In a Magic Kingdom...

This post is about

Red

Yes I know I already did red but this is very important.

My mom's work has this really big week long conference every year, and it is in a different place each time. One year it was in Hawaii another year it was in New Orleans, etc. If we can work it out my brother and I usually go with her wherever the conference is, kind of like a vacation for us. This year the conference is in Orlando, Florida. Not only is it in Orlando, but it is at a hotel that is actually inside Walt Disney World.

This hotel is called the Swan and the Dolphin.

Swan and Dolphin Hotel
Photo Courtesy of  AC Varsity

Wow cool right? We get to go there, awesome!

No, not we, my mom is not bringing me. In fact, she is there right now... Without me... and I am taking quarter finals and writing to you my readers.

So as you may know from my earlier post I went to the Tetons (Tons) two weeks ago. For that trip I missed a week of school. Last Thursday and Friday I missed school again for swimming obligations. Which brings me to this week.  This is the last week of the quarter and a stressful finals week.

So instead of being in Disney World (a.k.a. The Happiest Place on Earth), this week I am here doing homework and taking tests and fun stuff like that.

Okay, so not only is this awful, but it gets a lot worse.   She is now in Florida, not taking me, but guess who she is taking? If you guessed my brother you were correct.

My mother did not realize that we were a team.  I mean, if I can't go, he shouldn't either, right?
I am very jealous and sad that I didn't go with them. I understand my mom's reasons for not letting me go, but still it's Disney World!



Living in colors as I do, I looked up colors that had to do with jealousy and green was the first one that came up, but I have already done a lot of posts with the color green. I kept looking and the next thing that came up was red. Red represents jealousy but it also represents excitement. I realized then that I am jealous yes but that isn't all.



I am very, very jealous of my brother but I am also excited for him.

Fischer, my brother. 

I can remember the last time that I went to Disneyworld.  It was a surprise trip when I was about 9 or 10.  My brother, Fischer, doesn't really remember it, he was like 5 or 6.  Now he is just a little older than I was last time we went so he will have some memories too.

Also he is a roller coaster junkie and as a five year old wasn't tall enough to go on many of the rides which made him very sad.  Now he is actually tall enough to ride everything in the park, and he is totally excited.






Funny story actually, last time we went to Disney World there was this roller coaster that both my brother and I wanted to go on, it is called Expedition Everest.

Expedition Everest roller coaster
Photo Courtesy of Theme Park Guy

Fischer wasn't tall enough, even though he wore a large hat to try and fool the line worker.  Instead, he had to walk away with my dad went to go on a ride where you go through this dinosaur land. I however was tall enough (Did I tell you I am also quite the roller coaster junkie), so my mom and I waited for an hour and a half to get onto this ride. The line winds through a small museum and a little "village" supposedly in Nepal. Finally we got on the ride. On the very first downhill that we encountered my little nine year old self was flung against the side of the seat and the corner of my ear split open. I was screaming and crying the entire ride and my mom was trying to figure out how to get it to stop bleeding, it was pretty rough. 

Another thing that I remember from that trip was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Let's be clear that when I was that age it was my favorite movie. Even so my brother and I went on this ride an unreasonable amount of times. I think we probably did it 16 or 17 times in a row.

Entrance to the Pirates ride
Photo Courtesy of BP

I have several other memories including Space Mountain, the Big Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain (which was my favorite), and the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

Now my brother is doing all that stuff without me and I am quite jealous. My red jealous self realizes that my mom is spending her days working in the hotel, but he is obviously getting the best of his time at Disneyworld.  Also he gets to meet all of the characters.

I hope you understand, really understand, that I am a huge Disney junkie and so this is like missing heaven for me.

I know I asked for it, but here are some pictures he sent me with the caption, "Miss you" , Grrrr!

Yeah "miss you" too 😒
(also I am cooler than you because I figured out how to put emojis on my blog)

Alright that is enough of my rant. Luckily we are going to the beach over spring break so maybe I will put sand in his smoothie or something.

Jealousy is not really in my nature and I am trying to make the best of an unfortunate situation.  I keep asking for pictures and talk to my brother every night.  I even say "I love you" to he and my mom.

Creamy Goodness

Cream

Can you even see that?? Who knows, anyway I am pretty sure that cream is a color.

Many of you can probably relate to the struggles of being an athlete. I struggle with practice, endurance, strength, motivation but only once in awhile.  Daily, number one on my list of struggles is hunger. I have a serious addiction to food (maybe I should go to rehab?).

