Zelda WindWaker

I heard about Zelda Wind Waker game from my cousins. I watched them play it and I thought it was cool. This year I got it for Christmas and I like to play it a lot. I like it because it is an exciting adventure game and you would like it too.

They call it Wind Waker because you have to use a magical baton to make songs that changes the wind. You can command statues, flying girl named Meele, little tree stump guy called a Kronk. You can command a song of passing that changes night to day. In the Earth Temple song you command a song and the girl plays her harp. In the Wind Temple you play a song and Kronk plays his violin. This gives you special command powers.

You get a small sailing ship, Red Lion is his name. He was actually a King in the past and very powerful. He carries you and helps you travel the seas to find treasure and challenges. He talks to you and gives you clues. If you keep talking to him he keeps saying the same thing and it get a little on the annoying side.

In the ship you get a canon to protect yourself from creature pirates sailing and creatures of the sea. Be careful when you sail the open sea's because there are dangers like mines, canon ships, cannon platforms, pirate submarines, whirlwinds, sharks, giant squid, and octopus.

You also get a sea grappling hook or like a crane that you lower into the water over the shinny sea and you will find a sunken treasure chest. It has in it important pieces of the tri-force puzzle. I haven’t gotten them all yet but I will. When you find a Tri-force chart give it to Tingle and he will decipher it for you. Tingle is a very ugly fairy.

If you have a Game Boy Advance connection cable for your Game Cube and Game Boy advance, turn it on and used the option of Tingle Turner to call Tingle to help you in other ways. Tingle will guide you through challenges. He can help you in battle to drop bombs on your enemy. He can give you your strength back, when you're very weak. He’ll also shield you from enemies. You can borrow his balloon if you fall. With it you can hover for 5 seconds.


You can help island people with their chores or challenges. Some are like catching the thief, freeing the dragons tail, saving the withered trees. You get keys, arrows, and other stuff I haven’t figured out.

The main object of the game is to defeat Gannon, find you sister Ariel, and get rid of all the bad guys. You have to restore the master swords power. The main Boss is controlling mini bosses that are evil. You have to use your weapons to defeat them to get through the levels. Mini bosses hold the boss key or also called a “Big Keyâ€ï¿½ most of the time. When you defeat the Big bosses you get a little movie bit that shows you how they are destroyed forever.


Here is a hint, at the wind Temple. There is a stone block that has wind issuing out of its mouth. It is hard to get passed it without having iron boots on and your skull hammer weapon. To get the iron boots you have to go to Ice Ring Island. You have to use your fire arrows to shoot into the mouth of the ice cave. The Ice wind will stop. You have to hurry because a timer starts and you have 4 minutes to get into the mouth of the Ice Ring Cave and down the hole.

Use your weapons to defeat the evil creatures, bosses, and conquer your challenges. You get cool weapons, like chain shot, grappling hook, master sword, bow and arrow, fire, ice, and light arrows, bombs, telescope, magic armor, boomerang, Duku leaf, iron boots, skull hammer, and Wind Waker. My favorite weapons are chain shot, grappling hook, bow and arrow, duku leaf.

I really like this game and it is really fun to play. It’s addictive because I can’t wait to get back to the challenges. I can’t wait until the new Zelda is out. (Mama can though).

Call It Courage

On August 24th 2005, I went to a barbeque at our Stake’s picnic and ballpark. In the distance I saw water balloons flying. I ran over to where the balloon launchers were, and got some water balloons. I asked if I could give it a try. There was another team shooting water balloons back at us. When it was my turn to do it, I put the balloon in the sling, leaned way back, and let it fly. At the same time the other team launched one of theirs. In midair there was a great explosion because the two balloons hit dead on. It was awesome. I had so much fun. I loved it.

By now everyone was already wet. We piled into vehicles and drove our separate ways. The kids in our ward went over to the Kearns swimming pools. The leaders rented the outdoor pools for the night. Nobody else could get in there.

I got my clothes changed fast and went right over to the deep diving pool. The first thing I did was jumped into it. I like the deep water and looking down into it. I like to not be able to touch the bottom with my feet. It was surprisingly warm. I planned to go off the platform levels even before I got there. My mom told me not to do it even before I left, but I had other plans. She was afraid I would die, or drown or something. I didn’t.

I watched Monica, Chris, and Sister Monson go off the platforms. I felt like I could do it too. When I decided to go up, I went up to the highest level. This was the white level and it was really high. I was scared so I went down to the blue level. It was the middle level but it was still too high for me. Then I went over to the red level, the lowest, and I was still scared of it when I looked down.

