Summer!!

I'm so glad it's summer! This summer, I'm going to a variety of camps! On the first week of summer break, I went to another school's camp because there weren't any other camps during that week. 

The school's name is Wickham. I was so scared because I didn't know anybody there. But then, I looked at the sign-in sheet and I recognized some names, such as, Pieper, Maddie, and a couple of other people. And in no time, I made a bunch of friends!

After that week, I started going to my own school's camp, BASP. I was happy because my best friend, Anna was there too! But she couldn't be there on the first day because she took a trip to Arizona. Also her older sister, Ella is a BASP staff this summer!  That week was great!

Last week, some new people joined us. One of my friends named Josie was among them. So Anna and I played with her too. We called ourselves "The Three Musketeers"! We also opened a shop in our camp, so we could donate the money to Japan's earthquake victims. Our store sells friendship bracelets. We are good at making bracelets with certain styles/themes. Anna's theme is weaving. Josie's is tornado, and my theme is stripes! Later, our friend Kiana (my neighbor) joined us. So we named ourselves "The Fabulous Four"! Her theme is chevron stripes. I loved this week!

Can't wait until next week!

Happy Fathers' Day!

Happy Fathers' Day to all the dads in the world!

My mom and I gave my dad breakfast in bed today! Then we gave him a t-shirt that said "World's Greatest Dad"!

We also gave him a mug and a hat that had the same words.



I also got a key chain with a big "P" and my blog URL on it. Feel free to click on the key chain picture to see it.

Oh, and by the way, I have also shortened my blog URL to http://bit.ly/cityl.

My Trip to Clinton and Dubuque

Today we went to Clinton and Dubuque - two towns on Iowa Great Scenic Road. During our day trip, we took plenty of pictures in Clinton, went to a spectacular botanical garden in Dubuque, and had a little snack at McDonald's on our way back. 

The trip was about an hour-and-a-half hours long from Iowa City to Clinton. There was a marina by the Mississippi with boat docks. We took lots of pictures and talked. We picked up brochures on the way, too. After that, we drove to Dubuque. When we got there, we were fascinated because, the last time we were there was probably four years ago, so there were a lot of changes. The funny thing was, we saw three weddings in our whole road trip! Two of them were in Dubuque and one was in Clinton. 

Then, we went to the botanical garden, which was very colorful and fabulous! We saw Koi Fish in the pond and different flowers. The bad news was we couldn't take pictures because our camera ran out of battery. 

This was our third time in the botanical garden. The last time we were here, which was four years ago, my mom wasn't with us. It was just me, my dad, and my grandparents. I remember that we were there for a picnic because my grandmother made hot spicy chicken for the rest of the family. Back then, I loved playing on monkey bars. So there I was, spending my time practicing on the monkey bars, and then suddenly, I felt a drop on my shoulder. It started raining! I started crying because I wanted to play on the monkey bars so bad! I was discussing the story with my parents today in the car about the funny and sad memories. They were surprised that I could recall all that.

I was starving by then, so we stopped at McDonald's. 

This was a wonderful family trip!

My Review of Kung Fu Panda 2

Last week I watched "Kung Fu Panda 2" which I found to be really funny and it would be a movie I would watch again and again!

Po, a panda bear, is the main character in the movie. It showed Po's childhood and his parents.  My favorite character is Master Shifu, beacuse he was the one who taught Po kung fu, and I also find him hilarious! If I had to rate this movie between 1-10 (1=horrible, 10=super great) I would rate it a 9! And on the Tomatometer, it's 84%, which means it's definitely worth watching.

I hope there is a part 3!!

                          

The Last Day of School

The last day of school was so phenomenal and awesome! It was different from my last day of other grades because we had a silly string fight, and a lot more fun events! It just seems like yesterday, when I started 5th grade! And, it's already been nine months!

First in the morning, we gathered with our buddies and colored a big long piece of paper. We were supposed to draw what we were going to do in the summer.
I drew about Florida, because I want to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando.

Then, we had a water sponge contest. The bad news was, I was wearing my new shoes with soft fur-like material in them! Good news was, they didn't get wet! It was fun though!


Afterwards, Mrs. Murray's class (a class of 3rd and 4th graders), Mrs. Williamson's class (our buddies), and our class went to the media center to dance with the librarian. The songs they put on were the "Chicken Dance", "Baby" (Justin Bieber), "Born This Way" (Lady Gaga), and a couple more. Since our class and other Team 4 classes had a dance for a teacher who was retiring (Mrs. Kurtz) for "Born This Way", our whole class got on the stage and started dancing together! I have to admit, it was a little weird!!


At the end of the day, we had our walkabout. People who are moving and the 6th graders (because they are going to junior high) walk around the school with the whole school around the hallways. Some people cried, but I didn't. I just thought they were getting way too emotional. 


But I think this day was the best last day of school ever!!!!

My Paper Maché Vase

In school, we made a vase out of paper towels and newspaper. We glued them on with paper maché. Here are the steps for making an ancient Greek vase:

1.Blow out a balloon that is not too big and not too small.

2.Get strips of newspaper, and paper maché (or use clear glue) them onto the balloon whichever way you want. You could also use clear glue to stick the newspaper on but paper maché is a better option.


3.After 4 layers of newspaper, get two big, evenly sized strips of cardboard paper and make rings out of them.  Tape the rings on two ends of the balloon so that one end will be the top and the other end will be the base.


5.Then, take strips of paper towel and paper maché them vertically. Make sure you can't see any cardboard or newspaper. If the paper towel only stops in the middle, flip your vase over and paper maché them the other way.

6. Get newsprint, and fold them "hot-dog style" until they are about an inch wide. Those are going to be your handles. Tape one end to the top of the vase and tape the other end in the middle.

7.  Wrap the paper towel around the handles. Paper maché the strips of paper towel. 

8. Paint the whole vase orange to make it look ancient. Then, draw your design with a Sharpie marker.

And.......Voilà!!!