At 7:00 AM, I had to arrive at school on a Saturday. This wasn’t the problem, though. I’m not afraid of school. But what I was afraid of was what I would have to see soon. Everyone in my class was thrilled, and when the bus came, everyone was practically jumping for joy. Everyone except for me. My heart was pounding. In class about two weeks ago, someone asked what they would do if they were scared of roller coasters. Mr. Jones said that we could just ride the little kid rides. I knew that if I told anyone, they would laugh at me and never let me live the experience down.  “Come on, Zoe,” I thought to myself, “ You can’t let everyone see your fear.” Even though the bus ride only was supposed to take an hour, it felt like it took a million years,  but that was probably because we almost crashed twice. When we finally arrived, I felt my stomach falling ten feet. I got a hurting feeling in my stomach. Screams emanated painfully from the three hundred foot monster of a roller coaster that towered before us. Shrieks of delight came from boys and girls alike. The June heat made me feel faint for a split second as I got off of the bus.

As we entered the line, my head begun to spin. “Oh, no. Oh no!” I thought. The gate opened and a humongous fountain cascaded to welcome us. “Hardly welcoming,” I thought to myself, “when there are screams piercing my ears every ten seconds.” In front of the fountain, there was a sign which read: “Welcome To Kings Dominion”. Mr. Jones, our teacher, gave us specific instructions to meet at the music hall by two o’ clock sharp. This definitely would not be a problem for me, as performing would be the most fun thing I would do all day. Why? Simple. I am terrified of roller coasters.

I knew it. I would be forced to go on roller coasters. I would be laughed at, humiliated, and tortured for 12 hours straight by people who I thought were my friends. On Monday, when we went back to school, I was sure that my class would tease me until I died of embarrassment.

I spotted a small group of people I knew. “Why the heck not?’’ I thought. “I’m going to be humiliated, no matter what group I’m in. Why not at least get humiliated by my friends?”

“Umm…” I asked a small cluster of my friends, “Can I be in your group?”

“Sure!” my friend Caroline grinned. “As long as you don’t make us go on any roller coasters.”

“What?” I asked, thinking that I had heard her wrong.

“Well, we’re all in this group because we all don’t like roller coasters. You don’t like roller coasters, do you?”

“N…No! Of… of course not!” I stuttered in disbelief. “How could I get any luckier?” I thought. “I guess this day won’t be so terrible after all.”

We found a ride that was not a roller coaster, one that consisted of swinging birds that you could control. My friend Anne screamed and wailed in fear, as I drove the bird higher and higher into the sky, doing insane twists and turns. It was hilarious. Hope begun to flow like a river, back into my heart. My spirit became lively once again. The ride might not have been too terribly exhilarating, but it was fun all the same. Next, we decided to test our boundaries. No, not with a roller coaster, but something like that. We decided to go on a log flume. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, except my friends forced me to sit in the very front of the log! I screamed so loud when the ride hit the drop, it was mortifying. Then, when we went to see the picture, I looked ridiculous! The funniest thing, though, was that Anne was hiding behind me, so you could only see her head! I was beginning to have a lot of fun. We went on a couple more rides, and before we knew it, it was 1:50. We ventured to the music hall, where our classmates were camped out. By this time, it was sweltering. When it was time for us to perform, the coolness of the A/C hit me like a gentle pillow. My class nervously mounted the stage, unpacked our instruments, and sat down. As we begun to play, my thoughts wandered from the music, and went to how excited I was to get back into the park. Before I knew it, we were finished playing. We sat in the back row of the theater as the Chamber orchestra played. We were thrilled to exit the theater and return to our rides. At about 6:00 pm, my friends and I decided to play a “fool the guesser” game. The guesser chose my exact weight! I was crestfallen. When my friend Anne stepped up, however, she won! She chose a blue penguin with a sailor’s hat and a cute little red bow tie. “Darn it,” I thought, “Why couldn’t I have won?” As if she read my mind, Anne said to me, “You can have him if you want.”

“What?’’ I asked, confused.  When she confirmed I could have it I was so happy, I could’ve burst. I named him the name that I believed was the most appropriate; Walter the Orchestra Penguin. By then, we were instructed to go back to the Eiffel Tower (not the real one) in the center of the park to watch the fireworks. As the show began, my brother sauntered up to me, a gray and green lemur slung over his shoulder, in the position of a fireman’s carry, and a huge grin on his face. He explained how he went on almost all of the roller coasters, and one he did standing up. I shuddered at the thought, but he seemed happy, so I let the matter drop.

