The Recreation Center of Evergreen

Today, I got up and there was a lot of snow on the ground so I went down to the town taking my usual pictures but it looked a lot better because everything was white.  It seemed like that was how Colorado should look.  By the time we left the house all of the snow was gone.  We went to the recreation center which is in downtown evergreen.  It has a water park, climbing wall, and other exercise machines.  I went to the climbing wall the first thing I got there.  I started out on the medium wall and made it to the top with no problems.  Next, I went to a harder wall that actually made you turn downwards a little forcing you to dangle and climb up with your hands.  After that I went on the hardest one there, in it, it turns you downward multiple times.  The guy handling the rope as I climbed up told me to go up the easy part fast because I was going to need my strength at the top.  He was right, when I got to the top I ran out of handholds so had to jump for one.  The first time I clung on to it but fell and finally about the third or fourth time, I got it and pulled myself up.  I had to go downwards three times until getting to the top.  It's always a good feeling when you finally get it.  After about a minute on the ground, my fingers and arms started to hurt from pulling myself up.  Mom was talking to a climber who told me to get my legs up higher and it would make things a lot easier.  Next, I went on the second hardest wall which was the one that didn't point you down at all but instead didn't have any handholds but tiny crevices in the rock.  The difference between this one and the other one was that the hardest one used up a lot of strength and was hard to pull yourself up on and the other one was harder to find handholds but didn't use as much strength.  It took me a while to get to the top but it felt a lot more realistic than those rock handholds that jut out of the wall.  These used a lot of finger strength and my fingers were throbbing at the bottom.  The guy that was still talking to mom said that serious rock climbers do finger exercises to strengthen their fingers and that mine would be hurting for a few days (they stopped hurting a long time ago).  I then went to the water park where Amelia and Isabel played the whole time.  First I went in the lazy river thing where it was like the one at any other park but without the rafts.  The current was also a lot stronger.  It was fun because when you got towards the turn the current would whip you around.  I also went on the water slide which if you fling yourself into, you can go to the edge of the slide at open parts which is a small thrill. I've decided that I want to make rock climbing a hobby that I do regularly if I can.  There's a place in Columbus for climbing and I'm going to see if I can go there sometimes.  My mom forgot her camera so we don't have any pictures of me climbing the wall but we plan on going back again soon.

Hiking in the Rockies (yesterday)

Yesterday we went to hike in the local park. The first part of the hike is through a dried out meadow.  We saw a bone in the meadow in which dad thought it was probably the bone of an elk attacked by a mountain lion.  There were a lot of places of to the side which looked good for bouldering but we couldn't take any side trips because dad had to go to work in about 2 hours so it had to be a fast hike.  The next part of it was a snowy forest up in the mountains which all of us put together fell about 5 times because it was really icy.  We could also slide about 5 feet which was fun.  The whole time we thought it was a perfect place for mountain biking, but in the icy parts it looked just about impossible to get through.  The next part of the hike was up on the mountains, but out in the open so there wasn't much snow.  It looked awesome for mountain biking.  It had an amazing view of the town and the mountains in the background.  We then went back into the meadow and proceeded to go back to our car.  This blog is relatively short because the hike was only about 3 miles and nothing happened after that.  There's a trail that goes to the very top of the mountain which would be an awesome view but that would be more of a day hike.  On our way back we saw a group of elk.  They looked a lot like deer except their necks were a lot fuzzier.  I don't think there's any deer in Colorado but there are tons of elk.

