Bureau of Fearless Ideas-Creative Writing Workshop

Today, I went with my old school friends from the Bridge School to The Bureau of Fearless Ideas in Seattle.  It was located inside and behind this shop.

 Their were 12 kids, 4 Moms and our KMVA teacher, Miss Newby.

At The Bureau of Fearless Ideas, or BFI , our hosts Zack  (black shirt on right) and Jeremy (very left) asked us to gather outside the store front.  They explained to us not to shoplift in the store and that they were going to take our picture on the way in for our book.

There's my back.  I have the blue sweater and the camo backpack.

 The backroom was large and it had 5 large tables and a gathering space.  We were asked to sit in the gathering space.

 Zack introduced all the other volunteers. Louie was writing down our story that we created as a team.  A young lady to the left of Zack wrote down our ideas on the white board, David to the right, illustrated our story.  There were at least 6 other helpers.

On the right side of the room, past David the illustrator their was a curtain.  Behind which was Geoduck Pubishing.  We could hear Mr. Geoduck yelling at Zack from behind this curtain.  Apparently Zack had recently been fired-but if Zack could produce 12 awesome stories (there were 12 kids...), his job could be saved!  Also, at this curtain, we had to stand on the dot and call for Harriet to turn in our stories.  Harriet was extremely shy and extremely hairy.  We only saw her arm.

 The curtain from the main gathering space.

Mom sat in back with Teacher Andrea, and Miss Newby (my 3 rd grade teacher) and Jaime.

The BFI not only taught creative writing, but tutors lots of Seattle kids.

 With Zack, we worked as a team creating characters, place and a plot, discussing the different parts of a story.  We wrote the start of the story as a team, then we were given a half and hour for us each to finish the story in our own way.  Our main characters were: Jemima the fighting mouse and Jake the winged boy who was afraid to fly.  There were  also some dragolfs (dragon wolf combination) and a dragoodle (dragon poodle....)  There was also a volcano. 

Above is the start of the story then we went to the tables to write.

We had a half hour to finish our creation, and then we had to give it to Harriet.  David called her.  Do you see her hairy hand?

We had to actually give it to her.

And then bow.

Tah dah!!!!!!

Our stories were then bounds and presented to each of us.

Oh, Zack used the R in my sweater to spell my name.

Over the Mountains-Day 1

Mom and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning.  We needed to be at the Wenatchee River Institute by 9:00 am in Leavenworth, Washington, where we were meeting the rest of our class.  Mom packed the car and we were on the road at 6:15 and we got stuck in rush hour traffic.  Finally, when we made it to Snoqualmie Pass on I-90, it was snowing!!!!!!  We made it to the Institute, but we were 10 minutes late!

 This was "the Barn", a really awesome classroom to study nature.

 This was the original house on the property which now has offices and other services.

 It was a beautiful morning.  It started off cold, and warmed up.  Unfortunately, there were 30-40 mph wind gust through out the whole day.  The wind sounded like a loud train.

 We started off the morning by breaking into two groups and talking about our surroundings.

 We went down to the Wenatchee River.  This would be an awesome beach in the summer!!!!

 I love it now!!!!!

 Time for learning.  We learned about abiotic, biotic, and man made(the word started with a C though).

 We then went into the barn to learn about birds, because we were going to watch birds this afternoon.  I got a duck and was able to identifiy it as a Wood Duck from the bird book.

 Tazmin and Andy got song birds.  We did spend more time talking about the web of life and the balance of predators and prey.  Unfortunately, those 30-40 mph wind gusts made it really hard to go bird watching since they were all being blown away!

 We then went to our cabins at the Icicle fine arts center next to the Sleeping Lady.

 Then to a visit to downtown Leavenworth.  Mom loves this place.  I liked it too.

 Tazmin, Elliot, Andy and I found a fountain.

 After this, we had dinner at South, a funky, Mexican restaurant.

 Back at the cabins, we played on the rock out side.  It was huge.

 We went to bed by 8:30, but Mom and I had a terrible night.  We wer up and out by 5:30 am, headed to the Leavenworth Starbucks.

Over the Mountains-Day 2

 Mom and I did not sleep well the night before in the cabin at the Sleeping Lady Fine Arts Center.  So we booked a room for tonight at the Leavenworth Howard Johnson's.  But first we woke up and went to Applets & Cotlets / Liberty Orchards in Cashmere. Our class ate some of these candies at Teacher Andrea's "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" Party in December.  Applets & Cotlets are Turkish Delight, just different flavors than rose.

 Another hairnet!  Yes those are bags under my eyes....

 Like Theo's chocolates in Seattle, we got a tour.  It was short and sweet.  Unfortunately, I can no longer eat any of these candies since they are dusted with corn starch.  My corn allergy is new.....

 Next stop, Ancient Lakes trailhead near Quincy, Washington.

 Teacher Andrea and Mom.

 This hike was in a desert biome.  There was a lot of dust, rocks, and sun.

 It was a two mile hike to visit four small lakes, and strangely, several waterfalls!

Can you see the waterfall?

 Our class made notes about the biome.  What we saw, smelled, touched.  There were NO rattlesnakes, although several boys in our group really wanted to find one.

 Class picture.

 We were all really tired walking back, but I did a good job and did not complain.

After this, we drove back to Leavenworth for dinner.  I was excited to stay at the motel instead of the cabin.  Mom and I each had to take a shower to wash all of the day's dust.  I also got to watch an hour  of the Cartoon Network, before we fell asleep.