Matthew's Trip to Moab, Utah!

Guest Post by Matthew







Custom Glitter Text

Over spring break, I went on an amazing journey to Moab, Utah.  This is me sitting on a steep rock called the South Window.  It was  hard to climb because of the rough, sharp edges.  After the long, exhausting climb, I got to sit on the steps to relax.  

 This is an arch in the category of window arches. That little speck is me, so compare it to 4 foot 9!  The arch is about 100 feet.

That is another arch in the category of window arches. The outlined space looks like a woman's face if you look closely.

This arch is probably the most famous, The Delicate Arch in the national park, Arches. 

This is my sister and I racing up a sand hill.  It was extremely hard to climb.  It was very steep! 

This is my sister and I victorious after climbing the sand hill! Whoo-hoo!

This is me after I climbed the natural, rock hard stairs.

Facts and Opinions 

∆  The landscape arch is the longest natural arch in the world. 

∆  Morning Glory Bridge is in the Moab area. 

 ∆  The landscape arch is only 6 feet tall at the thinnest point. 

 

 

Have you ever been to Moab, Utah?

Have you ever seen any arches?

 Have you ever climbed a sand hill? 

 

A Harris Hawk and an Opossum Visit Our Classroom!

Mrs. Yollis, my teacher, has a good friend called Mrs. C.  She works for the Wildlife Experience.  At the Wildlife Experience, if you find an animal or you have an animal that grew too big for you, like a snake, you give it to them and they take care of it. I think it is a wonderful organization and love them coming to our school!  All photo credit goes to Mrs. Yollis. 

Harris Hawk

The weird thing about Harris' Hawk is that they stand on each other's back and they pile on top of a cactus. Nobody knows why but people are predicting that it is because they are bonding, or it is because you can see better higher.  (If you notice, Mrs. Yollis put the photo on top of the cactus so it looks like the hawks are standing on each other!)

When Mrs. C. took out the Harris Hawk, she had to were a glove because it's got very sharp claws and it can rip threw your skin.  It also has a leash on it's ankle so that it wouldn't fly all over the classroom and we would have to catch him.

Here is a close up of the stunning Harris Hawk.  I think that this hawk has had people take pictures of him before because I have never seen an animal stand so still for a camera in my whole life. 

This is a Harris Hawk nest.  It is mostly made out of sticks and leaves, but if you look closely, you can see pieces of super market bags, cotton, and horse hair!  Even Mrs. C didn't even know were they get all of their materials!

Once, when Mrs. C. went to a different classroom, the teacher said that they had a dead hummingbird.  She asked if Mrs. C wanted it and she said yes.  When she took it out, I got sad because I don't really like to see dead animals. :(

Opossum

This cute little girl is an Opossum!  You would think, oh how cute and small this little baby is, but it is actually a grandma in Opossum years!  Opossum's have long gripping tails, long white and brown hair, and a cute little pink nose.  If you can see Mrs. C.'s hand right next to the Opossum's hand, she is feeding her.  Mrs. C. was feeding her raw meat so she wouldn't be scared of all of the humans. 

The Opossum's tail is very gripping.  They can wrap their tail around a branch and hang there.  Like monkeys, or sloths they can swing on branches. 

In this photo you can see the Opossum looks a little crazy.  Since Opossum's are nocturnal (nocturnal means that they sleep in the day and are awake at night), she was sleeping on the ride to our school.  When we took her out she was very sleepy. YAAAWWWNNN! 

Do any of these animals look familiar?

Have you ever found a dead animal in your front yard/backyard or anywhere else?

Do you know what Wildlife Experience is?

Happy 65th Birthday Deda!

                              
Custom Glitter Text

Two nights ago, my grandpa (deda), turned 65 and had an amazing birthday bash!  I love my deda with all of my heart and wished him the best birthday ever! 

This is a photograph of my wonderful deda at his birthday party.  It was so fun because you could dance, make speeches, and we had the best Russian food! 

