A Trip To The Lexington Museum
On a trip to Boston, Massachusetts, my mom, my sister, and I went to the Lexington Museum in Lexington, of course. In the opening room there was a beautiful glass window. In that same big room, there paintings, a big cabinet (I think it was from around the 1800’s), and a collection of clocks, all different kinds of clocks. We went into one big room which was full of pictures, one for each National Park in the U.S.! The pictures were amazing, and they told about each national park, like what state it was in and when it was founded.
After a quick snack, we went into the second section of the museum. The first part was a hallway in which there were big silver coins, one for each state, and each told when the state was admitted in to the Union, and the coins were put in order, from 1st -50th state. Then we went into a room that was all about Freemasonry, which dates back to Egyptian times, and how it ties into the roots of the United States. I also learned that almost all the U.S. presidents were freemasons. The next section was the museum of the founder’s favorite things, which had almost everything you could think of, some things included paintings and American Revolution things. The last section was about the battles of Lexington and Concord and how the American Revolution began.
Before we left, we looked at old antiques, furniture, and a large collection of clocks. It was sort of scary, however because the freemason symbol was on most of the furniture. Even though it wasn’t as good as the Peabody Museum, we learned a few things, and had fun!
A Trip To The Peabody Museum
Last week, my family and I went on a trip to Boston, Massachusetts. We went to Harvard. After finally finding parking and eating lunch, we headed to the Peabody museum. On the outside, it didn’t look very big, but it definitely was inside.
On the first floor, there was a section on how kids in Colombia were taught how to make pinhole cameras and then develop the pictures that they took. The next room had a big Indian totem pole and quite a lot of Indian drawings. There were even more Indian antiques in the next section and four more totem poles! There was also many other Indian antiques, like bows and arrows of all sizes, pots, bags, clothes, little replicas of a real village for the different type of Indians, and purses, and all had been given to the museum. One of the totem poles in the previous room was carved out of cedar wood given to the museum as a present from the Indians for returning one of their old totem poles that had been in the museum. I thought it was amazing how the carver did the smallest details on the totem pole!
On the third floor, which we rode up to in an old fashion elevator, there was a room full of stone totem poles of the Aztec and Inca, and small, but cool, little replicas of these Indians buildings. Another section showed other models of houses which these Indians used to live in. On the same floor, there was also a Natural History Museum. The first room was breath-taking. They had a big room, full of every mineral, (in every size, shape, and color) you could ever imagine!! There was even a mineral that was cut in half, it had tons of tiny purple minerals inside it, and I believe it weighed around (I think above) 1000 pounds! Amazing! However, the rooms after were twice as cool!
The rooms from then on were filled with every kind of animal you could think of; butterflies, insects, and birds. There even was room filled with Dinosaur bones and fossils and skeletons, and my favorite was a 45-foot long skeleton of a Sea Rex! The next two rooms were full of all the animals in the world probably, and there was a balcony where they had almost every kind of bird in the world, and had a skeleton of a whale and two other prehistoric creatures (they probably need another museum for storage)! Even though we didn’t get to see the 4th floor, we had an awesome time, and it is my favorite museum ever!!!
A thrilling playoff series for UConn Hockey
This past weekend, my dad and I watched both UConn’s first round playoff games on the computer. The first game was the best and the most exciting game I’ve ever seen. The game didn’t start off promising, because Canisius, UConn’s opponent, scored only four minutes into the game. A Golden Griffin player took the puck from the faceoff, and deked around UConn’s goaltender Bartus, and scored. However, UConn responded just over a minute later, on a power-play goal from Billy Latta to tie the game at 1. Latte received a pass from Cole Schneider, and he blasted a slap shot into the top right corner. UConn took the lead before the end of the period, when Brant Harris tipped home a rebound to give UConn a 2-1 lead.
Canisius however, took the lead with two unanswered goals to grab a 3-2 lead. Canisius scored on a one-timer shot past Bartus, and on a rebound in front of the net. UConn later evened it up with a Cole Schneider breakaway goal to tie the game at three, with his 19th goal of the season. Jacob Poe passed the puck ahead for a clean break, and he faked shot to the side and fired it into the top of the net.
In the third period, it looked like it would go to sudden death overtime, but Billy Latta attempted a wrap around but it stopped on the goal line! After some debate, the call remained, and the game ended up going to overtime!
