The Best Frozen Yogurt Store Near Me

Around the place where I live, there are 3 self serve frozen yogurt stores called 16 Handles, Let’s Yo, and Cups. I absolutely loved one of the stores. But then my mom asked me why I loved it so much. I didn’t know why. So, I decided to  try out all three stores and make notes so that I could write a blog post comparing the 3 stores and the pros and cons for all of them.

 

16 HANDLES :  This store had 16 flavors, (each flavor had a handle, therefore it has the name 16 Handles.) 42 toppings, 5 sauces, whipped cream, and 2 flavors that were milk, egg, and nut free.

I have to say that this ice cream was creamier and melted less quickly than the others. I also loved the marshmallow sauce which the other places did not have. Unfortunately, my favorite topping (the 3 colored cookie) was not there when I went to 16 Handles one day but it was there when I went back another day.

This frozen yogurt was more expensive than the other places.  They had a coupon that said that if you took more than 4 oz. you get $1 off but it was still expensive. The cost was 55 cents per oz.

The place was beautiful and fun. The lights on the walls at 16 handles changed every few seconds. They had nice music.

Our cashier was very nice, she was ready to serve and help us, and she also changed gloves when she gave us samples. One disadvantage about 16 handles is that you can’t take samples yourselves, someone else has to do that for you.

LET’S YO! : This store had 14 flavors, 60 toppings, lots of sauces, whipped cream, and 2 flavors that were milk, egg, and nut free.

This ice cream melted very fast. The chocolate was very chocolatey. However it was hard to tell because by the time I sat down to eat, it was already half melted. A lot of my favorite toppings were thankfully there.

The price was 49 cents per oz. However, for Let’s Yo, it was cheaper because of a 10% off coupon. In fact they always give us a coupon for the next visit. That way, we have never eaten there without a coupon.

There are usually Ipads here but when we went, the largest IPad table was broken. The few Ipads on the other table were sideways and the Ipads don’t tilt so it is hard to play the games.  

 

When we went, the cashier was on the phone but he stopped talking when we asked him for the ingredient list. When we left, we noticed that our cashier was not around so he couldn’t help me with a question I had about something. There was no helpful person in the place so the store was not warm and inviting.

CUPS : The words on their door says – “Cups – Frozen Yogurt that’s HOT”. I really like it because the yogurt is cold but it’s popular so the word hot is used as a pun.

This store had 16 flavors, with 2 that were milk, egg, and nut free. There were 60 toppings, 3 sauces and whipped cream. I really liked the variety of flavors of toppings. The choice is very varied and delicious. The frozen yogurt was very sweet and tasty. It did not melt for a long time.

The yogurt is 49 cents per oz. If you register online, they send you a one-time coupon but after that they don’t send you any more coupons. So you usually just pay the regular price.

There was good music here. Other than that, there is no entertainment, like Ipads or games. But, the good thing about that is that you get to spend time with family and friends and you can chat with them.

Our cashier was very nice and helpful. When I asked her for the ingredient list she gladly gave a book with details to me. When I asked for samples, she gave me as many taster cups as I would like. When she gave my mom and I spoons when we were paying, she gave me a green spoon and gave my mom a purple spoon because I am a boy and she is a girl. I really enjoyed my visit here.

After I did this test, I thought that it was odd that Let’s Yo was my favorite store before doing this test. But after I looked at the facts, I saw that in most ways, Cups is the best and Let’s Yo falls down in my list of yogurt places! Other than the price advantage, Let’s Yo seemed to have many disadvantages. However, I think they can improve by getting their furniture and Ipads fixed and getting people who care about their jobs. Even though 16 Handles was absolutely wonderful, it was much more expensive than the other places. They should send more coupons or bring down their price to come up on my list.

I think that Cups is really the best from all angles. Right now, I can’t think of anything that Cups should improve on, but when I do, I will update this post to let you know. I will allow Cups to open up a store on my Cool Lane and it should have a long line trailing from the door!