I decided to go off the regular high dive and try that to get used to that. I went off it about ten times. I already knew that my pockets filled with air so I was safe even though mama didn’t believe me. They were my “air pocket preservers.”

Monica said, “to get used to it, (the platform), go to the red dive again. It is only a little bit higher then this one.” It was about 3 feet higher I thought. I gathered my courage and went over to the red platform again. This time I sat down on the edge. I was going to try to just slip off the edge but I couldn’t do it because of the non-slip grabbers on the whole platform surface. So then I had to stand up again. That was creepy. I had the “go” flag and so I walked right up to the edge and WALKED OFF.

When I was falling it felt like flying. I liked that feeling. I plugged my nose, while I was falling for the first 1/4th of a second. It took longer to fall to the bottom than the other diving board so when I looked down again, my hands started waving in the air. Bad thing too because the water slapped my left wrist, when I went in. It stung bad.

I went back up the platform to do it again but they said, “Platforms are closed. Get down. Platforms are closed.” I walked down and went to the kiddy pool for the rest of the night.

Here is another writing assignment about it. It is a poem I wrote:

Flying

Watching Chris from up so high,
Made me feel that I could fly.
Practicing things that are new to you,
Make it easier for you to do.

Up the steps, going to the red,
I still felt a little dread.
My feet hit the water, my mind still in the sky,
if I’d not practiced, I would have died.

Mysterious Blue Rock

On June 5th my Sister, Mom, Strider (our dog), and I were going to my Cousins house in St. George to stay with them for two weeks. We stopped at a gas station in Fillmore to get gas, and for Strider do his business. Mom and Strider walked to the back off the gas station where she saw some blue rocks in the gravel patch. It looked like anti-freeze got spilled on them. She thought they looked like some good rocks for our rock collection at home.

Mom came back and got the car. She picked them up and put them in the trunk. She didn't know what was on them to make them turn blue so we just left them in the trunk.

On Monday (August 15th) mom ran over some staples and it gave us a flat tire. That night dad and I went out to change out the tire. We had to move everything out to the trunk to get the spare tire out. The blue rocks were in the way so we moved them on to porch.

I saw that the cracks had natural blue in them, so I cracked one open to see if there was blue and inside it. There was blue inside too. We are going to find out what the blue is. We took some pictures and put it on Flickr to ask everyone “What is it?” A guy on Flickr, named Utah~Dave said that it was a copper compound.

If that doesn't work will go to the rock shop and ask them. I’d also like to see if it's really blue rock or does it wash off. Why does it seep through some rocks and not others?

After we went to the goat ranch the other day, we stopped in at the rock shop too. They said that the rock is copper sulfate. It is a quartz mineral.

The Adventures of Chippy Munk

Chippy
Originally uploaded by mjross.

Here are some fun picutes I like from Flickr! It is a story about the travels and adventures of Chippy, the Chipmonk. He shows up in the darndest places!

You can see the Chippy pictures here.

Snake Attack

img_4835 (Modified).jpg
Originally uploaded by BenFrantzDale.

I was at Bear Lake Scout Camp from August 1st through August 6th.
I was going to the kybo or outhouse, when I heard IT. It was a rattle from a rattlesnake. It scared me spitless. I thought I better get away from here!!

I slowly backed away from its striking range and ran back to camp. I told Brother Hoyle, “There is a rattlesnake over there” and I pointed down the kybo trail.

He grabbed a round nosed shovel as I told him where to find it. I followed behind him. Now remember I still have to go “take a creek and make some rocks” as we now say. While we were walking over there, he told Ben and Seth to go and get camp staff help.

This was a very big deal, so 8 men came and saw it. One of them hustled back to get the bird shot pistol. It was loaded with bird shot so you didn’t have to aim it very close. Brother Hoyle saw my snake slither away into its hole.

With everybody being in this area, the camp above us saw three more snakes. We called it “the lizard camp”, because they had so many lizards in it but I guess we should now call it the snake camp. One snake was on some five foot tall sagebrush they but moved it to another area, away from us. It was quiet easy to put in the bag. The other two were on the ground and they were doing the wild thing, or mating, in the upper part of the lizard camp area. We didn’t know there were two then.

The Staff leaders used their gun to kill it. They had to because the snakes were rattling too much to for them catch it and bag it. They were in for a surprise when they went to scoop it up with our shovel. There were two snake instead of one. They were mating.

I felt a little scared about these snakes and now after this, I was always on guard. I kept my ears open and eyes searching for anymore surprises. That was OK though because I didn't see another snake for the rest of the camp. I guess we scare them away. Now I could go to the kybo in peace.

