New Year

Happy New Year from CRK!

Christmas

I forgot to post on Christmas, so here you go:

CHRISTMAS DAY

Today Me and my family opened presents. Even the bird opened his. I received a blue/yellow Furby, Moon shoes, a plasma car, and a Perplexus Epic.

My brother got a million Transformers and a giant, dangerous NERF gun. There's like 25 darts. We'll see how long those last.

The family spent most of the day watching TV. My dad watched the Lakers while I went upstairs to watch a 1977 Nancy Drew episode. My grandma ate downstairs with my mother in the kitchen cooking dinner and my brother running through the house like a horse with a terrible itch on its nose.

Anyway, back to December 26th. I have all of these swelling scratches on my arm from where Monty was perching on me. I'm sure he doesn't mean any harm, but his nails are too sharp.

I have to go. I need some antiseptic NOW.

My Christmas Eve, and Review of Snowmen At Christmas

Okay.. so today's Christmas Eve. I didn't do much except watch TV with my Grandma . My brother spent most of his time on the computer, and my Grandma slept mostly. My parents went out to do last minute Christmas shopping, and when they returned we had steak for dinner, and Grandma, Naren and I spent the rest of the night watching TV while I finished making presents.

BTW: I actually created the presents for my family(with the exception of Monty).
Mom - Beige scarf
Dad - Yellow scarf
Grandma - Pillow made from old pajama material
Naren - Shirt/Smock
Monty - Ball

Of course, this book is appropriate for the occasion.



Plot

This book begins with a little boy who fantasizes about the snowman he has just created. He imagines the snow people coming to life and dragging each other to the center of town in wagons and sleighs. Then they decorate their large Christmas tree, hanging balls of snow high on it. The mothers hand out treats such as ice cream, while the kids play games like Freeze tag. Next, everyone starts to dance, and sashay. Finally they all see Santa(made of snow), and he hands out presents(made of snow) to everyone. Everyone then watches Santa take off in his sleigh, and begin to sing around their Christmas tree. In the end, everybody is tired, and goes home, returning to their places, happy and jolly.

Conclusion

In first grade a mom of another child read us this book in class, and I immediately liked it, so much in fact, that my mother got it for me. The illustrations are detailed and colorful, and the setting is fun. A great Christmas story; I'll give the book 5 out of 5 stars.

The Fourth Stall

Author: Chris Rylander

Date Published: Feb 8th, 2011

Genre: Fiction

Ages: 9 and up

Plot

Mac is sixth-grade Godfather. He has guards and spies at his command, and he pretty much rules the school.

He and his best friend Vince have an office in the East Wing boy's bathroom, where they fill favors. For a price. For example, did you forget to study for that history test? Pay Mac some money, or maybe promise to do him a favor, and you'll have your test answers.

Mac's business is doing pretty good. He already had around 6000 dollars saved up so he and Vince can go to a Cubs World Series Game. That is, IF they win.

But now Mac and Vince have another problem. A little boy named Fred has come to seek their help, and his problem may become their worst nightmare.


Main Characters

Christian Barrett: Christian got his nickname when an eight-grader started calling him "MacGyver," an it was shortened to Mac. Christian is one of the smallest kids in the sixth grade, but despite this, he runs the school. He is very similar in his business to the Godfather, sometimes even referencing him. He and his best friend Vince are major fans of the Cubs, and often quiz each other on Cubs Trivia and watch almost every game.

Vince: Vince is Christian's best friend, manager, and right-hand man, often managing the money and telling odd jokes and quoting his nonsensical grandmother. When Vince and Christian were growing up, they both lived in Bella Vista trailer park. Then, Christian moved to a nicer neighborhood, Vince's dad died, hid family became poor, and Bella Vista became an unsafe neighborhood. Like his best friend, Vince loves the Cubs despite their many losses.

Joe: As the guard of Mac's office, Joe is large and tough, but only gets rough when someone is bothering him. He is 14 years old and in eight grade. Joe, unlike Vince and Mac, dislikes baseball and thinks that his friends are silly for watching it.