At almost half-way through overtime, every UConn player and fan got a scare. A Canisius player attempted a rap around, and it too stopped on the goal line! However, the referees gave a Canisius player a penalty shot because he said an UConn player tripped him, and luckily Bartus stopped him! Just over three minutes later, UConn got a power-play. They are 4th in the nation on the power-play. Only seconds into the power-play, Alex Gerke scored the game winning goal to give UConn a 4-3 OT win, for a 1-0 series lead in the series! Sean Ambrosie passed the puck straight across the goal to Alex Gerke who put it how and the players rushed out from the bench to let the celebration begin!
In game two, UConn came into the game with some breathing room with a 1-0 series lead and only one win away from the quarterfinals. UConn scored early, with Cole Schneider putting home a bouncy rebound to get a surprisingly quick 1-0 lead. UConn surprised me even more when Ryan Tyson scored on a shot over the right pad of the opposing goalie for a 2-0 lead for UConn (my dad missed the goal because he had to get the telephone, but he realized they scored when I jumped up and started clapping)!
In the second period, Uconn had some quality chances, but never scored. However, Uconn maintained a good defense in the neutral zone, keeping Canisius off the board going into the final period. In the third, UConn sealed the win with Jordan Sims tapping home a rebound into the wide open net for a 3-0 lead. UConn added on when Brant Harris scored on an empty net tally to seal a 4-0 win! My dad and I cheered jubilantly, knowing they had swept Canisius and booked a ticket to play Air Force in the Quarterfinals. UConn received a standing ovation from the crowd in the final ten seconds and they had a team celebration at center ice. Bartus had his fifth shutout of the season, and was named AHA goalie of the week going into the quarterfinals. I was exuberant about the sweep!!
The Last Battle – Spoiler ALERT
Recently, I read the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle and it was by far the best book of the series. The book started when two “friends”, an ape named Shift, and a donkey named Puzzle, saw something floating down the river by the waterfall. Puzzle waded into the river to get it. It ended up being a dead lion. Shift decided to make a fur coat out of the lion’s skin for him. Then he told puzzle that he could dress up as Aslan, and all Narnians would have to listen to whatever he said. An argument followed, but Shift won because he was clever, and Puzzle wasn’t too smart.
Later on the last king of Narnia, Tirian, got word that the trees of Narnia were being cut down, and so the Dryads were being killed, and he learned it was the Calmorenes were doing it! He commanded an army to meet him later on at the border of Narnia and Calmorene. He saw that it was true that the Calmorene’s were cutting down the trees, and he was so mad he killed two of them who were using a talking Narnian Horse. Feeling disgraced, he gave himself in to the Calmorene Army. All the animals (and some Calmorenes) were at a stable on a hill and Tirian and his friend the Unicorn, Jewel, were there too (as prisoners). That night, Tirian was led away from the stable and tied to a tree, and he could not see the fake Aslan come out of the barn and all the animals bowed to him thinking he was the real Aslan.
Tirian couldn’t realized that a terrible lie was beginning and this lie might destroy Narnia. He called on Aslan for help and found himself in a room with seven other people. He tried to speak, but he couldn’t and after a few moments, he found himself tied to the tree again. Just then, two children appeared, and they were Eustace and Jill, who had both been in the previous book. They untied him and they started to run away from the stable where the army was. They came to an old garrison where they slept and set out that night to rescue Jewel. They dressed as calmorenes, and successfully rescued Jewel and captured the false Aslan. They started back to the garrison when they ran into dwarfs who had been captured by calmorenes. They killed the calmorenes, and freed the dwarfs telling them that the ape had lied and they showed them puzzle but they said that they didn’t believe in Aslan at all and all but one left them. The one dwarf that stayed joined them and they planned to go and show puzzle to the other Narnians so they too would know the lie.
They headed out that night, and arrived when the animals had gathered around the stable. They were going to show puzzle when they heard the Calmorenes and Ape saying that a fake Aslan was roaming the land, a donkey wearing a lion skin! They also said that Aslan and Tash (the calmorene god) were one! This blew the plan of showing puzzle to expose the lie. Everybody wanted to see Aslan, and the first to go was a cat, and he walked firmly in, but came flying out at top speed a moment later! Tirian realized that the ape was going to murder every Narnian by making them go into the barn! He jumped out of his hiding place and called loyal Narnians to his side.
