My heart is pounding; I am scared to try to get up.  The wind just right and the water as clear as could be.  I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of seagulls.  I opened my eyes and looked at the waves crashing against the beach.  It was a beautiful day and I was happy to be in Hawaii.  I thought for a minute and then concentrated, and I was up riding the wave.  I felt like I was bouncing on top of the wave and the wind was pushing me forward, toward the shore.  Every time we would try to ride a way, we were progressing.  Everyone was happy to be in Hawaii, cheering for each other, laughing at funny falls, and having fun taking lessons.  It was an experience that I will never forget, one that I loved.

As soon as we landed I had this incredible feeling that this was going to be an exciting trip and I couldn’t wait.  The reason we had flown to Hawaii was because my dad had a work trip, but we all got to go.  We also went because it was my sister’s birthday.  My sister was turning 7 years old and I was 8 years old.  My cousin, Shelby, had come with us so my parents could go to the formal outings each night.  Shelby was the one who brought up the idea of learning to surf in Hawaii.

As soon as we got to the hotel, my mom said “Let’s get checked in and go have some fun!”  After we put our things in our room, we went outside to walk around the hotel and look at the view.  When we got outside the first thing I was amazed by was the huge water park in the back of the hotel!  It was filled with many slides, lazy rivers, wave pools, regular pools, and many more things.  Then we went down and hung out at the beach until the sun went down.  I was dazzled by the view.  The whole shoreline was filled with so many colors and the base colors- white and blue.  The sand was white as could be.  It was smooth and fine and when I picked it up a handful, it went sifted through my fingers.  At sunset the bold colors of pink, purple, blue, yellow, and orange filled the sky and we were watching the most beautiful sky change to darkness.  Hawaii was truly a heavenly paradise.

Finally it was the third day I had been in Hawaii and I was super pumped, along with the rest of my family and Shelby to go surfing.  We rented a car and went to the public beach right next to hotel.  The beach was so cool!  There were all sorts of different people there. It was amazing!

When we got there, Shelby said “I wonder what the waves are like. I can’t wait to go surfing with all of you!”  We all felt the same way.

When we got to the beach our instructor, Sasha, had all the gear and equipment out and ready to go.  We put wetsuits on and took our surfboards near the water. Before we got into the water we had a little shore lesson.  We learned how to get up on the board.  We also learned how to balance our weight out on the board.  And we talked about serious stuff.  First, we talked about safety and then we stretched.  Then we took the boards out into the water and looked for some medium sized waves.  Everyone was really looking forward to trying to surf.

My first time surfing was truly a crazy experience.  I was the second to last person to try surfing and I was trying to think about what it would be like when I got up on my board.  It was almost my turn and I was scared and a little nervous.  I started to lose faith and decided I didn’t want to do it anymore.  My mom went ahead of me and she was almost at the shoreline.  I had to make a decision – a quick one.  At first I was really excited, and now I was afraid, but I didn’t quite understand why.

As soon as I heard Sasha yell, “Avery, you’re up,” I thought for a second – should I go or should I pass on my turn.  I decided to try. He reminded me what to do, he waited for a wave, and then he gave me a push, and off I went paddling as hard as I could.  As soon as I heard Sasha say, “Up,” I started pulling my legs up under me and getting my feet into position on the board.  I was so nervous and excited that at that moment.  I was almost up, but then I placed my foot the wrong way sending me off the board and the board falling on top of me.  I was really mad that I didn’t get up the first time. This made me eager to try once more.

As soon as it was my turn again, I paddled up, eager to get up this time.  Sasha decided to give me a little bit of a bigger wave and pushed me even harder into this wave.  It was finally my chance to get up and enjoy this beautiful and big wave.  As soon as I heard Sasha yell, I closed my eyes and began the process of getting up on the board.  This time I kept my foot in and fixed all the minor mistakes in the seconds I had to get up.  Time was running out and I still wasn’t up. All of a sudden I was in position and I rose up.  Time felt like it slowed down as I rode the wave in.  I felt such a sense of accomplishment.  I could hear my family yelling and clapping for me.

There was a lot of support every time someone got up and was actually surfing.  Each time we took a turn we were all trying to fix little problems and get better.  After a couple of tries, my cousin and I decided to try to synchronize surfing (surfing at the same time).  The first couple of times were funny because our boards were crashing into each other and we were trying to learn how to turn away from each other, but it never really worked.  We had fun surfing together even though we could not get our boards to turn.

My family was pretty good at surfing also.  We all did well and stayed on the board most of the time.  We all had different strengths that made us good surfers. Olivia got up first.  My mom had the best balance (she tells us that she was the best, so we just agree with her).  My dad, after the fourth time, fell off and hit a piece of coral, but was tough and kept surfing.  Shelby was amazing and was up and flying every time.  We were all super supportive of each other and always clapped.

The next day we went back and took another surfing lesson.  This time Olivia and my dad did not surf.  My mom, Shelby, and I all learned to have better balance and how to turn the board.  This time we learned how to time paddling hard into the wave and get up by ourselves, and we all mastered that.  The second day was super fun, but not as fun as the first day.  But we surfed all day once again.

We had such a fun time in Hawaii surfing.  I would definitely go visit again if I was given the chance.  There were so many fun things to do and see.  Since that trip, my sister and I have been surfing on a couple of other vacation trips, but I wish I could surf more.  Maybe next time we can surf mavericks.