Ask any of my friends or family, it is always my first thought, several times a day, in fact most of my brain power is devoted to finding food. 

Cooking and baking are two of my favorite weekend/summer activities. I love trying fun and strange new recipes. 

I made these for my birthday last year, I was pretty proud

On family trips I am always the one who decides what we are going to eat. I have a personal relationship with Yelp!, hands off ladies! I specialize in finding yummy places to eat in cities I have never been to.  When I am out with my friends I am normally the one that calls for a lunch break (it is pretty bad). Apparently, I even, according to Anna and Sophie, talk about food in my sleep.

It's a problem because I can't eat just one big meal at the three times of day. I have to eat big meals and have lots and lots of snacks in between!

I love creamy, sweet, sour, and savory treats. Of those creamy is really my top category. It is great because you can have something that is creamy but also sweet, sour, or savory, maybe all three (but yuck!!). Most creamy things also have more calories than other foods, so I don't have to eat again in five minutes, it might be ten instead!

Here are a few of my favorite creamy items from my diet, which you probably shouldn't follow.  It is likely really bad for you.

Mashed Potatoes: Let me just put this out there, mashed potatoes with butter and gravy are absolutely the best thing that anyone can eat ever! I don't think I can even put in words how much I love them.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday (as you may know from a previous post) simply because I get to have this delicious, creamy, and savory vegetable. The best place to get them in Utah is called the Rhode Island Diner. Which is an adorable, little, old fashioned diner in Oakley, UT.

Inside the Rhode Island Diner
Photo Courtesy of Fury Effect

Mochas: Mochas are my second favorite on my list of creamy foods. You won't find me at any swim meet without them. For you uncultured, boring people who don't know what a mocha is, it is an amazing combination of chocolate and coffee with a bit of sugar, cream, and of course you cannot forget the whipped cream on top (I don't put that on for swim meets).

It is making me thirsty just looking at it!
Photo Courtesy of Better HouseKeeper

Speaking of whipped cream...

 ...that is another thing on my list!

Whipped Cream: My brother actually is the one with the whipped cream addiction; he eats an unhealthy amount of it. At Thanksgiving he always makes someone spray it into his mouth. Sometimes he just eats a bowl of it plain for dessert. But you can put it on pretty much anything and it still tastes really good. You can put on cake, in cake, or in the frosting on the cake. You can also mix it with berries or fruit. One of my favorite ways to eat it is with ice cream. I love it on milk shakes, ice cream, or doing it the Cold Stone way and putting it inside the ice cream.

This is my favorite thing from Cold Stone
Photo Courtesy of Cold Stone (link above)

Krispy Kreme: Who doesn't love these? They are probably the best donuts you can buy, especially the creme filled kind! I even associate with parental love and affection!  When my family was in Washington D.C on a trip there was a Krispy Kreme donut shop that made fresh donuts every morning that you could smell all the way from our hotel about a block away. It made me really sad because we would wake up every morning, smell them and not eat any. Finally on one of the last days that we were there my mom woke up early and went out and got us donuts as a special treat. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Mmm Yummy!
Photo Credits here

Last of all is....

Cadbury Creme Eggs: These are a favorite of mine because they have both chocolate and candy in them! These eggs are also special because they only are around during Easter time. They are my mom's favorite candy, and whenever she sees them she buys as many as she can fit in her hands. For me they also represent ice cream and my birthday, two more of my favorite things . 

Cadbury Creme Eggs
Photo Courtesy of Serious Eats

My birthday is almost always over spring break and is always the week before or after Easter.  Around the same time as Easter there is a Jewish holiday called Passover, which is kind of like Thanksgiving. In case you didn't know, I am Jewish.  Anyway during Passover you are not allowed to eat any bread (I know tragic right?), but sometimes my birthday is over Passover so I can't have a regular birthday cake. So instead my dad always buys me a Cold Stone ice cream cake! Which are very good if I do say so myself

One of my Faves
Photo Courtesy of Business Wire

Can you say creamy goodness ten times without your mouth watering!!!

The Tons Brother... The Tons

This post is going to be about  Forest Green...

There is a lot of green in the forest, and a lot of forest in the Tons.
Yes brother, the Tons. They are not the Tetons because if you call them that it would be disrespecting America. (you would only know what that meant if you were cool and went to Tons!)

