We Go With Kids!

Category: messi jr.

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts

Thank you to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for hosting my family’s visit. All opinions are my own.

Guest Author: Our kid blogger, Messi Jr. is an eleven year old sixth grader who loves travel, soccer and basketball.

My family and I recently took a fun and exciting road trip from Cleveland, Ohio to Amherst, Massachusetts. Although the focus of the trip was to see our uncle and aunt, we went to many cool places and learned many amazing things as well. My favorite attraction was the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. I faithfully watched the Cavs during their four post-season national championships and played basketball in my church league for at least five years and was ecstatic when my mom told me she would take us to the Hoop Hall. At the Basketball Hall of Fame, we learned about the greatest basketball players and the history of the game and got to shoot around on Center Court trying out old and new hoops. We also competed in a free throw contest.

First, when we entered the Basketball Hall of Fame building, we saw exhibits for 15 of the all-time best basketball players in glass cases. Inside each case, there was the player’s jersey, shoes and a little screen detailing some of their personal highlights and achievements. We also got to compare our shoe sizes to the pros. Shaquille O’Neal wore a size 22!

My sister’s shoe compared to Shaquille O’Neal’s

Once we were done checking in, we watched a 12 minute video about the evolution of basketball and learned that basketball was invented by James Naismith in Springfield in 1891. The video was the perfect introduction to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

With some background knowledge, we headed to the third floor Honors Ring. As we circled around level three, we read a paragraph about each Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.

We next went down to the Players’ Gallery on the second floor where we looked at lockers filled with players’ memorabilia and played some interactive games that compared us to average NBA basketball players. The interactive exhibits measured how high we could jump to catch a rebound or dunk and also included a virtual reality basketball game and pop-a-shot.

After the Player’s Gallery, we went down to Center Court on the first floor where there was a regulation basketball court with two pro-sized hoops and also different hoops lining the walls from a peach barrel to the newest hoop. There was also a dunk zone where almost everyone can find the perfect sized hoop to dunk on.

Finding the perfect hoop to practice my dunks

In the Basketball Hall of Fame complex, there are several restaurants. We had lunch at Max’s Tavern where I ate a huge burger. After we were done, we raced back to Center Court for the free throw competition. All the participants lined up and took a regulation free throw. Those who made the shot stayed on the court while those who missed watched from the sidelines. The sudden death rounds continue until there are two finalists. In the final round, the two finalists then take three free throws each, and the whoever makes more becomes the winner. Out of about 40 participants of all ages, I won! My mom thinks I was lucky, but really, it came down to pure skill. This video shows my winning shot at the Basketball Hall of Fame Free Throw competition.

For winning the Free Throw competition, I received the competition ball, a drawstring backpack, a Basketball Hall of Fame hat and t-shirt, basketball cards, a miniature basketball and a net.

The Basketball Hall of Fame was a very fun place to visit, and I learned about basketball history and have a new appreciation for the sport. I recommend the Basketball Hall of Fame to anyone visiting Springfield, Massachusetts, especially basketball fans.

July 15, 2019
Kids’ Blog: Shelling in Sanibel

Thank you to the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum for providing complimentary tickets for my family. All opinions are my own.

Guest Author: Our kid blogger, Messi Jr., is an eleven year old fifth grader who loves travel and soccer.

My family recently took a really fun trip to Sanibel, Florida. Sanibel is known as one of best shelling beaches in the world. Over my trip, I went shelling many times and learned a lot about shells. Today, I will share to you all the best ways of finding and learning about shells in Sanibel, Florida.

Shelling at sunrise

Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum

At the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel, my family and I learned about all the shells we were finding on the beach. We went to the Tank Talk where a professional naturalist and sheller talked about the shells and what could be inside. An important thing to know is that if you find something living in a shell, it should be carefully placed in the water and not thrown into the water as this could harm the creature living inside. After going to the National Shell Museum, I now have a clearer understanding of shells and could name almost all of the shells we collected. With all that we learned there, I only wish we had gone to the National Shell Museum at the beginning of our weekend in Sanibel.

World Record Shells

Shelling at the Beach

On our trip, I tried different ways of shelling. On our first morning, we went to the beach at sunrise and looked in the water and on the shoreline. We had our best result by far when went in the water early in the morning. A good tip is to wade into the water and dig through the sand with your feet until you feel a shell. Then, scoop it up with your hands. When shelling in the water or on the beach, it is always a good idea to bring a mesh bag to keep all the shells you want to keep.

Some of the many shells we found

Shelling After a Storm

Although there weren’t any storms during our trip, we learned at the Tank Talk that the best time to shell is early in the morning after a storm. During a storm, all the big shells from farther into the ocean will wash up onto shore. Some of these may include the rarest shell in Sanibel called junonia, which is a shell found extremely far and low in the ocean. This shell is so rare that when someone finds one, it is often reported in the local news.

