Craziness In Harpers Ferry!!!!!!!!

Craziness In Harpers Ferry!!!!!!

By: Ethan V.

7-4-18

     Today was(another) crazy day!!!!! We woke up at 7 A.M. and then got our stuff together for the trip and then got on the road to Harpers Ferry. The car ride is 1 hour and 30 minuets from Koko's house. When we got there we checked in and then got sunscreen and put a lot on.  After sunscreen we went to the ziplining tent and waited for everyone else. I ended up not doing it because I don't like heights and the highest one was about 30 feet and I don't like anything that high. Koko stayed with me because the whole thing was going to be about 1 hour and 15 minuets but we got to go to the TRAMPOLINE!!!! The trampoline was like a pillow and it was SO FUN!!!!!! We stayed on there for about 10 minuets and then we got tired of the bugs and heat so we went to the main shop. First we got       the tubing tickets and then we went and got water shoes for tubing. After the water shoes we went and picked up Izzy from the zip lining place and then we got snacks from the shop. After we finished the snacks we went to the tubing place and we got life jackets on but we didn't go because Izzy was feeling bad so we got in the car and we went to the actuall town of harpers ferry. First we ate lunch and I got  a really good burger and Izzy and Koko both got salads. After that really good lunch we walked around town and then we went in the John Brown wax museum and it was very creepy!!! There were 3 floors and a basement of it and all it is you walk up and down creepy halls and there are different displays of wax figures that tell the life of John Brown. John Brown was a abolitionist that hated slavery and in the mid-1800's he led a rebellion in harpers ferry but he was captured and hung and that was about his life in the museum, too. Another thing is that the museum is haunted. There are 2 ghosts in the museum and we were by our selves which made it creepier. I think that I actually saw a moving shadow, too. After that we did 2 miles of appalachian trail!!! The appalachian trail goes through Georgia to Maine and it takes about 6 months to do it!!!  We only did 2 miles and the real trail is about 5,000 miles!!!! After that we got Ice cream and went to our hotel and it had an Infinity pool!! We played in the pool for a lot of time and then went to sleep and that was craziness in harpers ferry.

Evanston Reflection- Ethan

Evanston Reflection- Ethan

By: Ethan V.
7-3-18

     Today we left Evanston and this is my reflection on it.  There are our rules for Evanston in Izzy's post and here is the link: Izzy's Reflection. In this post I will tell you the good things and the bad things things about my time in Evanston.

     Bad Things

     The bad things about leaving Evanston were we had to leave our awesome grandparents Momo and Jiji and we also had to leave Koubou their cat. We have facetimed them every single day since we left and Momo says he is very sad but he does get to exercise with Jiji so that is good. I also miss tennis camp a little because it was very fun. But we are actually are doing a tennis camp in San Diego so that is better. So those were some of the bad things about leaving Evanston and now here are the things that I liked in Evanston.

      Good Things

     Here are the good things about my time in Evanston: we got to pick out Koubou the cat and we got to do tennis camp and staying with Momo and Jiji. Picking out Koubou wasn't that hard at all because he came up to us right away and we liked him a lot(plus he is buddhist) and he is very friendly. I liked tennis camp because all the coaches were nice and the games we played were very fun and I want to do it again next summer, also. Staying with Momo and Jiji izzy and I always love because we get Japanese lessons with Jiji and doing Garden work with Momo and MUCH, MUCH more but I can't list all of it. I am looking forward a lot to going back and I can't wait for Christmas!!!

     

Evanston Reflection--Izzy

Reflection:Our Visit to Evanston 2018!

Izzy

7.3.18

     Today we left Evanston to go to Koko's house in D.C. I am going to talk about what I liked, disliked, etc. I am sad to leave Momo and Jiji/Koubou but am happy to go on more adventures with Koko. 

      Our responsibilities were: making our beds/keeping our room neat, exercising with Jiji(daily), posting on the blog at least every other day, doing at least one page in our All About Me books daily, doing at least one book review, writing in our journals, doing a Japanese lesson ever day for at least forty minutes, and practicing Go and calligraphy. Ethan and I each had a star chart to fill in when we accomplished the task. Doing all of these things helped us with time management--we knew what we had to get done and did it. Also, Ethan and I could earn money if we completed everything. 

     Some of my favorite things were the tennis camp, getting Koubou, learning a Japanese song, and playing Go. I also loved going to the Morton Arboretum and hanging out with Sachi. The tennis camp had nice coaches and fun activities. I hope to do it again next year. I also loved learning the Japanese song and I will always remember it. Playing Go was very fun and I hope to get a Go board at home. As for the blogging and journaling, they can be a lot of fun and a lot of work! I am used to doing all of these things and am glad to keep writing even when school is over. The book review are kinda fun, but not really. I know it's good for you because it proves you really were paying attention to the events, but it's just more work. Well there isn't much other work. But by doing an extra review, I earned an extra twenty five incentive points which equals five dollars.  Overall this year was another amazing summer in Evanston and I am happy to always come back!