Any way it was kinda really cool. VERY cool!

My mom signed me up for this week long school trip.

I was going with one of my best friends, Anna (she has a blog too).
When I got to school the Monday that we were leaving I found out that my friends Holly (HB) and Serena (she doesn't have a nickname) were also going on the trip.

While we were waiting to get on the bus Holly made up a song:

Tons...

Tons...

Thanks Hazel Grace Lancaster

Your welcome Augustus Waters

The song doesn't really make any sense at all, I don't know what she was thinking. Anyway, The Fault in Our Stars reference is kind of a shoutout to Mr. Parker because we are reading that book in English. 

Then we were on our way to the Teton Science School, where we were spending the next 4 days. The bus ride was okay, I stole some chips, played on my phone, and slept a lot.

When we first got to Jackson Hole, WY the people at the Teton Science School had us put all of our phones and food in this big black bucket and we weren't allowed to have them back until we left on Friday! I knew it was happening, but I was kind of annoyed.  I think I went through withdrawal for the first 24 hours, and I don't even really consider myself tied to my phone.

Phoneless and a little unsettled, we met with our field groups for the week. HB and Serena were both in my group and there were a few more kids who made us the party group for the week.  I know I do not appear to really be the party group type, but the trip really brought out a whole new side of me.

To get more comfortable, we played a game called Camouflage where you have to hide three different times and each time the "prey" holds up a number, you (the predator) have to be able to see it. Then at the end of the three times if the prey didn't see you you have to run and try and tag them, if you do that and tell them all of the numbers you win. Holly and I hurt ourselves a little trying to hide.

That first night, going to bed was hard.  The room I shared (with Anna, lucky me) was 70+ degrees and stayed that way for the entire trip; it was pretty rough. On the plus side I was in the largest bed and stretched out like a starfish.   The next day there were eggs for breakfast, and we were on our way.  Time to go get dressed for cross country skiing.

Cross country skiing in the Tons
Photo Credits to Mr. Stoughton (I think)

We skied until lunch, which we shared in a field, sitting on butt pads in the snow.  It sounds strange, but as you can see from the photo above, it was quite pretty.  Skiing afterwards we saw an elk that some wolves killed; it was kinda gross. Then we skied back to the school and went to a museum with lots of taxidermied animals (also kinda gross).

Slightly nasty
Photo Credits to Mr. Stoughton (Maybe??)

The second day we went snowshoeing. We dug some snow pits around our lunch spot so we could learn about the science of snow. We had to do all of these test on the different snow layers.  Did you know that during the winter, some animals actually live under the snow?  There is a lot of detail to snowpack and snowfall too.  Another long and tiring day outside that went by way too quickly.

On our third and final day of activities we went out behind the dorm buildings and did a low ropes course. We were pretty good at it *insert sassy emoji here*.

That person with the hat on, yeah that's me.
Photo Credits to Mr. Stoughton (I am 100% sure this time)
Other stuff credits to me

The Teton Science School is a worthwhile experience.  I can say that prior to going I was not sure I'd like it.  Leaving, I felt that I appreciated the world around me, myself, and my friends in a different way.  The activities are interesting, build confidence and understanding, all with people who you otherwise just pass in the halls.  

Well that about sums up my three days in the forest... but you should really go there yourself.

More About Sunrises

I know I already did a post about sunrises, but you are just going to have to deal with it!

Dawn

I think that it counts as a color right??

Well anyway this is about the sunrise that I see pretty much every day of the week.  To be exact I have seen it about 111 of these sunrises in the past year (only seventy left to go!).

Why am I getting up so early, you might ask? Well there is this thing called high school, you may have heard of it. It is this place where your parents send you around age 14 to get your brain stuffed, while you sit, helpless, in a chair for hours on end. They require you to get up at ungodly hours of the morning to go there, so hence the sunrises. 

For me there is a lot of work that leads up to the actual sunrise viewing.

My usual morning routine goes somewhat like this.

1) Six-o-clock AM alarm wakes Sabine up

2) Sabine gets out of bed (Jk that is a lie, I fall back asleep till my mom comes and yells at me)

3) Around 6:10 Sabine gets up and eats breakfast

4) 6:20 Sabine gets dressed

5) 6:30-6:40 Sabine brushes her teeth

6) 6:43-6:46 Sabine is rushing to get her stuff together because she is going to be late for the bus

7) 6:49-6:53 Sabine gets on the bus

8) Sabine sees sunrise on way to school (this is the part you have been waiting for right??)

