12. Flat Stanley Returns From England, and Sees The Desert!

We received another Flat Stanley back home- from Chester, England! His hostess, Sylvia, wrote the following:

"Dear Alexa,

Your FLAT STANLEY came all the way to Chester, England.

The distance between your town, Port Carbon, PA and my location, Chester, is approximately 3399.29 miles.

If FLAT STANLEY should come back to visit, he should wear layers with a lightweight raincoat because the climate here is unpredictable."

Sylvia attached a sheet telling us more about her location and the exciting things Flat Stanley saw and did during his visit. It said:

"Chester is a city in the North-West of England on the border of Wales. Stanley could see the Welsh mountains from the city. It still has walls all around it.

The Romans came in around 75 AD and built a fort which they called Deva, but it is likely that there was a settlement there before they came.

Stanley has a map showing the modern and Roman names of some English towns and cities.

There are still several Roman remains in the city, including the remains of an amphitheatre where they might have had fights between gladiators or even fights with wild animals. Stanley went on a tour of the walls with a Roman soldier and the soldier kindly let him put on some of his uniform. Do you think it suits him?

Of course, such an old city has a lot of history, but one particularly exciting time was the Civil War when King Charles fought against Parliament in the seventeenth century. Chester supported the King and at one point the Parliamentarians besieged the city. Finally the King took refuge in the city and there is a story that he stood in one of the towers and saw his army defeated.

Stanley is going to read up about it when he goes home. He had a look at this website on our computer:

http://www.historyonthenet.com/Civil_War/civilwarmain.htm

Chester is one of those places where there are lots of ghosts.

One is a Roman soldier who marches up and down, possibly because nobody has relieved him from his sentry duty. The poor man has been marching up and down for all those hundreds of years.

There is also a monk who tries to stop people near St. John's church and warn them about something. Stanley was glad not to have met him.

One thing that makes Chester different from anywhere else in Britain is the Rows. You will be able to see them in a postcard that Stanley is bringing with him. They are a set of galleries on two levels with shops on each level. Nobody really knows how they came about, but they mean that it is possible to do your shopping in the dry when it is raining."

Flat Stanley came home dressed like a Roman soldier. He looks really cool! Here is a picture of him:



Flat Stanley brought home a little roman soldier paper doll with paper clothes, a map, a bunch of nice postcards, and a glossy city guide with lots of nice pictures and lots of information about Chester. Alexa and I enjoyed looking through it and very much appreciate receiving these kinds of things!



I also got an email yesterday from my brother, Jordan, who is in the Army National Guard and deployed in Egypt until the end of September. He wrote:

"Hi Nance-

Here are some attached pics of Flat Stanley.

We flew out to Tiran Island the other day on a helicopter. We have a small outpost on it. For obvious reasons I can't attach pictures of the OP, but I did get a couple with Egypt and Saudi backgrounds.

Tiran Island is in the Gulf of Aquaba, it is in the strait of Tiran, with Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the back ground.

I'll have FS mailed back shortly- give him 2 weeks or so to make it home.

TTYL,

Jordan"

Here are the pictures that Jordan sent:







Alexa and I really enjoyed seeing them. When we went back to yesterday's entry and looked at one of the scenic backgrounds we posted of our area, with all the trees and mountains, and then looked at the pictures her uncle sent us of nothing but sand and dirt, Alexa was amazed by the stark contrast!


We got this email today from Flat Stanley who is visiting his new friend Camilla in Ireland:

"Hello from Ireland,

Just letting you know that I've arrived safe and well to Camilla's family in Co. Wicklow.

I'm here with Riona who's 5, Conor who is 2, and their parents.

They have spent today sorting out my outfit - I'm sure you will be amused when you see me :)

We have lots of things planned - there is a family BBQ tomorrow for Father's Day so I'm sure I will get to meet some of the family.

Hope all is well there and that you are not missing me too much. Please give my love to Alexa and everyone.

Bye for now,
Flat Stanley"

Enjoy the barbecue, Stanley! Have fun with the kids and tell them we said hi! We are very much looking forward to seeing your outfit :)


We also received a post card today from one of my sister's friends, GraceAnne, who is hosting a Flat Stanley New York (in the Bronx). It said:

"Hi Alexa, even though Flat Stanley did not come here, I wanted you to see the original Winnie the Pooh here at the library in NYC."

The post card was a really nice photo of a teddy bear and the blurb on the postcard says: "Winnie-The-Pooh: the original toy bear that inspired the A.A. Milne classics. Given to Christopher Robin Milne on his first birthday in 1921; donated to the Library in 1987. The Central Children's Room, The New York Public Library."



