Two weeks ago, our neighbor was cleaning the garbage out of our pond when he saw an alligator!
I ran to get my shoes on and went outside with Dad. My dad took some pictures of the alligator in our pond. It almost seemed like a minute until the whole neighborhood found out!

The alligator in our pond!

I made a warning poster and posted it on the other side of the pond. That evening, we had dinner with our window open and saw our neighbor fishing in the pond. We saw the alligator swim away. Our neighbor casted his line and reeled it in. The next cast of the line he swung through the air and guess what?...... He caught the alligator with a fishing hook!!! It took about three minutes to get the whole neighborhood to that spot. We thought the alligator was about two years old and five feet long. When our neighbor pulled him out, he taped up his mouth and I was able to pet him!!! We assumed he was a boy and I named him Noah! Since Noah came from the the water. It took the people a little bit to get there, but the people who took him away (to relocate him) were a couple of kids! When I heard this, I kind of wanted to help them!!!

The alligator our neighbor caught with a fishing pole!

For those of you who don't know me, I like to help cook and make desserts for my family. For my birthday, my Mom and Dad bought me a 10 inch cast iron skillet. So the next day, I made a huge and thick chocolate chip cookie in it! This was my first time using a cast iron skillet so I was happy to use it on my own. The cast iron skillet is really heavy and not so easy to take care of to keep it seasoned. They also got me a cutting board and a sharp knife. I can't wait to use it all!!!
This is the recipe for the chocolate chip cookie I made.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup ( 2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Instructions:

First, you get out the ingredients listed above and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Then you get out a large bowl, a medium sized bowl, measuring cup, and a teaspoon. Then, you take two sticks of softened butter and put them in a medium sized bowl. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar to the large bowl.Then add flour, baking soda, and salt to the large bowl. Add vanilla and eggs to the medium sized bowl with the butter and mix well. Add these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the large bowl. When you are done mixing both of the bowls together, pour 2 cups of chocolate chips into the bowl. Mix chocolate chips in with the dough and pour the dough into the cast iron skillet. Cook for 35-40 minutes.

Most of the time, some of the dough doesn't make it to the skillet. It ends up in Dad's stomach.

Spreading cookie dough 

Cookie when it was done