Iguazu falls

In 1542 a year after Pizarro's death A Spanish explorer named Alvar de Vaca with a small band of soldiers   was exploring a river that now marks the border of Brazil and Argentina. He was astounded by the beauty of the river but they soon began to hear strange rumbling noises. Puzzled they slowly they walked toward the sound and as they rounded a bend they saw the river go of into a waterfall that was 10,000 feet wide and in some places 60 feet deeper than Niagara falls! It is Igauzu falls one of the worlds biggest waterfalls. it is ruffly the shape of a horseshoe like Niagara falls. But unlike Niagara who has only two waterfalls Igauzu has hundreds of waterfalls that all sound different from one another. Although Igauzu was the first of the big waterfalls it is the least known. 

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu lies in Peru and once served as an escape fort for the ancient Incas. The Incas were an ancient Indian tribe that had a lot of gold in their city and worshiped the sun. When the Spanish came to South America they could not stand the Incas having all that gold. So they sent a soldier named Pizarro to South America. He had 165 adventures against a nation of 11 million people!! First he captured the Inca king and killed him. The Incas without their king were thrown  into confusion. Pizarro marched into Cuzco the Inca capital and took all of the gold. In Cuzco the temple of the sun had 100 beautiful priestess who devoted their life to worshiping the sun. Pizarro tried to catch them and make them slaves but before they got there somebody had told the priestess and they escaped to Machu Picchu where they lived for the rest of their lives. In 1911 a archaeologist who was exploring south America found Machu Picchu and also found 99 graves of the priestess. But why only 99 graves? Well when the last priestess died there was no one to bury her.

Piano party

A few weeks ago we had a piano party with our friends Mark, Hannah, Max and Tommy. Our uncle Tom who is really good at the piano also came and played for us. Here are some pictures of the party:

 This is Tom and Tommy playing on the piano.

 This is my brother Adam playing.

This is my little sister Abby Jane playing Hot cross buns.

Thanksgiving and Adam and Izzy's B-day

This past weekend we had thanksgiving at our grandmas house. We also had a Foosball tournament in which my brother Adam and my aunt Andi won. My brothers and sister and me all made dish for thanksgiving. I made a apple pie, Ethan made a pumpkin pie, Adam made a sausage stuffing and Abby made a pomegranate salad.

 Ethan with his pumpkin pie.

 Me with my apple pie.

 Abby with her salad.

And Adam with his stuffing.

On Monday Adam had his eighth birthday! We got to play with Izzy (who has the same b-day as Adam and is turning 3 ) and they got lots of presents including lots of Legos. Here are some pictures: 

 This is  Adam ans Izzy getting ready to blow out their candles.

 This is my cousin Izzy who is turning three.

This is one of Adams Lego sets that he got.

Our trip to the Cincinnati zoo

This past weekend we went to the Cincinnati zoo with our aunt and uncle. We also spent the night at their house and went to a hockey game. We got to see a lot of animals and rode on a train around the zoo. Here are some pictures of the trip to the zoo.

 This is the rhino nutcracker outside of the zoo.

                                                                               

This is the Christmas tree inside of the zoo.

This is Christmas Winne the pooh.

 This bird was very loud and this room had bats right over head of us!

This is a black bear getting ready to hibernate.

 This is my sister Abby, my brothers Ethan and Adam and me.

 This is a Burmese python.

This is a Black rhino.

 These are white lions.

These are flamingos.

 This is an alligator.

 This is a huge turtle.

This is a manatee.

 This is a gorilla.

The Panama canal

The Panama canal is in Panama and lets ships get from the Pacific to the Atlantic. A canal is a man made river that lets ships go though in a series of locks which raise and lower the water level. The Panama was built in 1914 by the Americans.The author of this book once swam the Panama in eight days! On this voyage he swam 50 miles from coast to coast. On the way he saw alligators and his guide even shot at some of them! He even had to pay a toll just like other ships. It was only 36 cents! (the smallest toll in panama history).

Christophe's Citadel

In 1794, Haiti was controlled by the French. There were half a million slaves shipped there to help harvest the sugar cane and coffee. The slaves did not like their work and rebelled. In 1804, their independence was proclaimed. One of the leaders of this rebellion was Henry Christophe who used to be a dishwasher in a public bar. He became a general and then after the war was over, he proclaimed himself king. He wanted the people to respect him so he made everybody work really hard. He built a huge fort for himself called "Christophe's Citadel".

In one story, Henry suspected a group of guards' loyalty. So he lined them up on the highest wall of the citadel and ordered them to march off the wall. They were so afraid of him that they marched off the wall to their deaths below.

One day, Henry saw the ghost of a priest that he had executed and he became paralyzed on one side of his body. When the people heard about this, they rebelled and came up to the fort.The king knowing that he would be killed shot himself in the heart. The people were trying to break into the King's house but the queen and her son and daughter managed to sneak out the back door with the King's body. When they were going down the path, they saw a vat of liquid lime which they threw the King's body into. It eventually turned hard as stone.

Overall, King Henry was a tyrant and is called, The Black King of Haiti.

Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza is located on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and overlooks a watery sacrificial pit. It was once the capital city of the Mayans. The city was built between two large pools of water. One was used for drinking and crops. The other was where the Mayans believed their rain god lived.Chichen Itza was abandoned by the Mayans but no one knows why they deserted the city.

Mt.Popoatepetl

Mt. Popo is located in Mexico and is one of the highest volcanoes in the world. The author of this book once climbed Mt. Popo. The volcano was sacred to the Aztecs because it played a role in their sacrifices. When you looked at it from their temple, it looked like the sun was gobbled up by the mountain when the sun set. And that was the signal for the priest to strike.

