Merry Christmas for Another Year!

On Christmas Eve night, I had a hard time sleeping. I kept wondering what surprise present my mom gifted me, or if Santa would give me my wish or just a piece of pitch-black coal. My wonders finally disappeared into my dream, and I finally got hours of sleep. . . 

On Christmas day, I woke up at 7:30. I quickly dressed into my Christmas dress, and off I went to rip off the wrapping paper on my present. There were a manifold of presents, waiting for me to open them, so I had to decide, which present should I reveal first? I closed my eyes and spun around with my finger pointing one direction, and when I opened my eyes, I was pointing to the present that Santa gave me. I read the label, "To Heather - From Santa", and tore off the moose wrapping paper. There lay a mysterious brown box, and the folds had tape over them, so I had to get some scissors and cut them open.

Now, before I tell you what my present was, I want to compare my present from last year, and this year. Last year, my present was large, and this year, my present was even larger! I'll give you some hints: It has two wheels, you ride on it, and it is for outdoors. What could it be?

Last year's present size...

Photo by Echo (my mom)

This is the pogo stick that I got from Santa last year.

This year's present size. . .

Photo by Echo

What could this be that Santa gave me this year?










If you guessed a scooter, you were correct!
The scooter I asked for was a Red Razor 2.0 scooter with sparks, and when I checked on the box, Santa gave me the exact same thing! You might not know what a scooter with sparks is, but I bet you know what sparks are. Scooters with sparks means that there is a thing that you can push with your foot, and you can ride and rub it on the ground to create sparks. I never had a scooter that had sparks, so I am excited to try it out. 

Even though those aren't all of the presents I received, my scooter was the main one. If you want to see the rest of the presents I got, here they are:

What did you get for Christmas?

Is it what you asked for, or did Santa get confused with your present and someone else's?

Why did you get that present?

Do you celebrate Hanukkah or Christmas?

Edublog Awards :: Voting Open Now!

                   The Edublog Awards are open for voting!

We are thrilled to be nominated for three Edublog Awards!

This year, the voting is on a website called List.ly. You must be 13 or older to sign in to List.ly, so encourage you friends and family to vote!

Sadly, this year, we can only vote one time on one account.

 Best class blog

My teacher, Mrs. Yollis, has been blogging since 2008.

You can click on the triangle facing up to vote for Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog:

See full list on Listly

*    *    *    *    * 

Best group blog

My teacher, Mrs. Yollis, started this international group blog three years ago.

You can click on the triangle facing up to vote for Yollis' 365 Project.

See full list on Listly

*    *    *    *    *

 Best student blog

I, Heather, have been blogging since last year, and I got nominated by Mrs. Yollis.

You can click on the triangle facing up to vote for 
 Heather's Perfect Post .

See full list on Listly

*    *    *    *    *    *

I was happy to see that I was chosen by my teacher, and people are now voting for us.

Voting will close at 11:59 P.M.  EST on

Wednesday, December 18th.


Thank you for your support!

The Differences Between a Biography and an Autobiography

Sometimes, you see covers of a real life story that HAS already happened, and the letters say The Biography of ___________ or some other title. Except one time, you see an autobiography. For example, the title of the book is ________: A Life, and at the bottom it says My Autobiography. Now I am going to explain the differences:

Let's break down the word biography.

bio means life
graphy is Greek for writing  

So, biography mean the writing about someone's life.

auto means self

So, autobiography means the story of someone's life written by the person who lived it. 

An autobiography is a book that explains the life of a person, AND the story of the book is the author of the book. For instances, if a book about Steve Jobs was an autobiography, Steve Jobs actually wrote it. A biography is similar to an autobiography, but someone else wrote the book. When someone wrote about Steve Jobs that wasn't Steve Jobs, you would call that a biography. 

This is an example picture of an autobiography and a biography (click to enlarge):

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

If you clicked on the book about George Washington, you would have seen that it was written by Roberta Edwards. It is a biography.

The one about Lemony Snicket (my favorite author) is pretty obvious because in the title it reveals that it is an autobiography. Mr. Snicket wrote his life story.

Do you like autobiographies better or do you like biographies better?

Please share a fact about a famous person you read about. Was it a biography or autobiography? 

