H is for Holidays

A holiday is day where you have a special day off or it is an official holiday. Some official holidays are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and many more.

One holiday that I recently took was a holiday to go to London, England and Paris, France. We went with a tour company (forgot the name) with the touring company we got to see all the main attractions in both cities. Below I am listing what I saw in the cities.

In London, my family and I saw Big Ben, the London Eye (the world's tallest observation wheel), Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Kensington Gardens, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and more.

A cool part of London is going into the London Eye and seeing all of London just with a 30 minute ride on the world's tallest observation wheel. Oxford Street is a busy shopping area. Just walking down the street took a long time because there is probably 300 or more stores on just one single street. There are stores like Selfridges (a department store), bookstores, music stores, restaurants, Primark which is like the American Walmart, and so many other stores.

In Paris, my family and I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Cathedral de Notre Dame, the Palace of Versailles, Grand Palais, Petit Palais, the Champs-Elysées, the Opéra de Paris and more. Did you know that the lights on Eiffel Tower sparkle every hour, on the hour? But only for five minutes, so you have to be there just at the right time.

I liked going to the Louvre Museum because I got to see the Mona Lisa in real life, not just in pictures. One of the things was that it was hard to get right in front her portrait to get a picture because there was so many people wanting to get pictures of her.

Life Lesson: There is a lot of the world to see, so get out there and see it!

I commented on Rowena's Blog this week!

B is for Boots

Boots (not Boots from Dora the Explorer) Boots are a pieces of footwear that cover your foot and ankle. Your boots can be as short as your ankle or can come up to the top of your knee and even higher (like waist).

Most boots have a heel which makes the boot not flat so you don't slip (but maybe you will if the ground is wet).

What are boots made of? Boots are either made with leather or rubber, but today's boots are made of a lot more things that leather and rubber.

When do we wear boots? Boots are worn during the winter and the spring to protect your feet from mud, rain, snow and much more. Boots can also be worn for style and fashion. UGGs are one of the most popular choice of winter boots for teens. One thing that UGGs aren't very good in is salty snow, because that can damage the boot.

One day I was in my cabin at Tawingo (talked about Tawingo in last post) because it was raining and I had nothing else to do. So, my counsellor asked my friend and I if we wanted to go puddle jumping. We both said "Sure!" When we first went outside there was not many puddles even though it has been raining for a while, but after splashing around in them we found more. One time I went in this huge puddle and I got so wet that my boots got full of water. After splashing around in the rain for awhile the three of us decided to go back to our cabin because we were cold and wet. Overall, my boots kept my feet dry for a bit and then they got soaking wet.

Life Lesson: Wear boots to keep your feet dry and comfortable.

I commented on Hayley's post on snowboarding!

T is for Tawingo

One of my favorite times of year, is the summer because I get to go to Camp Tawingo for three whole weeks! Why do I love it? Because I get to have fun, I don't have to go to school, and I get to see my friends that I haven't seen since last summer.

Tawingo is a co-ed camp from the ages 7 to 16. Tawingo has campers who come from all around the world including China and other countries. I will tell you about the waterfront, the camp craft program, nature program, sports program, special programs, and the cabins.

The Waterfront:

Tawingo has a great waterfront that shares the same lake as another camp. If you want to canoe they have 75 canoes if you want to canoe during free time. You can also kayak, sail or row. Tawingo has five in-lake swimming pools that you can swim in and one of the swimming pools has two diving boards and a slide.

The Camp Craft Program:

Crestwood is a place where you can learn about different types of knots, fire building, map and compass work, and outdoor cooking. There are opportunities where you and your cabin can go on a trip away from camp for a couple of days but you stay on the lake.

The Nature Program:

SWAMP Lodge is the name of Tawingo's nature program. At SWAMP the campers learn about nature through hikes, games and observations. The letters of SWAMP represent different nature themes, Stars, Weather, Animals, Minerals, and Plants. SWAMP also has a nature museum where campers can bring animals they find to be taken care of.

Sports Program:

If you like playing sports at camp well the sports field is right for you. The sports you can play are mini - putt, archery, badminton, ball hockey, baseball, basketball, football, frisbee, tennis, volleyball and much more. You can also join tournaments during the time you are at camp.

Special Programs:

There is always some sort of special program going on. Tawingo has programs planned just for the boy’s camp, and programs just for the girl’s camp! There are three sessions and each of those sessions has one fun-filled day for all of camp.

At the beginning of each session at camp you have the chance to sign up for a musical that is presented in front of all of camp. One of the musicals in the past was The Lion King.

During each session there is a native council. This is where you get to see a native dance by someone who works at the camp and some stuff by the campers.

Each session ends with a banquet, sing song, a slideshow highlighting all the camp memories of the session. Some people cry during this time because it is the last night together with your cabin.

Cabins:

The first day you come to camp you will be sent to your cabin to meet your 6 0r 7 cabin mates that are your age. The same counselor stays with you the whole time you are at camp.

In each cabin there is a bathroom with a toilet and a shower with cold and hot running water. The cabins are bright and beautiful.

That was a run through of what my camp is like, I hope you are interested in coming.

If you would like to find out more information click here

Life Lesson: Try new stuff, you might like it!

C is for Cooking

Did you know that fortune cookies were invented in 1916 by George Jung, a Los Angeles noodle maker??