The bus ride back to the school was terrible. I was exhausted. Not only that, but the people in the back of the bus were so painfully loud, that the driver couldn’t focus. We almost crashed again. When I was finally able to doze off, it was only for half an hour. I woke up to a bunch of boys singing “Girl on Fire” incredibly out of tune.  I liked to think that it was fate that I woke up during that song.

At about 12:30 am, we returned home. Our parents wanted to hear about our adventures, but we were much too exhausted to speak. I ended up getting sick with a fever the next day, but I thought that it was completely worth it. To this day, I still have Walter, and he comes to Orchestra parties. I like to think of him as my Orchestra adventures penguin keepsake. I still remember that trip, and I most likely will for the rest of my life. Hopefully, one day, I will conquer my fear of roller coasters, but for now, I just like to say that I went to Kings Dominion on an orchestra trip, and I had a lot of fun.

I forced  a stubborn bobby pin in my gel smoothed hair and and tugged at the tight elastic of my ballet shoes digging into my heel. I smoothed the wrinkles in my tulle dress. It was a sunny Wednesday evening at Bishop Ireton High school where my ballet rehearsal and recital was taking place in their spacious auditorium. We were anxiously waiting for our turn to rehearse. I sat next to Olivia and did some of my homework. Soon enough, my eyes began to wander, losing focus. I stood up and danced on the slippery linoleum floor with my friends and every now and then reaching up and making sure the bobby pins didn’t fall out almost instinctively. Ava grabbed my hands and spun me around excitedly. As she twirled around, soft wisps of her golden hair slipped out of her tight bun. A television was set up in the foyer playing old tapes of our previous recitals. We all crowded around trying to see who’s who. “Look that’s you Kalista!” Olivia pointed out “We were so tiny!” She imitated our dance from that year playfully. She pushed away loose strands of dirty blonde hair stiff from hairspray. I see the stage door open and an arm flailing around. The woman looks around and I immediately realize it is our turn to rehearse.

We make our way through the younger dancers spread out on the floor coloring in princess coloring books with thick crayons and their moms frantically spraying hair spray and clipping the corresponding flowers in their hair viciously. I don’t stop to watch this strangely intriguing show of pulling hair, spraying hair spray, and clipping flowers repeating as if it was on a loop. Pull, spray, clip repeat. Pull, spray, clip repeat. Pull, spray, clip repeat. We finally arrived to the stage door and scurried in like mice. Our teacher, Ms. Grace hastily greeted us and told us to get backstage where we would come out from.“Chop, Chop.” she said briskly. As I gracefully circled the stage and came to my spot to pose, I could faintly hear the rippling harp and the mellow violins in our music. Olivia came out from the curtains and circled the stage and landed in her spot to pose. Ava, Alyssa, and Lynn soon came out the same way and the chorus of the song began. I hummed the song to myself as I danced.Balancé, Balancé, arabesque, arabesque, soutenu. Balancé, Balancé, arabesque, arabesque, soutenu. Everything was going as rehearsed until we came to the second part of our dance which we only learned two days before. I glanced to the side making sure I was doing the right steps. We continued our dance with noticeable uncertainty until we all found ourselves dancing different parts of the dance and stumbled on each other as we did our Tombe, Pas de Bourrée, glissade, Pas de chat. Which step do I do next I thought. I stopped dancing for a moment then began dancing again. Ms. Grace stopped the music. “ I need to have the other girls rehearse now, don’t leave though. Practice outside.” she said.

We scampered out the stage door and to the lobby. Once we made our way back to the foyer, I tell my mother we have to stay and practice, “Ms. Grace said we have to stay and practice. I think she wants to see us again.” This was the first time my group had learned the last part of our extensive six minute dance to days before our dress rehearsal. It’s not that we didn’t know the steps, we just didn’t exactly grasp the order of the steps so we all ended up dancing different steps at different times. I was glad Ms. Grace let us practice it more but could we pull it off? I  meet up the others and we begin our dance right in the middle of the lobby. Parents smile as we start our dance from the beginning but are quickly and politely requested to leave. We walk past the area where we stored our belongings and situated ourselves in the hallway leading to the cafeteria. Then we begin discussing the sequence of the dance. We asked each other which step was next and practiced and asked each other questions. All of the practicing paid off because we finally got the steps so well and perfected that it became second-nature. Despite us being sweaty and out of breath, we sprinted, not walked to the nearest water  fountain and guzzled down the gelid water.

