Hi everyone,


It has been ages since I last did a post!! I have been studying really hard, and been rehearsing for a theatre production I am in!! Its a musical and I've had lots of lines to learn as well as dances and songs!! It's great fun and I am really excited and looking forward to our performance nights!!

We have been studying the ancient Eygiptians at school this term and I have been really enjoying learning all about their culture and history, so I thought I would tell you a little bit about the Pyramids and the Sphynx! The photo on the right is of the ancient pyramids of Giza. The Great Pyramids of Giza are the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the world and the most famous and recognised Pyramids in the world!! The centre Pyramid is believed to have been built as a tomb, although it was never used for that purpose for the Pharoh Khufu, and it is often called the Pyramid of Khufu. Eygyptologists think that it was finished in 2,500 BC, almost four and a half thousand years ago!! wow how long ago was that!!!



Now to the Great Sphinx!! The Sphinx is an enormous ancient statue and he sits amongst the great pyramids at Giza, very near Cairo in Egypt. The Sphinx is a creature that has the head of a human being and the body of a lion!! It's about 241 feet long and 66 feet high. It was carved from a single gigantic piece of limestone right out of the landscape about 4,600 years ago (2,500 BC!) about the same time as the great pyramids of Giza, during the reign of the pharaoh Khafre, and is said to be in the image of him. The Sphinx has suffered much damage through the years, mostly from erosion and also from damage by soldiers, during the Turkish occupation of Egypt and when Napoleans soliders invaded the area!


I found an awsome site for kids that you can check out where you can learn how to build models of the pyramids, do quizzes and learn heaps more out about the ancient egyptians its www.guardians.net/egypt/kids/


Keep your portraits coming in for our Global Family Portrait gallery and your Wishes for the World and don't forget to let everyone you know about we are amazing so that they can get creative and post up their portraits too!! Email me if you have something you would like to share, I would love to hear about life where you are and post it up for all our readers!!

See you soon lots of love,

Kate
email me: kate@weareamazing.com.au
(all emails screened by weareamazing team)

Hi Everyone,

Well the Olympics were fantastic and in our house now we are really enjoying watching the Paralympics, the opening ceromony for them was awsome, I didnt get to see the end as I fell asleep!! but I loved it just as much as the Olympic one. All the athelets who are competing in these games are amazing and I have really enjoyed watching the Athletics, they are so inspiring to watch, I think there are another 8 days to go so hope you get to watch whenever you can. We go to the Sanctuary Cove fun run races every year as Nat, and my Mum run in the races there and we always get to cheer off the wheel chair athletes first, they are so dedicated to their sport and are so fast!! its fantastic to watch them race!

Well, I have some great news and you will be really pleased to know!! that I got an A for my Ocelot project!!! If you haven't read our blog before scroll down and you can learn all about the Ocelot, it was once an endagered species but thankfully now it has been taken of the list!!!

I have just been watching a T.V show about Queen Victoria!! It was all about the commonwealth and very interesting!! The lady who presented the show was called Victoria Wood and she is a very famous British Comedien, and she visited all the places that are or used to be in the British Commonwealth. And she visited one place where they looked after orphan orangutans, I did a project on these beautiful animals back in grade 5!!

Well you know me!! they were so lovely! and I was very sad to hear about their plight and why they had become orphans, so after the show I looked up information on them and mum also told me all about how their natural habitats are being destroyed so that the palm trees they live in can be cut down and the oil from them and other vegitation and crops in the forest can be used for all kinds of things, such as soaps, shampoos, shower gels, cooking, etc! There are some great sites and organisations out there who are working really hard to help and save the Orangutans with lots of information about them such as The Australian Orangutan Project, I found this organisation through the Australian WWF, we get emails from them every month. Here is some info for now about the beautiful Orangutans and check out the links below to find out more about Orangutans.

Orangutans spend nearly all of their time in the trees. Every night they make nests to sleep in, from branches and foliage that they find around the forest. They quite like to be on their own are but the mothers stay with their babies until they get to about six or seven years old. Females can grow to around 4 ft 2 inches and weigh about 45 kg, whilst adult males can reach 5 ft 9 inches in height and weigh over 118 kg!!! Their arms are twice as long as their legs and their fingers and toes are curved, which allows them to grip better onto branches. Orangutans unlike gorillas and chimpanzees, are not true knuckle-walkers, and walk on the ground by shuffling on their palms with their fingers curved inwards.

This is what Orangutans eat: Fruit makes up 65% of their diet, they like fruits that are sugary and they love the fruit of fig trees as they are easy for them to gather and are kind to their tummys!! Other foods they love are young leaves, shoots, seeds and bark and they also eat insects and bird eggs!