 

Summer Reading Club - Fizz, Boom, READ!!!

Every summer I join a reading club at the JFK library in my town. Every year the library has a different theme to make things interesting for us. Last year, in 2013, the theme was called “Dig Into Reading”. This year it is called “Fizz, Boom, READ!” The main aim of this summer reading club is crystal clear: READ! READ! READ! One of the best rewards that we can get by reading is being invited to the carnival at the end of summer vacation.
 

 

The way the reading club works is that you get a folder and in it there are circles with numbers in them. For each day that you read, you color in one circle. When you read for a certain number of days, you get a reward. Here is the list that shows you the rewards and when you get them.

 

• 12 days: you get invited to the carnival.
• 20 days: you get a packet of coupons from stores and restaurants.
• 30 days: you get a free book
• 40 days: you get a Rita’s Ice
• 50 days: you earn a raffle ticket.
 

 

 

One of the things that we can do in the reading club is the Incentive Game. An incentive is like a motive. If we do an assigned activity, we get a reward. In this incentive game the library gives us 12 activities to choose from. The activities encourage us to read different kinds of books from different authors. Since this year’s theme was related to science, we had to read about scientists and science fiction books. We also did a science experiment. We have to complete 8 of the 12 activities and hand them in. When we do, we can enter a raffle. On the day of the carnival, they announce the winner. The person who wins would get a Nintendo DS!

 

 

At the carnival, there are many things to do. Some of my favorite things at the carnival are popcorn, Rita’s Ice, free books, and lots of fun! There are always games and prizes that you can earn. Sometimes there are baby pools filled with water and there are little plastic fishes. Then, we can use a magnetic hook and go fishing. There is also a ring toss and you have to throw rings over pegs and you get prizes. Also,

Clifford the Big Red Dog

comes to visit us. The carnival is always lots and lots of fun!

 

One reason that I liked this club was that it helps me read different kinds of books. For this reason, I would love to see Clifford walking on my Cool Lane! 

Summer Camp - How to be a Magician

I joined a summer camp at Middlesex County College and the name of the camp was “How To Be a Magician”. Eugene Soucek was my teacher and he asked us to call him Gene. His last name is Soucek (pronounced sue-check). He had a joke. To remember his name you just have to think that if you SUE someone you get a CHECK.

 

We started the day by learning and watching different magic tricks. There are many kinds of magic tricks. There are card tricks and tricks where we don’t need any objects. There are some tricks where we use simple things we find at home like paperclips and dollar bills.

 

At the end of each day he would give us a puzzle. Sometimes, these puzzles were tricky riddles and sometimes, they are objects that we need to put together to get an answer. Here is a hard one - It is called the “Cannibals and Missionaries”. There is a crocodile infested river. There are 3 cannibals and 3 missionaries on 1 side of the river. There is 1 boat that holds 2 people. The goal is to get everyone across the river safely. There are some rules. All of the missionaries can row the boat. Only 1 cannibal can row the boat. If at any time on a side you see that there is more cannibals than missionaries, all the missionaries on that side will die. Also, there is no trick answer, so no one can swim or be tied to the boat. If you think you have the answer, comment below and I’ll tell you if it works. Gene also made us take an oath so we wouldn’t tell anybody the secret to how any magic is done.

 

On the last day of the camp, we had a magic show. Everyone in class did one magic trick. I did one called the 4 Aces magic. I did this because I liked the logic behind this trick. A good magic show involves a lot of acting and presentation along with knowing how to do magic. My favorite magic words are ip skooly ooten dooten bo bo skideeten dotten rah rah ha ha whoopee! You can view two of my favorite magic tricks in the video below:

 

 

 

 

 

In this magic camp I learnt a lot about magic. I had lots of fun. Gene is very nice and made us laugh. So, I’m going to let you comment and tell me if this camp belongs on my Cool Lane or not.

 

P.S. Don’t forget the puzzle and let me know if you can figure out the answer!

