A Trip Back Home

In November, my family and I went to California to see Amma. We had a lot of fun. I only got two hugs because I got sick with a cold on Thanksgiving and there were so many new people that we only got one hug. But when I got better and Amma had to leave, we had one free day and we went to Lafayette. We ate at an Indian place and then went to a little store. We had so much fun and I took a lot of pictures of autumn because we don’t have seasons except summer.

California Sky

Yellow Leaves

Red

Autumn Beauty

Raingirl

Yesterday was fun. It was raining and that is rare where we live. Now that Annabel and I are home schooling, we have fun things like photo shoots in the rain. Annabel did it first while I read 100 pages of Ender’s Game. Anyway, when I finished that, I went outside with the umbrella and mom and I had some fun.

SPLASH!

My umbrella and me.

Raingirl

Dumb and Dumber

I have done some pretty stupid things in my day. Here are a few examples:

Almost breaking my neck on the trampoline,

Getting busted on camera when I was just about to pour water on my sister's head,

But these are not as dumb as... well, here's my story. Our babysitter Rebecca was over. I was bored and when I get bored, I suggest that you don't listen to my ideas. But, I had done it before and it was fun so I covered the bottom of the stairs with pillows and went into the laundry room. "Why don't we slide down the stairs in a laundry basket? I've done it before," I suggested. Rebecca hesitated but I bribed her into it. But, what do I know? I helped Annabel and Shawn as I guided them down the stairs and then it was my turn. This is the part where I feel sorry for myself. I slid down and my hips and below hit the pillows, but my face hit the wall just missing the glass door. I cut my lip, and I dented the wall, and I had to ice my lip, and it bled. A lot. And yeah. Sorry I didn't take a picture of this catastrophe, I didn't think of it at the time, but you can kind of get the idea.

The Recording Studio # 3!

I have made my two first CDs: Skywriting and Running Home, but I'm making another one. Seven hours and it's tiring, but boy am I having fun! Now that I'm 12, I can do guitar picking and my dad/producer and I have made guitar, piano, and harmonica arrangements! My recording engineer is named Zen. He is great. A really kind, responsible, generous, and fun guy is what we've been looking for! I've been recording since Tuesday and I've gotten eight songs in three days. We probably would have gotten all ten but my guitar needed new strings. So, on lunch break good ole' Zen changed them for us! Then I did the vocals while my dad messed around with it. My guitar should be ready today and it better be because I am!

Tehachapi

On our summer vacation, we went to a small town in California called Orinda. We stayed in a cool house with lots of legos. Their son was an adult so we got to take loads of them home. There were lots of fires in California because it was so dry. It got so smokey, we drove 8 hours to a one horse town called Tehachapi. The drive was supposed to take 5 hours but we went in the wrong direction for an hour. Then we decided to call Pam and Rusty. When we got there, a nice dinner was prepared. We ate till we were very full. And in the garage, there was a surprise. There were three kittens. The biggest was Oreo, then Cozy and last a calico, Kally. She was my favorite. We had a great time!

The Windmills

Kally

Our Garden

Now, in the tropics, we don't have much rain. It almost never rains. And if it does, Annabel, Shawn and I go out in our bathing suits and splash in the mud puddles, slide on the grass (and ruin the lawn), jump on the trampoline and play in the pool. But usually it's just hot, hot, hot outside. So some plants don't do so well here. And it's usually the prettiest ones. When we go to the plant store, usually all the kids get to pick out a plant. "Can I have this one?" Annabel says.

"Ok," says mom

"I want this one!" Shawn would say.

"No" says mom "That is a tree. Why don't you have this one?"

"Yeah!" says Shawn excitedly.

"Can I have this one?" I ask.

"Skylar, those flowers don't do well here, it's too hot."

"Rats." So then I'm stuck with the a mini cactus instead of the pretty purple chrysanthemums. After that we go home and plant them, and I wish I had the mums. Then, before a week is over, someone over waters my cactus and it wilts like overcooked broccoli. But it isn't so bad. In fact, some plants do really well here.

