All year I have been practicing gymnastics so I decided to try a new sport, swimming. I joined my brother and sisters' swim team. I practiced 1 hour 5 days a week. We began our workout with my favorite part, 2 dives in the big pool. We then started our swim workout with six laps freestyle to warm up. In the middle of the work out, we put our fins on and took out our boards. We did 4 laps kicking freestyle and 4 laps kicking butterfly. Finally, at then end of our work out, we did 2 laps freestyle, two laps breaststroke, and two laps backstroke for the cool down.
Miriam and Hannah
After a month of swimming with the team, I had my first swim meet, and I was very excited. I competed four events, Individual Medley (I.M.), 50 yards (2 laps) freestyle, 25 yards breaststroke, and 25 yards butterfly. I.M. is 4 laps with all the strokes in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. My time on this event was 1:58.49. On the 50 yards freestyle my time was 49.10 secnds and on my 25 yards breaststroke my time was 27.07 seconds. Finally I had 25 yards butterfly and my time was 28.00 seconds.
I practiced gymnastics in the morning and did swimming in the late afternoon. Now that school is starting, I need to make a choice, continue with gymnastics or switch to swimming. I enjoyed swimming a lot, because it was so hot, and it felt good to jump into the pool, but I think I am going to stick with gymnastics. I would miss it too much if I quit. Next summer, I want to go back to swimming and maybe, I will try make it to Junior guards, a beach life guard program.
Every
summer the city puts on a couple of outdoor music concerts near a lake
where we live. My parents, siblings, grandparents, great aunt, and
friends all get together and go to the concert. Everyone brings a picnic
dinner and desert and we sit on the grass, eat and listen to music.My
great aunt and Grandma brought the most food. My great aunt made
chocolate cake especially for me, because I like chocolate cake. While
the music is playing, all of the kids run around, play tag, ball,
Frisbee, and have a good time together.
There is a
large band on stage and usually someone singing. One of the bands played
music by Elton John. The singer looked and dressed up just like like
Elton John.
It
is not really the last day of summer, but it feels like it because
school is starting soon. The past few days, it has been so hot (over 100
F), that we have been going to the beach almost every weekend and some
days during the week. The beach is usually about 20 F degrees cooler
than where we live. At the beach, we play in the sand, make sand
castles, pick shells and look for sand dollars, and best of all go
swimming on our boogie boards. The water is very refreshing from the hot
summer days. After playing, we get hungry and our mom packs us lunch.
Sand
dollars, also called sea biscuits or sea cookies, are flattened shells
that are found in shallow waters right under the sand. Each sand dollar
has a five petal design on the top and they look very pretty. At the
beach we found them in many different sizes, was 4 cm in diameter, and
the smallest was 0.5 cm in diameter
Starting
a new year is very exciting. We already bought school supplies, and new
clothes since most of the clothes from last year are small. We also
have to wait to find out which teacher we will have in the fall. Every
year, we have a new teacher and new students in our class. It is hard
not knowing who will be in my class, and whether I will have friends
from last year in the same class with me. However, it also gives me an
opportunity to make new friends every year.
What have you been doing during your vacation? How do you prepare for a new school year?
Over
the weekend, my family and I went to a movie night in our neighborhood
park. The park is located high on top of a mountain. From the park, I
could see the beautiful view of the mountains, homes, and best of all the
sunset.
When we first came, we ran around and played in
the park. Two friends from school live close by, and they also came to watch
the movie. We all sat on the grass and had a picnic with pizza, cookies,
and red vine licorice.
The
movie started when the sun began to set. There was a huge blow up
screen on which the movie was shown. This was my first time viewing a
movie outside. It was extremely hot in the day, but at night it got
chilly. Thankfully, my mom packed pants and sweaters for us to wear. When
the sun set, we saw numerous stars shinning above.
The
movie was called Daddy Daycare. This was my first time seeing this
movie, and I thought it was hilarious. The movie was about two fathers
who try to start a daycare at there house. At first, the kids go out of
control and don't listen. Finally the kids really like the daycare, and
the two fathers learn to take care of the children and even teach them
many new things.
At the end of May, I had my final orchestra concert of the year. We have a total of three concerts every year. On the day of the concert, we had to come early because we had a dress rehearsal in a gorgeous hall. When we got of stage after our dress rehearsal, we brought our lunches and our games and played for an hour until it was time for us to go on stage.
Here are the songs we played: The first song we played sounded slow and sad.Some violins had a solo part, and they played the high notes which usually is the melody and the rest of the violins played the lower notes. The second song sounded very fast and happy, but it wasn't my favorite. The next song we played was also very slow, but I thought sounded the most beautiful. It was my favorite. The final song was also very fast and loud. The cellos started playing first and carried the melody, but then the violins took over and we all played together. Which was your favorite?
In front of the concert hall
Recuerdos De La Alhambra By Francisco Tarrega
David and Michael By Carrie Lane Gruselle
Along the River By Elena Roussanova
Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest By Hans Zimmer
Once we finished our part, the older children in the philharmonic played their pieces. They sounded amazing, and they even had a soloist sing some opera pieces. Since it was our last orchestra concert, we had a reception for everyone that performed that day. It was also a chance for me to see up close some large percussion instruments. Do you know their names?
At the reception we had cookies, cupcakes, and drinks. We were all tired and hungry and it was the perfect ending to a long day. Next year I am going to try out for first violin and see if I make it. I hope I do!
Which is your favorite instrument in an orchestra?
