Energizing Fruits

Do you ever have those days where you are absolutely worn out by 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon? I made a list of 5 fruits that can help you stayed energized on these long days and why they help.

1) Bananas. Often known as one of the best energy fruits, bananas is high in both potassium as well carbohydrates. According to one study eating a banana gives a cyclist the same amount of energy a carbohydrate drink would before a 46 mile ride. Bananas also help reduce risks of asthma and help those with low blood pressure. One of my favourite snacks are sliced bananas with a little bit of peanut butter on top (sometimes a few sprinkles too 😉)

2) Avocados. These are considered a “super food” and can be found in almost any health food restaurant. 4/5 of the carb content in an avocado is fiber! This helps maintain energy. If you ever need a quick afternoon snack I recommend diced avocado, a little squeezed lemon on top, and some tortilla chips. Yum!

3) Apples. Apples contain tons of antioxidants which some believe slows your digestion of carbs, meaning that energy is released over a longer period of time. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, pureeing apples actually removes the fiber content, so an apple smoothie for example, won’t provide as much energy as a plain apple would.

4) Strawberries. Strawberries are definitely one of my favourite fruits. Strawberries can help protect your body from inflammation as well as fatigue. One of my favourite part about strawberries is that it’s so flexible. You can do so much with it. It tastes good in salads but its also great in desserts and smoothies.

5) Orange. A large orange can provide 18% of the normal fiber intake. Oranges also have the ability to fight off viral infections and they can regulate those with high blood pressure. Not to mention they are also delicious and found in almost every grocery store.

 

I hoped you enjoyed this post! Hope you all have an amazing week!

~ Mara

P.S First post of 2019! 🙂

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The Top Places I Want To Visit

Hi everybody! I hope that you all have a splendid Christmas (if you celebrate.) Today, I have a post about the places I want to visit most that I haven’t already been. Enjoy!

Before I start with where I want to go, I want to focus on my favourite place that I’ve ever been. It always use to be hard for me to say when somebody asked me that question but this summer I visited the Yorkshire Dales for a day and that became my favourite place ever.

Yorkshire Dales

The Dales is a national park which is about an hour drive from the city of York. It is about 850 miles and filled with beautiful rolling dales and tons of sheep. There are castles, hiking paths, pubs, and lots of little rivers in the park. There is so much to experience in the Dales. In the town of Hawes, you can try over 30 types of Wensleydale cheese. In Pateley Bridge, you can go to England’s oldest candy shoppe. In Kilnsey there is an annual rock climbing competition up Kilnsey Crag. Here are some of my favourite pictures of the Dales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is my top 10 countdown of places that I want to visit the most.

Moraine Lake, Alberta

Moraine Lake (also known as Lake Louise) is in Banff National Park. I would like to visit there because some of my neighbours recently visited and they shared with us some amazing pictures. There are also tons of hiking trails going around the lake. You can also canoe through the lake which I think would be really exciting.

Moraine Lake

 

Antarctica

This one is pretty brief but someday I would love to visit Antarctica. I would love to see animals like seals, penguins, and polar bears in the wild. In school we watched a video showing that in a couple of decades a lot of Antarctica could be gone because of things such as global warming. I would like to be able to visit Antarctica while it’s still around!

Santorini, Greece

This one is just a must-do. Everywhere you go there seems to be pictures of this beautiful island in the Aegean Sea. Even though I would love to see all the buildings I would also like to go to see the prehistoric town of Akrotiri on the island. Akrotiri is a settlement from the Bronze Ages.

Rainbow Mountains, Peru

I probably saw this for the first time in a travel magazine. The rainbow mountains in Peru are all different colours from minerals like chlorite and iron sulphide. The pictures of the rainbow mountains you see are often enhanced to make colours brighter but I still think it’d be amazing to see these mountains in person.

Torres del Paine, Chile

I’m going to call Torres del Paine National Park like a mix of Antarctica and Moraine Lake from earlier. Torres del Paine is on the southern tip of Chile near Antarctica and it has lots of glacial lakes that look similar to Moraine Lake (minus the pine trees.) If I got to go to Torres del Paine I think I would go hiking around Lake Pehoè and climb Cordillera Paine (a small mountain range.)

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

This is one of must-visits. I would love to see the Galapagos turtles in real life. I’ve seen so many pictures of them, but I think they would be even more amazing up close. Along with the turtles on the islands there are also Galapagos fur seal. They are really cute! (Go look up pictures of them right now and you’ll see what I mean 😉)

Black Forest, Germany

If I’m meaning honest I’ve never been a fan of the Black Forest cake (I know, I’m crazy) but nonetheless I think it would still be neat to visit the real Black Forest. The pictures of the forest look almost magical. It seems like something out of a fairy tale.