A Biography (Fake) for my teacher's post, Flat.

I have a story that is from a post, Flat, on my teacher's, Mrs. Yollis, post. She has a 365 project post and a classroom blog. This post is on the 365 project, and I have a fake biography that I want to share with you, but first of all, here is a link to the original post:

Flat!

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

Now, this is my comment and biography:

I am Wilbert the Flat Handball, and I am here in heaven with tape on my leak. I am feeling better, and your stories comfort me. I hope you are having a blast wherever you are, and I hope the others are having fun. Mary and Lucy are the only survivors of all of the equipment, and I am using sunoculars to look at you guys having fun without me. Please wait for me until I get back.

I have a story that I want to share that is happening right now without anyone with me:

I bounced one hundred feet high to try to have fun. I was in the middle of the sky wondering where my dear friends could be. Albert the joker had been lost in the middle of the woods, while Lucy and Mary were happily playing with the children. Lucy was being swung around for Helicopter, while Mary was bounced around to play Four-Square. At last, I was up here with my sunoculars that protect your eyes from the sun and are like binoculars. 

I was searching for poor Albert when there was a sudden shake. It felt like a cloudquake! I used my hands to grip on as tight as I could, and suddenly, there was a jolt. The clouds turned way too thin to grip on, and I was there, flying down back to earth. When I finally reached earth, I fell with a vast "BANG!". I flew up in the sky again, and fell back to earth with as vast "BANG!", but now as loud. I flew and fell with a vast "BANG!" manifold of times, but it finally stopped, and I was there, sitting on a tree. I had another big leak, but luckily, the leak didn't let any air out. Nightfall was about to come, so I closed my eyes and slept...

I was awake, and ready for another big day. I felt some pain, and I saw that I was on top of a very spiky tree. The tree poked me, and I was helpless. This day was off to a horrible start!

I licked my cut like a dog would. I bounced off of the tree, and went to a restaurant. I stole some food for my hollow inside and rolled in the water so no one could see me. The waters were freezing! I realized that I was now stuck in the Arctic Ocean. I built a boat made out of coral and seaweed. Then I sailed out to Alaska to get some shelter. I quietly rolled into someone's house and spent a night there.

The next morning, when I woke up. I found a bottle with some slimy water in it. I drank it, and when I did, I felt super fast. I started rolling, and I thought I was going about 100 miles per hour! I rolled and rolled until I reached the United States. No one could stop me because I was going too fast for them to even notice me.

I had reached the very tip of Oregon, and almost in California. Something happened unexpected. My potion ran out, and I was back as slow as a snail. 

I went to the city, and saw a woman waving her hand for a taxi to come to her. As she stepped on, I secretly rolled onto the taxi's floor, waiting for something to happen. The taxi drove to Los Angeles, and the woman got off the car. I slipped out right at her feet, and when she closed the door, I was already on my way to the suburban areas where my home is. I rolled and rolled, and when I reached my suburb, dusk was on its way. The sun was setting and I had to scout out to find some shelter. Like the last time, I sneaked into someone's house and rolled under the owner's bed.

When that exhausting day passed, I, Wilbert, was up and away! I ran like a cheetah and zoomed straight to my home. When I got there, there was a metal gate, and I bounced over it, but I got another colossal cut. "OWWWW!" I cried this time. This was extra painful, but I endured the pain and kept on rolling. I reached the outside of my house (my blue basket), and I was ready for a nap. Without even bothering to jump in the basket, I took a nap.

The next day, some children found me lying on the ground with my cuts. They took me and shot a picture. Now, this is what happened. They posted me crying with my tattoo (The YOLLIS that is kind of faint). They threw me in the trashcan, and I am using a broken computer that has been recycled to write my biography.

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

That is the end of my story, and if you have a story from the original post, Flat, please leave a comment.

Do you like biographies?

If not, what type of books do you like?

How do you feel when an object is destroyed?

A New Fad and an Old Fad

All around the United States, people are starting to wear rubber band bracelets that are in a pattern. A fad is a thing that is popular for a year or so, and then it is not so popular. In my opinion, I think they are pretty attractive. I have some because I thought they looked charming on your wrist. Also because I didn't want to be left out on the fad. Here are the bracelets in an array.

