Memories of the 2011 Vacation to Mexico

50 Memories of my Extended Family's Vacation in Mexico (in no particular order)

1. Arriving at the Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts and being amazed at the size of it
2. Being served free fruity drinks everywhere
3. Swimming almost every day in the big, warm pools
4. Taking underwater photos in the pool 
5. Taking underwater photos of the fish in the Salt Pool (it was fun to snorkel there)
6. Playing on the beach and in the ocean
7. Enjoying the warm, humid air
8. Snorkeling in the warm Caribbean waters
9. Visiting the city of Cancun
10. Buying a really pretty sundress (blue with rainbow threaded patterns)
11. Unlimited food at the all-you-can-eat-buffet; that was fantastic. Having unlimited nutella and all sorts of other delicious food, begging to be eaten. At any time, all the time.
12. Taking full advantage of the free ice cream machines (free ice cream!!! Who knew?)
13. While in Cancun, being rained on as if the sky was crying waterfalls - buckets of rain were pouring down while my mom and I ate fajitas at a little local restaurant.
14. Watching this guy make these beautiful pictures by finger-painting (wish I had bought one...)
15. Eating at a certain Japanese restaurant while sitting down on the floor, with our legs crossed underneath the table. Not something I've done anywhere else.
16. Swimming up to the bar at the edge of the pool to get free fruity drinks (and sitting on the stools in the water while sipping them)
17. Going on late-night excursions to the beach with the girls - I miss that sooooo much. The ocean and the sky were so dark and mysterious, and being out there in the salty night air was just enchanting.
18. Being poured on while returning to our rooms from those excursions
19. Having crazy, frizzy hair all the time and not caring one bit
20. Running barefoot everywhere
21. Seeing interesting animals (mostly big lizards and such) on the sides of the roads, and also flamingos in a little pond
22. Attending a little dance performance that was based off of Disney movies, if I remember correctly - there were fun costumes and music and such.
23. Shooting with a bow and arrow at the little archery place
24. Wishing we (kids) could go to the spa
25. Swimming in a Cenote (underground pool - it was really, really cool)
26. Visiting Coba (a Mayan village)
27. Climbing the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula - it was in Coba, and hiking up the 118 steep steps was very exciting.
28. Touring the ruins of Tulum
29. Staying up late playing card games and talking (well, I didn't play cards much back then - but I began being taught how to play Oh Heck while we were there)
30. Having a hot tub in our hotel room
31. Being sung to and played instruments for by two guys while we were waiting for a table at one restaurant
32. Getting to ask someone at a restaurant, "¿Dónde está el baño?" (one of the few Spanish phrases I knew at the time)
33. Having a girls' night to paint nails and such
34. Bartering with people selling things
35. Walking around on the smooth marble walkways between the main buildings and pools
36. Intending to write in my journal every day about things that happened, but never getting around to it
37. Spending some time on rainy days lazing around in our room, playing Plants vs. Zombies (and beating it)
38. On the bus ride to the resort, taking pictures of each other's eyes (they're really quite interesting to study and compare)
39. Having a random dance party up on a stage somewhere in the resort
40. Burning our bare feet on the hot ground and then relieving them in the cool water of the pools
41. Passing crabs scuttling around the place when going to the beach
42. Riding around the resort in golf cart-type vehicles and mini trains
43. Being exposed to more poverty in that one trip than I have seen anywhere in America
44. Having a lesson together on Sunday about gifts (we made a long list of them)
45. Getting up whenever we wanted, eating whenever we wanted, swimming however much we wanted, eating as much ice cream as we wanted as long as we were willing to walk to machine to get it
46. Not bothering to try to look good - at all. Ever. I brushed my hair maybe once the whole week.
47. Soaking in the exotic smells, sights, and sounds - it was so damp and so GREEN there
48. Taking a big family photo of everyone - not looking our best, dressed in clashing colors, having done nothing with our hair or anything else whatsoever to better our appearance - but looking bright-eyed, relaxed, and happy to be together.
49. Half-wondering on occasion if the experience was real, or just a dream
50. Just being with each other in one big, happy family reunion

We love Mexico!

Underwater photo

Fruity drinks at the swim-up bar

Snorkeling in the pool (not much to see, but it's fun to swim with flippers and a mask)

This is the list of gifts we have that we made on Sunday.

