When I was six.......

Carson's first grade class read lots of wonderful stories during first grade, but one of the student's most favorite stories was called, "Tell Me A Story." It was about a six year old girl who wanted to hear stories about when her grandmother was her age.

Carson's class began telling stories about their parents and grandparents. Ms. Arroyo thought all their stories were incredible and amazing and she came up with the idea to have parents and or grandparents write their stories and send them to class for the her to read to the entire class! Everyday the kids would ask if another parent sent in a story for them to hear! Ms. Arroyo featured all the stories that were sent to class in the end of the year first grade class book for all of us to enjoy!

Carson wanted his Dad to write about when he was six and made sure to let Mark know the things he wanted Mark to include in his story! Carson wanted Mark to talk about how he lived on a farm, baseball, his dog and his motorcycle to name a few things! Mark had been busy at work and had not gotten to writing his story right away! Carson would come home from school and ask me when his Dad was going to write the letter! I kept offering to Carson that I would write about when I was six, but he would tell me "NO" because I didn't do cool things like his daddy did! LOL!

Mark finally got to writing his story and went the extra mile on it! It was well worth the wait! Carson loved Mark's story and had to read it over and over! Carson will treasure his Dad's story forever!

Mark's story:

To The Magnanimous and Illustrious Ms. Arroyo’s Class:

My name is Mark Fryer. My son is Carson Fryer and he has asked me to write about myself when I was six years old.

When I was six years old I lived in Benton City, WA. There I lived in a brown, two story house in the middle of 24 acres. Around my house were several mounts: Rattlesnake MT., Red MT, Flat Top MT and the Horse Heavens MTS. It is said that the mountains got their names from a cowboy that road his horse to the top of Flat Top to see which way to go. He searched so much, he made the mountain top flat. When he got to Rattlesnake MT, well his horse got bit by a rattlesnake. As the cowboy rode on, the horse bled all over Red MT, turning it the color red. The horse bled so much, by the time it made it to the last mountain, it died in the Horse Heavens MTS.

I went to 1st grade at Kiona-Benton Elementary and my teacher was Mrs. Hill. Every morning, I would look forward to catching the bus, so I could meet up with my friend Chad Larson. Chad and I were best friends and would always play together during recess. We would play football, tag, red rover and other fun games we could come up with. I also had a girlfriend in 1st grade. Her name was Heidi Vickerman. Her dad was a teacher at the Junior High School.

After school, my mom would drive me to baseball practice. I played for a team called the Pilots. We would wear green t-shirts with “Pilots” written in white letters across it. I loved to play baseball and would practice hitting in my front yard.

When I wasn’t playing baseball, I would sneak my families Honda Trail 50 motorcycle out of the garage and drive it around and around my house until it was out of gas. Riding was a lot of fun. Round and Round, I would go. Sometimes my dog, Spike, would want to race me. He would run really fast and would sometimes catch up to me and bark at the tires. Spike was a Blue Heeler or sometimes called an Australian Cattle Dog. Spike and I would have a lot of fun together. Sometimes I would even put a football jersey on him and play tackle football. After all, Spike loved sports and was just as big as me.

The backyard of my house was 12 acres of land and had a large pond full of trout. My family would often go to the pond on the weekends and fish for trout. The biggest fish I caught was 24” long.

I also had a horse named Joe. He was a brown quarter horse. Sunday mornings before church, I would watch old episodes of the Lone Ranger in black and white. I would dream about riding Joe with a white hat and black mask, just like the Lone Ranger. I never did get to ride Joe. Before he was old enough to ride, my dad got a job in Denver, CO. Joe was sold since our new house would be in the city.

Well, these are some of the things from when I was six! Hope you liked them.

Sincerely,

Mark Fryer

Mark's first grade class! Mark is on the top row, fourth one over in the blue shirt! Mark was tagged on facebook in this picture and I made a copy of it!