The Denver Art and Science Museum

Today we did all of our work and then set out to see a huge museum in Denver that had tons of different exhibits.  We got lost so we were kind of late getting there but dad still wanted to see every exhibit so we went through each one pretty fast.  My favorite exhibit was probably the one about mummies because they actually had mummies there and interesting stories behind them.  One was a rich woman who was mummified and then moved into a man's coffin.  It's unknown how or why it was moved but it might just be that when they sent it they moved it to a man's coffin.  We also went through a temporary exhibit about gold which had different types of gold and different things the gold could make.  Out of all the metals, gold is the one that can be compressed to be the thinnest.  They used to make plane old statues out of rocks and they'd cover it with small strips of gold to make it look like it was made of pure gold.  No jewelry is entirely made out of gold because pure gold would be to soft to make any jewelry with.  There were also tons of other cool facts and there was tons of gold in it.  We also went through the exhibit that had dinosaurs and other creatures that lived at the time.  I learned that catfish can scramble across dry land to get to different bodies of water and this is said to be how creatures got to walking on land.  Eventually they adapted to getting out of the water and were able to stay moist and above water for longer times.  I had never known that catfish could scramble on dry land.  They had video's of some and I thought it was amazing.  When we were out of the museum everyone was happy to be out even though a lot of things in it were fascinating, everyone was tired and hungry, especially me because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. On our way back we stopped to look at the bison field where there were about 40 of them just roaming around.  It was amazing how much waste they left in the field.  I feel bad for whoever has to clean it up.  An amazing fact about them is that at one time there were as many as 60 million in North America and after being hunted mercilessly and being driven towards the point of extinction there came to be only about 1,000 left.  The sign says that their behavior can be unexpected so we had to stay 3 feet away from the tall gate even though I put the camera lens through it to get a good picture.  When we got home we went in the hot tub then me, mom, dad stayed in it for a while and when the stars came out we could see them clearly because there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  Dad showed me where the Big Dipper was and we discussed politics and such.  

Life in Colorado

The main reason that we're here in Colorado is because my dad has training so we might as well get some skiing in and check it out. We landed kind of late but we still got in time to go in the hot tub for a while.  Our house here is pretty cool, they've already got an X-Box hooked up, and of course they've got a hot tub.  There are a lot of people with hot tubs out here because it gets really cold.  The next morning we took dad to the hotel that he stays in while he's in training and they gave us nice warm cookies.  That's the most awesome thing about the hotel, they give you free, delicious, warm cookies.  We then went to a soup place.  Later we went to the tennis place in Evergreen (Evergreen's the town we're staying in) and met the instructor and a couple of kids.  There was one about my age and one Amelia's age.  Isabel didn't want to go to hers.  I liked the instructor even though I don't think he's as good as Erik.  He's only 25 years old and likes to play a lot of games.  We had this the next day too because it's a three day thing.  We only went for two of the days but are planning on having another one with more kids on Monday.  After we were done we went to the training center to stay with dad for the remainder of his training.  It probably wasn't worth it because he had to study all night but we got to have a family dinner at a noodle place which was really good.  We also went in the pool before the noodle place while dad finished his training for the day.  Later I watched a cool show called Smash Lab where they were trying to find a more efficient way to end car chases and they would have a robotic arm that came out of the back of the car and sprayed a fire extinguisher directly into the grill of the car.  It ended up not working very well but it was still interesting.  We also watched Myth Buster's where they were trying to make a jet pack which also didn't work.  The next day, today, my mom and sisters got up and got breakfast while I sat in bed watching T.V.  We had blueberry muffins from Starbucks.  We then went to the pool and waited for dad to finish training again.  When he was done, he said if we hurried he could get us in a simulator so we hurried over and ended up getting in one.  It was really cool, he taught us how to control and work the rudders and everything and we took off and landed successfully (maybe a little help).  The motion was off so it didn't really feel like we were flying it but it still showed the visual.  We then went to Chipotle for lunch.  We checked out a ski resort which we plan on going to called Echo mountain which is really cool because the lodge is located halfway up the mountain and it's pretty much just a giant terrain park (ramps and rails) which I'm really into.  We also checked out another town and then went home and we all got in the hot tub (even mom).

The Dayton Air Force Museum (sorry I'm a bit behind, this post is for a couple weeks ago, more air force pictures at the bottom!)

