On Hiatus

[Dad's Note: Due to technical difficulties, Bridger's blog will be on hiatus for a few days...Check back soon!]

Wednesdays with West: Froggy Days

This one is for those big strange frogs that swim in the tank.

We went to Froggy Days yesaday and it's in a muzesum. I don't know where that muzesum is. They have lots and lots of froggies there and I love it so much. They have blue dart froggies and tree froggies and tons of froggies. My favorite froggy is all of them. My favorite froggy at my house is my fibelly frog. I love him. He eats crickets.

Here's a picture that dadda took of those strange big froggies.

An Astronaut's Glove on the Moon

This one is for Jane.

Do you know how good my eyes are? They're wonderful. I can see so far. I can even see a black spot on the moon when I look at it at night and that black spot is an astronaut's glove! Can you believe I can see that good?

Swimming in a Lake with Tiff

This one is for the Wonder Pets. I really love the Wonder Pets.

I had a great time with my Tiffy over at the lake. We swimmed for 100 miles to this fountain in the lake. I swimmed the whole way. I was wearing a life jacket. Tiffy says when she teaches me swimming lessons I won't wear a life jacket so I will learn how to swim without one.

There was dadda and Zach and West and Coulter- even Cammy that was swimming with us in that lake. That's really big water and I was very brave to swim in it. I love Tiff and I love swimming in the lake.

Picture of the Week: Digging Fossils

Goodbye, Stein

[Dad's Note: Stein the dolphin has passed away after a long battle with liver cancer. He was in his mid 40's. As he aged past normal dolphin life expectancy (about 25 years) he began losing his teeth, making him very easy to recognize. Bridger met Stein in San Diego last year and has mentioned him often in his posts.]

This one is for Stein. He went to Jesus.

Poor Stein went to Jesus. He was a good dolphin. He was a sensational dolphin. He had no teeth because he was so old, but it was ok because the SeaWorld workers took good care of him. He had this thing called cancer that grew in him until he died.

I'm very sad about Stein, but it's ok because I know Jesus is taking care of him. Also the Crocodile Hunter, and that's really good because the Crocodile Hunter knows how to take care of animals.

Wish I could hold him and love him when he was dying. Then maybe he would feel better. I wish I could have seen him again and I wish I could give him something. Like I gave old granny a sticker of a starfish when she died. I got it from wal-mart. I don't even think they sell that sticker anymore at wal-mart. Then I put that starfish sticker on her shirt before she died.

Do you know what's good? I think when Stein gets resulected, he will be a kid dolphin again and he'll have all his teeth. I love Stein.

[The following is an excerpt of a letter from our dolphin connection, Erin at SWCali:

I am very sorry to inform you that Stein passed away on May 28, 2007. I was actually there when he died (coincidentally). He died peacfully in the arms of his trainers. He had been battling liver cancer. He was a very old dolphin. I am very sorry you won't be able to see your favorite dolphin during your trip to sea world this summer. Just remember he was loved by a lot of people, including Bridger.

Erin took some pictures of Stein in March. Here are those pictures with her comments:

This is Stein and Bodine. Bodine is a pacific bottlenose dolphin and the biggest bottlenose dolphin at sea world. He weighs about 850 pounds. They tend to be a lot larger, and a lot darker than the Atlantic bottlenose dolphins which is what Stein is. I don't know what Stein's actual weight is but it's probably around 450 pounds.

That is Stein on the right and two of youngsters, Nitro (age 3) and Venus (age 2).

This is Stein on the scale with a female named Beaker. Beaker is actually Stein's daughter. Her mother is a pacific bottlenose dolphin, which is why she is so dark. Beaker has two kids of her own. Her most recent one, Captain, a female, born in October 2005, is at RPP with her.

Stein on the scale again.

Thank you Erin for the information and the pictures.]

Previous Stein-related posts:
Prayer for the Toothless Dolphin
Toothless Dolphin Update
Things That Make Me Happy
Hot Air Balloon Time

Monday Mailbag: Gigantoraptor and the Eternal Blog

In response to Protostega, Tyler said...
Bridger, I was wondering if you heard about the fearsome gigantoraptor yet? It's one that they just discovered.

BRIDGER RESPONDS: Yeah, dadda told me about that new dinosaur when we were picking weeds. That is so cool. It makes me want to make up a story about that raptor.

In response to Happy Birthday thedinosaurboy.com, Tiff said...
Bridger, congratulations on your one-year anniversary! You have posted some great dinosaur information, as well as lots of other fun and interesting tidbits. I look forward to another year from the Dinosaur Boy!

BRIDGER RESPONDS: Tiff, I will never stop writing my blog. Even when I'm resulected.

Karla emailed...
You have a really great site and it looks like you’re having a lot of fun with your family! Congratulations on your new baby sister. She’ll have no problem learning to like you, most definitely.

BRIDGER RESPONDS: I always want to teach Angel what's right, like being nice and not saying bad words. Like I don't want her hanging around naughty people who maybe will teach her to be mean. I want Angel to be a good American.

An Idea to Save the Manatees

This one is for a manatee.

There's a place in the river where the manatees swim. They eat salad and green food and they are very nice. They all have big scratches on them because they get caught in nets a lot. Sometimes even bad guys kill them.

There is a sign there that says "Manatees are under the water." I have a great idea to save those manatees- just change the sign so it says "Sharks are under the water." Then no bad guys will ever go there!

This is a picture of some manatees that we have on our wall.

Picture of the Week: Brothers in the Graveyard

I Like the Wonderpets

This one is for the Wonderpets. The ducky one.

