Landing My Axel

Yesterday on the ice I was so determined to land my axel.  My mom demonstrated it so gracefully I just had to get it.  So I attempted my axel over and over again until I was so tired I fell down every time I tried to jump.  For a couple of minutes I tried doing something else so I wouldn't get to dizzy from jumping so much.  The director of the ice rink came out to see what I was doing.  "Hey Alyssa lets see one of those axels I bet you could do one".  "OK" I said nervously.  I did one and she didn't seem that pleased.  She helped me by  telling me to jump straight up into the air and cross my leg over the other so I wouldn't land on the wrong foot.  I tried it again and again so determined to land it.  Until finally after the hundredth time I landed correctly.  I was so happy I jumped up and down so much that I almost fell over!  When it was time to get off I was already looking forward to the next time I could skate.

Thanks
Alyssa

Sushi restaurant

I am totally in love with the Japanese culture, partly because I'm 1/4 Japanese.  I am truly obsessed with sushi. This week my family decided to take a trip to an amazing sushi restaurant.  I ordered the tori katsu like usual.  This is chicken in  breading with this really good dipping sauce on it.  Then a waitress pushed through a double door and  happily set the food on our table.  On the tray lay all of the sushi in such a beautiful order my mouth starts watering just looking at it. I took out my chopsticks and practically crammed the sushi in my mouth.  I knew it wasn't totally polite but I was so hungry and it looked so good.  Since I'm partly Japanese I can use my chopsticks pretty well, but you probably wouldn't call me skilled at it either. At the very end we all split some green tea ice cream (my favorite kind of ice cream) and it was amazing like I hoped.  After we got up and thanked the waitress, we went outside and we all said "Thanks dad!"
After all he had the idea of taking us there.

Thanks
Alyssa

Ice Skating

I have been on a synchronized skating team for two years and I love it! Our team is called Clarity.  Right now our synchronized skating teacher has choosen a song from the movie Sister act.  It's pretty neat.  It is has been a couple weeks since we started choreographing our synchro team and we are well on our way to a good program.  It's great because the first year we had an ice show that I was in, we did our first synchro performance in front of a lot of people.  Jessica(my sister) said, that seeing me out there, got her way more influenced in ice skating.  So now Jessica is on the team too!  I have been skating ever since I could walk but for some reason I wasn't really serious about it until these last two years.  I am so glad I chose the sport of skating.  You get a ton of exercise and a huge amount of determination!

Apple Pie

Last Saturday,  we drove to a big apple orchard.  It had many varieties of doughnuts, cider, apples, spreads and cheeses.  My mom picked out a huge bag of Braeburn apples.  (I've actually never heard of those kind of apples  before.)  So we hopped into our car and drove home happily, hungry for some apple pie.  We were so tired that night, we decided to make it tomorrow though.  Early that next morning my mom, Jessica and I started cutting apples.  I was really scared about cutting myself, it never happened though.  Then we had to mix in sugar and cinnamon to the apples.  Sometime after, we started making the dough for it.  We dumped the apples into the dough and had to make another batch of dough for the top of the pie.  We took out some cookie cutters to put a few decorations on the apple pie.  We put on some hearts, an angel and a star in the middle.  We baked the pie for about a half hour.  The timer beeps so loudly it practically makes us jump to the ceiling.  My mom takes out the golden brown pie and we all sit down licking are lips awaiting a delicious treat.

Rock climbing

This last spring break my family went to Whistler, Canada. Almost every single day we were there, we went skiing down mountains.  Except on the second to last day, our legs were so sore and tired.  Besides on the last day we just wanted to enjoy the mountain and ski down every slope we could.  Anyway, on the day we took off, we went to a small playground that we all had to check out. It was actually really cool!  Then we went to a soup restaurant that was AMAZING!  A couple minutes later Ryan suggested we go rock climbing "Yes" Jessica says loudly and looks around a little embarrassed.  "Uh... you guys can go but I'd rather just watch" I say.  I was so scared of heights I didn't even like to rock climb.  "Come on you should go".  Jessica says.  "Maybe".  I said in a shaky voice.  We walk over to the rock climbing center.  A lady from behind the desk asks how many will rock climb today.  In a voice so quietly I can barely hear myself  I say "I'll try it".  "Okay great" she says happily.  She hands us our shoe sizes and we walk off to the climbing part.  The huge dark rocks towering over me make it look even more scary.  Ryan is the first to try it.  He starts climbing about halfway up until he decides he wants to go down.  I'm next, they strap me to the belt and I start climbing up.  My heart feels like its about to burst, and my head hurts, I keep climbing and realize I'm at the top.  Oh my gosh I'm at the top!  At the top!  Now the easy part let yourself slide down.  I have a huge smile on my face when I get down.  "Ready for the next one guys"?  The helper says.  "Yeah"! and  I'm the first one to say it too.

Spilling Spaghetti!

Yesterday was a very long day.  We got home very late from the ice rink because my mom had an important meeting.  We were at the rink from 3:00-7:00 pm.  We drove home in the dark all tired and cold.  When we got home I said "I know it's really late but can't we have something other than cereal tonight?  Something like... spaghetti!" My mom's eyes were drooping but we all seemed to want to shake things up a little.
"If you guys can help me make dinner we can eat spaghetti tonight".  "Sure!"  we say.  I turn on the stove and watch the water boil.  The clock is ticking faster and faster and the pot seems not to be boiling at all.  My mom told me a watched pot never boils.  That's really true I think.  So I go into the dining room and just sit there waiting.. waiting... waiting..
I'm about to fall asleep when my mom yells "It's boiled!"  I run in and practically claw the spaghetti noodles out of the box and  toss them into the steaming pot.  A couple minutes later the noodles are totally perfect and soft.  My mom gets out the strainer and pours the noodles in.  All the water pours out into the sink.  Just as my mom is about to place all of noodles in a nicer bowl I accidentally trip and fall into my mom.  She holds out her hands trying to catch the flying noodles into the bowl.  She catches about five.  All the rest fall onto the floor.
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry mom!"  I said.  When I look at her she's laughing.
"No, no it's fine its my fault too I couldn't catch the noodles in time".
"Oh well, still, sorry".  I say.  My mom says alright lets make another batch.  It feels so long until finally the food is on the table.  So we all sit down eating and laughing about our spaghetti incident.

