Trying Something New

At the meet with my best friend Ellie

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.

Below is the video from our swim meet.

Have you ever tried anything new?

Did you stick with it?

Summer Music Fun

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.

 

Have you ever been to an outdoor concert? 

Did  you like the music they played?

Final Days of Summer

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?

Movie Night at the Park

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.

Have you ever seen a movie outside? 

Did you like it?

What is your favorite movie?

The Gala Finale Orchestra Concert

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?

Hiking the Kalalau Trail to the Napali Coast

Taro fields

Today we went to Ke'e beach to hike the Napali Coast. It is located on the North Shore, and this long and steep hike was our last adventure on the island before we left for home.  The drive to the North Shore is beautiful with many green Acacia trees, thick forests, and taro fields.  

We started our hike at Ke'e beach and wanted to go to the Hanakapi'al Falls. The hike was extremely strenuous and we ended our hike at the Hankapi'al Beach.  To get to this remote beach you had to hike 2 miles. The trail was very steep, going up and down.

The first quater of the mile was straight  up, and it was boiling hot but it was very green and beautiful. There were also  many trees with tropical fruits on them.  When we finally arrived, we were at the top of the mountain, with  beautiful view of Ke'e beach and the Napali Coast. The week before, we went on a boat to snorkel on the Napali Coast, but today we were exploring the mountains by hiking to get an up close view. From above, the water off the coast was torques blue and a darker blue as you move away from the coast. Once we passed the Coast Viewpoint, the hike went mostly downhill and we ran most of they way, slipping a few times into the mud. When we finally could see the ocean, we had to cross a big river in our shoes. The water was cold and refreshing from a long hot hike.  

Beautiful turquoise water

Hiking up

View of Ke'e Beach

View of Napali Coast

Most surprising,  when we got to the beach, it started pouring rain and we hid underneath some large trees that were like umbrellas to have lunch and to rest. The rain also made the the trails  muddy and the rocks slippery.    While eating lunch, we saw some wild cats, that my little sister Hannah wanted to take home with her.  They were all very skinny, probably because they don't get a lot of food. They ate some of our turkey that fell on the floor.

Hankapi'al Beach

Crossing the river

After lunch, we went down volcano rocks to the sandy beach. This beach had dark tunnels to hide from the sun or rain. The waves at the beach were huge, but the water was very warm. There were gorgeous mountains around this beach.  Also, there was a stream, that was even warmer than the beach, which came from the waterfall. On one side of the stream, there were tadpoles of black poisonous frogs.

When we were driving back we saw a  magnificent sunset with the colors red, orange, and  yellow.  It looked like fire burning in the sky and it was the perfect way to finish our day.

Exploring the North Shore

View from Hanalei Bay- You can see the waterfall on the mountains

While in Hawaii, we visited the north shore of the Island. We had to drive 1 hour because we stayed on the east part of the island. Usually in the winter the north shore gets the most rainfall, but since it is summer, it was nice and warm. The north shore has both mountains and beautiful beaches. We were planning to stay on the beach until sunset, because the north shore also has the best sunset on the whole island.

Hanalei National wildlife Reguge

On the way to the way, we stopped to look at he view of the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge which provides nesting and feeding habitat for endangered Hawaiian water birds. It also has beautiful taro fields. The island of Kauai grows 73% of the Taro found in Hawaii and most of the Taro fields are on the North Shore. Taro is a plant that is grown in water and was the main food for the ancient Hawaiian people. The root of the plant is the corm and is cooked and mashed into a sticky purple pudding called poi. It is very similar to mashed potatoes. The leaf (lu`au) and flowers (pua) can also be cooked and eaten usually with meats, fish, coconut milk, and other vegetables.  Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to try taro while I was in Hawaii, but I maybe next time I will make sure to try it. While we stopped to enjoy the view, we also saw a family of chickens. Aren't the baby chicks cute? The mother chicken is very protective and got angry at my sister Hannah when she tried to get too close.

Tunnels Beach- Look at how clear the water is

The north shore also has great snorkeling. In the morning, we went snorkeling at Tunnels Beach, the best snorkeling beach on the island. Tunnels beach has a very large reef and no waves. We had to be careful not step on the reef, otherwise it would die. We saw many fish such as the rainbow parrot fish, Morish Idols, and the humuhumunukunukuapua’a. We happened to meet a  fourth grade teacher from Iowa at the beach, and he asked if we knew of a fish called humuhumunukunukuapua’a. I said that I knew this fish, thanks to Mrs. Yollis for teaching it to us. He was very impressed.  This fish was probably my favorite because it had blue lips,and was very unique looking. The water was turquoise blue and was very warm.

We always went snorkeling in pairs just in case one of us needed help

Palm trees at the bay

After tunnels beach, we had lunch at a restaurant. After lunch, we went to Hanalei Bay to swim.  It is the largest bay on the island, and it is a two miles. The water is very calm and it is great for swimming. It is surrounded by big and beautiful cliffs.  The sand is hard and fine which makes it good for running. After swimming, we went for a run around the Bay. When we came back from our run, the sun was almost down. and we saw a beautiful sunset  As sun went down, it shone down onto the water and it looked like a path of shining light. Hanalei Bay was our favorite place to swim and we went there many times during our trip.

















It was hard to just choose one photo of the sunset

 What is your favorite place to go on vacation?