We woke up at around 8:00 in the morning already knowing we wouldn’t be making it to church. After about half an hour of getting ready we started the drive home. It was kind of bittersweet to think about it. On the one hand it would be good to be home and to start our lives again. On the other hand the trip of a lifetime, the most amazing experience I would ever have was over. The places I’d been, the sights I’d seen, the people I had met. It was going to be over. It would become a memory and it would no longer be a reality. But all the same, I would be home. I would get to see friends and family, and I would maybe be able to start swimming again. So I enjoyed thinking about being home, but thinking ending the trip was a little harder. It had been an amazing trip, and I would never forget ti but it was for those reasons that I found it hard to think about when it would end. The drive to the border took a little over two hours and during the drive my excitement was building up. It was a very beautiful drive but I hardly noticed any of it. I kept looking for signs that mentioned anything that was familiar to me. We saw signs for Vancouver quite a few times, but when I saw a sign that sayed Peace arch I knew we were very close. Soon after we took an exit and drove through an area that I recognized from our other trips into Washington. I now knew that about a mile directly to our left was home. Now my stomach was quivering with excitement. We turned left and in the distance I saw our hill. The hill that led straight up from our house. We also saw the border crossing pretty much right in front of us. I could barely contain my excitement! We got to the border, we gave the guy our passports, told him where we’d been and then we were in Canada! And of course only a quarter of a mile up 176th st. and we were home!! The first thing we saw was the welcome home sign on the entry-way door. Then we saw the christmas light on, and of course we saw the whole house from the blue garbage can out front to the swing in the backyard. It might’ve been freezing cold, but it was good to be home.

Another early morning for Mr. Mouse. But of course he would need the extra time if he was going to get all his jobs done perfectly. If only he knew what time it was! However it’s kind of hard to tell the time when your watch is in the hands of hyperactive monkeys that are one 120 times bigger than you.

His jobs were easy (thankgoodness for that) but it was the getting to them that was the hard part. He had 3 main jobs (and no minor jobs). The first and foremost was feeding his family. This was the most fun.

Second on the list was an odd one. He had to be the gorilla’s conscinece for a couple of hours. This one was important because he decided ot take the day off once and the gorilla had a fit. Then after the fit he wouldn’t eat, and he refused to sleep. So Mr. Mouse ended up going out in the middle of the night to be his conscience. He learned his lesson that time.

His third job, though it was still important, he did mostly out of compassion rather than because he had to. This job was to keep the oldest elephant company, and scratch his head. The same day he didn’t do his job with the gorilla, he also didn’t do his third job and the poor elephant got sick and his head became so itchy it swelled up.

Besides his job, he knew only a couple of animals. The monkeys, these were the animals that gave him the hardest time, hence the loss of his watch. Then there was the polar bear. Because he lived so close to the elephants, Mr. Mouse began to get to know him as he made his way past every day.

His nest was in the lion’s cage, which was dangerous, but it was the most natural habitat for him and the lions didn’t know about it. However, today he would have to be extra careful because the male lion was sleeping two feet from the nest.

As Mr. Mouse tiptoed past the lion, he thought of how he was going to keep- the gorilla happy. There were usually only three things on his mind. Food, drink, and weird creatures that walked by staring at him. So Mr. Mouse’s job was to keep his mind on the weird creatures walking by until food came.

He safely made his way through the lion’s cage and out onto the sidewalk where all the weird creatures walked. The creatures wouldn’t come out until an hour from now so Mr. Mouse had safe passage to the gorilla. He passed a couple of birds and a weird rock-jumping animal. He was coming close to the escalator when he passed the sleeping wallabies. He hopped onto the escalator and rose quickly up to the monkey trail. Here he would have to be careful, because the monkeys still knew who he was. He passed an aviary and started out on the monkey trail. The first monkey cage was empty, and the next one the monkeys were fast asleep. The one after that, the one he had to go through, had lively and playing monkeys jumping around.

He crept through the bars and passed through a little bit of underbrush. Then he found himself on the edge of a large clearing right under the largest monkey. He would have to make a break for it. One, two, three! He sprinted (scurried) as fast as he could, but the monkey still caught sight of him. All three monkeys were chasing him now, swinging through the trees as he tried desperately to get to the other side of the cage. Just a little more. And just as one of the monkeys tried to jump him, he made it. Thank goodness.

Because he had run through the monkey cage, he was early for the gorilla and the gorilla was still asleep. So Mr. Mouse just sat and waited, watching the weird creatures slowly trickle in.

