I WANT TO DO SOMETHING, I'M JUST NOT SURE WHAT!

Don't you feel like you want to do something? I do. I want to go somewhere. To see something interesting.
I am having a pretty good vacation so far. I just had an awesome 3 person sleepover! We've been playing CLUE a lot; a game a like a lot. But still, usually my family and I go somewhere during the vacation but this time we didn't, so I miss the feeling of going to a new place.
The good thing about staying in New York during Christmas vacation is that you get to be here during the major snow week! Yesterday i went sledding and walked through the streets because it was so snowy and today me and Roman helped shovel!
This may not sound very interesting, but it is what it is.
Comment!!!

SNOW!!! December 27, 2010

Today it snowed!!! It was like 15 inches of snow!!! It started lightly yesterday, then a blizzard followed, and today there is so much snow that if it was a school day it would be a snow day; no school!!! Its that hard!!! Right now, 2:53 p.m, December 27, 2010, (p.s, today is my half birthday!!! I am officially 10 and a half!!!) it is snowing like mad outside!!! Snow keeps falling in waves, ripples, and harshly hitting the ground. From the inside of my house I can hear the wind/snow pounding at my window. The bare trees look cold, like they have a face, like the tree has real feelings. Let it snow everywhere!!! Let it snow, let it snow let it snow!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

I am having a very hard time with this whole middle school thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCy7lLQwToI

I just came back from san frincisco. It was really fun.
I wrote a song. If anyone plays an instrument, (guitar, drums, keybord, bass, etc) and you want to be in a band, you can email me if you want to and we can start one. I need a whole bunch of people, so leave a comment and you're email in the comment box on this post and i'll get back to you.
Thanks!!!

I know some of my friends read this blog so please, if you are interested, get back to me! It will be TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!

It is an utterly gloomy day and there is nothing to do. The weather rather down today, and going outside would be a disaster i. e. no fun.

LOLA

10/26/10

I ran around the playground twice, ran up and down the block, waited for two traffic lights, ran two more blocks, came home, did fifty jumping jacks, the butterfly stretch, ten squat drops, practiced splits, came upstairs and wrote this all in about 9 minutes.

I just ate cake!!!

I just read a very fascinating article in the New York Times with my dad. This man, Mr.Julian Assenge, discovered these top secret files from the Afghan war. He is giving to the public for the first time primary source records of what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is now in London as a fugitive.
One of the things that I realized is sometimes wars are started with a tiny problem and then the people are to busy fighting to remember what the problem really is, and start to not think about why they are fighting. They just fight. No one can actually be certain about how these things really start. Mr.Assange's information may help people realize this.

I am rolling my eyes around and around for no reason at all.
I HAVE A LAMP PROBLEM. My mom keeps telling my dad to fix it, but then he says, "its a good design problem for Lola."
The lamp shade is falling off, so I tied to rubber bands with duck tape around the shade, then attatched the shade to the lamp with the two rubber bands.

A story i wrote in my fifth grade class for our realistic fiction study (assigned topic to get to know our characters)

‘Billabong Mall’, the sign quoted.

“Fi-na-lly!” I sang out, staring out at the pouring rain, the hail balls starting to fall outside my window.

We approached the shiny new mall, me feeling excited and a line of the ‘This Is Great’ feeling crawled across my body.

“Zara, have parking kharma.” My dad shouted out to me, looking around hopefully.

I pictured the perfect spot, right in front of the mall, right next to the doorways…

“Found it!” a happy voice suddenly snapped me out of my thoughts.

Yes, of course I was right. The parking spot stood in front of me, like a reserved spot at a ‘one of a kind’ theater performance. I absolutely adore theater, and ‘one of a kind’ was the company that had a stage, right here in Concord, Massachusetts.

“Zara, hop out,” Dad called to me.

I pulled my backpack on to my back and hopped out on to the sidewalk. I pulled up my purple sweatshirt, and the fuzzy hood felt cozy, warm, and good on my head.

“D-d-dad!” I called out, shivering, and watching my breath, because it was so cold that I could see the air coming out of me, like a pump. He grabbed my hand, and his warm hands felt comforting. Not that I was sad or anything. We jogged to the door, he opened it up, and we went inside.

“Much better,” I sighed, because the warm air inside the mall was much better then outside.

“Tell me about it.” My very understanding dad nodded in agreement.

“Where to?” asked Dad

I pointed to a store that had tie-dye leggings in the front. It looked interesting. We carefully made our way through the crowd, and pushed the door open. I know tie-dye leggings weren’t much like school clothes, but what the heck? I had style. And what else is shopping for? Not to buy strait legged beige pants, to make you feel like you are in a torture chamber, but to amplify your style.

“Dad, wait a sec.” He was looking at this men’s coat, a stylish striped coat with a zigzagged trim along the rim of the pocket.

“Dad, I am just going to ask the manager something, okay?”

