• Amy Mendel Winston
  • Robert Winston
  • SUPERFIST1017 ULTRABEAST
  • SHATTERFIST1019
Aug 2022 – Jun 2023

Worldschooling Year

we're hoping to immerse as much as possible into local cultures to understand how other families live around the world while exploring interesting cultures and histories. Read more
  • A Mall and a Bagel Shop (by Lewis)

    March 25, 2023 in South Korea ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    While in South Korea, we went to the Starfield COEX mall and a bagel shop. While in the mall, I bought a siku car. Siku cars are similar to hot wheels. The type of car I purchased is called an Apollo IE. The car has 4 gold wheels, a black body, and a red interior. Outside the mall, we saw a Gangham Style statue that was colored gold. We took a picture in front of it with Andrew, Mom, and Dad; I wasn't in the picture because I was taking the picture. Before we went to the mall, we visited a bagel shop. The bagel store had a Hulk Buster costume in it. The Hulk Buster was really realistic. South Korea has so many activities to do in it.Read more

  • Give me a Seoul for a Seoul ( by Andrew)

    March 27, 2023 in South Korea ⋅ ☀️ 55 °F

    We went to Seoul for a few days. First, we walked around a market. Next, we went to Gyeongung palace. Then, we walked through the city and found a bagel shop.
    In the bagel shop, there was a real size hulk buster. Hulk buster is one of Tony Stark's iron man suits made to handle the hulk. Last, we went home and went for a swim.
    The next day we went to the Starfield Coex Mall. In the mall, there was a library. In the library, there were shelves of books that are 13m high, and even wider. All of these activities were fun. I enjoyed my time in Seoul.
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  • How to Surf (by Andrew)

    April 1, 2023 in Sri Lanka ⋅ 🌧 77 °F

    We went to Sri Lanka to go surfing and I had so much fun doing it. If you want to learn how to surf, here's how you do it. First, you get an instructor. Next, you practice going from laying down to standing up on land. Then, you go down to the beach. Soon after that, get in the water. Once you're in the water, paddle 30 meters out into the water. Meanwhile, find a good wave to surf (a small wave for beginners). When you find your wave, make sure you are at least 15 ft in front of the wave as you start to paddle back towards the beach. When the wave is 2 ft behind you, you put your right foot a small bit forward. Next, you move your left foot to the center of the board. Then, stand up and try to keep your balance. Ride the wave until you are close to the beach. Lastly, have fun!!!Read more

  • Green Sea Turtle Hatchery (by Lewis)

    April 5, 2023 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 88 °F

    While in Weligama, we went to a sea turtle hatchery. While we were at the hatchery, we saw some green sea turtles. The turtles were very cute, though we couldn't pick them up. We also got to release some of the green sea turtles into the ocean. Additionally, I wrote a slideshow on green sea turtles for fun.

    Green sea turtles are very interesting animals. Green sea turtle’s shell’s colors are dark brown, gray, or olive and a much lighter, yellow-to-white underside. Not only that, but sea turtles lay their eggs in a nest they dig in the sand with their back flippers. The group of eggs is called a clutch. Each clutch has over 100 eggs! Also, sea turtles have distinctive face marks that are different to each turtle, kind of like human fingerprints! Additionally, sea turtles don’t retract into their shells! There are so many facts about sea turtles that you can look up.
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  • How to Surf (by Lewis)

    April 8, 2023, Bay of Bengal ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    I took surfing lessons in Weligama, Sri Lanka and it was really fun. Sri Lanka has the best starter surfer beaches there because there are consistent waves, no rocks, soft sand, and chest deep water. Gliding on a surfboard can be really exciting once you get the hang of staying up. Learning to surf is an amazing way to clear out your mind and focus on one thing.

    Before you start surfing, you need to gather the supplies. Those supplies include a surfboard, a bathing suit, and good waves. A good wave is a not-too-big, not-too-small wave. After you get the materials, paddle out, using your hands, into the surf. After that, you need to find a good wave. When the good wave is thirty feet away, turn the board around, by paddling, a one hundred eighty degree angle. When the wave is about ten feet away, start ferociously paddling forward. Let the wave catch you and start standing up. To stand up you need to: push up in a pushup position, then slide your back foot up to just about a third of the board from the back, and finally, push up, with your hands, on the board while sliding your back foot up and past your other foot. Don't forget to keep your arms out for balance; otherwise you'll fall off!

