My  dad,  my  sister,  and  I  went  camping  in  the  blue  mountains  of  Australia.  I  was  nine years  old  at  the  time,  and  it  was  in  the  summer  between  4th  and  5th  grade.  My  mom  was  the  only  one  in  the  family  who  didn’t  come  due  to  her  blood,  which  is  famous  among the mosquito community.  I was slouching down, playing on my only source of entertainment, being our twenty questions game. We  had  been  in  the  car  for  quite  a  while,  so  I  was  wondering how  much  longer  it  would  be  until  we  would  arrive  at  the  camp site.  My  sister,  Sara,  gave  me  an  answer  despite  the  fact  that  I did  not  express  my  question  orally.  “Look,  we’re  there!”  she  exclaimed  with  sarcastic  enthusiasm  in  her  tone, pointing out her window.  Sara  had  the  same  mosquito  issue  as  my  mom,  so  the  only  reason  she came  was  her love  for  saving  the environment  and  nature  in  general.  I  looked  out the  window  on  her  side  of  the  car just to verify that she was not bluffing,  but sure  enough,  I  could  see  the  blue  mountains  300 or so yards away from us.

This  was  going  to  be  my  2nd  time  here,  and  I am  quite  sure  that  nobody  had  much  fun last time we came there, and I wished for a different experience this time ‘round.  Our  car  was  tilted  as  we  went  up  the  mountain  toward  the  campsite,  my  sister  swaying back  and  forth.  When  we  arrived,  we  set  up  our  tent  rather quickly, and  went  to  the  main  lodge  to  pick  up  some  firewood.  Following  that  would  be  roasted  marshmallow  time.  Roasted marshmallow  time  is  the  main  reason  why  I  even  go  camping (along with breakfast).  While  we  ate  the  marshmallows,  my  dad  told  Sara and I  the  creepiest  story  either  one  of  us  had  ever  heard  to  date.  It  was  called  “The  Golden  Arm”.  Afterwards,  we  all  brushed  our  teeth  and  headed  straight  to  bed,  expecting  to  sleep  deeply through the night  as  we  all  knew  what  breakfast   would  be  when  we  woke  up – BACON.  We  all  slept  well (or  at  least  I  did) until  around 3  A.M.  when  Sara and  I  coincidentally  woke  up  at  the  same  time, both of us dying of thirst.  The  water  was  in  the  car  so  we  had  to  wake  up our  dad  up  because neither I nor sara knew where the key was.  Although  displeased,  our  dad  got  up  and  walked  over  to our  car  with  us  to  get  the  water.  He  opened  it  with  ease  and  we  chugged  all the  water  we  could  squeeze  into  our  stomachs.  Next,  we  started  back  toward  our  tent.  When  we  got  there,  we  opened  the  flap,  only  to  find  half  of  Sara’s  protein  bar.  I  inferred  that  the  other  half  was  somewhere  in  the  digestive  system  of  the  Koala  bear  right  in  front  of  us,  seeing  as  the  small  mammal  was  nibbling  on  it  right  in  front  of  us.  “Look!” said Sara as astonished as I’d seen her since last christmas. “There’s a koala there!”

“come on, daddy, take a picture of it!” she ordered, pointing at it. Unfortunately, my dad listened to her and squatted down to take a picture of it. Scared by the sound of the camera, the young bear scurried back into the forest.

The next  morning  we  all  got  our  bacon  as  promised.  Unlike  Sara,  I  tried  to  savour  every  bite of   it.  We  then  packed  up  and  left  for  home  again.  At  the  time,  I  did  not  know  that  this  would  be  our  last  time  there.

“Why do you smell like the ocean,” my aunt inquired in her heavy New York accent as she shoved a raw turkey in the oven. Evee, my aunt and uncle’s small Yorkshire Terrier scrambled by me to the glass sliding doorbarking in a really high pitched voice. She clawed at the door as a plump grey squirrel sprinted across the yard. “Evee shut up!” my aunt scolded her. My aunt was in one of those moods where anything could annoy her. I sighed. With my family preparing for tonight I had nothing to do. I trudged sluggishly into the back room where my sister sat. The t.v. was on, and she was staring at it as if in a trance. I jumped onto the nearest chair and just focused my eyes on the t.v. I was really tired, and I started to fall asleep…