Fort Jefferson

Fort Jefferson was built 120 miles of the coast of Florida. It was built in 1846 to keep out invaders and to keep in prisoners. Its walls are 50 feet high and go straight into the sea. The fort had four hundred guns on top of the walls to defend the fort.

In 1865 John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln and jumped from the box to the stage but broke his leg and still got away. He and a friend went to a doctor named Samuel Mudd who new nothing about Lincoln's death and he helped them.The next day Dr. Mudd was arrested for helping them and taken to Fort Jefferson. Fort Jefferson's mosquitoes carried a disease called yellow-fever and lots of people got sick and died. Doctor Mudd helped the people who got sick but in 1870 the fort was abandoned. In 1935, Fort Jefferson was made into a National Monument.

Boy scout hike

This past weekend I went on a Boy Scout hike with all my friends.

We went to Charleston falls in West Charleston. We got to see the falls and go in a bear cave!! We also got to race around the pond and eat on top of a lookout tower made by eagle scouts. We brought: a pocketknife, a flashlight, hiking boots and some snacks. Here are some pictures of the Boy scout hike:

This is all of the Boy scouts: Will, Max, Caleb(me), Sam, Mark and James.

This is us in the cave. James was not there but Jackson was. ( Jackson is my friend from Indy)

Washington D.C

Washington D.C. is our country's capital. It is also where all of the presidents lived like Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Bush and Barack Obama. It also has lots of monuments to the presidents like The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial ,the Iwo Jima memorial and The Capitol Building. The author of this book got to meet the president who was Woodrow Wilson at the time.

This is a picture of The Washington monument with the White house in the background.

The Washington Monument is 555 feet tall!!

The Herns visit

This past weekend our friends Jackson, Luke, Emmet and Lilah came from Indy. A few years earlier we went and visited them in Greece which was really cool. During their visit we boxed in our basement were we slept and watched The Three Stooges. Jackson also went on a hike for Boy Scouts with me to a nature preserve with my friends. We also watched the Ohio state Buckeyes beat Illinois in college Football.

These are The Three Stooges Moe, Curly and Larry.

This is us after the game.

This is us playing football.

This is my sister Abby Jane and her cousin Anne Belle with Lilah.

This is us in the huddle making a play.

This is me running to the touchdown.

This is Jackson waiting.....

This is Abby,Anne Belle and Lilah.

This is us playing football with the dads.

New York city

If a alien visited our planet the city that would stun him would be New York city. New York city holds some of the most amazing things on earth including the statue of Liberty and The Empire state building. The Empire state building originally had a mooring mast for dirigibles on the top of the building. The Empire state building is now 1,472 feet high! One of the best places to go is the Central park in Manhattan.

Niagara falls

Niagara falls is one of the three biggest falls in the world. The other two are Victoria falls in Africa and Iguazu falls in South America. The size of the falls is: Niagara's rim is 5,300 feet wide and is 167 feet high! Victoria's rim is 5,700 wide and is 354 feet high! And Iguazu rim is 10,000 feet wide and 237 feet high. Niagara falls is located between lake Erie and lake Ontario.

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam was built by Major Powell's nephew (he explored the Grand Canyon). His name was Arthur Powell Davis and the dam was built in 1936. It holds back the Colorado River and this forms Lake Mead which the largest artificial lake in the world. While the dam was being built, Arthur Powell Davis passed away and never saw it finished. The dam is 660 feet thick at it's base and the weight of it is heavier than the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The site is Black Canyon on the border of Arizona and Nevada.

The Grand Canyon

Five Things to Know:

1. The Grand Canyon was first discovered by Spaniards who were looking for a city of gold. This was eighty years before the Pilgrims- around 1540.

2. When the Spanish got to the Grand Canyon, they saw the bottom of the canyon with water in it. From above they thought it was six feet across but it was really fifty times that wide..

3. In 1869, an explorer named Major Powell who only had one arm went down the Colorado River with three boats and nine men.

4. During the voyage, three of the men wanted to get off because of the danger but when they got to the top of the canyon, Indians found them and put them to death.

5. The Grand Canyon is a mile deep, 18 miles wide and 277 miles long. It is located in the state of Arizona.

Yosemite

Before 1851 nobody knew about Yosemite except for the Indians who lived there. In 1851, gold miners came to Yosemite and killed all the animals and fish. So the Indians couldn't eat them. But the Indians burned all the houses of the gold miners. One time after they had attacked some of the houses, some gold miners led by General John Savage went to look for the Indians who did it. When they looked out into a clearing, they forgot all about the Indians. They saw a giant waterfall, four times as tall as Niagra Falls. When they saw it, the General thought it looked like a bridal veil so they named it Bridal Veil Falls. They thought they heard thunder but it was an even bigger waterfall. Over the day, they found our more waterfalls, forest and mountains. They found a huge mountain named Half Dome; it was so slick and steep that no one could get up it. One day, a man said that he had climbed the Half Dome and when nobody believed him, he said that he had nailed spikes into the face of the mountain and climbed up the spikes. Over the years, they put a ladder there so people could go up like the author of the book did. Yosemite is now a national park in California near the border to Nevada.

The Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the longest bridges in the world. It is a suspension bridge. It is in San Fransisco, California over the San Fransisco Harbor. A fort stands underneath the bridge. One day a general, Ulysses S. Grant, passed into the harbor and they wanted to shoot the canons but the ten year old son of a colonel had packed them with charcoal. By the time they loaded them with gunpowder, the general was far away. That boy, Sydney Taylor, became the bridge's first trafficmaster. The author of the book got to stand on the unfinished bridge.

Lake Erie Fishing trip

This year at Lake Erie we went fishing with all of our cousins and we caught 112 fish!!

Here are some pictures:

(the fish are Yellow Perch)