A Wacky Halloween

One Halloween night, this kid named Wacky was trick or treating in his neighborhood. A raccoon was following him and was eating the candies that would fell off is Halloween bag. 

Wacky started to despise the raccoon and he chased him for three hours. At this point Wacky realized that he was completely lost and had no idea how to get back home. To make things worst, his flashlight went out, the batteries were drained. Wacky started to feel very scared, especially when he walked past a haunted house and he saw an hideous person in one of the windows. 

Even though he was very scared, he decided to go into the haunted house. He walked through the door and realized that this haunted house was not scary. A picture hanging from one of the walls captivated his attention and while he was looking at it, the picture changed into a werewolf picture and Wacky screamed. He screamed and he ran along the hallway and into a big room full of suits of armor. He stopped and looked around.
 

He was calmer now and he started to walk slowly around the room, when he heard a click. He looked down and he saw that he was standing on a pressure plate. He felt a tremble. A rock fell behind him. Then another one fell, and another one, and another one. Rocks were falling and tumbling behind him and Wacky ran!  Everything around him was falling. Wacky ran. He made it out of the room but he did not comprehend what just happened. He was happy, almost jovial not to be buried under all those rocks.
 

Wacky found himself in another hallway. From there he was able to see the exit and he ran toward it. All of the sudden, the floor opened up underneath him and Wacky fell into the basement. He felt that he was trapped when he saw the trap door close above him. He slowly walked around the basement and to his surprise he found a set of stairs leading outside. He took the stairs, but he did not find himself outside. He was again in a strangers house and Wacky could not understand what was happening when he heard footsteps coming towards him. He quickly looked around and decided to hide in the closet. The footsteps went past the closet. He slowly open the door and peeked out thinking that was a close call. At that moment he realized that he had his cell phone with him. He decided to call home. He dialed the number and he heard a phone ringing in the house. Then his mom answered the phone and he discovered that he was not a stranger's home but his home!

The Castles in the Loira Valley

One day, during my vacation in Paris, we took a bus to go to the Loira Valley to see some castles. Le Loira Valley is located 130 miles south-east of Paris and there are more than 300 castles in the region. Many of these castles were built around the 17th-18th centuries at the time when the French royalty and nobility was very popular. Some of the castles were new and others were converted from an earlier medieval castle into a more luxurious one.

Our first stop was at the castle of Chambord, which has an amazing double-helix staircase. This castle was constructed in 1519 and finished in 1547. It has 282 fireplaces, 84 staircases and 440 rooms: you can really get lost trying to find your room! The castle is very big and interesting. It is actually the biggest castle in the Loira Valley and it was built as a hunting lodge for King Francois I, but he spent barely seven weeks in total! The castle is not well furnished but the double-helix staircase is really amazing to see.

We got back on the bus and drove for a little while, until we reached the small village of Chenonceaux, for which the Chenonceau Castle takes its name. This is my mom's favorite castle and it was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher. Chenonceau castle is also called the "Chateau de Dames" - Castle of the Ladies. The reason for this name is that King Henry II gave the castle as a gift to Diane de Poitiers. She loved and lived in this castle and made improvements like the arched bridge that joins the castle to the opposite bank of the river Cher. When Kind Henry II died in 1559, Queen Catherine took the castle away from Diane de Poitiers and it became her favorite castle. Queen Catherine added a new series of gardens. She hosted many parties and held the first firework display see in France. Upon her death, the castle went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudemont, wife of King Henry III. Louise was at Chenonceau when she was told of her husband's assassination in 1589. She fell into a state of depression and she spent the remaining of her days wandering along the hallways of the castle. She was in such a state of depression that apart from dressing in mourning clothes, she even had somber black tapestries stitched with skulls and crossbones.

 
After lunch, we left and our tour took us to Chateaux de Cheverny, which is a privately owned castle, so only a small part of it is opened to the public. After having passed in the hands of many owners, the Hurault family was able to buy it back in 1824 and it remained in this family since. In 1914, the owner opened the castle to the public and it was one of the first one to do something open a castle to the public. The castle is still operated by the Hurault family and it is a big tourist attraction  because the creator of Tintin used the castle as a model for his fictional "Chateau de Moulinsart". There is a small house on the castle ground that hosts a Tintin Museum. I didn't go there because the entrance fee was too high. I got a Tintin t-shirt instead. 

I loved the trip to the Loira Valley, even though I felt we had to rush through the castles, but now I have better idea of the types of castles that are in this region. I would love to return there in the future again, and maybe look at other castles.

I went to the capital of France

This year I went to Paris in France for a week on vacation. I was there with my mom, my sister and my grandparents. Unfortunately my dad could not come because of his work. We rented an apartment in Paris.

On the first day of our stay in Paris, we went to the Eiffel Tower. On our way from our apartment to the Eiffel Tower, I discovered that in Paris there are many stores with my name on it: they sell wines! 

The tower is very tall and impressive. This tower was build and designed by Gustave Eiffel and his company for the 1889 World's Fair. The Eiffel Tower is the tallest structure in Paris and its nickname is "La dame de fer" which means "the iron lady" in English. We took pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background, but could not go up because of the long waiting line and also one of the elevator was broken.

 Eiffel Tower

Me holding the Eiffel Tower up!!

