Gardening with Momo!

Gardening with Momo!!

Izzy

6.18.19

     Today I gardened with Momo and learned two new things. The first thing we did was tie some vines to the fence which trains them to grow in a certan direction. Since the vines were getting pretty tall, we looped them around the top of the fence, which is pretty short, and gently tied them with some wire. The other thing I learned was that you should cut off the flowering stems of lettuce that are bolting, which means that the plant is trying to produce seeds and these stems aren't edible because they are too bitter. I also pulled weeds in the Japanese garden, which is kind of difficult because the ground is covered in many small rocks.

Cutting off the bolted parts of the lettuce

Tying the vines to the fence

And happy birthday to my amazing mom, I love you soooooo much and I don't know how I'd live without you! Your are so strong, kind, smart, and so much more, not to mention an AWESOME mom! Hope you had a great day 💕😍😘👏 

First Day Of Tennis Camp!-ETHAN

Our First Day of Tennis Camp

By Ethan V. 6-17-19

     

     On our first day at Tennis Camp we had a lot of fun. We played games and played at the playground. Read more to learn more.

     The first thing we did when we got to camp was do some drills for our forehands and backhands. A forehand is when you use your dominant hand and you hit the ball. A back hand is when you use both your hands to hit the ball. Personally I am better at forehands than backhands because forehands are easier for me to hit.

     We had camp at Leahy Park which is across Lincoln Street from 

the Chandler-Newberger Recreation center. There were a lot of camps there and the reason we didn't have camp at Lovelace is because the courts there are being resurfaced. Now the walk home  from camp is an hour long. All we have to do is walk down Central Street and take a right on either Central Park and make a left to get to Highland or turn directly on Highland Avenue and then we'll be at our house! It is a long but good walk and Izzy and I get to stop at shops on Central Street along the way like Tag's Bakery, Starbucks, Oliver's Trains and Toys etc.

     Also at tennis camp we played a game today. There are many lines on a tennis court. There are lines like the baseline, the service line, center service line, ad singles, ad doubles, deuce singles, deuce doubles and the net. In the game we played with all of these. Coach Alex would call out a line and everybody would have to run there and the last one there would be out. Izzy and I were the last but Izzy beat me on the last one and it STUNK.

     Overall it was very fun and I look forward to day two tomorrow.

                                                

Learning About Lincoln

Learning About Lincoln in Springfield and New Salem!!

Izzy

6.16.19

     After arriving in Evanston on June 13th, Momo, Mom, Ethan, and I got in the car on the 14th for a 4 hour car ride to New Salem/Springfield, IL where we would visit New Salem Historic Village and the Lincoln Presidential Museum. The drive to New Salem was about 200 miles.

     When we arrived at New Salem, we walked through the village and went into many different log houses or buildings, most of them reconstructed replicas from Lincoln's time there. The weather was very good for this.We spent some time in the schoolhouse/church log house, the general store, houses of residents, and a tavern. There were "interpreters" wearing the dress of that time who explained the history of the building. Some of the most interesting things I learned were that boys and girls had different punishments at school for misbehaving. Boys would have to go outside and whittle a long, skinny stick that the teacher would then hit them with. Girls were not whipped, but would have to face the wall and stand on their toes with their arms up for 20 minutes, which I demonstrated (not for 20 minutes) and it was not easy 😓. There could be 15 kids from ages 5 to 13 at school in the one room and they would all repeat (blab) the lesson out loud to memorize it. It was the blab method and it was loud and noisy.

   We also went into the doctor's office and learned some gruesome information about how the doctor would treat sick people. When you were sick the doctor would poke you and let you bleed until you passed out to get all of the "bad" fluids out of you. They would also blister you and then pop them for the same purpose.

At the gift shop I got some old-fashioned scissors and a patch. I will use the scissors to do crafts.

    

     New Salem seemed like a fun town to live in and I can imagine how it must have been from all the information the interpreters gave us. I wonder how it would have been to go to the bathroom because they didn't have plumbing. All of the houses had a fireplace and that was where they would cook their food, they didn't have a microwave or fridge so I think it would be interesting to cook how they would cook back then. It would have also been hard to deal with the heat because they didn't have air conditioning and the women had to wear a long dress which would be super hot. The day we were there it was overcast so it felt fine in the buildings, and there was even a fire going in the school house.

     We spent the night in Springfield. The next day, Saturday, we walked in the rain to Lincoln's house. It rained all day. We walked through the Lincoln house with a tour guide and got to see all the rooms. There was some really crazy busy wallpaper! There was a formal parlor where Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd, would welcome guests, and a sitting room, or family room, where the Lincolns would spend time together. Mary and Lincoln also had separate bedrooms because it was fashionable at the time. I loved how you got to see how the house actually looked when the Lincolns were living in it. There was a house nearby that showed miniature versions of the house as the Lincolns added on and improved it.  

     We then walked to the Presidential Lincoln Museum where we did a scavenger hunt. We saw two movies and a presentation with holograms which was really cool.We walked through exhibits where there were figures of Lincoln and his family, friends, colleagues to explain the scene. There was one exhibit of Lincoln's childhood cabin and one of the Berry-Lincoln's store in New Salem. There was a part of the museum that had an entrance that looked like the White House and was about Lincoln's time there as president. I learned that there was a total of 1, 323, 000 casualties in the Civil War, which is a LOT! I also learned that in 1820 there were 1, 529, 012 slaves!!! In the gift shop I got a secret marker set that has a marker that writes invisibly and is only able to be seen after you go over it with the other marker. This was related to Lincoln because it was something they used in the Civil War.

