White House-By Kennedy

                                                    The White House

As many people know, the White House is home to the President of the United States. There have been 45 presidential families who have lived in this building. The current President is Donald J. Trump. Many people dislike him because of his poor decisions, tweeting, and insults to many. During the tour, we visited 7 fancy rooms.

The Vermeil Room was once a billiard room. It had a collection of European and American objects, covered in bronze and silver. There are also portraits of recent first ladies displayed.

This is the East Room.

It is the location of state dinners, receptions, concerts, weddings, and press conferences. Both Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy laid in the room after their assassinations. When the White House was burned in 1814, Dolly Madison removed the portraits of George Washington, for safekeeping.

It's the Green Room!!!

This is where Thomas Jefferson hosted lots of his dinners. It has been a parlor since James Madison's time. In this room, there are John and Abigail Adams' silver coffee urn and James and Dolley Madison's French candlesticks. The furniture was made from 1800-1815.

This oval blue room has been a reception room.

In 1817, President James Monroe furnished the room. Before he did that, there were 7 pieces of furniture: gilded chairs, the sofa, and the clock on the mantel. President Grover Cleveland was the only president to get married at the White House. That was held here in the Blue Room.

The Red Room is often used by first ladies to receive guests, since the early 19th century. President Rutherford Hayes took oath of office in1877. The furniture was made in New York between 1810-1819. The marble mantel has been in the White House since 1819.

The State Dining Room has had the same furniture since 1902, when Theodore Roosevelt was President. As many as 140 people can be seated at dinners and lunches by using the round table. The portrait of Abraham Lincoln was painted in 1869 by George P.A. Healy.

Overall, the White House is a very historic building. There is lots of antique furniture and pictures from all the past presidents. 

My Visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC - by Kennedy

                                   United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

This national museum is a remembrance of all the victims from the Holocaust in Europe. More than 6 million European Jews were murdered at concentration camps including Auschwitz, Balzac, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Chelmno, Dachau, Ebensee, and Flossenburg. Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi party from 1934 to 1945.





When each person arrived at the       concentration camps, the Nazi's cut off that person's hair. They collected seven thousand kilograms of hair and delivered them to nationalized upholstery industries. Each person had mugshots taken before he or she was horribly murdered.

As shown in this picture, not only adults were killed, but young, innocent children as well. One million Jewish children were killed by burning, starvation, poisoning, and many other brutal actions. Although many people died in the Holocaust, many of them survived by being hidden in buildings.

Many prisoners were forced to join a slave labor system. Some of the jobs were sewing, building and other difficult tasks. Though they worked hard, they weren't treated well. They only got fed twice a day and the food servings were little and unpleasant. Overall, many of the prisoners would rather do hard labor than be killed.

Most deported Jews endured a torturous train journey to death camps in bare freight cars. They had conditions of hunger and thirst, overcrowding, and bad sanitation. In the winter they would deal with freezing temperatures and in summer they dealt with suffocating heat. Unfortunately, most of the elderly people and young children died during the journey.

There are thousands of burned shoes saved from the holocaust. The shoes belonged to poor Jews exterminated in the Holocaust. They lived to tell the sad story. There were about 43,000 pairs of shoes found when the Soviet Union liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945. Soldiers from the United States, Canada, England, and France liberated the other concentration camps.

These photographs were taken between 1890 and 1941 in Eishishok. The photographs, gathered from more than 100 families, who spent the early childhood with many of the Jews, who's lives were taken. All you have to remember is that the Jews were great people. They were wonderful, innocent people who had a painful end of their lives.

The National Air and Space Museum-By Kennedy

                                           National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum is 1 in 19 museums in the Smithsonian. Many real air crafts and spacecrafts are on display. There are also famous pictures and materials from space. Some are tiny and some are huge. 

This F-1 engine is 1 of 4 engines ised for the Saturn 5 AFT End. The engine is from the rocket of the 1st stage of the Apollo/Saturn 5 launch vehicle. It is 5.6 meters in length and weighs 18,000 pounds. It was manufactured by Rocketdyn, A division of North American Rockwell Corporation. 