Conclusion

I loved this book, mostly because of the suspense and the way it was set up. You even have little boys sending others on mission!

This book is so funny and so hilarious, that I think I'll give it...

Merry Christmas

Thanksgiving(Post 2)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, I woke up to a eccentric little six year-old who kept shouting, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

I fed my bird and myself, and did some work. Then I helped my mom cook dinner. She had a giant turkey, greens, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and cornbread to cook. The cornbread was the dish I made; I stirred milk, eggs, and batter together. I made a bit of a mess with the eggs.

Later, me and my brother jumped around and watched TV while my mom finished cooking. I brought Monty in his cage downstairs to watch TV with us, and escaped from his cage. He kept trying to lick me, and hop on my toes. At one point he flew to the couch and tried to poop.

I brought Monty into the dining room to have dinner with us. He ran around his cage frantically when he smelled our food. We gave him some squash and carrots to calm him down. I reached down often so he could lick my fingers.

Right now, Monty is right here in my bedroom with me, dozing off. 

Thanksgiving(Post 1)

Today I'm going to take a moment to write about Thanksgiving.

When I was in 4th grade, my class had a GIANT feast for Thanksgiving. We had it in the lunchroom, and parents and teachers brought food such as turkey, beans, and squash. My class made paper "tepee" hats, and we wore them while the teachers took pictures of us.

The feast wasn't bad, but then we got an infuriating lesson on what Thanksgiving was really about. I was about to explode especially when they kept talking about how wonderful the pilgrims were, and made it seem like the Indians were the ones who started the wars and conflicts. Kids should know the truth.

What really happened was that the pilgrims were starving and hungry, so the Indians took them under their wing, and showed them how to cook and gather food. They taught them to use fish as fertilizer!

 They were very kind to the pilgrims, and they all had a feast(Thanksgiving feast). However, the pilgrims decided to turn on the Indians. Originally, they had given the Indians blankets, not knowing that they were carrying small pox. Many Indians died, and the pilgrims took this to their advantage. They tried to take away their land, and they sold them as slaves. In layman's terms, the Indians helped the pilgrims, but they didn't return the favor.

Facebook...

Hey guys! So, my pet bird Monty: http://christianradiokids.blogspot.com/2012/07/monty-baby-bird.html
 now has a Facebook page! You can go there now! Just sign into facebook and search: "Montgomery Bird"

You can go there daily and see what's happening with him.



So what are you waiting for? Go, go, GOOOOOOO!

Ungifted

Title: Ungifted

Author: Gordon Korman

Published: November 2012

Genre: Fiction

Plot

After he damages the giant Atlas Statue outside his school, Hardcastle Middle School, Donovan Curtis gets busted by the superintendent, and he is sure that he is in for it. But after a goofy mix - up, instead of Donovan getting in trouble, he is actually transferred to the Academy For Scholastic Distinction, a school for the gifted.

With an IQ of 112, Donovan is knowledgeable of this mix - up, but he's not spilling. I fact, he's convinced that the Academy is the perfect place for him to hide out... just long enough before the "incident" blows over. But in order to remain normal, Donovan has to find a way to trick the geniuses of the Academy into thinking that his IQ is over the top... even though it's far from that.

Conclusion

What a funny, suspenseful and witty story about an average boy hiding out at a SCHOOL. I love how this story is detailed, and the characters adapt constantly. Some of them are so unbelievably hilarious, and the incidents Donovan's classmates get into are crazy. One even involves youtube... but I won't tell any more.

Overall, I loved this book and I hope you read it too!

A Jokerific Picture

My bird decided to write a letter to Santa Claws-Claus!

Or rather, I did, and thought about an aggressive little chap like Monty would like...

NEWSFLASH

In case you missed the results of the election...

OBAMA WON!!!!

Congratulations to Obama and Biden, and their families!



