Volume I No. 10

Celebrate!
Gingerbread Weekly News has hit its 10th issue! It's time to celebrate...and make some improvements too. It would be great to send some comments and questions about Gingerbread Weekly News. Remember, Gingerbread Weekly News has 2 websites: http://home.comcast.net/~mariezhou/gingerbread.html and http://home.comcast.net/~mariezhou/index.html

This week's Cover Story is about Diane's trip to Texas. How exciting!

Table of Contents

Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Gingerbread Weekly News Email
Should Gingerbread Weekly News have an email address?

Should Gingerbread Weekly News have an email address? Gingerbread Weekly News people have different opinions. Some say, “It would be better to have emails about Gingerbread Weekly News in another account instead of taking up my inbox.” Others say, “Why waste another account? I already have 2 accounts to check!” If Gingerbread Weekly News makes an email account, it will probably be: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

What do you think? You can suggest an email address too.
Remember, every vote counts! Whichever “Yes!” or “No!” has more votes is the answer to “Will Gingerbread Weekly News have an email account?”

Cover Story

A Trip to Texas!

On Friday, August 24, 2007, Diane's family went to Texas. Diane's mom was actually on a business trip, so the rest of the family just tagged along. It was Diane and Alex's first time in Texas. Late in the night, they landed in Austin, Texas and rented a car. Diane's dad drove her family to Houston, where Diane's aunt lived. They arrived there at four in the morning! They ate some things and went to bed for four hours. They got up in the morning at eight, and off they were to NASA!
But before that, they went to the Sea Center. It was free. Diane saw many types of fish, eels, and even sharks! It was really interesting. Since the Sea Center relied on donations to run it, Diane and Alex donated five dollars. In thanks, the Sea Center gave them a beautiful poster.
Next stop, NASA. At NASA it was fun. Diane and Alex played on the playground, rode on a simulator, went on a tram tour, and watched a movie. On the playground there were fake rocket guns to play with, balls to shoot and put into the rocket guns, and fake rockets you can sit in. On the simulator, there was a screen, seats, and poles that you hold. It was like a roller coaster; the screen showed what you would see in front of you in a real roller coaster, and the seats would move around the way it would in a real roller coaster. On the tram tour, they saw rockets, the place that astronauts get trained, and the Control Center. In the movie there was a rocket named Culumbia that went into space to fix a satellite. When it was going down back to earth, it exploded. Another rocket called Challenger exploded when it was going up. Going to space is dangerous. There were many other activities in NASA.
It was almost time for dinner, so they drove to a restaurant called Saltwater. It was near the beach, so they played at the beach for awhile. The tide was getting higher, so they went to the restaurant for a seat. They had to wait for 30 minutes though. “Cool look! There's a horse pulling a coach!” Diane said. So they decided to ride the horse. It was fun, and after going around the area for awhile, they were dropped off in front of the Saltwater restaurant. A table was already ready for them. It was a great meal. It was a great day.
The next day, they were off to Austin! Diane's family went to her parent's old friend's house. They had lunch and then went to their hotel: Hilton Gardens. After checking in and putting everything in the hotel, they went to Diane's dad's old teacher's house. It was actually his university teacher. They had dinner there, and afterwards, went back to their hotel.
It was Monday, their last full day to play. Diane's mom went to “work” already, and there was only Diane, Alex, and their dad at the hotel. They decided to eat breakfast at Krispy Kreme doughnut store. Then they went to the capital building. They learned how the system worked and many other things. Then they went to a Visitor's Center and bought some souvenirs. It was lunch time, and Diane's dad decided to see his university: University of Texas (UT).
They were really hungry, so they ate lunch first. Then they explored the place. It was tons of walking. They went to the Lindon B. Johnson Library and Museum. It was actually his birthday that day! Lindon Johnson was the president after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. There was a lot of construction around the place. They also saw the old places that Diane's dad lived at before. That was pretty much what they did on Monday, August 27, 2007.
Tuesday was their last day. Diane's mom went to “work” again and the rest of the family decided to go to the place where Diane's dad used to go get supplies and other things. Diane and Alex got many souvenirs. They decided to buy a binder with “TEXAS” on it and put pictures in it too. It was almost time to go, so they picked up Diane's mom. They packed up everything...and off to Home Sweet Home!

New News

The Squirrel

“Yes! Darn, I lost! Yes! Nooooo!” Diane and Alex were playing the new Wii at Andy and Emily's house, their neighbor. “Hey look! A squirrel! Leo's trying to get that squirrel! What's the squirrel trying to get?” Leo was Andy and Emily's big German Shepard dog. He was trying to get the squirrel. The squirrel wouldn't climb up the tree. It was trying to get...a nut on the ground. It got it really quickly and started nibbling on it. “Too bad I couldn't get a picture of it, since Leo scared it away from the perfect place to take a picture. But I can still draw a picture of it,” Diane told Gingerbread Weekly News.

School's Starting Again

School starts again! Too bad. “Actually, I think school's pretty good, I got sort of bored of the summer,” Diane told Gingerbread Weekly News. Congratulation to those who have gone to Junior High, Senior High, College, or whatever accomplishment!
How did everyone do on the STAR Testing this year? Better? Worse? Was it actually easy? You can send your score and comments to Gingerbread Weekly News too! Gingerbread Weekly News hopes that you did really well. If you didn't, it's okay. Put away the past and just try to improve. Go for the best score you could possibly get.