Climbing the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula

Swimming!

Under one of the bridges spanning the pool

Another underwater picture

I wish I could eat as much as Dave can...

Fish in the Saltwater Pool

Flamingos

The random dance party up on stage

Dinner

One of the ruins in Coba

Our big family photo. :)

Orchestra, Lunch, Bowling, Summer...Update on a Few Months

This is the start of a post I began a few months back - I'm just adding to it now. I figure I might as well post it. :)

A while ago: I've had a fun, busy week. On Thursday we had our orchestra festival, during which a bunch of Jr. High school orchestras gather at one school and perform for each other and for judges. Some are decent, some some are, frankly, terrible (to put it bluntly). But we all gather together and perform about two songs each, and our performances are rated. We went last - we like to think it's because no one wants to go after us (and they want to save the best for last :) - and we stole the show. We got perfect scores, and very little criticism; though of course, we had some. There are always things to change and do better. But overall, we performed magnificently - and I'm not giving myself credit. I take about a fiftieth of the credit. :) So that was fun, and then we went out to get lunch. The bus dropped us off at a parking lot near a variety of restaurants, but most people raced for Café Rio. Including me. So my friends and I ate there, and then we went to get frozen yogurt at the popular fro-yo shop nearby. Then we got back on the bus in time to sit through one last class at school.

(Adding on to that): On Friday, a bunch of the ninth graders on the High Honor Roll list went to FatCats to bowl. I was very proud of myself when I got several strikes, and it was fun to spend time with a bunch of my friends. I also tried play-dough ice cream for the first time, which was yummy.

On the way home, my friend Charlotte and I took pictures of ourselves making goofy faces. Some of them were so terrible or funny, we laughed ourselves to tears - we had a good time. :')

By the way, here is the scoreboard at one point - and notice the beautiful X's at the top of the screen. ;)

Present day: I've had a crazy summer. That took place a couple months ago, but since summer started, I've scarcely been at home. Before school got out, my family went on a trip to Zion National Park, which was awesome. There were some amazing views, and I plan on adding more to that later. After school got out, my mom took my brother and I on a trip to New York and then Vermont, where I had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends. Then I had EFY as soon as we got back, which was absolutely wonderful. I encourage anyone who hasn't been to go; it's a fabulous camp. The day after that ended I attended an all-day Teen Writers Conference. Tomorrow I have Youth Conference, and next week I'll have my cousins over and we'll be heading up to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We'll be going on our annual trip to Bear Lake while we're up there - and then soon after that we'll be going out to Hawaii. So...it's been crazy. I feel terrible for not writing much, but there is only so much you can do when you're constantly heading out, creating memories, and going somewhere else before you have a chance to record them. I suppose it would help to just write shorter posts rather than going into great detail. But anyway, I won't be done with this blog for a long time. It's tough to write on a blog or journal consistently during the wild years of high school, but I'll do my best. Which is good enough.

Day at Disneyland

It has taken me a while to get around to writing this, but better late than never. :) We had been talking about it for a little while, but we found out on Monday the 17th that we were definitely going to Disneyland. The next day.

Early Tuesday morning, 5:15 to be precise, we (my mom, my brother, and I) got up and drove to the airport. I just want to say right now that I love my mom's job - having a flight attendant for a mother is one of the coolest things in the world. So, we flew to California on a nearly-empty plane (I slept lying down on the row behind our given seats), and our dear friend Alicia picked us up in Long Beach. We went out to have a late breakfast, stopped to drop things off at Alicia's, and then drove to Disneyland. There we met up with Alicia's friend, who works at the amusement park, and she got my mom, my brother, and me in for free. Alicia was going to buy herself a pass, but we all chipped in to get her one. And so we found ourselves in the "Happiest Place on Earth."

