                                                                        12/3/2013

My Blog about Thanksgiving


This Thanksgiving was the best Thanksgiving ever! I had two dinners: one on Thanksgiving Day, and the other on the day after Thanksgiving. I had the first one with Sierra and Dad and other people, even Aunt Lou at her house. For my dinner, I had tiny pieces of turkey, mashed potatoes, biscuit roll, green bean casserole, stuffing, pork steak, and corn. I have a Thanksgiving prayer I say every year on Thanksgiving when we say grace. I said it before eating. It goes like this: "In the year 1621, the Pilgrims held their first Thanksgiving feast. They invited the great Indian Chief Massasoit who brought 90 of his brave Indians, and a great abundance of food. Elder William Bradford and Captain Miles Standish were honored guests. Elder William Brewster, who was a minister, said a prayer that went something like this: We thank God for our homes and our food and our safety in the new land. We thank God for the opportunity to create a new world for freedom and justice. Amen." Everybody thought that it was great! A while before we left, Aunt Lou had something in her left hand. When I guessed that hand, she showed me a wishbone! Dad said I had to let it dry for a few days before me and him break it in half. Sometimes, when you dig into a real turkey/chicken with a knife, you find a wishbone! November 28 was the Thanksgiving I saw the second wishbone in my entire life! It was put in a plastic baggie to dry. The next day, Mom took me and Sierra to Aunt Linda's for the second dinner. All I had was just a little pizza pie Aunt Linda made for me. Trust me, it was DELICIOUS! It was also delectable and scrumptious! It was hot and crispy and gooey and cheesy and dotted with six little pepperoni dots, and they made the pizza more yummy and tasty! I even had a can of soda about an hour later. The dinner at Aunt Linda's was an "After Thanksgiving" dinner. Uncle Larry put out a huge real turkey/chicken with bones in it for you to eat, and its skin on its inside and outside was like meat for you to eat also! I've never seen those turkeys before. I love Thanksgiving because it's my favorite holiday for Thanksgivings our families will always remember!