“Yup, sure. Whatever you want.” He replied, not even paying attention.

“Yes, of course, wait. Zara, what do you want to do?”

“I said I am just going to ask the manager something, okay?”

“Yes, okay.” He FINALLY replied.

I slid over to where the manager was, and questioned, “Excuse me, mister. Um, could I try on those leggings, by chance?” I pointed to the window, were my treasure was standing perfectly.

“Of course.” He sat up from his chair and rolled the ladder over by its wheels.

He climbed up and pulled down the leggings from the display rack. “You’re in luck, miss. This is the last pair.”

I grinned, and it looked like my new article of clothing was smiling back at me.

“So you know, miss, they are on sale and the price is $6.99.”
Whoa! Some luck I had here. In the corner of my eye, I saw some pale yellow corduroy pants that came with a loop-to-loop green belt. I swung the leggings over my shoulder and ran fast to rack 7, where the pants were. I examined the pants briefly, and from the start I knew I loved them. I carefully picked prize possession number two up and swung it over my left shoulder. Dad was walking to me, keeping his eye on the wonderful antique items they had in Grenage Antiques & Clothes. What an unusual unique name for a store!

I skittered to the dressing room. I chose room three, after all, that was my lucky number. I pulled up the leggings, a perfect math to my skin tight black shirt with red lines. Nice fit, slim, my body type. Found it, I thought. Found the one! I eyed a purple t-shirt that had blue dots on it and went to the rack. I pick up the pants, and saw another t-shirt, all black with a red rim. I was really elated!

“Cool, Zara girl. Let’s go to a few more stores, then let’s head on home. Mom will love the stuff, girl and there’s a surprise story for you that she wrote! We can stop at Bell & Bays Café for a hot cocoa and a Rice Krispy. Sound good, Zar?” Dad loved the clothes; especially the leggings. He said the spidery touch was quite unique and he loved the colors.

“Sounds awesome, dad!”

We headed for the cash register, and while we did dad said how much I deserved these clothes, all the babysitting I did and the volunteering at the animal shelter.

“$27. 81, please.” The register man told us. When he packaged the bags, something looked suspicious. He secretly put something else in the bag, who knows what. Well, I wouldn’t let that ruin my day.

We left the store, and as I peeked into my bag, there was a black and yellow headband in there!!! It was the Guiness Worlds Records book best headband invented! I leaned with glee. This day, I thought, well, its one of a kind. That just kept on going in my head. One of a kind, one of a kind, one of a kind…

9/16/10 storm in Brooklyn

Storm. Thunder. Tornado. It was a storm. Ripped through Brooklyn, headed to staten island, like a spray of hairspray going through your hair. The night was peacefull, until it happened. The crackling lightning made me wonder. I was the one who saw it. I ran to the window, and couldn't believe what I saw. I could not see through the window. and behind it, a dramatic theater show was happening. The rain was a blur, the icy hail and rain drops quickly slid across the window. The earth was moving, shaking, was the earth going to die?

Galleries and fashion

Today, September tenth, is this first night of fashion week. My dads friend Elliot invited us to go and see art gallerie openings and the fashion. We took a lot of pictures and there was a art opening that was about silver objects such as a big adidas flip flop, and a big dollar bill all in silver. We saw a lot of models and some dancers and we saw men dancing in speedos and holding footballs!

It was fun and the models were really just normal people! (we talked to some so we know that) Here are some pictures of me and art work!!!!!!!! By the way today is my first soccer game.

Sleepover

Tonight i am going to have a sleepover with my friend that i haven't seen in two months because our trip!!!
I can't wait. My school starts on the 8th, and two days ago i got my letter and today we are going to go to the store for the supplies.
It feels good to be back home, and we adjusted very quickly!!!

THE ENDING

Today is our last day, of our amazing, long being with family the WHOLE time, two months, summer vacation, trip. While my parents were planning the trip, they started so early, so I thought this trip would NEVER come! But, it has past so fast. During the weekends my parents were always planning! Planning, planning, and more planning.But this trip has been great, and so many new places to see.
We travled in Europe, first to Italy, Germany, then Turkey. In Italy, we travled first to Rome, the Sicily. Germany, just Berlin. But turkey, turkey has been the most different from the USA. The culture is new, the language is completely different, meaning that in italy and germany, you sort of understand what they are saying and the rhythym of the language is much easier. In turkey, we first came to Istanbul, then to cappadocia, then Izmir, Lake bafa, Kas, Cirali, Antalia, and now back to Istanbul. So many new places, and we had a car there so if we didnt like the place, we would just move on! The worst place were we stayed was Lake Bafa, the lake was dirty and smelly, the hotel was horrible, and the people were these German Turkish weirdos. Our trip has been a real good experience for me and my brother. I have loved it.
Were i am right now
I am back in Istanbul, lying in my bed, wrighting the last blog of this
trip. I just cant believe its almost done. I will always remember this trip, and another one will come in seven years!