Before I start telling about the museum let me just say that I've wanted to be in the air force for a while now so this was a really exciting trip for me.  There were about 15 airplanes outside of the museum but we didn't go to see any of them.  It was set up where it went through the airplanes from older ones, such as planes from WWI and WWII and then got into the more modern planes such as the Raptor and the B2 Spirit.  It was awesome watching how they progressed through the years from biplanes with a tiny engine and the pilot would sit in seat directly in front of it to using metal and having big engines.  The whole thing was in a few huge hangers.  The trip wasn't only about looking at how planes progressed or anything but also about history.  They had an exhibit on the Cold War, the Holocaust, and even the story of the Berlin Wall.  They even had a couple chunks of it.  In every exhibit, they had real artifacts from the time such as a uniform that someone in a concentration camp wore, part of the wall of Berlin, and multiple things used in the Cold War.  They got as modern as the unmanned plane, the Predator and the newest fighter called the Raptor.  My favorite plane was the stealth fighter in which I want to fly when I'm older.  They also had the B-2 as I said before which is a stealth bomber which was also really cool up close.  They had an open plane that you could sit in and dad knew about almost all of the controls.  There was also a section with rockets that included the nuclear weapons that are being used right now.  They were huge!  There were two floors so you could get a bit closer to the top.  We also watched and IMAX movie about the space station, not the one that's being built on the moon but the one in space.  It was pretty amazing watching them assemble everything.  It looked like tons of fun to float around in the station.  I thought it was really cool how they could squirt water and it would float and they could just eat it.  They also showed how they trained in a simulator what they would do if they got disconnected from the ship and were just on their own in space.  They have a rocket that they would attach to their backs and just maneuver back to the ship.  It didn't look easy at all because it's really hard to maneuver.  It was even cooler because it was being showed on the huge screen.  We were planning on going to another hanger where we'd actually be able to walk through an Air Force 1 which is the 747 that the president flies in when going to other countries.  I watched a movie on it a while back and they completely shut down the airport when the president's about to land.  Dad says that he's been stuck in the airport when it happens and it's really annoying.  I was sad to leave because there was still a section that I wanted to see but we didn't have time to.  They also have a real air force base right beside the museum so there were a bunch of planes going of and when they did it was really loud outside.

Huckleberry Finn Update

A lot has happened in the book Huckleberry Finn since the last post about it. Huck dressed up like a girl and went ashore to see what was happening in his town. The woman found out he wasn't a girl but he made up a story in which he ran away from his farm because he'd been treated poorly and she believed it and promised not to turn him in. He also found out that her husband had seen smoke on the island they'd been staying on so he was going to go there that night and look for Jim. Right when they were done talking and Huck was out of the house, he went and told Jim and they got in their canoe and left the island. They made a wigwam in the middle of it to sleep in and to protect them from the rain. Eventually they came upon a ship that was about to sink and decided to go aboard because there was sure to be many treasures in the captain's courters such as cigars and lots of money. When they got on the ship they found a group of robbers that were pointing a gun at a man that was begging for mercy and they prayed not to be seen because then they would surely kill them. When they went back to the place where the canoe had been tied up, it was gone! They searched all over the sides of the ship looking for it and eventually found it. They didn't get any of the treasures because of the struggle to get off the ship. Since Huck felt bad for the men stuck on the ship, he told a fairy pilot that his family was stuck on the ship and needed saved so the fairy would hopefully pick them up. Later they found another boat with nobody on it and went aboard and found lots of cigars and other treasures. They also got some books which Huck read all about kings and told Jim about them. They were looking for a town called Crete which led to a fork that led up the Ohio River but they feared that the next fork would just be another island and they would find themselves on the same river. Not far behind them there was a huge boat that could carry more than 30 people and Huck and Jim agreed that they would be talking all about Crete so they decided that Huck would sneek onto the ship at night and find out all he could about where they were and where Crete was. On the ship, so far what I've read is that they haven't talked about Crete yet but I'm still at the part where he's on the ship. The story of Huckleberry Finn is really good and I would definately recommend it so far but the only negative part of it is that sometimes you can't understand what they're saying because it's written in a southern context that was used way back during slavery. I think the people on the big ship Huck's on are going to find out he's on the ship and there will be yet another adventure.