Between 1969 and 1971, 12 Americans walked to the Moon. This achievements was one of the greatest accomplishments of exploration in human history. 

This picture has the astronauts from Apollo 11. These 3 men are the most successful of them all. Neil A. Armstrong became the first person on the moon. Edwin "Buzz" E. Aldrin was a pilot in the Korean War and was selected to be the pilot for the Gemini mission. And, Michael Collins took charge in commander in chief of the pro-treaty, Free State Army.

This Apollo command module is a replica of the real mission vehicle. It was used to transport the crew of the last Skylab mission, astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue, to the Skylab Orbital Workshop and back to Earth again. They lived in the Skylab for 84 days. They performed many experiments and proved that humans can live in space for a long period of time.            
                                                 

The 1903 Wright Flyer was built by two brothers, Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright. It made four flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. It was the first ever plane to be flown in control by a pilot. The key to their success was the three-axis control system, which had wing-warping for lateral balance.

In the 1960's, NASA developed grooved runways to direct water flow and improve fraction for air crafts. By directing water else ware, it prevents the chance of aircraft sliding off the runway. This design was so helpful that it is now applied to highway designs to improve safety. 

The Apollo-Soyuz was the first ever spaceflight to include two nations. The Americans sent up an Apollo command module, while the Russians launched a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew of 3 Americans and 2 Soviets combined their modules and shook hands. After this mission, history was made between the enemies.

My Trip to the Holocaust Museum

The Holocaust Museum is a place of remembrance for tragic and grief-inducing events during the mid/early 1900's. It shows the struggle that millions of Jewish people went through and shares their stories.

The museum starts on the fourth floor with Adolf Hitler's appointment as Chancellor. But the tragedy started before 1933 when World War I hit Europe and created new countries. At that time, over nine million Jews lived in Europe.

Between 1933 and 1938, the Nazi state rose to power and became a place where citizens had no guaranteed basic rights. In 1933, the Nazis established their first concentration camp, where they imprisoned homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others classified as "dangerous".

On May 10, 1933, the Nazis held a book burning event. There, they burned "un-German" books that came from public and university libraries, including all books written by Jewish authors.

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland in hopes of wiping out each and every Jewish citizen. Over the next year, Nazi Germany conquered much of Europe.

In many places, Jews were required to wear identifying armbands. In June of 1941, Germany turned against the Soviet Union. On September 2, 1945, World War II came to an end. But by then, over six million Jews had been murdered by the German Nazis.

The museum exhibition came to an end after we walked through a room where the ground was covered in shoes of the many victims of the Holocaust. Seeing these shoes made me realize just how harsh it was to live in these concentration camps.

While there are no Jews in concentration camps in current times, genocide still exists in our world. For example, in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has turned against, and started murdering, his own people. This makes me realize how fortunate we are to live in a country where genocide does not currently exist. But our country needs to do more to help others who face these attrocities.

By: Landry Schoennauer

My Summer as an Ambassador for the SF Marathon - by Kennedy

My Summer as an Ambassador for the San Francisco Marathon

by Kennedy Schoennauer
July 2017

Our super fun race weekend began with the amazing Marathon Race Expo. Since my sister and I are Ambassadors for the San Fransisco Marathon, we helped out at the Berkeley Half Marathon booth where we talked with lots of people.

As we enjoyed helping people sign up, we received a wonderful FitBits, Jaybird earbuds and water bottles, and an ambassador helper shirt. Everyone was thankful for our help and kindness.

We were really exited for the half marathon so we took lots of pictures to recollect our memories in the future. Also, since this was the 40th anniversary for the race, it was an important race year.

The morning of the race, we woke up around 3:30 in the morning and enjoyed the warm car. It was cold in the morning and, since it was cold, I had my soft blanket by my side.

Before it was our turn to start running, we gathered with Run 365 (the team my mom coaches). We said, "good morning" to everyone we know and got prepared for the race.