First off, we took a little tour of a rainforest on the Jungle Cruise ride. From there we headed to the Haunted Mansion (one of my favorites) and then Big Thunder Mountain (another fun one). We walked right onto Pinocchio's Adventure - or whatever it's called - and then flew through the Peter Pan ride. Nemo's Submarine ride came next, followed by the thrilling experience of Space Mountain (which is definitely on the top three favorite rides list). In the photo taken at the end of the ride, my face was split into a wide smile. Next we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, where you use a little astro gun to shoot all of the targets with a Z (for the evil Zork or whatever the alien is called). The points were all counted up and in the end, my score was the highest. Oddly enough. Anyway, that ride was followed by one of the best rides in the whole amusement park - Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a classic. Afterward, we went on the Matterhorn, which was a lot more jarring than I remember it being in the past - but it was still fun. Following that we drove our way through the ride Autopia; I taped my driver's license in my journal. We also went on the little Rockets ride (so much fun when we were younger), walked through Pixie Hollow, stopped at the First Aid building to get a wheelchair for Alicia (sad that she needed it for her strained and swollen foot, but having a wheelchair-bound member in a group has its perks), and shopped at the Emporium on Main Street. By then we were ready to head to California Adventure, so we had our hands stamped and headed out of Disneyland. We went straight for one of our very favorite rides in the entire amusement park complex: Soarin' Over California. It is such an enjoyable one that we didn't just go on it once - we headed right for the end of the line to do it again when it was over. Besides, we wanted better seats than we got the first time, so we ended up with the best ones in the whole simulator.

We didn't go on any more rides after that. By then, it was getting late, and everything was being shut down for the final attraction of the night: World of Color.

Remember how I said having a wheelchair-bound member in a group has its perks? Well, its perks happened to include the chance to have reasonably good seats, free of charge, for World of Color. Our little group was shown to the wheelchair-seating area, and we settled down for the magnificent show.

It was waterworks like I have never seen before. There wasn't just light, there was vivid color (hence the name) shone on the jets shooting up into the sky. There was music reverberating through the air as everyone watched in awe. And incredibly colorful scenes from many of Disney's well-loved films were projected onto the screens of water. Some parts of it just about had me in tears, it was so beautiful and glorious and unbelievable. the show was unlike any I had ever seen. My favorite moment during the experience would probably be the scene from Pocahontas, with the emotionally intense version of "Colors of the Wind." "You can paint with all the colors of the wind..." I just about cried, and my heart felt ready to burst with the desire for the moment to last forever. All things must have an end, however, and that experience was no exception. The night came to an end, our vacation came to an end, and I found myself back home with endless normal things happening that I had to readjust to. And yes, I just contradicted myself - some things actually do last forever. Certain, special memories being one of them.

I sure hope I never forget the memory of this incredible experience - I don't want the colors to dim in my mind. It is difficult to capture the vivid picture of the night, but writing down what I can may help me remember the way I felt in the moment. I suppose journals and blogs really are for me in that way; through them I can recall the magical times I never want to forget. Writing lets me remember them.

Disneyland is, as our passes declared, the beginning of memories. Nearly all of them being good. I don't know if it really is "The Happiest Place on Earth," but I'm starting to think it comes close. I always walk out with a tug of sadness amid the happy emotions built up during the day. It truly is a blessing to go as often as we do, for as little money as we pay. My life sometimes seems so unbelievable.

And that is the story of my Day at Disneyland.

NYC

A couple weeks ago I went on an amazing trip to New York City. As I can't remember all the details, I'll inform you through some edited journal entries. Enjoy!

Friday, September 3, 2010

The airplane ride last night went well. After writing the day's journal entry, I read and then listened to the radio until the signal was lost. Then I actually managed to sleep for maybe three hours. When we reached the airport, we took a cab to my mom's aunt and uncle's apartment. After they showed us around and we chatted for a while, we slept for another three hours on a king-sized bed. I had never had less of a desire to get up before then, but my mom wanted to get going and not waste a day in New York sleeping. I agree with her.

We rode on the subway down to the World Trade Center. For a few hours following lunch, we shopped at a gigantic store called Century 21. I got a few shirts there, and some shoes when we stopped by Payless. We also spent a lot of time at a very cute store with stylish clothes and accessories called Strawberry. I got several headbands and a super cute hat there. Finally, we went to a sparkling shop called Gem Story and got some jeweled necklaces. I took tons of pictures, of the apartment and of the city. Besides meals and shopping, we wandered around, checked out the church, and spent some time in the awesome apartment. It really is cool here. But my feet are about to fall off and I’m exhausted, so that’s all I’ll say tonight.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Today was an amazing day. I can hardly wrap my head around it. The first thing we did was walk around in the Juilliard School of Music, Dance, and Drama, which was awesome. Then my mom’s friend and her two daughters came over and we spent a bunch of time with them. After we showed them around and chatted, we went to an adorable restaurant called “Alice’s Teacup.” We ordered “The Jabberwocky,” which consisted of beverages, scones, and unlimited sandwiches. Some of the sandwiches were good, and others weren’t my favorite – and the same with the scones. But it was still really fun, and they sprinkled us with glitter at the end. We all had a great time.