Here are some facts about the status of their species:

The Sumatran Orangutans and Borneo Orangutans are critically endagered, both are listed on the most endagered species list. The reason for this is mostly due to man harvesting their forsets destroying the Orangutan habitat due to logging, mining and forest fires as well as building roads which cut up the forest. Did you know that Scientists believe that all of this activity will lead to the extinction of the species by the year 2012.

There is lots you can do to help the Ograngutans, tell your parents about their plight, get them to check out the organsisations that are helping them, next time you are out shopping check out the ingredients of the products you are buying, if they have palm oil in them ask if it is Orangutan friendly, that means it comes from a source that does not harm their natural habitat. Wherever your family shops the retailer should know where the palm oil comes from in the products they are selling or at least be able to find out for you; I think that if we dont buy the products which harm the orangutans then the people who are making them will not have people to sell them too?!!!!!

Well, let me know what you think about this blog and if you have anything to share and don't forget to get in touch if you want anything posted up.

Love KateXXX

kate@weareamazing.com.au

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Hi, TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE EXCITING!!!

I haven't been able to stop watching the Olympic Games!! It is constantly on the T.V in our house and my brother Nat isn't getting any homework done! as he is glued to watching it! he loves every sport, I asked him if he was inspired to become an Olympic athelete and he said that he was thinking about it and deciding which sport he liked the best!! I am loving watching the swimmers and was so happy for Leisel Jones when she won her gold medal yesterday in the 100m breast stroke, like she said it was a long time coming and finally all those years of training paid off, I am sure it will not be the only gold medal she wins. I was really excited for Stephanie Rice too, she is only 20 years old and she won Australias first gold medal for this Olympics in the 400m individual medley, how awsome is that!

There is lots more swimming to come with heaps more finals during the day which you will be able to catch tonight on tele, we have the day off today as its the Ekka show in Brisbane so Nat and I are going to watch as much as we can, check out the Diving today and the artistic gymnastics, and keep an eye on the medal tallies, China are leading with 13 Gold medals!! I have to say that their 2 girl divers who won the synchronised diving yesterday were unbelievable, I hope you got to see it?

I will be watching as much of the swimming this week as I can and hoping that Michael Phelps from the USA will achieve his goal of 8 Gold Medals at this Olympics!

Dont forget to write me with what's inspiring you at the Olympics, and anything else that you would like to share with everyone, check out Nat's Olympic facts in Nat's declassified!! He's found out some really great things for you to read!!

Oh Yeah!! I still haven't got my results for my Ocelot project! but as soon as I do I'll let you know!!

love heaps Kate

kate@weareamazing.com.au

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Hi everyone,

I am so excited about the start of the Olympic games, it seems forever that the world has been waiting for the 08/08/08 to arrive! Did you know that the Chinese decided on that date as it is extreamly lucky. As well as the start of the games in China, the day will be very special for thousands of couples as they will be getting married on that day so that their marraiges will be blessed with good luck and lots of good fortune!!

I have been catching some of the run up shows about the Olympics and what sports to watch and I am really looking forward to the gymnastics and swimming competitions. Mum and dad say that its awsome just watching any of the sports as its really exciting, mum reckons that its so awsome cause although we are all competeing against each other to win medals there is something about the Olymics that makes it so special and that it brings countries from all around the world together in a common goal and that all the athelets really respect one another as they know how hard and how much time and effort goes into training, and that just to be there is a massive achievement!!



Don't forget to watch the opening ceromony on Friday,it looks like it will be amazing, and have you seen the stadium they have built in Beijing where they will hold it! it looks awsome I wonder what all the athelets will be feeling as all the years of preparing for their events will be about to happen!! I can imagine they will feel very excited as well as feeling very proud to represent their country, watch out for when the Olympic torch finally reaches it's destination in the stadium after travelling all around the world and the Olympic flame is finally lit signalling the begining of the games.


Write me with any news you have on the games, what sports you like to watch or maybe you have a relative who is compeating? I will post things up as amazing stories unfold!!

Be inspired!!!!!!!!


KateXOXOXOXOXOX
kate@weareamazing.com.au
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The Ocelot

Hi Everyone,

It's been a few weeks since I last wrote you! We have been on school holidays and went camping, where we got very wet!! it rained alot but we had a great time, and the best bit was that we went to Byron Bay light house and saw so many beautiful whales on their way up the coast to have babies and even a pod of about 20 Dolphins which was awsome, the Whales were breaching heaps and we could see them really clearly with our binnoculars! Dad and Nat went to watch the Titans play one night and we had a really bad storm!! Mum and I stayed in the tent watching Harry Potter!!! My mum also turned 40 last week too! Do you think she will thank me for saying that?!!! so we have been really busy with Birthday celebrations and having fun!!


