Horse camp

 

 

I went to this awesome horse camp for a week and I enjoyed it. The only thing that I had a problem with was well, everyone had a problem with, but it was the food. I didn't know if they were trying to kill us on purpose or not. We had to train for eight hours a day and the first thing in the morning they gave us toast. Ok, yeah that sounds fine, right? Well, for lunch, after we had four hours of hard training, they give us small portions of spaghetti on toast. I was kinda annoyed, but I thought that small breakfast and lunch with a filling dinner, was what they were planning.

So, I cooled off, but after another four hours of hard training we went in to dinner and guess. what. we. got. Yes, you guessed right.... toast wrapped around sausages. That pushed me off the edge. One of my classmates saw how annoyed I was and came up to me. She said " But at least we get ketchup," holding up the red bottle. Good grief, we really did sound as if we were in boot camp. I didn't know how long the girl was there, but I guess for a while because she was as thin as paper.

 The only thing that kept us alive was the magical, wonderful, life saving..... candy store. I praised mom for giving me a lot of money because I bought a lot so did the other girls, but we lived. That was the only downer.

Now to the awesome part, we did treks and jumping with other cool stuff, too. I had a black horse named Jazz. She was "face shy". ( "Face shy" means that, a horse does not like to be touched on the face or have something fast move around their face.) She was very obedient and nice. Most of the time. I think I spoiled her but, who cares, I had a blast.

I did fall off Jazz two times. The first time I fell off when we where in a canter. ( Cantering is the closest speed to galloping or right under it.) The second was when I went over a jump. Both hurt a lot, but I sucked it up and kept going and after a while the pain disappeared. After the week, I sadly said goodbye to my two friends with awesome names. Their names where Roshni and Lilith. The best horseback friends ever.

After I got home I swear I lost a pound or two and I was craving meat. So, I was more like a real life Gollum, I guess.

This is Jazz and me.

This is the full body of Jazz, she is one of the biggest on the farm.

 

Me, after horse camp.

Funny story time: The fall of a life time

How many of you have fallen off a horse?
Well, my mom fell off a horse when we were riding on the beach. Her horse was startled by some thing and began to bolt. She fell off and was hung by her foot which was caught in the stirrup for a couple of seconds. I didn't see exactly what happened because I was galloping in front of her but when I looked behind I almost had a heart attack. I mean these horses were part Clydesdales. I  started to gallop back to her to see how she was, but then I started to shift sideways. I realized what was happening and did an emergency dismount and by the time I got to mom my saddle was hanging on the horse's belly. Mom's shoe was lost because the horse ran off. When it returned to join the herd her shoe was gone. She got new running shoes which I didn't think were her type because when she lifted up her feet to show the bottom, dad and I almost went blind. They were bright neon pink and  green.  I thought I would never see again!

(New Zealand) Kauri Trees

When I was in New Zealand my mom made me do a report on Kauri trees. So, I did and I think it came out pretty well. I also went to see the largest kauri tree in New Zealand. Here is the report I wrote.

 

 

Paragraph on Kauri Trees

Kauri trees are New Zealand's largest trees. When cut open you can see rich looking wood. The ancestors of the first kauri appeared 190-135 million years ago. The largest tree that is still alive is named "Tane Mahuta". The oldest tree alive in New Zealand is named "Te Matua Ngahere", estimated to be 2,000 years old. Wood from the Kauri tree is one of the best in the world because it is used from many purposes. For example:  Ships, houses, and furniture. Scientist found some trees that were up to 50,000 years old buried deep in the ground. Also, in a museum they have a Australian Kauri tree that is 30,000 million years old. Kauri gum is what comes out of the tree as a liquid when cut to protect itself from diseases or other things that could damage the tree. When healed the gum would harden and fall off. After thousands of years the gum turns in to what we know as amber . Many gum diggers look for it in the ground. Even before the European got to New Zealand, the Mari, New Zealand people, used it for cooking, lighting fires, and even as chewing gum. Kauri have been around since historical times and are interesting trees.

 

If you have any question just ask on my blog and I will find the answers.     

 

 

 This is Mom and me in front of a large Kauri tree trunk.

 

 

These are the four sisters. They some how came together and are now one tree in fours.





(New Zealand) Zoo and Narnia

I went to the New Zealand Zoo and here is some emu that we meet along the way.

 This is me and Elvis. Next to Elvis is his girlfriend Priscilla.

 

 This is Elvis and Priscilla.

 

 This is my mom and Priscilla.

 

This is Elvis in a close up.

 

 

 

Here is another movie related subject.

 Here is another movie related scene. Guess what scene it is.... Its Narnia.

Here is me jumping on Phillip, Edmond's horse. Pretty cool, right?

 

Even if its side ways, this is the cave that the four came out of in Prince Caspian.

(New Zealand) Hobbiton

I am very sorry that I didn't write in a very long time so now I have so much to tell you.

First lets start at the famous and great Hobbiton!!!! Yeah, that's right. The one and only filmed in New Zealand "Lord of the Rings" and " The Hobbit" is right here in these pictures.   

 

 First off, I have here is me standing in front of a hobbit house. They are a lot smaller then they look.

 

 

Next, is the street that Gandalf and Frodo rode down in the start of Lord of the Rings.

 

 But it gets better, right here is the one and only tree that sits on top of Bilbo Baggins's house.

Here's a secret.....Its fake!

 

 This is me in front of Baggins house.

 

This is a better view of the house and the steps.

 Here, is me and my dad sitting in side of a hobbit house.

 

 This is the party tree and the tents that were used in the birthday part of Lord of the Rings.

 

Here is Samwise Gamgees's house.

 

 Last but not least, is the great Green Dragon!!!!

 

Another secret. The Green Dragon is a real building. I am sitting in a seat with a ginger ale. That I do not like.



Green Sea Turtles

On Moorea, I went to a Turtle Rehabilitation Center, where they take care of sick or injured turtles. They were all Green Turtles and they are indigenous to Tahiti. Some had eating problems and some had floatation problems. There were not that many turtles, but there were two babies which made me sad.

Here is some in information on them. When they are young they eat worms, crustacean, aquatic insect, grasses, and algae. When they grow older their jaws become serrated which help them eat algae and other food off rocks. They stay near beaches or on reefs and are rarely are out in the ocean. They are endangered because people kill them for their shells and to eat them. Also people throw plastic into the ocean and a turtle could mistake a plastic bag for a jellyfish. If a turtle ate the plastic bag they could choke and die.

Sea Cucumbers

I met a Marine Biologist named Susan Scott. She writes a column in the Star Advertiser, a newspaper on Oahu. Her next article is going to be about sea cucumbers, a very fascinating creature. I learned a little about sea cucumbers and here is some information on them.

Sea cucumbers look like blobs on the sea floor when they are actually the vacuum. They eat everything on the sea floor, picking up droppings or dead fish. With this they process more than 300 pounds of sediment a year! They are related to the Starfish and the Sea Urchin. There are many different types of Sea Cucumbers. Some spit up their guts when threatened which is very deadly and toxic to fish and other animals that live in the sea. If a fish got caught in the deadly strings of guts that are very sticky, the fish would not be able to move and then slowly dies while the Sea Cucumber slides to safety.