After a long, hearty lunch, we took a cab to Times Square. We went shopping at Forever 21 for a long time, though we didn’t get much. On the way back we stopped by “Pinkberry” and got tasty frozen yogurt. Then we went back to the apartment and hung out for a while – we went up on the roof of the apartment complex, took pictures, and relaxed. And finally, the big moment came.

My mom’s friend dropped us off in her slick BMW convertible (I want one!). We walked into the Gershwin Theatre, registered our tickets, found our seats and waited for the show to begin.

It was amazing; every bit of it was either a laugh-out-loud moment or a heart-wrenching part of one wildly wonderful, well-done, Wicked production. If you haven’t seen it, you have to. It was truly amazing, and I hope I will never forget it. I don’t think I will. Nothing I write here will do it justice – some things can’t be expressed in words.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

This morning we got up a little earlier than usual to go to church. It was a singles ward, though there were members there that wouldn’t normally be in a singles ward (like us). At the end, my mom and I chatted with an old friend from Vermont who is now a fairly famous ballerina living here. It was nice to see her again, after such a long time.

We came back to the apartment and hung out until my mom’s aunt and uncle came over. We talked for a good amount of time and then took the subway to a place where we waited in line for quite a while. Then we hopped on a ferry and rode over to Governor’s Island. We circled the island, but on the way we got ice cream, took pictures of the Statue of Liberty (on an island a little ways away), checked out some extremely weird art exhibits, and then ferried home.

For dinner we went out to a very nice Chinese restaurant, Shun Lee. I ordered sweet and sour pork (something I am used to and I know I like), and tried some new things from everyone else’s dishes. It was delicious.

My relatives said their goodbyes and left tonight – now the only time we have left in New York is tomorrow morning and part of the afternoon. And we’ll do whatever we want with that time.

Monday, September 6, 2010

My day started out in New York City and ended a few thousand miles away from there. Though we only had a few short hours left in the big city, we got a lot of stuff done – packing (a given), a quick walk through the peaceful trees of Central Park, a short trip inside the Museum of Natural History (which was really cool; I wanted to stay much longer than we did), brunch at the Shake Shack (which everyone has been talking about), some frozen yogurt from Pinkberry (coconut!), we picked up a really amazing treat at the Magnolia Bakery called “Blueberry Jamboree,” and traveled back to the airport. I read and slept a little on the flight home.

Was that a successful trip or what? I sure think so. I can’t wait to go back, either.

Free Time

School has been out for a while now. I've been busy, but not really busy. Just busy with fun things - going to Seven Peaks Water Park, floating pine cones down the streams at Liberty Park (as well as going on some of the rides at the mini-amusement park), swimming all the time, sorting papers and throwing out old assignments, amusing myself by watching Brandon play with my Playmobil toys, playing games on the computer, listening to the radio, reading...but I've hardly spent any time with friends. That is one thing I've missed out on this summer - so far. I'm heartily looking forward to Night Games. I'm also excited for some trips I am planning on. This year, instead of going on vacation everywhere, my family is doing staycation stuff: going to all of the fun places that are in our area. Of course, we'll go on one or two short trips out-of-state (my mom and I are heading out to NYC to see Wicked on Broadway!!! ☺☺☺), but we'll mostly stay around here. I'm happy about that. Last summer I got barely any time with friends, I was gone so much. But this year, that will change.


The last day of seventh grade was crazy. And happy. And really exciting. School's out! But of course, I came close to tears. I knew I would. I'll miss a lot of people that I made good friends with. Classes involved taking pictures, playing Ninja, and saying lots of good-byes. It was a wild day with emotions up and down and all over the place. This is one reason I love school - it's a people place. It's a place where you can be yourself. And of course, it's a place to learn; not only school subjects, but social skills and who you want to be. Junior High is amazing and I can't wait to be back - but for now I'll enjoy my free time.