A WELL OVERDUE BLOG ENTRY

I haven't been able to blog for a while because we've still been getting used to the whole home school thing but I'm going to try to start posting regularly so don't stop checking it!  We'll start when we had our tennis lesson with Erik (I think that's how you spell his name but I'm not positive).  I thought I was going to play terribly because I hadn't played for about 3 weeks because we were in Hawaii and couldn't bring our racquets for some reason even though the courts there were good because of all the palm trees around them and everything but I think a time off actually helped my game.  My mom thought I would do terribly too because I had an energy drink before it and because I hadn't played in a while.  We were both wrong because I ended up doing really good and we moved on to a shot I hadn't worked on much which is an under spin shot or slice.  It's where you bring your racquet down and it makes the ball stop when it hits the court.  When my lesson was over he told my mom that I worked hard and all that which he barely ever does.  Usually he says that I wasn't quick on my feet or other critiques.  We went to our first home schooled class at the Work's which was about science and art.  In science we learned all about Isaac Newton and did a bunch of hands-on activities such as building our own cars with connects and racing them against other people.  Me and my sister's car got second over all which was pretty good.  We also did and activity where we got an egg and a box and had to make the box cushioned in order for the egg not to break because he dropped it from about 10 feet and the one that didn't break and weighed the least won.  I think we got second in that too.  In the main part of the Work's there's a bunch of science stations set up such as a station where you turn a wheel and it lights up different light bulbs which is supposed to prove the difference between fluorescent and incandescent bulbs.  They also had other stations with magnet's and lights and a bunch of cool stuff.  I made some friends and one of which liked the same bands as me and was planning on learning guitar and all that.  In art class we put plaster over plastic eggs and painted different colors and designs on them.  The different designs were from a different culture and had different meanings for each of them.  I painted a camel and the teacher held it up to the class because she thought it was cool.  Let me reenact, "Oh everybody, look at Gabe's egg, he painted an animal on it, he's going to be the next Monet."  Seriously, I'm not kidding, she really said that.  Today I played tennis with the tennis group and we played doubles during it.  I was surprised that my serve was going in really fast and sometimes, even the older kids couldn't return it.  We also played around the world and I was in the final three which was o.k.   Afterwards, we had a pizza party because it was the last meeting we were going to have.  When I got home we had a soup get together and I hung out with my friend Elliot and taught him how to do a front flip and back flip on the trampoline.  Tada!!!

My Real Birthday

Today I officially turned 13.  We went to Bob Evan's as a celebration because we already celebrated it at Snow Trails and I got the worst pancake you could possibly get.  It was a pancake with banana cream in the inside of 2 pancakes with carmel cream on the top and whipped cream.  I could only eat about 5 bites before it was just to much.  Yesterday me and my sister went down to the snowboarding hill and there was hardly any snow.  We had a video camera and were planning to make a movie.  That didn't stop us though, we took snow and made a path leading up to a ramp we built.  It was about 2 feet with about a 30 foot lead-up.  We did every combination of tricks we could.  Amelia would rather film than actually snowboard but I got her to go off the ramp a couple of times.  I landed a couple tricks that I didn't know I could land such as a 360.  That was only a 2 foot ramp, if I had a 15 foot ramp like the ones I go off at Snow Trails I might be able to do a little more.  It was a lot of fun.  We also went into the church where there's vending machines and got some pop.  It took us about in hour in all before we had actually started snowboarding.  Today I'm going to Easton to take a class on making a video and I'm going to make a video with the videos me and Amelia took.  Au revoir!!!!

My Birthday!