The following night I tossed and turned worrying that I would forget the steps even though we spent all afternoon working arduously on them.What if we stumble again I thought? I spent most of the day restlessly pondering over the possible outcomes of the dance. My brain was overflowing with what ifs but I instantaneously thrust them out of my mind and cleared my brain so I could focus on my schoolwork. The six hours of school that kept my mind off the dance melted away like warm butter. The excitement that was within me that day was more than ever and I absolutely couldn’t wait to dance.

I arrived at the school and quickly reunited with my group and hurried to our area in the music room which had a separate entrance to the stage. We anxiously danced around doing pirouettes to pass the time and to settle our unavoidable pre-dance jitters. “I am so nervous.” Alyssa said. Her usually rosy cheeks were pallid. Alyssa, the newest addition to our group, was only nine years old, but very skilled and talented.“Don’t worry Alyssa,” I assured, “It’s normal to be nervous. It will all go away once you are on stage.” When it was our turn to dance, we each went to our designated wing and waited for the current dance to end. There was a moment of silence and then the music began. I  Bourréed around the stage and posed and the other dancers followed. Okay, I said to myself. Get ready for the Balancé. As we danced I noticed how well everyone was doing and that the second part of the song was approaching soon. I hear the music slowly progressing to the second part of the dance. I prepare myself, look around, panic for a moment and then–. Nothing. The near thought of tumbling fled my mind as we gracefully danced the steps which we had practiced the day before. A moment later we were grinning joyously as we finished our dance. We left the stage and high fived each other, “We did it!” I whispered. The dance after us quickly finished and we had to go back on stage for our bow. Then we went to the foyer and met up with our family and friends and went to the reception. As I sipped some ginger ale, I couldn’t help thinking that this was our last performance until  next spring and we won’t be going back for dance class until the fall. I was really going to miss my friends and I thought that all the practicing did help us dance flawlessly and I would remember this dance so that if we ever were in another situation like this, this would be the proof the practice does make perfect.

I slowly slouched in my chair. In the gloomy rainy Kings Dominion, I was in a pizza shop with my family. It was August 10th, 2010, my birthday. I was with my two brothers, my three step-sisters, my Dad, and my step-mom Lucy. People rushed in to get shelter from this rainy weather. I picked up this greasy dough they call pizza and drop it down. I wipe my hands. I slowly get hotter and hotter in this rainy, humid weather.Getting bored and even more bored my two brothers Ryan and Ian asked me in a monotone,

“Wanna go on Flight of Fear?”

I was thinking. Flight of Fear was an indoor faster and bigger Space Mountain. A million people have said it is one of the scariest roller coaster. A couple of minutes later I was walking towards the outside exterior of the behemoth. We were walking in a jungle themed area then we saw this octagon crawling with a bunch of people  Once we got to the ride I was slowly second guessing myself. There was a line. No surprise though, it was the only roller coaster that worked in one of the gloomiest days in August. So we were slowly drudging through the line and we were talking to a Kings Dominion lady who worked there.

“Y’all should be going on the roller coaster in about forty five minutes.”

Forty five minutes. That was going to be a long time watching Ryan playing Sudoku. I was slowly thinking of all the big roller coasters I have been on. About a couple. The biggest one I had ridden was this ride called the Backlot Stunt Coaster. It was small in width but tall. It went underground during one part. Then a large hill. Then it was over. I was worried. That ride may be puny compared to this.This may be larger than I thought it was or I could overestimate this hunk of metal they called a blast coaster. So we were walking through this line that was Area 51 inspired and we were in a flying saucer. I was curious about this ride. So I asked my two brothers,

“So whats this ride about?”

“Its an alien inspired ride.” Ian replied.

“So why is this a blast coaster?”

“ It’s a blast coaster because it starts off with a huge blast hence the name and the blast forces the coaster to go through.”

