2026 Summer Adventure Gallery: July 5–11

Visited the mobile fish exbihit at the Fremont library. Learned about the fish in their habitat.

I was playing in the waves at La Jolla Shores. There were two fish swimming in the shallow water. I chased them, and some grownups did, too. My mom took pictures of the signs with animals near that beach, and I drew a picture of what I saw. We decided it was an Opaleye.

I made macrame bracelets today. Me and my friend have matching blue and pink ones with green beads, but I made the green one for myself. Making macrame bracelets is pretty enjoyable to me. The only really annoying thing is that if you pull too hard on your knotting string, it flips to the other color. The solution is to tug on your other string, but sometimes, it doesn’t stay fixed. You have to carefully continue to keep it from flipping again. I’m really good at quickly making the bracelets. I also know how to make different styles.

My mom read me a book on moma loves you so and little dinosaur

Guitar crafts

Today I went to the Giants. I was cheering for the Giants. It took three hours before the game ended. I was sad because the Giants lost. We watched baseball, it was fun! I did not bring money so I had to wait till the game ended because no food allow. I only brought my hat. No metal bottle too so I could not drink any thing.

Hice un dibujo con pinturas

I read Elatsoe by Darcie Little Bear. It is a story that brings in the relationship that the indigenous people in Texas have with different animals and animal spirits. The main character Elle is able to call back animal spirits for a fun twist on a murder mystery.

I read Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It’s a futuristic solarpunk sci-fi set in a time when humans have bio-engineered animals into helpers for humans. The story follows a raccoon PI named Skotch who is given the job of finding a missing mouse. He encounters a diverse cast of animals who are also trying to get the mouse, dead or alive!

A colorful paper plate hermit crab craft decorated with bright patterns, a rainbow handprint, and large googly-style eyes.

I read My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. My favorite part of the story was the strong bond between Ayoola and Korede, and how much Korede was willing to do to protect her little sister. It’s always interesting to read a story with an unreliable narrator and I felt like this was a great short story with exactly that!

I helped my mom organize the garden. Now our garden has a lemon tree and lemon grass along with some peppers. Overall I had a lot of fun organizing with my mom.

I painted my penguin piggy bank at color me mine. It took me about 1.5 hours. I loved every minute of it.

I read The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo an am instantly hooked. I borrowed the rest of the series! Go a short book, it sure fits A LOT of story insonalittle space. The characters are compelling, and I’m really happy to see subtle queer representation!

I went to the Roaring Camp Railroad with my parents and learned a lot about redwood trees. They are fire resistant and pest resistant. Unlike other trees, fungi cannot grow on them.

I read King Ghidorah won against Godzilla and King Ghidorah isa good fighter!

I made life of a butterfly from the activity paper, design, a map model or diorama of your favorite animals habitat or describe your design. 🦋 butterfly lifecycle

Today I went to summer camp. I did Chinese class. We made a craft to celebrate the Fourth of July. The craft that we made was a mask. It was a Bald Eagle mask. It does not look like a Bald Eagle. I glued USA on the mask. I out line it with the color purple and green. The are rubber bands to put on your ears. There are also hearts on it where you put your eyes.

Saw these interesting looking clouds during a walk.

Introducing Bossk, my baby Western fence lizard or blue belly lizard! Bossk was barely a week old when we found her in our dojo. She chose us as her protectors, almost immediately jumping into my husband's hand and has felt safest there ever since. Even then, she was calm—a tiny blue-bellied hatchling who would fall asleep the moment she felt safe and warm. Now she spends her days lounging and basking in her Tatooine-style abode. She’s a natural traveler, riding along on road trips far, far away and watching the world pass by from her warm perch as if traveling in hyperspace. Feeding Time reveals her inner bounty hunter and at times feels like a team operation: we flush out a spider, and she strikes quickly and precisely before it escapes. It’s like watching the other Bossk (the Star Wars character she's named after) in action, just scaled down and far cuter. While lizards show basic responses like fear or stress, complex emotions like love shown in mammals aren’t part of their experience. Bossk has taught us that despite her being governed by instinct and survival, a steady presence and calm, focused care can still create companionship grounded in trust, beyond feelings.