For my birthday, my mom said that I could bring a friend to Snow Trails during school, but he ended up not being able to go.  My sister got to invite a friend of course and they drove me crazy!  I thought that was crazy!  My mom had never let me have any friends to any of her parties but of course she can have one to mine.  I ended up sitting in a car to Snow Trails listening to Mrs. Susie or something.  When we got to Snow Trails, it went from terrible to awesome.  My dad told me I could get a new snowboard and we ended up getting a Shaun White board with really nice bindings.  It was a lot better than my other board.  It was originally $500 but it was marked down to $300 because it's at the end of the year.  He also got me a snowboard bag so I could bring it to Denver.  The only problem with that was that he got Amelia the same board bag.  I didn't really think much of it but I thought it was a little weird.  While they were putting my board together I talked to the person about Ohio Dreams because he worked at the camp.  It sounded really fun because you ramp of into bubbles that they squirt out for cushioning.  When I was finally on the hill the first thing that happened was my back bindings didn't fit so I had to go down the hill falling about 50 times (every 5 feet I fell).  After I got it adjusted it was all good though, I went to the mini terrain park really fast.  When I got there, they were setting up a giant jump which I knew I couldn't pass up.  First I went into the mini terrain and tried the biggest rail there but fell because I wasn't used to the board.  The second time I made it without a problem.  The new board I got is a lot heavier and stiffer but it also goes a lot faster.  Then I headed for the huge jump they put up in terrain park.  I went at it full speed and fell because I had no idea how big the gap was going to be.  It was more than 20 feet and the ramp itself was more than that!  The impact itself hurt but I landed it the second time around.  I took a break off that ramp for a while because my ankle was still hurting.  Later I did the whole birthday cake thing and had a huge stomach ache because I ate the cake with an amp.  Good mix, huh.  When I went back out, my dad took some shots of me in terrain park and it was pretty cool.  He got a good shot of me on the giant ramp before I fell.  I only landed that ramp once while I was there but only tried it about 3 times.  I think I could land it a lot more if I would have tried it more.  I like the rails a lot more than ramps because they're a lot smoother and I can do most of the ones at Snow Trails without a problem.  Then we took a few more runs down Mt. Mansfield (one of which I went full speed down the hill with no turns and made it down in less than 10 seconds) and headed home.

Huckleberry Finn

So far in Huckleberry Fin I've read to the part where he discovers Jim on the island from the town where he ran away.  What happened from the beginning is Huck's living with a lady named Mrs. Watson.  She's a widow who adopted him when his father left.  He hasn't seen his father for a long time because he's thought to be dead.  Tom Sawyer starts a robbery club where they planned on killing people and taking their money on the road.  They also want to do ransom on people but they don't even know what that means.  They think it means holding them hostage until they die.  All they really ended up doing is running at people on the roads with brooms and eventually that got boring so they quit.  They did have a clubhouse and it was pretty cool because it was a hidden tunnel down the river from their town.  One night, when he's sleeping, his dad gets into his room and starts talking to him about how disappointed he is in him for going to school and becoming civilized.  He ends up wanting Huck back to come and live with him and everybody's amazed that he's not dead.  He had to go to court and because the judge was knew, he didn't know how Huck's dad beat him and was an alcoholic.  He ended up going to dinner with the judge and telling him that he's was going to be a good dad.  He then proceeded to get drunk, fall out the window, and almost break his arm.  He took Huck deep into the forrest to live with him and they were very primitive, catching fish and hunting for food.  Huck liked his life but his dad left to go to the town a lot and he would lock him in the cabin while he was gone so he wouldn't run away.  Huck looked everywhere for a way out and eventually he found an old rusty saw wedged in between the ceiling and the wall.  He cut his way out but didn't get far until his dad got back.  He hid his work so his father wouldn't know what he'd been up to.  That night he got drunk and thought Huck was the devil and tried to kill him but ended up falling to sleep before he could catch him.  Huck to, fell asleep with a gun in his hand in case his dad woke up.  His dad woke up and asked him what he was doing with the gun and he told his dad that somebody was trying to break in and his dad bought it.  When Huck went down to the river to check for fish, an empty raft was going down stream so he took it and hid it for when he ran away.  When he ran away when his dad was out the next time, he took all of his stuff and went to a remote island a ways down stream.  Everybody thought he was dead so in the morning people were shooting cannons into the water to try to make his corpse come to the surface.  He later found out that Jim, Mrs Watson's slave, ran away to the island to so they now have each other to survive.  Huckleberry Finn also has a gun so he can hunt.  So far it's a great book!  

Winter Wonderland by Isabel Staats

Today I got home from my friend Kates house.  I had a great time.  When I got home my mom was still walking home from getting a omlet with my brother.  While I was waiting I went on the computer and my sister played me her knew song on the piano.  When my brother and my mom were home me and my brother plowed the end of  the driveway.  After this we went and we watched a movie. Then me and Amelia cleaned our room. To finish up the day me and my brother went sledding. I shure had fun today!!!!!!!!! oh i almost forgot it was so snowy out i can even proove it.  it was the biggest snowstorm since 1910!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Book Review on IN HARM'S WAY