Cirali, turkey, august

We went to a place in turkey called Cirali. The day we came we were from Kas and we drove 3 hours to get there. While we were there, we had really great times. The first night we went to the beach I pretended that i had a candy shop and a made al this fresh candy out of rocks! To the right is a picture of me wearing a big mask at the beach. The second night, we went to see the eternal flames on mount chaymera that the olympians took to mount Olympos, were the twelve greek gods live. The flames were shimmering in the dark light, and it was a grand and powerful sight, and to me, thats what it felt like. My mom said this place would be super relaxing, but no. The hotel we stayed at was Grand Aygun and It was so bad. I would rate it 1 star becuase there are 6 bad things about it.
1.The people are not nice to kids (the older man was always telling me to move)
2.There are roosters and chickens all over that poop everywhere
3.On my bunk bed, the stairs to get up are metal bars so it REALLY hurts my feet
4.There are ants all over the room and the last night there were ants crawling on my parents bed with them in it
5.The breakfast is not for kids its just rolls and chillie peppers and hard boiled eggs
6.It is 86 Euros which is 172 Turkish Lyra for our uncomftorble room
Then, there is a beach close by and it is SO hot in the day we only go at night.
We meant to stay at the Bad Grand Aygun for five days, but after two nights with that, we had enough and went to Anatolya. Anatolya is one of the biggest and largest population in turkey. Our hotel is in the old part of Anatolya. The day before my mom made a resorvation at the White Garden hotel which is 120 Turkish Lyra per night. Before we got there, we looked around to find a less expensive hotel, and we found one that was the same price but it had a beautiful garden and the stairs are exactly like the stairs at our real house in brooklyn so we choose it. The feeling is great. My mom got twenty Turkish Lyra off so now we are paying 100 Turkish Lyra for a great value! After we settled in, we went to a beach. Before we got there, we looked at one more hotel and it was 60 lyra per night!!! That is a great deal and it even has a pool. But Ninova hotel that we are staying at is better. At the beach I collected some really awesome rocks. For dinner we went to a Italian restauraunt and the girlfriend of the man who was the chef talked to us about her travles. She is a great story teller and you can listen to her for a long time. She speakes in a great way while her voice is full of words and volume, the sound moves UP then down, and we listen and laugh.

Kas!

We stayed in kas, turkey for four days now.
A few days ago we went on a boat ride.
In kas, it was 103 degrees so it was so hot,
so we decided to take the boat ride that day.
We got on the boat and went to our comfy
spots that where mats that are coushins.
We rode the boat and the wind was so
nice and there was a lot of breeze. We swam
five times and the day before i got my own
snorkeler to use and we saw a sunken city
and a lot of fish. After the baot ride me and
my dad ate some iced almonds! There was a
iced almond stand and we love almonds so
we tried them and they were really good.
They were as whight as scalla de turkey,
which are theese white white white rocks
we saw in sicily, italy.Yesterday we
spent the day at the beach. At the beach,
there is this run and jump thing that i did
and you run off a plat form, that
is really high and jump in the water.
Me and my brother met a spanish lady from barsolona,
spain and we played backgamen and checkers
with her!

Pamukli turkey, august 20

We have reached pamukli, in turkey. We are staying at luxorious hotel melrose. It is luxorious because the people are nice, the room is great, and the food is yummy.
Yesterday, we went to a ancient city. We didnt see much of it because we were heading to the pools. They are not man made and they are these rock pools filled with natural water. We walked in the cool misty air in the water. It was a PHENOMANA! We also swam in a gas water pool, were athena the greek goddess swam in. We were swimming with ancient collumns.
For dinner we went to the melrose restauraunt and had the most best trout fish and roast chicken, pasta and rice.Today we are going to go back to the pools and swim!

My brother romans story!

Thromanic
By roman lafia
Once upon a time, I was waking up on my bed. Then, I went for a hike camping. One day, on my hike, I met a horse named thromanic. Then, I went home with him because I loved him so much. I love thromanic so much because he made me crabby pattys. Later on, I was camping with my horse thromanic. I was also camping with my grown up irena, and my big sister lola, and we all rode my horse thromonic. And I found another horse on my other hike and I named him banana. Then, my big sister and me were riding on the horse banana. And my grownups, irena and marc, rode on my other best horse named thromonic. Later then, when we got to the campsite, then, right away we roast marshamellows. I love marshamellows because they taste so good with grahm crackers and chocolate. Then I rode an airplane with my pets, banana and thromonic. Then, I fed them some horse food. They liked it a lot because they were hungry from riding the airplane and the ride was so much fun. Then, I went to a museum with my pets, and they really liked the one painting of a horsie chewing bubble gum. My favorite painting was the picture of two horsies hugging. Then, I went out of the museum. Then, I bought my horsies ice cream! Then, they licked it all up. Then banana gets a party. They get to sit in a chair next to eachother. One time I like my horsies so much better then 1,000,00 times. I love my horsies, banana and thromonic.

