Monkey Flat Stanley's Adventures in New York City

I heard there was a big snowstorm in New York City so I went to check it out. I was really excited because New York City is the biggest city in America. There must be a lot going on there.

I wanted to see if New York gets as much snow as South Dakota does. Judging by the size of this snowbank, I would say that this time it did! That's me sitting on the snowbank. It was cold!

New York City got two feet of snow in this blizzard. But usually it doesn't get that much snow. Lots of people got stuck at the airport around Christmas because of the blizzard.

My friend Erin showed me around New York City. She has lived in New York for 11 years, so she knows her way around pretty well. That's her in the black hat. Erin is a writer. She writes articles for newspapers and magazines and websites. New York is a good place to do that because there are lots of magazines and newspapers there.

Erin lives in Brooklyn, where we took these pictures. See those brown buildings behind us? Those are called brownstones, and instead of living in houses with big yards and garages, families live in these. They are all really close together which means you get to know your neighbors well.

Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City. Most people think of the borough of Manhattan when they think of New York City. But Brooklyn has more people than Manhattan. And Queens, another borough, is the biggest in area. Manhattan does have the most tall buildings, though, and also Central Park!

I noticed that there are people here from all over the world. In this neighborhood in Brooklyn, there are lots of people whose grandparents are from Italy. In other parts of the city, there are a lot of people came from Europe or Mexico, Caribbean islands, Africa, and Asia. When you are on the subway, you see people with all different colors of skin and types of hair and many of them speak different languages. It is very interesting!

By the way, the subway is a really cool underground train that people use to get around the city instead of cars. It runs all day and night and you buy a special card so that you can ride it whenever you want. It can take you to lots of neat places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see famous paintings, Central Park, or the Bronx Zoo, where they have whole families of gorillas you can watch play together.

Our last stop on our tour of this part of Brooklyn was in a local park, where I took a seat on this big monument. I look really small down there at the bottom!

I really like New York, even in the snow. I'll write back when we have more adventures here!

Signed,
Monkey Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley travels back to South Dakota!

Hello again to Cow and all of his classmates. Flat Stanley and I had a WONDERFUL time back in South Dakota. It was a little on the cold side, but we survived and Flat Stanley had a blast being reunited with Cow again! Flat Stanley and I rode on an airplane directly from Denver to Huron, South Dakota, where my mom and dad live. Cow and his family came to Huron on Christmas Eve and we all went to church, had a fabulous, HUGE dinner, and then opened presents! Being the Twins fan that he is, Flat Stanley and I bought Cow a Minnesota Twins sweatshirt for Christmas and we sure hope he liked it! This weekend, Flat Stanley and I are going snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado so be sure to stay tuned! Miss you already, Cow. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Love,
Leigh

Hi Dog,

Well I got job truck'n with Big Jim. We haul vegetable oil which is made into animal feed. We also haul Jet Fuel to different military bases.

Today we drove to Grand Island, Nebraska to deliver vegetable oil. The road was snow covered and the wind was blowing but you have to stay steady and keep going.

Have a good day, see you soon.

Big Jim and Flat Stanley

From Grandma Linda

Happy Holidays from the Class of 2021

Yesterday the second graders put on a Christmas program entitled "Tree-mendous Christmas-time" for their families and friends. Here is our class dressed up in their costumes. Today we just got done watching the movie "The Christmas Story". After lunch, we will be opening presents if they behave! We hope all of you following our blog have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and we hope to see/hear about all of our Flat Stanley's adventures over the holiday break!

Love you all,

Ms. Appl and the Class of 2021

Ant's Flat Stanley visits Croatia

Hi Ant and everyone! I just wanted to update you on Flat Stanley's latest adventure. He got underway on the USS Mt. Whitney (pictured on left) and sailed from Gaeta, Italy to Split, Croatia. The ship had to sail around the "boot" of Italy to get to Croatia. He had some fun times with the Sailors on the ship. In the second picture Stan is enjoying the scenic view of the Adriatic Sea from Split. We will be checking in with you again soon. Take care and stay warm in Castlewood!

Trip to Laz Vegas.