“Oh.” I reply. Then Ryan starts talking about physics and I get bored. We move up quickly and then, we were there. The chamber of the ride. I now get that nervous shake. My knees weak. My Arms are heavy. I see the people who go on the ride then the lady says

“Have Fun.” then the lady gives a devilish grin and then presses the big button that starts the ride and then there are screams. Now it is me, Ian, and Ryan’s turn in the hot seat. We step in. We slowly get in and I slouch into the wet chair. The rain drops trickled down my shirt. Sweat started to drip I realized I might of not wanted to do this. We get strapped in and pull down the bar that I shall be gripping for the next couple minutes.Then like she said before with the same grin

“Have Fun.” The silence in the air lasted for about a second. My head jerked forward and the ride started. It was in the dark with flashing red, blue and green lights. Probably giving the idea that we were being probed. Then we went down a hill. Not a teensy little hill. One that scared the bejesus out of me. My stomach was ready to pop. My body felt like a balloon fly through the air when you let go of it. The ride went on. Big hills that made me want to hurl. Drops that made my stomach fall to my untied Converse shoes. Then a corkscrew happened.

My body got a feeling that made me want to explode. My body quickly went through a spiral and stopped. I jerked forward then, no sounds came from my brothers or anyone. I scream a laugh of relief. It was fun. I enjoyed most of it. We slowly walked off the ride and we walked out. It was bright and sunny kinda like it was a metaphor referencing my fear to dark and gloomy and my overcoming a bright sunny day. I slowly start hopping around saying

“Again! Again!” sounding like a four year old. My brothers shot down the idea and replied

“ I guess you aren’t as wimpy as you look. Wanna go on another blast coaster called Volcano?”

I stopped listening and was happy that my brothers actually thought I was not a small little kid. Even though I did not realize it at the time, I soon learned that the question that was given to me that was only one hour ago, it gave myself confidence. I replied with a ease,

“Why not?”

We were off for another adventure for a birthday that was going to be a roller coaster.

    “Where is it?!” Of course we would be lost we couldn’t find the rollercoaster. Alison, Andrea and I were walking around King’s Dominion for what seemed like ages, and we still couldn’t find the rollercoaster. Andrea pulled out the map once again and we tried to figure out where we were oriented because no matter what we did, we ended up on the opposite side of the park.

“First of all, where are we?” I said . Honestly now that I come to think of it I didn’t even know where we were. Alison checked the map that was already in Andrea’s hands and said “Right…here” We were fairly close, but still a little distant. We walked a little more hoping that we were going in the right direction. We were in Snoopy World and now we were even further away now. I really don’t want to get lost again; It’s really frustrating knowing that we’re so close yet we never seemed to get it right. I took out the map out of Alison’s backpack and noticed that we seemed to be getting closer. Before I got too excited, I told them, “Look! We’re right by the Intimidator 305, but let’s ask someone instead.We go up to the first person we find that looks like they could help us. The man we go up to is tall and young-looking. “Excuse me, would you mind telling us where the Intimidator 305 is?”  He pointed to where the Anaconda and Flight of Fear were located. We walked over and we saw the long line, but everyone had been talking about how great this rollercoaster was that we didn’t even care about it. By the time we started getting closer in line, it began drizzling. As we walked up to the first row seats, we saw that the drizzle has started falling a little harder and the lady made an announcement about how the ride is a little rougher with the the rain. But even if it is I decided to ride it because I didn’t want to waste that time waiting in line not to ride the rollercoaster that everyone had been talking about.

    Andrea and I rode together and Alison ended up riding with another girl. We took off but it wasn’t like a normal rollercoaster that goes click, click, click it pulls you up so fast that the slight drizzle prickled my face.The rollercoaster stopped for a split second so we could look down and then boom, we dropped the 305 feet. The emptiness in my stomach soon filled again as we looped around in steep circles. “Ahh” the screams pierced my ears; there were some girls behind us that would not stop screaming. Soon the scream faded and the rollercoaster train had started to slow down, eventually coming to a stop.

    We unfastened our seatbelts and climbed out and down the now wet ramp. We went into the little shop where they show the photos they put up while we were in the middle of the ride. Andrea and I look at them trying to find out which one is ours and Alison meets us there. We walked out and look back to see exactly how big the drop was. “Wow! That was so great” Allison said and Andrea and I were laughing too much to actually pay attention. But soon we stopped enough to get back on our feet and walk over to the next rollercoaster we could find. The Flight of Fear was right next to the Intimidator but it was closed. We passed by and made line for The Crypt.