Cappadocia Turkey

Cappadocia reaches out to us, invites us to its heat, caves, and people. Amazing caves, and from ancient history we learned that people used to live in these caves. Amazing wonders approach us, walking inside tall, pointy caves, and seeing gravestones, carved into the rock.

We did a lot of marvelous things in cappadocia. First day we went to the open air museum. The open air museum has fairy houses and old churches all built in caves. In the churches people were buried in these deep, stern holes. There were also faded paintings from olden times. A fairy house also looks like a giant mushroom. We also ate at a restauraunt that had a band playing Turkish music and they sounded beutifull. It was a mandirin player and a drummer and the music was so calm and light. It was great. We took a hot air ballon ride one morning. That was great. We got up at 4:50 in the morning to catch our ride. When we got up into the air, when we looked down it felt awesome. There were so many ballons out. We got to through down paper airplanes that we made. This is the best vacation!

Istanbul, turkey, august 11

As i told you, the day begun wonderful. And so the day was a wonderful holiday day. After we take our wonderful fun bath, we got dressed and went on the bus. The bus was SO hot, but roman and I had fans. In turkey, half the people are wearing pants, coats, and head dresses, that I just don't understand how they can stand it. They believe in allah which is the musulim god and they are not allowed to make and complaints. After the burning hot bus ride, went to the tram and luckley it was cool. I cleaned my parent glasses and I earned 1 turkish lyra,(that is the curency in turkey). When we go to the right stop, we found this little place and my parents got a turkish coffe (that was served in these pretty metal cups with some turkish delight candy) and a baklava and roman and I shared this delicous foundou that tasted melty, creamy, and like the best thing in the world. We then walked to the bascilica cistern, and on our way we got five postcards for one lyra. Good deal. One lyra is like 75 us cents. As we walked into the bascilica cistern, it started to get quite. The cistern is under ground and is very cool in weather. I felt like i was walking through a jungle, because it is very dark and only has a few lights on. The water is shimmering and glistenning under me, and there are tons of fish. Walking through the cistern is mysterious, and cools you off from the wonderous heat outside. As we aproach the end of the under ground walk, we aproach the medusa. The are 2, one is upsidown and one is side ways. The reason for that si that when medusa stares at you, it can turn you to stone, so this trys to stop her from looking at you. When we finished our walk, we got a picture taken of us all dressed up looking like sultans, sitting on royal chairs. That was really fun to do! Then we went out and i got these old colectible turkish coins and my brother got a traditional turkish hat!

Bath ride! august 11

This morning Roman and I took a bath in our outdoor tub that is round and big. We filled it up so high and started spinning in it. As we slid in the tub, we spun each other around. We glided through the tub as if it was a spinning tea cup ride. We went around and around the tub, laughing and shouting, oh combawa! We made that up together and we felt like that word described what we were doing, because combawa seems happy and exciting. We splash on eachpther like this is the best thing in life! This is the start to a wonderful day.

Lunch & topkapi palace, august 9

The lunch
At the restauraunt we went to today for lunch, the women who is the bread maker quickly lifts her hand in the air and flicks it in the flour. You can see she has been doing this for years. She is slightly sweating, but doing her work with happiness. Her head scarf is loosely rapped around, starting from her neck around her face and back around the neck. Her body is fully covered except her feet and hands and face, she must be hot. The oven is a round, circular metal piece, and the lady quickly places the pancake on top of the hot metal piece. As she waits a little for the pancake to be cooked, she starts pounding other dough in the flour. The first pancake she made was served to me, with a yummy potato cream.

Aribic writing
Swift curves of the letters. Its like a drawing, as each letter looks different. Then you start to notice the gold color of the letters, and each symbol for each sultan looks unique and royal.

Topkapi palace patterns
The patterns that I see on the wall, are blue and green, patterns of flowers, triangles and hexagons, all shapes and curvy lines. Some red, but again blue and green keeps repeating. The royal thrones. The precious tiger skin, on the soft black and white marble wood throne. The encrusted rubys and dimonds on the gold throne are outstanding, but the tiger skin throne is more for me. The darker color makes it more mysterious, makes it royal in a way that is not greedy, such as the gold one, which may seem royal and of course it is, but a bit to shiny and the look seems a bit greedy. It seems greedy because it is like sucking the riches out of the world, just for one person, not shared.