Obama  
303 Electoral Votes

Romney
206 Electoral Votes

Presidential Campaign 2012

Early this morning my parents woke my brother and I from a sound sleep so that we could go with them to vote.  We got dressed and my mother drove us to our polling place, a church nearby.  There were signs for both presidential candidates and other party nominees outside the church stuck in the grass. At the polling place,   there were what my mother called voting officials, who appeared to be senior citizens.

It only took mom and dad a few minutes each to vote because there weren't any long lines.  Mom said she felt sad that she didn't see many people out voting, but one of the voting officials said that over 100 people had already voted that morning so she was hopeful.  Mom still thought that was a low turn out.

I made the mistake of telling my parents that individual votes don't really matter, but that state votes matter. However, when the candidates are neck and neck individual votes will matter. My father said that individual votes mattered very much and that everyone needed to vote in this election because it was so important for everyone. He also said that you don't know ahead of time which candidate is going to win the state, so if it's a swing state it's really important that everyone votes.

My parents both voted for President Barack Obama. I remember when President Barack Obama came to our city four years ago at the very end of his campaign to speak, and to thank the people who supported him. My parents had worked for his campaign back then. We went to see him speak, and I wasn't feeling well, but my mom and dad thought that I needed to be there because regardless of what happened in that election outcome, history was in the making.

So as I write this, I wonder who will be the winner of the 2012 Presidential Campaign. Either President Obama or Governor Mitt Romney...

UPDATE: View results here AT THIS LINK!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/state-election-results-2012_n_2038603.html

The Candymakers

Title: The Candymakers

Author: Wendy Mass

Published: October 5th, 2010

Pages: 453

Plot

In Spring Haven, four children have been chosen to compete in a National Candy-Making Contest.

Characters

Logan: The Candymaker's son who lives at the "Life Is Sweet" candy factory. Logan is kind and helpful, and has a special gift for detecting every ingredient in a food just from tasting it. However, he is very poor at measurement, and other math and school skills that would be required to make candy. Logan also has numerous pink scars running down his face and arms that attract a lot of attention from others, although he seems oblivious to it.

Miles: Miles a strange bookworm of a child who is what you would call... scarred for life. After witnessing an accident, Miles claims that he's allergic to rowboats and the color pink. But there has to be some explanation as to why he's acting this way, unless he's crazy.

Daisy: A happy and cheerful girl that has bright blond hair and the strength of two bodybuilders. She is constantly carrying and reading a book that is called "Love's Last Dance,". Daisy appears to have an unclear background, and seems to resent Philip's presence.

Philip: Philip is a stern and orderly boy who seems to find no happiness or absolute joy in life, and is quite cruel to his fellow contestants. However, it's possible that Philip's shallow and sarcastic behavior is just a wall, and he's hiding something...

Conclusion

This book was LONG, around 450 pages, and VERY exciting. There were twists, turns, and parts that really got you thinking about the person standing next to you at the bus stop.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone loves adventure/mystery, or really long books. It's a good book for kids, although some parts may be a little confusing.

The only complaint I'd have for this book is that sometimes the book was a little repetitive, and you'll understand what I'm talking about once you've read the book, or at least part of it.

This book has earned 4 1/2 out of 5 stars from CRK!

Monty's Ring

Monty is my pet bird. He is about 4 or 5 months old, and highly aggressive. He destroys things and if he doesn't get to come out of his cage early enough, he bites you. He has adjusted to me mostly, although he still doesn't allow us to touch him unless he's really tired, but he lets me kiss him...
Male Indian Ringnecks get a dark ring around their neck. Females get a slight, light blue ring, like Monty's. Monty will get a ring in 1 to 3 years.

From the information I just gave you, can you tell which parrot is a girl and which is a boy?

Also, the females are known as much nicer and loyal pets than the males, but, hey, I LOVE Monty, and my parents tell me I should be patient with him and continue to train him.

Indian Ringnecks are very good talkers, and Monty has already started trying to say some words, like, "Leave," when I get in his face to kiss him.


Monty attacking his least favorite toy...