As I woke up, I heard the blaring roar of the engines on the airplane. I glanced out the somewhat frosted window, and yawned with a smile about what was before me. I was bursting with happiness. I heard the ding that notified me that I had to put my seat belt on again. “We are now landing please put on your seat belts,” the pilot announced. I looked over at my mom and asked her about San Francisco. “It’s amazing Leslie, there are so many famous attractions that you can see with your father once he gets here. Such as the…” “We are now arriving in San Francisco, California. It is now 12:00 PM Have a nice afternoon,” I could only think one thing; California.

From all of the movies, pictures, songs, and other media, I had all of these ideas from what it will be like. Me and my mom got off the plane, retrieved our bags from the crowded area, and headed for the terminals. I followed my mom and many others on to the train. Where’s the driver? I wondered to myself. “Is it a self driven train?” I asked curiously to my mother. “Yes,” my mom responded I was so amazed by this. When it was our stop we got off and headed for the ‘Bart’ (the metro of San Francisco) station. We paid for our tickets and waited for the train. I knew it was coming soon when I heard the loud “clickity clack clickity clack” of the train speeding on it’s tracks. San Francisco, San Francisco, San Francisco… that’s all what went through my head.  The headlights were like sun rays down the dark tunnel. I heard the train slow down and stop before me and my mother. The door opened and we walked in and took the two free seats before us. I was still in awe of everything, I was still absorbing my surroundings like a human sponge. I thought curiously to myself I wonder what else is all futuristic. What will our hotel be like, everything is pretty different in California. I jokingly thought to myself, I guess I’m not in Virginia anymore.

After a few stops I pulled out one of the pamphlets behind me and read. “CAUTION: DO NOT TOUCH THIRD RAIL, RESULT TO DO SO WILL IN INJURY AND OR DEATH” I glanced out the window and looked at the 3rd rail then continued reading. “Third rail is electric… DO NOT TOUCH THIRD RAIL… If train breaks down look for the nearest blue light to call for help… instructions from conductor,” the rest was more about the dangerous third rail. I started to daydream about me on a rainbow eating a cotton candy cloud laughing, having fun. I could feel the tap on my shoulder immediately waking me up. “Leslie, get ready to get off. The next stop is ours”

“Ding, Ding step back doors opening, stand back to allow customers to get in the car”  Me and my mom stepped off the car and started toward to moving escalator. Once we reached the escalator I looked up to see that the escalator was high “Whoa, That’s a long way up” My mom and I got on the escalator. “About how many times have you been to California?” I asked curiously. “More than 10” my mom replied. I continued to ask questions, I hope she isn’t getting annoyed I thought. After about 1 minute we got to the top and my mom pointed to our hotel. I was immediately in awe of the giant ROSS semi-blocking the hotel. When we when to our room I realize that I didn’t have my phone to take picture of this amazing view from our room. I had to go through all of the week with out the amazing pictures. After I got home I had to wait a month until I got a brand new iPhone 4, I hope I don’t lose this one.

It was a bright, sunny, and beautiful day.  We just got out of the car after driving for 30 minutes even though it felt like forever.  When we arrived at the Acadia National Park I was in awe over the gorgeous views of the mountains, covered in green, luscious trees along with crystal clear streams.

“It looks like a great day to go hiking!” exclaimed my father.

“Uuuuugggghhhhhh,” I moaned, “ Another hike? We have already been on like three just in the past week.”

“Yes, stop complaining Ed,” my father responded.

“Fine,” I said reluctantly.  I really did not enjoy hiking a bajillion times a week.  I mean the views are amazing sometimes, but other times it could just be awful.  You could be walking for hour after hour until you just can not walk anymore and then when you get to the top you do not even get a nice view.

As we approached the base of the mountain we decided to break up; my mom and sister would go on the hike around the lake, while my father and I decided to go up the mountain along a cliff and then meet back up at the crossroad.

About 1/8 way through the hike my dad and I realized that we ran our of water.  During the morning it was nice and cool so we decided that we did not need to bring that much water, so we packed only a couple of water bottles.  That turned out to be a mistake as the temperature drastically increased as the day went on.

When we finally met up with the rest of my family we were officially out of water with more than 70% to go and the hardest part of the hike.

    “Dad,” I cried, “I’m so thirsty, why didn’t we bring more water?”

“I don’t know, where were you when we packed for this trip,” my dad replied.