Turkey is hot! august 7

Hi! Today is our first day in turkey, the third chapter of our trip! Turkey is moist and humid, which makes the heat sticky heat. :( We can not believe we only have three weeks left, because the trip went so fast! Our first destination in turkey is Istanbul, the most ancient place in turkey. In our apartment, as well as outside, is burning hot! Both the air conditioners are broken! Ughhh! It is soooo hot! We have this big size tub out side so we fill it up with cold water and take a cooling, refreshing cold rinse before we take a nap. We have to take a nap because our flight yesterday was at 2 in the morning so we didnt get much sleep. Outside on the huge deck, there is the most amazing view of the bosphorus river which separates Istanbul from the asian side to the european side. In the view you see the river between the two sides of Istanbul. In the river there are a lot of boats and last night, there were cruise ships going through with lights and music. On the other side is a lot of green that you can see. The view is amazing! Then when we took our nap, we barely slept because the morning sun is almost unbearble! Then me and my mom took a bath together and scrubbed eachother! It felt good! We started our day after that. We went to the Grand Bazar! The grand bazar is the local market of istanbul! We also went to the spice market and spelled really good tea spices, lemon tea, apple tea, and cinnamin tea. We discovered a pomagranite chew with pistachios that was really yummy and a chocolate caremal with nuts! For dinner we went to the bambi cafe which was disgusting and they didn't evan giv us the right food and everything was yuck. We were still hungry because we barely ate enything so we got a shwarma, which is a wrap with chicken our meat with vegitables. And, that was yummy and with the meal we had orange lemonade!

Last day in germany, 8-6-10

Today we spent the day at the lake house! We had breakfast at cafe muskat, and me and clara sat together and talked and made up really funny things! This lady said she would give us a free ice cream! Clara shrieked at the breakfast for fun, but her mom said she couldn't have one. So me and roman shared ours with her. Did i mention that charlie is clara's younger brother? So then we got in the car and drove the 1/2 an hour drive to the lake house. When we got there we right away jumped into the river! the water felt do good! it started raining so we quickly went back to shore and stayed under the porch! It was a major refreshing day! we also covered up in cherry juice!

August second

Me and my brother wolk up, and then we went back to sleep. When we wolk up the second time, antje and clara were awake. Clara is antjes daughter! She asked if we wanted to go to breakfast and me and roman said yes! we got our raincoats on because it was drizzling, and went to a cafe. We had eggs. They taught us some german and we taught them some italian! Later, we are going to go swimming!

Go to Germany! august 1st

Hi! We left ITALIA! And went to germany! We had a traveling day. For breakfast, we had this yummy granita! Granita is flavored ice. We packed our car and drove to palermo, the capital of sicily, and went to the airport. Finnaly, our plane came in and we boarded! We had to fly to milan first. milan is another part of italy. We went to milan, and when we got there we ate dinner and I got a kebab! When we got on the plane, we said good bye italy! And then, we were off. In the flight we slept because it was 10:00pm. When we got there, we went down the escalater to the baggage claim. Me and my brother love to take the luggages off the convearbelt. When we got there, we met our german friend named antje! We all gave huggs and said hello, and we gave her some italian chocolates called baci! they are really yummy! We are in the capitel of germany, berlin. then we went back to antje's house!

sicily, 7-29-10

Shopping & swimming
we went to the market and got a picnic. We got some sandwiches, and drinks. We got a potato and tomato-onion and calzone, and water and a perchuto, smoked mozzarela, sun dried tomato, basil and oil. Yum. Me and my dad did a actor interview on the walk to go swimming. Once we walked there, we ate our lunch and went swimming. There was this one rock were i jumped off of and this man james, from England, taught me how to dive! Theswimming was OUT OF THIS WORLD FUN!

Sicily, 7-28-10

Today, I woke up and begin to write this. Then me and my brother and my dad my breakfast of cereal and yogurt. We get dressed, and my brother and I start to wash up. We brush our teeth, wash our face, brush our hair, and get dressed. When everyone is ready, my mom says "let's go!" and we are off. We go to a roman and Greek theater and there is a little fountain were it feels so good to be near water when it is burning hot outside. Then we go to the arcialogical museum. I see vases, tools from people who came a long time ago. There is a outdoor garden were me and my mom play games. In the museum I saw in a glass case these laddies who were dressed in togas, that were found and put back together. There is a term called, Repetition And Differince, were something repeats it's self but not exactly in the same way, such as these sculpted mini laddies! We go back to our apartment and take a rest. I slept a tiny bit, and then me and my mom had fun on the computer, and she was pretending to act like a teenager! It was hilarious! Then I put on a skirt and we all went out to dinner, and has splendid and delicious meal! After the meal, we went to this place near the water and talked. it was 12:00 at night!

Missing

I miss and remember a lot of home. I miss my friends, my house, and the things we usally do in the summer. Me and my friend talk by email, but still. I know i will be home soon! The vacation is wonderful, but I am sure you know what I mean.

