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.