Summer Craziness

This summer has flown by! We're almost half-way through, and I need to catch up. I'll just mention a few fun things that have happened:

• Went to Yellowstone National Park - amazing!!! We saw a bear, a wolf, deer, (I think) an elk, and tons of bison/buffaloes! Plus magnificent geysers!
  
• Had tons of fun with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents including
• -Played Capture the Flag in the dark, Mafia and Kick the Can - SUCH FUN GAMES!!!
• -Had a tea party, spoke in a British accent, and watched Jane Eyre with the girls!
• -Went to the Fourth of July fireworks!!! They were awesome!!!
• -Played with the new chickens my grandparents got!
• -Played with the Wii my grandparents got!
• -Played fairies with the girls!
• -Saw "Up" with my cousins - it was awesome! (But the beginning made me cry)
• -Went to Cherry Hill water park with my cousins!
• -Went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house!
• -Went to Bear Lake and had a blast!
  

Plus, I've had some nice lazy days this summer to relax and do whatever I want...that can sometimes be the best part in the craziness of summer. :)

California Trip 2008

We went to California again this year! It was so fun. We~~~

• Went to Disneyland and California Adventure
• Slept and drove around in an awesome RV - it was so cool!
• We went to two temples - one in San Diego and another one, I can't remember.
• We were spoiled by Alicia (again)
• Saw Wall-E with Auntie B. (I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
• Ate breakfast at McDonalds (I didn't know about their breakfast foods...) IT WAS WEIRD (we never do that!!!)
  
• Missed our flight home (that's why we went to the temples - they were on the way to the other airport we were going to)
• Had Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt (It's so yummy!)
• And so much more!
  

It was awesome. I always love spending time in CA!

Puerto Rico

In Puerto Rico~~~

• We stayed at 3 hotels: the Coquey Inn, a Howard Davidson hotel, and Passion Fruit Bed and Breakfast. I LOVED PFB&B. All the people there were so nice.
• We went snorkeling, though it stunk because at first the waves were so wild and the water silty and it was terrible, then we went to a calm spot not far away though there wasn't much to see there. :-(
• We went to the Areciebo Telescope - it was massive!
  
• We also went on a kayaking trip to Bioluminecense Bay - the bottom of our kayaks had glass so as we got closer to the bay from the little river in the mangrove forest, the glass bottom would have streams and sparks of light shooting below us. When we got in the bay, it was amazing. Every paddle made a huge wave of light for a second. Sometimes we saw fish below the water from the light. It was amazing!
• We went swimming ALMOST every day. We couldn't the last day because that would get our clothes wet and we didn't have time to go swimming, shower, dry, wash clothes...
• Watched a lot of T.V. because at the Passion Fruit B&B they had pretty much all the channels. Normally we'd NEVER watch that much, but it was vacation! :-)

Overall, we had a great time. I loved that trip!!!

Summer!!!

It's finally SUMMER!!! I have lots of great plans. Our family is going to Puerto Rico (more about that afterwards) - I'm so excited! I also have my other plans, like going through all my stuff (toys, books, clothes, etc.) and doing arts and crafts and hanging out with friends --- it's gonna be so fun!

Sad thing - during the summer you're usually home more than during the school year. That means messier house which means (ugh) more chores. I'm NOT excited for that part. All well!

Oh, I also plan to earn a lot of money this summer doing lemonade stands, working in gardens and such, mowing the lawn, doing extra chores, etc.

I love summer! Don't you?

More on Space Camp

Latest news: I probably won't be going to space camp after all. At least not the one in Alabama with ages 8/12. It's really expensive, plus the plane fee. But I'm still saving up for something really cool. And I'm still considering going to a camp, just not space camp. I think an art camp would be fun, and way cheaper.
I'm excited for Summer, because I'll be able to work a lot more.

Vacation In CA

A little while ago Brandon, my Mom and I went to Long Beach, CA. It was soooooooo fun! My Aunt Bonnie picked us up and we went to Rubys for dinner. Then we drove to our friend Alicia's house. There we went to bed for the night.

I forget all the details, but I'll tell you where we went.

