Our Stay-cation at Paradise Point

Izzy

8/27/20

    This week Mom, Ethan, and I stayed at Paradise Point on Mission Bay. We checked in on Sunday afternoon and left earlier this morning. We had so much fun relaxing at the pool and feeding the ducks and it was a great way to sort of end the summer. I can't believe there are only three days left until school 

starts -- the summer went by too fast!!

    One of the best things about this resort is that there are 5 different pools spread out around the grounds. The main pool is in the center and was where we spent most of our time. We also had a smaller pool right around the corner from our room. My favorite part of the main pool was what we called the cold pool. There was an area with three waterfalls that poured into a small pool which was colder than the big pool. Ethan and I did challenges trying to see who could stay in the cold pool the longest. When we jumped back into the big pool the water felt so much warmer! We went night swimming on Monday and Wednesday which was super awesome too.

    Another AMAZING thing about Paradise Point is all of the ducks that live all over. There are probably over 50 ducks and other types of birds. We found out we could get bags of duck food from the gift shop so be bought probably 10 little bags of the duck food. Ethan and I had so much fun feeding the ducks and creating duck trains where they follow us around. I did some research and can conclude that our favorites ducks were Pomeranian Ducks. They are all black and have a white chest. Ethan and I have been watching Bob's Burgers recently so we decided to name our favorite ducks after the kids in the show -- Tina, Louise, and Gene. Louise was our most favorite because she always came to us and could catch the duck food in mid air. There was another mallard duck who was SO GOOD at catching the food in mid air. I would say she caught 80% of the food I threw. She was also so cute and always found her way to be right next to us. On Wednesday, Ethan and I made a duck train. We were walking around the pond with about 20 ducks walking behind us trying to get food. I love ducks so much!! And now Ethan wants one.

    We had an amazing stay at Paradise Point and I really loved this hotel! I already miss the ducks so much and I hope they miss us too. I had so much fun and am so lucky to have gotten to do this trip (thank you mom!). 

P.S. Now Ethan and I really want to have ducks 😁

Tina

     

Gene

Louise

 Jaws

Izzy

8/21/20

    Today Dad made me watch Jaws. I can't say I liked it because I was anxious the entire time, but it wasn't bad. Living near the ocean and just having done a surf camp, I do sometimes worry about sharks but stingrays are a much bigger threat. After watching Jaws, I'm not scared to go back into the ocean because I know it's fake and have seen where they actually filmed the movie at Universal Studios. When you take the studio tour you get to see the Amity set as well as a fake shark just like the one they used for Jaws. There's a pretend skit where a fake diver is out on the water and then gets attacked by a big shark and you can see the water turn red. 

    

    One thing I have to say about the movie is that I couldn't really understand anything Quint (the fisherman) was saying. He had a unique accent and when he talked a lot I was confused. I also am kinda mad that the mayor didn't get attacked because he deserved it for not taking the shark attacks seriously and keeping the beaches open just to make money. I honestly thought more people would be killed than just 5, so it was kind of a snooze fest. It's more centered around anticipation of Martin Brody, Quint, and Matt Hooper on the boat trying to kill Jaws. Overall I think it was a pretty good movie and the shark looked pretty real. I would not recommend watching this if you plan on going to the beach any time soon though ;)

                                

 Surf Camp

Izzy

8/18/20

    This week I've been doing surf camp with Cia. It's through San Diego Surf School in Pacific Beach from 12:30 to 3:30. I've already had lots of fun and can tell I am getting better from all the practice!

    Yesterday was the first day so we got there early and got ready. I'm using a wetsuit Cia is lending me, but the water is so much warmer than last week that I don't actually need it to stay warm. We went over the rules as a big group and split up into smaller groups of 2-5 with an instructor. Cia and I were the only ones in our group and we had a really nice instructor named Coco. She gave us some tips and we went right into the water. I'm pretty sure the boards we were using were 7 feet and they are foam boards. We practiced surfing in the whitewash, which means after the waves break. I had only surfed a little bit last summer during the free time at Junior Lifeguards and have been wanting to improve so I'm really happy to be doing this camp. Cia and I have both been able to stand up on our boards and caught some good waves.

