Hey guys, guess what I did today? Today I went up the (drum roll please) Eiffel Tower!!!!!! Ya it was seriously Epic! We went to the very top and I must say it was pretty freaky. To get to the top you have to walk the 1st floor and then to the 2nd and from the 2nd floor you can take the elevator to the top. The height from the 2nd floor to the top seemed strangely the same to me. Here are some photos from the top of Paris.

Also today is my last day here. I really loved my time in Paris, France. It will be great to head home but I would also love to come back here again someday (soon)!

Here are my top 5 things that I liked about Paris.

1. The Eiffel Tower
2. Parc Astrix
3.The Catacombs
4.The Magic museum
5.The Mason museum

We also celebrated my grandparents' wedding anniversary here. They have been married for 50 years. We went out last night and had a great dinner to celebrate. Last night at dinner I discovered that duck tastes awesome. It was a great evening for all of us.

That's it for now, see you at home!


M

Exploring Paris

Today I had a pretty mellow day. We had lunch at this really cute crepe place and I had this incredible cola, kind of like Coca Cola but much better. It was called Breizh Cola. After lunch I went with my grandparents and my aunt Lisa went to do some exploring of her own. We went to some different stops such as several sweets shops and tea stores. We ended up meeting up at a Muji store. After that we went to Musee Carnavalet, a history museum all about Paris which was very interesting. After about 2 hours, we came home and half an hour ago my parents just got home from a four-day bike trip. It was great to see them again.

That is it for today!


M

Everything That I Did This Weekend That I Didn't Mention Already

This weekend I did some crazy and awesome fun stuff. I went to the Catacombs, Montparnasse Cemetery and Parc Asterix (which you already know about ). I also went to see these incredible Melies movies, went to this cool Magic museum and watched some soccer. Here is some interesting info about the stuff I did over these two days.
1. The Catacombs are these caves really far under ground. They were used when all the cemeteries were filling up and there were lots of diseases going around so they dug up all these bodies and put them down there. The bones are arranged very very neatly.
2. Georges Melies was a very popular French movie maker in the early years of cinema because he was one of the first people to use special effects. My favorite film on the program was called A Trip To The Moon.
3. The most interesting thing at the Musee de la Magie was this cool magic show. I got to go up on stage and help the magician with a card trick.
4. Right now, the European Football Championship is on. Tonight's game was Spain vs. Italy. We were cheering for Italy but everyone else in the restaurant was cheering for Spain! The game ended in a tie: 1 to 1.

 So overall it was an amazing weekend... probably the best so far!

Parc Asterix!

Today, I went to an amusement park called Parc Asterix.

The amusement park was created after the French comic book, "Asterix".   Asterix is a Gaul warrior that fights Romans and Vikings.

At the amusement park, there are lots of different areas such as:
• The Gaul Village
• Rome
• Egypt
• and a Viking City

Going to Asterix instead of EuroDisney was an interesting and educational trip.  While I've been to Disneyland before, this was a unique French experience where I learned lots about history.

I went with my Uncle Paolo, who is staying here with me in Paris.  He used to read the comic a lot as a kid.

My favorite part of the park was this little area where you could play lots of carnival games.  

Signing off, 

M

Biking in Versailles

Yesterday I went to Musée d'Orsay with my mom and dad. This awesome art museum is located in a former train station that Grand Central Station in New York is modelled after! We saw some cool paintings by Matisse, van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Manet, Degas and lots and lots of others.

Today we took the train to Versailles.

Cool Versailles fact: Versailles was the home to the King, Queen and the French government from 1682 - 1789 when the French Revolution had started. There is 2,153 windows, 2,300 rooms, 67 staircases in Versailles. That's a lot! At the Grand Canal, we had some lunch and rented bikes.

 We went around the canal a couple of times which took about two hours. The gardens of Versailles are incredibly beautiful.  There are lots of very very cool statues of Greek gods and loads of flowers.

We also did some exploring in the woods. It was awesome!!!

Have a great day!

M

Max, Miami and Beyond is BACK! In Paris???

