Anika Isabella

Hello everybody! I just got a working iPhone 3GS!!! It’s really exciting! Now, I know I’m really inconsistent with this blogging thing, but I’m trying… ish. Well, I know for sure that I have a couple posts coming up, and now that I have a working phone I can blog anywhere! well, that’s it for now!

Hello everybody. 4th of July just passed, and I thought you’d like to know what I did for it. I didn’t celebrate it with kids my age (except Dante… even though he’s not exactly my age), I spent it with 2 couples who go to my church, my mom, my dad, and Dante. They each have one baby boy (the couples), and they are both super cute. I actually mentioned one of the 6 grown-ups in my list of things I like. Her name is Cece and in my list I said I liked being babysat by her. She is very nice.

Well, getting back to the subject, for the actual celebrating we had a barbecue. There were hamburgers, chips and salsa, grilled veggies, hot dogs, coke, orangina, limeade, quinoa, steak, roasted marshmallows, and water. Usually we don’t have all these things under the roof our house… but come on, it was 4th of July. After everyone pitched in at cleaning up the BBQ, we left to see the fireworks.

We left at about 8:30 and the fireworks were supposed to start at 9:00, so we weren’t sure if we were going to see them well, but in the end we did. It was kinda funny how though. At first, we didn’t see or hear anything, and it was after 9:00, so we suspected they were going to start late. After a few minutes though, Jeanie, the other girl, saw some far, far, far away fireworks. They were so far you couldn’t even hear them! We thought we hadn’t walked down far enough. Me and Dante ended up in the front because we’re children and can squeeze to the front. Then, as we were looking at the far, far, far away fireworks, some started right in front of us! It was crazy! We think the small ones were Staten Island’s, and the ones in front of us were the ones we wanted to see. Overall, it was a great BBQ.

I’d love to here about your 4th of July in a comment! It doesn’t have to be long like mine.

Here are some pics:

Hello everyone! Guess what? I played tennis today! It wasn’t a real game, just a free lesson in Central Park, but it was really fun. Dante did it it to, but separately because the age groups were 5-7 and 8-11. I was in one and Dante was in the other. Well, there isn’t much more to say, so bye.

Here is a photo report on election day in N.Y.C.

This is the line my mom and dad stood in this morning to vote.

This is a voting sign.

Here’s a voting booth.

This is the room where the voting booths are.

This is my mom’s voting booth.

Here is my dad and brother getting out of a booth.

This is a magazine cover.

Here is my brother in front of the brooklyn city hall.

This is another voting place.

Here’s a news headline.

This is a paper supporting Obama that I saw on a food cart.

This is a reporter.

Here’s a woman wearing an Obama T-shirt.

This is a stand that has Obama T-shirts.

Obama T-shirts.

Obama pins.

Obama bags.

An Obama picture with it’s artist.

Another news headline.

The beginning of the blue carpet at Election Plaza.

A large TV screen of the U.S.

The blue carpet.

A map of the U.S. on ice.

Me and my brother with the Democratic donkey.

Flags at Election Plaza.

News vans.

Here is an essay I wrote on the National Cherry Blossom Festival. There will also be some pictures:

The national cherry blossom festival is a celebration of the blooming cherry trees that happens once a year. It symbolizes America and Japan’s friendship. I will tell you tons about it.

The cherry blossom festival lasts 2 weeks in the spring every year. On the last day, there is a huge parade. It happens in a park called “National Mall & Memorial Parks” in D.C. People look at cherry blossoms, take pictures, walk around, chat, and if they are thirsty or hungry, there is Japanese food and drinks. There are also activities & gift shops.

The cherry blossom’s history is very surprising. I will tell you about it. It all started in 1885. A lady named Mrs. Eliza Scidmore made a request to have Japanese cherry blossoms near the Potomac River. A few years later a man named Dr. David Fairchild tested the cherry blossoms on his own land. Together they got the help of First Lady Taft and got a gift of 2,000 trees. Unfortunately, the trees had a disease and had to be burned. Then another gift was offered of 3,020 trees and it was accepted. They landed without any diseases. Then the cherry blossom festival was created,but it didn’t last for long. Soon World War II came. Japan and America were in war together and they bombed each other. It all led up to no cherry blossom festival. Once the war was over, America and Japan made up. America gave trees to Japan to fill in for ones that had been destroyed in a flood. Best of all, the cherry blossom festival continued with new things like a cherry blossom princess. Each year now, a cherry blossom princess is chosen and gets to be crowned with a crown that is 2 lbs. of gold and contains 1,589 pearls! It is a beauty.

