10. Flat Stanley Sees A Lemon Tree And "Stays Home."

Another Flat Stanley was invited to go visiting in Ireland yesterday. That makes 67 Flat Stanleys sent out!

We received another email update yesterday from Flat Stanley who is visiting Marian in Ventura, California. He wrote:

"Dear Alexa,
Did you ever see a lemon tree in blossom? They don't grow where you live, but here in Ventura County, lemon and orange farms (called groves) are very important. There is a baby lemon tree in the garden here. It's only a year old, but it has loads of blossoms and maybe there will be some lemons this year. They grow all year round. And the blossoms smell just wonderful. Here is a picture of me standing on a branch. (I helped my family in the garden today).
Love,
Flat Stanley Lambchop"

It included this photo:



When I wrote Marian to tell her how much Alexa and I enjoy reading her email updates and seeing the pictures she sends, she wrote:

"Oh, Nance, I'm having the best time with this! Thanks for giving me the opportunity.

I've lived in California all my life, and have only visited the east for conferences, and visited the midwest one time for a funeral. As a child, it would have seemed to me to be the most exotic and amazing thing in the world to hear about what it's like for someone who lives in a place where it snows all the time, and where there are no flowers growing outside in the winter. I would have loved a Flat Stanley to show me the way other people live, and the places I might someday see in person.

Marian"

...and that is exactly what I love about this project!

We also received an email from Flat Stanley who is visiting Chris in Nova Scotia, Canada. He wrote:

"Hello from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I arrived a couple of days ago, and have been resting, but I understand that Chris and Alastair (my hosts here) are taking me on an excursion this weekend. I will get back to you after I have been out and about.
Stanley"


And lastly, Alexa and I decided to make a Flat Stanley of our own! We thought it would be fun to decorate one and show him around our hometown and pose him for pictures and all the fun things you guys are doing. Plus since we are having so much fun seeing what you all are doing with Stanley and seeing your location, we thought maybe some of you would enjoy seeing what WE are doing with Stanley and seeing some of our location.

We decided to paste our Stanley to a cardboard backing to make him more sturdy. We then cut his clothing out of pieces of felt, which Alexa selected, and glued it to him. We used fabric paint to write on his tee-shirt. It says "Home's Cool!" This is a play on "Home School" as Alexa is homeschooled, but it's also a fun way of showing that this is OUR "home town" Stanley. We used googly eyes (Alexa's idea) and at the craft store we found a bag of "hair" for doll making and we went with it to make Stanley look more realistic (also Alexa's idea)!

Here are the pictures we took of Stanley just lounging around the house last night.









We are about to head out to the Strasburg Railroad with Alexa and her 3 1/2 year old brother, Ben, for "A Day Out With Thomas". We will take Stanley with us and will post pictures of his visit later. Hopefully this rain stops! Stanley doesn't like the rain. And the rest of us are sick of it! :)