“Purrrrrrrr…” I was half asleep when I woke up with a start to the loud purring of Layla, my aunt and uncle’s fluffy grey and white cat. My sister, Lauren was sitting curled up on the giant brown couch in the corner of the small room petting Layla softly. The t.v. was on a very low volume, so I could only hear the faint mumbling of the characters on it. I lay on a comfy red and white floral chair facing the t.v. It was the first day of our vacation, and probably the least exciting day. My whole family was dead tired due to the fact that we had to wake up at 3 a.m. to catch a 4 a.m. flight to Florida. It was Thanksgiving. Everyone in the house was preparing for our annual Thanksgiving feast with some family friends. The smell of fresh turkey and apple pie wafted into the room, making me even more drowsy. My aunt was in a cooking frenzy. She was racing around her own house grabbing ingredients from the back pantry and racing back to the the ovens and pans all cooking something. My mom followed her everywhere she went offering help and encouragement. My grandpa was busy outside grilling shrimp while my grandma was making stuffing beside my aunt. My sister and I offered to help, but were turned down by my aunt who was really not in the mood to be talked to. I hadn’t seen my uncle today, and I wondered what he could be doing right now. Just as I was deciding whether I should just go back to sleep until the feast or not, my uncle walked in. “Do you girls want to take the boat out into the ocean?”

“Yes!” my sister and I cried out in unison. We followed my uncle through the backyard to the small dock that was practically in my aunt and uncle’s backyard. There the sleek white boat was tied to the dock. It was a one story motorboat that was named “The Explorer.” I noticed how there was a captain’s seat, and only one seat next to it. Then there was also two seats in back, but I was too fast for my sister. I walked onto the wooden dock and hopped onto the boat. I scrambled in front next to the captain’s seat before my sister could even make it to the dock. “Aww no fair!” She whined. “I want to sit in front!”

“Too bad.” I replied quickly. “I got to the boat first, so I’m sitting in front.” She mumbled a few words that were inaudible to me, and hopped in the back of the boat. My uncle jumped in the boat next, and it rocked back and forth a few times before settling down.

“Ok” he heaved, “lets go.” He untied the sturdy rope and the boat started to drift
slowly away from the dock. Just as it appeared it was going to hit some nearby trees, my uncle started the motor and the boat started to move.

We were in a really skinny stream at first, and I was a little disappointed that the boat wasn’t moving as fast as I thought it would. We passed many houses and saw a lot of other boats docked in people’s personal docks. There was a slight warm breeze in the air which was really refreshing. My sister was on the other side of the boat sticking her hands in the cool water. “WATCH OUT FOR THAT ALLIGATOR!” my uncle yelled at her. She screamed and took her hands out of the water immediately.

“WHERE!” she screamed.

“Oh sorry”, my uncle said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “You probably shouldn’t stick your hands in the water, because Florida is known to have a very dangerous type of alligator that bites people’s limbs off.” My sister started to wail and she backed up to the middle of the boat. My uncle turned around and winked at me. I muffled a small laugh, and I could tell that my uncle was about to crack up. My sister didn’t go near the water again. After about half an hour the river opened up to the ocean. The smell of sea salt and the noise of the waves crashing at the shore of the ocean were clear. “Are you guys ready to turn up the speed on this boat?” He asked with the excitement obvious in his voice. We both nodded our heads almost instantly after. He turned back around in his seat and counted down from three. “Three, two, one, GO!” he slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the boat jerked, and I could hear the engine kicking in. I knew we weren’t in for a slow ride in a boat, and I was right

The wind hit me like concrete. It almost knocked me backwards, but my uncle grabbed onto my arm in one quick motion. My sister, in the back of the boat, was clinging onto my seat for dear life. It was unfortunate for her that she had brought her favorite hat yellow hat along, which had been swooped away into the wind moments after my uncle hit the gas pedal. “WE’LL GET YOU A NEW ONE!” my uncle yelled over the wind. She nodded. I looked down at the water and saw the boat hopping over the waves. At certain points it was pretty bumpy when the waves rose. I also looked behind me and past Lauren to see the tracks the boat was leaving. The water behind us was a white and was swaying ferociously. We kept heading straight forward, and I could see a beach ahead of us in the distance. My uncle didn’t know what beach was ahead of us, and he told us he needed to look at the map. “Emily, can you steer the boat for just a second while I look at this map?”

“Um… OK!” I yelled over the wind. I didn’t know how to steer a boat, but I figured it was pretty easy. If my uncle could do it, I could. I jumped into the captain’s seat, and my uncle moved over and grabbed the ahold of the map.