Our path to the beach

Conclusion

I had a really fun trip to Sanibel, Florida. I liked shelling and learning about all the shells at the National Shell Museum. The best time to find shells is early in the morning after a storm or by wading a few feet into the ocean. My family and I found such great shells. I hope we go back to Sanibel soon.

April 13, 2019
Kids’ Blog: Iceland

Guest Author: Our kid blogger, Messi Jr., is a nine year old fourth grader who loves travel and soccer.

My Iceland trip was awesome.

Iceland Day 1

On day one, as soon as my family and I got to the Icelandic airport, everyone was wide awake because we slept the whole flight. When we got out of the airport, it was very cold and rainy. My family and I got on the bus that would take us to a place that we would get a rental car.

On the bus, I saw two strange things. The first thing that was strange was that out of the window I saw rocks. Some were the size of pebbles and others were the size of cars. The rocks were all different shapes, but many were the size of backpacks. There seemed to be millions. And, there were planes and planes of them. But, they were covered in something. I didn’t know what it was so I asked my dad what it was, and he said it was moss. I thought it was very strange, but I could believe it when I saw it. The other thing I wondered about was the rocks. When I looked closely, there were many holes. I recognized it as a lava rock. I wasn’t surprised since I knew from a book I had read about Iceland that it said that Iceland was formed by volcanos.

Once we got off the bus, we went to a place where we rented a 4×4 car, which meant it can drive through harsh conditions. With the car, we drove to the convenience store and bought some food that we ate at the shop for breakfast. At the store, the Cool One and I both found coins. The Cool One found a 1 krona coin, and I found a 2 krona coin. Next, we went to Costco. At Costco, we bought squeezies for my sister, water bottles for the car, Nutella to put on our bread for breakfast, and rotisserie chicken for our sandwiches.

Before we ate lunch, we went to the lava tunnel, but the noon tour was full. For lunch, we went to a nearby town and picked up some very yummy pizza, which we ate in the car heading toward the lava tunnel. In the lava tunnel, we had to wear headlamps so we could see around the tunnel. We learned that before headlamps and flashlights, all people saw in the tunnel was pitch black. The only way you could see was from small holes on the roof. We also learned that lava once rushed through the tunnel. My sister was the youngest person to ever go in the tunnel.

The next thing that we did was we drove, well we tried to drive to Kerid crater, but we drove into another crater. In that crater, there were many lava rocks. We could also see all the layers of the crater.

The next stop was Kerid crater. The cool thing about Kerid is that the deep crater has a lake at the bottom of it. My dad also said that Kerid was formed 6,500 years ago. On our way to the apartment, my brother, sister and I took a nap in the car. I thought that I had slept for the whole night! We watched some TV, but it was only in Icelandic, so we didn’t understand a thing. We tried to take a shower, but the drain was plugged, so that made it pretty challenging. The day ended with everyone having a good night sleep.

Iceland Day 2

Once everyone had woken up and dressed up, we went to Seljalandfoss, which is a famous waterfall because you can walk behind it. Seljalandfoss is a very tall waterfall. When my family and I walked behind it, we got soaked, but it was worth it because it was amazing.

As we were driving to Skogafoss, we saw Eyjafalljokul, which is a volcano that erupted a few days after my brother was born, which delayed my grandma from flying back to England.

Once we were at Skogafoss, we saw a huge waterfall, and when the water hit the river it had been forming, mist shot up and formed a huge circle.

We also saw a huge glacier that turned out to be the biggest glacier outside of the North and South Poles.

In a bird sanctuary, we saw a few puffins.

At Renisjfara beach, the sand was black! It wasn’t just normal sand, it was volcanic sand! We also saw a lot of basalt rocks. There were also strong waves. My brother, my dad, and I were standing about 2 yards away from where the waves end, then suddenly, a huge wave came and everyone started running, but I tripped over a big rock. I fell down and before the wave went back in, my dad pulled me out. I was wet, so I had to change all of my clothes.

As we drove, we passed the beautiful city of Vik, but we didn’t stop. The next place we went was Vatnajokull, which is the biggest ice cap (other than the North and South poles). It was a very beautiful sight.

The next stop was Jokulsaron. One of the reasons Dad wanted to come to Iceland was to see this site. Jokulsaron is a lake with icebergs. The icebergs and lake come from a glacier that was constantly melting. The ice on the beach was my favorite sight of Iceland. On the beach, when Dad was taking a picture of my brother and me near the iceberg, as he walked backward to get a good shot of us, he tripped over ice and fell backward. When he put his hand down to save himself, he went down so hard he broke the thick ice and hurt his hand a lot.