Mumma made some wonderpets out of paper and now I'm playing with them. Wonderpets are a kind of animal on this show I like. I like the turtle one because a turtle is a reptile like dinosaurs. They fly around in a flying boat and save other animals. They even have a game that you can play on your computer, but dadda will never put it on there. I ask him and ask him but he just never does it. Maybe he keeps forgetting.

[Dad's Note: Or it could be I just don't like installing crappy games on the family computer.]

That's why mumma made some out of paper that I am playing with. I love wonderpets!

Ooh, I just saw a commercial for a dinosaur show with the Crocodile Hunter's family on Animal Planet. It's called "When Dinosaurs Romed America" and I'm supposed to tune in Sunday. I can't wait!

Wednesdays with West: Thoughts on Pioneers

This one is for the pioneers.

Me and Bridger goed to this pioneer museum today. Pioneers is people that didn't have cars so they rode in wagons and they rode a long, long way in the mountains. They had houses that was made out of logs that wasn't very good houses.

I was in a group with Kara and my group leader was the guy from Wal-Mart. We pretended we was real pioneers and there was pictures of stars and Jesus there. Grace was even there.

Protostega, the Soft-Shelled Chelonian

This one is for Kekoa. I really need to play with him. Maybe the day after tomorrow.

I have a bookmark. It's a dinosaur one. That way I can close my dinosaur book and it will hold the page I was doing. My bookmark is on the dinosaur turtle page and I think I'll talk about protostega tonight.

The protostega is a big dinosaur turtle. He's bigger than a dadda and he swims in the sea. He eats small-shelled creatures. He would be easy to kill if he wasn't so quick. His shell isn't hard like the proganochelys. It's soft, but that makes it light. So a mososaur could kill it real easy but he'd have a hard time catching it.

Oh, here's a dinosaur joke: Why did the raptor get a ticket? Because he was in a no stomping zone! That's a funny joke, huh? Grammy Darla always tells me funny jokes so that one was for her.

I Want to Try Surfing

This is for Silas. I'm going to ask him if he wants to go to Dinosaur Park with me.

We went and saw this movie called Surf's Up that's really cool. It has lots of penguins in it and they surf in the ocean. It has a chicken in it and he wins the surf contest. That's cool because do you know that a chicken is the t-rex's cousin? Yep. It's true.

I want to try surfing next time I go to the beach. I have a board already but I can't find it. It would be fun to be a surfer because they just sit on the beach all day and surf and swim and play their ukuleles. Oh, that would be awesome!

Picture of the Week: Happy Family

Wednesdays with West: The Coolest Garbages in the World

This one is for Angel.

We was eatin' at this Australia restaurant and they have really cool garbages in the bathroom. It's right in the table, so you just throw stuff right in it! That's really cool. That's the coolest garbage I ever seen.

Proganochelys, the Dinosaur Turtle

This one is for a proganochelys. That is a dinosaur turtle that has pokes on his back.

Most people don't know that dinosaur turtles were the chelonian type of reptile. Chelonians are alive today! But chelonians from the dinosaur times had teeth, but the chelonians now don't have teeth. Pretty cool, huh?

Proganochelys was a chelonian with pokes on his neck and shell. It was a pretty tough dinosaur turtle. It was hard to attack and it was a predator. But the thing is, it would be pretty easy to kill him. Just flip him on his back.

Proganochelys couldn't swim but he had friends that could, like protostega and placochelys. Those two could swim and they ate jellyfish.

Once upon a time proganochelys was walking along the beach and he ran right into his friend, protostega. Protostega invited him to sleep over at his house. So they found placochelys and some other swimming dinosaur turtles and they all slept over at protostega's house. The End.

Australia

This one is for the Crocodile Hunter.

We went to this Australia eating place day after the other day and there was the coolest picture on the wall there. It had all of the things and creatures of Australia on there. There was kangaroos, crocodiles, fish, surfer guys. I love that picture so much and I don't ever want to forget it, so I had dadda take a picture of it with his phone.

And do you know what? Yesterday Crocodile Hunter was on. It was raining and he was fixing a pond where a crocodile lives. Then a commercial came on that said tune in Friday at 7:00 for a special show called "My Dad the Crocodile Hunter" that has Bindi on it. I will definitely tune in to that! Some day I would like to go to Australia. They have instruments there that sound like a parasaurolophus crest.

[Dad's Note: The eating place was Outback Steakhouse. Bridger is referring to a mural just inside their door, which he spent a considerable amount of time adoring the other night. Bindi is the Crocodile Hunter's daughter. Instruments that sound like a parasaurolophus crest is the digeridu. Bridger theorizes that this is what the horn-like crest on a parasaurolophus would have sounded like.]

Camping with Dadda

This one is for Lehi.

We went to the Father's and Son's camp next week. It's in a jungle place in the mountains. It was so fun. We went there in our motor home. That's a cool thing because you can sleep in it. And do you know what? You can ride in the back of it while dadda is driving and you don't even need to wear a seatbelt! Plus, if you are in a motor home you are safe from driver ants. They can get you in a tent, but not in a motor home.

I saw driver ants when we were camping. In Africa they call them Siafu. They use their jaws to stab your skin and eat your flesh. They can even kill a person. They walk in a long line and some of the siafu's jobs is to make a wall so the others can walk through. If a sausage bug tries to walk over that wall of ants, the ants will catch it and tear its wings off. Then they suck it's guts. Siafu are kinda bad, but I like them because Jesus made them.

When we was camping I saw this log that was so cool. I had dadda take a picture of it because I never want to forget that log ever. Here is a picture of my favorite log.

There was also a tree stump that had a tic tac toe game carved on it. I would play it if I knew how to play tic tac toe.

Picture of the Week: Camping Buddies