“Lets see, if we have been heading west for about fifteen minutes, then this beach should be…” I screamed. I hadn’t been paying attention to the water, and we were really close to the shore.

“Lauren, can you HELP?” I yelled over the swift wind. Lauren climbed over to the captain’s seat. The boat was about to crash into the shore.

My uncle rushed over to the captain’s seat. Lauren and I moved aside he took control of the steering wheel. He jerked the wheel left, and it almost did a complete spin around. We had avoided the boat being scratched and crashing. We turned completely around. “It’s probably time, we should be heading back to the house”, my uncle said with a clenched jaw.

“I’m so sorry it was an accident I’ve never driven a boat before and…”

“It’s fine” my uncle replied immediately. His disappointed look started to fade, and a smile crept across his mouth. “That was the best boat ride I’ve ever had.”

“Wait… really?” I questioned unsure if he was being sarcastic or not,.

“Yeah, I got to spend time with you guys, and even though my expensive boat almost crashed on a beach, it was quite the adventure.” I smiled. I almost wrecked one of his most valued possessions, but he always had a craving for adventure. I was just like him. Sometimes the only thing I really needed was a good adventure, and this was probably one of the most exciting adventures I have had. We started the motor again, and we went back the direction we had came. The last thing I saw as we headed back to the dock was a yellow hat floating awkwardly halfway above the surface.

“I’ll see you inside!”  My overly-excited dad called out as he drove away to find a parking spot in the minivan-filled parking lot at Charles Barrett Elementary School.

“That is if you can find a parking spot!” I called out.  I walked up the gray concrete steps leading me to the door.  Tonight was the night of the 2011 Charles Barrett Annual Talent Palooza.  I had been in the talent show two years ago but it was nothing like this year.  In second grade, I did a silly dance with a friend but this year I was going to sing all by myself, with no music.  When I walked into the cafeteria all my friends were there getting ready in their super fancy costumes that their moms had made months ahead of time.  I met up with a group of girls that I was doing a skit with.  After about 20 minutes of waiting for everyone to arrive, the parents ushered all of the kids into the seats that had big “RESERVED FOR PERFORMERS” signs on  them, and the talent show began.

As the performances started, I got more and more nervous.  My heart was pounding, my body was shaking, and my hands were starting to sweat.  I was starting to rethink my decision to participate in the talent show at all.  The host of the show, Mrs. Courtney, called my group’s name.  Our skit was a huge success.  No one forgot their lines, everyone in the audience was laughing, and we all were having so much fun.  After we finished our skit, I made a mad dash to the bathroom to change into my outfit for my second performance.  I made it back to the auditorium just in time to see a few more acts before I had to go on stage.  I saw Ms. Jamie, the backstage manager, wave her hand at me which let me know it was my turn to go on stage.  Only this time, I would be alone.

As I was standing backstage, the nerves really started to hit me.  I was sweating so much that I could feel the tape connecting the microphone to my face start to slide off.  Mrs. Courtney started to introduce me and I was thinking about leaving the stage.  But I knew that was not a possibility.  I took a few steps onto the stage and stopped.  I wanted to cry, but I had to keep going.  I took a few more steps and now I stood in the middle of the stage, alone, with a sweaty microphone taped to my face.  I had no music to perform with so I could start when I was ready, but I was not ready.  The spotlight was so bright, it made my eyes water.  As I stared at the audience, I noticed I couldn’t see anything.  I was so blinded by the spotlight that I couldn’t see all of the people staring at me.  I was now standing on stage, confident as can be, and I was ready to perform.  I let out the first note after almost 5 minutes of me standing on stage silently.  It was easy!  Then I sang a second, and a third, and I kept singing until the end of the song and by that point I was so confident that I could have kept singing forever.

A roaring applause came from the audience.  I thought to myself, was I that good?  They must be clapping for something else.  But I was wrong.  All of the clapping was for me!

“I knew you could do it!”  My mom and dad said as I came down from the stage.  Parents that I didn’t even know were giving me flowers, complimenting me, and telling me that I did great.  It was such a fulfilling  moment because I could look at myself and say that I have the confidence to go up in front of a huge audience and sing all by myself.  After the talent show I sang in front of people like it was my job.  Performing in the talent show taught me that even though I may doubt myself, I know that I can do anything if I just try my best.  And even if I don’t succeed the first time I try, I can always try again.  Singing in the talent show was truly an experience that made my confidence level skyrocket.