We went as fast as we could to Hofn hoping to get to Hofn before the guesthouse closed. hoped that we would make it in time so we wouldn’t have to sleep in the car. Luckily, we just made it in time. For dinner, we had pasta with rotisserie chicken. Even though we tried our best to keep my sister quiet, she was still very loud. We eventually got her quiet watching Netflix. We had a good night of sleep.

Iceland Day 3

We woke up in the morning to nice blue skies, which ended up to be a nice, blue, dry, and sunny day. We woke up so late that by the time my family woke up, everyone else in the apartment had left for the day. My mom lost her ring that she was very sad about, but it was a good thing she found it later in the trip. As we drove to Netto, we had an amazing view of a glacier.

For lunch, we stopped on the side of the road where we saw a bench that overlooked the ocean. We ate some of the food we bought at Netto. My sister made a rock collection, which she loved and added to during the trip. We stopped in a tourist office, and we got even more maps! Next, we stopped on the side of the road where we saw a stream, and there was a wonderful view of everything around us. My brother and I skipped a few rocks into the stream.

As we kept driving, near a farm we passed, we saw amazing hovering birds. My dad took a few photos of them hovering and trying to find food.

As we kept driving along, we went into two tunnels. One tunnel was 5 km, and the second tunnel was 6 km! We stopped at Kronan where we got fish, fish stew, and French fries. We spent the night in the fishing village of Eskijfordur. We stayed in a very nice apartment. For dinner, we had the fish and fish stew with the French fries, and we also had peas, and for dessert, we had ice cream. But, that still wasn’t the end of the day!

At 9:30, there was great weather as we were driving to the mine that was famous because it had the most spar crystals in the world. We saw many animals running across the road. Some were so close, the car could have ran over them. Once we got to the walking path, we walked up a big hill seeing thousands and thousands of spar crystals. The mine shaft was blocked off by the rocks, but there were still many spar crystals. My sister, brother, and I made a huge spar crystal collection and left it on a rock.

As we headed to our apartment, we saw the most amazing midnight sun we had seen on the whole vacation. At end the day, we had a good night sleep.

Iceland Day 4

We woke up in the morning and had a quick breakfast. We had a very quick breakfast because we wanted the maximum time at our first hot pot in Iceland. It was a very cold day, which is the best pool weather in Iceland because every single pool is heated by natural magma and lava. My family and I were the only people in the pool. We all had fun on the slides, and when it was time to go, my sister didn’t want to get out. The rest of the day all my sister wanted to do was go back in the pool.

We had lunch in the apartment. It was raining very heavily, and the sky was very ugly white and gray. It was still raining, but we drove to Dettifoss, which is a popular waterfall. On the way, we got gas and looked for reindeer, but we didn’t see a single reindeer. Dettifoss was one of the best sites we saw in Iceland. It is amazing how much water comes down. My sister nearly walked the whole hike by herself to the waterfall.

The first four days in Iceland were lots of fun.

November 10, 2017
Kids’ Blog: My Los Angeles Trip

Guest Author: Our kid blogger, Messi Jr., is a nine year old fourth grader who loves travel and soccer.

I had an awesome Los Angeles trip. I went because my mom had business there. The weather was really hot. The day before we came, it was 104 degrees. While we were there, it was in the 90s. Today, I will tell you about the top four things I did in Los Angeles.

My favorite thing I did was the La Brea Tar Pits. The La Brea Tar Pits are tar pits that trapped animals during the Ice Age so that the animals couldn’t get out. At the La Brea Tar Pits, they dig up the bones from the tar pits. They had saber tooth cats, mammoths, lizards, mastodons, and many more.

My second favorite thing in Los Angeles was Santa Monica. I liked Santa Monica because it was about 90 degrees and felt good to dip my feet in the Pacific Ocean. The other reason I liked Santa Monica was because of the pier. A pier is like a boardwalk over the ocean. On the pier, I saw multiple musicians, a magic performer, and an artist. I bought a painting of the pier from a painter. There was also an amusement park with a roller coaster, ferris wheel and other rides.

My third favorite thing that I did in Los Angeles was the Getty Center. The Getty Center is an art museum. I liked all of the paintings and the architecture. I got a very cool view of the city from the museum. My favorite painting was Van Gogh’s Irises.

My fourth favorite thing in Los Angles was the Disney Concert Hall. The reason I liked the Concert Hall was because of the architecture. The building looked like a lot of metal pieces that fit together. The architect was called Frank Gehry. He also designed a building in University Circle.

A few other cool things I saw were Hollywood, the City Hall, and lots of cars, including Ferraris, Rolls Royces, Lamborghinis, and Porsches. I had a really great trip to Los Angeles.

Pin it to Pinterest:

October 30, 2017