Reports from the Field

It's been a while since we've heard from Jubilee's crack team of field reporters, but these recent writing assignments definitely seemed blog-worthy.

Here's what Drew was thinking when asked by his block teacher to write about an adventure he's had. Responses from Jake and Emily also follow. They were asked to write about going to the library with their dad.

Speaking of school work, kudos to Jake and Emily, who both took first place in the 5th grade science fair! (Kids are judged against a bar v. each other, so there can be more than one first place.) Also, good luck to Drew who competes in his middle school's fair next week! Click here for a few photos; more coming soon.


Drew says...
Trapped In Baltimore... and Loving It

Fun always has to come to an end, doesn’t it? The only good thing about something ending is wondering what will be your next adventure. The time my family spent on our sailboat in Baltimore, Maryland, in the Fall of 2007, was an unexpected adventure. We hadn’t planned to anchor in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for a week, but I’m glad we did. I got to explore, see interesting things, have fun and get messy. I also got to help rescue my family the day we got locked in the Baltimore Public Works Museum.

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is a great place to drop anchor. There are lots of things to do around the harbor, like visit the Baltimore Science Center and the National Aquarium. The Aquarium had sharks, jelly fish, and lots of other amazing sea life inside. Just outside the Aquarium, people could rent these green and purple paddle boats that were shaped like sea monsters.

When we woke up in the morning the paddle boats would be right next to us. It was as if the sea monster heads would be looking in our windows. At first it was a little creepy, but we soon got used to it. We would wave from the deck of our boat to the tourists and ask, “How do you like Baltimore?” or “Where are you guys from?”

One morning we got into a conversation with one family and they asked, “Do you guys know about the Public Works Museum?”

“No. Where is it?” my dad asked.

“About six blocks down and across the bridge.” they called to us as they paddled back to the dock. “We’ve never seen anything like it.” I could tell from the look on my dad’s face that we were going to that museum.

That afternoon, we headed out for a walk. On the way home, we passed the Public Works Museum and decided to stop by and take a look, even though it was about to close in 30 minutes. Behind the building there was a playground-like area, but it wasn’t your normal, everyday park. This park was a replica of the intersection of two streets as seen from underground. There were layers of pipes and manholes, fire hydrants and street signs. The first thing I did was crawl through one of the water pipes. About half way through, I saw a hole leading up. I climbed to the top where I found the underside of a manhole. People were standing on the cover talking.

“Oooooooohhhhhh,” I called out from below. They looked down and started laughing.

After playing for a while, we decided we had better head back so we started for the gate. The first one to react was my sister, Emily. “It’s locked! It’s locked!,” she called. My mom looked at her watch, then at the iron fence surrounding us.

It didn’t take long to realize we were the only people left in the park, and we were locked in!

We tried climbing on top of benches and knocking on the museum’s windows, but no one appeared to be inside. We weren’t able to get the attention of anyone passing by either. I realized our only hope was for me to climb the 10' iron fence with spikes on top. I stood on a flower pot and climbed over. At the top, I started to lower myself down, but my shirt snagged one of the spikes. The poke to my chest caused me to loose my grip, but luckily, I only got a scrape.

Once on the other side, I was able to find a security guard getting into his truck. “Do you have keys for the park?” I asked.

“Why? Did you forget something?” he asked. He was looking at me a little funny and was clearly ready to go home.

“Sort of,” I replied. “My family is stuck in there!”

When my family saw that help was on the way, they cheered! My sister even told me I was the best brother in the world. She doesn’t usually say things like that.

We thanked the guard and headed back to the harbor, but my dad insisted on making one stop on the way home. He said, “Let’s grab some ice cream to celebrate our escape!”

Emily says...
I think my dad should take me to the Hillsdale Library because there are a lot of great books there. I know my way around the library very well because I was a summer reading volunteer. My dad and I have some similar tastes in books. We both like action, fiction and biographies. My mom likes to use the library’s “hold” system, so if my dad took me to the library, we could pick up our books on hold. This would save my mom a trip which would make her happy. Another reason I like visiting the library with my dad is because my dad loves side trips. He would probably take me for a slice of pizza after we picked out books. This would not make my mom happy, but that’s another story.

Jake says...
I think my dad should take me to the Hillsdale Library because it would be good for him. We can walk there easily from our house, and we could spend some quality time together. Usually, I go to the library with my mom because she likes books more than my dad. She always makes sure we have a good selection of things to read, a family book for reading out loud, and some books on tape for listening to. When my dad and I go to the library, we usually look for some Calvin and Hobbes books because that is our favorite comic. I know my dad will take us to the library on the day the third book in the Hunger Games Series comes out! We will race to the library that day because we can’t wait to find out what happens next to Katniss and Peeta. The last reason I think my dad should take me to the library is because Baskin Robbins is nearby, and we will need some extra energy for walking home with all our books.