Once the gorilla showed signs of waking, Mr. Mouse quietly got up and climbed onto the gorilla’s left shoulder (his right ear was deaf). Obviously the first thing the gorilla said was, “Food?” But Mr. Mouse quietly and soothingly said,

“Food does not exist right now.” And the gorilla said,

“Conscience?” So Mr. Mouse said,

“Yes, your conscience is here like always. Here to lead you, to guide you, to where you want to go.”

“Where do I want to go?”Mr. Mouse almost said,

“I don’t know. Its not like I’m in your brain.” But then realized that technically speaking, he’s actaully a part of the gorilla’s brain. So instead he said,

“You want to go where your conscience will lead you.”

“Oh. So where does my conscience want to lead me?” Mr. Mouse had to think about that one.

“It doesn’t matter right now. What matters is how you feel.”

“I’m hungry.”

“Thats not possible. Hunger only exists when food exists, and food does not exist right now, so hunger cannot exist.”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

“I’m thirsty.” the gorilla says. And so the conversation between the gorilla and Mr. Mouse just went on an on like that until finally food came and Mr. Mouse said,

“Your consciensce must go now. Goodbye.” But the gorilla didn’t hear him.

Next stop Mr. Mouse would have to find food for his family. Every day after the Gorilla, he would stop in the employees lunch room for the Janitor’s cheese which he had in his lunch every day. Thankfully the janitor had a low IQ which gave Mr. Mouse the advantage of being able to steal cheese without the Janitor realizing it was being stolen.

Like all his other jobs, getting to them was the hardest job. Sneaking all around made him feel like a detective. First animal he passed, the Zebra’s. Beautiful creatures but kind of boring to look at. Next animal with lots of the wierd creatures crowding around was the hippo. Big feller, but bad manners. And the only view you get is usually his backside. But they’re interesting animals and you could watch them all day. Then there were all sorts of deer.Some of them had wierd names, like the tiny little one called a dik dik. Kinda makes you wonder how he could’ve gotten a name like that.

After passing the quiet, pacing hyenas Mr. Mouse finally reached his second destination. He slipped through the door, scurried across the linoleum and climbed up onto the table where the Janitor’s lunch box sat waiting for him. He opened the latches, climbed in and… no cheese. How could that be?

He climbed out of the lunch box and looked around. There it was! Behind the lunch box with the container’s lid propped open. That must mean must mean the Janitor already started his lunch. Mr. Mouse had to hurry! He quickly grabbed enough pieces for everyone and made his way back down to the floor.

But just as he reached it he heard the sound of rushing water, a door closing and the heavy footsteps of the Janitor. He hurriedly hid behind the nearest garbage can, being careful not to drop any cheese. The Janitor sat down grabbed his crackers, and then saw the cheese.

“Oh no, Gracie forgot to pack me extra cheese.”

‘funny how that seems to happen everyday.’ Mr. Mouse thought. While the Janitor focused on his lunch, Mr. Mouse focused on getting out of the lunch room. once again he crossed the linoleum to the exit where he got back out into the main zoo.

His last job, the elephant. The elephant was really close to the lions, so he could deliver the cheese before his last job. On his way there he passed the reptile house. Ugh! Those green slithery things were creepy. But that was probably because he knew that each and every one of them saw him as a delicious meal. He came up to his friend the polar bear but decided against talking to him when he saw the shredded bone in his teath and blood on his fur.

He ran across the walkway just as one of the big honking tour buses came through. Those things were very loud, but the wierd creatures seemed to be having a good time. He just kept moving until he passed some wierd looking vulture-like birds, and after that he got to the lions where he dropped off his families dinner and enjoyed his own meal. His last job with the elephant would go on until the old guy decided to go to sleep. This could mean he would be home early or late. Recently the elephant had been sending him home quite late and Mr. Mouse hoped he could be home early today.

When finished with supper he said goodnight to his kids and found his way to the elephant. However when he got there he found the elephant on his side fast asleep! Thankgoodness! He quickly ran back home and went to bed. But as he reached up to take off his tie he discovered that it was missing! It must of come off in the monkey cage. Oh no! The monkeys had his tie and his watch now!