Here is my amazing grandma (baba) who threw this sensational party.  I thought that it was very nice of her to throw this awesome party to celebrate his birthday. 

There were thirty six adults and two children (my brother and I).  It was really nice to be reintroduced to people I haven't seen since I was a little kid!  (Although, I got a lot of lipstick on my cheeks from all of the kissing!)

Whenever Russians have party's, we feast! As you can see in this photo, the table is packed with food and everybody gobbling up their dinner.  

This is my favorite Russian food of all, blinchike! 

(bleen-chick-ee)  A blinchike is pretty much a crape.  In this picture, on the side is caviare. I'm not a big fan of caviare, so sometimes I eat them plain, or for desert, I have them with strawberry jam or chocolate. Yum! :)

Since they didn't have all of the scrumptious toppings, I ate a plain one.  They are still good with nothing on them. 

This is my baba's good friend Luba. (loo-ba)

My baba lives in a town house and Luba lives in the same town house, and they are really close neighbors.  Luba makes the best blinchike I have ever tasted.  

The best part of party is that you get to spend time with the people you see a lot, and the people you don't see a lot.  All together, everybody had a fantastic time at the party and I hope we can have another one soon.

Have you had a big party recently? If so, tell me about it!

Does any of the food look familiar to you? Which ones?

Field Trip to - King Gillette Ranch

 Yesterday, the whole third grade at my school took a marvelous field trip to King Gillette Ranch!  They told our class that we could go the day before we went.  That meant that we had to get all of the permission slips to our teacher the next day or we couldn't go on the field trip.  Successfully, everybody got there slips in except one person who was sick.  


I was so sad that I did not bring my camera to take pictures of the beautiful sights, but I felt sensational when Mrs. Yollis said that the class can use the pictures she took for our blogs!  I am giving all of the credit for the pictures to Mrs. Yollis, not myself. 

When we first got to King Gillette Ranch, we got to meet our great naturalist, Nick.  (A naturalist is a person who shows you or your group around and explains things if we have questions).  This is his  patch that makes him part of the staff. 

After the third grade got off of the buses, we were led to the "Big Backyard!" The big backyard is King Gillette Ranch because each one of us can go to our "Big Backyard" anytime we want for free!  In this photo, the naturalists, like Nick introduce themselves and tells us which naturalist we were getting for our class. 

Nick taught our group a lot about the Chumash Indians and how they lived.  Most of the women made baskets like the one above.  If you look carefully, the pattern is like stairs. 

One of the funnest things we did on the field trip was play Chumash instruments!   This is one of the instruments Nick pasted around in a circle.  It is a maraca filled with beans!  When the Chumash had their ceremonies, they would sing songs and play instruments like this. 

This is another instrument the Chumash used.  It is like drumsticks.    Your bang them together and makes a percussion noise.  

This instrument was probably the most relaxing.  It is a branch with little seeds.  When you turn the branch around, it sounds like rain pelting on the ground.  

This is a photo of Mrs. Yollis spinning the "bull roar."  

The bull roar looks like a book mark tied with a long string at the end.  You wrap the string around your hand and swing your arm in a circle.  When you have got the hang of it, it sounds like an airplane taking off. 

It was very fun taking nature walks or hikes in our "Big Backyard."    It was very calming walking threw the trail, although it was scary when I almost stepped on a beetle.  I know insects can't harm you, but I am still scared of them.

This tree is beautiful.  It grows pink, hairy flowers all over the place.  This tree has a funny name, the eucalyptus.  It is hard to say, and hard to spell. 

This tree was probably the most beautiful tree I saw at King Gillette Ranch.  The sad thing about the tree is that in a storm, a big branch plunged to the ground making a big gap in the trunk.  

This is a photograph of a great blue heron.  I truly admire the shape of the heron.  It is very astonishing.  On the right of the heron, there is its nest where it lives.  

Right before we were going to leave the spot we were in, Jakob spotted a white bird called the snowy egret.  I and other people thought it was a swan, but Nick said that it wasn't.