9) Gets to school anywhere from 7:05 to 7:20 (depending the bus driver, we have subs because something happened to our bus driver at the beginning of the year)

The arrow is pointing to the highway where I view sunrises from.
Photo courtesy of Deer Valley Realty  Arrow courtesy of me

Seeing that sunrise doesn't happen until step eight of my morning plan!

I started out by wanting to do this post on one specific sunrisey color, but then I realized that I already used all of those colors (It is getting really difficult to come up with something to write about!!). I looked up some sunrise colors just to make sure I wasn't missing anything, All I could come up with was the "color" (realize that I am using this term very loosely) dawn.

When you look up "the color dawn"  and click on trusty Wikipedia nothing helpful comes up except it talks about green and blue particles, like what even are those. I am very disappointed because Wiki is my fave. So I clicked on some other site called the Color Schemer Gallery which had lots of good information for me.

Colors of Sunrise
Photo Courtesy of Color Schemer Gallery

Apparently the color of sunrises vary between pink and yellow and including orange in between. This creates the unique colors that all dawns and sunrises offer.

Actually my previous statement about Wikipedia was a lie. There was some helpful information on there. 

The colors that you see at sunrise are the same ones that you see at sunset. But according to Wiki at sunset the colors are brighter because there are more particles in night air than in morning air.

Well that is all, wish me luck getting through the mere seventy sunrises I have left to see this school year.

Plenty of Purple

PURPLE

When I was little and couldn't sleep my mom would sing me songs. The only one that I remember is the "purple song". It was about a man and his house and pets, and it was my favorite song.

It went a little like this,

"There was a purple man who lived in a purple house,

Who had a purple cat who chased a purple mouse..."

It went on to tell me about his dog and car and sky and ocean, which are all purple. The words don't really matter (which is good because I cannot for the life of me remember them). It's just that this song is always the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the color purple.

Maybe this was his house?
Photo Courtesy of Fang

For some reason this song always made me feel safe. So for me I have always associated the color purple with safety. I have never had a reason to feel unsafe, except of course when I was trying to sleep as a young child and all of the robbers were outside my window, waiting with the monsters under my bed for the lights to go out.  The "purple song" seemed to make all of them disappear, at least for one night. It's easy to go to sleep when you have that kind of magic on your side.

My mother is not a singer and she doesn't have the best voice for staying in tune.  It never has mattered much though.  Maybe this is because she has a very soothing voice (when she is not yelling at me to do my homework). She is a psychologist, so I guess she has to have a soothing, calming voice. But when I was little, and even now, her voice makes me feel safe and loved.

Thankfully, she never tried to teach me the other songs about purple, as I have recently learned they have nothing to do with safety, soothing, security, on anything resembling a calm sleep environment.

For example, there is another childhood song about the color purple. It is called Purple People Eaters that I heard about courtesy of Anna.  I'm so glad THIS wasn't my going to bed song! It is really long and kind of annoying so you might not want to watch it all.

Since I am still talking about purple songs here is a list of songs with purple in the title.

One of them is called Purple Cow (I looked that one up).
 That goes like this...
I never saw a purple cow.
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one! 

(Courtesy of Bus Songs)

Look I even found a picture of a purple cow for you all...

Is this real? Where do I find one?
Photo Courtesy of Beyond Insurance

I know it's rambling, but I couldn't help it, I looked up 'purple' in Google to see what would come up...

            things get a little odd.

Purple crying???? What in the heck is that?
Photo Courtesy of Me!

So I took this new found information and looked up "purple crying".  Apparently purple crying is a term for the time in your life when you cry more than any other time ever! Don't worry though, you won't suddenly burst out into uncontrollable tears, it happens when you are a baby.

and "purple heart" (I love Google),

In case you didn't know already the purple heart is a military award. Formally called "The Military Order of the Purple Heart",  it is awarded to the veterans that were wounded during their service. If you want to read more about it click here. 

Of the other things on the list, purple rain is an album released by Prince (more about him here) and his band, called the Revolution (more about them here). 

And lastly, purple math is a online math help site for algebra students.

Hopefully you, my few readers, can find some cooler things to blog about than Purple People Eaters and crying babies.

This song was originally posted at:
http://bussongs.com/songs/purple-cow.php