Photo by Heather

A old fad that was popular in 2010 was Silly Bands. I have tons of them. If you don't know what a Silly Band is, here is the definition. A Silly Band is a simple bracelet that you wrap around your wrist and they are in different shapes.

If you know a fad, please drop me a comment.

Do you know both of these fads?

If so, do you have any of these items?

Happy Halloween!

Photo from Mrs. Yollis

In class, we are writing one of my teacher's, Mrs. Yollis, famous three sentence stories for Halloween! I have a book of Halloween stories right here:

Vincent the Vampire

Vincent the Vampire was flying to Wanda the Witch's house. When he got there, the mansion was filled with poison that made Vincent cough, choke, and he felt like he was going to die! Right when he was going to faint, Vincent remembered that he had a wand, and used it to cast a mask that provided fresh air for Vincent.

Zamba the Zombie

One spooky Halloween night, when all the children were trick-or-treating, Zamba decided to come out of her tombstone. Just remembered that she had a party, one child dared to come to the graveyard. Zamba and all of the other zombies were afraid of children so Zamba popped out of her tombstone and scared the child away!

George the Ghost

One day in October, George the Ghost wandered into the forest and started cursing the trees. Suddenly, an invisible werewolf started to throw harmful poisons at George! He didn't know what to do when he broke through one of the potions and reflected another with one of his ghostly fists.

Shelly the Skeleton

Shelly the Skeleton was practicing archery when she heard a wave of blood was coming her way. She tried as hard as she can to shoot some shield arrows to block the blood, but the blood was coming way too fast for Shelly. Shelly backed up and tripped on a tombstone and out of nowhere, she quickly dug a hole in the dirt and buried herself undergrowth until the blood finished flowing.

Georgia the Ghoul 

One day, Georgia the Ghoul was inside the ice cream store that was not so popular. A kid came in and asked for a pumpkin flavored ice cream, but at that time, Georgia was sucking on some strawberry flavored ice cream with some blood syrup on top. The kid saw, and when the kid came up to ask her, she just said that it was cherry flavored syrup.

Jamba the Jack-O-Lantern

The day before Halloween, Jamba the Jack-O-Lantern grew to an adult in her pumpkin patch. The farmer saw, and yanked Jamba off of her vine and gave it to a child, but the child kicked, rolled, bit, and spit on poor Jamba. Jamba knew she had to speak up so she did all of those cruel actions to the child and that is when the child learned to never mess with a pumpkin.

Max the Mummy

Max the Mummy was happily sleeping in his cage when he heard a BOOM! Max woke up immediately and slipped out of his cage to see what was happening! He looked out of his house's window and saw a ender dragon forming in Max's backyard and before the ender dragon even had a chance to form, Max used a roll of toilet paper and wrapped up the former of the ender dragon.

Doomster the Devil

One freaky Halloween, Doomster the Devil was bored so he came from house to house, scouting for candy and trying to scare some people to death. When he came to the two hundred fifty-fifth house, the owner of the house was a devil too. Doomster knew that that one devil wouldn't be afraid of another devil, so Doomster hasty changed into a witch to scare the devil.

Willa the Witch

On every Halloween, Willa the Witch was extra greedy. One hair-raising Halloween night, Vincent the Vampire crept up on Willa and nearly scared her to death. Willa used her broomstick to swoop over and under Vincent, knocked him over, and that's what taught Vincent to never scare others when they have a power that you don't.

Sonny the Scarecrow

Sonny the Scarecrow was fiercely guarding the farm from crows when crows started to rain heavily from the sky. At the end of the crow-storm, Sonny was all covered up in crows. Sonny used a piece of hay from his hand and tickled the crows and one by one every crow flew away.

The Horrifying Halloween

One super spooky Halloween, Sonny the Scarecrow, Willa the Witch, Doomster the Devil, Max the Mummy, Jamba the Jack-O-Lantern, Georgia the Ghoul, Shelly the Skeleton, George the Ghost, Zamba the Zombie, and Vincent the Vampire gathered up in all one haunted house. They talked and talked, but the more they chatted, the less spooky the house became. Doomster quietly flew up the stairs and shouted "LOWER YOUR VOICE!" and all of the Halloween characters slowly lowered their voice until the house became haunted again.

