First we had a 2 hour flight and then we had a 6 hour flight. When we arrived in Lisbon it was around 9:00. We were able to drop off our luggage at the Airbnb and then we explored the city! We had gelato two times a day the entire trip because there was a gelato store on every corner and we did a lot of walking so we earned it. The first day we were so tired because we had to switch our sleep schedules but we were able to make it work because we took a tuk tuk tour of the city to stay awake.

After Lisbon, we spend a couple days in Porto. It was a 3 hour train ride away from Lisbon. We walked a lot of stairs to get around the city and also up to the top of their tallest tower. They also have a very beautiful library where we all bought some books.

We ended the trip in a beach town called Cascais. My sister and I went surfing and had so much fun! It was our second time surfing after Hawaii last year. The first couple waves the teacher helped us do it, but then I asked if I could do it myself and he said yes. I did several waves by myself and even did some turns. The first wave I did all by myself was the best because I went all the way to the shore.

Hello everyone!

I’m not sure if I told you before but I started taking mixed martial arts classes about 6 months ago, and I absolutely love it! My family sometimes calls it karate because it’s easier but it’s so much more than that. We learn a lot of life skills, like discipline and respect, in addition to the different techniques from various martial arts.

I started off as a white belt and earned my yellow belt in just 3 months! I’m applying for an intent to promote to gold this week and hope I can prove myself enough to get promoted next month. There are 13 total belts and I get really excited about learning more and earning my stripes along the way.

Talk soon!

Lydia

For starters, people that live in Roswell believe in aliens and UFOs. After hearing all about the aliens and UFOs, I’m starting to believe in UFOs and a little bit about aliens. Everyone believes that the military is holding aliens because they found the UFOs that crashed. There are painted murals of aliens getting taken by the military. Stores in Roswell have at least five alien products, some even have ALL alien products. I bought a colorable alien stuffed animal, a UFO license, and an alien eraser among other fun things. We also went on an alien spacewalk that looked like real outer space!

We were walking around town and suddenly saw a giant client statue holding up the Dunkin’ Donuts sign! Next door there was a McDonalds that was half shaped as a UFO and there was a play area within the UFO. It even had streaming lights on the building.

What a coincidence! A couple months ago, I went to a summer camp at Bitspace and made a light-up alien UFO with my name on it. That was before this trip was even being planned. Another coincidence is that I recently learned about a fun game at school where you slap hands and say “tick tack toe” to start the song and at the end of the game, you say “Johnny got hit by a UFO”! We definitely played that game a lot while we were in Roswell.

Hello friends, it’s almost Halloween time. I started 4th grade at the end of August. Last year my favorite subject was math, but so far this year, I’ve really enjoyed science class. It is fun because we get to do a lot of experiments. I like being back in person and seeing my old friends and making new friends.

Later this week I get to go on my first field trip in a while. It’s to a nature preserve in Sauganash. Then on Friday I am doing my first Walk-a-thon where I get to ask my close friends and family to pledge a donation for my school. If we raise all the money we need we get to slime the principal!

Hello, today I’m going to talk about Colorado. There is a place on a mountain that has summer tubing, so instead of snow tubing, it’s in the summer with no snow. Then we also went white water rafting and the guide that was with us, it was his first family float. I loved getting stuck on rocks and then spinning over them. I loved hitting the waves and going so fast!

One weekend we went to Moab, Utah and took a hummer tour through an area called Hell’s Revenge. Hell’s Revenge is a place where it’s kind of like Arches National Park but it’s a trail that you can drive on with ATVs. We took a hummer tour there and it was super fun, and we were also on our backs while driving up at 50 degree angles — those tires were very strong! One time he stopped at a steep decline and pretended that the brakes had failed, so we took out and went so fast down the mountain while he was talking in the middle of a sentence.

We also did an escape room where you have to solve puzzles and we got out with about 7 minutes remaining. It was so fun! At one of the hotels we stayed at there was a 400 foot water slide. We went down it about 200 times! Near the end of the trip, we stopped at a real gold mine. We got to pan for gold and then took a tour of the mine where we were able to use a chisel out our own pirate’s fool’s gold that had some real gold in it!

That was our fun trip in Colorado.

Hello guys, can I tell you about surfing? My family and I went to Hawaii over Spring Break. We had a great time. I really enjoyed watching people surf but I thought my sister and I might be too young. One day we were swimming at the beach and saw a kid going out to surf. My dad asked his dad how old he was and he was only 6! Right then we knew that we could do it! My dad found us surfing lessons on our last full day in Hawaii. Surfing is easier than it looks. When I did it, I was able to stand up completely on my first wave! I ended up doing about 30 waves total. My last wave was actually my best! I was able to ride the wave all the way to the end. What a fun experience! Talk to you next time!

Well we didn’t go back to school in November as previously hoped… My family and I ended up doing another workcation in November in a different city before returning to “normal” in Chicago for December. We hosted Christmas at our house with my grandma and grandpa that drove up from Memphis. It was the first time we’ve hosted in years, so we had a lot of fun decorating the house and my parents say they went a bit overkill on presents, but I don’t think so! The latest school update is that we’re supposed to go back in-person for two days a week in February. I’m not getting my hopes up this time though!

Happy 2021 friends!

Lydia

I really enjoyed seeing and playing with other kids in small groups over the summer, and I’m now about a month into 3rd grade! Initially we were supposed to go back a couple days a week, but the schools ultimately decided to go fully remote for at least the first couple months. I’ve become a computer whiz on my new fancy Chromebook and I often help my sister on hers. We’re currently on what my dad calls a “workcation” to get a change of scenery while not missing any work or school. We’ll be heading home soon and fingers crossed be back in school in November. It’s not looking good right now, but we’ll see!

See you later friends!
Lydia

Well everything didn’t snap back to normal in a month as I previously hoped. School ended up switching to remote learning which was challenging at times but did give me a little more structure to the day. I’m now officially done with 2nd grade and things have started to open up a little bit. I’m currently in Memphis visiting my grandparents this week. The rest of the summer is mostly virtual camps with a a few in-person weeks in small groups. I’m looking forward to this new normal. No official announcement on what will happen in the Fall when I start 3rd grade, but I’m enjoying the extra family time while I can!

Update from my last post — I did get a skateboard for xmas! We celebrated in Memphis, so I got to learn the ropes in the nicer weather there. Back in Chicago, I haven’t had as much time to learn, but with Spring around the corner and suddenly a ton of family time, I’ll be an expert in no time. While school is closed, I’ve been learning a lot at home with worksheets and reading, and the occasional educational video. Best of all, I love spending time with my family! I hear that school is closed for about another month, so hopefully everything is back to normal the next time you hear from me!

Take care my friends,

Lydia