Chigago surprise

 In the previous blog I told about a destination that me and my parents were going to as a surprise. Well,we had to find our Dog a room at Camp Bow Wow, this cool dog care place near Hundred Oaks. Dad had to get a rental car so we won't have to use so many miles on our car. Since it was a surprise I had two main guesses New Orleans or Chicago. Well it wasn't New Orleans because we were going North .I knew it was Chicago kinda because I accidentally saw a website with Chicago weather on it on my dad's phone. Plus, I figured it out somewhat when dad said he had work there and he was lying. I was right because there were lots of signs pointing to Chicago and I had some guesses of boring places along the way. Guess what Dock we're going to the beer capital of the U.S.A , Milwaukee. Ha. When we arrived in Chicago I noticed something, the hotel we were staying at was right next to the theater where Hamilton was playing.Well it wasn't a not aware thing because Mom and Dad were surprising me with tickets to Hamilton. In fact that was the reason we were staying at the hotel. I always wanted to go because i'm a theater geek and it's the hottest thing. It was my Christmas gift from Grandbobby.  Our hotel room was okay but there was no view because their was ice over the window because it was so cold out. We went to this Italian restaurant down the street called The Village Italian that actually had three restaurants based on fanciness/Italian in one place. We found out this notable bad guy Al Capone ate there once and famous singer Frank Sinatra had his wedding reception there. We got a private booth and ate fantastic food. Then we went to this hotel/gameroom called the Athletic Association where we met a family and played bocce ball with them.

The next day we woke up and had the hotel's continental breakfast. Then we walked in the freezing cold luckily nearby to (name based on Hans Solo's ship, ha not really) the Millennium Park where we took pictures under a giant bean called "The Bean" monument, saw ice skaters and had hot cocoa. Then we took a cab to this cool place called Navy Pier where mom and I got to see a great lake, Lake Michigan, for the first time together. It was a great lake. So big you couldn't see across to the other side and the water was icey.

The pier was mostly inside luckily because it was only 8 or 10 degrees out. There was a ferris wheel outside but it was closed because of the cold. Inside we got some deep dish pizza which was delicious  at a place called Giordonos. Then we checked out this event there called the Winter Wonderfest. I only did one ride because there was other stuff I wanted to do and the lines were long but the "snow tube" slide was fun. Thanks to everyone who gave me birthday cash to get to do events like this! Then mom and I took a cab to the Hancock building which was 95 floors long. While there we learned from a lady that worked there that the Friends star David Swimmer goes there a lot for a drink because he owns a theater near by. There was a long line to get upstairs but a nice lady let ys go ahead because she knew we had to go to the theater afterwards.
We went up to the 95th floor (our ears popped in the elevator like they do when you are flying) to a restaurant called 360. I had a shirley temple and guacamole and we got to see the incredible view from up high. Then came the grand finale of our trip...Hamilton! It was really convenient that our hotel was in the same building since it was so cold. Going down in the elevator there was a man who had brought his son for his 18th birthday present that day at the matinee from Miami and he said it was totally worth the travel and cold weather and everything. He was right because it was awesome. When they first said "Alexander Hamilton" in the opening number everyone cheered because they knew how great of a play it was. We had great seats in the orchestra to the right a little and there were translators for the deaf which was a hard job because they have to translate really fast raps. All the actors were really good. I thought that King George was funny. Alexander Hamilton did a really great job because he had a great amount of the Lin Manuel Miranda vibe. The Chicago trip was really awesome and I recommend it, you should really go there sometime in your life before Hamilton stops playing there.