Sadly, few came because most feared Aslan. A battle resulted, but even though the Narnians put up a better fight, they were sadly out numbered. After a while, all the Narnians were dead except Tirian and his original followers. On their last attack, Eustace and Jill both got thrown into the stable and didn’t come out. Tirian was the only one left and he fought the leader of the calmorene army, in the doorway of the stable, and they went and Tirian knocked the leader in and he saw Tash! But he heard someone say from the back of the stable “be gone terrible monster”, and the monster left. Tirian looked and saw the old Narnian Kings, King Digory, Edmund, Peter, and he also saw Eustace. He then saw old Narnian queens, Queen Polly, Lucy, and he saw Jill! They said to go get some fruit off the nearby trees, when Tirian realized, he wasn’t in the stable, he was in a beautiful grassland!
The others explained that they had come into Narnia when they were riding a train, and they felt something hit them, and they found themselves in Narnia. He also realized that there was a door in the middle of the forest. He looked through a hole and saw the inside of the stable. At that moment, Aslan appeared. He said that the time had come for the end of Narnia, and he walked through the doorway. He called the stars backs home and night fell on Narnia. Then every person who was bad, continued on in the darkness, but every person who was good, passed through the doorway.
Once everyone was inside, they closed the door, and Narnia was destroyed. Everyone felt so happy, they just ran and ran, until they came to a castle. Bugles sounded, and the gates were opened, and everyone in Narnia’s past whom they had thought dead was inside. They found out that they were in Narnia, the real Narnia, the Narnia that was the perfect of the old Narnia. The children feared they would have to go back to their world, but Aslan told them, that there had been a railroad accident (that was the jerk they felt) and they were dead in their world, so they could stay forever
I would give this a 5-out-of-5 star rating hands down. It was the best book of the series, and I think it was the best book I’ve ever read. I highly recommend this book, and I think C.S. Lewis did an incredible job with the book.
The Silver Chair (spolier alert!)
In the sixth book of The Chronicles of Narnia, (this series is about people from our world entering into the land of Narnia) Eustace Scrubb (who had been in book five), and his friend Jill Pole. They enter Narnia when they go through a door that was usually locked. Jill and Eustace get separated. Jill meets Aslan, king and creator of Narnia. He tells her that she has a mission to accomplish, to find the Lost Prince of Narnia Aslan tells her the signs she must look for on her search for the son of King Caspian. Jill catches up to Eustace and they arrive in time to see King Caspian, who is now very old, set out on a journey to search for Aslan.
They went the Owls Parliament, an Owl government that talked with them on their plan to find the Lost Prince of Narnia. After talking out a plan, Eustace, and Jill set out to meet someone who would help them on their search for Prince Rillian. It was too dark to see who their partner to-be was, but when they awoke the next morning, they found out it was a marsh-wiggle named Puddlegum. That morning, they set out to the place where the lost Prince was last seen, but for days they trekked through cold, rainy places and still didn’t reach the place.
When they were close, a lady and a silent knight whom they passed on the way told them about a town of the “Gentle Giants” where they could stay. The children were all for going and won the argument with Puddlegum, who said that the lady might have told them about the town just so it would throw them off course. Once inside the gates, they were treated to warm meals, hot baths, and warm beds. After a while, they realized that they should get on with the journey and leave Harfang, the name of the town. When they were getting ready to leave, they overheard the giants saying the children and the marsh-wiggle would make good pies for the festival the next day! That night, when all the giants were asleep, they crept outside, but were chased by a returning hunting party. They escaped into a small cave until they fell down into a hole, which turned out to be Underland (this is the Lost Prince was being held captive)!
It was pitch black and they were soon captured by hundreds of earthmen. They led them to a room where Prince Rillian was (he was the silent knight they met who was with the lady on the road)! However they didn’t know this because he was under a spell, which had been put on him by the White Witch who had come back to life. He told them how great the lady was, and also that in his spell came a hour in which he became a “madman” so he would be tied in a silver chair (you see, he did not know the witch had put the spell on him).
They decided to stay with him during his hour which he threw his fit, to observe while the witch was not there. What they observed was peculiar. It was that in his hour that he had the “fit”, it actually the only time he was in his right mind. Once his rescuers realized this, and who he was, they untied him and were about to leave, when the witch entered! She closed the door, and threw magic powder on the fire and it spread into the room, and the other four felt their grip on their mind going away.