Alyssa

Learning a Language

Since school has started I have been very interested in foreign languages.  Through summer break Jessica and I took Chinese immersion for a full two weeks. I thought it was really fun.  At lunchtime they served delicious dishes from China like fried rice, spring rolls and this really amazing egg soup that I didn't know would taste so good.   But the language I have been interested in since I was really young has always been German.  I really like how the German words sound when you pronounce them correctly.  I just started taking German at the beginning of the school year so I'm not very good at it yet.  But everyday I try my best to learn how to speak German.  I even want to be at the point where I can speak German fluently.  I also know a little Spanish, and some Japanese, mostly because my Grandma is from Japan.  I really think it's important for people to learn a new language or languages because it is actually really fun and helpful if you want to travel somewhere.

Auf Wiedersehen!
Alyssa

Meeting Garfield

A couple of days ago my dad suggested we go to President Garfield's house and take a tour around.  At first Jessica, Ryan and I made a loud noticeable sigh.  I'm thinking on my birthday weekend? Really?  Ryan exclaims can't we do this on a more boring weekend?  My dad says "it'll be fun" and motions us out the door.  We drive the 30 minute drive which felt like 3 hours to me.  We finally park into the grassy driveway and start walking in the building to get to our tour in time.  We are a couple minutes early.  "Great", I say sarcastically under my breath.  A tour guide from behind the front counter came closer to us looking at Jessica, Ryan and me saying "you guys can become a junior ranger if you just work through this workbook about Garfield." She hands us a glossy workbook with President Garfield's face on the front.   Ryan looks so happy and screams out YES!  I'm about to say no thanks but she says "Oh, and you also will get a prize at the end if you participate".  Well I think if it comes down to a prize then fine.  "Sure" I say not as enthusiastic as Ryan but I'll accept.  We start walking around with our tour guide she tells us all about President Garfield. He was the twentieth President of the United States, he had a wife named Lucretia and a daughter named Mollie. He died by getting shot in the back twice in 1881 by Charles J. Guiteau and much more fascinating information.  Ryan and I finished up our workbooks writing in the last few blanks.  Wow, I thought that was really sad and amazing as we started heading back to the main room to claim our prize.  The tour guide behind the desk looks at Ryan's and my workbook's and nods.  She tugs on a black cabinet and pulls out a pencil and a badge that has Garfield's face on it.  Maybe not quite what I was expecting but the tour was fun at least. "Dad that was really fun" I said. My dad smiles and looks down and says "told ya".  We go outside and laugh the whole way into the car.


Thank you
Alyssa

Exercise!

Every night for the past couple of weeks, Jessica, Ryan and I have been working out.  My dad bought a pull-up bar for everyone to use.  The only problem is its really close to the ceiling and I'll admit it, I'm really short. So I have to stand on a stool to do pull-ups.  After that we all  do push-ups the most I've probably done is 10 I think.  Then we tire ourselves with jumping jacks( I usually shoot for100) and many other exercises.  We feel so good, healthy and well.. very tired by the time to go to bed.  I always used to stay awake half the night because I was never tired! Its also really fun to work out with Jessica and Ryan we call it the KCE(Kids Club Exercise.)  Its great because now we wake up so much earlier!

Thanks
Alyssa

Books are awesome!

When I was little I learned to read about at the age of 6.  I used to think books were OK, but now I don't just take them for granted.  Now, I usually finish books by  3-4 weeks.  Reading, especially nonfiction books obviously helps the brain learn new vocabulary, new topics, and personally  I just think its fun.  Everyday if you have time, you should sit down for at least 15 minutes and read.  If you like to read fiction better than nonfiction thats fine. Some people at my public school a year ago( I'm home schooled now) could barely read aloud when they were asked by the teacher.  If reading is not your thing than music practice is good too.  I have been playing the piano for 7 years and my sister has been playing the violin for 5 years.  Music practice helps the brain memorize new things not just music notes but maybe you'll get faster on your keyboard as well!  I have a wonderful piano teacher, Mrs.Lilly who's from Russia, its really cool to hear her speak Russian sometimes outside of the lesson.  If you have an instrument or some kind of book, it would be great if you could take a couple of minutes to practice music or read!
Hope you enjoyed!

-Alyssa

Starting Up

       I am very exited about starting up my new blog Life is Good.  My sister and mom already have made their own blogs, Reflections(Jessica's) and Imagine Today( my mom's) that you should check out too.  Almost every day my mom, Jessica and I go to the ice rink.  Our calendar is filled with competitions, tests and ice shows for ice skating.  On October 30th we have to take a test that is very hard called preliminary moves, A solo competition on November 20th and a Christmas ice show on December 19th!
   We are a very busy family, but maybe not as busy as you think.  Jessica and I are actually home schooled in a program called K-12.  K-12 is a very fun and educational charter school with many science projects, games and more.  Today I had to put some yogurt under a microscope and watch the living organism called L.acidophilus go around.  Don't worry L.acidophilus actually is what makes yogurt so good for you!
Thanks for reading!
Alyssa