Dock's Awesome December Featuring a Surprise Trip

Decembers are always great to me because I have my birthday and Christmas. On my bday my grandparents came from West Palm Beach, FL to visit me. I had gotten a cool emoji cake and we had a cul de sac pre party where I rode my bikes with my friends. (The Cook family brought lots of ride on toys and decorated the street with bday messages in sidewalk chalk) Reba had sent me a  bday video message because my Uncle Shane is friends with her and got it for me.  We played a game where you try to eat a donut on a string without your hands. Our regular DJ friend Bama came to it because he's a great freind to Mom and Dad. I got money for a new bike from Nannie in New Jersey which was awesome.
I got tons of great gifts but my absolute favorite was the Nintendo switch which is the hottest game system. I also tried out the Virtual Reality thing at the Microsoft store at the green hills mall since I was finally legally allowed to at 13 years old. We went to Tokyo Japanese Hibachi for my actual birthday with Grandbobby and Grandee and Pepe Bob. Grandee got me a game for the Nintendo Switch called 1-2-3 switch which has lots of fun games like Tennis, Air Guitar and Telephone. I  went to movies to like Star Wars:The Last Jedi and Jumanji:Welcome to the Jungle(named after the beloved Robin Williams film) and we may see another movie either today or tomorrow. I played with my friend Scarlet a little bit and we did stuff like did the Nintendo switch and decorate ugly sweater cookies from Trader Joes. One night on Winter Break Bama(our Dj) called to say he had tickets to something at the symphony. You see other than being a DJ he works there by doing marketing.That thing was Home Alone in concert based on the very popular Christmas movie starring Macaulay Culkin,Joe Pesci and Catherine O Hara. There was actually a chorus in it because there was a scene where Kevin(Macaluary) talks to a man who his brother Buzz calls a murderer in a church with Christmas singers doing it.
Christmas Eve we went to a movie called " It's A Wonderful Life" which was awesome because it's mom's favorite Christmas movie (Elf 2nd) at the Belcourt. Then we went to a little service at a church in Green Hills that was a napkin nativity, I chose to be a sheppard. Then we went to a candle lighting service at Unity. Then G-Bob came over, we made dinner and played Nintendo Switch a little even though he had a cold. The next morning we opened gifts. I got a scooter, tickets to Harry Potter at the symphony, A Wimpy Kid Calendar, Money from grandmothers for my travel/fun fund and a surprise trip from my parents with a surprise adventure from Grandbobby. Then we played Obama Llama, a rhyming game I got my grandfather. I was told to pack my bags for somewhere cold and that we were leaving the next day! I couldn't believe it! More on that in the next post! Here's a few pics....

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More on that to come!

I Shaved my mentors head today

Note: it's not as weird as it sounds. At my school we have a thing called Mentors (like homeroom teachers).They're kinda like our role models because we need help in School life. We had been earning trust so we get rewards. For example we had a field trip in May to Birmingham. We had lots of compass work completed so we got to shave the mentors head. I got to go first because I gotten the most compass points on my "paycheck" that they give us. Compass is our way of life at our school and we get points for good stuff we do like raising our hand in class. It's an honor for me because being on compass is a big thing at my school and I got to be the first to shave my mentor's head as a reward. It was great because he trusted us to do it and it was a fun activity. I think he looks good bald. Here's picture of Mr. S with me and my "pride" group.

Diary of a Docky Kid with actual Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney

A couple weeks ago when I went home from my school, Valor Collegiate, Mom told me she wanted
to tell me something. She had bought me tickets to a book event with the Author of Diary of a Wimpy kid  Jeff  Kinney for his new book "The Getaway." I am a huge fan and if you want to prove it go to every Lit Sim(Valor's version of book club) with me and see me read it every day. It was an event from the bookstore Parnassus a cool book place with lots of events. They always are great at stuff like that because they thew an event a year and 2 months ago (about) where they had book author  Rick Riordan (tween greek mythology author who I also love). This event was at Oak Hill School which was on the estate of First Presbeterian Church. Holy Fact:I went to the doctor who delivered me (Jim Growdon)'s funeral at the FPC. It was hard to find where the book event was because the Church was gigantic. So we had went to a place where they hold Boy Scout meetings. When we went to the school tons of kids wanted to see him because he has a gigantic influence in Childrens Literature with drawings on every page.When we got in, there was a booth with copys of DOAWK:The Getaway but I already had gotten it.  I love Wimpy KID so much and I would buy Diary of a Wimpy Kid in 40 years from now titled "At the pool"(what he might run out of ideas).
I saw a bunch of kids in the Hallway reading the books like they were reading a book on John Cena (he's always every kid in U.S.A's hero)
Before I could meet the author, Jeff Kinney, I had to go through the whole Wimpy Kid "Getaway" Experience;  Parnassus has the same mind as the Producers of the Nickelodeon Kid Choice Awards. We had to go in a metal detector because the book has to do with Air Travel.I f they want to make it like air Travel they should have had someone say "Folks we have some bumpy weather". It also had to do with having a tropical vacation so they had stuff you'd do on a tropical vacation like Mini Golf.
I then finally met Jeff Kinney and he was what I thought he will be like. He seemed like an Author version of Peyton Manning who always makes Nationwide like a BBQ. He was so nice to me and wanted to interact with me like I was his #1 fan. He liked me so much he gave me a drawing of Greg Heffely(The Wimpy Kid) on my copy and even wrote my name in it. He gave me an awesome Idea of inspiring kids by making a character that almost every kid in the world likes. After that I wanted to also buy the 11th book because I lost it at my former house and soMom got it for me. I felt so happy that I got to finally got to live like Greg Heffely, the Wimpy Kid, because I was hanging out with his creator.