Wynnewood Swim Club

For the first time in my life, this summer, I joined a swim team called Wynnewood.
 
One of the reasons why I like Wynnewood is because I get to swim outdoors.  In an indoor pool, your voice echoes inside so it sounds like people are screaming at you when they are actually cheering. In an outdoor pool, when you cheer, it sounds better. The pool is filled with well water so it is much colder in the pool than outside! It gets a little difficult to swim initially, in June, but by the time it was July, I LOVED it! On a hot scorching day it feels cool in that pool. It’s very refreshing! One day, we even swam in rain because there were no thunderclaps.

One of the main reasons why I joined this team is because of my friends. Carter and Spencer are two of my best friends. My little sister joined this team too because of me and because she is friends with Carter’s little sister, Margaret. She is friends with Mira too and her sister Tara is in my grade. My sister's friends Amanda, Jake and Alex are on the team too. It’s fun to go to the pool and see all my friends there and get to spend some time with them over the summer vacation. After a couple of weeks of going there, I saw that there was a huge blow up clown fish in the pool. It belonged to Carter and his family and he always shared it with me and taught me how to ride the fish. Nick is the best swimmer in the team and I want to grow up and swim like him one day.

In the swimming world, races between two teams are called meets. A meets are when boys do breast stroke and butterfly, and girls do free style and back stroke. B meets are vice versa. My favorite stroke is free style and I am fastest in back stroke so I like B meets. We have meets every Wednesday and Saturday. At the last week of the season we have more meets and meets on Mondays too. That is going to be one busy week!

We have our own team colors: green and black. I love my swim suit. At first, I was not sure about it but after the first time I swam in it, I started liking it. It is very comfortable.

A couple of meets ago, we swam against a team called Woodside. We had lost all the meets previously. But, this meet- this meet - we won. Woodside-120 points and Wynnewood-135 points. We won by 15 points! By the time we realized that we had won, our coach was in the pool! You see, our coach Kylie promised that if we won a meet, we could throw her in the pool! After throwing her in, we all jumped in with her and we pushed each other in. Then we all laughed and cheered.

So, in conclusion, this was probably the best meet ever for me and the Wynnewood Pool should be allowed to flood my Cool Lane with its cool water!!

Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Extra Credit

Title: Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Extra Credit by Tommy Greenwald

Why I Started to Read This Book: One day I went to the JFK Library to find a book to read since we were short on books. I was roaming around and I found this AWESOME book!

What is it About? It is about this kid named Charlie Joe Jackson. He is in middle school. He does NOT like reading or writing. However, he wants extra credit. Why, you ask? Well, his report card wasn’t that good. His parents wanted him to go to a camp called Camp Rituhbukkee (pronounced: read-a-bookie). Charlie Joe made a deal with them. If he got straight A’s with one B (he was not very good at science), they wouldn’t make him go to Camp Rituhbukkee. Now obviously, I wouldn’t tell you what happens because I want you to read this book and find out for yourself.

What Did I Like About This Book? Almost Absolutely EVERYTHING! It was full of suspense! It actually had a pretty interesting end and I wouldn’t want to give it away.
 
What Didn’t I Like About This Book? I HATED this book. Got you, didn’t I? I mean, there was one little thing that I didn’t like. People were kissing and they were saying that they liked someone- and I mean romantic like. I don’t like romantic stories that much. I am more of a humor or fantasy or science fiction kind of kid.

Does This Belong On My Cool Lane Or Not? This was hard to decide. I liked the book so much that I borrowed another one from the same series. On the contrary, I did not like the romantic parts of the book. Therefore, it is a book that can pass through my cool lane once in a while, but not always.

SPECIAL EDITION!

This is a special edition because this IS special! It is not about a book, movie, trip, or a camp. It is about my elementary school years and my experience with the best teachers and the best principal. In this special edition you will see that school is very important to me and that my teachers are so great. Starting off, I will say right away that these four years of my life are driving around on my cool lane.

