My diary begins in Wicklow in July 2004
Silver Strand
We went to Silver Strand on Thursday today is Saturday. This is our
campground. On wednesday to thursday I had a sleepover at Claire's house. We
had a good time playing games and watching TV. Today I played ball by
myself, like bouncing the ball.
Wales
We are in Wales. We climbed a mountain with Caitlyn, Alison, Emily,
Heather and Michael. Me and Alison did not want to climb to the top of
the mountain. We climbed a little and a big one. First the little and then
the big one.
Connermara
Dad did a long cycle in 15 hours on his 40th birthday. There was a fun
surprise and it was that Baba and Safta came. Everyone knew except my dad.
The surprise was for my dad. Me and Rebecca did a little cycle around the
campsite. It was late. Mum and dad slept in a hotel. We went to the beach,
crab fished with Rebecca, David, Dad and me. And we got two crabs.
Fross, Co Mayo
We like it here. Baba and Safta were there, we had a fun time. I got an
8ball from Baba and Safta and mom did some baking. I did some play with
Griania and now I am doing my diary, I am going tomorrow.
Jessica's farm
I played with the kids and stayed up late, watched TV with Eli and Sammy.
We went to the campervan which was in the field. Now I read and book
then well I fell asleep because I was so so so so so so tired well why else.
Well thats the story in Jessica's farm.
At the Mobile
I was so happy when we just got there because in the tent was getting
sort of ockwerd (sic) Me myself slept in a bunk on the top, Sammy slept on
the bottom. My daddy got a new pickup truck. I went in it. Eli had his own
bed Mummy took the bed out of the spare bedroom and she it beside the sofa,
then it would be a double bed. I like the pickup truck. Some days Claire
came. On Wednesdays I would go to her house.
In France
Before
we went in France we went on a ferry. We went in a field in a village we
went in the garden of a cottage. In the cottage there was some rabbits and
two baby rabbits. The are the size between the two dots. Next we went to a
little place where there was a funny toilet which you have to stand for boys
and girls. Next in the place there was an old man. I think he was 80
something. I don't know.
In France, again
Next we went in Vinsorbes. In Vinsorbes there was a football club
but it was closed so there was only their house. In France we went to
a campsite where there was a playground and swimming pool. Eli jumped
in the pool, it was very very very very very very very very very very !!!
cold!!!
Italy
Next we went through some tunnels then we were at Italy. Before
that we had a rest.
We first went in a campsite where there was lots and lots and lots of
campers who were camping. We had an explore. Daddy gave us hot
chocolate. Next we went to the castle. In the castle there was a
bar but we didn't go in. Then we went in a cafe and had crisps and
pizza. Then we went to a farm where there was a lady and a man and a
little baby called Antonio. And then we went on a big long Journey to
another castle. In the castle there was a crown because it was a
museum. Then we went to a busy village where we met the People who own
the farm. They showed us the way to their farm. We stayed a few
days at the farm.
In our Apartment
First Domenico showed us the way, then at the apartment we had 5 beds.
My mum pushed 2 beds together then it would be a double bed. I slept
in a normal bed so did Eli. My Mom and Dad slept in the double ed and
so did the little boys. There was a little kitchen and a room for
eating. Eli slept in that room. It was very dirty so we had to
clean it all up. It took a long time to clean it up. We went for
a walk in the town. In the town we went to a supermarket and bought
lots and lots of things, and went to the square where there was a fountain.
Living in Giovinazzo
I like the sea because there are lots of rocks and rock pools and lovely
boats with nice colours. In the town there is a big square with a
fountain in the middle. There are fish on the top with water coming
through their tails.
In the town I like the little streets with balconies and tiny three
wheeler trucks. Near the harbour is an ice cream shop and there is a
man in the shop. His name is Toni he's very nice. We went to an
olive press and they gave us a big tin of olive oil and there was a big tub
with huge wheels. There is a playground. We went there and
played on the wobbly seasaw with 2 wooden horses. One day we went to
the Circus. I liked everything, especially the hippo and the man with
a lettuce because he gave it to the hippo and the hippo opened his mouth and
went gulp!
Another day we went to the beach where there was lots of rock pools.