Bear Lake Merit Badges

These are the Merit Badges that Bryan Earned at the Bear Lake Scout Camp last week:

1. Basketry, 2. First Aid, 3. Indian Lore, 4. Leatherwork, 5. Weather, 6. Wood Carving

Bear Lake Scout Camp

1. Sheer Joy, 2. Bear Lake Aquatics Camp, 3. Bear Lake, 4. Searching for Stones to Skip, 5. Skipping Stones, 6. Splashing Stone, 7. Wave Jumping, 8. Feel the Muck!, 9. Handicrafts., 10. Bryan Making Indian Necklace, 11. Our Bear Lake Campsite, 12. The Flappin' Flag!, 13. Camp Emerald Bay, 14. The Kybo - aka Snake House, 15. Contraband, 16. Great Basin Rattlesnake

Here are some of the photos from Bryan's Scout Camp at Bear Lake. Click on the link for each picture to see a larger image of the Picture.

Maryland State Fair Project

MARYLAND

Maryland was one of the original 13 Colonies of the United States. It was the 7^th state to be admitted to the Union.


The Founding of Maryland¹

Maryland was began as a Colony in 1634 by Lord Baltimore after he received a permission from King Charles I, of England. Maryland was named after the wife of King Charles, Henrietta Maria.



Lord Baltimore was a member of the Catholic Church. At that time in England, Catholics were not allowed to worship. Their marriages by Catholic Priests were not approved, and Catholic Priests were not allowed in England.¹When he created the Maryland Colony, Lord Baltimore wanted it to be a place where Catholics could worship in peace. At first most of the settlers were Catholic. Members of other religions were also allowed in Maryland. The Maryland Colony was one of the first governments that gave freedom of religion.

Maryland Geography²

Population: Maryland has 5 ½million people

Utah, only 2 ½ million people.

Maryland has 542 people per square mile

Utah has 27 people per square mile

Land: Maryland has 9,774 square miles of land

Utah has 82, 144 square miles of land

Maryland is about 90 miles wide, by 250 miles long

Utah is about 270 miles wide, by 350 miles long

Elevation: The highest point in Maryland is 3,360 feet at Backbone Mountain.

The average elevation in Maryland is 350 feet above sea level.

The highest point in Utah is 13,528 feet at Kings Peak.

The average elevation in Utah is 6,100 feet above sea level

Temperature:

• Average Temperatures in Maryland range from a high of 87º in summers to a low of 24º in Winter.
• In Utah temperatures average from a high of 93º in summer to a low of 19º in winter.
  

State Nickname: The Old Line State. The name was given by General George Washington, to honor of soldiers from Maryland who fought bravely in the Revolutionary War.

Major Industries:Major industries include fishing and farming. Other industries include manufacturing, food processing, and shipping (Baltimore is one of the busiest ports in the U.S.) Maryland is also a leader in electronics: 3rd in the nation in Defense Electronics Manufacturing, 8th in the nation in Software Services, 10th in the nation in Communications Equipment Manufacturing.

Washington, DC: Washington, DC was once a part of Maryland. In 1791, both Maryland and Virginia donated land on each side of the Potomac River for the nations capitol. In 1846, the land contributed by Virginia was returned to the State. Now, only the portion of land donated by Maryland remains as Washington, DC. The location was originally chosen by President George Washington. Washington, DC became the official Capitol in 1800.


State Symbols³

State Bird:The state bird is the Baltimore Oriole. This bird eats insects. It prefers to nest in trees (it likes the American Elm Tree best). Baltimore Orioles
usually lay 4-6 grey colored eggs each year. In the Summer they go as far North as Nova Scotia. They winter in Florida and the Southern Atlantic States.

State Flower: The state flower is the Black-eyed Susan. It grows to be 2-3 feet tall, and has 13 yellow petals, with a dark brown or black center. This flower is also known as the coneflower. It takes 1.7 million Black-eyed Susan seeds to equal one pound. This flower likes full sunlight, and often grows in fields and along roadsides.

State Tree: The Maryland state tree is the White Oak. The tree has a light colored bark and leaves with 7-9 points. This tree grows all along the Eastern portion of the United States, and can get to be 100 feet tall. White Oak trees can live as long as 800 years! This tree starts producing acorns when it is 50 years old. It takes an acorn a full year to mature. An adult white oak tree can produce up to 10,000 acorns a year! Many small animals depend on the acorns of the white for food. Sometimes acorns are made into flour for baking in human food. Wood from the white oak is very valuable and is used for furniture and other fine wood products.




State Flag: The Maryland State flag is made up of the family crests of the first Governor of Maryland, Leonard Calvert (who was the younger brother of Lord Baltimore) The Yellow and black crest is for the Calvert Family. The Red and white crest represents the Crossland family (Governor Calverts Mothers family.)