As you can see my title is the Ocelot!! I have just finished my holiday project on this beautiful animal, I had to write it in French!!!! so thought I would share some information about them with you, in English of course!!!!

...Did you know the Ocelot is also known as the Painted Leopard, McKenney's Wildcat or Manigordo (in Costa Rica), it is a wild cat and is found in South and Central America and Mexico, and has even been seen as far north as Texas in the USA and in Trinidad in the Caribbean!

The Ocelot's appearance is similar to that of the domestic cat. Its fur looks like a leopard or Jaguar and was once regarded as valuable, as a result hundreds of thousands of Ocelots have been killed for their fur! which you can imagine I was not very happy about!! Thankfully they are no longer hunted for their fur and although the Ocelot was classified a "vulnerable" endagered speicies from the 1980s until 1996, it is thankfully now generally considered "least concern" by the 2006 endagered speicies list.

The Ocelot can be up to 1 m (3'2") in length, plus 45 cm (1'6") tail length, and weighs 10–15 kg (about 20–33 pounds). It has a tawny to reddish brown coat marked with black spots and rosettes and it's fur is short and lighter on it's tummy, they also have a single white spot on the back of each of thier ears and two black lines on either side of thier face with a black-banded tail.

I love these wild cats and hope you love the picture of the one above!!! I'll let you know what mark I get for my project!!!


Do you have a favourite wild or endangerd animal that you love if you have send me an email telling us all about it and I will post it up onto the blog!

Don't forget WORLD TREE DAY!! See my post below for more information!!!

See you all soon

Love KatiebXXX

kate@weareamazing.com.au
all emails screened by weareamazing team

Whaling!

Hiya everyone!! How are you? Fine I hope, I'm good :)

Right so, what am I to talk about today? You guessed it! 'Whaling' . Whaling is a MAJOR issue that many have tried to stop. Of course, these beautiful creatures are millions of years old. Actually there have been whales swimming away in our oceans for over 50 million years!! But their numbers declined dramatically over the last 100+ years, as they have been hunted by man to make many different products aswell as for eating. Next month the International Whaling Comission (IWC) meets in Chile. Where the Japanese will try to convince them to let them have full rights back to start whaling AGAIN! This is an issue that really gets to me. What kind of people would want to hurt these absolutely AMAZING animals?? So, if you have a soft spot for these gental giants why not find some kind of petition to sign? Or even better click on this link so that you can create your own oragami whale wich will be sent to the meeting to show how much people care for these animals!!

http://www.send-a-whale.com/sendawhale/landing.php And join many in their quest to save the Whales!! OH MY GAWSH!! I've just made my whale and it is SSOOOOO much fun!!! Go and check it out, now!! & support Green Peace, my whale was the 3 2, 2 3 5 whale to join the "POD"!!

If you've got anyting you would like to share with everyone feel free to send me an email ~

kate@weareamazing.com.au

(All emails screened by weareamazing team)

Kate xxx

Hi everyone,

Hope you all celebrated world environment day yesterday, did you know that the United nations slogan this year is "kick the habit!" That is... for us all to kick the use of CO2, carbon emmisions!! There are some really easy and simple ways you can do that at home that will really make a difference if we all tried really hard to follow, they are:

1) Use energy saving light bulbs
2) Get your mum to wash clothes in the washing machine on 30 degrees, she'll know what you are talking about!!
3) Don't leave your electronics on standby overnight, they use just as much power as they do when they are fully on!
4) And if you can, travel by public transport, ride a bike or walk to school.

Also just to let you know that your school can participate in National Tree day which is on the 25th July. Did you know that since tree day started in 1996 more than 1.5 million volunteers have planted 11.5 million native trees, plants and shrubs how amazing is that! The benfits of getting your school involved are:

* you will feel great about doing something to help the environment
* You'll be supporting a good cause
* You'll be helping your school and local community
* Help offset harmful carbon emissions
* Make Natural spaces even more beautiful
* You'll have heaps of fun!!

You will need to get a teacher involved to help co-ordiante your schools national tree day so let your teachers know all about it, and then together work as a team to make the day fun and inspiring for everyone, maybe it could become an annual event?
You and your teachers can find out more about getting involved at treedayplanetark.com there is a great teachers resource section on the site and a great spot for kids where you can find out more too!

Happy tree planting!!

KatieXX