FLAT STANLEY

Visits the WaltucksinHamilton Square, New JerseyMay, 2015

About the Waltuck Family

• Hi,

• We are Bruce and Susie Waltuck. We are Olivia Clark’s cousins. Her Grandfather, Morris Kaufman, and Bruce’s Mother, Mary, were brother and sister.

• We have a son, Miles, who is 28. He is a school psychologist working at a high school in Baltimore Maryland.

• We live in the Hamilton Square section of Hamilton, New Jersey. About 100,000 people live in Hamilton. Susie was a second grade teacher for more than 30 years. She used to do Flat Stanley projects with her students.

• We loved having Flat Stanley here!

Making Flat StanleyBruce decided to decorate our Flat Stanley visitor. Bruce was going to draw on Flat Stanley, but then he had a different idea. Bruce decided to cut out pictures of things from magazines, and use them to make Flat Stanley look great.

Can you guess what Flat Stanley’s clothes and body are made of? His hands are shrimp. His shoes are tomatoes. His mustache and beard are a beach blanket. His pants are stone blocks from a fireplace. His shirt is from a painting about a human brain!

Flat Stanley Visits Starbucks

Do you know what Starbucks is? It is a store that sells coffee, and tea, and different foods. Some of the coffee drinks are complicated to make. The people who make the special drinks are called Baristas.

Bruce loves going to Starbucks. His favorite Barista is Brianne. She is always happy, and smiles at everybody. She is also a modern dance performer and teacher. Bruce and Susie got to see her dance once.

Bruce and Stanley visit a special oxDo you know what an ox is? It is an animal that is similar to a cow. An ox is a very strong animal, and can be used to pull heavy wagons.

The Hopewell Valley area is about a half-hour drive from our house. They had a project where fiberglass oxen (more than one ox) were put up all over the area. Different artists got to paint them any way they chose. “Aloha” means HELLO in the Hawaiian language. Bruce and Flat Stanley enjoyed seeing this special ox.

Bruce and Flat Stanley visit a very special library

In the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, there are many beautiful older buildings. Some, like this red brick building, were built more than 100 years ago. Today, this building is the home of the Hopewell Public Library. Since Flat Stanley comes from a book, we thought it would be fun to visit the library. The librarian, Connie, enjoyed meeting Stanley.

Bruce, Susie, and Stanley, visit Rat’s RestaurantOnly ten minutes away from our house is one of the most unique places in the whole world. Grounds for Sculpture is a park filled with incredible sculpture and art. The restaurant there is called Rat’s. It is named for a character in the book “The Wind In the Willows.”

We went to Rat’s for a really special and fun event. We also got to meet the very special man who created Grounds for Sculpture- and a lot more! His name is Seward Johnson. His sculptures are all over the world- maybe you have even seen one! His grandfather helped start the company Johnson & Johnson, that invented Band-Aids!

Sing Along With Seward!For a few weeks each Spring and Fall, Mr. Seward Johnson has a really fun event that anyone can attend. He LOVES to have fun, and he loves to sing. So he had two books made with many of his favorite songs from movies, and plays, and records. He has a friend who can play any song. There is a red book and a blue book. People get to call out a book color and page number, and then they play that song. And EVERYONE sings along with Seward. We LOVE it!

Flat Stanley learns about MediationHave you ever heard of “mediation?” or being a “mediator?”

Mediation is a way for people who have a strong conflict, or disagreement about something, to talk about it in a safe and respectful way. A mediator is a person with special training, who helps the people with the disagreement focus on talking respectfully, and thinking together about ways to solve and settle their argument. Bruce works with the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators. Bruce took Stanley to a special learning lunch at a restaurant an hour from our home, in Red Bank, New Jersey. These are two of Bruce’s mediator friends. On the left is Dave Leta, and on the right is Carl Peters.

Flat Stanley checks out the boats at the Belmar Inlet Marina

The day that Bruce took Stanley to the mediator meeting in red Bank, was a beautiful day. Red Bank is a town near the Atlantic Ocean. It is also along a river that flows out into the ocean.

On the way home, Bruce drive through the town of Belmar, New Jersey. Belmar is also right along the ocean. But the Western edge of Belmar is along the river, and there is a park and a place to leave your boat if you have one. A place for parking boats is called a marina. Stanley and Bruce sat in the sunshine watching the boats on the river.

Do you know what a “Classic Car Cruise” is?

Some people love to own really old cars. Sometimes the owners will modify the cars with fancy paint, and add shiny chrome parts to the engines. On the way home from Red Bank and Belmar, Bruce saw signs for a “Classic Car Cruise” in a shopping center just ten minutes from our home.

This is Susie and Stanley, with three of the more than 50 amazing cars we saw at the Classic Car event. Can you guess how old these three cars are? They were all originally built in the 1930s!

Do you know what a “hot rod” is?

Sometimes people will take a really old car, and change it in ways that make it look really different, and really fast to drive.

The orange and white car here started out as a 1930 Ford. But the owner put in a big fast modern engine. The engine has shiny chrome parts as you can see here.

Maybe you can do some research, and find out why this kind of car is called a “hot rod.”

Our Weight Watchers friend and leader, JessicaBoth Bruce and Susie have been working hard to be healthier. That means making smart choices about the foods we eat; not eating too much; and exercising more.

A company that helps people be healthier is called Weight Watchers. Bruce and Susie are both members, and this is our leader and teacher, Jess. She used to teach fifth grade in a school. Now she teaches us how to be healthier. Since September 2013, Bruce has lost 90 pounds, and Susie has lost 40. We feel so much better, and Jess is there to help us every week!

One more colorful adventureMr. Seward Johnson loves making art, and loves having people visit Grounds for Sculpture. Every bit of the park is carefully planned, with beautiful trees, flowers, ponds, and. . . Peacocks! Yes, there are a bunch of peacocks there, and they walk freely around the park. There are both male and female peacocks, and even a very rare all white peacock. They are not afraid of people. Do you know if it is the male or female peacocks who have the beautiful bright feathers? We were lucky to get this picture of Susie with the peacock showing off their amazing tail feathers. We know Stanley had a great time visiting New Jersey, and we hope he’ll come back again!