     As we were leaving Springfield to return to Evanston, we stopped at Lincoln's tomb where we walked through and saw his grave and grave markers of his wife and three of his children. We rubbed the nose on the sculpture of Lincoln located in front of the tomb for good luck. It was a bright shiny nose on his bronze face! 

The Lincolns' house originally

Second update

Lincoln's bed

The final version and the one we walked through

                             

Mary's bed with a dress laid out on top   

Me rubbing Lincoln's nose at his tomb

The statue outside the Lincoln Presidential Museum

   

Summer Travel 2019

Summer Travel 2019!

Izzy

6.16.19

      This year Ethan and I get to go to some fun new places! We stayed in Springfield, IL for the 14th and 15th with Momo and Mom. We will be in Evanston until June 29th and Koko will come to bring us to Vermont where we will stay in the Trapp Family Lodge. Koko, Ethan, and I will stay there until July 5th. My dad is coming to meet us and Ethan and I will drive with him to Tupper Lake, NY and we'll stay with the Limmarzis and the Johnson-Browns and leave on the 11th. I am happy to be able to go to some new places this year with friends and family and I will make sure to keep you guys updated on our fun adventures!

Me and Ethan with Koubou

Going into A. Lincoln's history-ETHAN

GOING BACK TO THE TIME OF A.LINCOLN

BY Ethan V.

6-15-19

     

     Over the past two days Momo, Izzy, my mom, and I visited several historical places about Abraham Lincoln. First we went to New Salem which is where Lincoln moved and lived in his early twenties.

My favorite building in New Salem was Mr.Hill's house. He had the only two-story house in New Salem and our interpreter-guide said it was like a mansion at that time. Also our guide had a friend with her to present. His name was Doc and he was a rooster! He was actually standing on the desk in the Hills' home. He acted like a pet. Our guide said that animals were free to roam throughout the village in those days. In the gift shop in New Salem, I got a rabbit's foot for good luck.
     
     The next historical place about the Lincolns we went to was their house in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln lived there after New Salem but before his presidency. One interesting thing I learned is that there they had a lot of arsenic in their lives. The had it in the color dye in dresses and even in their wallpaper. They used it to hold the color. At that time, they did not know  that all of this arsenic was bad for their health. This is why some people back in their time, our guide said, especially ladies, had health issues.
     

     The third historic place about the Lincolns we went to was the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The museum had a lot of cool exhibits about the Lincolns. My favorite part of the museum was the White House part. It was basically the timeline of Lincoln's life while Abraham was in office. It spanned from when he ran for Senate to when he got assassinated. One cool thing I learned was that John Wilkes Booth actually got away after he shot Abraham Lincoln. He jumped onto the stage and even though he broke his leg he still managed to get away on a horse he had waiting outside the theater.

     The fourth and final place we visited was the Lincoln tomb. I think that this was cool because the whole family is buried there except Robert as he seemed to be not as close to the family. Another cool thing was that outside his tomb was a statue of his head. We learned that If you rub his nose, you are supposed to get good luck. I rubbed it well.

     In conclusion, going to Springfield and learning about Lincoln was really fun and I hope to go again.

     

Gardening with Momo!-ETHAN

Gardening With Momo
By Ethan V.
6-13-19

     On the first day we spent in Evanston I helped Momo with her garden. Here's what I did.

This is a tomato plant like mine.

     The first thing I planted was Zinnias. They are flowers that will grow and look like one of the pictures below. Momo said they will probably bloom when I am still here in Evanston, so when and if they do I will update you guys about it. Zinnias can be many different colors but they are mainly yellow, orange, white, red, rose, pink, purple, lilac and multi-colored blooms.

    The other thing I planted was a tomato plant. Momo got it from the Botanic Gardens and she let me plant it. It was origanally named Bumblebee so 

I kept it that way but now his nickname is Bumble.

    In conclusion, I hope to track my plants' growth and monitor it on this blog so you guys can see it too.

These are zinnias.

These are wormies.

Y Camp!!!!!!!!

Y Camp!!

By: Ethan V.

7-25-18

     On our first week back from our trip I did a YMCA camp!!!!! It was called explorers and we went places. I did it with my best friend Jack and the places we went were two parks one called Bonita Cove and the other one was Mission Bay. We also went bowling and to Dave and busters and then on Friday we went to a pizza place called Woodstock's Pizza. Also the hours of camp were from 8:30 to 5:30. Here is a description of each place we went:

Monday

     On Monday we went to park called Bonita Cove. I ended up playing soccer the whole time which was like 5 hours. We had to play on sand, also and I still am trying to get it all of out of my shoe. I am not used to playing soccer on sand and it was hard to kick the ball. Anyway I hope I get to  go again.

Tuesday

     On Tuesday we went bowling!!! First we got our bowling shoes and then went to bowl. My lane got to our third round but we ended right as we started the third round. My best score was 107 and that was in the second round. I hope I can go bowling again soon.

Wednesday

    On Wednesday we went to another park. It is called Mission Bay and it is on a bay but we didn't go in the water. Just like the first park we went to I played soccer the whole time. This time it was about 4 hours but this Time we also played on grass!! I would love to get in the water next time!!!!!

Thursday

     On Thursday we went to Dave and Buster's!!! It is a arcade that I love and I always go to the same games. My favorite one was the basketball game where you shoot basketballs and try to make them in the baskets.  There are also records of points scored and I broke one of the records!!!! The record was 50 and I scored 54!!! I wish I were playing games right now!!!!

Friday

     On Friday we went to a place called Woodstock's Pizza. We got to create our own mini pizza!! Mine had no cheese and it had pepperoni and sausage. I hope I can go back there and create another pizza with different toppings if I go again!!!

     I hope I can do another camp this fun and I hope I do it again next year!!!!!