    Today was also really warm. We had a different instructor but spent the whole day catching waves and trying to stand up longer. The current was pretty strong so we did have to get out and walk back down the beach a few times. It was even hotter out today so the water felt really nice. I was really happy today because I could stand up on my board longer than yesterday. I really want to get my own surfboard soon so I can keep surfing. I'm sad tomorrow is our last day but I have loved getting more experience and hope to surf more in the future!

 Our Stay-cation at Loews

Izzy

8/17/20

    Last week Ethan and I got to stay with Dad at Loews Coronado Bay Resort. We went from Monday, August 10th to Friday, August 14th and enjoyed lots of time at the beach and the pool. It was really fun to get away even though we were really close to home. Just like a normal vacation I was really sad when we had to leave.

    Our first full day was Tuesday and my friend Adelin came to spend the day with me. Mom came too but she had to work :(. We spent some time hanging out in the pool and swimming around. We got some food from one of the hotel restaurants and ate it outside where we had a beautiful view of the Coronado bridge and San Diego. One of the best things about Loews is that there are golf carts that take you to and from the beach. We rode the golf cart to the beach and spent a few hours there. Adelin and I somehow got all the way in the water even though it was FREEZING! Our feet went numb but it was worth it for the fun. 

    On Wednesday, Mom came and we went in the pool again. It felt really good as it started to get hotter outside. For lunch we had the fries from the poolside Cantina, which were AMAZING!!!! They had guacamole, sour cream, feta, nacho cheese, shredded cheese, and pico de gallo on them and it was heavenly. We all went to the beach and the water was still really cold. I was all alone in the water because Ethan didn't want to get all the way in so it wasn't as fun. 

    For our last full day, we went to the pool and got the Cantina fries again. We met up with our friends, Cesar, Juliana, Martina, and Bruna at the beach. Martina and Bruna are about 7 and 4 and we had a lot of fun playing with them. We started digging a hole and decided to hang out in the water. We ended up digging a new hole next to the water so it could be filled up easily. Our hole got flooded as the tide came in so we had to dig another one, which ended up getting flooded as well. We also went body surfing in the waves and it was super fun even though it was still cold. I hadn't seen them in a long time so it was really fun to hang out again. 

    Another big part of our trip was watching Shark Week on Discovery channel. We watched it everyday because it's so interesting. I love learning about the different kinds of sharks but it's also crazy to see the people diving with the hungry sharks and even hand feeding them. I had a super awesome stay-cation and am so lucky to be able to do this before the summer ends. I'm even luckier to be doing another one next week with mom!

Fall Guys By Ethan V.

                                                               Fall Guys                                           8-17-20

By Ethan V.

    Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is an online video game that was released on August 4, 2020 and has since blown up. I personally play Fall Guys and I love it. I love it because it is very fun, and once you get better at it and you are able to win, it makes it even more fun. Fall Guys is available on PS4 and PC. It is a battle-royale game that is multiple rounds of different players and your objective is to be one of the first finishers to qualify for the next round. A battle-royale is a fight/competition to be the last man standing.

    I have played Fall Guys for 3 days and I am addicted to this game. I have gotten good enough where I can qualify for the finals about 1 in 3 games. The finals are usually in round 4, 5, or 6 depending on how many people get eliminated. I have never won, however I have been very close and then gotten super mad when I've lost. One time, I was in the final two and I lost because my character in the game fell over and got eliminated. That one was very frustrating for me because I know I could've won if it weren't for my character.

    Your character in Fall Guys is a marshmallow looking figure that you can customize with different skins that you earn and buy. On my character I have a triceratops skin that is very cool looking. One way to get new skins is by leveling up. The other way is to use the game currency, Kudos, to buy them. You earn kudos from playing but you can also pay money for it.

    All in all, Fall Guys is my favorite video game out right now, and I would definitely recommend this game to anyone looking for a fun game. I think that Jiji would enjoy this game if he had a PS4 :)

 My Favorite Studio Ghibli Movies

Izzy

8/8//20

    Since we're doing the Studio Ghibli drawing class, I thought it would be a good time to re-watch some of the Studio Ghibli movies and talk about my favorites. There are still a few I haven't seen like Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, and Nausicä of the Valley of the Wind, but I plan to watch them soon. I love the animation style and how the movies make you feel good and also make you laugh. Many of these movies were a part of my childhood and I love learning to draw the characters.