I recently read a book called IN HARM'S WAY which is about the USS Indianapolis which is one of the most horrific things ever to happen during WWII except for Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombs Fat Man and Little Boy. What happened was this ship called the Indianapolis was given a secret package that they had to carry to a country which I think was Guam. Non of the people on board new what the package was but after it was delivered safely, they were notified that they had just carried the bomb that would eventually be the devastating blow to Hiroshima. Everyone had victory cigars and thought nothing could go wrong. The next stop was to another country in which to get to it they had to cross the deepest part of the ocean. They couldn't see the enemy submarine rise from the sea because it's paint was designed to blend in with it's surroundings making it like a stealth sub. It fired about 5 missiles but only 2 actually hit their target. The ship went down fast so captain McVay had to shout abandon ship. When they got in the water, there was oil everywhere so it was almost impossible to swim. Some died just by the shock of it. There were 4 groups of people that were all about 7 miles away from each other. One group was commanded by Haynes, the doctor, another by McVay, the captain, another by McCoy, one of the marines that were put on the ship, and the other I forget. They were in the water with no help and many died or commited suicide. It is known to be the largest shark attact that ever happened. Hundreds died due to the sharks. Eventually they got so thirsty that they began drinking salt water which made them go crazy. The doctor, Haynes, told the many people in his group not to drink it because it definately wouldn't help but they were too thirsty for that so they all happily drank the water. Only hours later, they they began killing each other by drowning them or stabbing with the knifes they were ishued when they joined the navy. They were discovered by an airplane that flew over them and showed where they were by pouring ink in their location. A while later a ship came by and picked everyone up. Actually there were about 3 ships. Out of the 1,240 or so that left California, only 316 remained. It didn't even make front page in the paper and Captain McVay went to court because they claimed he hadn't gotten out a distress signal and failed to zig zag so lost his career. Because of the many hate letters, he eventually comitted suicide. I definately recommend this book because it's very exciting but also sad. I also like how they show it from the 4 different groups point of view. It's amazing and sad that this actually happened.

Snorkeling in the Tidepools!!!

Today we got up and dad made pancakes as usual which are always really good because it's still doughy in the inside and crisp on the outside and that mixed with syrup makes it better than Waffle House's pancakes (not that I've ever had a waffle house pancake but it sounds like they'd be pretty good. After that great start, we first went to the tsunami museum which is located right in Hilo. I learned some fascinating things that I didn't know about tsunami's such as when a tsunami's about to happen. The ocean first sucks the water in 200 yards and then it all comes back very rapidly. A mistake that people have made in the past is when the water is sucked back, it leaves tons of fish just lying on the ocean floor so people went out to pick them up and then the giant wall of water came and washed them all away. Another incident that has happened during a different tsunami is that when a tsunami warning went out, hundreds of surfers went to the beach to try to catch the giant wave. Luckily it was a false alarm, but if it had really been a tsunami, that would sure as hell be the last wave they ever surfed. When we were done watching the short movie and looking at the displays, we headed for the snorkel shop for a day of snorkeling only about 15 minutes away so we weren't really excpecting a lot from it. When we had everything rented, we went through a Burger King and headed for the tidepools. They looked really shallow, only about 3 feet deep but when me and dad got out there, it was over 20 feet in some places. It was amazing, there were holes all over the place that went down as far as the eye can see. We saw tons of different colorful fish, just the usual but when we got a little closer to the sea, we saw a sea turtle that just scrambled across the rocks right in front of us. We would have followed it because sea turtles are slow but it was a lot faster over rocks than us so we didn't have a chance of catching it. When we got out of the water, my dad took a break while I checked out some shallow tidepools. There were some colorful fish but nothing too fascinating. When I got out, my mom decided that she would try and go snorkeling. The only problem was that we only had 2 sets of snorkel gear and I wanted to go with them. My mom didn't want the flippers in the first place so that was all good but I had to use some swim goggles that I couldn't see a whole lot out of. I got bored of going up for a breath all the time fast so I left mom and dad to snorkel by themselves. When I was all dry and happy, suddenly I heard my mom scream for me to come down to where they were so I did. My mom handed me a snorkel mask and I headed over to where my dad was floating on the surface looking down at something. It was a ginormous, 5 foot eel! It was incredible. Me and my dad kept on taking turns diving down to get inches away from it. It was kind of creepy, a lot like a snake. My parents also claimed that they had seen other white eels but I've never heard of a white eel before so I'm not so sure they were eels. When we were all done snorkeling and ready to go, we went to a restaurant that we had never been to before. It's calle Cafe 100 and the food there is amazing. I got a Magic Meal which came with a burger, fries, and a drink. The fries were exactly like the ones that are served in our cafeteria which is a good thing because it's one of the few good things they served us. My mom got this huge thing with eggs, and rice and she had lots of leftovers that I ate. When we were done eating, we went home and had the remainder of mom's birthday cake. It was delicious! Then we watched T.V. and went to bed.