After we met up it took us about 30 minutes to hike up the rest of the mountain.  When we got to the top my parents decided to stop for lunch.  I had a thanksgiving sandwich, with cranberry sauce, turkey, stuffing.  My sister had a plain ham sandwich, with lettuce and tomato, my mom had the same thing as me, and my dad had a barbecue chicken sandwich.  We also had fresh picked Maine blueberries that we collected on the way up to the top of the mountain.

After we finished our lunch  we continued down down the path we started on.  As we got to a crossroad my dad said:

“Lets go down this path,” he exclaimed, “much more scenic.”

“Ok,” we replied.

So as we head down the mountain we come across another cross road.  My father again decided for group.  He decided to go right.  I thought that was a bad idea because we had already gone off the path we came from by going right and now we were going even farther than where we should have been.  I almost said that I disagreed with the decision I decided not to because of my father was already fed up about me so I piped down and didn’t mention it.

We had been walking for nearly four hours and thirty minutes when I realized we were lost.

“Dad were lost, and I am thirsty, and tired, and I really just want to go home and sleep, so please tell me where we are?” I cried.

“Ed, please stop complaining, I know exactly where we are,” he responded.

“Then where are we?” I replied very annoyed.

“Right here,” he exclaimed triumphantly.

I looked at where he was pointing on the map.  I almost laughed.  He had where we are totally wrong.  I retract our route on the map and found  out that we were on the complete opposite side of the mountain then where we were supposed to be.

“Uh….. Dad, um I think we are actually here,” I said pointing to the spot that we were at on the map.

“Dont be ridiculous Eddie, we are obviously right here,” he exclaimed.

“No we are not,” I said as I showed him the route that we took down the mountain.

“Oh,” he responded embarrassed, “ then I don’t know where we are.”

    After we figured out where we were on the map we started to head off again.  We had  been hiking for what seemed like eternity in this beautiful park.  Even though we had been hiking on the mountain for hours and the hot beaming sun shown down on us as we trudged around the mountain we had a glimmer of hope.  We saw a sign that had exactly where we wanted to go listed.  Unfortunately for us the sign said that we had to hike another 3.5 miles until we got back to where we wanted to go.

    By this time I was about ready to pass out and die from thirst.  I had been without water for hours now and had been hiking up and down hilly terrain for that entire duration.  I was about just give up and lay down when I heard the sound of rushing water.  When I heard the water I scurried down the hill and stopped short of the stream.  The stream was all murky and muddy looking, but to me at that moment it looked like crystal clear water. I stooped down and took the bandada out of my bag and soaked it into the stream  This should hold me until we get to the park store I thought to myself.

After our brief stop at the river we again set off.  I felt like if I took another step my feet would actually fall off my leg.  I started to complain but quickly realized nothing was going to be fixed by me complaining so I stopped.

As we rounded the next corner I saw a sign and ran up towards it.  It read that our destination was only half a mile away.  I was so happy that I only had to walk what seemed so little compared to the amount I had already walked ( around 10 mi.), but then quickly remembered that I still had to walk it.  That immediately got my hopes down, but I was still happy that we were finally so close to where we want to go.

After I turned the final bend on the trail I saw the end.  I felt so relieved, but then i realized how thirsty I was.  So when we got back to the hotel the first thing i did was crack open a soda can.  It was the best soda I had ever tasted.