Just when it looked like they were going to be enchanted, Puddlegum fighting like mad to stay in control of his mind, walked over, and despite burning his foot, put out the fire and the others broke out of the enchantment. The Witch, who was now very angry, turned into a big serpent. Despite a big struggle at first Eustace, Puddlegum, and Prince Rillian killed the serpent. They heard a loud crash and saw that underland was destroying itself, because the witch had died (she put a spell on the land so it would do this if she died). They decided to make their way to the site where the earthmen had been digging to the surface world, so they could get the upper world before it was too late (the witch planned to attack the surface and to make Rillian king so he could enforce her orders). They found out on their way that the earthmen had a spell put on them too, but it was broken when the witch died.
After getting to the point to where all the earthmen went back to their home which was lower in the ground, they started on their journey. They traveled in darkness and what seemed like hours later ran up against wall. Blue light was shining through a hole, and only Jill could fit out. It turned out to be moonlight, and she found herself in Narnia. She found dwarfs and badgers and other Narnians, and they helped dig the others out. The next morning, they set out for the castle, Cair Paravel, so Prince Rillian could see his father, King Caspian. King Caspian returns that day and he is dying, but still gets to see his son in time to bless him, before he dies. After that, Aslan sends Eustace and Jill back to their world, since they had accomplished their mission.
There are two things that I think the author is trying to say through the book. They are don’t judge someone by their outer appearance, judge it on how they act or what they do. The second one is beware what you say to strangers and don’t trust them. Another story that is similar is the previous book in the series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was similar because a search party was searching for seven long lost lords of Narnia, just like a search party was searching for Prince Rilllian. I liked this book better because for the other book, I knew what was going to happen because I had seen the movie.
I thought that the sixth Narnia book was very, very, good. I personally think that the most exciting chapters were 9-12, in which you couldn’t put the book down (I unfortunately had to once to go to bed!). I would give a 4 out of 5 star rating. I thought C.S. Lewis did a very good job with the book and I really enjoyed it!
A Tough Loss at UConn
On Tuesday, February 7, 2012, my Dad and I went to a UConn Hockey game, to see them play the Army Black Knights. UConn got on the board early with a 5-on-3 goal from Miles Winters, his 3rd in as many games, to give UConn a 1-0 lead. The puck was passed to Winters who shot the puck off the shoulder of the goaltender and into the top of the net. Minutes later, UConn accidently passed the puck to an Army player who shot it past Bartus to tie the game. UConn had a great chance when Ryan Tyson balanced the puck on his shoulder and almost threw it into the net, but missed, and it stayed 1-1. During the first intermission, I saw Pat Macauley, a former UConn player who had scored the first ever penalty shot goal in Toyota UConn Hockey Classic play. It was nice to see a former UConn player at a game. The second period was scoreless, but UConn had some great chances to score. The best chance of the period was when a UConn a player shot the puck which was saved by the goalie but he fell, so the net was wide open, but UConn players failed to reach the rebound in time. In the third period, Army got the lead less than half way through the third, scoring on a puck that bounced to an Army player in front of the net who put it off the crossbar and in, and UConn was down 2-1. However, UConn tied it up when a puck bounced in front of the to the goalie, who failed to cover it up, and UConn jammed it under the leg of the goalie and over the red line to tie the game up at 2-2. It was Jordan Sims 8th goal of the season and 2nd in 4 games. Sadly, the tie lasted less than a minute when Army through a shot through UConn’s goalie, Bartus’s legs and bounced over the line to give Army the 3-2 lead. UConn had some great chances to tie it, but failed, and Army scored on an empty net as UConn lost 4-2. It was disappointing to see UConn lose, but as usual, fun to see them play.
A Televised game for UConn Hockey!
On January 28th, my Dad, my sister and I watched UConn’s first televised game since 2010. They were playing the Holy Cross Crusaders, and it was their 100th meeting with the team. Half way through the first period UConn got a 1-0 lead on the Power Play. From the faceoff Cole Schneider took the puck back to the red line, passing it to Sean Ambroise in front of the net, whose shot was blocked but the rebound came right to Billy Latta’s stick who put the puck in the net, to give UConn a power-play goal 4 seconds into the power-play! For the rest of the period, the shots were even, but Holy Cross controlled most of the play. Even so UConn had a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period.