I bathed my feet in the water and we had a picnic it was fun. My
favourite food in Italy are: Toni's ice cream, bums, Toni's yoghurt, bakery
almond biscotti that mummy got Dad for carrying heavy sacks of Almonds.
I also like pizza and pasta. We have met some kind people:
Francesca, who is really kind. She's been giving us lots of stuff.
Noami, she is being so kind to me. Nicole, she is six and likes to do
art with me. Pierre Luigi is Nicole's brother and he likes to play
with Eli.
Today we went to a fish shop and we bought some salmon and we had a
barbeque on the balcony it was yummy.
My first day in scool was just ok. It was hard because they spoke
Italian but the second day was better and we went back to do art and stuff
for the Christmas play. I am going to do a snow dance.
The Masseria
Well at the Masseria Eli was playing with Peter. I don't no the
word in Italian. I played with Giovanny. I played bord games and
cards. There is lots of muck in the field. Daddy picked lots of
olives in the field. His boots got very mucky so we had to get a stick
to get out the muck. We picked prickily pear, even the skin was
prickly. We were eating it it was good and it had lots of pips in it.
There is three beds at the masseria. I sleeped in a bed so did dad mom
and Finn, Finn sleeped with mom, Eli sleeped on the floor with a mattress,
Sammy sleeped an two sofas pushed together to make a bed. I tis very
mucky. There is lots of little trulli. They are small little
houses which they would of stayed in. There is a building they let
visiters in but they didnt let us go because it was being bilt. We ate
bread for breakfast. Dad picks the olives with a long stick and
Pascuale has a thing that looks very funny (it is a thing that shakes the
olives off the tree). There are ants outside that bild and there is a
lost dog we called him yippy. There is a very big tree and there are
little curly bugs like catapellers.
School in Italy
My scool is called papa giovany. There is lots of fun kids there.
My best friends are zoe and mara parla. They are good friends. I
am learning Joint writing and it is fun. I like scool. Zoe used
to sit with me but now she doesn't any more. Now Alassia does. There
is no art unless the kids do it themself, and bring stuff for it, and there
is school on Saterday. it was a bit hard but then I got used to it.
I do lots of work. Lunch time is fun. I like to talk at
lunchtime. They have lots of homewowork but I only do english
homework. In english class we do fun things (like wordsearches).
We had lots of partys, there it was fun. I have about six teachers in
the scool. The partys were Chrismas which was the grinch, and I did a
play I was a snowflake and there was dancing presents. It was very
fun. Chismas in italian is natale. There was a feast of St
Antonio, there was a fire outside and we had to eat olives and little
biscuits. When I left they gave me a party and they had a cake for me
and everybody well almost everybody gave me a present.
Giovinazzo
We had a big party. Maira carla, one of lorella's girls (she is my
good friend), came.
Croatia
We took a ferry to Croatia from Italy. We stopped at a beach to
have a picnic. We looked everywhere for a campsite then we went to an
island. Then we found a campsite on the island which was not ready to
be open but they were nice and let us stay. It was a farm and there
were gaots and hens and a dog. The mother goat had two babys.
They were cute.
We still were staying at the campsite. One day we cycled to the
beach. I went on the back of dad bike and Sammy went on the back of
Eli's bike because we didn't bring the other bikes. Next we went to
another campsite were we met a nice lady who spoke engish her name was Anna.
There was swimming pool but there was no water. We stayed a few
days when we left she gave us some smelly bags. The little boys opened
theres and lavender went everywhere. Before we went to Anna we had to
sleep on a pier because the boat was so early we were going back to Croatia
off the island. After Anna's camp we went to a big lake it was snowy
and sunny at the same time. We had a picnic by the waterfalls.
It was called Plittvika. There was a rainbow in the waterfall.
we down down a wiggly road then we had dinner in a fish restaurant Mom had
shark. Then we went to a tiny campsite which was wet and cold. I
eat in the camper. We went on a bridge to another island it was rainy
so we looked for a campsite and are place was very mucky place when it
rained it was a big one. my dad cycled by himself. I walk all
around the campground look for the exit because I wanted to find dad.
We
went to a small island for a concert with music. At the end there was
some food. I ate lots so did Eli. We went to the small island by
boat (we were on a big island before we went to the small island). We
met some people on the boat. THe n ext day we thought that they
wouldn't come but they did. We went to their house. The grownups
had tea, we had biscuits. They didn't eat sugar, but had some biscuits
anyway.
