Day: October 19, 2016

Our First Lego League Team

My sister Simran and I are part of a First Lego League (FLL) team. The team also includes two of our friends, Brady and Naythan. Our team name is the Cryptic Cookies.

FLL is a two part competition and is organized around a theme. The theme  for 2016/2017 is Animal Allies. The first part of the competition is to complete a project based on the theme. bat-book-cover-pageOur team decided to focus on conserving bats; for our project, we  published an iBook titled “Days of Danger: the life of a bat”, which is on sale now for 99 cents in the iTunes Store, and we are also creating a board game to educate kids on bat conservation.  All proceeds of the iBook will go to Bat Conservation International, an organization which strives to help conserve bats.

The second part of the competition involves a series of missions to be completed using a Lego robot. This year, we must program our robot to deliver food to Lego animals, collect milk and manure, bring prosthetic legs to a stranded pig, and more.

The Cryptic Cookies also has a website. The link to our website is thecrypticcookies.simplesite.com .

 

Palm Springs – A Word on Travel

By Simran Jayasinghe

All smiles at the Homewood Suites!
All smiles at the Homewood Suites!

Not too long ago we went to Palm Springs for a relaxing vacation. It was the end of summer, everybody in our family needed a break from all our summer activities. We drove out to Palm Springs and stayed there for about 5 days. We started in San Diego, and traveled north on interstate 15 to the 79 east, then to the 371 east, and finally onto the 74 east which brought us to Indian Wells near Palm Springs. We drove through the Cahuilla Reservation, and the Santa Rosa and San Janito mountains. The scenery was beautiful, and the drive was enjoyable.

It was a nice, relaxing vacation, even though most days it was really, hot, usually around 105 degrees.  Since it was so hot outside, we took advantage of the hotel’s air conditioning, and stayed in the room all day playing Monopoly, cards, and other games we had brought along.  We stayed at a Homewood Inn and Suites. The hotel room was perfect for our family because it had a room with a king bed and a living area with a sofa bed. The room also had an oven, a microwave, a stove, and a sink.

The hotel had a complimentary breakfast, which was wonderful, and they also had an evening snack, that was scrumptious as well. The hotel had a nice pool and gym. We swam on a couple of days, and when we did, it was late in the evening because it was cooler. We used the gym a couple times too, all five of us, my Mom, Dad, two sisters, and I. The location of the hotel was convenient. Just next to the hotel was an Applebee’s, and we ended up ordering food from there most days.  Overall, the stay was relaxing and enjoyable,  and if we go to Palm Springs again, we will be sure to stay at the same hotel!