Caño Cristales, Columbia

The first time I heard about Caño Cristales was on Twitter. Someone posted a video of a river in the heart of a Columbian forest that was a multitude of different colours between July and November. I was like this isn’t real and then I searched it up and it was. Thats when I knew I had to visit this river someday. It’s pretty remote and hard to get to but I think even a glimpse of it would be amazing. Here is a link to a video by Business Insider where you can learn more about it.

Lake District, England

I’ve already been to England but I would like to return and visit the Lake District. The Lake District is northwest of the dales and is also very beautiful. The Dales has rivers but the Lake District has.. well, lakes. Did you know that The Lake District influenced lot’s of Beatrix Potter’s (famous author for children) work?

Seychelles

I’ve always wanted to visit the Seychelles. The Seychelles is northeast of Madagascar and west of Kenya. It sits in the Indian Ocean. If I went to the Seychelles I would spend a lot of time relaxing. A lot of my other trips are very ‘on-the-go’ but if I went to the Seychelles I think I would do a lot of relaxing.

Thank you for reading all about my top 10 places to visit! Comment in the comment section below about where your dream destination(s) are! Merry Christmas Eve!

~ Mara

My Favourite Travel Photos

Hi everyone! Today I have a post just showing some of my favourite travel photos that I haven’t gotten the chance to share in past photos.

 

July 2017 – Madison, Wisconsin – Lake Mendota

August 2017 – Eagle, Wisconsin – Old World Wisconsin

October 2017 – Wheaton, Illinois – Danada Forest Preserve

February 2018 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

March 2018 – Naperville, Illinois – Centennial Park

May 2018 – Glencoe, Illinois – Chicago Botanic Gardens

June 2018 – Milwaukee Wisconsin – Milwaukee Bell Tower

June 2018 – West Bend, Wisconsin – Lucas Lake

June 2018 – Quebec, Canada

July 2018 – York, England

July 2018 – Castle Bolton, England

July 2018 – Appletreewick, England

July 2018 – Buckden, England

July 2018 – Bath, England – Parade Gardens

July 2018 – Stonehenge

July 2018 – Dublin, Ireland

August 2018 – Naperville, Illinois

August 2018 – Theinsville, Wisconsin

August 2018 – Farmington, Wisconsin

I hope you liked the photos! Have a great rest of the week! 🙂

 

~ Mara

Naperville: Days 3 and 4

Hi everyone! Here is our post about Days 3 and 4 in Naperville. Enjoy!

We started off Black Friday by heading to the Christkindl Market which is across from the Hotel Indigo. At the Christkindl Market, we got some amazing pierogies and the best hot chocolate I ever tasted.

 

After we went to the Kris Kringle Market we headed to a restaurant called Q-BBQ for a smaller lunch (after the pierogies.) We ordered some sides of cornbread, chilli, hush puppies, and Brussels sprouts. The Brussels sprouts were sweetened and very crispy. My favourite thing that we got at Q was the hush puppies. They were delicious!

That afternoon we headed to the Starbucks Reserve bar for some afternoon drinks. Yum!

The next day, we headed to Burrito Parrilla Mexicana. They have the best guacamole there and they even a horchata machine. It’s like a soda machine but with horchata instead of soda.

Then we headed to Standard Market which is a grocery store not far from the Hotel Indigo and Downtown Naperville. They make really cool cakes there, so I usually tend to linger in the dessert section of the store.

That afternoon we headed to a theatre to watch a movie. My parents wanted to see Ralph Breaks the Internet. It was pretty good but the best part of the movie was definitely with the princesses.

The next day we got up early and left Naperville at 9:40 because Snow Storm Bruce was headed toward Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. We wanted to get back home before it began to snow.

Goodbye, Naperville!

I hope you enjoyed the post! Thanks for reading!

~ Mara

 

Naperville: Days 1 and 2

Hi everyone! I was recently was on a vacation in Thanksgiving in the town of Naperville which is in the northern part of Illinois, not far from Chicago. Enjoy the post about our first and second day here!

We stopped for lunch in Lincolnshire, Illinois before arriving in Naperville. We ate a family-run Italian Market called Bontà. I got the pasta alfredo. It was amazing! We also tried one of their mini cannolis. The mascarpone filling was absolutely delicious.

Cannolis!

Pasta Alfredo

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Bontà Menu

We arrived at the Hotel Indigo on the Naperville Riverwalk at 1:00 in the afternoon. After we got settled we headed to the Starbucks Reserve Bar.

 

Then we headed to the Morton Arboretum which was once owned by Joy Morton (he founded the salt company.) The Morton Arboretum hosts something every November and December called “Illumination.” The Illumination is basically a mile walk around some of the main grounds in the arboretum. Along the path, all the trees have amazing lights projected onto the trees. It’s amazing to see!

For dinner that night, we headed to Patio restaurant in Aurora. The Patio is known for its BBQ but I got the vegetable sandwich which was pretty good. (I don’t have photos of this meal. Sorry.)