As we waited in the crowd, our nerves grew and many people asked us what ambassador do. We explained what we do and the benefit's of helping others. Also, we told lots of people good luck.

This is us on the bridge. We laughed because of all the fog this year.

I was tired...not grumpy. It was a great race. The weather was just perfect!

Surf Cup - What a Weekend! by Landry

Surf Cup - What a Weekend!
by Landry Schoennauer
August 2017

We started out our weekend in Carson, California at the USA Women's National Team soccer game. They were playing Japan in the "She Believes Tournament." This is a player from the Australian National Team who were playing against France. The US went on to win their game, but got 3rd in the entire tournament.

Our next stop was San Diego for the San Diego Surf Cup. We were staying with our dad's friend at his house in San Diego. And we also spent a very warm and fun day at the San Diego Yacht Club (and beach).

MVLA needed a goalie for this tournament and I joined their team for the weekend. They needed one player, but ended up getting two. Why? Well, because of my twin sister. She played forward and mid and had a great tournament like I did.

The board you see behind my sister and I has the names of every player, on every team, in the tournament. After a long search we found our names!

When we first showed up at the hotel where the rest of the team was staying, I was nervous. I didn't know if they would be nice or welcoming. Turns out they were! Each player had their own personality and special super power out  on the field.

The weekend ended great, with an amazing third place finish. I was so glad my sister and I could spend this weekend with all the super fun teammates we met. Hopefully in the future we can play with them again and we can have even more fun!!!


By: Landry :)

What I Like Best About Running - by Kennedy

I've been running with my mom, sister, and our running team for many years. The best part about running is meeting new people, enjoying the beautiful courses, and getting a nice work out. Whether the weather is rainy or sunny, I always have lots of fun with my family and new running friends. I've had many experiences in different weather, people, and locations.

Distance running has taught me to be a better runner in many different ways. Right now, I'm also a sprinter and I use the fast reflex skills to balance my slow and steady distance paces. Look how fast I got out of that block!

To begin with, running is perfect no matter how the weather is. When you run you probably stress about it being to cold or hot. The thing is just be comfortable and have fun. Even if some people think the weather is bad, we cheer them up with our happiness. The key thing to running is just to be happy and have fun.

Next, meeting people is always one of the greatest parts of racing. When my mom paces we are always asked, "what the pace is?" By pacing people we push them to do better then they would think. When runners run with us, we get to know each other and our experiences in running. For example, we were running a half marathon and we met a 75 year old man with dementia. Not only did we help him out, but we also pushed him to stick with the pace and we talked about how he got into running and his youth experiences in Idaho.

Do you want your children to run? Here's some advice:
1- Get comfortable running clothes and shoes
2- Train with liquid to hydrate
3- Don't push to hard
Finally, have fun!

Love to Run - By Landry

 I have been running for my entire life.

"Why?" you may ask... because it is fun and a great experience.

I run with my mom and our running team, Run365. Run365 is the official training program for the San Fransisco Marathon and Half Marathon. We run every Sunday down here in the South Bay. What I like most about Run365 is that everyone has somebody who they can run with.

Besides getting a good workout, running is fun because you meet new people.

Since my mom is a coach, we meet new people every run and every race. We meet young runners, old runners, and first timers!

If the weather is rainy or sunny... who cares? We still run!

For example the Berkeley Half Marathon was in the pouring rain. Everyone was checking their phones for the weather... the weather apps said it wouldn't rain until 11. But guess what happened?... it started raining at about the half mile mark. So by the end of the race, we were totally soaked.

Well, we were really soaked well before then.

Do you want your child to become a runner just like you (or like us)?

Here is some advice:

1. Get really good training in.You can't "fake" a half marathon. You have to really train for it, and so do your kids.

2. Get comfortable shoes with really good support. This is important for kids because regularly kid shoes aren't made for long distance running. And replace them after about 300 miles.

3. The day before, eat healthy food with carbohydrates.

4. Hydrate before, during, and after the race.

Hope you have fun!... because I definitely did and I always will!

By Landry:)