WONDER with Dock

Hey guys this is Dock and it has been a while because I am in school again.I bet that I could write about a thousand things that happened since my Solar Eclipse blog  so let me start with one story. My friend Foley invited me and his squad to see a "little known" movie called Wonder.By the way his squad includes my friends Tad and Brendon.We arrived there about 1 hour and 50 mins early to play Pokemon Go. We found Foley and gang near the Microsoft store.Around 1:30 we went to see Wonder which was at 2:05.I didn't like being to early because we had to see previews like Xander Sanders:Danger in Denmark on YouTube red(not a real show.) We actually saw a preview for Disney-Pixars Coco with the main Pixar guys before the real trailers started. Before the movie, we checked to see if the car's light was on (it wasn't) and then we discovered we lost one of our movie tickets. So,We came to the ticket booth and checked to see how we could get another ticket. Then a really nice Manager gave us another ticket and said to us that Wonder is having more popularity for ticket Sales than the Justice League .Wonder stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay. It's about a kid named August Pullman who was born with Treachery Collins syndrome who got his wish come true when he went to school;even though he was bullied, he inspired everyone(except  the bully Julian) that you can be beautiful even though you're "ugly".When we were watching a scene with August's  sister Via talking to a boy she began to like, the screen became black. It stopped because of a big storm that caused tornado sirens to come on(not in theater,just around Nashville).We began to entertain our selfs by making shadow puppets. After 15 minutes the movie came back on. This was a really fun experience and you should really see it. The photo you see at the bottom is me and Foley gang at Wonder.

The amazing eclipse of 2017

Today was when the big eclipse happened. An eclipse is when the sky becomes dark because the moon blocks the sun. It was so big that school let out because of it.We made it an event with a family party at home.We wanted to go somewhere but there was traffic so we decided to stay home. We had food that was eclipse related like Sun Chips and Moon Pies. My Grandbobby came to join in on the fun. We needed to wear glasses to watch it so we won't be blind. The totality part where you can see the eclipse without your glasses lasted for only about 1 minute but it was amazing. When I looked at it it s seemed like I was in heaven. Around me everything changed and it became dark-it wasn't as hot then and I heard crickets. That was a bucket list item for my life!  And I would like to thank my parents for giving me this magical moment.

First Day of School

On the first day of school I did so many amazing things. I met my pride leader Mr Saldejeno (or Mr S.) and I am going to spend lots of time with him. I did OT class and I met a brand new OT. That means Occupation Therapy and she helps me with handwriting. I went to math class and I had fun learning about decimals. I did English with Miss Kim and I snacked on crackers with her. I am learning about the Burmese War. I then went to art class where I drew some stuff about me, like how I like events and about my new home. It's super cool because I never had "expeditions" (like a special class, like art) every day- my school used to do them every few weeks. I like doing them very day. Then Mom picked me up and I told her how good it was. I am doing half days now but I am working my way back to school, I was on home bound last year because I had something called PANDAS and it's hard to explain. I feel great getting back to school!