Sicily, 7-27-10

Today, it was our first full day in serucuza, sicily. In the morning, i had an egg with a tomato and a piece of lox under. Yum. My brother had one too and said it was phenomanale! We sat around a bit before we went anywhere. Roman and I looked through our backpacks to see the treasures we had collected. Then we got dressed, and skipped down the stairs of our apartment. The door is a giant one but then they cut out a really tiny door that you have to use. My dad usually bangs his head because its to short for him. The we went to the outdoor market. Everybody was so nice! This one man gave us a plate of perchuto and bread and pistachio cheese and two cups of whine! yummy, the perchuto and the bread and cheese was! We walked around and then me and my dad swam in a rocky place. Later that day, We went to a puppet show! It was about Orlando furioso! It was in italian but we could understand by the puppets. After the puppet show, we went to this place for dessert, and a man let us taste thistart with ricotta cheese which was DE-LICIOUS!

Mud-donkey Sicily, 7-25-10

As we wake up, we remember that today is the day to milk the donkeys! We wake up, have breakfast, then go outside to start milking. I really like the milking. What you do is pull the female donkeys teats, wearing gloves, holding the bucket, and squeeze! The donkey doesn't have much milk, so there is not to much. We go into the kitchen, and heat the milk and finnaly, filter it then drink it. It was very sweet, and i did not prefer the taste. Then, we get in our car, and go to the moon! The moon are theese mini craters and mini mini mini volcanoes. The tiny bubbles erupt, and there is a pattern of half circle half square shapes, from the lava from the crater. There is a rope around the pattern. The little shapes, some are wet clay and some are dry. I make some pretend food out of the clay, and my hands get all muddy. On the shorts i am wearing (my brothers size 4 boxers) i get some clay. I got to keep some minerals. Later that day, we went to this amusment place and me and my brother went on a super trampoline bounce. You can run and jump on super bouncy trampolines, and you jump SO high! I felt like i was in a circus doing tricks! For dinner we went to the best restaraunt called Sapore de' mare and we ate some fish. The fish was very salty and we had to pick the bones out but it was still so exellent! The salty taste made my mouth tingle and feel good!

Temple, Sicily, 7-24-20

Today, we went to THE VALLEY OF THE TEMPLES! I have some information about the temples.

1^st temple, temple of hera

This temple was the temple of hera, in greek also known as juno. There was a alter in the temple, and a alter is for putting sacred things into to make giving’s to the god that the temple is for. When the greeks caught an animal to sacrifice, they would only catch an animal that is healthy, bony, but meaty. Once they were caught, lets say they caught a boar, they would cut off the hair on the neck and a piece of the meat, and through it into the alter.

Then we went to the Concordia temple, and there was a modern art show INSIDE the temple, so we got to go inside. It was really amazing because we got to go inside the most put together temple! You felt like you were going back in time and you were ruler!

Moving on vacation!

Today we moved! We are still in sicily, but on to another place. In the morning, we said goodbye to our friends that we made at casa migliaca, packed up the car, and started our long drive. We stopped at this market, and got some fizzy drinks for the ride.

Roman the fizzy drink spiller
Roman is my brother. On the ride, roman kept spilling the fizzy drink! He got it on my seet, and for the rest of the ride, I had to sit on a plastic back.

On with the day. After, i asked my dad tell my a story. After the story, my and my brother played onion for the rest of the ride.

The game ONION!
The game onion that we made up...
In the car, there is this little pulley thing were on one side there is a pulley thing and on the other side there is another pulley thing, and it looks like an onion. The point is to try to pull the onion from the other person and if the other person has it you have to distract them to get it back!

Elegent restaurant.
Whe we were almost at a place, we went to this realley quality food restaurant. We got special food that was served so nicely.

mosaic tiling
Before we got there, we went to a place called piazza armirina, which was a mosaic tiled place. We saw the famouse one, ther bikini ladies. The bikini ladiesw were tiled on the floor, and were playing sports!


swim
when we got there, we jumped in the pool like 50 times! Roman and I did so many jumps! We did can opener, canninbal, pencil dive, dive, jump, and belly flop!

it was a nice, calm day.

More pictures!

Sicily, 7-19-10

hey-lo! Today, our aim was to go to super tall, super cold, nature made, snow topped mount etna, the most active volcano in Europe! We wolk up at seven, which is early considiring we go to bed late and wake up late. We got in the car, and rode for 2 and a half hours! I sort of slept in the car. The first place was a gorge. When we arrived at the gorge, we asked the lady in the front about this place. She said the water was super duper extremely supremely cold, but we found out the truth. It was not so freezing! I mean, it certinley was cold, but NOT super duper extremely supremely cold! We dunked our boodies in, and then it felt sort of freezing! My brother ate a bag of chips there and inside was a prize, and it was a cute little creature, with a black outfit on. Then we got back in to the super hot 'n' humid car, and drove to a train station were we would take a train around super tall, super cold, nature made, snow topped mount etna! Me, my brother and my dad went and got some food, and my mom was saying come on come on because the train was about to come, and we superbly right on time made it! In the train ride, i slept because i was so tierd! A little later we went to this town called taormina and rode a finicular and went to tjis beach. At the beach, it was funner then fun and me and my brother met a italian girl named anna and we caught the waves together, and the water felt so goods like i had never touched water before!

