Reno!!!

This summer, I'm going to be going to Reno, Nevada! I'm going to be going there because I get to fence at the US Fencing National Championships! I get to go there because I finished in 8th place at an SYC named The Sword in the Snow in New Hampshire last weekend.

I started pretty slow in my pool but I ended up finishing 8th. The fencers at SYC events are really good and come from Russia (whose coach is REALLY ANNOYING), and from Kentucky, Kansas, California, and other places. This was my first SYC medal. I'm going to another one in Virginia in February. I'm going to try to get an even better finish at that one!

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield

I just finished the book "Leviathan". It is about a war in which a prince can't inherit anything his father (the king) has because his mother is just a commoner. The prince's grandfather didn't like his mother and nobody wanted him because of his mother. They had been complete royal blood for the past 5,000 years. Everyone is after Alek (the prince). It takes place in Austria-Hungary in 1914 and other parts of Europe. It has historical details and a lot of action (and fencing!). It has historic parts but it's science fiction too because a lot of the stuff in the book didn't really happen. For example, the Darwinists fabricated creatures that can fly that are 200 feet tall and 1 mile long! It's futurist stuff but set in the past. Some of the stuff is true like the king (Franz Ferdinand, like the band). My mom said this type of writing is called Steam Punk.

I've read alot of books about wars and fighting, but this was different, in a way. It created a very unique world that I wanted to learn about as much as the characters. There is a second book out, which I have already downloaded to my Kindle!!!

Rasberry Yummies

Do you know what a Raspberry yummy is? It`s raspberry's and nutella chocolate wrapped in a tortilla.

1. You take a flour tortilla and put it on a pan on the stove on medium (let it sit there a minute or two.)
2. Wipe nutella on the tortilla leaving about an inch from all sides.
3. Place raspberry's in the chocolate (in a clump on the side closest to you.)
4. Roll up.
5. Place on pan for 3-5 minutes. Flip halfway though.
6. Take off let it cool for 45 seconds

I hope you love your little treat I just tried the nutella today (I previously used chocolate chips you can try them if you want.)

Hatchet by Gary Paulson

So I just finished this book I started reading a day or two ago. It's REALLY GOOD! It's about a 13 year old boy whose parents got divorced. So he gets to visit his father during the summer and stays with his mother during the school year. The
school year just ended and he's going to visit his father. As they are flying over the Canadian woods, the pilot has a heart attack! So Ryan Robeson has to fly the plane! He crashes into a big lake and he has to survive until someone finds him.

I really enjoyed this book because it's very adventurous and it has him adapting to the woods. He starts to become part of it. It changes the way he thinks. For example, he doesn't hunt for the color of a bird, he searches for the outline. He sees, hears, and tastes stuff differently. He'll never take stuff for granted. For example, he stares down grocery aisles at food that other people just take for granted.

A person who favors the outdoor setting, and who likes a lot of adventure, action, and thinking would enjoy this book very much!

Black Belt

Yesterday I received my Black Belt!!!!! So lets start at the beginning. So in the morning I went to Cranes Beach and we did push-ups, sit ups, ran through the freezing cold water and got drenched! We practiced everything we learned over the past 6 years. I did all that for 3 hours!

In the afternoon, we went to the First Church of Ipswich and we did what we'd been practicing every Saturday morning for 2 months. Since me AND my brother were testing we got to bring 16 people because each black belt graduate gets to bring 8 people. Once the ceremony was over and we got our black belts and certificates then we sat down with our friends and family and had a pasta dinner. Every black belt was congratulated by another black belt. When we received our black belts, we also received a framed certificate and a jacket with your name and "10" beside it since 2010 was the year I earned it.

The people Connor and I brought were: Kyle, Patrick, Aiden, Keilan, Mrs. Birmingham, Margaret, Pam, Donna, Sal, Grandma and Grandpa, Abby and Mrs. Reynolds, and Mom and Dad.

That was the best ceremony EVER!!!

Today I woke up tired and sore and didn't believe I was a black belt!

Hoods Pond

Hoods pond is a pond in Topsfield which is awesome. Anyone can join and lots of people that you know have already joined. But when you sign up you have to help the staff keep the pond in good shape. So here are a few examples: you could pull in the docks (like we did) or pick up trash and there are a lot more that I can`t remember.

So any way I did the beach clean up where you pull up the docks and pick up trash and some more stuff. It was a great beach clean up!

Acadia

I`m going to Acadia today. I will try to catch Mackrel, bluefish, and Stripers in the ocean. And eat them if they are big enough! It's going to be a long drive. I'll write about it when I get back.

Indiana Part 1

I went to Indiana and It was just Connor and I so once we got of the plane and waited for our Aunt Sally and our cousins Kinsey and Kendall. Once they got there we went and got lunch at White Castle. For those of you who don`t know what White Castle is it`s the place with these AMAZING mini hamburgers and while we were there I switched Kinsey's drink with Kendall's and Kendall and Connor were in on it so Kinsey comes back and takes a Huge gulp and gagged for dear life!!!! Then I put the drinks back and we ate our minute hamburgers. From there we went to see our aunt Vicky who works at a gas company. We talked awhile but had to leave so we went to bobs auto parts store and saw Fred. We asked him if we could ride the ATV but he said no not until he got back.

And there is this weird thing how Kinsey is in sixth grade I`m in fifth grade Kendall is in fourth grade and Connor is in third grade. So we had so much fun riding the four wheeler at Aunt Sally`s house. We also had lots of fun at Darryl's riding his golf cart. And These are the best relatives first and Second Cousins ever!!!!!!!!!

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

This is my favorite poem. It's about how they can take everything he possibly has but they can never take his soul. It reminds me even when times aren't the best that I can still stand tall.

Invictus
by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The Cairn on the Mountain

We were going to my great Aunt Mary's birthday party and when we were coming back my mom saw this little hike thing so we went up and did it. It was Miller State Park and Pack Monadnock Mountain. We didn't have time to do a hike by foot so we did it on the autoroad. The road was a steep switchback. We were surrounded by trees and then it opened up and we could see for like a hundred miles. So when we got up there we looked all over the place. There was a fire tower up there. We went up as high as we could but the top part where the man would stand was closed. We could see all the way to Boston and all directions.

So we took a hike. There were all these rocks we had to go down. Connor and I went down farther ahead. We found this weird kind of a pile of rocks. So we called Mom and Dad. Mom told me it was a cairn that's a big pile of rocks that were used a long time ago to mark property or burial sites. The cairn was about 5 feet tall and at the bottom is started off with bigger rocks and as it grew taller the rocks got smaller because so many people had been taking rocks and putting them on. It was shaped like a squeezed in "A".

We got to go down farther on the trail and then we came back up and went back home. If you want to learn more about cairns go to this website.