    Riding the waves is a great way to clear out your brain and focus on one thought. With only a surfboard, a bathing suit, and some waves, you can empty your mind and have a good time. Surfing was really exciting for me, and I want to share that excitement with you.
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  • Taj Mahal (by Andrew)

    April 15, 2023 in India ⋅ ☀️ 99 °F

    We went to the Taj Mahal in India 🇮🇳. I enjoyed it. The Taj Mahal was built in 22 years. It took 20,000 people to make it. The Taj Mahal was designed by a husband for his wife, but his wife died before she could see it. It was built in a time period of 1632-1653. The Taj Mahal is an extraordinary place.

    Andrew out…
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  • Taj Mahal (by Lewis)

    April 16, 2023 in India

    While in Agra, we went to the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is a castle for the king and queen's coffins. This majestic building is entirely, besides the stone artwork, made of marble. It is 243 ft. tall; that's a lot of marble! The Taj Mahal has 2 big domes. One dome can be seen from the outside, while the other one can only be seen from the inside. Poppy says the 4 towers surrounding the Taj Mahal are leaning outward. They lean outward because if they collapse, they would fall outward, not inward on the Taj Mahal. I think the Taj Mahal is quite breathtaking; though I don't feel the need to go back there.Read more

  • Nimmu House (by Andrew)

    April 20, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 41 °F

    We went to Ladakh and stayed at Nimmu house. Nimmu house is a very nice place to stay for a few nights. The beds are really comfortable, the dogs (Slow and Zero) are sweet, the staff are friendly, and lastly, the hot water bottles are the best because it gets cold at night. While we were there, we went on a walk. On the walk, one of the staff gave Lewis a bird book that shows all the birds in Ladakh. The walk was about 30-50 minutes. The walk was fun. The next day Lewis got sick, so dad and I went on a hike for 1.5-2 hours. Before the hike dad and I went on, we saw and walked around a village for 10 minutes. After we got home, we had dinner. The next day mom and I went on a walk to Leh while dad stayed with Lewis. I loved staying at Nimmu house, I would recommend visiting Nimmu house.

    Andrew out…
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  • Stok Homestay (by Lewis)

    April 21, 2023 in India ⋅ ⛅ 32 °F

    While in Stok, we stayed at a homestay. A homestay is where you stay in someone's house and they make you food and allow you to sleep in a bed. The people who owned the house owned 2 kittens. One kitten’s color was black and the other kitten's color was gray. Both kittens were very cute. The black kitten kept coming up to me and sitting on my lap, though I had to take the kitten off my lap to eat. However, their food was absurdly amazing! My favorite food was the pasta. They must have sprinkled himalayan salt on top. Additionally, the family was half Japanese, so they have lots of Japanese books, including origami. Using the origami paper, I constructed a ninja star. If I could have the chance, I would travel straight back there.Read more

  • Day #1
    Today we went on our 1st camp! We started at 2890 meters and ended at 3200 meters. We went up 310 meters and it took 4 hours to get to camp. Our starting point was Shana and we ended at Thongo-samba. Today was REALLY FUN. Andrew out…

    Day #2
    Today we went to Soi-thang-thanka, and we started at Shana. We started at 3200 meters and ended at 3575 meters. We came up 375 meters. The hike took 4 hours. Today was amazing. Andrew out…

    Day #3
    Today we went on a hike starting at Soi-thang-thanka and ended at Jhomolhari. Today we hiked 5-5½ hours. We also gained 469 meters because, we started at 3575 meters and ended at 4044 and went up and down. It snowed today. Andrew out…

    Day #4
    Today it snowed for hours. We did nothing today. The only thing I did was lawn darts. Today was NOT FUN. Andrew out…

    Day #5
    Today we did a day hike on the twin-lake-hike. The top was 4350 meters, and our camp was 4044 and the top was 306 meters higher. Today was awesome.

    Day #6
    Today we hiked from Jhomdhari had lunch at Soi-thang-thanka and ended at thongo-samba. Today we started at 4044 meters and ended at 3200. We went down 844 meters. Today was exciting. Andrew out…

    Day #7
    Today we hiked to Shana and started at Thongo-samba. We started at 3200 meters and ended at 2890 meters. We went down 310 meters. The trail was really muddy because, it rained. Today was thrilling. Andrew out…
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  • Laya-Gasa Trek (by Lewis)

    May 5, 2023 in Bhutan ⋅ ☀️ 34 °F

    NOTE: We were supposed do the Laya Gasa trek, which was two weeks over high passes (5000m+). Unfortunately, to go through the first pass and out the other side was impossible because the pass was filled with snow so we had to turn around.

    4/29/23
    Day 1
    Car: Location Shana, Elevation 2890m
    Camp 1: Location Thongo Samba, Elevation 3200m
    The hike wasn’t too hard, but was harder than I thought.

