About a week ago, we (my class and I) went to the field museum.  We had a ton of fun!  We were there from about 10:30 or so to 2:30 or so.  The bus ride took a while, though we left at about 9:10.  When, we finally got there, we learned our schedule and got to work.  First, the time before lunch we spent at an ENDLESS evolution exhibit.  And don't think it wasn't fun by the way I said it, because that was SO much fun!  There were six major wipeouts, and when we saw red paint on the floors we knew they were coming up.  Our tour guide told us lots of stuff about the world's first creatures, like for example what types of fish were there, or what the dinosaurs ate.  Cool stuff like that.  Turns out that one of the most successful fishes in the sea was a lightning fast shark-fish thing that was practically as large as I am!  It was impossible to get away from it.  Naturally, that fish was the top predator in the ocean for QUITE a while.  After the evolution exhibit, we touched practically the oldest rock in history!  I thought that was really cool.  And if THAT isn't awesome enough, it was time for... lunch!  Okay, maybe not the most novelty-type thing in the world, but hey, you can NEVER get tired of lunch.  My friends and I spent lunch talking about what part of the exhibit we had liked best.  We were in a group huddle on the floor (there wasn't any room at the tables left) and we loved it!  When lunch was over, we had a quick bathroom break, and then came the best part.  I was SO eager to see more about how Mr. Solarz had said we would see real live scientists, and he still hadn't explained to us, so when we were introduced to a new tour guide, I knew things were about to get REALLY interesting.  And boy, they did.  First the nice ladies we had just been introduced to were leading us down a regular museum hallway, next minute we were through a door titled "Museum Staff Only", and the second after that we were in an elevator with a CLEAR GLASS TOP!  We looked up, and up.  The elevator wasn't that full, we had split into two groups so that we could all fit, so everyone could have a good view of the glass, where we could see the mechanism speeding us up, up, and up!  I was so amazed.  We were traveling on a secret elevator, and I would bet that my mom and dad hadn't seen THIS part of the field museum.  Oh, boy oh boy oh boy... and then suddenly we were at the top.  I stepped out along with my friend Kelsey, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, well at least at first.  When I looked around more closely, I noticed that we were on a balcony with an awfully thin piece of metal keeping us from splatting 150 feet down.  We could literally LOOK DOWN on the tall stone pillars up front, and a few people started to yell stuff like "HI!"  and "Hello, down there!"  and "This is SO cool!" and "I can't BELIEVE Ian's missing this!"  Maybe I should give a quick explanation.  Ian was sick for the trip, just suddenly out of the blue, and he couldn't come.  Well, anyway, let's just say I got mysteriously freaked out.  Taking my eyes away from the horrific site, I noticed that our other half of the class was now taking THEIR turn up in the elevator, so we started waving to them.  The glass top was pretty clean, and they started waving back up at us, too.  When they reached the top and stepped out, we were led through hallways for about 5 minutes, and then into a bright room with lots of space rocks and pieces of them in it.  Then, we were introduced to Jim.  He was the scientist Mr. Solarz had been talking about!  We took a picture with him for the slideshow (above).  After about 20 minutes, probably longer though I can't remember the exact amount, it was time to go.  We piled back through the elevator and onto the bus, where we heatedly discussed wether Brian or Graham looked the weirdest with their coats inside their shirts.  (We eventually decided Brian, his was more proportionate) All in all, it had been a GREAT trip!

Today, we are doing our fourth mystery Skype EVER!  Well, not exactly "ever" since this is our fourth one, but you get the idea.  And, we're off and running!  Here we go.  Our greeters are going first.  After a short greeting (of course) our sharers went.  They told the other class about our ice cream social, our energy debates, our fun fair, and asked to hear about their school just a little.  Then, they told us about a few of their things.  Like for example they told us they were in the fourth grade, and had the best teacher in the world, which of course we disapproved of.  We settled it by saying they had the best fourth grade teacher, and we had the best fifth grade teacher.  And then, the questions began!  Us first.  "Are you in the United States?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Do you live in the Midwest?"  Yes.  Their turn.  "Do you guys live in New York?"  No.  Our turn.  "Does your state border a great lake?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in South America?"  No.  Our turn.  "Does your state border Iowa?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Do you guys live in Iowa?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in North America?"  Yes.  Their followup.  "Do you live in Montana?"  No.  Our turn.  "Are you south of Iowa?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Do you live in Missouri?"  Yes!  Their turn.  "Do you live in the United States?"  Yes.  Their followup.  "Do you live on the Missouri border?"  Yes.  Our turn.  "Does your county start with the letters a through l?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Does your county start with the letters a through g?"  Yes.  Their turn.  "Are you surrounded by land?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in Illinois?"  Yes.  Our turn.  "Do you guys live on the south side of Missouri?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you guys live in Chicago?"  No.  Our turn.  "Do you live in the northeast region of Missouri?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in the southern part of Illinois?"  No.  Our turn.  "Does your county start with the letters a through c?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Does your county's name start with the letter a?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in Schaumburg?"  No.  Our turn.  "Does your county's name start with c?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Is your county Clinton?"  No.  Our turn.  "Is the second letter of your county a?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in Bloomington?"  No.  Our turn.  "Is the second letter of your county l through o?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Is the second letter of your county name o?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you guys leave in Waukegan?"  No.  Our turn.  "Do you guys live in Clark County?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you guys live in Oakland?"  No.  "Is your county name two syllables?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in Elgin?"  No.  Our turn.  "Do you guys live in Clay County?"  YES!  Our followup.  "Is the first letter of your school's name a through f?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in Evanston?"  No, but close.  Our turn.  "Does your school's name start with g through m?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Does your school name start with the letters g through k?"  Yes.  Their turn.  "Do you guys live in Highland Park?"  No.  Our turn.  "Does your city's name start with the letters a through l?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Does your town's name start with the letters a through g?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you guys live in Gary?"  No.  Our turn.  "Is your city name Halt?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in Grenville?"  No.  Our turn.  "Do you guys live in Carney?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in Lincoln Wood?"  No.  Our turn.  "Does your city's name start with an l?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you live in Arlington Heights?"  Yes!  Their followup.  "Do you go to school near a shopping center?"  No.  Our turn.  "Does your city name start with the letters h through j?"  No.  Their turn.  "Are you in the Arlington Heights School District?"  Yes.  Their followup.  "Do you go to Riley Elementary School?"  No.  Our turn.  "Do you guys live in Kansas City?"  Yes!  Our followup.  "Are you guys in the southern part of Kansas City?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you go to Dryden Elementary School?"  No.  Our turn.  "Do you guys go to a public school?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Is your school district # 33?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you go to Green brier Elementary School?"  No.  Our turn.  "Do you guys go to school district # 74?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Does your school name start with the letters a through j?" Yes.  Their turn.  "Do you go to Windsor Elementary School?"  No.  Our turn.  "Is your school's first letter a through c?" No.  Their turn.  "Do you go to Patton Elementary School?"  No.  Our turn.  "Is your school grades kindergarten through 5?"  Yes.  Our followup.  "Is your school name two words?"  No.  Their turn.  "Does your school's name start with the letters a through m?"  No.  Our turn.  "Is your school name l through o?"  No.  Their turn.  "Do you guys go to Westgate Elementary School?"  YES!  We had to keep guessing, though.  "Does your school start with r through w?"  No.  "Do you guys go to shoco Elementary School?"  No.  "Do you go to Gracemoor Elementary?"  YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!  We guessed it!