*The End!*

Can you make up a famous three sentence story?

The first sentence shows the settings (maybe the problem). The second sentence has to have a problem. The last sentence has a solution to the problem.

Spooky Scene!

In class, we were decorating our classroom with Halloween decorations. When I first walked into the classroom, I saw two enormous spiders hanging down from the roof!

Photo by Heather

Do you have any decorations for Halloween?

If so, what are they?

My Story for Sleep Tight, Angus!

I have a story that I wanted to share on Mrs. Yollis' 365 blog, but unfortunately, my story was too long. Luckily, I have a blog. Here is Angus all tucked up ready to dream about something phenomenal:

Photo by Julia (Mrs. Yollis' niece)



Here is my story that was too long for my comment:

Dear Julia, Angus, and Mrs. Yollis,

I have a story that I made up. When Angus fell asleep...

He saw bones everywhere! "Where am I?" Angus asked. He looked up in the sky and there was the ruler of the island! "You are in Bonny Land," replied Cooper the Ruler of the Land, "Follow me. I am going to lead you to the palace of bones." Thought he was in trouble! "W-what pal-lace?" Angus said. Cooper said nothing, and walked through the clouds and Angus followed. When Angus saw the palace, he was no longer scared! He froze. He was also speechless. After a few moments, Angus said, "Wow! I must be in heaven!" Angus burst into the palace and shouted, "I'm Angus!" No one replied. "Hello?" Angus tried again and again until he gave up. Right when he wanted to walk out the door, a servant came out with a bowl of bone-shaped dog treats. "Welcome to Big Bone Palace. Is there something I can help you with?" Angus didn't know what to say. "Ummm... I guess. Can you give me a tour around the palace?" "Yes," the servant replied, "First of all, I am the head of all of the servants. My name is Rocky. I am known for giving out treats. Would you lik-" Angus interrupted, "Yes, I would love a treat! Actually, would you be kind enough for five treats?" Angus was a little greedy. "Of course," Rocky said politely, "Have as many as you want."

After Angus was finished with his delightful treat, he yawned. "I'm tired. Would you excuse me for a nap?" Angus complained. Angus could tell that Rocky was getting kind of impatient.

"Wake up! Wake up!" Rocky yelled. Angus was confused. "Where am I?" he asked. "Remember? You are in one of the royal rooms of Big Bone Palace!" Now Rocky was really getting impatient. "Is it time for my tour around the palace?" whined Angus. "Yes," Rocky said in a grumpy voice, "We are going to meet the Queen Edoggybeth and King Georgedog" That suddenly put Rocky in a fabulous mood! When they got to the room, they weren't there! They were so astonished! "But... I called them," Rocky cried. What Rocky didn't tell Angus is that they didn't answer. "They must be in trouble!" Angus worried. They thought for a moment and then Rocky suggested, "Let's ask Cooper!" They rapidly ran on four legs and they almost trampled each other trying to get out the door! Rocky and Angus finally made it out the door with two big holes in the door. They had broken the door! "We don't have time to fix the door now. We'll do that when Queen Edoggybeth and King Gorgedog return," Angus said, but Rocky didn't seem too worried ether. "Cooper ! Cooper !" Angus and Rocky shouted together. "What can I help you with?" Cooper exclaimed. "Queen Edoggybeth and King Georgedog are missing!" Angus said sadly. "We have to help them! They may be in big trouble!" Rocky shouted very sadly. Cooper's mouth dropped about five feet long. "Are you kidding me? I thought they were safely in the palace! I honestly do not know what happened to them. Are you sure that they are missing?" Cooper said out loud. Angus and Rocky said together, "We are absolutely sure! This is not a joke. This is serious."