UConn expanded that lead with a goal half-way through the second period with a goal from Miles Winters. Ryan Tyson charged up the ice with the puck with a Holy Cross defender right in front of him. He had no one to pass to, so he stopped and passed to Miles Winters behind him who fired a beautiful shot into the back of the net past the goalie, giving UConn a 2-0 lead! Once again the shots were even but, Holy Cross controlled most of the play. However, UConn had 2-0 lead going into the final period.
The third period started off quickly with Jordan Sims firing the puck of the post, and it looked like a goal because it went in front of the net. The puck rebounded to the blueline and jumped over Tom Janoz’s stick and a Crusader rushed up on the breakaway and hit the crossbar, which was a relief (a big one)! After that, Cole Schneider had a breakaway a few minutes later and the goalie fell down dragging the puck with him into the net, but for some reason the referees called the goal off (I still don’t understand why it wasn’t a goal). With less than three minutes left in the game, Holy Cross shot a puck off a stick and it went into the net, so I was very worried because Holy Cross could now come back. However, to my relief, the referees waved the goal off because it went off a high stick! With less than one minute left, UConn got a penalty and Holy Cross pulled their goalie and they got a 6-on-4. However, Cole Schneider started on a breakaway, and he fired it through the legs of a defender, to score and seal a 3-0 UConn victory (as my Dad and I leaped up from our seats victoriously)!
During the game, UConn’s goalie Garret Bartus, broke the UConn division one all-time saves record and the all-time single-season shutout record with his fourth. UConn swept the season series with Holy Cross with 4-2, 3-1, and 3-0 victories. I was so happy UConn won and it was an awesome game!!!
A Fun Night At UConn Hockey!
On January 6, 2012, my Dad, his friends Angelo and Mr. Wearne, and my friend Alex and I went to see UConn play Niagara, in the first time ever that they played this team at home. Alex and I sat down by the glass next to the penalty box and they were great seats.
UConn scored early in the first period with a with a huge slapshot from the blueline that went into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. Alex and I were very happy after the first goal because we wanted a goal. In the second period UConn showed why they are ranked No. 3 in the nation for scoring on the power play. First, a UConn player passed the puck to Schneider who fired the puck into the wide open side of the net. The goalie slid over in front of where the puck had went in so I didn’t know if they had scored but the red light went on and then the buzzer sounded. A few minutes later, UConn got another power play and this time Schneider shot the puck along the ice, past the goalie and it hit the inside of the post and went in for a 3-0 lead. That goal made us all very happy.
I was hoping Bartus could get another shutout, but late in the third, Niagara scored two goals in four minutes and with one minute and twenty- seven seconds left, UConn’s lead was only 3-2! However, Schneider scored an empty net goal with 0.6 seconds left in the game, to give UConn a 4-2 win and himself his second career hat trick (three goals in a game) both coming against Niagara! UConn won the next night, 2-0, to sweep Niagara, and Bartus got his 3rd shutout of the season! We all had a great night and were happy UConn won!
A Shutout Win at UConn!
On December 29, 2011, my Mom, Dad, sister, Rachel and I went to see UConn play Army in the first round of the Toyota UConn Hockey Classic. It was my sister’s first game and she was very excited. I was excited also because my Mom hadn’t come in a while.
UConn got on the board early with a big slapshot that bounced off the Army goaltender’s pad and into the top of the net to give UConn the 1-0 lead. UConn’s goalie, Garret Bartus, had a few great saves in the first and second period to keep Army off the scoreboard. Despite the early goal, UConn didn’t gain any ground in the second period, but Army didn’t either.
In the final period, UConn put a bigger gap between the two teams with a late goal, and Bartus made some more good saves and UConn held on for a 2-0 win. Bartus got his second career shutout which have both come against Army this season. Uconn advanced to the championship of the Toyota UConn Hockey classic to play No. 17 UMass Lowell, which I went to, the next night. They lost in overtime after incredibly coming back from a 3-0 deficit. We were all very happy that UConn pulled off the win!
My First Time Seeing the King’s Singers
On March 17, 2011, St. Patrick’s Day, my family and I went to see The King’s Singers
In the second half of the performance, the King’s singers chose some of their favorite songs to sing. Unlike the songs sung in the first half, two of the songs I had heard. One of the songs that I have heard before was, “I’m Yours” as performed by “Jason Mraz
After the show, the King’s Singers came out into the lobby. My sister and I got each of them to sign a photo of all the King’s singers. We even got our picture taken with a few of them. One of them was Paul. Now that I’ve seen them once, I can’t wait to see them again!