Uu is for U.S.A.

Somewhere in your doodle notebook

you might find a map of the U.S.A.

And somewhere on that map is the state

you were born and currently live in

(that also happens to begin with the letter "U").

Once you find that state, color it your favorite color.

Then guess where Grandpa and Grandma are

right now and find and color that state, too.

Hint: We visited this same state five years ago on a

cruise ship named "The Coral Princess".

Happy doodling from the
"Land of the Midnight Sun"!
Love, Grandma (and Grandpa)

Find a Christmas Uu

One of my favorite Christmas books is an alphabet book!
(Big surprise, huh?) Look on the page after
"T is for tinsel that hangs from the tree . . ."
and before the page
"V is for village with windows aglow . . ."

to find the letter that is for
"_ _ _ _ _ _ and aunts at the door,
Bringing kisses and cousins and presents galore."

Seasons Readings!
Love, Grandma

Reading U-V's

Under my umbrella are book ideas for both the letter "U" and

  the letter "V" including "Un-Brella" by Scott E. Franson.

In this wordess book, a little girl uses her magic umbrella to give her

 the weather she wants, regardless of what the conditions really are outside.

 

Zach is a fan of a series called "The Unwanteds"
by Lisa McMann-- a series described as
"The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter."

Other "U's" you might choose to read:

"Up and Down" by Oliver Jeffers"

"The Ugly Duckling"--a classic fairy tale

or a book about the universe or the USA or Utah!

Or a book about under the sea or Uh-Oh . . .

"Underwear:What We Wear Under There"--

a non-fiction title you might find at your local library!

I read an interesting book called "Under the Egg" by

Laura Marx Fitzgerald.  In this book Theodora Tenpenny spills

a bottle of rubbing alcohol on her late grandfather's painting of

an egg and she discovers what seems to be an old Renaissance

painting underneath it. So she sets out to solve the mystery

in this 5-star book!

As for the letter "V",  I read "The View from Saturday"

which is a 1996 Newbery Medal winner by E.L. Konigsburg.

It was a very good book, also and told the story of four members

of an extraordinarily successful 6th grade quiz bowl team.

Other books you very well might like to read:

"The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams

or books about vegetables, Vikings,  volcanoes

or valentines including a book "Unvalentine"

by Sam Beeson which could count as a "U" or "V" book.

So there you go!

Love, Grandma

Halloween Uu

Uu is for ugly

Would you dare taste whatever is in a crockpot
brought to you by someone this ugly?

Just wondering,
your scared Grandma

Uu Word-of-the-Day

Snuggle under the covers while your Mom or Dad
read you a bedtime story . . . or snuggle under the covers
with a flashlight and read by yourself! It's probably
the best way you can stay up past your bedtime!
Some under covers suggestions:

"The Going to Bed Book"
by Sandra Boynton

"I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed"
a Charlie and Lola book by Lauren Child

"I Need My Monster"
by Amanda Noll

"The Monster Under My Bed"

by Suzanne Gruber

"The Sleepy Little Alphabet"
by Judy Sierra

Happy Yummy Summer Reading!
Love, Grandma

Disneyland Uu

At Disneyland you might like a look u_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
on a "Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage" or

on "Ariel's  U_ _ _ _  the Sea Adventure"

Merry 7 days before Christmas

I spy with my little eye
an itty bitty bit of Christmas
that starts with the letter U

U_

Hint: The place where your stocking better be
hanging in just one more week!
Hint #2: The place where the reindeer pause
in a favorite Christmas carol that also starts with this word.


86. Question of the day

Uu is for United KindgomWe visited the United Kindgom twice on our European cruise.
What countries are a part of the United Kindgom?
a. England, France and Germany
b. Portugal, Spain and Italy

c. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
d. Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland

Bonus question: Can you spot the flag of the United Kindgom
in the collage on "Summer Bit-of-Fun" #19
(flag #3)

Uu is for Utah

January 4th is Utah's birthday

Utah became the 45th state to join the United States of America on January 4, 1896. The early name of this state was "Deseret" which means honeybee. Hard-working pioneers were busy bees who settled here. So the nickname of the state where you were born is the "Beehive State". Celebrate Utah's 116th birthday by drawing or cutting from colored paper a "Utah" shape for your Alpha-Book or calendar. Make an "X" or stick a star sticker in the part of Utah where you live. And have some honey on toast for a snack!

Happy Birthday Utah!
Love, Grandma

Uu is for Unwrap

U is for unwrapping each gift we receive

I'm sorry to say you will have to wait a few more days to do one of the funnest things of Christmas. In the meantime, how about singing "Up On the Housetop".