Pretty cool!


Lastly, we took Flat Stanley to a place called Owen's Farm today for a field trip/tour with our homeschool meetup group. It was wet and muddy and raining on and off but we had fun. We traipsed through fields of mud and fields of tall grasses and across little streams and through puddles and up hills and down hills. We got wet and dirty and actually had a thoroughly nice time!

We experimented with playing with wool and even twisted some dyed wool into bracelets we got to keep.

We saw sheep and lambs, pigs and piglets, horses and cows and different kinds of chickens. We picked wildflowers, learned about the electric fences and training the animals to stay within them, and even saw a sheepdog demonstration thanks to their sheepdog, Gail.

It was followed up by a nice picnic lunch.

I brought Stanley along. I brought my camera long. And unfortunately I got there and found that my camera was unusable; it kept giving me some message I didn't understand about the memory card.

Fortunately, a friend of mine, Heather, did take some pictures for me, both of my children and of Flat Stanley. Here are the pics she took with Flat Stanley. One is of Alexa making a bracelet out of twisted wool. One is of Stanley on the table with a bunch of wool the kids were exploring. One is of Flat Stanley in front of the piglet pen. And there are a couple of other ones of just animals that Flat Stanley (and the rest of us) saw while we were there:













(Notice Gail, the sheepdog, doing her job in that last pic)!


Lastly for today, we received tons of great Flat Stanley pictures via email from Judith! She is Flat Stanley's host in Pompano Beach, Florida- but she just took him on vacation with her to NYC! Here are the pictures she sent!

"Hi there!! I just wrote a long letter but lost it when I tried to add pictures, So I am going to send the pictures first, then separartely send a letter.......................Here goes........I hope!!! Judith and Family (includes Flat Stanley)

1. While stopping in Georgia, We sat on a torpedo!!! There was a Naval Base near by.
2. Times Square
3. Smaller version of the Statue Of Liberty, on the street
4. The Empire State Building
5. The real Statue of Liberty"



















"Here are more pictures!!
1. The site of the Twin Towers, and the memorial made there............
2. The American Museum of Natural History ( Flat Stanley's Favorite)"























"1. Chinatown
2. A few pics of the Museum of Natural History;

Let me know if they came out OK. If not, I can snail mail them to you! I also have some info and postcards to send you via snail mail!!! You're gonna love it!!!! Will mail them on Monday. Flat Stanley had a grand time with us on our trip!! Thank You for including us, in your learning/traveling Adventure!!!! Also, if I sent to many in one letter, I can send 2 or 3 at a time instead. Let me know! Take care, Judith and family PS: Flat Stanley misses Alexa and wants to be inside the envelope when it is sent................"









Wow we LOVE seeing all those pictures!! It looks like you had such a great time! Thanks for bringing Flat Stanley, and thanks for sending us all the great photos! I don't know why this site tends to cut some of them off sometimes but I think most of them are showing up fine.

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! :)

9. Flat Stanley Goes To A Ball Game And Hits The Beach!

Invitations seem to have come to a stop. But there are 66 Flat Stanleys out there (well, 64 now that two have come home), and that was more than I ever thought we would get to send! Here is the current listing of where all the Flat Stanleys have gone:

Alaska (on an Alaskan cruise with his Ventura, CA host in July!)
Arkansas X2 (Texarkana and Fayetteville)
California X2 (Ventura and Los Angeles)
Connecticut (Groton)
Florida X3 (West Palm Beach, Pompano Beach and Orange Park)
Georgia X2 (Atlanta and Grovetown)
Illinois (Zion)
Indiana X2 (Muncie and Anderson)
Kansas X2 (Topeka and Overland Park)
Kentucky (Annville)
Maine (Cherryfield)
Maryland X2 (Indian Head and Cockeysville)
Massachusetts (Fall River)
Nebraska (Omaha)
New Jersey X3 (two in Summit, one in Morris Plains)
New York X4 (Rome, Ridge, Honeoye Falls, the Bronx)
North Carolina (Huntersville)
North Dakota (Grand Forks)
Ohio X2 (Dayton and Cuyahoga Falls)
Pennsylvania X2 (Lackawaxen and Kunkletown)
Texas X3 (San Antonio, Muleshoe, and Burkburnett)
Vermont X2 (both in Shaftsbury)
Virginia X3 (Alexandria, Ashburn and Montclair)
Washington (Wenatchee)
Washington, D.C. (Will be going with his host from Ashburn, VA!)
Wisconsin (Marshall)


Outside of the United States, we now have Stanleys in:

Australia X5 (one in Queensland, three in New South Wales and one in Morphett Vale)
Canada X5 (two in British Columbia, one each in Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Alberta)
Egypt
England X5 (West Midlands, Chester, London (East End), London (West End) and Essex)
Hong Kong
Ireland (Wicklow)
Kyrgyzstan
New Zealand
Poland
United Arab Emirates

For a link to a map where you can view all the places Stanley has been, scroll down to the bottom of my first entry in this blog.