We wanted to take a double decker bus around the city of Paris, but it wasn't working that day because of a triathlon around the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River. We took a boat bus on the river Seine instead and I was able to take many pictures of the sights of Paris.

 Pont d'Alma

 Pont des Artistes

 Notre Dame de Paris

Paris from the Seine River

Another day during my stay in Paris, we went to the Louvre. The Louvre is a beautiful museum. In the courtyard of the Louvre there are two pyramids made of glass. At one point it started to rain very hard and we managed to go inside just in time not to get too wet.

 In the courtyard of the Louvre with my grandparents and my sister

The Pyramid and me!

Inside the Louvre, I saw lots of paintings with naked people. I also saw many statues that were part of different fountains. I even saw the Monalisa by Leonardo da Vinci and I was disappointed because this picture is much smaller than what I was expecting.

 The Monalisa is very small!

I had a very good time at the Louvre and next time, I would love to go to the Uffizi gallery in Florence to see "The Medusa".

I really enjoyed my time in Paris very much even if we had to walk a lot to see this city. I also went to the Loira valley to visit some of the castles, but this is for another blog!

The Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos

Our class must visit the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos Mountains because it is fun, historic, and contains many option!

You might think that the Great Wolf Lodge is not educational, but it is! You can learn about Indian tales. You also can learn about laser technology at the arcade and Magi Quest game. You can learn about how water works in pipes. The last thing we can learn about is how to do a spa treatment at the kids spar and adults spa. There are much more educational things there.

Even though it is not free, we can earn money in many different ways and be able to take a field trip there. We can have a bake sale or a car wash. We also can ask the PTA for donations. Another thing we can do is ask moms to drive some kids to the Great Wolf Lodge. These are some ways to earn money for the field trip.

How can anyone say no? Everyone should go to the Great Wolf Lodge. It would be a fun, affordable and educational trip.

 

My sister and I with our wolves at the Great Wolf Lodge

Leatherback turtle and snapping turtle

The leatherback turtle and the snapping turtle both have humans for predators. They also both have shells on their back. However, the snapping turtle has legs but the leatherback turtle has flippers. If you want to learn more about these wonderful animals, read on.

The leatherback turtle and the snapping turtle have many similarities. Both turtles can swim. The leatherback turtle as well as the snapping turtle are endangered animals. They are both reptiles and they both lay eggs by digging a hole in sandy soil for their eggs. There are also differencies about them. The snapping turtle can snap (hence the name) but the leatherback turtle can't. The snapping turtle has legs and eats small amphibians and alges, while the leatherback turtle has flippers and eats jellyfish, seaweeds and fish. The leatherback turtle lives in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian ocean, as well as the Mediterranean Sea, but the snapping turtle lives in Canada and throughout the United States and in northern Mexico.

The snapping turtle's habitat is near lakes, ponds, small streams and rivers. On the other hand, the leatherback turtle's habitat is in warm open seas. There is a difference in size between these two turtles: the snapping turtle can weigh up to 220lb and be 26 inches long, while the leatherback turtle can reach up to 2,000lb in weigh and be 27 feet long.

Both turtles have their shells, but the leatherback turtle's shell is very hard and can't be broken: not even by a shark bite. The snapping turtle's defense is its snap and its neck is very flexible.

These are both very cool creatures!

First Allergic Reaction

Have you ever had an allergic reaction? I did once. If was scary, very scary. I ate some food that contained peanuts or tree nuts at dinner. After that, I felt fine and I went to bed. In bed, I started to feel kind of weird. Then I knew that something was wrong. First I felt hot. Next, I started to have difficulties breathing: I couldn't breath properly! Then I puffed up. My mom called the ambulance. The firefighters came first and started to help me breath by putting an oxygen mask on my mouth and nose. Then the police came and when the ambulance got to my house, I was put onto the bed. In the ambulance, I got a stuffed animal. Then I fainted. When I came back, I was in the hospital. I was on a platform and they brought me into a room. I fell asleep. When I woke up again, I was in bed at home. My mom told me that I was allergic to any type of nuts.
I don't want to have an allergic reaction again. Even if my mom says that a food or a snack doesn't have peanuts, I always check anyway to make sure.

INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO BUILD A SMALL LEGO ROBOT

1. First you will have to get two 2x2 with wheel edges on two opposite sides. Put these two 

    pieces side by side (picture 1).

 

 

 

 

2. Put a 2x4 piece on top of the two 2x2 (pictures 2 & 3).

 

 

 

 

3. Put a 2x2 piece in the middle on top of the 2x4 (pictures 4 & 5).

 

 

4. Put a 2x1 piece with the bar in the front, on top of the 2x2 (pictures 6 & 7)

 

 

 

 

5. On top of the piece you have right now, snap a bent arm in the middle of the 2x2 

    (pictures 8 & 9)

 

 

 

 

6. Pop the black camera onto the arm - use your common sense to find where to put it - 

   (pictures 10 & 11)

 

 

 

 

7. Snap the second strait arm on the other side of the bar (pictures 12 & 13)

 

 

 

 

8. Take to teeth and put them on the two opposite sides on the back of the black camera 

    (pictures 14, 15 , 16 & 17). The teeth can face either way.

 

 

 

 

9. Take four small gray wheels and snap them on the wheel edges at the base 

    (pictures 18 & 19)

 

 

 

10. You have a small robot now and have fun with it! (Picture 20)