Merry four days before Christmas!

Love, Grandma

Unusual Umbrella "U"

There's not many days left until school starts, so we better get busy finishing our Alpha-bug. First up today: find the paper plate with an upper-case U on front of it. Next find the little baggie with a lower-case u in it along with some colorful cupcake papers. Cut each cupcake paper in half and fold in half to form an umbrella top. Glue them onto the paper plate U and draw handles underneath each umbrella. Unfortunately, I don't own any picture books that start with the letter "U". Fortunately I do own a book called "Fortunately" by Remy Charlip which is about the good (fortunately) and bad luck (unfortunately) that accompanies a boy named Ned from New York to Florida on his way to a surprise party. Unfortunately, this is an older book and may be hard to find at the library. There may be this newer version called "Fortunately, Unfortunately" by Michael Foreman which is a story of a similar but sillier adventure.

Unfortunately, I can't find any great fun food ideas for the letter "U" but perhaps you could decorate yourself a "happy unbirthday" cupcake instead!

Happy Unbirthday!

Love, Grandma

Uu is for U.S.A.

There are 50 states in the United States of America.

You and I all live in a state that begins with the letter U. I was born and raised in (and took your Mommies many times to) a state that begins with the letter I. Uncle Keoni was born in a state that begins with the letter H and Uncle J.P. grew up in a state that begins with the letter A. Last summer we all visited a state that begins with the letter O.

Grandpa and I hope to visit all 50 states someday.

So far we have traveled to 21 states.

From the pictures below,

guess where in the U.S.A. are Grandpa and Grandma?

1. We visited this state in the spring a few years ago

2. We visited this state awhile ago, too

3. Don't be fooled by the states' names in this picture.

4. This is a state that is usually sunny

5. You might not be able to tell what state this is until you look at picture number 6

6. Where is this?

7. This state was much more spectacular in person than it may look in this picture

8. Hmmmm, does this place look familiar?

9. And finally this is a state we visited this past fall.

For every correct state you guess, you just might win

more tickets to Grandma's X-box shop!

Happy guessing through the U.S.A.

Love, Grandma

Congratulations!

I owe everyone some tickets for all your good guesses, especially Zach and Brody whose genius Mom guessed them all correctly! We were in Holland, Michigan in #1; on Ellis Island looking over to the New York City skyline in #2; at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. in #3; just across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California in #4; at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota in #5 and #6; in Alaska (with Mt. McKinley far away in the background) in #7; at Cannon Beach, Oregon in #8 and somewhere in New Hampshire in #9!

Uu is for Up

Have you hung up your Christmas stocking yet? Santa will be coming soon! And how does Santa know when to come? According to a brand new book called "The Christmas Magic", Santa knows Christmas is nearly here when he looks up at the sky and the stars shine brightest.

Merry six days until Christmas!

Love, Grandma

Uu is for Unusual

Warning! This is not the usual kind of post about books and boystuff.

It is unusual because it is very long and unlikely to be read all in one sitting.

Unfortunately I just have this urge to write the

Fall Foliage Alphabet Adventure

of Grandma and Grandpa Chambers

Aa is for Anne of Green Gables

. . . one of my favorite books and movies. We visited Prince Edward Island and actually walked inside Green Gables! My very first souvenir from this trip was a cute Anne of Green Gables doll.

Bb is for bridges
We walked across the world's longest covered bridge in Hartland, New Brunswick . . . drove across the 8-mile Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island . . . and saw other cute covered bridges along the way.

Cc is for Canada
. . . the country where we spent the first 8 days of our vacation. Do you have eagle eyes? See if you can spot the Canadian flag in any other pictures from our adventure.

Dd is for ducks
Grandpa just loves ducks and found some in a pond of the Public Garden in Halifax. Then he noticed animal carvings at the ends of every single pew in one fancy church we visited, including a duck. Best of all, he found another wood duck to add to his collection.

Ee is for Evangeline
One beautiful Sunday morning we learned the story of the Acadians who were harshly deported from an area of Nova Scotia by the British. Evangeline was separated from her husband and spent the rest of her life looking for him, so this statue and chapel were built in her honor. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow even wrote an epic (very long) poem about this legendary lady.

