One of my favorite vacations was at Swamp Lake in the Wallowa mountains in Eastern Oregon.  The name of the lake sounds kinda yucky but it was actually really awesome.  There was lots of giant mud pies that we played in for hours.  One time my sister totally sank into the mud and lost her Croc.  We rode horses up to and they dropped us off and left.  We stayed for 4 nights and explored.  There was an island in the middle of the lake that we swam to.  The water was very cold and it took our breath away.  Fortunately our little dog Oscar swam all the way across the lake to the island.  My dad, brother and I climbed a peak nearby.  We could look down at the lake and it was really cool.  We found a stream and raced pistachio shells down it for a competition.  I won.  We also found logs and paddles on them for boats out on the lake.  We hiked back out on the last day and ate pizza that never tasted so good in our lives.

Elephants trunks are actually used for smelling and the trunks can be 7 feet long.  The trunk is actually an elongated nose and upper lip.  They can suck up 2 gallons of water at a time and then curl their trunk into their mouth and spray down their throat.  Elephants usually live in the blazing sun and they use their trunk to spray themselves with water and also coat their body with dust to stay cool.  They have two finger like points on the tip of their trunk that helps them pick a single berry or pull a leaf off of a tree.  Their trunks are very strong and can even rip a tree out of the ground or knock it over.  In order to smell they raise their trunk in the air to sniff and if they are threatened they make a loud trumpeting noise.  When elephants are in deep water they raise their trunk out of the water like a snorkel to breathe.   Elephants are very social and greet each other by hugging trunks together.  Often baby elephants suck on their trunks just like human babies suck on their thumb.  Female and young elephants travel in groups and the males sometimes travel in small groups but mostly they travel alone.

Loxodonta africana African elephant Family group drinking at water hole Sub-Sarahan Africa

Golden poison frogs may be pretty, but they are very deadly.  Their poison stops nerve impulses causing muscles like the heart to stop.  As little as 2 micrograms or two grains of salt could kill a human.  One golden poison frog has enough poison to kill 20 people, 10,000 mice or 2 bull elephants.  If an animal crosses a path where the poison dart frog was it would die.  They live in South and Central America and they get their poison from eating one type of ant.  If you take them out of their natural environment and feed them other food they would not be poisonous.  They aren’t predators but they use their poison as a defense mechanism and are brightly colored to warn off predators.  The poisonous frogs are the only creatures that is immune to their poison except one snake species that is partly immune.

Question: The electricity grid went out in your country. What would change in your lifestyle? How would you relax?

If the electricity went out in America I wouldn’t be able to blog, listen to my music or watch any movies.  That wouldn’t be the worst though because I could still go outside and play.  To relax I would spend time outside sitting in the sunshine.  I’d also look for bugs.  All of our food would get warm without the refrigerator and I’d really miss ice cream.  At first I thought I would just make homemade ice cream in our ice cream maker but even that takes electricity.  I probably wouldn’t have much time to relax because I’d need to find water and hunt for food.  My life would also change because I couldn’t go to school and I bet my baseball practices would be cancelled.

Aebleskivers are pancake puffs that are popular in Denmark, which part of my Thomsen family is from.  My Grandpa Tom gave my mom an aebleskiver pan and recipe when she first married my dad and told her that all Thomsen women know how to make them, so she did.  She makes them for us about once a week and they are one of my favorite breakfasts.  They are made in a pan with little round holes and they are basically a pancake ball with jelly inside them.   We’ve tried filling them with honey, peanut butter and just leaving them plain but jelly is my favorite.  The batter is made of flour, eggs, milk, butter and a little cinnamon.  In the olden days they flipped them over using a knitting needle but my mom does it with a special tool.  I also read that in the olden days they filled them with applesauce which we might try soon.  I just thought of another filling that would be good – Nutella!

Have you ever wanted to see the stars up close?  Have you ever wanted to feel weightless?  If you answered yes to those questions, then you might be interested in a job as an astronaut.  However, the job of being an astronaut is very hard.  Not only is being an astronaut hard on their body, but they need to train a lot before going into space, and they have difficult jobs to do while they are in space.

First, being in space is hard on the astronaut’s body.  According to source #2, “ Astronaut’s other muscles and bones also get weaker. “ Since earth has gravity people can run around and get exercise but in space people can’t stay on the ground so they have to exercise on treadmills.  If you see astronauts headed to space with a treadmill, now you know why.

Next Astronauts need to train a lot to be an astronaut.  For instance source #1 tells me astronauts need to take scuba classes because it feels just like when you are in space.  You also need to learn medical skills to help other astronauts if they get hurt. Also sometimes astronauts equipment breaks so they need to take lots of tests for fixing space equipment.

Also in source #1 some of the jobs for astronauts can be difficult because if something breaks they have to fix it themselves. It is also really hard  to control the spacecraft.  They have to train many hours.  It is also pretty hard to be a leader. When you are a leader you have to make sure everybody is doing the right thing.

Astronauts do not have it easy.  As you have read, just going into space can harm an astronaut’s body.  Even before they go into space,they have to train for hours to prepare.  Once they are in space, they have difficult jobs to do.  So next time you look at the night sky and see a satellite floating through the sky alway remember it is not easy to be an astronaut.  But if you put your mind to anything you can do it!!  

Site Sources:

Source #2 Life in space by Aron Higgins

Source #1 what is a astronaut by Talia Yee

Neil Armstrong photo from: http://www.biography.com/people/neil-armstrong-9188943

  spaceship photo               from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft

I checked some cities off my bucket list on my vacation last week.  Here’s what we did:

I thought it was a normal school week, but on Wednesday morning my parents woke me up early and said “we’re going to the airport!” My brother, sister and I were surprised and confused.  We flew to Charlotte, North Carolina for our first night.  We explored the city and checked out the big buildings.  When we were at a restaurant after we ate there was a band playing outside.  We stopped to listen and the singer said to my sister “what would you like me to sing?”  Keira answered “Let It Go” and he sang the Frozen song for her.  He was really nice and she was excited.  One thing I noticed about Charlotte is that it’s very clean.

Next we started a road trip to Georgia.  We drove through North Carolina, South Carolina and stopped in Savannah, Georgia.  It’s the oldest city in Georgia and we had fun exploring.  We took a tour from a pedi-cab which is a bike that tows people around town.  We saw a porch where Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech and saw really old tombstones from the 1700’s.  The trees are really cool and have long moss hanging from them.  The streets are bumpy cobblestone which they made from the rocks they used in the bottom of ships which means they came from all over the world.  We stayed in a cool hotel and my favorite part was swimming in the rooftop pool and watching the sunset.  Savannah is a major port so there were gigantuan ships coming in.

Our last stop was in St. Augustine, Florida where my cousins live.  I’ve always wanted to go there and now my wish is true.  St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States and we saw a lot of history there too.  We visited the fort and the oldest school house in the country.  We also went to an alligator farm and saw tons of alligators and amazing birds.  The coolest part was feeding the alligators while standing over them on a deck.  We climbed 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse which was 165 feet high.  I’m not a fan of heights so it made me nervous.  We stayed at my cousin’s house and they have a pool and hot-tub in their backyard and live really close to the ocean.  My cousin Ryan and I played Marco Polo which was really fun.  He’s a surfer and is lucky to live in Florida.  My cousin’s made really amazing shrimp and fish for us which is my favorite food.  We went hunting for pigs and my dad got one.  My favorite part of the whole trip was playing in ocean and jumping in the waves.