    4/30/23
    Day 2
    Camp 1: Location Thongo Samba, Elevation 3200m
    Camp 2: Location Soi Thang Thanka, Elevation 3575m
    Camp 2 has 3 dogs and 1 cat!!!

    5/1/23
    Day 3
    Camp 2: Location Soi Thang Thanka, Elevation 3575m
    Camp 3: Location Jhomolhari Base Camp, Elevation 4044m
    The hike was a bit longer than usual, but was just as fun.

    5/2/23
    Day 4
    REST DAY
    I was reading books all day. I had a bellyache in the evening because I ate too much popcorn. Nothing was exciting today.

    5/3/23
    Day 5
    DAY HIKE
    Climbed 306m, Top 4350m
    I did the hike up to the Twin Lakes. We had reached our MAX height!!!

    5/4/23
    Day 6
    Camp 3: Location Jhomolhari, Elevation 4044m
    Camp 4(1): Location Thongo Samba, Elevation 3200m
    The hike today was very brutal, but was a tiny bit fun.

    5/5/23
    Day 7
    Camp 4(1): Location Thongo Samba, Elevation 3200m
    Car: Location Shana, Elevation 2890m
    The hike down was very muddy.
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  • Bhutan Part 2 (by Lewis)

    May 12, 2023 in Bhutan ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    5/7/23
    Day 9
    Car: Location DochuLa, Elevation 3150m
    Camp 1: Location Camp 1, Elevation 2034m
    We met the Kellers at DochuLa. The Kellers are a family we met in Morocco. They are worldschooling just like us.

    5/8/23
    Day 10
    Camp 1: Location Camp 1, Elevation 2034
    Camp 2: Location Camp 2, Elevation 1200m
    This part of the hike had the BEST lunch spot.

    5/9/23
    Day 11
    I went white-water-rafting today. It was VERY fun. We went over small and big rapids today.

    5/10/23
    Day 12
    We drove to a guest house at a natural hot spring (Chubu Tshachu) and read a lot of books there.

    5/11/23
    Day 13
    We went to the royal cattle today. There were a couple baby cows there. They were very cute.

    5/12/23
    Day 14
    We drove to Punakha; along the way, we crossed a very long suspension bridge and walked to the dzong, where we explored a bit.

    5/13/23
    Day 15
    We went on a hike today. My knees hurt a lot on the hike. While on the hike, we visited a monastery. We watched some young monks practice circular breathing. They were practicing circular breathing as training for blowing long-horns.
    Read more

  • Bhutan Video (by our amazing guide Yeshi

    May 15, 2023 in Bhutan ⋅ 🌫 34 °F

    Here is an incredible video that our insanely awesome guide Yeshi, made for us. Our family may be a bit glorified here as our kids definitely do use screens occasionally, but for context, Yeshi felt like many kids he knows are a bit screen-obsessed, so was impressed that our kids weren't on screens a lot (NB: we were on a two week trek, so without internet and power, screens weren't really high on our packing list ;) also there was some excellent editing like catching Andrew "meditating").

    Enjoy!

    Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SNdeHwtX-4
    Read more

  • The Eiffel Tower (by Lewis)

    May 18, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    While in Paris, we climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Looking out the top is very exciting because you can see for miles around. We raced to the bottom for fun. Mom and Andrew took the stairs and Dad and I took the elevator. Andrew and Mom won by a few seconds >:(. Workers are painting the Eiffel Tower gold for the Olympics. The colors have changed over the years, from red to yellow, then the brownish-yellow it is now. I had thought it would be taller, though it still was a breathtaking event.Read more

  • Paris & Versailles (by Andrew)

    May 19, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    We went to Paris to see Emma and Yanai. With Emma and Yanai, we went to Versailles. Versailles is a palace in Versailles, France. We had a picnic in the gardens. The picnic was really fun. We rented golf carts for an hour and drove around the gardens. I loved our time there and next time I would want to go inside the palace.
    (we couldn't get ticites in time)

    Andrew out
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  • The Louvre (by Lewis)

    May 20, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    While in Paris we went to the Louvre with Emma and Yanai. The Mona Lisa is kept there. We saw the Mona Lisa. It was very cool. It could take you 200 days to see every one of the 35,000 pieces on display if you took 30 seconds at each piece. The Louvre owns about 550,000 pieces of art, counting the ones not on display. The rooms on display at the museum look a lot like Grama Bevy’s apartment because Grama Bevy had a lot of antiques because she was a collector and antiques dealer. The Louvre was a very interesting and exciting museum.Read more

  • Paris Museums (by Andrew)

    May 21, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    We went to Paris to see Emma and Yanai. We got to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. If you take 20 seconds at all the pieces it will take 133 days because there are 35,000 objects. We also went to an Aquarium. My favorite animal was a shark in a tank. All of this stuff was really fun, and I’d love to come back.