Ff is for Fundy Bay
. . . which is famous for the highest tides in the world--up to 50 feet--tides that come in and out every 6 hours and 13 minutes! The boats at the top of this picture were floating in the water as we drove by around 9:30 one morning and sitting in the mud four hours later when we drove by again. The bigger picture is the ferry we rode across the Bay of Fundy on our way to New Brunswick.
Gg is for granite
Acadia Nationl Park is on an island just off the coast of Maine and covered in granite rock . . . on the seashores, in the mountains, everywhere!
Hh is for Halifax
The most unique thing about this harbor city in Nova Scotia, Canada is a cemetery there that is the final resting place of over 200 people from the Titantic. Many of their graves are marked only with a number and "died April 15, 1912" because they are unknown.

Ii is for islands
Besides visiting my favorite island of all --PEI--we rode in a boat one day all through the Thousand Islands. I had no idea there was 1800 or more islands in an area of the St. Lawrence River between Canada and the United States. Some of the islands are so small only one house fits . . . other islands have several homes on them . . . one island even had a castle built on it!
Jj is just for fun
I'm putting in this picture of Dave and me standing by a lake of shining waters because I don't have a picture of the blueberry/lemon jam he bought to add to his jam collection.

Kk is for the Kancamagus Highway
. . . known as one of the most scenic fall drives in the U.S. . . and located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Ll is for lighthouses and lobsters
There are 44 lighthouses on Prince Edward Island alone, but the lighthouse in this picture is actually at Peggy's Cove. And the fisherman is a real lobster fisherman! We learned all about how they catch lobsters, Grandpa ate a whole lobster, and I found cute salt and pepper shakers which, believe me, are far cuter than any real lobster!

Mm is for Montreal and Maine
Montreal is another large city in Canada famous for hosting the Summer Olympics once upon a time . . . Maine is famous for lobsters and blueberries . . . and the man in the picture above loved taking pictures of mushrooms and other fungi in all the forests.

Nn is for nut
One day on a nature walk in New Hampshire we found a cute chipmunk nibbling on a nut

Oo is for Ottawa
. . . the capitol city of Canada. We went on a tour in these elaborately fancy Parliament Buildings and saw the most ornate library I have ever seen in my life as well as a stained glass ceiling with my name in it (see the letter Uu)

Pp is for pumpkins
Porches all over Canada were decorated with pumpkins probably because their Thanksgiving was coming soon (it was October 11). I liked the pumpkin people (and flamingoes) we saw in several little towns in both Canada and New Hampshire

Qq is for Quebec

. . . a charming city in Canada where they mostly speak French. We ate lunch in the elegant Le Chateau Frontenac, Canada's most famous building high on a hill. After lunch, we went shopping in the quaint shops along narrow cobblestone streets in Old Quebec.

Rr is for rocks
Grandpa is standing of a rock on top of Cadillac Mountain overlooking Bar Harbor, Maine and leaning by another rock in a little town near the Bay of Fundy. I am safely sitting on the rocks by Peggy's Cove and the red rocks of Prince Edward Island.

Ss is for Sand and Sea
We are standing on the only sandy beach in Acadia National Park (the granite park, remember). This beach is called (big surprise) Sand Beach! The other picture is of the cool sea caves on the Bay of Fundy that are usually under water. We remember this spot, however, because our favorite lunch was near here--the best seafood chowder ever.

Tt is for Toronto
. . . the largest city in Canada with the second tallest tower in the world. We ate lunch in a revolving restuarant in this 1, 815-foot tall tower where we could see the whole city including a Toronto Bluejays baseball game!

Uu is for up

Believe it or not, when I looked up at this stain-glassed ceiling in the Parliament Building in Ottawa I found my name (which is Christie, by the way)

Vv is for vegetables

We visited a couple farmers' markets in Canada where the vegetables (and apples galore) were very carefully arranged in little baskets or bins. And in one of these markets we ate the best croissant we've ever tasted.

Ww is for waterfalls

We saw Grand Falls in New Brunswick, walked down some rickety steps to Sabbaday Falls in New Hampshire, and wore yellow raincoats to walk behind the biggest waterfalls of all: Niagra Falls. You may or may not be interested to know that enough water goes over Niagra Falls every day to fill one million bathtubs!

Xx is for eXit

When we left the bus on the last day of our trip, we had traveled

2, 799 miles!

Yy is for Yankee Doodle America

. . . a book I bought in Boston where we learned all about the Minutemen, the old North Church and the midnight ride of Paul Revere.

Zz is for zillions

of bright, colorful leaves we saw on this fabulous fall foliage tour.

Thank you for your ultimate patience in reading this unending blog post. I defintely owe you a fabulous prize!

Love, Grandma