Hi Eveyone I wanted to tell you about my trip to Las Vegas. I traveled by car to Las Vegas. The new brigde over the Hoover Dam is completed. It thought I would be scared but you could not see down to the water. I was worried for no reason. Las Vegas is down in a valley and coming into the city the lights are spectacular. So many casinos and lights everywhere. I watched the fountains at the Bellagio. We stayed at the Monte Carlo. My favorite place to eat was at the Burger Bar. You could get anykind of burger you want. People were every where. The casinos have a theme New York, New York, MGM (like the studio where they make picture) and Paris ( and has the Eiffel Tower). I had such a good time. I was so glad to get home and rest. I hope you are all having a great day.

Flat Stanley (Newt) says Hi from Sunny Florida!

Hello all from Orlando, Florida!  Flat Stanley (Newt) arrived on November 15th and was amazed at the nice weather.  It was completely different from South Dakota.  On November 20th through the 21st, Flat Stanley went to St. Petersburg to run the Women's Half Marathon (13.1 miles)!  He even got his own jogging gear and running bib!  It was tough, but he had a lot of fun.

Afterwards, he walked around St. Petersburg to see what it was like and found this big tree to climb in.  This tree may have been a mangrove or in the same family as it puts down extra roots from its branches.  This helps to stabilize the tree when it gets very windy, like during a hurricane.

Then, for Thanksgiving, Flat Stanley ran in a 5K called a Turkey Trot that benefited Seniors First.  Seniors First works like Meals on Wheels for elderly people.  This was a lot of fun, because it went around Lake Eola in downtown Orlando.  That afternoon he had his share of turkey and stuffing.  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Now I'm off for more adventures!



First few days in Tempe AZ

Hi Everyone, My travels to AZ was uneventful. I arrived just before Thanksgiving. What a different temperature change. The weather was in the 50-60's a little different than what I came from. Thanksgiving Day we had the usual Turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We were joined with family and friends. The next day I was awaken at 3:00 am to go shopping on Black Friday. I could not believe people had been camping out since the day before, some at 10 AM. After early shopping and drinking hot cocoa to give me energy, I only had a short nap before we were off again to do more shopping at the outdoor mall. Saturday was another busy day with Christmas decorating both inside and outside. We went to get a real tree at the local tree place. Tempe AZ does not have snow but the weather was cold, so it felt a little like Christmas. I thought I would get to rest but after attending church, we were off to Las Vegas. I will be writing more later about my adventures to Las Vegas NV. Take Care Deer

Bull's Flat Stanley Goes to Work

Flat Stanley sends his greetings from Minnesota and wanted you to know that he got to go to work with me today and was the hit of the office! Then...after lunch he got to attend a meeting with me at our central office in St. Paul. I am an office manager in a division with the State of MN and he learned how our call centers and computer systems integrate to assist people who contact us for help. On the way to St. Paul he saw big buildings and even had to go through the metal detector at our central office building so we could get clearance to get into the conference area. He had a very busy day!!

He will bring the camera on our next adventure so we can send you a picture.

Love you Bull!!

Aunt Jan

Hello again to Cow and his classmates! Flat Stanley and I had a good, productive last 2 weeks. Stanley was so excited he got to come to work with me and see what it was like to be a cardiac nurse. The word "cardiac" refers to the heart. I take care of patients who are having heart problems. Have any of your family members ever had any "cardiac" problems? The picture shows Flat Stanley in front of a heart monitor. We can watch the patients heart beat all day and all night long to make sure nothing happens to them. In this picture, the patients heart is beating 55 beats per minute. Flat Stanley and I sure did have fun exploring the hospital together!

It's almost time for Christmas and I can't wait to see you Cow!!!

Love,
Leigh

Stanley in Hawaii

Aloha Giraffe and classmates!! This weekend, Stanley hiked up one of the oldest and tallest craters on the island of Oahu. This crater was created more than 10,000 years ago by a volcano and is 1,207 feet high! Stanley enjoyed the views of the Pacific Ocean and downtown Honolulu. He is hoping to do a few more exciting things in Hawaii before he moves to San Diego, California next week and misses Giraffe very much!

Love,

Dave, Kelly & Stanley

Bull's Cousins Birthday

Howdy Bull...it is so exciting to be a part of the Flat Stanley project and the adventures we will be having. Flat Stanley was at your cousin Trevor's first birthday party on November 21 and got to watch him eat birthday cake all by himself. He had a great time!!

Signing off for now but will write soon about our next adventure.

Aunt Jan