Next year I will be going to 4th grade. That means that I will be going to a new school which is kind of sad because I’ve had to leave my old school. But I can still see my teachers and my principal, Mr. Stio. Well, the last part isn’t exactly true. You see, Mr. Stio is retiring. So next time I go to visit my school he will not be there. But, I think that for special occasions, once in a while, my mom will take me to see him. As a "good-bye and thank you" gift, my sister and I wrote a book and my mom helped us put it together online.

 

Mr. Stio was my principal for 4 straight years. He says he has been in our town for 40 years! Mr. Stio is very kind, generous, and funny. Everyday would start with a “Joke of the Day”. We would think of jokes and give them to Mr. Stio. Then, if he thought it was funny, he would announce it the following morning. One of the most fun things that Mr. Stio did was Dunk Stio. This was sort of an incentive game to get everyone reading. Every time you read for 30 minutes, you would get 1 ticket. You could only get 10 tickets. At the dunk tank you would get to throw balls at a target. For example, if you read for 300 minutes, you would get the 10 tickets to get 10 chances to hit the target. If you hit the target, Mr. Stio would get dunked in ICE COLD water!! I dunked him 4 times, but my friend Johan beat the record by dunking him 7 times. I am sure that is some sort of a world record!! 

 

 

 

One of my favorite teachers was Mrs. Ritchie-Ruta. She was my third grade teacher in 2013-2014. In the summer of 2013, when I got the letter from her stating that I was in her class, I was really upset because some kids had told me horrible and mean things about her and that I would get into trouble with her all the time. As it got closer and closer to September, I got more and more nervous. Then, one day, Mrs. Ritchie-Ruta called me over to her desk. We had a talk. She told me that I shouldn’t be influenced by what other people say (except my parents, of course) but that I should make my own opinions. After the talk, I decided that I would use her valuable advice for the rest of my life. I also wasn’t scared of her anymore. It might seem odd but I’m still sad. First I was sad because I didn’t want to be in her class but now I am sad because I had to leave her.  
 

Mrs. Young and Mrs. Elil were my kindergarten teachers. On the first day ever in my school, I was very nervous. You wouldn’t believe how tiny I was! But as soon as I walked into their classroom, I felt happy all over. I knew that I was going to have a great time. Mrs. Jacome was my first grade teacher. I was very excited to go to Mrs. Jacome’s class because I already knew her. One of the best things I liked about Mrs. Jacome’s class is that she did very fun, exciting things. She also always encouraged me to do MY best and not anyone else’s best. Ms. Cooper was my second grade teacher.  I absolutely adore Ms. Cooper. She is one of the nicest people in the world! All my friends were in her class with me… odd… but fun! We never got into trouble. We  worked hard and were always in her good books.

 

Mrs. Sernotti was my music teacher. She taught me lots of songs. She taught me how to play the recorder and violin. Señora V (as you can tell by her name) was my Spanish teacher. She taught me many phrases and sentences in Spanish. She always believed in me! Mrs. Moore was my gym teacher. She taught me many fun games and helped me stay fit.

 
My teachers were all very nice and they helped me learn new things. I think all of them cared about me very much. I will miss them a lot! Mr. Stio and all my other teachers have inspired me to be a teacher myself when I grow up. Their kindness, love, and care make me feel like I want to grow up and be like them.

 

Thank you… Thank you…. THANK YOU!!

My Trip to India, Part 2 - Memorable Moments

I just haven’t had time to write another post earlier because of school work all these months. In a way it is a good thing. Now I can write about the things that are really memorable because it has been 3 months since I came back from India.

When I was in Kolkata, my sister and I went to visit my mom’s school. We met some of her old teachers. It was really nice seeing my mom’s teachers, and who taught mom. It was nice that all the teachers gave us hugs and I could see that they must have loved my mom when she was in school. I loved the playground very much. The playground was very huge.