Hi guys, I'm back online. This time I'm writing to you from Paris, France! I have been here for 3 days of a two-week adventure. Today I went on a bike trip to learn about the City of Light. The guide's name was Pete and he was really nice. He told us about Napoleon Bonaparte (not Dynamite) and his rise to power. He was basically like King of the World! We also saw cool places like a military school, the Louvre, Napoleon's Tomb and the Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. At one point it rained, then was sunny, and then so forth about 4 times on the trip. I hope you are having just as good a time as I am.

M

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

First of all, for those of you who don't believe in Santa I have proof he exists. The other day I went up to Grouse Mountain with my Mom and Dad and my cousin Leslie. Her son~in~law, Devin, is the wild-life manager and was taking care of Dancer and Vixen for Santa. I got to walk Dancer! It was so cool.
Right now it's Christmas Eve. I am so excited about tomorrow! I'm going to wake up, open all my presents and then my parents and I are going to go skiing at Grouse Mountain. Afterwards, we'll meet my relatives at my grandma's house for a big family dinner. I love the holidays...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

M

Rock Show!

This weekend, I got to perform with my aunt's band cub as part of the Mint Records 20th Anniversary Show at The Waldorf. I dressed up in a bear cub costume and played bongos and percussion. It was a blast! I also threw out three t-shirts to the audience as special prizes. The place was sold out and the audience was awesome. Everyone sang along with us to the songs My Chinchilla, New York City, Your Bed, and Little Star. Afterwards, I watched a crazy band called The Evaporators. The lead singer, Nardwuar The Human Serviette, dove into the crowd and played the organ while everyone held him up. It was loud, sweaty and exciting! Here are some more photos of the show, courtesy of Vancouver photographer Paul Clarke.

Rock on,
Max

Nardwuar The Human Serviette Crowd Surfs At The Waldorf

My Mom Serves "Cubcakes" To The Fans

My Aunt Lisa Singing and Her Friend Anthony Playing in the Ukulele Orchestra

Back in Vancouver and finally a new post!

Hello! I'm back in Vancouver, BC. I just realized that is has almost been three weeks since I did my last blog post. I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to post but we were on the road and the days were packed with all kind of fun things.

Since my last post in the Bahamas I have been to...

*Orlando, Florida where we went to Universal Studios and Nasa (Kennedy Space Center)

*Washington, DC where we saw the White House, many other memorials on Capital Hill and some museums too. My favourite was the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial which just opened.

*New York City, New York, where we saw Grand Central Station, The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building (which we went up), FAO Swartz as well as the biggest Toys R Us I have ever seen in Times Square, the 911 Memorial, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge which we walked across. My Mom and I also went ice skating at Rockefeller Center. It was awesome!

Now I am back in Vancouver and back in school which has been great. My new teacher, Mr. Lundell, is a really nice man and I am learning a lot. It was great to see all of my friends again and it almost feels like I never left.

I have been thinking about my friends and school back in Florida and the good times I spent there. Maybe one day I could invite my Florida friends to come and hang out with me and my Vancouver friends. I bet we would have a great time.

Thank you everybody who supported me when I was doing this blog in Miami and and I'm planning on continuing to post weekly about my new Vancouver adventures. So stay tuned.

M

Dolphins!

Right now I am in the Bahamas with my family and I am having the most amazing vacation here. Yesterday I went to a place called Dolphin Cay here at our hotel and it was so cool. Here is what happened:

First we signed up for a close up meeting with a dolphin and then we changed into wet suits and headed in for our dolphin orientation. During the orientation we learned a lot about dolphins. Here are some of the main things that I learned about dolphins:

1. Dolphins are mammals.
2. They move their tails up and down, unlike sharks who move their tails side to side.
3. Dolphins can stay underwater for up to 15 minutes but cannot breath underwater.
4. Dolphins cannot go into a full sleep because they need to be conscious to breathe so they only let one half of their brain sleep at a time!
5. The dorsal fin is as unique as a person's face.
6. They swallow fish whole.
7. Dolphins can jump as high as 20 feet out of the water.
8. They can swim up to 25 miles per hour.
9. The average age that they live to in the wild is about 17 years but they can live up to 50 years.
10. Dolphins like to have their chins tickled. I got to do this and the dolphin laughed.