Pictures!!!

Horseback riding in sicily, 7-17-10

Today we went horse back riding!

I got my own horse, my mom and brother shared one, and my dad got his own. We went up this road, then turned right to go to this pyramid, a modern art piece. It really felt so good to have the reigns of the horse, to be its master for an hour. For part of it, a man was leading my and doing the reigns himself, but then my mom asked if i could do it so i did!

Everyone was happy and it was really great!

sicily, observations

Hello! Somethings i have observed...

Everyone believes in Jesus! They have the cross sign on there neck, in there car, in there house! Well, not everyone, but a lot of people.

There are a lot of temples, and they are richly decorated with sculptures, and paintings! I noticed that in Rome, to.

The colors of sicily are...

Yellow/brownish

On the stown walls in temples and churches

Sculptures

Spikey green

Cactuses

Red

In the symbol of sicily

In their festival wagon

On pizza, the mix of cheese and tomatoes starts to look like a light shade of red

The symbol of sicily

The symbol of sicily is a woman's face, with long blond hair, with three legs around her face. I have a little case which has the symbol of sicily on it, and i have seen it quite a few times so i know.

Sicily's festival wagon

I do not know much about it, i think i have seen it twice, (by the way, i saw replicas of it) but i know how it looks. A donkey is pulling a cart, and the donkey is covered with a little blanket of red and yellow feathers, and the cart is covered with feathers and sheets and other objects i cannot remember.

B&B's

the bed and breakfasts that we have stayed in so far, are run by the family who owns the property.

This B&B grows most of there own food that we eat. Yesterday me and my brother went down to the garden, and found eggplant, squash, tomatoes, a pear tree, a blood orange tree, a lemon tree, basil, mint, other spices, and whine grapes growing in a shed!

sicily,7-16-10

Hi! we are at our new place in sicily. me, my brother, my mom, and my dad share a room. We didn't do much today. It the morning, i went to the b&b's breakfast, were i squezzed fresh OJ. We also ate some cookie biscits, which is called turkish salami. Then my brother, my mom and I went outside and played uno and old maid. Then roman and I listned to my ipod touch. After we went to a really delicious snack bar and i got a panini. We had the best drink in the world that had spritzer lemon juice, mint, orange and lemon and strawberry gelatto! It was they best!!! Then we went this beach, were we found this cave, and there was a seat and water splashed all over us. At dinner, i met this girl who is from Denmark, and we played uno together!

sicily, 7-13-10

Hi! Today, we wolk up early to go on a boat ride. The man who drove the boat was named agnasio, which is an Italian name. agnasio was the waiter from our dinner on the 11^th, and its funny because during the day, he is a skipper and at night he is a waiter. We took off. As we took off, you could see the island behind you, and we moved fast. The first place we went swimming was in these caves. It was amazing! It was so great. We were swimming with pretty big fishes! When we got inside the cave, we found this orange plant. It was as soft as the softest object you could emagine. Then agnasio gave us some plums, that were really good! The second place we swam, me and my brother collected special rocks. The third place, we swam under an rock, and under was a beach. It was so special! You never see something like this some were else. We also saw sea tomatoes, that sea animals eat. It felt so good to swim all three times, because it was burning hot and the cool water felt so good. I am now running out of power, and I am going to go swimming in the pool!!!

sicily, 7-11-10

Hi! Today we went to Selninute. They are temples. The one we saw was dedicated to the god Hera. The Sicilians worshipped the Greek gods, as well as the Romans and the Greeks. The temple was pretty well kept together. When we went to the gift shop, we saw this book that had pictures of what the ruins looked like now, and what like they really looked like before. We were sitting on some stairs, and my mom and my brother wanted to go down, so I wanted a quicker way, and I was so stupid because I jumped. L When I jumped, I landed with my knees half scraping against this rock, and my leg bashed into the ground. My ankle was almost sprained, and I am kind of limping, but otherwise I am okay. I also got a huge scrape. For dinner, we had the best pizza and pasta! The bread was so tasty from the pizza, and the sauce on the pasta was so rich and yummy! And we had the best dessert. The desserts were lemon sorbet, almond parfet, and a special Sicilian Pannacota. The lemon sorbet was home made, and you could just taste the lemon in it. The almond parfet had a rich taste of home made ice cream, smothered with almonds and chocolate sauce.I did not like the panacota. We ate dinner in Castellamare del Golfo, which inn English means Castle on the sea of the golf.

sicily, 7-10-10

Hello! We are in Sicily!!! Our first day. During the night, I got these rashes and scratches, and I think I am ellergic to some thing. We went to a castle, called castellamarre venus. We went inside the castle, and we went to a room, which was like a small room on top of the castle, like castle rooms in fairy tales. If you looked down, it was amazing because the castle was so high up. In the room, there was a statue of this god venus. ON the drive up to the castle, there were really curvy roads, and we did these sharp hairpin turns. Then we went to a sea, and swam, and when I put on my googles, I saw the most amazing leaves, moving to the swift current, and these clamshell flowers. It was amazing. Then we went to dinner, and played games and tolled stories and ate!

