Tahoe

Hello!  So the story behind this post, in a nutshell, is that I went to Tahoe with my youth group on President's Day weekend, and took all these awesome pictures with my brand-new camera, and then blogger wouldn't let me upload said pictures.  And finally, TWO WEEKS LATER, here is my post about Tahoe.  *Sigh*

We stayed in Zephyr Cove, and the church conference center was super pretty!  All these pictures are from where we stayed.

Here's the dock.  There was a protected little swimming cove (right) encircled (ensquared?  haha) by the two docks and then the open lake was out to the left.

This lovely boat came around the lake with some tourists aboard.  They waved to us, seems like they were having a good time :)

Looking out from a rock near the docks onto the lake

Here is the swimming/beach area...it's probably used more in the summertime haha but the water was super clear, some kids jumped in!

Our winter retreat was four days, Friday through Monday (the first and fourth days were spent driving).  We got to play in the snow, hang out in our cabins, and go sledding!  It was super fun!  Some other things we got to do:

-Polar Bear Plunge (I didn't do this, but it's pretty much where you jump off the dock into the ice-cold lake.  Fun?)

-Marshmallow Olympics (A series of competitions involving marshmallows.  Included trying to eat a full bowl of ONLY the marshmallows from Lucky Charms; Chubby Bunny; Marshmallow Creme Santa Beard; and Marshmallow Field Hockey.  Our team lost haha!)

-Epic High School vs Middle School snowball fight...which I missed most of...

We had an amazing time and I'm definitely planning on going again next year!

More posts coming soon, now that Blogger has its picture-uploading problems fixed :)

Happy Homeschooling!

Anything, Everything

Wow, it's been a while!  I actually kind of forgot about my blog for a bit...oh dear :(  Other things have been occupying my time, however.  For instance:

Math: Figuring out the slope-intercept formula
English: Reading The Hobbit, and taking writing classes
Civics: Learning about immigration to the US
Science: Starting marine biology
Latin: Test tomorrow :\

I'm usually pretty tried by the end of the day

As well as thinking of creative ways to do PE, making Christmas presents, and making plans to catch up with friends over break.  There's been a lot to do, and there's even more that I'm trying to fit in the next couple of weeks.  Not to mention chores and other things to do around the house, trips to Target and the grocery store, and other stuff.

With all that, it's easy to forget about other things I do--like blogging!  But I have exciting stuff going on in the new year (2013 guys!!  TWO-THOUSAND-THIRTEEN!!) that will be told here, for sure :)

Alrighty guys, I'm going to go finish up my Latin study guide and maybe some other stuff.  

(Last but not least, I wanted you to know that my heart goes out to everyone involved in the Newtown CT massacre.  Horrible, horrible things happened Friday and I'm praying for everyone.)

Happy Homeschooling!

and then there were two

So, we're gonna be in L.A. for the week, yesterday we drove up and today we went to a botanical garden and the Americana shopping mall (but we didn't get anything).  It was awesome :D  The garden had a train ride and the weather was great, then we went to the Americana mall, which is kind of like Downtown Walnut Creek/San Francisco.  It was big and had a ton of stores & restaurants, but it was really really clean which was amazing!

One day we're gonna go to Santa Barbara, we also plan on going to Lego land and Disneyland.  We might also go to see Air Force One.  So it's gonna be a busy busy week!!

I'm gonna finish editing my Day in the Life video when we get back :)

Happy Homeschooling!

Halloween!

Hey guys!  Just a quick update post about TOMORROW which just happens to be my second-favorite holiday ever (first is Christmas)!!!

I'm a bit obsessed with this movie right now.

Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?

I want to know what you guys are being, so comment below and tell me!  And it would be helpful if you put your name down too, or a nickname that I would know you by if you leave an Anonymous comment because I got one on my Photos or Videos post with no name so I don't know if I should take their opinion into account as they may or may not be someone who knows me.  If you're reading this, Mysterious Anon, please reveal your identity!! :D

Tomorrow, I shall dress myself in costume and join my crazy friends as we don our alter egos for the night.  There will be many pictures and much laughter, and hopefully a lot of candy.  And on Thursday, my Halloween identity will be very much revealed to you.

After all, in this town of Halloween, everyone is waiting for the next surprise...

Happy Homeschooling!

If you already know who I'm being, please don't spoil.  Even though almost everyone who reads this blog already knows haha :)

Coming Soon

I'll be taking pictures over the next few days of my school stuff (not really this weekend but next week) to put together in a new and improved Day in the Life post, because eighth is pretty different from seventh in my opinion, and not just what I'm learning.  I'm a total photography freak, so hopefully you'll like that post which is coming very soon!!

Tomorrow we're heading to Sutter's Mill, hopefully the weather won't be too rainy.  Might see some old friends up there too :D

Happy Homeschooling!

The Mark of Athena

“Wisdom’s daughter walks alone,

The Mark of Athena burns through Rome.

Twins snuff out the angel's breath,

Who holds the key to endless death.

Giants' bane stands gold and pale,

Won through pain from a woven jail.'”

Oh yeah, that's right, I got the Mark of Athena yesterday!!  MoA is the newest book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan, which is basically the sequel series to his Percy Jackson books.

