Letter No. 5: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

We've moved on to our first postcard of the project!

This one comes to us from my friend (and former student!) Stephanie, who currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"Oooh, it's a sunset picture!"

I explained that Philadelphia is a big city (much larger than Harrisburg, which is her only experience with large buildings), and we spent several minutes scanning lots of gorgeous views of the city on the trusty ol' Google Image Search (She loved pointing out to me which pictures were daytime shots, sunset, or nighttime). I also told her some of the history of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in general (she's going to have to learn it someday...), and she was truly astonished when I pointed out that Europeans first settled here in the seventeenth century.

"Four hundred years ago? That's craaaazy!"

Then we looked up some of the history of the Liberty Bell, and I asked her if she wanted to draw a picture of a bell.

Freja: No. How about I draw a picture of a flower?

Me: Do you want me to draw a bell?

Freja: Yes! And then I can color it!

I... can't draw. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.

So thank you, Steph! And thank you, Philadelphia, for allowing me to give my daughter one of her first history lessons.

Letter No. 4: Gawler, Australia

So not only did we receive our first piece of International mail, but it came to us all the way from Australia! 

Freja is thrilled! Ola... less so.

Heather sent us a little packet of things from Gawler, Australia, including a card, a letter, three pictures, and a page from a street directory.

Heather works at the Gawler Public Library, and sent us pictures not only of the library, but also of the South Para River and a Kookaburra. This then led to us spending too much time (or not enough?) of watching videos of a Kookaburra "laughing":

This also prompted Ola to run around the house shouting, "I'M A KOOKABURRA!" before she squatted down on the floor and began cackling at a high volume. Also, have I mentioned that she's two years old? Yeah, that should probably go in there somewhere. 

After the videos, and the pictures, and the look at the wall map to see just how far away Australia is (compared to Boiling Springs, Carlisle, and Reedsville), Freja sat down to write out her reply:

Dear Heather,

I want to fly on a plane and see where the Kookaburra lives. I want to play outside and hear the Kookaburra laughing at Daddy and Mommy and Ola and me.

I like your library. I want to work in a library, maybe when I grow up, because there are books.

Thank you for your letter and card and pictures!

Love, Freja

1... 2... 3... "AUSTRALIA!!!"

Letter No. 3: Carlisle, Pennsylvania

I have a stack of mail to go through.

No, strike that. Freja has a stack of mail to go through. And letters and postcards keep coming in. And we are SO FAR BEHIND. Far enough behind that only the use of ALL CAPS will get my point across.

So the third piece of mail arrived hot on the heels of the first two, and it was from Nancie Imler, who I know from my Dancing Years (very deserving of capitalization).

First, came the envelope:

PUPPIES! PUPPIES, PUPPIES, PUPPIES!

Paper and envelope glue. The bane of a young child's existence. 

And then, of course, she saw the card inside:

No, Freja. This does not mean you can have a puppy.

No. Clutching the card to your heart in an adorable fashion will not sway me.

Once I could pry the card from her fingers, we went to the computer and looked up all sorts of things. We looked up the town (City? I'm not how large the population has to be before it makes that jump. (Even my Google skills fail me. Apparently, it's a vague area between the two.)) of Carlisle, the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (where I spent almost the entirety of my teenage years), and even Carrie Imler, a principal dancer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet (and also Nancie's extraordinarily talented daughter). 

And after all of that, Freja sat down to pen (pencil? crayon?) her reply, which I failed to photograph (I blame lack of proper sleep, caffeine, and any combination of those two things) but I did copy down her words to repeat here:

Dear Nancie,

Thank you for your card! It has two puppies on it! One puppy opens, two puppies open!

I looked at Carlisle on the computer. It is an old town. It's my favorite place! I liked the dancers because they're dancing. 

I want to come to Carlisle soon!

Love, Freja

I like dancers because they dance, too, Freja.