Out of the movies I've seen so far, I think my favorite is Kiki's Delivery Service. Kiki is a young witch who goes away to live on her own for the traditional witch training with her talking cat, Jiji. The movie is about her adventures while she's away, and a very cool part is that she can fly on her broom. I also love it because she's around my age. Jiji is my favorite character because he's funny and seems like a great companion.

My Neighbor Totoro is my second favorite because of how cute and magical Totoro is. I used to watch it in Japanese when I was little so it's definitely special to me. Satsuki and Mei are sisters who move into a house in the country with their dad and meet some forest spirits including Totoro. I love the story and all of the super cute mythical creatures.

Some other awesome movies that I need to re-watch are Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away. Another great movie is The Secret World of Arrietty, which is based on the book The Borrowers so it's about Arrietty's tiny family and their adventures borrowing from normal sized humans. It's cool to see how they use our everyday things in a new way because they are so small. For example, a pin as a sword and a small clip to hold up her hair.

                                                                    Kiki and Jiji

                                                                Totoro, Mei, and Satsuki

Air Frying

Izzy

8/5/20

    We recently got an air fryer from Costco and I've been loving it so I thought I would talk about how it works and some of the DELICIOUS food we've made in it. The specific air fryer we have is the Nuwave 6 quart air fryer, which we made sure was "TaoTao approved" before we bought it. I was very excited to get it because one of the YouTubers I watch shows how she cooks tofu in the air fryer and it always comes out crispy. I was really surprised by all of the things you can make in it like veggies, meat, and some desserts!

 An air fryer doesn't use any oil and actually cooks with hot air. It preheats pretty fast and uses a fan to circulate the hot air. I really like it because it preheats and cooks pretty fast. It's also easier to cook tofu, one of the BEST foods ever, than on the stove. This was definitely a good purchase and I'm really proud of myself for convincing my mom to buy it.

    When we got home from Costco, I read the manual to learn how to use it and we tried it out with some frozen french fries. They only took about 15 minutes and were perfectly crispy on the outside and perfectly soft on the inside. I thought they were a lot better than when we cook them in the oven because of the supreme crispiness, and I will never want to go back to oven fries again. We also tried out the tofu recipe from the book that came with it. I would give it 6/10 because we had to marinate it for a while and it didn't get crispy on the outside. However, we tried a second tofu recipe with nutritional yeast and it was SOOOOOOO good! It got really crispy, but I will only rate it 8/10 because it wasn't enough sauce for all of the tofu. I had to add some soy sauce for maximum flavor, and I will be making it again in the future. Mom and I cooked some brussel sprouts too and they were very crispy and scrumptious. 

    They include lots of recipes in the air fryer book, some of which are sweets like cinnamon rolls so I'm curious to try that. I also want to do some fish and some more veggies, like kale chips which I haven't had in a long time. I'm really excited about all the air frying we will be doing in the future and I would highly recommend getting an air fryer!

Alone

Izzy

8/4/20

    When we were in Palm Springs, we started watching the 6th Season of Alone on Netflix and I loved it. Alone is a reality TV show where 10 contestants are dropped off in the middle of nowhere and have to survive off of the land. The contestant who lasts the longest wins $500,000. 

    The contestants only get to bring 10 items such as an axe, fishing line, a bow, etc. They are also given a few other things like a first aid kit and tarps. They have a big case of camera equipment so they can record everything they're doing and the viewers can see from many different angles. They get survival training for things like making a fire but many contestants are very experienced. In Season 3, the first episode shows the contestants during their training bootcamp. There are 20 people there and only the best 10 get to be on the show. Everyone is dropped off in a different area and are completely isolated. They encounter different wildlife and predators such as bears, mountain lions, rabbits, and foxes. There are other challenges like trying to stay warm when the temperature drops to about 0 degrees and finding enough food. There are periodic wellness checks where a medic checks the contestants to see if they have lost too much weight to the point where it's too dangerous to continue.

    In Season 6, the contestants were spread around Great Slave Lake in Canada but we're now watching Season 3 and it's in Patagonia which is close to Antarctica. There are huge differences between the two areas so it's interesting to see how the people survive in both places. Both areas have fresh water so most people catch fish for food. In Season 6, they had to worry about wolverines, bears, foxes, and bobcats versus Season 3 where they had to worry about mountain lions, foxes, and 400 pound boars. The boars are actually pretty cute but you wouldn't want to be face to face with one because they are pretty aggressive and will charge at humans. 