Maryland in the Civil War

Maryland was a border state in the CivilWar. Shots were fired at Fort Sumter April 12, 1861, which began the Civil War. On April 29, 1861 The Maryland State Assembly just barely voted to stay with the Union. However Maryland was a Slave State. The people of Maryland were still divided in their loyalties.

Maryland had army units on BOTH sides of the civil war. Many of these units would fight each other in the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863.

The Monitor And The Merrimack⁴



One of the great naval battles in history took place in the defense of Maryland and Washington, DC between the Monitor and the Merrimack. The Merrimack, a steamship, was one of best warships of its time. To prevent it from falling into

Confederate hands, it was sunk by the Union in the James River. Theconfederates raised the ship, and covered the part above the water with Iron, to protect it from cannon fire.

The Union was aware of this project, and hired John Ericsson to build a ship that could defend against the Merrimack. The Monitor was built in 100 days. Because of being in such a hurry, some things were not built as well as they could have been. The Monitor was finished and arrived in the Chesapeake bay at Hampton Roads March 9, 1862.

The Confederate Merrimack (Called the Virginia by the South) was commanded by Captain Franklin Buchanan, who previously had been in charge of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He resigned from the US Navy, thinking that Maryland would join the Confederacy. When Maryland decided to stay with theUnion, he tried to get his old job back, but he was turned down. The Confederate Navy quickly took him in, and made him Captain of the Merrimack.

On March 9, 1862, the Merrimack had destroyed two Union warships, and had grounded another ship, The Minnesota, in shallow water. The Merrimack went out into deeper waters to spend the night. Meanwhile, the Monitor came in and hid by the Minnesota and spent the night.

The next morning , on March 10, 1862, the Merrimack came back to finish off the Minnesota.Before any shots were fired, the Monitor placed itself between the Merrimack and the Minnesota. A 4-hour gun battle began between the two ships and neither ship was able to hurt the other. The Merrimack finally left the area, and Washington DC, and Maryland were protected. Also the blockade of ships to Confederate Virginia was maintained because of the Monitor.

The Battle of Antietam⁵

The battle of Antietam took place in Maryland. It was one of the battles that turned the tide of the Civil War. It was also one of the bloodiest battles of the war, with about 23,000 soldiers killed and wounded on one day September 18, 1862. (4,700 of those were killed). After this battle, the General Robert E. Lee took his troops South, and never returned to attack the North the rest of the war.

Photo Taken September 18, 1862 of Union Soldiers after fighting in The Battle of Antietam.

This defeat prevented the Confederate States from joining forces with England and France. If the Confederates had been successful at Antietam, England and France may have joined the war on the Confederate side. It also made it possible for President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which would free the Slaves. The war was now not only to preserve the Union, but also to free the slaves as well.

The victory of the Battle of Antietam would also lead to former slaves becoming Union Soldiers, which would become a great help to the Union in winning the war. A year later, on October 3, 1863 the first army units made of former slaves would be organized in the slave states of Maryland, Tennessee and Missouri.



Photo taken of President Abraham Lincoln in Sept-Oct of 1862. President Lincoln surveys the Antietam Battlefield after the battle is over.

US Naval Academy at Annapolis⁶

The United States Naval Academy is located in Annapolis, Maryland which is the Capital of Maryland. The Academy was started in 1854 by Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft. The academy sits on 338 acresof land. To attend the academy, you must be nominated by a member of congress, the US Senate, or the Vice-President of the United States. Each of these 536 representatives has 5 nominations each. Other openings are for children of past Academy Graduates, Children of Congressional Medal of Honor winners, and children of servicemen and women who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty.

Entry into the academy is very difficult. Last year, over 9,800 people applied to go to the Naval Academy, of those only 1552 or about 16% were admitted.

Naval Academy Graduates participate in the traditional "Hat Toss" after graduation ceremonies have been completed.

Cadets who are admitted to the Naval Academy will have their education paid for by the Navy. Graduates must serve in the Navy or the Marines for 5 years. Graduates become officers in the Navy or the Marin Corps.

BIBLEOGRAPHY

1 Maryland State Archives

2 Netstate.com website for Maryland

3 50 States.com State Symbols

4 Synopsis of the book: MONITOR, The Story of the Legendary Civil War Ironclad and the Man Whose Invention Changed the Course of History, by James Tertius deKay, Walker & Company, New York 1997.

5 The Civil War Home Website

6 United States Naval Academy

UPDATE: You can read more about the makings of the State Fair Project here.