And oh my word it was sooo good!!!  (Oh right, I finished it too...hehe)  I won't give out any spoilers yet, because I had to avoid looking up any Percy Jackson stuff from the release date until I got it (2 days of an honest minefield, I swear) and it's horrible to try to look places without being able to have spoilers.  If you want spoilers or have already read the book, just comment or email me or something and I'll do a whole post with everything :D

It's so hard to not say anything right now, but my friends held out for me--thank you!!--and I won't right now.  But just had to put out there that I read it and it is AMAZING, even if it ends on a "Rickhanger" which is a term I learned last night for Mr. Riordan's infamous cliffhangers haha!

Happy Homeschooling!

Latin

Hey, I know I'm a day late on this post but at least I remembered to do it right?! ;)  Anyhow, Latin was yesterday and of course we had a ton of fun, went over the syllabus and such.

Here is what we get to do this year:

~Learn more vocab and grammar stuff
~Make Latin Mad Libs
~Storytime!! This is when we all listen to a cool story about Roman history and then translate it from Latin to English (we get the simplified version).  They usually involve heroes, missing appendages, and fire.
~Do little grammar videos to show next year's sixth graders
~Make a Latin Book as a class

AND FINALLY...
Dun-dun-dunnnnn

~Make a MOVIE about everything we have learned about ROMAN HISTORY!!!!

Am I too much of a Greek/Roman history nerd?  Because I find these things fascinating :D  Of course a contributing factor is that many of you know that in my spare time I randomly act out scenes from books/movies/etc with my friends and make videos starring my cousins.

And, of course, ME.  Haha :)

So of course everyone is in overdrive, and we all want to start rightawaypleasepleaseplease Miss Weight?!

Alas, we must wait.  But I shall be patient.

Oh, can't we start now?!?!

That's all for now, hope you have a good day at school, work, or home!

Happy Homeschooling!

Percy Jackson!!

Ok, am I even old enough to be nostalgic?  I thought that was only for adults.  But the other day I saw some friends and we were talking about elementary school and the subject of Percy Jackson came up.

Oh my word, I swear we didn't think about anything else for the whole entire night.  It was all, Percy this and Annabeth that and remember when??  It was like we were all back in elementary school, but not.  Weird.  And now I know something very important.

Even though I am in eighth grade, I am so not too old to want to play imaginary games again.  I will never, ever be too old to want to play imaginary games.

Laugh if you want, but it's true!! :)

And now I am re-reading the Percy Jackson series once more (Lightning Thief; Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are on their way to Vegas) and loving every minute.  This might explain my random new profile picture, as well.

Officially Olympian-Obsessed right now, haha!!!

Latin starts Thursday, and I'll do a post then.  For now, though, it's same old routine :)

Happy Homeschooling!

Va-va-VBS!

So I realized I never told you guys what went on at VBS.  Well I made friends, learned A LOT about kids, got asked to babysit, and had a super fun (if tiring) time with all the preschoolers!!  Danielle (the preschool director) is going to ask the children's ministries director if I can help out in the class once a month or so.  The kids seem to like me well enough :)  The girls like it when I play cats or house and read with them, the boys prefer to play Iron Man.

Or Spiderman.

Or Batman.

One of those guys.

As long as there are blowing-up noises and bad guys getting punched and lots of yelling, they are happy.

I found something out about myself that week: Spider (Iron, Bat) Man is way more of my thing than house or cats.  And I thought I was a Barbie type of girl!  Guess not!

???

The kids liked that I drew mustaches on myself, let them test their lighting and fire powers on me, and gave us all war paint made of shaving cream.  It was the best fun I've had in a long, long time.

And I got asked to babysit!!  Note to self: take first aid/CPR/babysitting class at Kaiser ASAP!  It's true though, and since then I've been asked again about 3 more times or so.  Better get my booty off the couch and sign up huh?

That's all for now.  Thought you might be interested in how the whole VBS adventure turned out haha!

Happy Homeschooling!

DC Part One

Since my brain is so tired it feels like a bowl of grits, today I am just going to tell you a little overview of my time in DC :)  It's really great to be back at last!!

We went to Jamestown, Williamsburg, Monticello, Mt Vernon; the Jefferson, FDR, Martin Luther King Jr, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean War, Iwo Jima, WWII, Pentagon, and more memorials; and the Air and Space, Holocaust Memorial, American History, International Spy, and Newseum museums.  We also visited the National Archives, Supreme Court, Arlington Cemetery, and outside of the White House.  We tested the acoustics at the Canadian Embassy, rode the metro to the Pentagon, and ate lunch at a tavern.  It was a ton of fun!

I really got to know people from my old school that I'd known for a long time but never got close to before.  I was surprised how little I really knew about some people that I'd known since kindergarten!!

I also met some great new friends, from other schools.  First, the people who I got to know the most: Sophia, Liam, and Otis.  Thanks for taking time to actually talk to me!  A few other people who I met a little and said hi to without getting to know them too well: Kori, Carly, Peyton, Ethan, Sarah, Tommy, Clay, and Jayden.  It was nice to meet y'all :)

Otis was very surprised that our school was not familiar with grits.  He tried to explain that you could really put whatever you want on them like maple syrup, butter, cheese, etc.  He usually wore a ball cap with his home team on it  and was really nice.

Liam was fun to talk to.  He also was confused by the fact that we didn't know what grits were.  One of my friends kept asking him about grits--she was rather intrigued by them ;)  He hung out with Ethan a lot, and the guys from our school.

Sophia and I had fun talking as we walked around Arlington and Jamestown, and sat together on the bus.  We are hoping to email each other and keep in touch!  We have a few things in common--we both really liked Percy Jackson and reading, and other things.

That long post was way bigger than I expected!!  So much for my brain full of grits.  I will post pictures soon!!

Happy Homeschooling!