Birthday by Isabel Staats

Today was my moms birthday.  She got to decide what to do.  She decided to go to the beach. we ended up going to the black sand beach. Me and my sister were walking to the bathroom when my brother pointed out we were walking right by two turtles!!!  They were so cute!  when we got back from the restroom we went to explore the tide pools. We didn't see any fish but, we did see another turtle!  After this we had to go get mom a cake.  We went to the first store we saw.  Mommy said she wanted a pineapple upside down cake!  We went inside the store and couldn't find it so we ended up getting a guava cake.  After this we went back home and ate spaghetti.  After we ate dinner we went straight to singing happy birthday.  Then we ate the cake. It was so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!  After cake we had to go to bed what a great day we had today!!! 

Snorkeling in Kona!!!

Today I got up and my dad made his famous pancakes.  I had two and then we got ready to go snorkeling for the day in Kona, some of the best snorkeling on the Big Island.  Since it was a two hour drive, my sister brought her mini T.V. that she got for Christmas and we watched Spongebob the whole way to Kona.  When we got there, we stopped by Wendy's and then went to the snorkel place.  It was crystal-clear!  There were about 4 or 5 sea turtles just sitting on the rocks which were the entry way to the ocean.  First, me, Isabel, Amelia, and dad went and checked it out.  There were tons of colorful fish.  My sister claims to have seen an eel but I kind of doubt it.  When we snorkeled for about a half hour, we went and got a snack of Pringles, then the girls went to play on the rocks while eventually me and my dad went out and snorkeled some more.  We didn't see anything that we hadn't seen before, but the next time when I went out, I saw a sea turtle and I followed it until I went to where the surfers were and had to turn back.  When I went back, me and my dad went back out to use up the pictures we had on our waterproof camera.  We took some pictures of normal fish and when we found another sea turtle.  My dad took pictures of me hovering above it (unfortunately it's a film camera so I don't have any pictures of me and the sea turtle).  When we got back to the shore, my mom was already packed up and ready to go so we went and got dinner at Denny's.  I just got a bowl of chicken noodle soup because I had already filled up on chips.  We then went to the famous Cold Stone Creamery for desert.  It was amazing.  I got coconut ice cream with white chocolate chips in it.  We then traveled the two hour journey back home and I read the rest of the night.  I also went upstairs and am now watching Harry Potter with my mom and sister.

Snorkeling in Champagne pond by Amelia

Today we went to Champagne pond to snorkel. We got up late and went to the snorkel shop to rent some gear. After we got are gear we headed to the spot where we would hike to get to Champagne pond. After driving for a while we finally got to the place. I had found a piece of lava with a green gem in it which I tried to crack but had no luck. After a little way down the path a truck came so we all moved to the side. After passing us the truck stopped and the man that was in it got out. He told us that if we took this way to Champagne pond it would take a long time and we should got back to this other place that has a better way to the pond. We went to the place he told us got lost in the huge neighborhood. We passed a group of people who were looking for Champagne pond as well but they didn't know exactly where it was and there map apparently didn't have Champagne pond on it. We then passed another group people, but they knew where it was, they told us we could follow them and they would show us where it was. When we got there we ate and then went in. We didn't have to get use to it because it was warm because the water is heated by the volcano. In one part of the pond we saw a giant green turtle that kept coming up to breathe. We watched it for a long time before moving on and looking at the other fish. Finally we left and went to Borders, a book store. We all picked out a book, I got a drawing book. Then we went to get ice cream. We went home and I spent almost the whole evening drawing pictures. Then we all went to bed.