That was fun. I liked the feel of the new bike. Those bikes could go super-duper fast. We just rented the bike; but it didn’t cost any money. I overheard that from Dad.

Did you make any friends? Yes, I made a friend at the start. He was an older boy. He was very good. I met a small guy. He was five. I met him at Mom’s triathlon. His name was Ike. Ike raced too. The announcer called him “Speedy Speedy Diesel”. Diesel is a type of gas. I like Ike. He’s one of my good buddies when I’m BMX racing.

Are you going to do it again? YES!! ‘Cause an older biker said, “You should come back another time Little Dude.” That’s what he called me.

What happens at start of the book? They go to an island with Vikings in the magic tree house. And what happens? They find a pathway and Annie slips. She was OK. Then someone named Brother Patrick put a rope down. Brother Patrick climbed down and Jack and Annie climbed up.

Have you met any other characters? Not yet. Once they get to the top, Brother Patrick explained that he was trying to climb down. Jack and Annie made friends with Brother Patrick. He showed Jack and Annie the monks’ monastery. He saved the best place for last. There’s a big place where lots of monks play chess and marbles.

Make a prediction. I think that the Vikings are going to get them. But who knows? The sea serpent might get them too. It’s a big terrifying beast that rules the land and the water.

What was your favorite part? When the sea serpent, Sarph, helps them get back to shore.

What was the scariest part?  When the Vikings came. Two of the Vikings saw them get out of the ship. The Vikings started running toward Jack and Annie; but Jack said the magic words just in time.

How is Jack different from Annie? Jack is boy; Annie is a girl. What’s another difference… in how they act? Annie is brave; Jack is not, he’s scared. Jack is 8; Annie is 7.

I like that Ken sang the song “4 Wheeler Cowboy”. At the start of the video all the four-wheelers are there. Ken’s the one wearing my funny blue hat in the previous blog.
http://pblj.net/peter/2007/09/27/working-cows/

When we were working the cows (I know it’s not in the slideshow), we round up the cows to get them in the corral. The corral got crowded! Stewart was in the back swinging the gate open and closed. He does a pretty good job. Stewart was very good at four-wheelers. He did a fishtail right in front of us. He stood up on the four-wheeler while we were rounding them up. He went super fast. Lil told me he was really good at riding horses too. Stewart has 50 of his own cows. After we rounded them up, we split them into cows and calves. That’s when Stewart was swinging the gate. Guess how old Stewart is. He’s 18. He does a very good job with that high speeded four-wheeler.

In the squeeze shoot, Don was sticking his arm up the cows’ butts. (Why?) He was testing to see if they had a baby.

Alan got messed up on the shots. He put the calves shots in the cows. Alan made Phil go in the truck to get some more cow shots. Thank goodness!

How do you move cows around? We would go on four wheelers. When we got them all rounded up, Stewart and me and Daddy, went out into hay field cause some cows got out. That’s when Stewart did the fishtail.

What happens if a cow is not pregnant? Then they would paint a white circle on their back and nose. What will happen to those cows? Those cows will be shipped.

This is book 14 in the Magic Tree House Series

Peter’s Predictions
1. There is going to be a bamboo book.
2. They’re going to ancient China. I think they might run into a Dragon King. It’s on the cover. What’s on the cover, you always read about.
3. (page 10) I think the kind man will not tell them about the Imperial Library because the Dragon King lives there.
4. (page 20) I think they’re running away because someone saw them and they might be put to death.

What was your favorite part?

My favorite part was when the ball of silk thread saved them from the tombs.

What was the scariest part?

That was when they shot arrows at Jack and Annie?

What was the funniest part?

The silk thread was such a big secret. (Why is that funny?) Because silk thread is just thread. It shouldn’t be a secret.

Hey Dad, do you know the Ipodman picture? On the Ipodman, the things that are sticking out, those are the arms and legs.

On the Meow Meow video, there’s a song. With the kitten, that’s what it should be with. Cause it says, “I am just a kitten. I hardly fit my mittens.”

Is it OK that there are cats in the video too?

Yeah. But it’s supposed to be kittens.

Do you have a favorite cat?

Yes, it is a black, striped one. I don’t know it’s name though. There’s a cat named Bobby. When you stand right next to his cage, he taps you on the shoulder, because he wants attention.

I took some kittens into the bathroom to play. In the bathroom there was a cage with a brand new baby kitten. It was one like Vegas. (Who’s Vegas?) Vegas is Antonio’s cat. (Who’s Antonio?) Antonio is my neighbor. He made up a spy team. He is my friend.

We saw dogs too.

I don’t want dogs in the video. (Why?) Because they make a LOT of noise. They’re like ARF ARF ARF ARRRFFFF!

What did we do with the dogs?

We walked the dogs. There was one named Abigail. She was just too scared. She pulled me back to the door. We walked one named Freckles. He was super wiggly. He just wiggled, wiggles, wiggled, wiggled. He wiggled his butt. I thought that was funny. He jumped up on me. I didn’t like when he jumped on top of me. I felt bad; and it scared me. He was hard to hold on to. He pulled super bad.

What did you do in the MOSS camp?

Mostly, we had a walk down to a stream. That stream wasn’t deep; but had to put waders on. Our socks got wet. We went under the drain pipe. I saw a fish that was about 4 inches long. We were trying to catch macroinvertebrates.

What are macroinvertebrates?

Macroinvertebrates are insects that live under water. Pretty neat, huh? There was one called the Caddis Fly, the Stone Fly. I don’t remember any more.

Did you make anything?

I made something and it was called a Caddis Fly. I got a little chunk of black clay. I made into a shape of a Caddis Fly. Then I went outside, I picked up pebbles, and I stuck them in the Caddis Fly. Then it had to be baked. I had to pick out a pom-pom for its head.

Did you play a game?

I played a game. Dad was there too. He played some too. Dad and I had to hop in sacks cause we were Caddis nymphs. That was hard. I fell down and Angie caught me. Angie was the polution (she was also the teacher). She killed insects when she caught them.

How did you get the name Flying Banana?

My Dad’s friend, his name’s Jeff, made up the Flying Banana. It came from Shaun White. His nickname is the Flying Tomato. The reason he’s the flying tomato, is that he has red hair. I have blond hair, so I’m the flying banana. I’m not as cool as the flying tomato.

When we first got there, I said, “This is awesome.” Then I biked around. I noticed there was a trail up through. It led down into the jumps. Those jumps were pretty big. I liked the jumps a lot. There’s a big hill that you can fly down. There’s this bowl. There’s this other jump you can go off, except that one’s too big for me.

We are planning to go see the racers go through. I’m pretty excited.

Do you think you can race on the track?

I can race my dad and Leslie and Mom. I don’t know if it’s high schoolers and teen agers in the races. I did race my Dad. It went good. Actually, you know what, I won.