At one point we went to Knotts Berry Farm, which is a VERY fun amusement park. We had a lot of fun. Alicia had two friends that were coming, and one of them, my mom, my brother (though it was kind of a last minute thought), and I went on the roller coaster Ghost Rider. We had to wait an hour in line, but it was worth it to me. We got to go in the gold carriage, the other one was silver. I was in the front with the guy who was with us, and my brother and my Mom were behind us. It was sooooooo exciting, but scary. The first drop was awesome. The carriage went slowly up, the BOOM!!! We were goin' down! We did that several more times, slowly up then BAM!!! Down!!!!! It was freakin' awesome! I was screaming my head off when that happened. There is a camera at the first drop, I think, and it takes a picture of us. My hair had flown over my face, but you could tell I was having a good time. The guy next to me had sunken in cheeks and a long head, which was very weird, but he liked it too. After all, he had been on many roller coasters and loved them. My mom looked perfect, a wide smile set in her face. But my brother looked horrible. He had the corners of his mouth turned down with a weird look. But that look looked worse when we got off. He kept saying he never wanted to go on a roller coaster again. I however, was dying to go on another one, especially by the time we got to Disneyland. I kept asking, "where are the roller coasters? I wanna go on one!" But that's at Disneyland. I'm not done with Knotts yet.

The other rides we went on at Knotts were the "Big Foot Rapids" and the mining one, the swing one, the bumper cars one, and the "Supreme Scream." My mom and I went on that one. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO scary! First you went s-l-o-w-l-y up then you wait at the top then BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You go down, seemingly to your death. I tried to scream, but couldn't. My stomach went 360 degrees around. Then it got slower, went up, went down, slower, went up, went down, s-l-o-w-e-r and stopped. It was freaky. I was worried I was going to throw up, but it just wasn't one of those things you throw up after. I also didn't think I would ever go on one again, but I was proved wrong. I ended up going on one in California Adventure, which really was a lot better.

We went to Disneyland first, but I don't care. I'm skipping around.
In CA Adventure I went on one called The Mali-Boomer. I personally think that's a pathetic name, but oh-well. This one was scary too, but better, because you strap up, wait for a minute, then BANG!!! You go up, down, up, down, up, down, until you stop. It's freaky too, but better.

We ended up going on twenty, yes twenty rides at Disneyland, including CA Adventure. It was awesome. I'll tell you the best ones: The Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Nemo Submarine, Soarin' over California, and Star Tours. But every one we went on was fun.

We did and saw other things fun things also, including: Pirate Dinner Adventure, Long Beach Sand Sculpture Contest, hanging out with our Aunt Bonnie, being given gifts by our complete spoiler, Alicia, and many other things. If you want more info about parts we shared on our adventure, email me. I hope you enjoyed!

Trip to Vermont

Two weeks ago I went on a trip to Vermont. It was fantastic! I got to see almost all of the friends I wanted to see; there was just three other people.

We were staying at a big house, owned by my moms' friend and fiance. Downstairs in the basement there are video games that you usually have to pay for, but since they own them it's free! It's fantastic. My favorite is called "Big Buck Hunter." How you play is, you pick a region, the north, south, east, midwest, or west. Then you start at one place and pick which site you want to do. There are four places, and each place has five sites. Each site has three bucks and obviously you try to shoot them. However, you try not to shoot the does. It is hard, but fun, even though it's not a good sport (unless you really need it for food and clothing to survive).

That was definitely not the best part of the trip, though. I am not sure what the best part of our vacation was, but part of it was seeing old friends.

The first day we saw our old friends Molly and Sam. Sam is Brandon's best friend. He was so glad to see him, and I was glad to see Molly too. We actually saw them several times during our trip, and did a bunch of activities with them. One of which included going to Borders to wait for the last Harry Potter book to come out. While we waited, we were both reading a cool book. It wasn't that bad, but only because we had those books. They were really interesting. Finally the book came out! But still we had to wait a couple hours to get our copies. I wasn't buying a copy, my mom was just picking it up for our friend. We were up till past two in the morning! I was really tired. But I didn't care. It was fun. They are really good friends to have.

I don't have any best friends in Vermont, or maybe I have a lot of best friends. Anyway, I love them all equally and feel the need to name every one I ever became close to. I will tell which ones I did see when I went there.

Madeleine (saw her!)

Molly (saw her!)

Clara (didn't see her, she was on vacation somewhere else.) :-(

Vicky (saw her!)

Hannah (saw her!)

Paige (saw her!)

Seirra (never got to play with her much; she always lived pretty far away from me. But she is still a good friend, and I got to see her!)

