The Naval Academy

                                                                                 By Ethan V.

                                                                                    8-12-21

    Today we decided to go to Annapolis, Maryland to see the Naval Academy. The Naval academy is a college that leads into the US Navy, and where Koko went to school.

    At the start of our day my mom left to go to a wedding in Pennsylvania, so Koko, Izzy and I had to find something to do. We chose to go to the Naval Academy, which is about a 45 minute drive from Koko’s house. The Naval Academy is in Annapolis, Maryland, which is the capitol of Maryland. The Naval Academy was founded in 1845, 70 years after the Navy was founded.

    The Naval Academy is free to go to, but if you go to school there for over 2 years you are required to serve 5 years in the Navy after you finish school. When we got there, it was extremely hot like it has been all week, and at one point it got to 99 degrees! Anyway, we were walking around the campus and Koko was explaining all the traditions of the school to us. Some of them were that it is required that every student must go to every football game, and they have to march there.

    Another tradition is Plebe summer. A plebe was what the ancient Romans called the common people, and now plebe is used as a name for freshman at the Naval Academy. Plebe summer is the summer before school starts officially for the plebes, so they are tested to see if they will drop out before. Somethings Koko was telling us the upperclassmen (Sophmores, Juniors, Seniors, anybody above that like captains, etc.) would yell at the plebes. The plebes also have no rights. The plebes can’t have a phone or car, and they have to stay in rooms that aren’t air conditioned which seems terrible in the heat we were in. Also, they have smaller rules for them like how they can’t walk on curved paths and you cant walk on the grass and they can only sleep between 9 PM and 6:30 AM.

    While we were walking around the campus, we went into the swimming building that had a diving pool and a very long swimming pool. We also saw the tomb of the creator of the US Navy, John Paul Jones, who also created the Russian Navy. We then made our way to one of the stores, where I got a stuffed animal of Bill the goat, who is the mascot of Navy. They had pictures of the different Bills over the years, which was cool to see because they have had a goat as their mascot since the early 1900s. 

    One of the cooler things I saw at the Naval Academy was the Herndon Monument, mostly because if the tradition about it. The tradition around this monument is that they cover it with grease, and then all the plebes in that years class have to work together as a team to climb up to the top and then rip off a hat at the top that is taped and replace it. Once they do this all the plebes have officially “graduated” from being a plebe and can no longer be called it.

Georgetown By Ethan V.

                                Georgetown   

By Ethan V.               

                                                                               8-11-21

    For today’s adventure, we decided to walk around the campus of Georgetown University. Izzy and I hadn’t been in a while and it was very cool to see the campus where my parents went to college. 

     The walk to the Georgetown area is 20 minutes from Koko’s house. It doesn’t seem that bad but it was terrible since we had to walk in 93 degree heat and 90-95% humidity, which made us all hot and sticky. Somehow we eventually made it and stopped at Booey Mongers, a sandwich shop that my mom used to eat at when she was a student at Georgetown University. I got a steak egg and cheese sandwich that was really good but I was creeped out because there was a centipede crawling on the floor around us.

    After eating lunch, we walked further in the heat until we finally made it to the campus of Georgetown University. We started off by going into the store for Georgetown apparel, and we got a lot of clothing. I got a white Georgetown hoodie, and also a Georgetown dog bandana for our dog Noodle since he wears bandanas. 

   

Next we walked to their football field, which was kind of cool to see even though they have terrible football. However, right near the football stadium was the John Thompson athletic center which is named after the famous Georgetown University basketball coach. It was a cool building because it had all the sports trophies that Georgetown had won and I got to see the 1984 NCAA basketball trophy that they won with Patrick Ewing. 

     That was the last building we went into in the campus of Georgetown, and we walked along the Potomac off of the campus to a part of Georgetown that had more shops. After spending some more money, we walked down to a water park on K street, and we didn’t get completely soaked but we walked under the sprinklers some times. This water park is right next to the Potomac so it was cool to see the natural water while running through the sprinklers in the park.

    At the end of the day, we ordered Indian food for dinner, which I hadn’t had in a while so I was unsure about whether I would like it or not. But, after having it I can say its very good. 

          

Luray Caverns

 The Luray Caverns

Izzy

8/10/2021

    Today we got to visit the Luray Caverns! On our way back to D.C. from the Eagle’s Nest, we stopped in Luray, Virginia. The caverns seem to be the only attraction in that small town which is why they advertised for it with about 10 giant billboards along the freeway. 