                                            The beach trip

One hot and sunny day me and my family went to the beach with the church.  We couldn’t wait to get there because it was a celebration and we love celebrations.  So when we got there me,Neema,Nairobi,and Nalani went to the cooking area.  My family brought some cheesy mac and cheese and fried chicken to the beaches picnic area.   Then we saw my friend Will and his friends setting up the area when we came.

Then after we came shortly more of our church group came.  Once everyone came we then ran to the beach line to play there.  Then we went in to the water and we felt sharp shells and clams in the sea bed. They were poking are feet while we were in shallow water. My cousin was on the beach line barring himself in the sand. But I didn’t want to stay in the sand so I went in the water to wash off and my friends said come and play with us. Then that’s when it happened.

A man with a friend asked us if we wanted to play keep-away with them. So we said yes because it sounded fun. It was fun but the man playing with him as well was a very fast swimmer so it was hard. But when we hit the ball to the far beach one of my friends went after it he saw the jelly fish. As curious as he was he just looked at it but it started to move. Then that’s when he yelled out. “Ahh the jellyfish just stung my foot!”. Everyone looked at him and then we realized that he was serious and that’s when we rushed over. It was scary because we didn’t know where it went so we were afraid of where it was. But we knew we had to help our friend so we were water running until we got to him. “Help it stings so bad it feels numb!” he yelled. “We’re coming!” I yelled. As we approached him we saw that his foot was very swollen so we carried him to the beach line to get him some care.

So as we did that we had to go get the beach ball and stuff from the water so we could leave. But no one wanted to go back into the water. So we had to do rock,paper,scissors to find out who would go back in the water. “Rock,paper,scissors, Shoot!” we all said. Then after a few rounds of the game it was down to will and my cousin Emanuel and they had to get the ball. So I went along to help but I only went so deep in the water so I would see if it would come.

“I’m so scared” my cousin said while the were walking in. “I hope that I’ll  don’t get in stung in this water” Will said. As they walked in the water they finally got to the ball. When they were on their way back the jelly fish came to me! It was so scary to see it going so fast in your direction. So I started to yell, “Get out of the water quick its coming!”

They started to run to the beach line and we all went after them.  After they came back we said that we would never go back in again.  But it didn’t last long.  So when we got to the adults we told them how brave we were. They told us that they were brave and gave us cheese burgers.

    It was a beautiful day the sky was blue and there were no clouds and we were riding  on the Mega bus on are way to New York city I asked my dad “are we almost there” and he said “son just take a nap, we’ll be there in no time “ so I got a blanket from my mom and went to sleep. “ Huuu!” I turned to my brother and said, “What building is that, do you know?” I said and he turned and said “You know we are like in Philly, right” he said “ Ohh”  I said sadly. So I got my blanket back and I put in my ear plugs I just watch the road.

       We were stuck in traffic on this bridge behind this this really old building so I was making my way back to sleep but I as I felt the bus moving I raised my head and I saw all these big skyscrapers. My dad started pointing out the famous buildings like the Chrysler building, Empire State building, and more. As we went under this tunnel with tolls in front of it the traffic started to move faster and faster and I started thinking “when are we gonna be there?” As we got threw the tunnel I saw lots of really expensive cars like Bentley,Mercedes Benz, and limos “ That’s Jay-z” I thought to myself.

         As we pull up to our stop in Times Square I started seeing lots of big stores, Like store we have in Alexandria but times two. The first step I took off the bus I started asking my dad “can we go here, can we go here!” But my dad just said “before we do anything we’re going to the hotel!” but before we could get there I saw this huge Toys-R-Us “There,there ,there we need to go there” I yelled and he said “well OK then.” As we walked in  I saw this huge robotic dinosaur and a Ferris wheel I ran over to and my mouth drop the label said “3-7 year old only” I was 11 but quickly I looked around and I saw a game room so I played a game madden 12. ‘Well lets start heading out” my dad said “Well OK then” as we headed out my mom said “before we go to the hotel I have a store i wanna go to also” so before we went inside we stopped at Victoria secret  I didn’t want to go in so I stood out outside.