I have been to the cherry blossom festival before so now I will tell you about my experience. I went there on a beautiful, sunny, warm day. I got pictures taken of me, my parents took video of me, I looked at cherry blossoms, I played a game, and best of all, I had a great time. I saw tons of people, food stands, kids doing activities, cherry blossoms (of course), and beautiful monuments.

Well there you have it, a handful of information on cherry blossoms. As I told you, the festival is in the National Mall and Memorial Parks (a park in D.C.) if you would like to visit. Please do.

A cherry blossom tree in front of the Washington Memorial.

Me, my aunt and my brother playing a game.

Me in front of the Capitol building.

Me in front of the Tidal Basin and Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

Friday I had a slumber part with Martha and Jasper whom I have talked about before. It was very fun. We made menus of our restaurant service we had at home and an entertainment list . Everybody paid for everything they did with fake monopoly money that we gave them. (The money thing was just for fun). There was this one game that everybody absolutely loved. It was called the Great Dalmuti. It is extremely entertaining in my and my friend’s opinion. We like it so much we played until 11 o’clock at night. The next day after we had breakfast we played again. Fortunately, Martha finally got to be queen which means you win the game in Dalmuti. Martha was so excited because that was the first time she got to be queen. We had such a good time. After we finally stopped playing Dalmuti, Jasper and Dante went to Dante’s room to play an action figure game called Attacktics. Me, Martha and my mom played a typing game. Martha also showed us some cool Hula Hoop moves. At the end, all of us took funny pictures with Photo Booth. Then their parents got here and the sleepover was over and it ended with very happy memories.

Note: This writing came from my morning journal today.

Yesterday was Easter. We went to Martha and Jasper’s house (they are our friends). They were hosting and Easter lunch with us and one other family. It was so much fun. I played four games and only finished three of them. I finished Whonu, Apples to Apples, and one other that I don’t know the name of. I did not finish Life Twists and Turns. I think my favorite games in order are 1) Whonu, 2) Life Twists and Turns, 3) Apples to Apples (because I won) and 4) the game I forgot it’s name. For lunch, we had mashed potatoes, bread, macaroni & cheese, ham, salad, quiche, snap peas, brownies and cookies. It was the best Easter ever.

On Friday (3-14-08), I had a sleepover/ movie night on the floor of my living room with my mom, my brother and myself. We watched High School Musical 2 Extended Edition (the extended edition part means that it has a part that wasn’t shown in original movie). My mom fell asleep half way through but me and my brother stayed up the entire time. While we were watching the movie, Dante was what we called “our waiter”. It was fun because we gave him our orders and then he would go get them from the kitchen. I made the bed on the floor. My mom took down the couch mattress and slept on it because she said her back would hurt if she didn’t. Everything went well and it was even better when we woke up and made French Crepes. It was one of my best movie nights ever.

You might not know my friend Martha. She’s a fifth grader that goes to the school I used to go to (PS9). She was in “Snow White and the Ten Dwarfs”. It is a play. I went to see it and thought it was funny and the actors were very good. My favorite characters were the mirror on the wall, Greedy and Homey. Greedy and Homey were two of the three dwarfs that were added in. Greedy always wants stuff, she even asked Snow White, “How much do you want for that necklace?” It was funny. Homey is like a total hip hop dude dwarf. She says “Yo!” a lot. It was also very funny. The mirror on the wall isn’t that much like the one in the movie. It was funny because she was talking on the phone, eating chicken, and even asked the queen for a toothpick. One of the things I thought was the funniest was that she drank Windex. Basically you can see that it was pretty hilarious. Too bad it was only a school play and more people didn’t have the opportunity to see it.

Who’s seen the movie college road trip ? I have! I think it’s hilarious and a great daddy daughter movie. It was so good I saw it two days in a row. It is about an over protective father who doesn’t let his daughter “Melanie” make her own decisions. Then planned a college road trip with her and her little brother and his pig, Albert, join them along the way. During all of this there are some big comedy moments. I would suggest that anybody who likes comedy movies should see it. I won’t tell you anymore of the movie because it would spoil it.