We also went to India’s National Library. The library has over 2.2 million books. That’s a lot of books! It is very old! It is about 123 years old. There were lots and lots of books on all different topics like science, history, airplanes, ships etc! Since I like reading in Hindi because I recently learned how to do that at HindiUSA at our township high school, I read a short story book that was written in Hindi.

I also shelled peas at my grandparents’ house. Here is how you do it:

1. Press the top of the pod.
2. A hole will appear. Pull apart at the hole.
3. Take the peas out.
4. You can eat them raw or cook them.
5. Have fun and enjoy!

 

At night, we slept in a mosquito net. It is a net designed to keep out mosquitoes. The net goes over the bed, and you get inside. The holes in the net are not large enough to let mosquitoes into the bed and bite you. OWCHIE!

I went to a place called Raj and ate pizza there. The grownups ate dosa (a crispy and salty pancake) but I decided to have pizza even though it was not a pizza place. The pizza was so good that it was better than Pizza Hut! I sat away from my grandpa so that he would not eat a slice of my pizza-heeheehaahaa.

One of the most memorable things that I tasted while I was in India was hot chocolate at Café Coffee Day (CCD). This was the best hot chocolate ever (Remember, this is just my opinion.)! It had both important parts: it was perfectly hot AND it was extra chocolaty. Yum!

I went to see where my grandpa plays tennis. My mom used to play tennis there when she was my age. It is called Kolkata South Club. A lot of important world level matches are played on those courts. A swimming pool was being made there. I hope it is done soon, so that next time when I go to India, I can go swimming! Splash!

We went to Mumbai and Bangalore for a few days. I loved playing cricket in Banglalore with my friend Shikhar. Cricket is a lot like baseball. The wicketkeeper’s job is to stand behind one set of wickets (a set of 3 sticks behind the batsman and another set near the bowler) and to get the ball if it goes behind the wicket. The bowler throws the ball at the batsman and the batsman hits it. While the fielders are trying to get the ball back, the batsman runs between the wickets to makes runs. The team who makes the most runs, wins. There are a lot of other things about cricket, but I just told you that much to give you an idea.

In Mumbai, we went to see my aunt and grandmom. My aunt has a cute daughter who is my dearest darling cousin. Her name is Toshani but we call her Puchki. She is the funniest and sweetest baby in the world. We had so much fun with her and I think she loves me.

This trip was DEFINITELY on My Cool Lane!

My Trip to India, Part 1 - Air India Flights

In December 2013, I went to India with my parents and sister for 3 weeks. I went to see my grandparents.

You have to go to India by plane. It is far away. It is in the continent of Asia. If you are in the USA, India would be halfway around the world. By plane, it would take you 14 hours to get to New Delhi, the capital of India, and 2 more hours to get to Kolkata where I visited.

I was getting ready to board the plane. I was flying with Air India. After a long wait at the JFK Airport and a lot of security checks and baggage check-ins, we boarded, and I sat down on my seat and put on my seatbelt. I saw a screen in front of me. I knew that there was going to be TV, music, and games. I had an UNLIMITED amount of TV and games. When the plane started to move, I got excited. We were going to take off! Wewerespeedingup! It was getting loud! Suddenly, it was quiet! WE HAD TAKEN OFF! The plane was slightly tilted upwards. It took 20-30 minutes but eventually the plane was horizontal.

I watched movies like Dennis the Menace which had a 7-8 year old kid who used to bother his neighbor a lot. I also watched Super Man and played games the whole time.
          
I didn’t like the food a lot because the plane was swaying and tilting a little and I lost my appetite.
                                                                                                 
Then it was time to land. I watched India come into view. Then we saw the airport. In two minutes we were going to land 5…4…3…2…1…WHOOOOSH! We touched down! We finally slowed to a stop.

My grandpa was at the airport. He was waiting for us. He took us to his home and we had lots of fun there. This was the place where my mom was born and grew up.

Stay tuned for more details about what I did in India.

I didn’t like this flight too much because of all the appetite-losing and plane shaking. But because of the movies and games and because it took me to India, I will tolerate it.