The surprise

A few weeks ago my parents decided to take my sister and I on a surprise trip for two weeks. Once we got to the airport, my mom asked my sister, Raelyn, if she could hold the itinerary papers. I had no idea what it said, but then Raelyn started freaking out. I kept saying, "What?! What?!" and then Raelyn said, "We're going home?!"

We were really, really, really excited once we got back to California. We stayed at my grandparents' house that live right up the street from us. On Monday, it was Valentine's Day, my grandpa's birthday. Our teachers let us come to school, and it was really fun seeing all my friends. That night, we celebrated my grandpa's birthday. On Tuesday, we didn't go to school, but we had to go to the dentist. We went to school through Wednesday-Friday. It was one of the funnest times that I've ever had. I had a lot of play dates with my friends, and it was really fun. The two weeks went by so quickly that on the last day that we were there, I didn't want to go back to Paris, but I had to.

My Nose

On Friday I did something I wish I didn't do. My sister and I were fighting and she wouldn't let me use her elastic. Elastic is a kind of stretchy string that you use to jump in a special pattern with your feet. You put the elastic around two chairs and you jump. I lost my elastic so I didn't have any. I took some rope and I put it around two chairs and I jumped with that instead. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I jumped and the two chairs hit me in the nose and the back of my head. It hurt so bad I was crying like a baby. The reason why the chairs hit me in the nose and head is because the rope was not long enough and is not stretchy. The elastic can stretch and it is long. My mom had me lay on the couch with ice on the back of my head and also on my cut nose. We went to the doctor to get a x-ray of my nose. Luckily I didn't break my nose. My nose looks like a ball. It is really swollen. There is a cut and a bruise that is turning yellow. The doctor told my mom that I cannot play sports for this week and the next. That means no gymnastics, no dance, no swimming. And that's my nose story.

 

Our Trip

On Winter break, my family went on a trip to four places. Strasbourg, which is a city in France, a town in Switzerland called Basel, Munich in Germany, and in Czech Republic, Prague. We did sightseeing, tours, monuments, castles, cathedrals, museums, and bridges. They were really neat. I like the castles best. We saw our friends with their two kids. We went to dinner with them and spent time with them. When we were in Prague, I got a marionette. It's like a puppet with strings that move the legs and arms. I really like him. His name is 'Ulvenik". He's a character that was created during the time of King Charles and he is a trouble-maker. They did not have TV back then and they put on puppet shows to entertain the people.

This is me as a king in Strasbourg, France

These are my cousins in Strasbourg

I am waiting for the train to Basel, Switzerland

This is me with my friend Braeden in Basel where he lives

This is the town of Basel, Switzerland

This is me with a pretzel in Munich, Germany

This is a cathedral at night in the main square in the city of Munich, Germany

This is us with the biggest hot dog in Munich

Newschwanstein Castle outside of Munich

Me with my marionette

Freeze disco dance

This is me with my 'beer'

This is the city of Prague

This is a fountain outside of the restaurant. They don't stop peeing.

Guess What?

When we were on a trip to Strasbourg, a city in France, we found out that we had LICE!!! It was so bad that we had to soak our heads in olive oil with a shower cap on over to get rid of the lice. We had to sleep with it on overnight!

Me with a shower cap and olive oil in my hair

Song About Llama

On Tuesday my baby-sitter Sarah came over to help me and my sister with our homework. Our baby-sitter was a camp counselor, so she knows a lot of funny songs. My Great Grandma Violaine happened to be in Paris too. We invited them both out to dinner with us and when we were walking back Sarah taught me and my sister a really funny song and it goes like this:

This is Sarah from when we first arrived in Paris.

Llama lesson.

My Great Grandma Vio Vio.

Sword Fighting (Fencing)

Yesterday, my family went to a cool museum called Palais de la Decouverte (Palace of Discovery).  They had lots of exhibits with rats, spiders, ants and bees.  We met up with our friends who had signed me and my sister up for a fencing class.  Fencing is when people have swords that aren't sharp and they try and touch the other person in the chest with the sword.  At first, I was really shy but after a little while I got used to it and it was really fun.

Futuroscope

A few weeks ago, my grandparents visited and we wen to a cool amusement park called Futuroscope.  My dad rented a huge van that was white.  When I first saw the van, I was OMG!  It was HUGE.

There were so many cool things at Futuroscope like a cool boat ride, a zip line, an upside-down wheel that you ride in.  There was a huge play structure too.  I had so much fun.

Normandi

Two weeks ago my family and I went to a place called Normandie. It was so fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went to a lot of castles. One of them was called Mont Saint Michel. Three words: IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Music Festival

Sorry that I haven't been blogging. I'm very busy lately. I've been going to school and taking dance class and gymnastics class. I have a lot of homework and helping around the house doing my chores. So now, here we go!

A couple of weeks ago, me, my dad, and my sister were walking home from the frozen foods grocery store. It's called "Picard" and it's kind of small and it only sells frozen food. My favorite thing that they have are breakfast potatoes.