They scouted the jungle and found a place called Country Jail. "Why would they be in there? They didn't do any thing wrong. Plus, they are the Queen and King!" Rocky explained. "Let's check anyways. It's better to be safe than sorry!" Cooper said back. When the three checked, they weren't there. "Look! Footprints! They must be from Queen Edoggybeth and King Georgedog!" Angus said excited. All three of the dogs followed the footprints and guess what is leaded to? The LIBRARY! "How could they be in the library?" all three dogs asked their selfs. They searched anyways. "Nope, not here." thought the dogs. "Do you think Queen Edoggybeth and King Georgedog are in a obvious place, but we just haven't noticed?" asked Rocky. "That's possible," said Cooper, "What are the possible places can you think of?" They thought for a long time, but finally, they thought of these places: Behind Big Bone Palace, to the east of Big Bone Palace, to the west of Big Bone Palace, in another room in the palace, and the doggy park they always go to. "Why don't we just go home for now and check the rooms in our palace?" explained Rocky. "Sure," Cooper and Angus agreed. Angus and Rocky rode Cooper's back and went back to Big Bone Palace. When they were finally there, they looked at tthe obvious places that they thought of starting from the rooms. Queen Edoggybeth and King Georgedog were not anywhere near the palace, so they went to the doggy park. They weren't there ether. They were about to give up for the day, when they heard a call. "Help" it cried. They sounded exactly like Queen Edoggybeth and King Georgedog. "We will help!" Angus called back, "Just tell us where you are!" The cry came back. "We are in your school!" barked the dog. We dashed into the school and made a call. "Queen Edoggybeth and King Georgedog, please come to the Principal Doggyjone's office. Thank you," Cooper said on the speakers. They came, and Rocky told them their story. King Georgedog told their story and all of them laughed all the way back to the palace.

All of a sudden, Angus woke up!

Woof woof,

Heather

Click on this to go to the original post:

Sleep Tight, Angus!

Do you have a story to tell?

(Make sure to have the most of 4,096 characters!)

Does your pet do anything human-like things?

Do you ever learn anything the hard way?

International Dot Day!

Learn More About Me, Rocky

Hi! I am Rocky who is a three and a half years old dog and loves to play fetch. Blake is my middle name. My breed is a golden retriever mixed with a chow. That's why I have purple blotches on my tongue and short legs. I am a friendly dog that absolutely does not like water. My wish is for swimming pools to

Photo by Heather

As you know, all I can think of is fetching a nice green tennis ball. After a while, I do get a little tired so I rest on soft, green grass. When I do that, my ball is always covered with slobber. I usually play fetch outside in the front lawn because in the backyard, we have a pool. When I play fetch in the backyard, 

the ball is very likely to drop into the pool. I never go and try to get my ball back because I do NOT like water!

Photo by Heather

I love being in the backyard under a table because it is always shady there and is nice and cool. That's why you see a fancy shadow to left. 

Photo by Heather

Have you ever adopted a pet from the animal shelter?

If you have a dog, does it have lots of energy or does it just sleep all day?

From the Jelly Belly Factory to Napa Valley

Now we were at Napa Valley, but before that, we visited the Jelly Belly Factory. For ones who don't know  what is Jelly Belly is, it is a really nice jellybean company, but some look alike but taste really different.

Behind this welcome sign, those are all grape trees. You do not see any grapes because it is not the right time to harvest them. If you come up close to them you will see many green, not ready to harvest grapes. September and October are the right times to harvest grapes.

Photo by Echo (my mom)

Here is how it looked like when we saw them:

Photo by Echo

Photo by Echo

The best looking winery to me was the Castello Di Amorosa Winery. It looked like a castle and it even had a fake doorway that you use a strong chain to pull up!

That winery was the best looking winery. The best winery tour is the tour at the winery called the Robert Mondavi winery. I don't have a picture of the real life place, but I searched up the logo for the winery.

Photo from Google Images

One winery that is the prettiest is the winery called the Jacuzzi Family Vineyard. What I thought was pretty about this Vineyard is that there was a lavender (flower) patch!

Photo by Heather

We went to lots of wineries and vineyards until it was time to leave. It would take about six hours (not with breaks) to get home.

Have you ever visited Napa Valley?

If so, have you ever gone to one of the wineries that I gone to?

If you haven't, which winery do you think you would like to go to?

My Trip to the Jelly Belly Factory!