    The Luray Caverns were first discovered on August 13th, 1874 by William Campbell, Andrew Campbell, and Benton Stebbins. They discovered the caverns from a quarter-sized sink hole in the ground and they felt the cold air coming out of it. That small sink hole was widened to create the entrance that we went in through. 

This is the entrance to the caverns.

    When you start going down into the caverns, you see the stalagmites and stalactites all around you. The caverns are estimated to be around 450 million years old. It was so crazy to see it all because they were so big and were so crazy looking that it seemed fake. According to the pamphlet, stalagmites and stalactites are created when, “Water mixed with carbon dioxide from the atmosphere creates a mild carbonic acid in the soil. When that solution seeps through the ground, coming in contact with the limestone layers, the acid hollows out the bedrock creating these cavern rooms. By slowly eroding the weaker minerals, the harder minerals are left behind. These are the walls and ceilings. As water continues to drip into the chambers, the carbon dioxide is released, and the droplet crystallizes. Resulting formations are called speleothems.” The rounded formations on the floor are stalagmites and the thin, pointy ones hanging from the ceiling are the stalactites. The crazy part is that they only grow one cubic inch ever 120 years!! There were many different formations and sizes throughout the different rooms of the caverns.

    My two favorite parts of the caverns were the Dream Lake and the Fried Eggs. The Dream Lake was a shallow lake that made a perfect mirror reflection of the the stalactites on the ceiling. The reflection makes it look like there are a bunch of underwater stalagmites when the lake is actually only 18 to 20 inches at it’s deepest. It was so cool looking because it really did look like there were underwater stalagmites! It’s also the largest body of water in the caverns and covers 2,500 square feet. The Fried Eggs are two stalagmites that were shaved off when they widened the tunnel. I liked them because they really do look like fried eggs!

This is the Dream Lake. What looks like underwater stalagmites is actually the reflection of the ceiling.

These are the Fried Eggs.

    The Giant Redwood is the largest and oldest formation. It is a huge formation that is 40 feet tall and 120 feet in circumference. It’s also estimated to be over 7 million years old. We learned that they used to hold dances in one room called the Cathedral. The Cathedral houses The Great Stalacpipe Organ which is the largest musical instrument in the world. The stalactites are gently tapped and the vibrations of the stalactites sends a signal to the instrument that creates “the electrical equivalent its tone.” We heard it play and it was cool that it was coming from the stalactites. One other cool sight was the wishing well, the deepest body of water in the caverns. It is 6 feet deep but the bottom will be covered in 2 to 3 feet of coins by the end of the year. The coins are collected and donated. So far, over $1.2 million has been collected from the Wishing Well. We all got to throw a coin in too. Overall, it was a really cool and memorable experience to learn about stalagmites and stalactites!

The Wishing Well

D.C United Soccer Game

 D.C. United Soccer Game

Izzy

8/9/2021

    Yesterday we got to watch D.C. United play against the Montréal Football Club. I had a great time watching the soccer game and going to my first big event in over a year and a half! 

    The D.C. United are the men’s soccer team for D.C. and they compete at the Audi Field. D.C. United first started in 1996 and has won 4 MLS Cups. In case you didn’t know, soccer games are 90 minutes long with two 45 minute halves. The first goal was scored by Montréal in the 16th minute but D.C. their first goal before halftime in the 40th minute. There were many close calls but D.C. got another goal. The final score was 2-1, D.C. United won!! 

    I really enjoyed the game, which surprised me because I don’t normally like soccer. I don’t enjoy playing it but watching the game in person was really fun. During the National Anthem, there were fireworks and more fireworks were launched when D.C. United scored. Cheering with the crowd also made it really fun and the excitement when they scored a goal. There was one section of the stands that were cheering and singing the entire time and one person was beating a drum. I would definitely go to another game and in my opinion, it is more exciting than a baseball game. I enjoy the fast pace of soccer and the excitement from how close the game can be until the last second. One thing I don’t enjoy about soccer is how dramatic the players can be about an “injuries” to make it seem worse than it is. Sometimes they actually do get really hurt but many times it’s fake.

    It was also the first big event I’ve been to since Covid started so it was kind of crazy. The stands weren’t entirely full but there were a good amount of people in our section. We were actually pretty close to the field and almost in the middle so we had a great view.  Masks were only required if you weren’t fully vaccinated and I did see people still wearing them which was nice. It felt pretty normal though and I had a really good time.

The view from our seats

Eagle’s Nest Treehouse and Shenandoah National Park Ethan V.

             Eagle’s Nest Treehouse and Shenandoah National Park

                                                                 By Ethan V.