I learned that Monty is going through a phase of moodiness, much like a teenager. He wants to test his limits, like fake biting, real biting, and angry squawks.

Question And Answer

A fan wrote me an email, and asked me to answer these question on my blog:

Q: Why are male Indian Ringnecks more colorful?

A: They use their colors to appeal to the females, much like with humans.

Q: When should baby Indian Ringnecks finish their weaning?

A: I believe that at about 8 weeks.

Let's Read

My little brother is in Kindergarten, and will be starting first grade next year. He has been reading since he was about four.

Recently my mom ordered the first 16 Magic Tree House books from the bookstore.



My brother has been reading them, and so far he has gotten through 1 book, Dinosaurs Before Dark. According to Naren, the book is about two siblings named Jack and Annie.

My mother first found out about them when she saw a "Fact Tracker" at his school's book fair. She wanted to find the fictional novel that went with the Fact Tracker. It tells you on the cover.



When I was small, I read a few of the books too, but my favorite series was Beverly Cleary's fictional novels, such as the ones about Ramona.



My teachers are always encouraging students in my class to READ! So grab a good book, a place to sit, and read!

The Emergency Room

Yesterday me and my little brother were playing outside in the water. My mother was watching us and Monty was in his cage next to her. Suddenly, she noticed that he had a yellow plastic slinky wrapped around his neck. We all rushed to get scissors and gloves. Monty was going CRAZY, and since he doesn't like to be touched, we had a hard time cutting the slinky off of him. I managed to cut most of it off, but a piece was still wrapped around him. We ran inside, changed into some clothes, and drove to the vet. I left my phone by accident, so I don't have any pictures, but I do have a picture of the culprit:

This was the slinky before it was cut off his neck.

Me and my brother are both allergic to cats and dogs, so we had to wait in the lobby while my mom took poor Monty into the vet's exam room. While we were waiting we talked to a nice lady who had a cat named Henry. Henry was in a cat sack, and was there for his checkup. Henry was scared. he hid his head under her arm. Here are some things I noted.

• Henry is her only pet.
• She used to have two dogs.
• Henry runs whenever she gets out the cat sack.
• Henry is quite large.
• Henry is black and white.
• Henry has green eyes.

Soon, the lady and Henry went into another vet's office, so me and my brother played I Spy. Then my mom came out. She took us outside and told us that the vet said the slinky was impaling one of Monty's air pockets, and he could die. I was really sad. We waited outside for a few minutes, then my mother brought us back inside and she went back into the vet's exam room. 

We waited.

And waited.

And waited.

While waiting, we met a big, friendly poodle also named Monty! He tried to jump on us, and he also tried to lick us.

After a while, the exam room door opened, and my mom emerged with...

MONTY!

He was okay. He was quiet inside of his cage, traumatized, probably, but he was alive.

You see, the vet was wrong. The slinky had never impaled him. In fact, the thing just fell right off.

It was God. I prayed to him after my mom brought Monty back out.

Thank you, God, for letting Monty the Bird live. He is only 2 months old, he should live a full life.

And I'm sure all of you Christian Radio Kids fans are thankful too.

Visit Monty's Facebook page for some more info. Just sign into Facebook and type in: "Montgomery Bird". 

A picture of Monty eating nuts.

An Old Mars Landing

About 36 years ago, JPL was doing the "Viking program". They had sent a pair of space probes entitled "Viking 1", and "Viking 2". The two crafts were supposed to take pictures of Mars' atmosphere and soil, and eventually land on Mars itself to explore the planet closely. Each craft had an orbiter for farther examination of the whole planet, and a lander, for studying the planet up close.

On July 20th, 1976, Viking 1 successfully landed on Mars. Viking 2 landed that same year on September 3rd. They arrived six weeks of each other.

The Viking 2 landing was 31 seconds late.

The crafts were about 10 feet wide and 7 feet tall, and about 1270 with no fuel.

Eventually, the mission ended, as both crafts completely failed.