Here is a picture of our front yard

These are flowers that grow in our backyard

Music

I like many different varieties of music. I love Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley, The Beatles, The Sundays, The Police and much more including my dad. But just as much as I like hearing music, I like to make my own as well. I do write music and play it, but I'm not the type that will sit down and just read notes. I don't know how to read notes and I read chords instead. If you look at pretty much any music book, you'll find things above the notes. They will say letters from A to G. They say flats which look like lower case bs, and sharps which look like this:#, and much more things I haven't learned yet. But writing songs can be very tricky. First, you have to be in an inspired mood. Try to find a peaceful spot that is quiet. Try your front lawn or porch. Then listen to what's around you: the birds, the wind rustling the trees, some times you'll hear just plain silence. Try to find a melody in your head and write down some words to it. They don't have to rhyme but they can if you want them to. They just have to fit with each other. But the most important thing is to be yourself.

My Pictures

I really love photography. I use my mom's camera to take pictures of many different things. I take photos of things around the house and sometimes pictures of pictures. Once I took a picture of myself in the mirror! I've tried to take pictures in the mirror many times but I must have put the camera just right!

Here's the picture of my photograph in the mirror.

This is a picture of a photo my mom took awhile ago. Then, I took the picture of the photo and here it is!

I took this photo of my glass bird. The light on the window was just right and it looked like the moon!

Us Three

Annabel, Shawn and I are pretty good friends... most of the time. We play a lot of the time and sometimes there's an argument but we try to get along. On sunny weekends, we play in our pool and on the trampoline. Sometimes we wet the trampoline and you bounce so high, it feels as if you're going to Timbucktoo. Then when you absolutely can't jump another jump, we lay down and it's so peaceful, you can hear the leaves swaying in the wind. Our dad works at home and when he's not busy, we play baseball outside. Shawn started a baseball team but didn't want to go back because I think there was too much sitting and not enough hitting. Shawn has gotten very good and so has Annabel. Pretty much all three of us can wham the ball into the street, but then, we have a pretty small front yard.

Here's Shawn ready to play some baseball!

Here's us three buddies on a trip

In Our Backyard

We live in a warm climate so we spend a pretty decent amount of time outside as long as it's not too hot out. My brother, sister and I make up fun games and play them. I like swings but since we don't have one of our own, I make them by hanging up skate boards and chairs. I wanted an exercise bicycle but I'm not old enough to go to the gym. This wasn't as great, but I had to use it for something because it had a flat tire and we haven't had time to fix it. So, here's my invention with some help from Annabel and Shawn.

My Family

I am the oldest kid in a family of 5.

Mom: My mom is a fun-loving, high-spirited mom. I love her very much. She is a writer and an artist. She has created a blog too! Here is the link: http://treesfam.blogspot.com/


Dad: Dad has taught me everything I know about music. He is also a writer, a poet and a storyteller to the family. He's very funny and plays piano, guitar and writes music and songs. He has ten albums so far. Here is the link to his website: http://www.garymarksmusic.com/


Annabel: Annabel is 9. She is my sister but is also my best friend. We try not to fight. Annabel wants to become a singer and an actress and be in musicals. She loves to sing and act out little songs from the Sound of Music. She is very good and I am very proud of her so far. I try as best as I can to help her achieve that goal.

Shawn: Shawn is my cute, lovable, red-headed brother. He just turned 5 and loves The Beatles, The Police, Ray Charles, Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, and lots more. When we listen to CDs in the car, Shawn drums on his lap with almost pefect time the entire song. Often he will say, "Aren't I a good drummer?"

Me: I am 11 and will be 12 in August. I love music and I write and sing my own songs. I play piano, guitar and harmonica. I've made two CDs: Skywriting when I was nine to ten, and Running Home when I was ten to eleven. I like a lot of the musicians my brother likes and I like The Sundays too. I also like to take pictures and I am hoping to get my own camera for my birthday. Now, I'm starting jazz, tap, and ballet.