It was the fourth week of school; the announcements said that you could sign up to play an instrument. At first I wanted to play the trumpet, my parents did not let me play the trumpet. So a week later my grandma calls to see how everybody is doing. At that time i was playing video games. My mom called me in the kitchen to talk to grandma and grandpa; I got off my game and went in the kitchen quickly. When i got on the phone the signal was not very good but i could still hear them they were asking me how i was doing and how is school, I replied back to them that I was doing good and that I was getting all A’s and B’s and that they are letting us choose and instrument. My grandpa stopped me by saying “Name some of the instruments that you can pick”. I slowly said ok and the first thing that came out of my mouth was violin, then my grandpa started to talk to me in an excited voice telling me how beautiful the violin sounds I listened curiously because I really didn’t know what instrument to pick. When we got off the phone i thought to myself “Why don’t I surprise grandpa and grandma by choosing the violin and learning a few songs”. The next day when I got up my mom yelled at me and said “Have you made up your mind David” I quickly replied saying “yes” in a tired voice. I yawned and got up to get my pajamas off and get my clothes on. I went down stairs and to my surprise my mom signed the paper that said that I could borrow a violin from the school. I said “Thank you” and picked up my lunch and left for school in the beautiful sun. When I got to school I gave the paper to my teacher and went back to my desk to work on the warm up. As I got to my desk i was getting really excited about the violin. The morning announcements came on and said that “the people that have signed up for an instrument will get the instrument in a week. “I could not wait a week for my violin but i had to wait. The bell rang at 2:30 letting the fourth graders out when I left I ran home to get my homework done. My dad walked in the room and said that “we are going to Ohio for the week,”I asked him “when “really loud so that he could hear me. i waited excitedly, but there was no answer I said “when” In a yelling voice and i heard a faint but definite answer, “Three days David” My dad yells. I was super excited I haven’t been to Ohio to visit my grandparents in months and this  is the perfect time I have just enough time to learn a song or two and learn some songs up in Ohio. The next day i went to school and asked my teacher if she had my violin and she looked and the violin and said in a pleasant voice “here we are David” She handed me the half sized violin and said “Thank you” and walked down the narrow hallway to put it in my locker. Then i heard something  on the back to my class it sounded nice but i didn’t know at the time what a violin sounded like so i went back to my class so that my teacher does not come and look for me. At the end on the day when i got home I carefully opened my violin case and saw it it was amazing, very shiny and practically new. This was a great experience  but i did not know how to play this interesting instrument. So me and my dad got involved. Before i learned any stings i was playing Mary had a little lamb by ear i was a natural. The next  day I woke up nice and early I heard the birds chirping and I heard my dad down stairs. I walked down and he was getting ready to go i got my stuff ready the night before. I got dress and got on my Xbox 360 to play the call of duty. Around 2:30 pm when we left, it took around 7 and a half hours to get there. When we got there it was around 10:00 pm, and everyone was in bed. I put my violin in the bed room I was sleeping in, and then went to sleep. I woke up next morning around 8:30 am and it was cold, I went down stairs to see my grandma making waffles. I walked into the kitchen and walk over to grandma and said “Hi”. She turned around and said “Hello David, you have grown so much since the last time I saw you”. I asked her “where is grandpa grandma”. “In the warehouse David” . I said “oh” nicely and went in to the living room where I watched TV and waited for my waffles to get done when they were done my mom and dad and my two brothers were up and talking while I was eating. After breakfast I asked my grandma If we could go down the woods, she replied “in a bit ok” “ok grandma”. After a while me and grandma went down in the woods, we talked on the way to the creek about school. When we reached the creek there was a bench my cousin built she sat down and I started skipping rocks on the shallow water. After about an hour we went back to the house, it started to get dark so we hurried to the house. At 9:30 pm my dad started a movie, when they were watching the movie I went in my bedroom and got my violin. I walked down stairs quietly and waited for the right moment. When I went up to my bedroom the movie was almost over. I hid behind the couch until the movie ended. Then the movie ended, I put my bow on the string and started to play Mary had a little lamb the reactions of my grandma and grandpa were great. When I finished every said good job to me, except my two brothers because they were sleeping. I told my grandma and grandpa how I got the violin and they were amazed of how much I could learn in a few day I was tied to I said goodnight and went to bed. The next morning I saw my grandpa in the kitchen I sat down and he said to me “after breakfast do you want to work on your violin”, i replied quickly saying “Yes”. So for most of the day I practiced my violin and have fun with my grandpa.

“ Son wake up, today is a special day” my dad yells. For the first time I don’t groan getting out of bed.Every Saturday morning in Fall I wake up knowing it’s the day I play football. The middle of November and around Thanksgiving. Though on this special Sunday it’s the Championship Game. It’s the Championship of all the teams in Fairfax County and Alexandria. It’s a once a year event that you can’t miss. The game between the three time champs, American Pride Falcons and our team The Alexandria Titans.