On November 3rd, 1982, Viking 1 lander failed of human error. The antenna went town, causing communication to fail.

On August 17th, 1980, Viking 1 orbiter after a loss of altitude control fuel. Yikes.

On April 11th, 1980, Viking 2 lander 's battery failed.

On July 25th, 1978, Viking 2 orbiter propulsion system sprung a leak, causing the craft to shut down.

Many people spent hours a day making sure the launching and landing of these crafts launched and landed correctly. They were probably really stressed out.

The Old Man And The Sea Book Review

Title: The Old Man And The Sea

Author: Ernest Hemingway

Published: 1952

Genre: Fiction

Plot

Santiago, an old and experienced Cuban fisherman hasn't caught a fish in eighty-four days. He is such a failure, that even his his little apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden from fishing with him by his parents.

But Santiago wants to catch a marlin. A HUGE marlin. So he sets out alone to fulfill his goal to catch the marlin. He sets lines and waits for something to take the bait. Eventually, a fish Santiago is sure is a marlin catches the line. But Santiago is unable to pull the fish because the fish is so big. Instead, the fish is pulling Santiago! But Santiago is determined to catch this fish. So he held on to the line. He sits there for two days and two nights. While at sea, Santiago becomes bored, often talking to the fish, the other fish in the sea, and even little birds. and resentful of Manolin not being able to come along. But he feels Manolin inside his heart, telling him to keep going, and to never give up on the fish.Then, Santiago gets hurt while pulling the fish, and gives the fish respect, referring to him as "brother", and saying that no one is worthy of eating the fish because of the fish's determination to live.

On the third day, the marlin circles the boat, and with all his strength, Santiago manages to turn the fish over and impale it with a harpoon. Santiago straps the fish to his boat and paddles away, but soon sharks are attracted to the blood of the fish, and try to eat it. Santiago succeeds in killing the first few sharks, but soon the sharks keep coming, and eventually the whole marlin is gone! When Santiago finally reaches shore, all that's left is an 18 foot marlin carcass. He slumps to bed, and falls asleep.

Let's Talk About It

What was this story really about? Was this really about an old man going out and catching a fish? Because I think this books is pretty unrealistic. This is what I think. The book describes life. Here is a translation.

Santiago - A normal person

Manolin - A friend or GOD. A person who has faith in Santiago

The Sea - The world

The 84 days/Fish - A challenge

The Sharks - Obstacles

See? This is MUCH more realistic.

Conclusion

From what I've learned about Literature and Classics is that it is often necessary to read in between the lines for the real meaning in the story.  It's like an iceberg, 95% of what going on is not seen.

At first I thought that this book was boring as repetitive. But then I thought about it more and I liked it a little more. But definitely not a book I'd read again. Most of the kids I know would not like this book, and I'd say the same for some of the older kids. Not all of them, but some. There are some kids who would rather not have all the answers right there in the book. They want to be a detective and find the real meaning under all the words. Others just wouldn't be interested.

I'll give this book a three out of five stars.

Come Here, Rover

Yesterday, a Mars Curiosity rover landed safely on Mars. Everybody who participated in making sure that the rover landed safely was overjoyed; some even were crying.  I watched it at 1:30 AM with my father, it was live at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html.

Do you know what a rover is? It kind of looks like WALL•E, if you wanted me to describe one. It takes pictures in space and sends them back to earth, were scientists can study them and make important discoveries.

After the rover landed, it sent back pictures(small thumbnails). The first one was blurry, the second one was almost the same, and the rest were clear. This was the first image that the rover sent from MARS!

CLICK HERE to see the picture itself!

Did you know that a message sent from earth to Mars would take seven minutes to reach it? The same if a message was sent from Mars. It would take seven minutes to reach us.

If you want to see the suspense of the landing yourself, CLICK HERE to watch the video on their site.

Did you know that some of the stars in the sky you see do not exist anymore? They could have vanished years ago, but we still see them! This is because they were emitting light toward us. The light has not reached earth yet.