    My favorite part to watch is when they build their shelters because I think it's so interesting to see them build a house from tree branches and moss insulation. After seeing many different shelter methods, the most important things are to have a stone fireplace with some ventilation so your house doesn't burn down, double walls with moss and leaves in the middle as insulation, and a raised bed because the ground absorbs body heat. Another very interesting part is the snares that they set to catch animals. Sometimes the contestants go more than a week without protein and it really takes a toll on their bodies. 

    Overall, I love this show and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good show to binge. It's fun to guess who you think will win in the beginning and then seeing how it all plays out. It's definitely hard to watch just one episode because they always leave you with a cliffhanger.   

Why I Want a Puppy Part 3

Izzy

8/3/20

    I did some more research about getting a puppy that I thought I would share. I've definitely gotten my parents closer to saying yes (which I'm very proud of) but the biggest thing holding them back is Noodle. Noodle gets sick in the car, so for him to be able to meet any possible puppies he would be on meds which would change how he acts. If he didn't get sick in the car it would be so much easier, but we will have to find ways around it. Having another dog to worry about when we go out of town on top of Noodle and Boba and Sesame is a lot, so that's another big worry. Other than that, I think we might be getting one!!!!!!!!!!! 

    One thing that made me very happy to read was that puppies 4 months or younger are more likely to view guinea pigs as friends rather than prey because they are still developing their social skills. This made me very hopeful that the puppy would be friends with the guinea pigs and they might be like one of those unlikely friendships. I also know that I would have to take care of the guinea pigs and the puppy but, I know I can handle the work.

   

    I also wanted to know if it would be easier to get a girl puppy because Noodle is a boy, and the answer is yes. Turns out that when dogs are the same gender they are more likely to fight, so our puppy will have to be a girl. I wasn't sure about the gender before but Fuzz (mentioned in part 2) is a girl and I might ask about her if she hasn't been adopted yet. We might have to meet a few puppies before we find one that Noodle doesn't hate, so I'm not getting too attached to her-- even though she is ADORABLE! I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited that my parents are actually considering it!!! 

    Of course getting a puppy comes with all the responsibility of training it, so I've been learning about that too. I watched a few videos on a well known dog trainer, Zak George's YouTube channel where he showed the process of him training his new puppy. I think it's been easier to watch exactly how he gives the commands and rewards with treats and I'm already learning a lot. He talks a lot about positive reinforcement and desensitizing so your puppy gets used to new things. It isn't ideal that we'll be starting school again and are going to be doing some stay-cations this month because I need all the time I can get to train the puppy, but we'll still be at home when school starts. During "quarantine," so many people have brought new puppies into their homes because they're thinking "If not now, when?" I think this applies to us because once things go back to "normal" we'll be at school most of the weekdays, we'll be traveling again, and we won't be home as much. But now and probably for the next 6 months, we have the time and shouldn't let it pass by without taking advantage and getting a puppy. 

Japanese Lessons: COVID Edition

Japanese Lessons: COVID Edition

By Izzy 

8/2/20

    Even though we didn't get to go to Evanston for our annual summer trip this year, this weekend we still got to do a little bit of Japanese with Jiji. Normally, Ethan and I would sit down with Jiji everyday and follow the lesson he planned for us. We would typically have our lessons after tennis camp for about an hour and Jiji taught us the basics--the alphabet, writing and speaking, numbers, etc. Jiji also taught us some fun traditional Japanese songs.

    This weekend Jiji gave us a Japanese assignment. We had to read the Hiragana alphabet aloud and write all of the characters. We also had to read and say the times that were shown on clocks. I learned that there are two ways to say 4, 7, and 9 and which ones to use when telling time. We only really get Japanese lessons once a year but it was a good refresher because it came back to me. Even though we didn't get to go to Momo and Jiji's, it was nice to do a little Japanese lesson and feel like something was the same. My mom had to help us with it and it wasn't nearly as fun as being with Jiji. :) I learned that Jiji is a really patient teacher and I definitely won't take our Japanese lessons for granted again. 

My Hiragana alphabet