I wake up to a delicious smelling breakfast of Waffles, Bacon, and Eggs.I can hear the sizzle of Bacon and smell the Blueberry Waffles.” Dang man slow down before you choke” my mom says as she leaves to get coffee. My daily pre-football routine is eating a big meal and playing video games. The game I chose was Madden 13 because I need to finish my season on the game.”Can I play” my brother asks. I say no because I have to get in the zone.Then I think to myself I should let him play before I get in trouble with dad. After that I got all my equipment my dad and I headed down to the car to go to Chantilly where the championship was held.As we get in the car the battery dies so we got some jumper cables.”Good thing my it worked or we couldn’t go to the game”I say in relief. On the way there we saw someone hit a Deer on the highway.” Can you help me pull this deer away” says the old lady. So we stop on the side of the road to help the lady pull the Deer off the road. When we got there we found out that we had to use our backup jerseys which were bad luck. When we started to warm up I noticed that the other team wasn’t there. When it was time to play the other team blew up a huge Runout Balloon with smoke which was no fair. I thought to myself”’It’s time to beat them”.

The whole team got ready while the coin toss was happening and we lost the toss so they chose to receive. The day was a perfect day for football because it was really cold and breezy. We lined up and “BOOM’’, the ball was kicked. Their kick returner caught the ball and ran as fast as he could. He dodged tackles and sped past people which led to a score. The score was already 7-0 and everyone was real mad.Now it was their turn to kick the ball off. They stopped us and we went on offense. We were faster than the other team so in a couple plays we scored. After the extra point we were up 8-7. Our team kicked the ball off again and thankfully we stopped them. After a couple plays on defense they had to punt the ball. The Titans went back on offense and scored again. Everyone on our team cheered happily and the score was 15-7. It was time to kick the ball off again and this time we kicked it short to prevent any runbacks. Thier offense went back on the field and on the first play they scored. Now the score was tied 15-15. On the kick off we fumbled and they scored again which led to them leading 22-15.

After the score, the ref blew the whistle and called halftime. “ Its time to step up” our coach yells. After the halftime break, we came out ready and we returned the kick off for a touchdown. Now the score was tied again at 22-22. No one scored for the rest of the quarter with the score tied 22-22 going into the final quarter. The other team came out the gate ready to score. They tried to pass, but we intercepted the ball and our offense comes back on the field. We drive all the way down the field and fumble. Their offense throws a pass but this time the safety misses the ball and they score. Now they are winning 28-22. They kick the ball to us and this our last chance to win. If we don’t score they win. Ww try to throw it deep and its incomplete. Then we score but there is a penalty. Everyone was furious at the ref and we thought he was cheating for the other team. On the next play, we fumbled the ball and they sadly took a knee to win the game.

When the ref blew the whistle the other team celebrated as we got in the cars and went home. Before we left the coach told us great season and can’t wait to see you next year. It was a great year but it would have been better if we brought the trophy home. On the way back home my dad said “You’Ll get them next year”. After the game I thought that there is a very good chance we’ll win next year. After the game we had a ceremony at the Bowling Alley. It erased the loss because all my teammates were there and we had a good time.

It was the spring break of 2010. We were in Steamboat, Colorado on a week long ski trip, as we did the the years before. This year was different, since we were at a new resort and we had new places to explore. We all had one thought in our minds at the time, and that was what would Molly break next. Molly was a good friend of ours and her family and another family were going skiing with us which we had done 3 other times in Colorado. Almost every time we went skiing though, she broke some bone in her body.

It was the 3rd day skiing. It was a great sunny day on the mountain, just one day after a huge snowstorm came through. It was the afternoon, and by now most of the snow had been packed down by other skiers, especially since it was a heavily traveled trail. the four other people in the group for the lesson(all of them my friends from home we had come with) were pretty tired, since we were on hard trails, and we were in the unprotected sun all day, since the front side of the mountain wasn’t very protected.

  We were on a fairly easy run since we had just gotten off of a steep run. On the way down, it was pretty much a free for all, since the snow was kind of sticky from the other skiers, and we had to make it to a lift, which was in a pretty flat area. The first turn on the run went smoothly, but I could see Molly  getting a bit shaky, and then I saw her skis cross(when that happens, you lose all control and fly forward, which usually doesn’t end well). She tumbled forward, and we were all kind of scared because it looked like she fell pretty hard, but at the same time, we were all thinking “not again” and with the last two years with more than four ski accidents, we all knew what would happen next. She got up, and was covered in the light, powdery snow.  She shook it off, but had a hard time standing up

By the end of the day, she got home and her dad told us that she had broken her leg.  We all sighed, since we knew that that was coming. It turned out that it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was, but she still broke her leg. She even did it the year after that!  Even though she hasn’t done it for a while, she could still do it, and we are all waiting for it to happen again.