MEMORIES: We're still getting caught up with the good times the kids had while camping last week.
Above is a sunset over the dam that creates the reservoir at Dorena. Pretty!
I love Annabelle's colorful swim cap! Esther Williams would approve, no doubt!
BTW, there should be style points for things like this while riding the 'biscuit.'
And check out these super cool lights Nonnie bought for the kids' bikes!
I asked the kids to write their recollections of their trip. Here's what they came up with. ...
Annabelle: Starting on July 15, my father, brother CJ and I went camping at Dorena Lake, OR. We had beautiful surroundings, and lots of fun! We stayed at Dorena for 5 nights, and visited our relatives. One of my favorite activities was biscuiting (being towed behind a boat in an intertube) around the lake. I almost had my first wipe-out!
We already had a tent set up when we arrived, so all we had to do was set up some beds! Our beds were very comfy, layered as a cot, an air mattress, egg-carton foam, a sleeping bag, and a light blanket. So soft! Every night, we'd have a delicious dinner, some of which included- but weren't limited to!- Riblets, hot dogs, burgers, and even pork chops!
Spending time with our Nonnie, Bops, countless aunts, uncles, and cousins was fun! I even performed some water ballet with my aunt Theresa and cousin Symone! Swimming in the river that comes off the lake was also very fun! (there was a bit of algae, but not blue-green like last year.) I also discovered my swimsuit dries very quickly.
We even got some lights for our bicycles from cousin Scott! I had mine in a spiral, while CJ wanted a pentagram (which they couldn't pull off). We even had a parade around the campground! We had lots of fun showing off our lights.
Camping was really fun, even though it seemed like we only stayed for two days! I love going camping at Dorena every year, and visiting family (who I don't usually see other than that or Christmas). Overall it was amazing just like the years before.
CJ: Last week, I went on a camping trip to Dorena, a place in Oregon where there are many camp sites. Here are my five paragraphs describing my camping experience:
First off, I'd like to talk about biking around the campsite. I had brought my bike over to the campsite, and I constantly rode it around the path circling our campsite, sometimes to go to the bathroom. One time while riding the bike around the campground, my front wheel suddenly stopped and I fell over. A couple of nice boys from another site happened to come across my wreck, and they helped get my bike back to the campground. I thanked them for helping me, and we visited a town that had a bike shop so we could repair my bike. Many people at camp got lights on their bike wheels which made their bikes look nice, and I got the color yellow on my wheels (I asked for the lights to be arranged in a pentagram on my wheel, but we ended up having to go with an average circle design).
Next off, I taught some of my family in the campground how to play a card game called Kings In Corners, which you can easily look up to learn the rules yourself. Some of my family learned it quicker than others did, and some of them even kicked my butt, which is a sign that they are learning well. Some of us even jokingly called the game a "Blood hunt"!
In my tent, our bed was very comfortable. According to my dad, there were many layers of different padding below the part of the bed where Annabelle and I actually slept, for example, a blow-up mattress, held in place by a cot. Sleeping in the bed that we had in camp reminded me of sleeping in the bed that we set up on our deck, which was assembled in a very similar way to the one at camp.
I'd rather not inform you about this, but I guess I will word it like this: At camp, I caught a disease that made me have to go to a certain place several times during the day. Times when I needed to go to that place often appeared out of nowhere, and I often times had to get on my bike as quickly as possible to get there (at one point, I even had to borrow my cousin Ben's bike).
Last, but definitely not least, I will mention *biscuiting*. On my uncle John's boat, we went for rides where we rode on inter-tubes and had lots of fun. Two people could go at a time, and I especially liked kneeling in the tube and riding behind the boat. One time, when I wasn't biscuiting, but on the boat, I talked with my uncle John about how cell phones have evolved since the 1970s.
In the end, I found my camping trip very fun and I can't wait to go next year!
SOFT STUFF: A recent email from the folks at SpaceX brought us up to speed regarding their ongoing efforts to make rocket stages recyclable. That's a big step forward in the space race, as it would save millions of dollars if they could be recycled.
Check out this video of a "soft" landing of a Falcon 9 on the ocean.
From the SpaceX press release: "After landing,
the vehicle tipped sideways as planned to its final water safing state
in a nearly horizontal position. The water impact caused loss of hull
integrity, but we received all the necessary data to achieve a
successful landing on a future flight. Going forward, we are taking
steps to minimize the build up of ice and spots on the camera housing in
order to gather improved video on future launches.
"At this point,
we are highly confident of being able to land successfully on a floating
launch pad or back at the launch site and refly the rocket with no
required refurbishment. However, our next couple launches are for very
high velocity geostationary satellite missions, which don’t allow enough
residual propellant for landing. In the longer term, missions like that
will fly on Falcon Heavy, but until then Falcon 9 will need to fly in
expendable mode.
"We will attempt
our next water landing on flight 13 of Falcon 9, but with a low
probability of success. Flights 14 and 15 will attempt to land on a
solid surface with an improved probability of success."
MIND BOGGLING: We played a couple of rounds of Boggle today for our language arts learnin'.
Here's CJ's scorecard.
WAR FROM SPACE: A somber tweet came yesterday from German astronaut Alexander Gerst on board the International Space Station. He wrote: ""My saddest photo yet. From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel."
Here's the photo Gerst posted. I added the green arrow to point out the flash from a rocket (the killing kind, not the space going kind) in this photo.