   When we got to the hotel I overheard my dad and brother talking about staying on the 18th floor and my heart just stopped . I was afraid of heights. So when we got on the elevator there was clear glass and you could see as you could see myself getting higher and higher, well i just got dizzier and dizzier. So when we got off the elevator i looked at my brother and he had 2 heads. so when we got in the hotel i ran in the bathroom to wash my face. “are we going back out dad?” my brother asked “ “tomorrow” “but its like 8 and we still have time before it gets too late” my brother yelled “yeah i know but I’m very tired” my dad said “you slept the whole ride down we didn’t even pull out of the parking lot before you went to sleep! how can you be tired?” i said confused “well i just am”my dad said. My brother walked over to my trudging “put your shoes on we’re going to the pool downstairs” for some reason he made sure  my parents heard him very clearly. He grabbed the hotel  key and snatched something off the table right before we left. As we left my brother took a right out the room but the pool was to the left i got confused. “where are we going Cameron ?” i said “out “  he said . As we walked out of the hotel we saw lots of people i felt very small, i thought to myself “I’m going to see jay-z today. “Where are we going first” i said with excitement he said “what do you have in mind?” “i don’t know” i said “  “well we will see”

“Welcome to new york” the voice of Alicia keys everywhere ,there were tourist everywhere and my brother and just started walking.  We went to lots of stores the Hershey store,the m&m store and toys-r-us again after a while i said “Cameron I’m hungry i think we should go back to the hotel” “no prob i took at 20 from dads wallet , where you wanna go?” ‘ ohh i think burger king” so we got the food and sat on a bench in time square to watch all of the screens.when we were finished i said “well its time to face the consequences. “YOU’RE GROUNDED FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER!” , I was thinking what my mom would say when we got back to the hotel.

“Hey what do you think moms gonna say?” I said curiously “i don’t know i bet its gonna be bad though” we walked into the hotel then into the elevator as we started going up higher and higher i couldn’t even think about the height all i could think is about how much trouble we were gonna be in “Ding” the elevator stop “18th floor”  we trudged around the corner the we go to our door we taking the key out of the slot and putting it back in for about 5 minutes. Then finally we opened the door……..”Where have you been? , ooh when we get to back home you’re done. You had us worried sick.”

“W…we went out sightseeing mom” i said with my head looking down “alone” she said …. it got silent for about a minute …….”Don’t do that you know you could’ve been kidnapped, when we get back you two are gonna be grounded for the rest of the summer!”

   That dad i learned never to listen to my brother again and until this day i’m still mad at my brother because this day kept me from play A.A.U. basketball that summer.

    Me and my friend Jerome were at Myrtle Beach and we went Nascar driving and we were going so fast in the cars I felt a fresh breeze in my face. Then we went on this obstacle course and it looked hard. When we went in the cars I was the first one in the row so I started off first and when I turned it was really hard because the turn is so little. Then I started to get the hang of this and it was getting easy. My mom was taking pictures and I wasn’t looking in front of me and I didn’t notice that there was a car in front of me that had crashed with another car. I crashed into them and I hurt myself but I was okay. I had to get out of the car because it was smoking a lot. My mom screamed are you okay and I said yea. I went out and I was looking at the guy pushing the car to the side. Then he was getting to tools to fix it. When he was getting the tools the car started to catch on fire then it got even bigger and I screamed fire. The guy looked back and he got the fire extinguisher and he ran and when he got there he stopped the fire. Everybody went out of the race track and they went to a different race track. The guy closed the track for the whole day because of the incident.

Jerome and I went to an easier track and we were having so much fun. We went on the track 3 times because it was easy and you only had to go in circles. The first two times I had a car that didn’t go that fast. The third time I got a fast car and I liked it. The car was red it had nice wheels and the seat was really soft. My friend Jerome got a sucky car because his color of the car was coming out and the seat cover was ripping off. But he didn’t care because his car went fast like mine. Jerome and I were having a race and it was a challenge. His car was really fast and my car was fast but not as fast as his car. We were bumping into each other and I sometimes got out of control because he bumped me so hard. I saw some of the color of his car coming out. When it was our last lap I got worried because he was ahead of me. Then I started to go faster and I was catching up and he was looking at me getting close to me. When I passed him he was trying to catch up to me and I was nervous but I saw the finish line getting closer and I beat him. He was mad and kept saying I cheated. Then I said yea sure I cheated.

    When we finished every ride I was sad because I wanted to ride even more. I asked my mom if I can go and ride even more but she didn’t know. We bought a snack and ate all together. Then she told me that I was aloud to go two more times. I went to give the guy the money and he gave us the two more tickets. Jerome and I ran to the rides and we went in the cars. We were having so much fun. When we got off the car we ran to another ride since the line was short. Jerome and I were going so fast that we were passing everyone. When we got off the ride i was happy. I told my mom thank you. She gave me a hug and we went to go buy lunch. I got a Hamburger. My mom got a salad. Jerome got chicken tenders and it was so delicious.