Actually, Xbox Live Arcade has a game called Mars Rover Landing that NASA has released. (It's free). Basically, you land the rover with your body and win little awards. I'd like to try it on my Xbox.



Want to learn more about this? Go to these links!

More about the rover: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nasa-mission-to-mars-rover-curiosity-touches-down/2012/08/06/e10e7bf2-df89-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_story.html

Watch their streaming videos: http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

Disclaimer: I'm just providing links. I do not own any pictures.

Turtle

I'm learning Python during the summer. Today I used Turtle, a drawing program in
Python, to draw a star. It might look simple BUT IT REALLY ISN'T. Programming takes a lot of focus and concentration.

I could have made it any color, but my little brother wanted blue. I used two different ways to get this star. One is the long but easy way, and the other is the short but harder way. The easier way actually looks harder than it actually is, and the difficult way looks easier than it is.

This is the code that I had to figure out for myself, my father helped me a little but I did most of it myself.

Easier Way =      

Difficult Way =      

from turtle import*

speed('slow')

color('pink')

begin_fill()

forward(300)

right(144)

forward(300)

right(144)

forward(300)

right(144)

forward(300)

right(144)

forward(300)

end_fill()

hideturtle()

exitonclick()

from turtle import*

def star(n,col):

    color(col)

    begin_fill()

    i = 0

    while (i < 5):

        forward(300)

        right(144)

        i = i + 1

    end_fill()

hideturtle()

exitonclick()

I used a loop for the harder one. 

Do you know what a loop is? A loop repeats itself over and over again until it is stopped. Well, instead of writing 'forward(300), right(144)' five times, just put it in a loop, and it still makes a star! Just quicker.

Priya's Hints: 

1. I used 'speed', to... make the turtle draw the star faster! I don't have all day.

2. Before I can start drawing, I need to get the turtle to appear. I can write 'import turtle', at the top, and to draw, I'll have to write next to my code: turtle.forward(value). Or, I can write 'from turtle import*', and write in my code like this: forward(value).

3. I use hideturtle() to get rid of the turtle after it has finished drawing the picture. It looks bad on the picture.

4. I use exitonclick() to prevent the turtle screen from crashing after it has drawn the picture and I want to close the window.

5. To add color, I write: color("color of your choice"), and under that, I write: begin_fill(). At the end of my code, I write: end_fill()

Some other things: When I put things like, 'color of your choice,' or 'value' inside parentheses, you are supposed to put a number or a color inside the brackets. DO NOT write the actual words in there or you will get an error message.

Yesterday my father helped me with these designs.

  It might look like a simple design and easy but to create these designs from using code was hard.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!

For my readers of are not American or are from other countries the Fourth of July is when my country celebrates its independence from Great Britain.

This link is from a previous post I made about The Fourth of July.

Thanks for visiting my blog, leave a comment and visit again.

Carnival Part 2

Before reading this post, CLICK HERE for beginning of story.


So, my mom tried to get her money back, but they could only give her some new fish. BIG REVEALING - WHAT REALLY KILLED THE FISH?: They also said the tap water we used to fill the bowls killed them!

 We should have kept the fish in the water they were in, and filled the bowls with that. When my mom filled my bowl, some of the pink water went into the bowl with the tap water, resulting in my fish living a little longer on that water before dying.

My mom brought home two new fishes...

I named my new fish Pablo, instead of Paco. You'll never guess what my brother named his. 

Orange Fish "Pablo" = Priya

Silver Fish "Knock" = Naren

Pablo

Sits around at the bottom of bowl, only swims around when it's time to eat.

Knock

Hyperactive and crazy. Knock also poops a lot, as you can see in the picture.

Knock. That's what my brother named his fish. Like a knock on the door.

It seems like all of my brother's fish are jumpy and fun to watch, but mine just sit around.

You're welcome.

Also, my mom picked up some FRIED OREOS from the carnival! I shared some with my dad, but I wanted them all...