                                                         8-9-21

    We were lucky to be with Koko in person for her birthday this year, which is a first for us! To celebrate we drove to a tree house in Virginia called the Eagle’s Nest treehouse. We also took a hike in the Shenandoah National Park, which was the first time Izzy and I had been there. 

    We started off the day in Koko’s house in D.C, where she opened her birthday presents. After we ate breakfast we hit the road for a 2 hour drive to Shenandoah National Park. The park is known for having lots of black bears, which was scary for me to hear because I did not want to see one.

    When we got there around noon, we had 4 hours before we could check into our Airbnb so we went for a hike before driving there. We went on the Rose River Falls trail, which was a fairly easy trail to a waterfall. We took pictures but I was getting very freaked out because there were a ton of millipedes there climbing on the rocks and ground. After a little we headed back to the car, and during the walk back I counted seeing 18 millipedes (it was extremely scary). Luckily we didn’t see any bears the entire time on the trail.

    Then we decided to drive South to the visitors center because we had to go that way to go to the treehouse anyway. On the way to the visitors center, though, a deer ran through the street right in front of us and we were very close to hitting it. We made it to the visitors center and after looking through it we went on to a store a little bit away. There we got snacks and I got a checkers game to play at the treehouse.

    After this we drove about 45 minutes to the treehouse. It is very cool and they really went in with the eagle theme of the house. Everywhere you look is something about eagles. After playing games like checkers (I beat Izzy) and Uno, we had pasta for dinner.

    Then we took a quick walk around the area where our treehouse is and we saw the pond down the road. It has crocodile statues in it that Izzy and I thought were real at first because of how realistic they are, even though you are allowed to swim in the pond. Also near the treehouse was a farm area where we saw a lot of cows that were very cute. 

    We ended the day by hanging out in the hot tub and I watched the Disney movie Brother Bear.

 Avatar: The Last Airbender

Izzy 

12/19/20

    One of my new favorite shows is Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's an animated Nickelodeon show that started airing in 2005. All 3 seasons are on Netflix and it may only be rated TV-Y7 but I think it's for anyone.

     The Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation are the nations of the world. There are benders from all of the nations that can bend the elements. The world has been unbalanced since the Fire Nation started a war trying to take over all other nations. The Avatar is the most powerful being because they can bend all four elements. There is only one Avatar who gets reincarnated into the next avatar after they die. The Avatar is also supposed to be the bridge between the human and spirit world. The Avatar had been gone for 100 years until siblings Katara and Sokka find Aang the Avatar. He had been frozen for 100 years and is only twelve because of it. They travel the world with Aang so he can master Water, Earth, and Fire bending so he can defeat the Fireloard and end the war. 

    I love this show so much because of how funny the show and characters are and how funny they are as a group. I also love the bending because it is so cool to see them use it in fights. All of their adventures are amazing and you can learn some important lessons from the show. One of my favorite characters is Appa, Aang's giant flying bison. 

    The nations are actually based one the Inuit, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan cultures. They also made comics that take place after the show and I do plan to read them. There is actually a sequel called the Legend of Korra, which follows the next Avatar 70 years after Avatar: The Last Airbender ends. You actually see old Katara and Aang's kids as adults. I love both shows so much and I hope this gave you some insight on what they're about!

Appa, Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Momo (the flying lemur)

Appa

 Tennis

Izzy 

12/19/20

    Over the summer, I got to play more tennis. Ethan and I did two weeks of tennis camp at the tennis courts nearby. I have been playing tennis there for a few years just for fun, there's a one hour class once a week that we would sometimes go to. We started it because Vincent and Cia were going there and started doing it more regularly. 

    I haven't gotten to swim with my team since March so tennis has been great for trying to stay active. Online school starts at 10 for us, so I've started waking up early and playing tennis at 7 with my dad and/or mom. We play for around an hour once or twice a week at the tennis courts at my school. The grass field and tennis courts are open to the public. It's felt weird to be back at school again when I go to play, especially because it's at the time I would normally be at school, waiting for the first bell. Since it's gotten a little colder we have been the only ones using the courts during the week and it's really nice. We'll see lots of cute dogs running around though. Afterwards we sometimes get donuts from Golden Donut, an amazing donut shop. 

    Usually we start off hitting the ball to each other within the service line, also called short court. Then we back up and do some more rallying. Dad/mom will then feed me the balls to practice my backhand or forehand. For the past couple of weeks, I've been doing the tennis class again with my friend Isabella (who I also surf with). We wear masks the whole time and it's been fun to see people my age again. I really enjoy seeing myself improve and pushing myself to get better.