    We went back to the hotel and I jumped on my bed and relaxed. We had so much fun. Jerome and I were talking about how much fun we had. Then I told my mom next year we should come again. She said yes we should come back next year. Then we ran out of the room and went to go eat dinner at Chipotle.

“Ahh, finally back.”  I said as me, my dad, and my uncle returned to the apartment building.  We had just come back from a restaurant, and we were exhausted.  “Not quite,” said my uncle, “We still have 6 floors to climb.”  “Ughh.” I groaned intensely as we climbed the 6 flights of stairs to my uncle’s apartment.  “Ahh,” I sighed as I collapsed on the couch. “We’re home Mouse!” my uncle called as he entered the room. Mouse is, ironically, the name of my uncle’s cat that he lives with. She is friendly, and likes her home. It was about 8:30 when we got back, but me and my dad are heading home tomorrow, and we stayed up really late last night. We were all burned out. “I think we should pack it in kiddo,” said my dad as I walked into my room. Yeah, I agree, I said as I grabbed my toothbrush and walked into the bathroom. The absentmindedly listened to the swishing sound of my toothbrush. I hastily brushed my teeth to get ready for bed. I walked out of the bathroom, stepping on my neon green sleeping bag with a broken zipper. I walked out to the main living area to say goodnight to my uncle and dad.  “Goodnight” I huffed as I walked into the living room. “Get some rest,” said my uncle.“’Night” exclaimed my dad. I walked into my room, flopped down on my sleeping bag, and fell asleep before I could cover myself up.

 I awoke next morning, droopy eyed and wishing I could sleep longer. “Liam! Look at this!!” “What is it?!?” I exclaimed as I  hoped nothing was wrong. “The mattress!” my uncle exclaimed. My mind went to millions of possibilities at once. Had someone broke into the apartment and fell asleep on the mattress?  Did it fly out an open window? Did it disappear entirely?  No, but it was popped! Right as I finished formulating a question in my mind about the mattress, My uncle answered for me. “Mouse popped it! She was running around last night and popped the mattress! I guess she wasn’t used to company.”  Just then, my Dad walked into the room for his part. “Yeah, I heard Mouse running around all crazy-like last night. She ran around the room and was freaking out a lot. Then, I heard a slap of rubber against small cat! I heard a thin, hissing sound, but it wasn’t the cat. It was the sound of air, slowly depleting from the inflatable air mattress!” I then turned the mattress over, and sure enough, there was a hole about an inch wide cutting through the mattress! We all laughed, and knew we would remember this for a long time!

“Alright, we’re here,” my dad told us looking around the van.

“Ugghh!” I groaned in agony, finally ready to stretch my legs after the multiple-hour car ride.  My dog, Georgia, had been panting and drooling all over me.  I thought it was gross but my siblings thought it was funny.  We had just pulled into the parking lot, or that was what it was supposed to be.  Really, it was just gravel thrown around in an empty lot, and KaPow! it was a parking lot.  Unfortunately, this was a mile away from our cabin, so much for an easy hike.  I had heard these were humongous woods, you could get lost very easily.

As we hopped out of our car, I saw a bunch of Asian people talking outside of their RV.  We had no idea what they were talking about.  I laughed softly, but in my mind I was practically dying from laughter.  It cracked me up the way they spoke with their inflections, they must have been Chinese.  I should know, I’m a quarter Chinese!  In good time, we started unpacking our huge camping backpacks from the van and began hiking.

“Hold onto the dog,” and “watch out for Georgia.”  My mom was frantic about our dog and was acting really worried.  Even though this was the first time we had ever taken my dog out camping, I was confident that she would not run away.

On the other hand, my dad was all, “You can take the leash off,” and “She won’t run away, she’ll be fine.”  Inside, I was thinking about how different my parents opinions were about everything, ha!  I totally agreed with my dad, she will be perfectly fine.

After about a half a mile, we came across a enormously, thick tree that had fallen in the middle of the path!  My parents were tall enough to go over the log, but the rest of my family had to find another way through.  By siblings and I passed over our packs.  Now we were half as small as we used to be with the packs.  Then, we all rolled under.

“Ewww!” my sister squirmed as she gets her clothes dirty.  My dog, Georgia, leaped over the log easily.  When we arrived on the other side, I slung my bag on my pack and proceeded to hike.

