Climbing Cowles Mountain

Mom found a new place to hike. We went there before Karate on Wednesday. 

Cowles Mountain is the highest point in San Diego. 

The hike is 1.5 miles and the elevation gain is 950 feet. 

The trail can be tricky but lots of people run up and down it. It is a busy trail. 

From the top you can see forever. 

You can see Mexico.

Cowles Mountain is named after George A. Cowles, an early rancher in San Diego.




It is close to San Diego State University. 

Basketball

I play on the Tigers basketball team. We practice on Thursdays. 

We stretch first, then we do drills and then play a game. We wear jerseys to know which team we're on. 

I have scored a couple times. One time I scored a 3 pointer! We have a fun coach and helpers from the university. My favorite helpers are Wanda and Vivian.

 In basketball you dribble the ball down the court and pass to your teammates so they can shoot and score. 

A basketball is made of leather and filled with air. It's about 30 inches around.  

                                                                      

Basketball courts have wood floors.  Basketball is a sport where 2 teams score points by shooting a ball through a hoop. 

Kobe Bryant plays for the LA Lakers. 

                                                        

Olympia High school has a  basketball team as well.

Bat rays

There are bat rays at Sea World. When we were here before you could touch them. They feel smooth and soft.
Bat rays have wide, flat bodies. 

They are fish, but they don't have bones. They are related to sharks. Bat rays move by flapping their fins like birds flap their wings. 


Bay rays hide from their enemies by burying themselves in the sand. Sharks eat bay rays.







Their mouth, nostrils and gill slits are under their body.


Bay rays eat clams, oysters, shrimps, crabs and mussels. They crush their food with their strong jaws. They have short, flat teeth for eating.

Their eyes are on top.










Bat rays have tails that can hurt people. Their tails have a very sharp point on the end and sharp edges. They also have vemon. 

Females have babies once a year. They have 2-6 babies at a time. Their babies are born big and can take care of themselves.


Bat rays can grow to 6 feet long and can weigh up to 200 pounds. They can live up to 25 years.

Tennis

I am taking tennis lessons on Monday nights at the Peninsula Tennis Courts. My teacher is Miss Michelle. 

People used to play tennis on grass lawns. 
You hold the racket like you are shaking someone's hand. 

You have to hit the ball over the net. The net is in the middle of the court and is 3 feet high. Tennis balls are soft and hollow. We use bright green balls. We are learning the forehand stroke and the overhead serve. We practice serving by trying to hit the chair on the other side of the net. 

Tennis is fun but it takes lots of practice.

We hit a lot of balls during our lesson. After we go through all the balls in the bucket we go pick them up and start again. These are my friends Vann and Jack.

Penguins

Some penguins live on the South Pole and in Antarctica where it is very cold. 

Penguin mothers lay eggs. Father penguins carry the egg on their feet for 2 months. It's very important for the father to keep the egg warm in his brood pouch. The mothers go to eat and travel up to 50 miles on frozen land. When the mother comes back, she feeds her baby and she keeps the baby chick while the fathers go to eat. 

If baby penguins fall out of the mother's brood pouch, it can freeze to death in 2 minutes. 


Penguins have wings but can't fly. They walk, hop, leap, slide, and swim. 

Penguins live in groups called colonies. They stay warm by huddling together. They take turns going inside the huddle to get warm. 

Penguins eat fish, squid and krill. 
Leopard seals, sea lions and orcas eat penguins. 

Penguins communicate using their wings and heads and they sing. 




There are 17 kinds of penguins. King and Emperor are the biggest. 

Not all penguins live in the cold.  We saw 3 kinds of penguins in New Zealand.

Sea World

Sea World is one of my favorite places to go in San Diego. It was built in 1964.  It is on Mission Bay. We can ride our bikes there. It's a cool ride.
There are aquariums with fish, sharks, jellyfish, turtles and more. There is a shark building, a turtle building, a penguin building and a building for Arctic animals. There is a restaurant where killer whales swim in the pool next to it.
There are animal shows to see at Sea World. My favorite was "Risky Rescue" but they changed it to "Sea Lions Live". 

There are 3 Shamu shows.
"Pets Rule" has dogs, cats and birds. 

There is a new dolphin show with dolphins and people doing acrobats. It's pretty cool.

There are rides to go on at SeaWorld. "Journey to Atlantis"

"Riptide Rescue" 

"Wild Arctic"  
They are my favorites. 

They are building a new roller coaster ride called "Mantas". It will open summer 2012. 

I have never been on the Sky Tower. 

I went on the Skyride with Jacob and my sister-in-law, Angie.

I don't like "Shipwreck Rapids" very much because you get too wet!

You get wet on "Journey to Atlantis" too but I still like it.
There is lots of Sesame Street at Sea World. There are kiddy rides and a 3D theater where the seats shake and it feels like someone sneezes on you.

We watched a TV show called "Simon and Simon" where Rick and AJ went to Sea World to solve a crime about kidnapping a dolphin.

Jellyfish

Jellyfish have been around since before the dinosaurs. 

Jellyfish  eat small fish, crabs, shrimp and some eat other kinds of jellyfish. Sea turtles eat jellyfish. Jellyfish live in the ocean. They can live in cold or warm water. They move with the ocean currents. Their bodies are bell shaped with their mouth in the center inside. 

They eat with their mouth and poop out their mouth. 






Jellyfish can be pink, yellow, blue, purple or be clear. Some look like they glow. 

Jellyfish have tentacles. Some have tentacles that are100 feet long. They use their tentacles to sting. Some stings are painful and some are deadly. 

We saw lots of jellyfish on the beaches in New Zealand.