Houston Heat

The month of August was the hottest month ever in Houston. With a average temperature of 88.7 degrees it beat records from 1980 and 1962. During the month there were extreme weather events like heat waves, heavy rain, and costal storms with hurricanes. Joyce Yao of Environment Texas reported in the "Houston Press" that the temperature was just a taste of what is to come.

West Nile virus

This virus is carried by mosquitoes, and when a bug with the virus bites you the viruses deadly if not treated right away. The mosquito population had a sudden surge this summer with all the rain and many cases of West Nile virus were being reported in the Houston area. So to help stop the mosquito problem the city, at night, had fogging truck drive through neighborhoods and spray to prevent the virus from spreading.

Camp Longhorn

Camp Longhorn is located in Burnet, about a hour and a half away from Austin. This year was my tenth year but my first as a counselor. I had a cabin of all first years going into the 5th grade, and they had a lot of energy. Camp Longhorn is right in the heart of the hill country and has beautiful natural springs running through the property which is home to many frogs and bugs. The days were very hot so I had to stay hydrated and make sure my campers were too.

Vail Colorodo

This summer I also went to Vail, Colorado to play lacrosse with a traveling team. While we were there we took the gondola to the top of the mountain and played frisbee and watched the storm clouds come towards us and chase us off the mountain.

Emerald Lake

We stayed the night at Emerald Lake Lodge, which is up the road but in Yoho National Park, British Colombia. The next morning we went my father, brother , and me went on a hike up to Emerald Basin. Emerald Lake is a natural lake that is made up of melted glacier water. The hike was rough because there were no switchbacks so the hike was strait up. The hike was beautiful and we got to see two ground squirrels and while we were taking they there warning us to get away.t

Moraine Lake

This summer my family went to Canada to visit my grandma in Calgary. While we were there we went to Banff National Park and stopped at Moraine Lake to hike up to the valley of the ten peeks. The entire way up we could hear, what my dad called rock slides, but were actually thunder. When we where about ten minutes from the top it starts to rain so we found shelter under a tree. When it started lightening we started running down the mountain until it was hailing so we stopped and went under a tree again because it was cold and the hail hurt. When we got to the bottom everyone was dry and they were all starring at us because we were soaked. The weather in the mountains is so crazy because at the top of the trail it was really freezing and rainy and at the bottom it was dry and chilly.

The Zoo

This summer my brother and I went to the zoo at noon, which was not the smartest idea because it was the middle of July and extremely hot. While we were there we visited the rhinos, elephants, zebras, and giraffes oh my. We also went in the underground exhibit under the lions habitat area, and while we were under there the lion was laying down and sleeping and then it popped up ad started staring at us like we were its next meal.