Of course, people are probably more interested in... PICTURES! We received a couple of email updates complete with photos yesterday.

One was from Texarkana, Arkansas where Stanley is staying with his host, Kim, and her family. Stanley wrote:

"Dear Alexa,

I am having such a great time with Kim's family here in Arkansas. This last weekend we traveled to Ft. Worth, Texas to a family reunion. Guess what else? We got to go to a Texas Rangers baseball game! They were playing the L.A. Dodgers and the Rangers won 6 to 0! Kim was excited, but the rest of the family were disappointed because they are from California. Oh well, I'll tell you a secret. I was excited the Rangers won too!

We stayed at a very nice hotel and I was even able to go down to the pool with Nate and his dad. Nate sure does like the water. I didn't get near it though, as you know, I can't swim.

Anyway, I'm having such a good time, I hope you don't mind if I stay a bit longer. Kim and Nate want to show me around Arkansas a bit. It's really hot down here, almost 100 degrees, but I'm having a lot of fun. And don't worry, I'm wearing plenty of sunblock.

See you soon Alexa! Miss you!

Stanley :-)

PS - Hope you like the pictures. Let me know if you get them!"


Kim sent lots of great pictures! Here they are:
















We love the pictures! And we do not mind at all if you stay a while longer to see more of Arkansas, Stanley. It looks like you had a blast on your vacation in Texas!



We also received another email update and picture yesterday from Marian, who Flat Stanley is staying with in Ventura, California! She wrote:

"Hi, Alexa! Here is Stanley at the San Buenaventura State Beach, standing on a boogie board. You can see just a bit of the board, and just a slice of the ocean behind him. He will go to the beach again in a day or two and we'll get better pictures. But as you can see, Stanley had a good time jumping in the waves.

Marian"




Lucky Stanley! We hope you bring back some of that beautiful weather, by the way. It hasn't felt much like summer here in Pennsylvania these days!


I'm posting this verrrrrrry early in the morning on Wednesday by the way, so if I get further updates today I'll come edit them in later. So check back! How many people are following this blog on a regular basis, anyway? Drop us a comment and let us know you're there and what you think of the blog :)

8. Flat Stanley Learns a Foreign Language and Visits The Great Swamp!

We received the following email yesterday from Stanley in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he is visiting his new friend Jackie. It said:

Hello Alexa,

It's Flat Stanley here! Just wanted to let you know that I arrived in Grand Forks, North Dakota over the weekend and was amazed to find that it's not the frigid wasteland I thought it might be. It was a sweltering 85 degrees when I got here and the humidity was practically unbearable! The weather here has been nice so far, but I can tell it's going to be another hot one today.

I am living with a lady named Jackie and her boyfriend during my visit. Jackie has told me that I may even get to see Minnesota and be taken along with her on her road trip to Colorado! I'm pretty excited since I have never seen those places, but you may not see me until the end of July if I get to go with. Jackie has been trying to teach me a lot about herself already. I have learned that Jackie is a college student majoring in English Education and can speak some Norwegian (she taught me already that "Hvordan gar det?" means "How's it going"!). Yesterday for supper we had some hamburger concoction called hotdish? I've never heard of it, but Jackie tells me it's the same thing as a casserole. It must be one of those Scandinavian things, although I'm not sure what that means.

I have seen a little bit of the town, but nothing major so far. The most exciting thing I've seen so far is when Jackie took me to Widman's candy store yesterday. We tried out their world famous chocolate covered potato chips! They were delicious.
I promise to send pictures next time, but Jackie is still deciding how to dress me.

See you soon!

Love,
Flat Stanley"


We also received an email from England yesterday which said:

"I have enjoyed my visit to Chester and am now on my way home.
I hope that you like the bits and pieces that I am bringing with me.

Flat Stanley"

We are glad you enjoyed your visit, Stanley, and we are looking forward to seeing what you are bringing back with you!