The dolphin that I got to meet was named Kelly. She was 37 years old and had was a mother to 3 babies. She had been rescued after she was let out to sea during Hurricane Katrina. She was brought to the Bahamas with a bunch of other dolphins where she lives now.  Kelly was really good at jumping very high in the air. I got to give her a kiss and hold her in the water which was awesome. I got to rub her belly and tickle her under her chin and when I did when made sounds like she laughing. Kelly could also wave her dorsal fins to say hello.

We are leaving the Bahamas tomorrow to go to Orlando. We are going to Disney World! I will post again when I get back.

M.

Happy Halloween

This is me and my friend Rosa. She used to live in Canada.

I know Halloween was yesterday but we were having so much fun here in the Bahamas yesterday I didn't have any time to write. I did want to tell you about the Halloween dance at my school on Thursday which was also my very last day at Feinberg Fisher School.

My costume was a zombified cowboy! My Dad, as he does every year, helped me get my costume and did my make-up. He loves Halloween as much as I do.

We all got into our costumes after school and headed right to the cafeteria where the dance was being held. There were some great costumes and lots of dancing. It was an awesome dance. At the end of the dance I said goodbye to all of my Miami friends and I felt very sad. I hope that I can come back to Miami and see all the great friends I made again.

Another great thing that happened on Thursday is that my teacher Ms. Llorca brought in some cupcakes as a treat because I was going away. They were delicious!

What did you do for Halloween?

M.

A Fun-filled Florida Party with My Friends

This past weekend was great. Here are two reasons why:

1. On Sunday I went to a Miami Dolphins football game with my Dad. We had a great afternoon eating pizza, chicken fingers and drinking soda while we cheered on the home team. The Dolphins were winning 15 to 0 (two touchdowns and one field goal) almost the whole game until the last three minutes when bam, bam, bam we were tied 15 to 15. The game went into overtime and then the other team scored a 3 point field goal and won the game. It was a bit sad but we still had a really great time. Go Dolphins go!

2. On Saturday was the very best part of my weekend. I invited three of my friends from school over to our apartment for a pool party. We met here at 1 pm and headed into my room to play some video games. One of my friends brought over his controllers so we could all play at the same time. We had a blast!

After that we went down to the pool to swim and have jumping contests. My Dad captured one of our contests which you can see above. We were seeing who could jump the farthest. After we played some football and then we ordered pizza. I really like these three guys and I was so glad that they could come over. We had an epic time together.

I only have three more days of school left and on Thursday we are having a Halloween party and dance. I am really looking forward to it..

I should be back before with a Florida fact before then!

M

Florida Facts #7

Okay so I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I am coming home. The bad news is I am coming home. I have totally missed everyone at home and so that is why it is good news that we are coming home but now I have really started to settle in here and will be sad to leave.

My Dad's show, Charlie's Angels, was cancelled and so we should be back in Vancouver by the middle of November. Before we come home we are going on a bit of an adventure. We are going to the Bahamas, then to Orlando then to Washington DC and then to New York City. It will be very fun and interesting and I will report my adventures along the way.

But now onto this week's Florida Facts! Facts about the Florida Keys!

Last weekend I went to visit Key West in the Florida Keys. My Grandma and Grandpa (who I call Boss and Pa) came to visit us in Miami and we so we thought it was the perfect time to explore this area for a couple of days.  It is a three hour drive to reach Key West and so half way there we stopped to get some lunch. During the drive it was pouring rain and then when we got there it was pouring rain and so we were trapped inside. It rained the entire time we were there but we did get to see a few cool things. We went to the pool in the rain which was fun. We drove around and looked at the town of Key West which would have been really great to walk around if it was sunny. We took a picture at the southernmost point in the continental USA.We visited the Ernest Hemingway House and went on a tour and we learned about how Hemingway brought six-toed cats to Key West and now there are currently 42 of these special cats that live his house/museum.

Here are some other cool facts about the Florida Keys:

1.The Florida Keys are located about 24 km south of Miami and extend out toward the southwest and then west toward the Gulf of Mexico.

2. The most populated city in the Keys is Key West.

3. The first inhabitants of the Florida Keys were the Native American tribes Caruso and Tequesta.

4. Through much the their modern history the Florida Keys have been an important area for drug smuggling and illegal immigration.