Over the summer, I did a cooking camp at a local restaurant. I went to 2 cooking classes over the summer. One class was to learn basic cooking and the other cooking class was to learn how to make desserts. I am now going to list the items that I learned in basic cooking and desserts below:

Basic = Rice

Fresh Pasta (Scratch)

Tomato Sauce

Béchamel Sauce

Tart Tatin

Fresh Cheese (made from milk)

Homemade Chips and Dip

Spicy Potato Wedges

Mayonnaise (homemade)

Coleslaw

BBQ Sauce

Herb Aioli

Sandwiches

Waldorf Salad

Vichyssoise ( a creamy potato soup flavoured with leeks and onions)

Desserts = Coconut Cake

Lemon Tartlets (pastry & lemon stuff)

Meringue

Giant Toblerone Cookies a la Mode

Brandy Caramel

Chocolate Soufflé

Strawberry Flambé with Whipped Cream

Chocolate with Cream Semifreddo

Muffins that taste like doughnuts

White or Milk Chocolate Mousse

Apple Streudel

Pie Pastry

Apple Pie Filling

Butter Tarts

Over the course of my cooking classes I have learned how to make stuff I have never know how to make before. Some of the thing I made I enjoyed so much that I would make them again.

I was making a couple types of food every day over the course of the week. We would make the food and then eat what we had made to see if was any good. Well, of course it was! Sometimes if we didn't finish eating our food, we could bring it home for our family to try. They sure liked when it was the dessert cooking week. I was bringing home three kinds of dessert every day!!

On the Friday, My whole class would invite their friends and family to come have a dinner that we would prepare for them. We ran the evening like a restaurant. Our family would make a reservation, we would seat them at the table that we had set. We would serve our family and then clear the table afterwards. Like all serving staff we would give them their bill because dinner was not included in the camp fee!

After the dinner the main chefs presented us with a binder and a wooden spoon with our name engraved. The binder had all the recipes that we made during that week.

It was a fun camp, and I am looking forward to taking another camp this summer and so is my family ( for the food!!).

Life Lesson: Cooking is an important life skill that everyone should learn.

D is for Dance

Ever since I was a 3 year old little girl I have been dancing. That is a long time, right? I have always been meeting new friends over the course of the time i have been dancing.

Once a week I go to my dance studio where I learn new dance moves. Some of the dance moves are reviewed from pervious years. Around Christmastime we do a small performance in front of the parents and students. This performance has a Christmas theme and it is held at the dance studio.

One of the big things that we work on during the dance year is getting ready for the end of year performance. This takes place at a Theatre on the university campus. Family has to buy tickets to see the show. If you want to get good seats you have to be in line early. There are four performances over three days. We have to practice at the stage where we dance to make sure that we are comfortable on the stage and know where we are supposed to be, and when.

In the past, for my May performance, I have been a bunny, sparrow, chocolate fountain, yellow brick road, a cornstalk, Straus Waltz, and Aque. The year that our class were cornstalks, one of the girls in my class didn't put her hairpiece all the way into her bun. Halfway through the dance her cornstalk hairpiece fell on the ground! When something falls or we drop something by accident, we are not allowed to pick it up until we are done our dance.

One time, there was a class dressed as squirrels, who had acorns the size of footballs. Two little 5 year old squirrels were picking up their acorns and they both wanted the same one and they started to fight over it. The whole audience was laughing! Finally the teacher brought out another acorn, so they were able to finish their dance.

This year the theme for our show is Dr. Suess. Our class might be "The Foot Book" or some other Dr. Suess-related thing. Around March Break we'll start learning our dance for the show.

Life Lesson: "Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."

— Mark Twain

Y is for Youtube

Did you know that YouTube became one of the fastest growing sites on the web?

Who founded YouTube? Three guys with the names Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim, who were former employees of PayPal.

Many of you know that Youtube has become popular over the course of the years that it has been running. I know lots of people that use YouTube to look at music videos, movie trailers, TV shows and many more. Probably the wierdest and funniest videos that you can think of can be found on YouTube.

I think everyone knows now that a singer with the name of Justin Bieber became popular by YouTube. One day he entered a singing contest in his hometown of Stratford, Ontario. Some of his friends and family could not make it to the singing contest, so they asked him to put a video of his performance at the singing contest on YouTube. After Justin Beiber put the video on YouTube he realized that he was getting many more hits than he had family and friends. One day, Usher was looking on YouTube, and he came across Justin's Video. After he saw the video, Usher wanted to get in touch with Justin so he could sign him to a music contract.

Even my parents use YouTube. Sometimes they tell us about old TV shows or funny commercials and they can usually find them so that they can show us what they are talking about. Like Lucille Ball wrapping chocolates.... or Abott and Costello's "Who's on First" . But then sometimes we want to show our parents things, like General Larry Platt's "Pants on the Ground".

Thanks to Chad, Steve and Jawed, the creators of YouTube, you can spend too much time on YouTube, when you should be writing your blog.

Life Lesson: Be careful what you post on YouTube, because the whole world can see it.

S is for School

Have you ever been to a new school? Have you ever been scared the first day?

One day in Grade 2, I was visiting a school that I did not know very well. As I walked into the classroom with people staring at me that I had no clue who they were at all. Later, once my mom left, the teacher introduced me to the class. After he introduced me to the students, two students named Ashton and Hayley, took me on a tour of the school. Hayley stayed with me all day and even had lunch with me. I was feeling better about this new school and I wasn't scared any more.

This school that I was visiting was different for me because there were many more kids and everybody in the class was in the same grade. At MY school, there were kids from grades 1-3, all in the same class! I had friends that were my age, but also older and younger than me.

Even though I changed schools for Grade 3, I still talked with and visited my friends from my old school. Even now, when I run into one of them, we share a great big hug! One of my friends moved to British Columbia. Her family was here a few summers ago to visit some people, but I couldn't see her that time because I was at summer camp.

I'm glad now that I changed schools because I have even more friends than I did before.

Doesn't mean that if you leave them behind that you can't still be friends.