On Tuesday, we got on the bus at 11:30 and rode for about half an hour to the Pavilions of Turkey Run for the Great American Barbecue. All you could see were beautiful trees, a million leaves, and amazing landscapes. When I got there I played volleyball, which I was terrible at, and then went for lunch. The meal was really organized and very tasty. After lunch I played softball and got to hit once where I got a double. Later they had a pitching tent set up where I threw a ball that the guy said was 45 miles per hour.

Today was a bus tour today. It was really cool because we went all over Washington just to see the war and president memorials. I thought the memorials in Ottawa were cool. The memorials here are many and great. After the tour I took the round 1 test. I can’t give any details but I will tell you how it works. You get 50 words to type into a computer but only 25 of those count. Each of those 25 words is worth 1 point. For me, there were some really easy words and some very difficult words.

It’s Friday 23rd and I am packing for the 81st National Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington DC. I will go up against 287 other spellers from across the world. I can’t exactly say I am not nervous because that is a lot of people and it will be viewed around the world. Even though I am really nervous I am also excited. Today we decided to pack everything to get ready for the trip to DC on Sunday. I hope that I will have time to continue blogging my activities so keep coming back for updates.

Today was a touring day. First we went to Parliament Hill. We walked down to Parliament Hill and the CanSpell group and I all looked at the Centennial Flame which there is a picture of in the gallery. Then we went up to the Peace Tower where there was a great view and I took lots of pictures which will be in the gallery. One really nice view was of the library roof and of the Ottawa River. The roof tile was really cool and creative. In the elevator there was a glass window and you could see some of the bells but we were moving too fast to get a picture of them.

At 4:30, my family, the creator of this blog, Mr Pattison and I, went to Parliament Hill to meet Mr Ken Boschcoff. I got lots of pictures with members of Parliament and lots of other pictures that are now in the gallery section. I also got some cool pictures on my own camera inside the Parliament building, which will soon be in the gallery section. We went as far as we could with Mr Boschcoff to the Prime Minister`s office, but it was blocked off.

This morning I woke up at 6:30 and I was already really excited. It felt like forever but I finally got to the airport. I had to wait about an hour before I could load the plane after I got through security. When we took off my ears started to pop and my dad taught me a trick, hold your nose and blow out just a bit and then swallow. It really works. If you get motion sickness, take a gravol. I travelled about 1 hour before stopping at Toronto to switch planes. For lunch I quickly ate a slice of pizza and boarded the plane to Ottawa. The flight felt quick and in no time I was in Ottawa.