5. Geologically the Florida Keys are mainly exposed parts of coral reefs.

6. The total land area of the Florida Keys is 356 km2.

7. The climate of the Florida Keys is tropical as in the southern part of the state of Florida.

8. There is a total of 42 bridges connecting the keys.

9. In 1935 the Florida Keys were struck by one of the worst hurricanes in US history.

10. One of the most famous American authors, Ernest Hemmingway, lived in Key West for 9 years. (I visited his house!).

Okay, so those are some Florida Keys facts. I will check in again soon!

M

Florida Facts #6

Hey, hi, ho! Here is the next instalment of the Florida Facts series.

Here are some facts about Florida's climate. I have been thinking about how different the climate is here than at home. A couple of weeks ago I experienced some of Florida's hard core climate. I was at Flamingo Park playing soccer with some friends when we saw some dark clouds forming. The next thing you know everyone was grabbing the nets and their bags and running in every direction for cover.  It started to rain and then pour and then we heard thunder and then we saw lightening. My Mom and I ran under a tree but then some people yelled at us to get out from under the tree because the lightening could hit it.

We ran to a covered area nearby and in the distance we saw a lightening bolt that almost looked like it hit our apartment building. I was so scared as I have never been in such a enormous storm in my life. I was super worried that we were going to be hit by lightening and thunder was so loud it made me jump.

Not long after the rain had started the ground around us began to flood. After about 45 minutes it finally stopped and we walked back to our apartment through the flooded streets. It was good to get home.

Now here are some facts about the climate here:
1. Florida's official nickname is the "sunshine state".
2. Florida is the lightening capital of the country and has injured more than 2000 people since 1959.
3. Tropical cyclones have been reported in every month in Florida except for January and March.
4. The average temperature in Florida range from 18 - 21 degrees C (65-70 ºF) in the north and in the south 23 - 25 degrees C (73-77 ºF).
5. The earliest recorded of snow or sleet was in 1774.
6. Summers in Florida tend to be long, warm and pretty humid.
7. The warmest month in Florida is July and the coldest month is January.
8. There are more tornados per square mile in Florida than in any other state.
9. The rainy season is from June through September.
10. The climate in south Florida in considered to be tropical.

Just wanted to say thanks to Theo and Beckett for the note and the drawing and to Curtis for the cool action figure that you sent me and to Sara, Griffin, Molly, Leslie for the emails and to my new teacher back in Vancouver Mr. Lundell for the math book he sent to me.

Has anyone ever been in a thunderstorm before? Were you scared?

See you soon!

M

Florida Facts #5

Sorry that we are so delayed this week, but it has been a bit exciting around here. On Tuesday, our good friend Sarolta came to visit and is staying with until Saturday. My Mom is very happy!

So, here are our 10 Florida facts, this time about the FLORIDA EVERGLADES!

We went there to visit on Sunday and we really enjoyed it. We didn't know at all what to expect but in the end it was one of the most amazing and enjoyable days that we have had in Florida. We all loved it!

Some of the highlights for me included:
-holding a real live baby alligator
-holding a live boa constrictor snake
-standing up to my knees in the Everglades
-going an island to see a small cabin where one of the presidents of the United States used to go and play poker
-getting to sit up front with the skipper, named Keith, of the airboat

Okay, now on to the Everglade facts:
1. The Everglades are made up of 10,000 different islands.
2. The Everglades are the largest area of wetlands in USA.
3. This area is home to 67 different threatened and endangered species.
4 .The Everglades have 7 different species of ferns.
5. Native Americans living in and around the river called it Pahayokee, the "grassy waters".
6. The Everglades is the only place in the world where the American alligator and crocodile co-exist in the wild.
7. The Everglades is a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve.
8. The grassy plants that are everywhere are known as sawgrass and have serrated razor edge blades that are so sharp they can cut through clothing.
9. Many animals live in the Everglades including the racoon, skunk, opossum, bobcat and white tailed deer.
10. While the Everglades is often described as a swamp or forest wetland it is actually a very slow moving freshwater river.

Just wanted to say a big thanks to Curtis, Griffin, Sara and Molly from Queen Victoria school for writing to me.

Here are some more photos of our time in the Everglades. I will post again soon!

M