Puzzle--Izzy

Doing a Puzzle with Koko!!!

Izzy

7.2.18

     Today Koko, Ethan, and I started a puzzle of the world. It's a 600 piece puzzle of all of the different countries and oceans on earth. Some of the pieces are even shaped like the country! We worked on it all day on Monday and completed the outside edge, all of the countries, and some of the water. Ethan did South America and Russia. I did the United States and some other countries, plus parts of the water and Antarctica. I like how this puzzle helps you with your geography of the world--it's a good thing to know. Since Belgium beat Japan in a World Cup Match, we are going to take them out of the puzzle. 😏We will definitely try to finish the puzzle tomorrow before we leave for D.C! To read about Koko's arrival, go to Ethan's post: Koko Coming Home!!!!!

7.3.18

     Today we finished the puzzle! We took a few pics, some of them with Koubou. And we took out Belgium. Some other countries like Germany were connected to it--no offense Germany! This was a very fun puzzle.

This is the puzzle we did!

Koubou helped too. Kinda...

Koko Coming HOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Koko Coming Home!!!!!! 

By: Ethan V.

7-2-18

   Yesterday Koko came home!!! We were expecting her to get here at about 9 P.M., but since she there were thunderstorms she came here at about 10 P.M. I was doing my blog when she snuck up on us and scared us. I was also very happy because Koko is AWESOME!!!!! She ate dinner and then went to sleep because we needed to wake up for the world cup. We thought that Japan was playing early and before we knew that we were already ready for bed so we decided to just go to bed. When we woke up Koko and I went downstairs and watched T.V. We got ready for the Japan game and we started on a puzzle of the world. The puzzle is very big and it's 600 pieces!!!!! Find out a LOT more information in Izzy's blogpost about it. Right now we are very stressed with it because it is very hard because we are doing the seas. I am very happy she is here and I am excited for our next summer adventure with her in D.C.

Cooking With Jiji--Izzy and Ethan

Cooking with Jiji!!

Izzy and Ethan

7.1.18

Izzy's Experience

     Ethan and I have both done some cooking with Jiji. We got to learn from the master how to make some really good Japanese dishes! The first thing I made with Jiji was curry. We all love to have Jiji's famous curry--it's SO good! It usually has meat, potatoes, carrots, celery, and a few more ingredients. Since I am now pescatarian, Jiji said he would make shrimp curry instead. He made it the same as usual but with shrimp. He cut up all of the ingredients and put them into bowls. Ethan and I also learned how to shell the shrimp. I put all of the ingredients in a pot and added the curry sauce. We had it over rice. Another day I helped Jiji cook some shumai. We put the shumai ino  a pan with a little oil and when it was brown, flipped them over. Then we added a little water and covered the pan. We made 2 different kinds of shumai, pork and edamame (mainly for me). Just yesterday I helped Jiji with some gyoza. Since our friends Elizabeth and Gavin were coming over, we had sushi, gyoza, and miso soup for dinner. The process of cooking gyoza was similar to cooking the shumai, putting them in a pan with some oil and letting them cook for a while. Then you flipped them over and added some water. The gyoza had meat so I didn't try any--but the others said they were good. I had lots of fun cooking with Jiji and hope to do it again soon!

Ethan's Experience

     I am lucky to have the chance to cook with Jiji and I am even luckier to have him teach me how to make his awesome steak!!!!! Here is how we made it: First we got the steak out of the package and put it on a tray with foil on it. The foil is there to prevent a mess on the tray and it works!! Anyway, first we put tenderizer on it and it's supposed to make it more tender but it looked more like salt to me. After the tenderizer we added seasoning. Then we flipped it over and did the same on the other side of the steak. After we put all that on both sides of the steak we turned on the broiler and put the steak in. On broil you put the steak in for 7 minutes and I don't know how much time it is for a different mode. When the seven minutes are up you flip it over and do it for another 7 minutes on the other side. Then you take it out and it's complete!! I love cooking with Jiji and I hope I can do it again. And that was Izzy and me cooking with Jiji!!!

This is Izzy cooking the gyoza with Jiji.

This is Ethan helping Jiji cook the steak.

    

Jurassic World!--Izzy

Seeing Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom!!!

Izzy

6.30.18

     Today we saw Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom! Like last time, when we saw Incredibles 2, Momo drove us there and went in with us to buy the tickets. Then Ethan and I got our own snacks and Momo drove home. I bought a medium popcorn for us to share. We brought water and Starburst Gummies from home to snack on. We went into the theater and enjoyed the awesome movie. My favorite character was Owen because he was funny. The actor, Chris Pratt, is very funny in general. I also liked Franklin because he was scared a lot of the time, which made him funny. I think this movie was very good because of the plot. I wasn't expecting some of the things that happened and when they did, it made the movie better.  Also, the dinosaurs look SO real in these films. Overall, the movie was great and I would recommend seeing it!