Now we were at the Jelly Belly factory and there are some jellybeans that I have to introduce to you. Some taste really different but look the same. Those are the bad ones. Some are Juicy Pear and Booger and Buttered Popcorn, Moldy Cheese, and even Licorice and Skunk Spray! The worst one that I think is really disgusting is CENTIPEDE! The flavor that taste like Centipede is Strawberry Jam. There were also some recipes and the recipe will tell you the name and show you how it looks like and you will find them and put them in your mouth and taste them! I think the recipe idea is real neat. Don't you?

Photo by Jeffery (my dad)

Photo by Echo (my mom)

Here are pictures made out of little tiny jellybeans! Who knew that you could make art out of jellybeans? The one to the left is Ronald Reagan, one of the jellybean lovers!

There were tours and you get a paper hat. Sadly, we went on a day when they were not working so we did not see them make jellybeans. Now we began our tour:

First, we saw lots of bags of sugar and corn corn starch. It also included corn syrup. There are other ingredients, but those are the main ones. 

Second, our tour guide showed us some movies like how to make a jellybean and all of the machines that you use to make jellybeans sugar! Some are called belly flops because they are not in the right shape.

Then our tour guide gave us free samples for each step of a jellybean, like when it was not polished. It was very bumpy. That's because it is covered with sugar. It tasted the same though. 

Next, we watched some videos about polishing the jellybean and our tour guide gave us a polished jellybean that was all finished. 

Finally, our tour guide gave each person a bag of jellybeans and that was the end of our tour.

Clearly, making a jellybean  does take time!



After our tour, we went to the shop. I brought a sour pack of jellybeans and my brother brought a mini pack of jellybeans. His had some disgusting ones. Before we checked out, we went to eat some samples. There is a kiwi one that they said is really hard to make, but taste exactly like kiwi. I got some samples of that. I also got samples of tutti-frutti and a bubble gum.

It was not long after we came. There were menus and there were actually menus of different languages! Some of the languages were English, Chinese, Arabic, Dutch, Spanish, and more. Inside the menus were information about jellybeans. The information was mostly about how they look like and what are the names. There is also recipes and in each menu. Some are different kinds and some are the same.

We left the Jelly Belly Factory and now we were going to leave to Napa Valley now!

Have you ever visited the Jelly Belly Factory?

If so, did you go on a tour when they were actually making jelly beans?

If you haven't, have you ever heard of the Jelly Belly Factory?

Happy Birthday, America!

Ideas and facts from Mrs. Yollis and Wikipedia 

America's birthday is on July 4th which is Independence Day in America! 

On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This document was announced America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Photo from Mrs. Yollis

Independence Day is commonly celebrated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, political speeches, and ceremonies.

Last year and the year before, I celebrated July 4th with a nice barbecue with some of my relatives and the fireworks from a school with my neighbors. This year, I will not be having another barbecue and I will always be watching the fireworks as long as I don't move. Instead, I celebrated by going to a splash party and got a sparkly dog tattoo. It was all very fun and exciting! There were stands that you could win prizes and I got three of them. I also got a bow n arrow balloon.

I did not get any photo of the fireworks because I could not get a quick shot of the fireworks. Nether did my mom because the fireworks were appearing and disappearing every time we tried to get a shot. 

Here are some ways to respect the flag:

• Do not wear a flag, wear the colors
• Never step on a flag or leave it on the floor
• Pledge to the flag every day with your right hand over your heart. Here are the words:

"I pledge of  allegiance to the Flag of the United states of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

• The flag should never be hung upside down unless there is a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or propriety.  
• Do not use a flag as a target.

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What did you do on July 4th?

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My Trip to Yosemite

In February, when it was my birthday, I wanted to celebrate it in Yosemite National Park. I thought it will never happen, but one day my mom told me that we were going to Yosemite in June. She said that it will be the third Saturday of June.

When the day before that event came, we packed and our clothes and shoes. I was so excited to got to Yosemite and live there for three days! It took us about five hours to arrive at a inn in Fresno that was not that close to Yosemite. We spent our night there and tomorrow morning we were going to leave to Yosemite!

We finally got to Yosemite and it looked like we were going to live in a forest. I forgot what the entrance said, but through the entrance you would pay. Then we saw Tunnel View which was a very long tunnel and stopped. The mountains were very high and beautiful. We drove another long time until we stopped at Curry Village. That is where our tent was going to be. It looked like a mini house a with water-proof outside made with fabric. You can also see a Bear Box that you store your food in. If you don't, you will attract bears and they will lift up the flap and look through the window to see if there are any foods that humans eat. If you are holding it, they will ignore you and go away because they do not like humans.