In this photo, Nick was teaching us about an owl.   I thought that an owl could spin its head 360 degrees, but it can only spin its head 270 degrees.  Did you know that?

This is a nice picture of the state senator with our naturalist, Nick, and our class.  I had a magnificent time and I hope I can visit the King Gillette Ranch again. 

Have you ever been to the King Gillette Ranch?

If so, what was your favorite part?

What was your favorite plant, animal, or tree?

Fruits and Plants Are Growing!

I am so happy to announce that plants and fruits are starting to bloom in my backyard!  

  

I've always wanted a garden or fruits and vegetables, and my wish has come true!  Some magnificent fruits and plants are coming to life in my backyard!  Thank you gardeners!  The people that used to live in our house probably planted them before they moved because plants can't just pop up out of nowhere.  As you can see, this is a photograph of a sour cumquat. I'm not that big of a fan of cumquats because they are sour, but I think that they look like mini oranges.  They are so cute!  Here are some facts about cumquats: ∆  Cumquats are the size and shape of an olive.  ∆  The English name "cumquat" came from a Cantonese word "gam gwat".  ∆  Cumquats grow on evergreen shrubs or short trees.  ∆  A cumquat tree can produce hundreds or thousands of fruits each year.  That is a lot of cumquats!

This is a photograph of a shrub with bright little red flowers that only have a few on that shrub.  After a month, that shrub is going to be covered with little red flowers!  I'm excited for that because this big shrub is like a gate, it surrounds a huge part of grassland.  It will look like a real garden!  

Here is a photograph of a beautiful branch with a couple of figs!  When I saw them blossoming, I thought they were green apples or pears.  I had no idea they were figs!  Here are a couple of facts about figs:  ∆  Figs contains vitamin A and C.  ∆  The figs sap can seriously irritate the eye. 

 

Finally, roses!  Roses are probably my favorite flower, and there are a lot of flowers!  This rose has a beautiful color.   This color is probably orange mixed with yellow.  The middle is orange, and the rim in orangey-yellow.   Here are some facts about roses:  ∆  Roses are usually harvested and cut when they are a bud.  ∆  Roses are held in refrigerated condition so they are ready for display at point of sale.  ∆  They usually grow in grass houses, and warmer countries and under cover to ensure that they are not damaged by the weather. 

Can you add any facts to mine about any of these fruits/plants?

Do you know any of these fruits/plants?

                              

Beautiful Bell Harbor!

Today my grandma took me to Bell Harbor!  At Bell Harbor, there are clothes, food, and furniture.  My grandmother and I went to look for a wedding gown because my grandma's friend is getting married in the summer.  It's always fun to go walking around because there is sculptures and beautiful designs on the wall.

This is a photograph of the cutest sculpture in Bell

Harbor and I.  

When I was little, I thought that the second ball not attached to the string, I thought it was magically floating there!

I took so many pictures of shoes, clothes, and sculptures, I decided to make a video.  Here it is:

Sensational Shoes! on PhotoPeach

 

What is your favorite dress?  If you have a favorite dress, describe it.

What is your favorite pair of shoes?  If you have a favorite pair of shoes, describe it.

Beautiful Flowers in My Neighborhood!

When I went to my grandparent's townhouse building, I asked my grandma if we could go on a walk and pick flowers.  It was a great success!  We picked and took beautiful pictures of flowers!  

This is probably my favorite fountain
because it is surrounded by nature.

My favorite part of taking a walk in this neighborhood, is the magnificent fountains!  There is one probably about in every corner.  They are in all differint shapes.  People, fruit,...

In my grandparents community, they have 
a circle.  This is what is in the circle. 

I think that the main thing we took pictures of would have to be flowers.  Flowers are one of my favorite things in the world!  They have everything!  Amazing scent, wondrous beauty, and vibrant color.  

Wondrous Flowers! on PhotoPeach

What is your favorite flower? Why?

Do you have a garden?