So, as you can see I got to see quite a few of the people I wanted to see! There were a couple other people, but oh well.

So, I repeat, I saw Molly the first day, again on the second day, then on Saturday we went to North Beach to see our old neighbors, Madeleine and Michael. We made this fantastic sand castle; I'll describe it. There were three pools, my pool, Madeleine and Michael's pool, and the main pool. When we first made it we poured water into the main pool and it trickled down to the other pools. But then I had an idea to make a big pile of sand and make it into a volcano. So we did. Madeleine and I dug it out and then poured water down the hole, into the main pit, then it went to the other pools. It was really cool.

After playing with Madeleine, my friend Paige was hosting a Harry Potter party. Since I was in town, they invited me over. It was FANTASTIC!!!!!! First we got sorted into either Griffindor or Slytherin. We played a couple good, long games of Quiddich, and by the end of it everyone was sweating their heads off. So we hopped in the pool. The pool was freezing! So I hung out shivering in the sun, eating chips till we went inside. I wasn't the only one who was cold, a bunch of the girls were, for it was a cool pool.
Slowly everyone went home, one by one. Soon I was the last one left. My mom picked me up really late because she was at a concert. But all the better. Paige and I had a good time. Her sister, Alana (I honestly don't know how to spell it) gave me this Harry Potter notebook that she never even wrote in. I really like it! It comes with all sorts of Harry Potterish Stickers. I have already written and drawn a lot in it.
So I had a great time there. But there was more!

On Sunday we woke up and went to church. We got there late, but it didn't really matter. I went in a class with some people I used to know, some that I like and some I don't really. Afterwords, I played around with my old friends a bit, and then we left. We wanted to play together more, but I had to leave. We had planned to visit some other people that afternoon.


On Monday, Brandon and I had planned play dates with our friends. First, I played with Hannah in the morning, then we went to the library. At the library, I saw one of our old really nice librarians. Her name is Pam. I wish I could have seen Hannah the librarian too, but she wasn't there. After that Hannah and I went to Vicky's. It was really fun. We played a fairy game that was really fun.

Vicky is my number one pen pal. She always answers my letters, and I always answer hers. But it was good to catch up with her without writing. I wish we could see each other more often, because she is a really good friend. I am very glad I could see her there.

Tuesday we went to my old singing lessons teachers house. They were playing Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows on tape. I couldn't help but listen. I won't say anything about it except that it's a good story. Anyway, I have read the whole book now.

Wednesday we were trying to figure out what to do, and mostly just stayed at the house all day. But later we went to Airport Park to meet Madeleine and Michael again, and Madeleine and I went to the bog to pick blueberries. They were perfectly ripe. We got as much as we could carry then went back and gave them to the others. Went back with Brandon and Michael so they could help us. It was fun! We got a ton of berries. They are delicious.

I went swimming a lot when I was there. The house we were staying at had a jacuzzi and a pool, though the pool was very cold. That is how I got over my fear of cold water.
I made myself jump in and moved around a lot so I could stay warm. I know that's how almost all people do it, but I just couldn't make myself stay in before. I just hope that I can do the same for most pools, because obviously some are cooler than others. But for now I'll just say that I am proud of myself.

So, that was pretty much our whole trip. It was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!

Hawaii

This past summer we went to Hawaii. We flew to Honolulu and stayed at my Aunt Kimber and Uncle Ramond and cousin Anavai's house. We got lots of shave ices which are kind of like snow cones but really soft ice and super yummy flavors. Matsumoto's was a great place to get shave ice.

We also went to the Polynesian Cultural Center which is a place where you can learn about all the Polynesian islands and the people who live on them. Some of the islands were Samoa, Tahiti, Hawaii, Tonga, New Zealand, Figi and Marquesas. They had a boat parade and lots of shows and classes to make native crafts. Best of all, we got to see our friends Molly and Sam there, as well as Paige and her family...they are some good friends of ours from Vermont.

We also got to go to the Big Island called Hawaii. It was a really cool island because one part looked exactly like Mars, and another just a mile away was a rain forrest. We went through a lava tube that was made in the rain forest a long time ago. We also went to the very bottom part of Hawaii, which is also the bottom of America. We went to the southern-most restaurant in America, too. Then we went to some cliffs near the water and found lots of cool rocks and shells, and watched the huge waves crashing above some of the cliffs.