We went to another island called Cres (procounced Tres) one night
in a campsite you didn't have to pay in then we went to a vulture place.
There was a donkey, a lamb, a sheep, a dog and two cats. The vultures
only eat dead met and when there was dead meat they circled around the meat.
We gave milk to the lamb, he drank very fast. Cres was the last
island.
We went to a big amphitheatre where the little boys played gladiators.
We went to one last campsite by the stony beach where we ate sea snails.
We had a fire.
We drove out of Croatia through Slovenia and back to Italy,
and in Italy we had one night in lake Guardia. The next day we went to
near Venice. We slept one night and in the morning we met a lady who
took us to the Venice boat.
Venice
Venice is a city on water. We went on a big ferry boat. We
had to put a muzzle on Cal. Then we thought we were in Venice.
We walked around a bit. We saw some canals then we realised we were in
Lido. We went on a bus boat to Venice. Venice had no cars, just
boats down canals. First we went to a huge piazza with lots of pigons.
You could talk across the canal by balcony.
We walked down the canals on
the bridges. We went to another piazza with toys to play on. We
had lunch there. We saw Gondolas. A Gondola is a type of boat.
A man would stand and row. We heard a man singing in his Gondola.
We walked around lots, we went to the Grand Canal. We went back to the
pigeon piazza and we played. There was a man lying on the ground with
corn on him and lying very still with pigeons on him. There were
people selling corn and kids throwing corn. There was corn everywhere.
The little boys picked up corn from the ground. We had ice cream in
the big piazza then we went on the bus boat.
To France
We drove towards the border of Italy and France in the mountains.
We came to France in the morning. We had to go back into Italy because
the road was so wiggly, then we were in France.
St Pierre
We spent a week in St Pierre. There were lots of animals which
were: horses, donkeys, hens, two cockerels, pigs, rabbits and one baby
rabbit, turkeys, ducks, geese ad goats and baby goats. First we slept
in their spare bedroom. Every morning we got up and fed the animals,
the rabbites ate vegetables and so did the pigs. The goats ate
chocolate buiscuits (old ones)! The hens ate henfeed and duck and
geese ate bread. I found a friend. He climbed with me. We
did art together.
We moved out of the house and up to the mountain because they were having
visitors. We had a caravan for play and we slept in the camper.
We had a kind of barn with big windows without glass and no door, just a
hole, where our kitchen was. A few days later it got cold and snowed
so we had to leave. It was sad because I liked my friend and the
donkey ride before it snowed. Eli and Sammy and Dad and some people
from the farm had a mountain ride with the donkeys and Eli slip off the
donkey's head!
Then we went to a playground on the beach.
The
Mediterranean
We spent a few days at this camp. There was a swimming pool and it
had water slides. We went to the swimming pool and there was one big
slide, two small slides, three medium slides and a baby slides which was not
a waterslide. There was a mushroom with water coming out in the baby
pool (the swimming pool was outside) and there was a wave pool, it was like
the sea. I cycled around the campsite. I made some friends.
Carcasonne
We tried to camp before we got a good camp for Grandma and Granddad.
The day before they came we went to Carcasonne. The castle there there
was armour made from cardboard, there was lots of shops. The next
morning graddad and gradma came. I was very happy. They had a
mobile and a spare bedroom and me and Eli slept there. I put flowers
on her table. We went to a shop and bought some stuff like chocolate
cereal etc. We had cereal every morning.
The next day we went to Carcasonne. In Carcasonne we went in a part
of the castle that you played in and we went there it was sort of a museum.
There was a old snone man there was lots of paintings and there was a shop,
we bought nothing. There was big rocks for throwing on the knights,
they poured boiling oil and shot arrows. The knights outside the
castle could starve them out by surrounding them. We went to Decathlon.
Mom and grandma went to Spain over a mountain and bought a dress for baby
Ava in America.
Paper Mill
First we went on a walk around. We saw a small water mill. We
had a picnic. It had lots of waterfalls and it was drissly. Then
we went in a shop and there was all types of paper and there were some
pencils made from ... [to be continued]