Island of The Blue Dolphin

  So there is the children’s novel being read in 4th grade now.  It’s Island of the Blue Dolphin written by Scott O’Dell and first published back in 1960.  It’s a timeless story about a young girl who was stranded … Continue reading Island of The Blue Dolphin

Fourth Grade Fun

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Kongo returned from Europe in time to accompany #1 Granddaughter (the cutie with the Kauai ball cap) on the year’s first field trip of fourth grade.  Faithful readers will recall that last year the monkey could often be found chaperoning his two California granddaughters on field trips to the wilderness, zoos, and historic sites in the area.  Now that he’s in FOURTH GRADE Kongo is stepping it up to a whole new level!

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Remodel Monkey

IMG_0013So, where to begin?  Since the monkey last checked in the Kongo clan relocated from the Florida coast to Southern California and now reside in lovely Newbury Park, about an hour from LAX and about five miles due north of Malibu’s beaches.  The newest abode is nestled in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains and backs up to open space (think coyotes and mountain lions).

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Boston Baby Scramble

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Yesterday was just one of those days where nothing turned out the way you thought it would.  Kongo was up before the crack of dawn in Jacksonville to pack for an early flight back to the West Coast.  About 10 minutes before boarding his 45-minute flight to ATL where he had a short connection to catch the SAN flight the monkey gets a cryptic text from his youngest wondering if the monkey might be up for a quick trip to Boston.  Huh?  Today?  The Kongos knew that granddaughter number three (#1 for the youngest) was actually due yesterday but there had been no warnings and well, you know what they say about first babies being late and everything.  The original plan, hashed out laboriously (pun intended) with Mrs. Kongo, the Virginia grandparents, and the expectant parents was that the Virginia grandparents would head north when their daughter went into labor and the Kongos would book tickets to arrive a week or so later so as not to overwhelm the new parents.  That plan didn’t work out.

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