Photo by Echo (my mom)

We left Curry Village and stopped at Visitor Center that was like a museum. It had very interesting things like a rock that was once part of Half Dome and facts about John Muir, a preservation of wilderness in the United States. There was also a gift shop and I bought a pin that represented Half Dome.

Then we took the shuttle to the trail to the Yosemite Falls. There are two falls, the upper and the lower. We climbed the lower because the upper is much too hard for us. My mom, dad, and I climbed together and my brother climbed himself. He ended up with us too. We together climbed all the way to the top, and when we went back down, my brother and I played in clean but cold water. It was very clean and cold because it was water that used to be snow! I accidentally fell in the water and it was very cold, but it was worth it.

Photo by Echo

The third monument we went to is Mirror Lake. We could see a side of Half Dome, reflected down on Mirror Lake. I tried sculpting Half Dome with sand and water, and I discovered that it took more than thirty minutes!

Photo by Echo

Finally, all of us walked to the shuttle stop and took a ride to Curry Village. There, my dad ordered pizza and ate a happy meal. Then we walked back to our tent and rested. Today was a extremely pleasant day and that was only the first day!

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Today was the second day and I was ready for another exhausting day! We were going to Glacier Point! There were two choices, you could drive, or walk. If you walk, it will take you about four and a half hours. If you drive, it you will be in the car for about one hour. We chose to walk and first I have to tell you that all of us were really burned out! The walk was 4.6 miles up and 4.6 miles down too! From the bottom of Glacier Point all the way to the top, the height is 3,200 feet. There were not a lot of people there on that trail probably because most people took the easy way. Driving! When we were going to the top, we ran out of water!

When we got to the top, which was already about 3:30, my family took a long rest and took some pictures. Here is some of the pictures:

An amazing view of Half Dome from Glacier Point!

Photo by Heather

Taking a closer look of Half Dome with binoculars.

Photo by Echo

Creating an illusion for Vernal Fall! ;-D

Photo by Echo

After all of those relaxing events, my mom, my dad, my brother, and I all walked  down the mountain. It was easier than going up, but you had to control your feet from sliding. This time, we did not run out of water but no one wanted water!

When we finally got to the bottom of the mountain, it was already dark, but good thing that we had flashlights and our phones could give off light too. It was so dark that we got lost at one point, but then we saw the shuttle going towards something that looked like a shuttle stop. We rushed to the stop, but we weren't fast enough so we waited about twenty more minutes for the next shuttle to come.

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Today was the third day and we were ready to pack up and leave Yosemite!

We were all wanting to stay here forever because the trip was so fun we haven't gone to every trail. There is a Half Dome trail and that trail is really hard and dangerous. We are never going to that trail for sure! Today we were only going to a waterfall called Vernal Falls. You would follow a trail called Mist Trail because you will feel some mist at the end of the trail. It is much easier than Glacier Point and much shorter. It is only 1.5 miles to Vernal Falls. The trail is a little slippery and muddy, so you might want to wear hiking boots so you don't slip of the trail. At the end of the trail, there are lots of stairs and mist. We went on a hot day so the mist cooled us down. I went ahead by myself and I made it to the top. One part of the stairs has a handrail so you can hold it. Here is a picture of the fall:

Different from the Yosemite falls, this fall is wider.

Photo by Echo

Now I was at the top and it was a beautiful looking down at the fall and the people looked like ants!

The water behind this tree is the water from Nevada Falls. That is a fall that is above Vernal Falls. The water comes down from the Nevada Falls and goes to the Vernal Falls. Next time we were going to go to the Nevada Falls.

Now we were going to leave Yosemite and now we were going to Napa Valley, the world famous wine growing region and were stopping at the Jelly Belly factory first!

I said one last goodbye to Yosemite and wondered when we were going there again. Hopefully, we will go to Yosemite soon!

Have you ever been to Yosemite?

If you had, what trails did you go on?

If you haven't, are you interested to going?