Flat Stanley received another invitation to go visiting, so this morning we sent him off to the UK, to Essex! That was the 66th Stanley who went out visiting :)


We received another Flat Stanley home yesterday from my Aunt Gloria in New Jersey!

She wrote:

"Dear Alexa,

Your FLAT STANLEY came all the way to Summit, New Jersey.

While he was here, these are some of the exciting things he saw and did:

We went to the Great Swamp, a wildlife preserve, not too far from Summit. We were lucky because yesterday was one of only a few days without rain! We saw all kinds of birds, fish and flowers. Stanley was smart. He wore sneakers! I should have too!

After our visit, we treated ourselves to hot fudge sundaes from Magic Fountain!

The distance between your town, Port Carbon, PA 17965, and my location, Summit, New Jersey, is approximately 100 miles.

If FLAT STANLEY should come back to visit, he should wear summer clothes and swim fins (if it keeps on raining!!) because the climate here is a little warmer than where you live.

Some other interesting facts about my location include:

Many battles of the Revolutionary War were fought within a few mile radius of my house.

P.S. Here is a description (if applicable) of the enclosed photo/s, postcard/s or souvenir/s:

I am enclosing a brochure that describes all the things you can see when we visit The Great Swamp!

Aunt Gloria"


This Stanley came back with clippings of all different birds and information about the Great Swamp. It was fun to read about!

We also received a postcard in the mail yesterday from Flat Stanley in Maine! It read:

"Dear Alexa,
Hello from Maine. I haven't been able to do much here yet because the weather has been so bad. My host family hopes to take me to see a real lobster boat and maybe even Acadia National Park.
Stanley"

The weather has been yucky here, too, Stanley! Alexa had a swimming lesson this morning and I was cold just sitting there on the bench watching, the poor kids must have been freezing in the water! We hope that you make it to that lobster boat and National Park, it sounds fun! :)

UPDATE:

Since posting this, we received another Flat Stanley email (with a picture!), this one from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where he is staying with his host, Tim. It said:

"Alexa,

Flat Stanley arrived safely in Calgary last Friday. He has been spending the last few days relaxing while we get ready to attend a wedding in Salmon Arm BC. We will be taking him with us, so he will be getting a great look at the mountains. A week or so after we get back I will be taking him to the Calgary Stampede. He is so excited by this that he already has his cowboy duds on.

Watch for pictures over the next weeks.
Stanley"

And here is what Stanley looks like with his "cowboy duds".... :)



Another Update:

The following email just came in from Burkburnett, Texas where Stanley is visiting his host mom Tammy:

"I have arrived in Burkburnett Texas safely and it is 101 degrees...HOT!!!! About to put on some flip flops and swim trunks and go hang out at the pool :-)

When do you want me to return home?"


This was followed up with another email, with pics:

"WOW It is HOT HERE!!!!! I got to spend the afternoon getting clothes made for me and floating around on a raft in the middle of a pool :-)



I ran around in the garden as well but it was getting hotter-thinking I may spend most of the time in the pool while here :-)



There are four dogs and a cat here, I only got to hang out with Zoe so far- she is cute and just a puppy :)



I have two choices for this evening- go with Tammy to a Weight Watchers meeting or hang out with Chris who I have not got to meet yet. Tammy says if I hang out here I have to get Chris to find a Mets game on TV so I can wear the Yankees Tshirt she made me- something tells me she is trying to get me into trouble my first day here!"


Stanley, we love the clothes! The pool raft looks so relaxing and we're jealous of the sun and warmth; it is so cold here today for June!

Alexa says that you should hang out with Chris tonight so that you can get to know him, too! :)

And Elizabeth in Connecticut left me a message today, too! (She is the one whose little boy, Maxwell, is in the picture with Stanley from yesterday's entry). It said:

"Stanley and the boys have had a big day today. We went to the park, Stanley LOVES the slides fyi! At least Maxwell made sure he did. I took quite a few pics of the boys and him at the park, and a few of Stanley going down the slide with Maxwell's help by himself! Max said "wee" for him!

And...in about an hour we are taking Maxwell and Stanley to their first movie! Ill take pics and try to get them all uploaded today.

Oh and MIL laminated Stanley and he is much more durable, which is good because Gavin got his hands on him and was giving Stanley kisses on his hands...well, we'll call it kisses, lol."

LOL I'm glad Maxwell and Stanley had fun at the park, and I hope that they enjoy the movie! I can't wait to hear about what movie they saw and to see more pictures!