THE END

Animal Kingdom is one of the four main parks of Disney World.  In my opinion, it is the best of the four and by far exceeded my expectations of it.  Animal Kingdom is what it sounds like.  It’s main focus is animals, both living, and Disney characters.  It is a mixture of an up close zoo and amusement park.  There are rollercoasters, boat rides, safari tours, walking tours with interesting animals, and even restaurants.  Everything you see or do is in some way connected to animals.  There was a section dedicated to dinosaurs, a roller coaster with an Everest & Yeti theme and a river rapids ride through a jungle.  They also put in some stuff about Disney too.  For instance, the Lion King festival, and the Finding Nemo musical.  Everywhere you went it was animals, animals, animals, hence the title, “Animal Kingdom”.The day our family spent there was our last day in Disneyworld.  We of course started with all the fast and cool rides and then joined back up with Mama to see the animals on the safari tour.  We saw all the african animals you can think of.  Lions, elephants, rhinos, weird zebras, giraffes and so many others.  Then we did the walking tour adn saw fish, turtles, crocodiles, hippos, lizards, snakes, large spiders and my favourite, gorillas.  We were not to be dissappointed!  But after having seen those great animals we finished the day with the Everest roller coaster without Mama and Sarah.  I was certainly happy with how our Disney experience ended.

We pulled out of the campground, drove 20 kilometers and,and,and… We were in Washington DC!!! We were in the capital of arguably the most influencial nation in the world! I could’ve done a little dance, maybe even added in some singing. But that would’ve been irritating so I just kept quiet. We were also in the home city of the most important person in the USA. But he isn’t quite as exciting as the actual city. Pretty much the first thing we did was we spent the afternoon in the national air and space museum, which we had all looked forward to . The very first thing we saw when we stepped through the entrance was… andother door. But after that we came upon… a security station. But then, once we were through the security, it was what we had all been waiting for, the welcoming center. And finally, after the welcoming center, the airplanes, rockets, space shuttles, sattelites, moon rocks, and everything else was before us, and soon we would be reading, seeing, touching, experiencing, and learning about one of the most interesting and high tech subjects out there. I couldn’t wait to get started! First we moved through the lobby looking at the aircrafts and rockets. The things we saw like the X-15 which is the fastest aircraft ever flown, or the “basket” of the hot air balloon that circumnavigated the globe. they were all the real thing! They weren’t just pictures, or miniturized fakes, they were actually the aircrafts that were flown. We then moved on to a section about the airplanes today. This place showed you all the models and their info. and showed charts with all the air plane trips across america per hour. This was cool because at 1:00-4:00 about 5800 flights happened across just america, and it’s a wonder that they don’t all crash into each other. Probably about 1500 of those flights were to New York! We also got to go inside an airplane right by the cockpit. That wasn’t quite as interesting, but it was still fun. The next stop was a 3d movie about the international space station, and a few of the crews that worked on it. It was the most amazing movie I’ve ever seen. You almost felt like you were actually in the space station with the crews, you just didn’t experience the zero gravity with them. I seriously wanted the movie to go on forever and ever, but as we all know, what goes up must come down, and thats exactly how the movie ended. However there was still more to be seen in the museum. First we hurried off to see if we could still look through the public telescope. But when we got there they were already closing it down and all you could see were clouds. So we went back inside feeling a little disappointed, and began to go through the “Universal Studios”, which was the room dedicated to telescopes and stars, and galaxies, and nebulaes, and, and, and. In this room I reviewed one of the subjects from school on mirrors, light, and lenses. I also learned more about the big bang and I’m now drawn to say that it’s a possibility that God created the world using a big bang. But it is only just that, a possibility. Seeing all the different information plaques, and pictures, and movies, and models, and display cases almost gave me a headache, but I came out allright, and still knew a bit more than when I went in. Just like before when we went through the airplane, we got to go through a part of a model of the space station. It was really cramped and there were lots of wierd gadgets and gizmos, like the bath that looked like a garbage bag. After this experience we did one more room which was basically all about space exploration through the ages. It was cool to see how many times each astronaut served. But then our time at this amazing museum was up. And because you cannot park on the street after 4:00 and dogs aren’t allowed in the car in the underground parking lots, we ended up leaving Washington DC alltogether. Other than the museum we did see the Washington monument, the department of treasury, a distorted glimpse of the white house, and most importantly the Canadian embassy. Overall a pretty good day.

From the short busy streets

To the long empty highways,

From the small skinny trees

To the tall thick trees,

From the tiny paved hills

To the magnificent Rocky mountains,

From the gross murky ponds

To the beautiful clear lakes,

From the little rough backyard lawns

To the vast manicured prarie fields,

From my little house in a little city

To a tiny trailer in a big world.

by Sam