 

The next day was Thanksgiving. We spent the morning relaxing in our hotel room but for lunch, we headed to CityGate Grille by the Hotel Arista. CityGate was serving a Thanksgiving Day Lunch. For my soup course, I got the potato leek soup. My mom and dad got the avgolemono soup.

Potato Leek Soup

I didn’t get a salad but both my mom and dad got the featured salad that had bleu cheese and apple vinaigrette. For my main course, I got mashed potatoes, honey roasted sweet potato, and green beans. My parents got the same thing but my dad got turkey with his and my mom got ham.

For dessert, we all got the pumpkin pie with cinnamon whipped cream. We were stuffed.

After lunch, we headed back to our room. Then that afternoon we went to the Starbucks Reserve Bar. I got a peppermint mocha. 😋

I hope you liked hearing about our first two days. Stayed posted for the next post on our trip in Naperville.

A Day At School: Tuesday, November 20th, 2018

Hi! Today, was our last day at school before our Thanksgiving break. Hooray!

 

Science

Today in Science we finished working on our graphs with our partners that show the different amounts of gravity on Mars, Earth, and Jupiter. Jupiter has the most gravity of the three, and Mars has barely any gravity.

 

French

In French we had to write a paragraph in French comparing French breakfast traditions and American breakfast traditions. Two main points in mine were that waffles (une gaufre) in France are more commonly eaten for dessert instead of breakfast like here in the United States. Another point was that in France they call toast with jam/nutella/butter, tartines.

 

Social Studies

In Social Studies we first watched CNN 10 (CNN’s daily news for middle school/high schools students.) Then my two partners and I began to work on our google presentation on the Treaty of Ghent. The Treaty of Ghent was what ended the War of 1812 between England and America.

 

Study Hall

In Study Hall, I worked on one of my essays for English class. I reached the minimum of 3 pages.

 

Reading

In Reading we got our literary essays. I was one of the only kids in my grade to get all the conventions in my essay right. I ended up getting 9/10 points (94%.)

 

Lunch/Recess

Today at recess one of my best friends and I worked on our skit for the talent show. We are the emcees that host the talent show.

 

English

In English class our teacher put on Charlie Brown Thanksgiving while we worked on typing our handwritten essays onto our laptops.

 

Fire Drill

Today we had a fire drill which was really cold! It was only 20 degrees outside and I was wearing short sleeves. The firefighters drove by a couple times and then we headed back inside.

 

Math

In Math we had a quiz reviewing the Pythagorean Theorem. I think I did pretty well on it. We had to use the theorem to find the area and perimeter of different shapes like arrows and equilateral triangles.

 

P.E

Today in P.E we had game day (my favourite part of the week!) One of my friends and I played basketball and then we took an anatomy quiz. After we finished the quiz we all played dodgeball which is my favourite game.

 

I hope you enjoyed my post! Have an amazing Thanksgiving for those who live in the US! 🙂

~ Mara

 

A Day at School: Tuesday, November 13th, 2018

Hi everyone! It’s Mara here back with a new post about my day at school today.

Hour 1 Science

This morning in science we went over our tests that we took about a week or two ago. I got a 73% which isn’t great. Then we worked on our animations of the sun moon earth system and how the moon rotates around the earth and the earth rotates around the sun.

 

Hour 2 French

In French this morning we learned about the different forms of the verb “prend” which means to take.

 

Hour 3 Social Studies

In Social Studies we worked on notes where we learned about the president John Adams and his foreign affairs with countries such as France and Great Britain. When John Adams decided to make peace with France instead of having a war against them, he lost popularity which in the end cost him his presidency.

 

Hour 4 Study Hall

Today in study hall I worked on an essay I had to finish for my English class about the themes and what there meaning is in a book we are reading.

 

Hour 5 Reading

In Reading we learned about what makes a dystopian story a dystopian. We have to write an essay about a dystopian story we are reading this upcoming Thursday.

 

Lunch/Recess

Today during recess it was only 15 degrees out so most people stayed inside. One of my friends and I went outside though and we met the cops who came to “hang out” with us. The ended up playing basketball which was pretty cool.

 

Hour 7 English

In English class I turned in the 4 page essay we had to write by hand for homework last night. My hand was so sore and I had almost used up all the lead in my mechanical pencil by the end of it! Tonight we have to write an essay but this one is only 2 pages.

 

Hour 8 Math

In my math class we are learning about algebraic equations and how to use the Pythagorean Theorem on them. So far it is pretty easy to do.

 

Hour 9 P.E

I got to leave math 15 minutes and go to P.E. Today we had CPR with the local firefighters. It was pretty easy but one of the group’s had the head of their mannequin fall off which was pretty fun. When we had learned what to do, we had to do an example for the whole class. One of my friends grabbed the defibrillator, another one of my friends did CPR, and I was the person who called 9-1-1. During the example though I had a really bad coughing attack which was really awkward. Everyone in my class was like “do we have to do CPR on her?”

 

I hope you enjoyed! Have an amazing week! 🙂

~ Mara