Hello everyone!  For my eleventh birthday I got to go on a trip to Washington D.C.  We had to wake up at about 5:00am and leave at 5:30. We were in the car for about 6 hours and it got really boring at times. But it was so worth it!

When we got into D.C. we went to Union Station and had some lunch there. There were lots of choices but we decided to have some conveyer belt sushi at a place called Yo Sushi. It was really fun to try and get the sushi off the conveyer belt. The spicy tuna rolls were excellent. We also got to have real Japanese soda which is awesome!

For my birthday I asked for a tour of the White House. I didn't get my tour of the White House (sequester!), but I got one of the capitol building by our guide, Kevin Mooney, who works for Congressman Tom Reed.This is Kevin.

Kevin guided us through a tunnel that took us from the House of Representatives to the Capitol. He was very good at walking backwards. When I got to the Capitol I learned that there were two statues of American people from each state. There were many references to the original 13 colonies. It was an absolutely amazing tour! 

In Washington D.C. there is a lot of walking, and I'm pretty sure Pallas barely walked any of it. Dad, Mom, and I all carried her at least once on our trip. Dad carried her a lot more and she likes to make faces at us over his shoulder. This is Dad carrying her in the tunnel between Congressman Reed's office and the Capitol.

While we were in D.C. I got to see my cousins Aidan and Deirdre and my Uncle Brendan. We all went out for thai food. It was great to see them because we only get to see them once or twice a year.

The next day we went to the American History Smithsonian.  There were lots of exhibits but my two favorites were the ones about the presidents (of course) and the first ladies. In the presidents exhibit there were presidents memorabilia and lots of facts. In the first lady exhibit there were lots of first lady dresses and tea sets.

This was a collection of street signs named after presidents.

The next day we went to the Washington D.C. zoo.  When I first got there were big letters that spelled zoo so Pallas, Trin, and I got in them and took a picture. There were lots of animals so I'll just name a few. There were elephants, pandas (they were all sleeping though), gorillas, and lions.

Once again Pallas was carried throughout the zoo. We did about a million miles of walking that day, because we had to park very far away.

For breakfast on one of our last days we went to dim sum. I love eating all of the yummy foods. Some of my favorites are chicken feet, shumai, shrimp dumplings, rice noodles, and crab lollipops. This is Trin with her favorite, sticky rice steamed in lotus leaf.

One of the best things about our hotel was the pool. It was really big! My favorite thing about it was it was nice and warm. Pallas liked the toys they kept at the pool. There were floaties that we pretended were surf boards and a dolphin inner tube. I loved being in D.C. and hope to be back real soon.

Peace and love,
Rowan

Back in April my mom, dad, and I started my garden. In May we planted lettuce and spinach.We mostly weeded in April and May, but now it looks a lot better. This is the day we went to the garden and got to work.

After we got the soil ready, we took the seeds and spread them in straight rows and covered them with soil. We put them in about an inch according to the packages.

One of my favorite things to grow is herbs. Even if you don't grow a vegetable garden you can always grow a herb garden if you like different flavors and spices. My favorite thing to make is herby potatoes.

(that will probably be my next blog post) 

After a while my lettuce started growing! We already made a couple of salads out of it. Maybe I could make my own salad dressing! Hmm...

We also planted tomatoes, thanks to our friend Dave who gave us lots of plants. We already have so many blossoms! My favorite thing to make with tomatoes is fresh salsa. We make ours with tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, and salt.

I was thinking that a garden is a great family activity. Plus it's a great workout! It hurts. If your family doesn't agree, you try it for yourself. And if you try it, you too may be rewarded with an out of control sage bush! Yay!

Peace out!
Trinity the amazing :D

Father's Day is fun. I like it because it is cool and I like to give my father's day project to my dad. My project was a picture of me. It was very cute. These are the things I like about my daddy. He helps me, and he says sorry if he bumps into me. I like to sit on him when he's sleeping. I go downstairs in the night, I sneak past him, get the remote, or play subway surfers on his phone. He plays matching games with me. I beat him. I think he's very handsome. I like it when he gives me candy. He's the best daddy. That's it. I'm done.
Pallas