Be Safe While Having Fun

                   How to be safe while having fun.

 By Sam Fernandes 

    Have you ever seen a football player, or teammate limp off the field? Probably so. 

    Tackle football is a harmful sport for your health and life. There is an alternative way to play football, and still be heathy. Flag football. Flag football is not as rough and it can save you from the many head, neck, and shoulder injuries. 

     In flag football you get just as much exercise as tackle football. Amazing catching still occurs in flag football. Outstanding gear in tackle football awes the crowds, but you still juke, out-spirit, and sack other players.

     

     Flag football isn't very popular right now, but it will be if they know that it is safer. Make records while they're still there, but before long there will be no records to be broken! 

  That is why I think flag football is safer, more enjoyable, and healthier than tackle football!   

Site:http://www.nsports.us/Default.aspx?tabid=776636

When we went Tide Pooling

When we went Tide Pooling

by Ben

The moment I saw the vast ocean I was thrilled.

When we arrived, everybody was there: Gramma, Papa, Aunt Annie, Uncle Daniel, Aunt Julie, Uncle Don, Makoa, Tasi, Mom, Dad, Sam, Sofia, and me. When we went down the trail, we saw people in wetsuits, and I asked, “Who are those people?”

Gramma replied, “They are abalone hunters.”

We went along the trail, turned left, and to the ocean, we go.  We came to some rocks and stepped on squishy things that squirted out water. “What are those squishy things?” I asked.

Daddy said, “They are anemones.”

But then Gramma told us we went the wrong way!

Finally, we got to the tide pools that Gramma wanted. The rocks had slippery algae, and I didn’t want to fall, but I didn’t want to squish the anemones either. “I don’t want to get pricked by the sea urchins,” I whined.

“You’re fine,” soothed Mom.

I’ll go over where Sofia is, I thought.

When I got to where Sofia was, I climbed up a hump, and saw Daddy down over a cliff. “Come down here,” called Daddy.

“It’s so steep,” I called back down, but anyway I tried! There were mussels as I went down the cliff. “Put your legs out,” instructed Daddy. After me, Sam climbed down, then Sofia, then Tasi.

After we all climbed down, we followed Daddy. “There’s an Abalone!” whispered Gramma.

“Cool!” we all replied in unison. We had never seen one before.

“The tide is coming in,” warned Gramma. We would have to go back.

 “Look what I found!!!!” yelled Mommy as we were going back.  I came hopping along the rocks to get to her.

“An octopus!” I wowed. I marveled at the sight, but wait! An anemone was trying to eat it, but it couldn’t: there was no water near them! When the octopus got out of the anemone, Gramma picked it up!

“Do you want to hold it?” she asked. After we all held it, Gramma put it in a tide pool near to us. Next, Gramma let us pick it up one more time and then she put in the open sea.

Sam found a tiny starfish, but after a while Tasi found an even smaller starfish! We played a little more and then it was time to leave! “Noooooooo!” I groaned. “I like the tide pools!”

As we all left, I rode with Aunt Annie and Uncle Daniel. We went super fast! When we got back to our cabins, we were worn out! “That was fun,” we agreed.

The Most Optimistic Flag Football Game Ever

The moment I arrived, I knew it was going to be a great game. I stepped out of the car, and it was a sunny day. Ben and I looked around and saw all of the teams in our group practicing. Then we spotted our team, so we jogged over to practice.

When we got there, we saw Dillon, Eric, Braden, and Jason. They were throwing the football with coach. He said, “Ben & Sam, come join us!”

”Ok, coach,” we replied.

Before we knew it, the game was starting! Dillon and Cason were up at the coin-toss. We were facing the Texans, and I was confident. The Texans won the coin-toss so they received.

It was mid-game now and we were winning. There was a run by Cason. Then to my surprise, the next play I was racing downfield and Dillon threw it to me! For all of that, there was a defender right behind me. Therefore, with all my strength I out-sprinted the defender. “TOUCHDOWN!”

When the game finished, it was a score of 7-52, Raiders’ game. We shook each other’s hands. After that, Maddox said, “I got two touchdowns. How many did you get?”

“I got one!” I said.

     Then we had an end-of-game prayer, and went home.That was surely the best game of my life!

New Direction

Please don't confuse this with One Direction--I don't need a bunch of crazy Directioners stalking me :)

No, this is about the New Direction of the long-dormant blog, Fernandes, Party of Five. Three years later, I'm ready to pick up the trail, this time veering into homeschool world. We've started homeschooling our three kids, one in grade 3 and two in grade 1-ish. Since I'm trying to back-pedal in my Facebook usage, I thought this would be a great forum for the grandparents to keep up on what projects we are doing. And also to prove to myself that we actually are accomplishing something. Occasionally. I will also be having the kids post some of their writing assignments online, because everyone knows that when you are writing for an audience, your focus grows sharper! So without further ado, I give you the Fernandes Academy of Fine Arts and Practical Living (FAFAPL)!

Keepin' busy

Now that Sofia's in school, me and the boys have found new ways to entertain ourselves.... Don't judge.

We're expanding our family!

We have a new honorary member of the family. You see, there's this cat. He just showed up one day, and refused to leave. I told the children in no-uncertain terms that we would NOT be feeding him. Filipe's very allergic to cats, so indoors is out, while the HOA does not allow for outdoor cats. So the cat would just have to leave.

Well, he didn't. We went for probably three weeks with no feeding. He subsisted on at least one bird and perhaps a bunch of lizards. When it became very obvious that he intended to stay, Filipe bought him some food. So how he's kind of our cat. I intended not to name him either, but the kids did that before I had the chance to put the kibosh on it. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce,

Catback!

You like the name? Sofia came up with it. She said that's his name because he's a cat, and he keeps coming back. So catback it is.

As a side note, if anyone locally is looking for a VERY friendly VERY tolerant cat (imagine the kids dumping mulch on his head, and he just looks around), let me know. We technically can't keep him, but I'm telling anyone who asks that he's not ours.

Little Drummer Boy

Thank you, craigslist. Now my intensely obsessed Ben can drum to his hearts content. And I can turn down the volume! I'm hoping that it will save my mixing bowls some wear-and-tear.