On the way home, we saw a ton of police officers with big shields and guns. There were also tons of people around. We weren't sure what was going on.

Just as we returned, my mom was coming outside. She and I wanted to go into the crowd and find out what was happening, my sister and dad were scared. My mom and I urged them to come so they did.

We found out that it was a music festival happening right in front of our apartment. There were big trucks with people on them playing loud music. And after every truck passed people started following them in the street, dancing.

I saw people dancing on top of bus stops. It was cool!

We had to get back home for our babysitter because my mom and dad were going out for the night. Her name is Sarah and she's really really nice and we have a lot of fun together.

U2 Rocks

On Saturday we all did something really cool. We went to a U2 concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome!!!! We got really good seats. Luckily nobody was drunk. That's the first time. At our last U2 concert in Las Vegas the person in front of us DRUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My mom and dad both got U2 t-shirts.They said that we would have to pay for it if we got one, which we didn't. 

First day of school

On my first day of school I was really shy. At the first break I didn't have anybody to play with. Later that day I met these two brothers that are really nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are from Italy. Their names are Leonardo and Frederico. There are only six people in my class, now seven, including my sister. The other kids are from China, India, Italy, and America (me and Rae-Rae). At lunch time I had really good chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas. It was so, so, so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Friday day was really fun too. The lunch, yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was fish with gross sauce and a really slimy pasta. The only good part was the dessert. It was a peach pastry. The next day was a weekend. On Monday it was my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The two brothers gave me lollipops and homemade cards. That was really nice of them. During school my teacher Madame Christine gave us all Laffy Taffys because it was my birthday. She also sang happy birthday to me. For lunch we had beef. It was really good actually. Tuesday there was a strike. A strike is when all the people that work are not going to work. The lucky part was that we didn't have to go to school. Yea! On Wednesday, today, there is no school because we never have school on Wednesday. (The blog is not letting me post photos from the first day of school right now for some weird reason.)

My 9th Birthday

On Sunday the 5th we celebrated my birthday. We got a reservation for a magic show at a cafe, but on Saturday they called to say the show was canceled. I decided instead that I would like to go bike riding. So we did! It was really fun and hot. For my birthday, my sister got me a really cool Lego watch.  I had seen this watch in a store window and I asked my mom and dad if I could have it. They told me I could buy it with my own money. But I didn't. Instead, my sister decided to be sneaky and get it for me for my birthday. My grandparents gave me some euros, a shark necklace, and a 3-D shark bookmark. My mom and dad got me a U2 ticket to see their show in 2 weeks in Paris. My mom and dad had also got me an early birthday gift when we moved here- a scooter. But my scooter broke the other day because I had been using it to jump on the sidewalks as I ride. The scooter shop repair man said it is too dangerous for me to ride this broken scooter anymore. I was really bummed out. That night, my dad took me out to get a new scooter. I got a Razor Spark scooter. It's awesome! When I go really fast on it, I press my foot on a little bar near the brake and it gives off sparks when it scrapes the ground. I love it! The instructions say to not make sparks near any people or stuff that could catch on fire. So I don't get to make sparks that much.

Beautiful park, yucky bird

A couple of days ago, my sister and I went on scooters to a really cool park called Jardin du Luxembourg.  We went on the oldest merry-go-round in Paris.  We were each given sticks and when we were going around there were brass rings that we had to hook using our stick.  Then, we found a really cool park inside the park where children go in and parents stay outside.  There were zip lines, slides, a sandbox and see-saws.  After we were done there, we got some ice cream.  We then found these very unique peddle cars and we rode them around a track for two laps.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As we were walking in the park to go back home, my dad noticed something by a tree.  Guess what it was?  It was a dead bird that was cut in half!  Then we saw another one right next to it.  Do you know what was really gross about that one?  The heart was out of its body lying on the ground. 

Experiment

A few days ago, I made this disgusting thing from my Disgusting Science kit. It was this stuff that you put in a little dish (called a Petri dish) and then you leave it for two hours. Once its been out for two hours it hardens up. Then you get to swab anything with a cotton swab. Next you put the stuff that you swabbed in the dish.  Then you leave it in a dark place for a few days.  Then, when you look at it, there is all this bacteria and germs from the thing you swabbed that have grown in the petri dish.  Here are some pictures of what I did.  This is what I swabbed:  the toilet water, the toilet tank, my nose, the button that everyone in our apartment building pushes to open the front door.  The grossest was the dish that had the stuff from my nose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Catacombs

Today, we went to this awesome place in Paris called the Catacombs. In the olden days the city ran out of spots to bury dead people so they began to place the bodies in the old rock quarry beneath the city streets. There are over six million skeletons down there. There is a very long spriral staircase going down to the catacombes. The skeletons were stacked up about five feet tall along the walls of the long hallways. The arm, leg, and skull bones were placed in different types of patterns throughout. It was dark and cold down there. We brought flashlights. It ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

London

On Tuesday the 17 we went to London. I had a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went to a Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We also went to see a play called Oliver.We went to go see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, and we went to a Science Museum!!!!!!!