Gregory the Great

Gregory the Great made the office of the pope more powerful.First, he reorganized the church. He reorganized the money. He said no marriage for the priests.He made the pope in charge of the churches in the Roman Catholic church. He made the pope really powerful by taking over duties of the Roman Emperor. He appointed heads of cities, raised armies, and claimed political power. He made peace treaties with the Lombards and they agreed to leave Rome alone. He also sent missionaries to other places and told them to be Christians. He sent Augustine to England, and established missions in Gaul.

Pope Gregory I's tomb in Rome.

Byzantine clothing

Clothing of the Byzantine Empire was similar to that of Ancient Rome. Rich citizens of the Byzantine Empire had very colorful clothing. It was layered and layered with a tunic and dalmatica. If you could feel some of the material, it was very silky and fine. Men and women both wore boots that were very sturdy when they ventured outside. The rich person's outfit was very ornate. The dalmatica was closed by a brooch that was shiny. The tunic was outlined with intricate embroidery. Women wore a stolla that was very sparkly. The headdress was attached with a headband that let the fabric flutter in the wind. Poor people wore a tunic, dark in color and made of coarse material.

Writing

Ok, so you know when it comes to writing borrring school reports? You don't want to write them. I know, because I still have to do them! But when you come up with a new story idea you have to write it down; and then before you know it, you might be writing a series of books. I myself want to be an Author; not only to write books, but to get people excited about them!One of my favorite books is Chasing Vermeer, written by Blue Balliet.

My Little Vacation

            Last fall Anna, Elly, Mom, Mrs. Connie and I went on a little vacation. We piled into Mrs. Connie’s truck and went to North Branch, Minnesota and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Overall, the trip was awesome! The hotel was clean and comfortable. My favorite part was probably going to Gooseberry Falls.

            We stopped in Orr, Minnesota. Usually we just stop at the gas station, but this time something caught our eye. So we went in to investigate. It was an awesome shop. They were selling all kinds of souvenirs. There were puzzles. There were these stools and pots and pans and all kinds of stuff you could use for camping. It was kind of like a general store. I got a peppermint cane. I thought I got a lemon one, but it wasn’t lemon. It was butterscotch, so the shop lady was nice enough to trade it for a peppermint one.

            Soon we were on our way again. We stopped in Virginia for lunch at Grandma’s. I couldn’t eat another bite after I ate that hamburger! It was a cheeseburger and I had fries too, but I couldn’t eat the rest of my fries. I was full. I can’t believe Elly ate all of her fries. Mrs. Connie taught us to put salt and vinegar on our fries. It is a Canadian thing. They were so yummy.

            While we were in Virginia, we stopped at Target. I saw this humongous hole carved in the wall, so I hopped in and pretended I was in a hamster ball. Then we went inside and shopped. We saw a monkey Bigfoot toy and we stopped to watch it for a while. Soon we were on our way again.

            When we arrived in North Branch, we went shopping. I was really hungry and I wanted to go to the snack spot for chocolate. We never did get any chocolate. I was so grumpy of shopping in and out of those stores. All I wanted to do was go back to the hotel and fall down on the bed and die of exhaustion. The only store I really wanted to go to was Claire’s. Anna paid one dollar and I paid two dollars to purchase a little keychain set. It was a giraffe and a zebra. The giraffe had a tag that says “Best” and the zebra says “Friends.”

            We went to Perkins for supper and I ate chicken strips and fries. The food was fine, but we were tired. All we wanted to do was go back to the AmericInn and swim in the pool. The pool was kind of small, but we didn’t swim that much anyway. We sat in the hot tub because the pool was so cold.

            I slept on a cot. I loved the cot. A cot is a mattress that they set on the floor with wheels on the bottom. The next morning, we had waffles (the usual) and a doughnut or two, with cereal and toast.

            Then we went to Goose Berry Falls. The roads were so winding that I fell asleep on the way. It was a long drive. There was construction on the way there. We drove through Duluth, but we didn’t stop to go shopping. We went through a tunnel because that’s the way the road went. It seemed so long, it took forever. We had to drive through gravel and stuff. That’s why I like trucks. They don’t get stuck.

 

            First, we first went to the low falls where we waded through the little rapids of water. We made our own houses. I kept switching my house around because I couldn’t find a dry place. We also collected rocks and moved them to make a dam. The water had to go around them. We took a hike down the boardwalk to see where it went, but Mrs. Connie’s foot was hurting too badly to go on the long trail. We saw a flicker and an oriole and a couple of chickadees. There was a baby sparrow. I thought he was beautiful.

