Summer Vacation

I'm back from summer vacation. I went to Boy Scout camp, & the SWWF.

My favorite part of the summer was unlimited rides at the fair, my favorite ride at the fair was the vortex.

 This is the 1001 Nights ride at the fair

At Boy Scout camp I got to shoot rifles, go canoeing, & hike, a lot. I'm looking forward to this school year. I can't wait for chess to start, this year I don't have to qualify to go to the state tournament. So that's my first blog post.




And this is the Vortex.

 

WA State Scholastic Chess Championship

Isaac qualified at our Centralia tournament to attend the "State" Chess Tournament in Tacoma last weekend. I don't think either of us was prepared for the immenseness of the tournament. We got there early (we left Centralia early because they were working on I-5 and had all but one lane closed). We found our team table (where the team hung out between rounds) and then went upstairs to find the room he would be playing in.

The different colors were for the different grades, 1st through 6th. He played all the way in the back left corner as a 6th grader. The Kindergartners played downstairs in a different room. I'm not sure how many kids were there but the board lables started at 100 and he was playing up around 1069 and there were still 3 more tables. When all the kids and their parents were entering the room at the beginning of the rounds it was deafening in there.

Isaac played 5 rounds. The first round was pre-set and then you played the rest of the rounds based on how you did on the previous round. He lost his first 4 rounds and won his 5th round when his opponent didn't show up. He got a medal for participating.

The Centralia Tournament did not adequately prepare him for the level of competition. We talked about how the kids he was playing probably had been playing and competing for a lot more years than he had (this was only his 2nd year in Chess club). We talked about how playing with kids who were a lot better than he was could be a learning experience and teach him more than playing at kids his own level who he could beat. We also agreed that next year we would make it a priority for him to compete in a couple more big tournaments in Seattle or Vancouver as well as the Centralia and Onalaska tournaments. I'll also be watching for opportunities for him to play and learn. He has a good attitude about the whole thing and looks forward to continuing with his chess- that makes him a winner to me!

Story that needs a name

1388 A.E. Faster than light travel is now a reality,but even more dangers arise. Pirates have captured several ships and taken their crews hostage. The military have insufficient funds to make armed escorts so freighter captains armed their own ships. There is rumor of a mining planet in the Horsehead nebula so they sent the mining freighter Argo, captained by Joesph William. He and his crew found a Earth class planet that's rich in brilithium, a very rare and valuable metal. But someone has gotten there first.   


Please comment if you want more and I need a name for it.

                                                      -Isaac-

Isaac's 5 Places I Want to Visit

Tumon Bay from Two Lovers Leap, 1989

1) I want to visit Guam because I've heard so much about it, it's a beautiful tropical island located in the east Pacific, it is part of the Northern Marianas Islands chain.While my Dad was in the Navy he was stationed on Guam; he was an Aviation Electronics Technician there.

2) Disneyland in California

3) Euro Disney in France

4) Disney World in Florida

5) Tokyo Disney in Japan

I want to visit all of the Disney Parks, it would be a nice achievement.

Archery

This is our archery target/ range in the backyard.

Archer: One who shoots with a bow.

These are just some of my grandpa's bows. He built the pegs for them so he can see what he has (also they are handy if the Sheriff of Nottingham should come riding up)

Archery: The art and practice of shooting with bow and arrow.

A few months ago Tovah, Jonah, and I started doing archery. My grandpa is the Merit Badge Counselor. You should try it.

Every year our Boy Scout Troop goes to the annual Warren Miller film at the Washington Center for Performing Arts. This year was his 60th annual film, it is about sixty annual films. It explores people talking about there roots,one clip showed that Norway was the brithplace of skiing,and in another clip they showed China and they said, 'This is the brithplace of skiing.' They have skis six feet long and instead of 2 poles, they have one big stick. My favorite scene was the crocodile on the snowboard. It really surprised me becasue I saw the croc sitting really still and it moved so quickly to bite someone trying to push him! The crowd in the theater gasped!

We went to Dairy Queen for blizzards afterwards. I had a really great time.

Baking Naan

On Tuesday we made a Indian bread called Naan. Grandma Carol helped me with the mixing and kneading.

It had to rise for two hours. At first we put it next to the heater, than we moved it to the table, finally we finished rising it on the dryer while a load of clothes were drying.

When it started it was flat than it puffed up to about a half a inch.

We tried cooking it on the grill like the recipe said to, but it got too hot when the melted butter flamed so we ended up cooking it inside on the griddle (it puffed up more on the grill).

They were really good plain and even better with cinnamon and sugar like an elephant ear.

Note: Isaac had to do a Pathways assignment on bread around the world and in the Bible. This was the yummiest looking bread in the wikipedia article. The other one we want to try is Mantou- a Chinese steamed or fried bread.

Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, Seattle

On Thursday we went to the fish ladder at the locks in Seattle. This is the flood gate (from above), it allows the water from Lake Washington and Lake Union to drain into the sound. The locks are on the boating channel that links the lakes to the sound. The lakes are 6-26' higher than the level of the sound. The locks raise and lower the boats so they can move along the waterway. We got to see a boat go through the locks.

It is a brand new boat that was just unloaded off a freighter from China and being taken up to one of the lakes for outfitting and delivery.

There was a smashed penny machine at the fish ladder so we added two more to our collection.

Look closely- you'll see a fish in the viewing area of the fish ladder.

~Isaac

Fort Lewis Military Museum

Last Thursday we went to Fort Lewis to tour the Military Museum. The Fort Lewis Military Museum collects, preserves, displays and interprets artifacts relevant to the history of Fort Lewis and the units which have served there.

This is the label on the Howitzer, it is a BIG gun

Our favorite part of the museum were the tanks outside.

A model of the museum when it was the Red Shield Inn. It was built in 1918 by the Salvation Army as a hotel for the families of soldiers in WWI. It was a hotel until 1972. In 1979 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the only US Army Museum on the west coast.


This is Saddam Hussein's head off a statue from Baghdad brought back by the Triple Nickel (Nate's unit)