Federico, Rome, 7-7-10

A couple days ago, we randomly ran into a friend of a friend named Federico. He is a very nice Italian man. We went out to dinner with him today. for dinner, we had some really yummy pizza. After, Federico took me and my dad to his car, and he kindly gave my one of his t-shirts that he designed! Federico is an artist, and also works at a museum which is called, Muessi In Comune which is in Italian. Federico is very special, and now he is our friend!

Rome, 7-7-10

Today,we did two different things. First, we went to an Italian museum. At the Italian muuseum, we all got audio guides, and this man, who was the great great great great great great nephiew of the man who owned the palace, was telling you about this palace.It was really special that a man who lived in this house could tell you about it. The walls in the palace were covered in velvet, and the floor was a rubbed off pattern of yellow and brown rectangles. What i mean by rubbed off is that the tiles were not as colorful as they used to be. The second thing we did was go to the Roman bath house. It was really hard to imagine that the Roman's took a bath here because there were not many ruins left.

Me!

This is me at our house in brooklyn. I just turned ten! I am going into fifth grade, and i have a little brother named roman who will be 5 on december 31. MY family and me rock! My two best friends are hannah lola and amber!!!

7-5-10, Rome

Hi! Today i went to the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peters Basilica. I enjoyed Saint Peters Basilica. I have to admit i was not that interested, but it was a sight to see. There were many people praying, and many tourists. In the middle of the basilica, there is this large round, curved arch, and amazing columns. What i like about Rome is all the columns. there are some really outstanding ones. Anyway, we went to a mueseum {but i forgot what its called} and we walked through a hallway which was covered in maps. They were maps of Italy and Rome. It was pretty stunning how they were painted, the maps. The waves that were representing the water were blue for the wave and on the tip of the wave, a green line. My brother could barely last, he was whining, but we managed. At dinner, me and my brother made mixes and potions out of whine, salt, pepper, bread sticks, bread, water, ravioli, and tomatoes and salad. It was fun!

Observations, Rome

There are many little interesting things about Rome. To turn the water on in the sink, you have to push down on a peddle with your foot, which i think is really cool!!! The benefits of that is that you dont have to get your hands dirty! Also, they have these water fountains that are really cool because yo can fill up a waterbottle, drink, and make a fountain with your finger.
The food in Rome is SO good! Its simple, but tasty, and you will get full with a small plate of pasta because the taste is so rich!!
Come to Rome!

7-4-10, Rome

Happy fourtn of july!
In europe, they dont celabrate it. Today, we went to Tivili fountains. It is this fountain park right outside of Rome, in a town called Tivili. Me and my 4 and a half year old brother got wet in mainly every fountain! In this one fountain we put our legs in and splashed eachother. The water was really cold, but it was really refreshing because it was so hot outside. For breakfast, we had mozzarella and tomatto, baked potato. It was kind of our lunch too. At dinner, we had these yummy cookies which were like pound cake with chocolate chips! It was so good!

7-3-10, Rome

I might be writing on weird times, but know that there is a six hour time change and we are six ours ahead of you new yorkers. Anyway, here we go! That day, went to an amazing mueseum. Inside there were these sculptures by a sculpter named Bernini. He is amazing!! He realy can make things pop out from just a block of marble! My favorite sculpture of his is one were this god, Apollo, is chasing a nyph Daphne, but Daphne sends a prayer to her father, and her father changes her slowly into a tree. Daphne's toes start growing roots, her legs start turning into bark, and her hair starts growing leaves. It is amazing how Bernini does this, and it looks like its actually happening. That was an amazing part of the day. After the mueseum, we went to a restaurant called Essolo. We ordered two main meals, but the waiter gave us double the meal, so wee had to pay extra and we didnt evan order it! But, its ok. We had the most amazing Gnochi, which is pasta filled with meat and cheese. So, interesting day, right?!

I have a company and its called LTW, which stands for Lola Tape Wallets. I have sold four wallets so far, and i just started. I can make rainbow wallets. they look very nice. The wallets are made out of colored duck tape.

My wallets are very sturdy, and strong. They are also very awesomely hand made!

Hello, world! Tomorow, i am going to philidelphia for a school trip!!!

i also make duck tape wallets!

My school ends on june 28.
My birthday is june 27.
I can wait.
I am turning...
What are you doing right now?
I am typing this.