            When we got tired of wading, we went to the high falls. On the way I found a cave. The cave was really bumpy and it had a lot of humongous rocks in it. I went inside to take a look, and I tripped over a rock and hurt my ankle. Thankfully, I was ok! We never did make it to the high falls. 

 

            That afternoon, we went to Split Rock Light House. I got a flat penny. A lot of their souvenirs were cool too!  To see the light, we had to climb up a whole flight of stairs that went around and around. The lighthouse was pretty awesome, except I expected more than something just spinning around reflecting the light. I thought it would be lit up, but apparently it wasn’t. The foghorn was absolutely loud. It was too loud, and I didn’t like it at all. It was in a lower building a little to the left of the lighthouse.

            We got to see where the lighthouse keeper would have lived if they still worked there. The house was like any ordinary house, except it had a built in ladder that went all the way up to the attic. We couldn’t go up there. They also had a much bigger kitchen and a separate room for their food. It was old-fashioned.

            It was great going on the trails and seeing the lighthouse from other places. We even went on a trail past the keeper’s house down to the beach. We climbed down, down, down to see the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. The stairs were right along the old tram line. That’s how they used to haul up tools and rocks and stuff to make the lighthouse before there were roads to the area. That’s also how the keepers got their food.  

            It was so cool down there because the water was so deep that the only thing you could see was the humongous rocks sticking out from the water. When we got to the bottom, we got to wade on the big rocks. We climbed on them, but I recommend not going out with shoes. I almost fell down with shoes on, but when I took them off it was much easier. Miss Connie took us way out on the rocks so we could see a boat pass by.

            We also went down a little trail to the left of the lighthouse. We could see down to the bottom of the cliff. There was a fence around the edge. When I was looking around, I spotted this little cave down there. It went into the cliff at the bottom. I wanted to go down there and go in it, but I couldn’t. The fence was in the way and there was no passage anyway. I was disappointed. So we went back up to the top of the hill where the lighthouse is. We spent so long at the lighthouse that we skipped lunch. We were hungry!

            When it was supper time we went to a restaurant where I had the most delicious food. It was called Betty’s Pies, and I got a chicken strips with fries and vinegar and a piece of blue berry pie. I liked that restaurant because they had all kinds of pie; blueberry, key lime, peach, strawberry, cherry, banana cream, and raspberry cream. They also had coconut cream. In the souvenir shop I got a pack of mints. They were tiny circles in a tin with a moose on the front.

            On the way home, I looked at all the stuff I had. I thought, “That is a lot of stuff,” as I ate a little bit of Chex mix. Then Anna and I played a game of River Crossing. She won.  We listened to some of Anna’s ipod and watched movies. By the time we were done it was past supper time. We didn’t actually have supper, but we ate Chex mix and granola bars and stuff like that. We listened to more of Anna’s ipod and played a game of I Spy and 20 Questions and some more River Crossing until we were home, home sweet home.

            Overall, it was tiring to drive so much. It was worth going, though. We got to spend time with our friends and have fun. I want to go to Gooseberry Falls again some day.

The End

I Love Skating!

  

One day last week, my friends and I (the straight headed girl) went skating at the Eighth Street Ice Rink. The weather was nice. The only bad thing was there was a thin layer of snow on the ice so it was harder to skate. But still, we managed to have fun. We stayed outside until our cheeks were pink, and then we had to go. I was so, so mad because it seemed like such a short time, but at least I got to go. You can skate, too. If you'd like to go skating, I recommend going to Eighth Street Ice Rink. 

First Snowfall of the Season

This is my snowman he was a pretty good snowmen although I had to redo him over again because he fell apart.

This is my snowman!

This is my sister the curly headed girl with her snowman ! 

Dora, Dora, The Explorer

The Rad Zoo

These are yellow footed tortoises when they are small. They can grow up to three feet long.

There is another yellow-footed tortoise from the Rad Zoo her name is Dora. Dora is a Geochelone denticulata, and she is from South America. She has tough yellow scales on her feet and head. She defends her self by tucking her head inside her shell and putting her legs over in front of it. When she was little she was the size of a quarter now she is the size of a football. She may live to be 50 years old. When she is fully grown, she will be 3 feet long and weigh 35 pounds. She eats raw fruit and vegetables. Dora loves bananas!