Una ballena de origami

This is Chewy, the amazing soccer-playing dog! He's nine years old and his favorite thing to do is to hold a leaf (or plastic takeout lid) in his mouth for concentration while he expertly kicks a soccer ball around the field. I tried teaching him how to kick it as a trick one day after watching Air Bud, never expecting him to master the skill and become utterly insatiable. He can change directions, guide the ball around obstacles, and even power it uphill to get it back to whichever human has been lured into the game. Chewy taught me patience, responsibility, and how to enjoy the small, everyday marvels of life.

I read a book in nature with my mom and sister.

I learned how to say hammerhead shark in Chinese.

I spent time around animals like birds and squirrels. I saw a lot of crows flying and talking and eating the food we left for them. I also saw a bird which had a very sweet sound and came with its friends so around 4 of them. I also saw and interacted with a lot of squirrels because they are all around my neighborhood.

This past Sunday evening we arrived home just at the perfect time for our very own June bug encounter! We have lived in the Oakland Hills Sequoyah area for 14 yrs in this same spot and this is the first time we have ever seen this phenomenon! They were everywhere. My younger son and I caught some to study them. Wow, they are super strong! One even pushed a clear plastic disposable cup. When we put them in my older son’s terrarium, that he won from Summer Adventure previously, we observed what they use all that leg strength to do: BURROW/DIG! Within less than 10 seconds all 6 of the beetles had disappeared into the soil!! We put our ears up to the lid and could hear them all digging furiously. We left the terrarium out overnight uncapped so they could escape. What an amazing creature encounter!

My family went to the Alameda County Fair and we watched the cows being milked. My sons were fascinated and surprised to learn that it feels soothing to the cows to be milked because the mechanical milking contraption looked so complicated.

I picked fruit from a tree for the first time! Me and friends ! I picked lemons and oranges ! Then we washed them and we ate them!

I had the honor of teaching my friend’s children how to make yarn dolls. Big brother stepped in to help his little sister. It really filled my cup because it was all new to them. I was overjoyed to see their brains lighting up with something other than technology. They are going to continue the project at home to give their dolls hair and clothing.

I started reading The Library of Flowers by LC Chu. It is an Asian Canadian, intergenerational, women centric story about a 33 year old woman who is struggling with her identity and relationship with her mother and with her familial responsibility. The fun part is that the women in the Hua family pass down a special power to each eldest daughter born. The power is to change mood/feeling through perfume that is their family’s craft. I have enjoyed reading this book and parts of me gets really frustrated as the main character navigates feelings of wanting to be independent versus feelings of filial piety. It has reminded me of my own values and shone a light on what is important to me within my own identity and culture. It’s also a comfy cozy read which I love!

I went to the San Diego Zoo. We came back from the Zoo, and I said "I wish we could fly with the wind and the wind would carry us all the way to our car so we could have a nice, cold drink." We walked a lot, and my favorite animal was a flamingo. They were at the main entrance and I saw them with a group of ducks. The flamingos were pecking at the ground to search for their food.

We saw so many deer and bunnies at Quarry Lakes!

I read Cooking with the Cat and other books!

I made a seahorse using buttons and beads.

I read Devotions by Mary Oliver. Every poem in this book is about animals and nature. Some of my favorites were about a snake, the death of her dog, how nature is so beautiful. It made me think about times I saw trees and thought I wished I could take nice photos.

I read about dogs and found out: 1. dogs help people by comforting them when needed 2. dogs help people by keeping them entertained 3. people help dogs by feeding them for them to stay alive 4. people help dogs by giving them a safe home I never encountered dinosaurs in real life Book name: Jurassic book series I found out these following facts about birds: 1. birds can fly 2. birds have no teeth 3. birds don't sweat 4. they are warm-blooded 5. they lay hard-shelled eggs Survivors is a series about a pack of dogs surviving and growing together Natural horse habitats. Horses live there and they depend on grass. Survivors is a fiction series. In Hindi, you write horse as goda. I read about Rhinos.

I made construction floor puzzle.