“It's fake.”

Wondering about what “It's fake.” means? Well, The Ad was actually a “shop” Diane and Amanda made, originally called D&A, but they thought it was too obvious to find out. Very creative...

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail Gingerbread Weekly News received from last week's issue – The Disastrous Day, September 2 Issue:

Debate Time: (Should parents allow kids to have email?)
“I think no because kids spend too much time on it.” Vicky and Nicole, 5th Grade
“I think yes because it's a great way to communicate with your friends besides using a telephone all the time.” Emily, 4th Grade

Volume I No. 9

The Disastrous Day
What kind of a disastrous day did Diane's family have? First a this, then a that, so many things to take care of... but finally, it's over. Find out what happened in this Gingerbread Weekly News issue.

Table of Contents

Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Notice

Debate Time

Email For Kids

Should parents allow kids to have email?

Should parents allow kids to have email? For some kids: What? Kids have email? That's a grown up thing! For others, it's: Email is just part of my plain life. Tons of kids have email. If come grown ups get email and we don't...well...I can't imagine that...

Yes!

Kids should be allowed to have email. Email helps keep kids in contact instead of always going to each other's houses, especially during school time. All you've got to do is go on the computer, go on the Internet, and log onto your account. It's better than waiting until both friends have time to play with each other. Of course, phone calls are good, but who knows if you're there? With email, you'll be sure that your message will reach your friend. If you do something like Gingerbread Weekly News with your friend, it's easier to email your friend to ask if what you wrote is okay, than reading out loud on the phone, or printing it and giving it to your friend. So, kids have email, as well as parents.

No!

No way! Kids with email? Once children get email, they will check it all day long, chatting with friends all day, and if you tell them to stop, they'd say, “Then I'm behind on news! You've got to check mail everyday. Don't you check it everyday?” It can damage kids' eyes and use up too much homework time. School's more important than this email thing! Aren't phone calls a lot easier? Just dial and call. If someone's not at home, call to your friend's parent's cellphone. How easy is that? No! Kids should not have email.

It's fake...not the debate. (see the Notice)

Cover Story

The Disastrous Day

It all started in the morning with a few sounds of scratching in the kitchen. Something gray passed by. MOUSE!!! Diane's family chased the mouse all around the house. The closest they got to it was when it jumped off the table right in front of Diane's dad's face! Too bad...it escaped.
Later, Diane's family went to the Redwood City's ice rink (Ice Oasis) to pick Diane's skates. They were stretched the night before, to make the skates bigger by a half size. They felt a lot better to Diane. Then they went to Costco, and that's when a problem occurred...
When Diane's family put all the things they bought into the car, ready to go home, the car wouldn't move. Out of batteries. Costco sold battery cases, but wouldn't allow anyone to use their tools. There was no way to change the batteries. They had to call AAA (Triple A) for help. The AAA truck transferred some electricity to Diane's family's car. They went to Home Depot to buy some things to capture mice. Then when they were going to go, the car stopped again. Luckily, Diane's dad bought a back-up battery case and Home Depot had the tools to put the back-up battery case in.
Finally no more trouble. What a disastrous day!
“I guess it wasn't too much of a disastrous day. I played card games with some grown-ups at a party at someone else's house,” Diane told Gingerbread Weekly News. “And the best part was [that] the mouse was caught when I came back from the party!”

New News

Skating in the Dark

One day, Diane was just skating in the morning like usual. BLINK went the lights in the rink. BLINK BLINK BLINK OFF! It was so cool "skating in the dark". There were only emergency lights on. They were like spotlights. "It's just totally cool, 'skating in the dark', I don't even know how to describe it," Diane told Gingerbread Weekly News. "Too bad the employees told us to get off in 30 minutes."

THE AD
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Come get your fortunes!
Find a perfect name in code!
Buy notebooks for school!
Get delicious, wonderful treats!
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If you spend more than $30 at this shop, you will get a gift certificate that lets you buy anything FREE under $30!

Grand Opening September 16, 2007!

River Rafting

On Sunday we went rafting at the American River in Sacramento. We had a group of 27 friends. They split us into three groups of nine. I went with Sara's family (3 people), Virginia's family (2 people), and my family (4 people). We were the second boat. Our guide was named Andrew, same name as my brother. All the boats stayed together. In the morning (or the first two hours) there were only Classes 1 and 2 waves. The higher the class number, the bigger the wave. It was pretty relaxing. We stopped at this place with tables and chairs to eat lunch. We had chips, fruit, sandwiches, and cookies for lunch. After lunch, we climbed aboard the wet boat and got into our soaking life jackets. The boats started splashing water at each other and we got even more wet. I was shivering. The guide told us that when we see the lollipop tree the first time, it means that Class 3 waves will come in 10 to 15 minutes. When you see the lollipop tree the second time, it means Class 3's are around the corner. The afternoon was pretty rough and more fun. Some waves even went over our heads! I had tons of fun unlike some people.....

Notice

What does the "It's fake." mean?