    Andrew out…
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  • Activities in Slovenia (by Lewis)

    May 25, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    While in Slovenia, we did a few activities. One of the activities was finding Invaders. Invaders are small mosaics of 8-bit video game characters. We found one Invader which is shown in the pictures. Additionally, we are sleeping in a treehouse. The treehouse has a beanbag, a netted hammock, a sleeping cave for us kids, and a loft for the grownups. It is quite beautiful, really. Also, we did a hike around Lake Bohinj. It made my ankles sore but it was fun. Slovenia has a lot of exciting activities to do.Read more

  • Slovenia (by Andrew)

    May 25, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

    We went to Slovenia to see Marcus and Maisie. We got to stay in a treehouse. At our place, there was a pond. In the pond there were some tadpoles that Marcus, Maisie, Lewis, and I would catch and make a habitat for them with water. The next day, we went on a hike around Lake Bohinj. The hike was 4 hours. It was so cool to sleep in a treehouse, I would so want to come back.Read more

  • White Water Rafting in Bovec (by Lewis)

    May 27, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

    While in Slovenia, we went white water rafting on the Soca River. The water in the river was clean water, so you could drink it. I drank a lot of water. The water had a very strong current. It was hard to stand up, and sometimes swept you off your feet. How many rocks there were in the rapid was the classification, not how big was the rapid, like the rapids in Zambia. There were 2s and 3s and a few 4 rapids on the Soca River. If I could go back, I would definitely go white water rafting again.Read more

  • Slovenia, Italy & Austria (by Andrew)

    May 28, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

    [Andrew's second Slovenia blog post was accidentally deleted (or never saved), so here's a quick summary of what we did after we left the Chang family in Bovec. - Amy]

    When we left the Chang family, we started driving to the Ljubljana airport and went through three countries (Slovenia, Italy & Austria). We went to an amazing escape room in Villach, Austria and had a really delicious lunch too. Along the way we saw thousands of Vespa scooters all driving together. We arrived at our apartment near the Ljubljana airport and had pizza for dinner. It was a fun day.Read more

  • Red Pandas (by Lewis)

    May 31, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

    While in Helsinki, we went to the Helsinki zoo. The zoo had Red Panda’s, which are very rare. I got a red panda stuffy. I named it Red. Did you know that Red Pandas glow in the dark. The white on the red panda's face is almost glowing and can guide a mother's lost cubs in the darkness. Additionally, Red Pandas aren't related to the Giant Panda, like most people would think. Instead, they are closely related to racoons. I can’t wait to play a lot of games with my stuffy.Read more

  • Helsinki (by Andrew)

    May 31, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    We went to Helsinki, Finland for 3 nights. We went to an escape room called The Flying Dutchman. It was a pirate ship theme. The same day, we went to Allas Sea Pools, which are outdoor pools full of sea water. The pools were supposed to be hot but they were cold. They also had a sauna. After we dried off, we went to this place called Flying Cinema where we got to see all of Helsinki virtually. This was so fun, and I’d totally want to come back.Read more

  • Haltia (by Andrew)

    June 2, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    We went to Haltia Lake Lodge near Espoo, Finland, right outside Nuuksio National Park. The day after we got there, we went mountain biking. We got fat tire bikes. We were supposed to be biking on a biking trail, but we ended up on a hiking trail. Biking trails and hiking trails are totally not the same thing because a biking trail is less rocky and rooty than a hiking trail. We loved the lodge because the lodge is eco-friendly. Every time you put a sign on your door that says "plant a tree for free” the staff don’t clean your room and instead plant a tree. I’m really glad I found this lodge.

    Andrew out…
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  • Nuuksio Reindeer Park (by Lewis)

    June 3, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    While in Finland, we went to a reindeer park. Reindeers are pack animals. They had about six or seven reindeer at the park. Did you know that white reindeers are very rare? The Reindeer Park had one named Helmi, which means pearl in finnish. Reindeers favorite food is lichen. Lichen don’t have a lot of calories, so reindeer eat four to eleven pounds of it every day. When a reindeer dies, they use everything; fur, skin, meat, antlers, and bones; you name it, everything. You won't believe this, but I ate reindeer sausages, which was delicious.Read more