The hill was beautiful!!  There was a stream rolling down the hill and a lush forest on the upside of the steep slope.  As the sun was setting, the trees shined a glowing mixture of yellow and orange.  I had never seen anything more magnificent!  Caw!  Caw!  Up in the sky there was a flock of crows covering parts of the sky with the darkness and beating off dark, black wings.  It scared me so I went around the hill to escape the blackness.

Then, around the corner the was a miniature, hideous… outhouse!!  I thought to myself, this is what our bathroom is?!?  I crept up to it and peeked inside.  There were spiders EVERYWHERE!!  In every corner, behind the toilet, and even inside the toilet!!  It was revolting.  I had just decided then and there that I was NOT going to use it this trip, little did I know I would end up using it before the day was done.  I sprinted back to my family in complete disgust and horror.

      Instead of finding my family at the cabin, I saw my siblings trekking up the hill carrying a bucket overflowing with water.

“Hey, Victoria!  Come help us or get the fire going!”  My dad yelled at me from across the field.

I yelled back, “Okay.”  I was so disgusted by the spiders, I was happy to do ANYTHING.  Georgia, who loved the outdoors, was prancing around them in happy little circles to “keep them safe,” as she was a very protective dog.

      Then all of a sudden, David yelled “-EER!” and of course, my dog perked up and turned around.  She will chase anything, even if we have the sprinkler on, she feels like she has to chase it away.  She spies the deer and takes off after it faster than the blink of the eye.  The only thing I saw when I jerked around was the tail of a doe and my dog chasing after it.  Even though she was very old, Georgia can still run super fast. Olivia and I shot after the pair of animals into the forest.  I was so afraid that we might lose her!

“Hurry up slowpoke!” Olivia runs ahead of me, I’m no athlete.  After we finally caught our breath, we started walking around for a while scouring the woods for as far as we could see.  When we are about to give up and get my parents, we see my dog looking around and sniffing.  I guess the deer had outrun her.  Then, I decided to play a game after I got her on the leash.  I was going to be a deer hunter!  After about 20 minutes, I headed back to the cabin with my sister and dog.  When we got there my parents were astounded by our ability to catch up with Georgia.  After we told them the whole story, we sat down to have dinner and smores.  I knew from now on, keeping an eye on my dog was top priority.

Ziplining for the first time

The last couple of days for summer, I went to a labor day retreat with the youth group at my

church. We left Friday and got their by 10:45 at night. It was the 3rd day we were there and we

had gotten split up into groups. My group was with my friend named Laura and Nicole, the rest

were boys. Our first station was the big swing. It was, where you get strapped up and the group

pulls a rope and you go up. Then you let go and you drop. I was scared, since I didn’t like

heights. After we did that, everyone had got unstrapped and a guy from the zipline came over to

our group and introduced himself, he told us where we were going and how we were gonna do

it. I never did ziplining so I didn’t know what is was gonna be like so I got really nervous!

We followed him up a hill and once we got to the top there were 2 other guys and 1 lady. The

guy asked “Can everyone get in a line?”  [Change this to dialogue] Everyone got in a line, and

they grabbed equipments, then the people who worked their put it on everyone. The lady asked

for someone to volunteer to go first, she picked a girl named Kylie. Kylie refused so she picked

Rebecca. Rebecca went up and said to us “Wish me good luck!” I gave her a slight smile and

said “You too.” When Rebecca stepped up the lady had tightened her gear. The she told us what

to hold and what not to hold, and what would happen if we held on to it. Once she finished

strapping Rebecca in, she pushed her down the line

.

Next, it was my turn. My stomach was starting to feel bad. The lady asked “Are you feeling

ok?”. I said “Yeah, Im fine!”, after that she told me if i wanted to hold on to anything. Then she

said “You ready!” She pushed me, and I rode all the way to the end of the line, there was a guy

who had stopped me and asked me “Which obstacle did I want to take?” There was a easy and a

hard one. My mind wasn’t thinking properly so I said “The hard one!!” He strapped me tighter

and he led me to the harder ine.. I looked and thought to myself. “Oh gosh! Can I really do

this?” So I started walking real slow. I looked at the obstacle and looked down.

My body was shaking and couldn’t stop. I kept going because I didn’t think I could do it. So I

started again and once I got to the middle I paused and tried to tell myself not to look down, but

keep in mind that I was still shaking. I couldn’t help but look down! I closed my eyes and tried

to think of good things. Then Finally, after taking forever on that course I finally finished the

first one.