They were so good! Powdered, battered, and sweet. Did you ever have something sweet, but the crave for something salty! These Deep fried cookies are two for one!

Carnival

Speed, Chair Ride, Bungee Jump, Midway, UFO, they're all rides I went on today at the Carnival.
The event sold foods like fried oreos...



To french fries.



I went on so many rides! First I went on the UFO... I couldn't lift my legs or my hands up on the UFO or the Cobra! The Cobra was fast, and spun around in a circle, turned us, then spun around again. At one point too much air and wind would go in my nose when we turned up and I had to "spit" it out. On the Speed, the ride turned me and my dad forward and backward with full force.


The Chair Ride was fast, but not as thrilling as some of the other rides. My little brother thought it was the fastest thing in the world.





We also went into a Scooby - Doo Haunted House. It was loud, but the skeletons and stuff were made of paper and poorly - wrapped plastic, you could tell.


The Bungee Jump was so much fun! I was at least ten feet above ground. I don't know how to do any flips like I saw some other kids doing, though.



Me and my mom went on the Farris wheel. She liked it, but thought it was a little fast. I thought it was pretty slow. Unlike other rides, when you go down, your stomach doesn't drop or go up.



I went on a mechanical bull ride, as well. I fell off every time.:(
The last time, I fell, and the bull's head hit mine. I'm okay.



At the midway, I played a game of darts ( I had to pop balloons with them) and won a orange plush puppy. Then, I beat a little girl and her dad in a game of water guns where you had to shoot the targets. You needed to keep your gun on the target to keep your plush animal moving toward the top. I won a little pink dragon. Then I decided to play again and exchange it for something better. I looked at my opponent. It was a tall, burly man who looked like he meant business. Usually, I don't watch the animals go up. I just keep my eye on the target. Surprisingly, I won! I exchanged my dragon for a white hat!

When it was almost time to leave, my mom told us we could go to a Midway game that had plush fish for prizes. We got three bowls of ping - pong balls, and our goal was to get a ping - pong ball into a colored fish bowl. My little brother managed to get one in, and so did I! I thought we were going to get the big plush fish, but the little boy helping at the stand grabbed two large bags. Inside the bags were LIVE fish! My mom's eyes bugged out at this, and my dad laughed.

"I didn't know they were going to get real fish!", my mom said.

"Yeah, well, they got the balls in the bowls," the kid said.

The fish the kid grabbed were pretty. Mine was a goldfish in orange - colored water. It was a orange all over except for the white spots on the bottom. My little brother's was white in pink -colored water, and had a single orange stripe on it's tail.

"I'm going to name mine Paco!" I said.

"I've got my fish's name in my head," said my brother.


My brother didn't know how to hold the fish bag. He slinged the fish over his shoulder so the water went sideways; he shook the bag so some the fish's scales all came off.


My mother went off to buy tanks and food from the stand, while me and my brother and my dad stood around with the fishes.


While walking to our car, I saw one of the kids who rides my bus working at one of the food stands with his sister. I said hello to him. My mother said, "Ask him for some free food." I looked at her funny, and she laughed, "I'm kidding.", she said.


While on the way home, my brother said that he was going to name his fish John. John and Paco. Okay...


My mother drained the water from the bags, added marbles to the tanks, and put the fish inside the tanks.

My little brother's fish was wild in his aquarium, while mine hid from me.

Paco
Still and quiet, hardly moves.

My fish was scared at first, but then I put rocks around his tank and he started to come out. He's okay so far.
NEWSFLASH: I think Paco is dying, too. His jaw keeps moving, but he's not moving.

John
Hyper and jumpy, probably claustrophobic.

NOW: As of now, John and Paco are dead.

My mom thinks the fish we won were sick, so she is going to take them back tomorrow for a refund. She says that we can't have any more fish. I'm not so sure they were sick.

Here ends a colorful, full of motion and toys day. CLICK HERE for Part 2 to this little "fishy adventure". Maybe next time we'll find out what killed the fish... or will we?