After that we went to Volcano National Park. We couldn't see any lava even when we went down the path for a while, but then when we drove back up it was dark and we could see sparks of lava!

Another fun thing we did was drive up to Mauna Kea Observatory Visitor's Center. There mommy and daddy bought me a shirt with some pictures of all the telescopes on it. Then we went down and stayed in a hotel with a huge pond filled with Koi fish. Below is a picture of them.

We hiked to see some ancient petraglyphs which are also pictured below.
Back on Oahu, we went camping at a big ward campout for a week on the beach. My friend Arinui was there and a lot of other kids. At one point somehow this big, huge, toad hopped into the camp and we caught him in a pot. Then we showed a lot of people it before we let it go. There is a picture of it below too.

We hiked up Diamond Head Crater to the tippy top lookout place. We saw Honolulu on one side, and a great, blue ocean on the other. From there we could see Maui and Molokai'i. It was a really beautiful view.

Twice we went to Waimea Bay. There are some really good coral reefs there. There are also lots of caves you can crawl into, and a giant rock where lots of people are lined up to jump off. There was really warm water and you could get quite close to the fish. I saw a giant sea turtle there--that was awesome!

Over all, it was a really wonderful trip! I really loved it.


Koi Fishat our hotel in Hilo














The super giant Toad in our camp!















Here is one of the petraglyphs we saw. No one knows what they mean, but they are ancient.















The southern-most beach in Hawaii--and the USA! People use white rocks to write things on the black lava. We made a "W".




















A lava field in Volcano National Park. You can see the lava steam rising as the hot lava hits the ocean in the distance.
















Just a few minutes away from the lava fields is an amazing rain forrest! This is where I went through the lava tubes too.

Crush

One of the things we did while we where in Hawaii was going to Turtle Beach. There, this big turtle kept getting washed up on the beach. At one point he washed up for a particularly long time. We took lots of pictures of him, and I named him Crush. Crush was having his dinner of seaweed on the rocks. You can see in this picture.

The Coral Reefs

I think the coolest thing we did in Hawaii was going to Hanauma Bay. The water was sort of cold but it was probably the coolest place I have ever seen. I saw a gazillion diffrent fish including these: Rainbow parrotfish, Morish idols, Yellow tangs, Boxfish, Jacks, File fish, Cornet fish, Trumpet fish, Butterfly fish, Rainbow wrass, Humuhumunukunuku apua'a, Giant sea turtles, and an enormous Eel. It was slithering around at the bottom of the bay about 7 ft. below us. It was so cool. We also saw big brain corals. I hope I can go there again someday!

"Virginia is for lovers"

This week we went to Virginia. We drove to the Eastern shore to our dear friend Stephie's house. She has a cute puppy named Ezzie that we played with a lot. We had to cross a 24 mile bridge to get to her house.

On Saturday we went Kitty Hock to see the place where Wilbur and Orvil Wright flew the first airplane. We also went to Nags Head beach. We made the best sand castle ever there. We also climbed the sand dunes. Later we went to Stephie's mom and dads house and played there with her nieces and nephew. They lived right on a river near the ocean and had 96 steps to go down to their dock. I jumped in the freezing cold water and I had to take 2 showers that day. It was so fun going to their house.

Sunday night we had to leave but on Monday we got to go to my oldest friend Sage's house. I haden't seen her since I was 1 1/2 years old but it was fun to see my first playmate. Then we drove all the way over to Coloniel Williamsburg!!! We couldn't see too many olden day things because we got there a bit late. But we still had a ride on a bus around some old places and we got to have dinner there. Virginia is a beautiful state!

Trip to D.C.

This week we went to D.C. and saw so many cool sites like the Washington Monument, the Lincoln memorial and we even saw Whitehouse a bit behind the trees. We also went to the Botanical garden and the Capitol with my aunt Suzie. We saw many old friends in DC and Maryland and Virgina while we were there. We had a great time. It was tons of fun!!!

Space camp

Next year I am going to space camp. I am very exited because we are going to build real miny rockets and sit in a special chair that feels like you weigh almost nothing. I am going with my friend Aspen because I won't feel as homesick and my mom won't feel as worried.We are going to learn a lot as well as have tons of fun!!!