After doing the first one I got tired. At the same time I felt accomplished. Then there was

another one after that one. It was like a climbing wall in the air. My face stood there looking

simple. I told myself “Tiana its alright! you’re not gonna die.” So I kept myself together and

started doing the obstacle, step by step, minute by minute.

At last, I had finished the course. My heart was pounding fast. I could hardly breathe. There was

a guy at the end who was going to unstrap you and add you to the wire that led you to the end.

The guy led me to take the bridge to the other side. He asked “Did you have fun for your first

time in the air?” I said gassed out “Yeah, It was fun!” Then let me walk across the bridge. Then

he attached me to the other wire that we send me back down the hill. Finally, he said “You

ready?” I was with a nervous voice, “Yeah I guess!” Then he pushed me down the hill. When I

got to the bottom the guy said “Pick your feet up!!” I tried. The guy helped me take my

equipment off waited for the rest of my group to get back. It took like 5 minutes until people

started coming down, we all gave each other highfives, and my group knew I didn’t like heights

so they asked me “How I felt and if it was fun?.” I said happy, “Yeah! It was fun, I got over my

fear!!.”

        YES! I caught my first clam, when I pulled the hard shell out of the mucky mud.” I’m one step closer to my goal!” “Look what I got.” My brother said to me and he pulled a scallop out of a patch of seaweed. I put my finger near the scallop. When it closed faster than the speed of sound, I flung back and screamed as it almost bit my finger off.  I go to the beach every year, but this year it is different. My dad always challenges me every year to catch him a seafood buffet, but I never end up doing it. Now that he has passed away,  I just thought it was time to really do it, that’s what has inspired me. So for the whole two weeks,  I caught my own food which was crabs,clams,fish,and scallops that I cooked myself! It tasted like a fancy restaurant, though it was just pulled out of the sea (on the down side my fingernails had mud in them from clamming)! I even had my own little fishing squad; we would go in the sound part of the ocean for about 6 hours at a time! There we would catch our clams, scallops, and sometimes crabs! We even saw a few stingrays ( which of course I had to try and catch ).

      When I got back from the beach that day I was a little cranky. I just went into my bed and watched t.v for about an hour. I awoke suddenly from a knock at the door, only to find it was my friend Chase. He asked me if I wanted to go over to his room and eat some homemade peach ice cream that his grandparents made. When we made our way to his room, I saw his grandfather churning the ice cream. I could taste the great center of the peach when I took my first bite of the ice cream. I couldn’t resist having seconds so in the return of having the ice cream, I invited them out to the buffet I was going to make. After eating the ice cream I returned to my room and collapsed in my bed and fell asleep.

       Two days later my older brother told me “Tonight is the night to go shark fishing”.

That night my brother, Chase, Marykate, Sophie, and I (Marykate and Sophie are my two other friends that came with us on the trip) trudged our way up to the beach. My brother castes two lines out , one for me and one for him, and we waited. After an hour we all left but my brother. When he returned he told us that he hooked two fish (he didn’t know what type because he didn’t get them in) but they both broke the line! Right then and there he swore that he would catch those fish. The next morning Chase’s grandfather told us about a store that sells a type of line called “spider wire”. So we headed to that store, but didn’t end up buying the line. It turns out that it cost 25 cents per foot, which is a lot if you didn’t know. Instead we bought sixty pound test line, but of course we didn’t even get a nibble. The next night when we headed out again, my brother “Jack” was reeling in his line to go to bed when he looked at the surf line where the waves crash, and saw something flapping at the end of his line. He thought it was one of those ghost crabs attacking his line, but it turns out there was a baby shark on the end of it! So after his hard work, he did end up catching a shark after all.

        On the final night of my stay, I knew it was time. I got all the supply’s out of the freezer and then turned to my mom and said “Its just not the same without him.” I ran downstairs and looked at my dad’s old fishing rod. I took a good look at it and said in my head, “I did it this time dad, I did it this time”. I ran back upstairs and told my mom,” OK lets start.” I prepared the dinner that I made for me and my friends. Then when I presented it, I felt like my dad watched me achieve my goal by myself without anyone else. I just had a feeling that catching everything and doing it, would make him just as proud as he would be now. That’s what made me do it this time,I did it for him. After the meal I went inside and said to myself “I wish you were still here”. And fell asleep. That’s why I did it, I didn’t know why I did it when I did, but now I do. I did it for him.