Flat Stanley goes Cruisin'

I watched "Up in the Air" last night, and in the movie the lead character's sister takes a poster size picture of her and her husband to be and send it to all their friends to take pictures of them all over the US. It made me think of Flat Stanley.

Maybe you have heard about Flat Stanley. He is a character in a book written by Jeff Brown back in 1964. The character Stanley gets flattened by a bullentin board that his father buys him and his brother.

He uses his new flattened status in very interesting ways, he can get mailed in a envelope to visit friends in far away places.

This story created a phenonmena called The Flat Stanley Project. (http://www.flatstanley.com/) It was created in 1994 to create a global literacy program where students can read Jeff Brown's book, and create their own Flat Stanley and mail it to friends and family have his story told by others through words and photographs. (http://www.flatstanley.com/about?subpage=project)

My friend's niece who lives in New York mailed her flat Stanley to her aunt here in Toronto and asked if she would take care of flat stanley and send his story and some pictures back home.

That was around the same time that my mom and were going on our cruise. Flat Stanley came with us. He had a really good time on the cruise. His passport was valid for at least six months (cruise line rules of course). He met my friend and her family for a smoothie in Miami before the cruise. He partied at Margaritaville in Grand Cayman, and at Senor Frogs in Cozumel and on deck on the cruise ship. He also got in trouble because he wanted his picture taken with a life preserver when we were waiting for the tender to go to Grand Cayman (how did we know you weren't allowed to take pictures in that area)!

People actually recognized him on the pool deck and pointed and shouted - "hey look, it's Flat Stanley"....

Overall, for the five days of vacation, my mom, Flat Stanley and I had a great time. When we got home, he had to go back to New York to be with his family, but maybe he will come on another adventure of mine someday, I think it would be so much fun!

Here are some of Stanley's photos: