May PPOW

Vacation

My grandparents take my family on a vacation every other summer. Two summers ago my grandparents wanted to surprise us on what we would be doing for vacation. They just told us to pack a week's worth of clothes and we would not be traveling by plane. We drove to my grandma’s because we were planning to stay a night at her house before we left for vacation. She said that she would tell us what she planned when we arrived.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway I knew what we were doing. There was a huge R.V. parked in their yard. My grandma said that they planned a week long R.V. trip to Mt. Rushmore. My brothers were excited about the trip. They loved the R.V. idea.

I was not thrilled about it. I did not want to spend a week in a R.V. with my family. You could never have one minute by youself. Not even when you went to the bathroom, which was thanks to my oldest brother. Tyson thought it would be a great idea to try and climb onto the top bunk bed by climbing on the bathroom door.

The door was not very sturdy to start with and it broke under Tyson’s weight. My grandpa thought it was the funniest thing in the world and laughed forever, but that was mostly because my grandma was in the bathroom when it happened. She on the other hand did not find it funny. Everybody started to get bored just sitting in the R.V. all the time. We stopped at camp sites so that we didn’t have to drive at night.

One of the sites was by a rodeo that Grandma wanted to go to. My brother got to sit on a huge live bull named Cupcake to take a picture. My grandpa tried to get me to sit on it, but there was no way that was happening. Over all, the rodeo was not the worst part of the trip. When we were on our last day in the R.V. before we reached South Dakota.

My grandma thought it would be fun to watch the movie R.V. that day. Thats when I thought about how the trip could be much worse than I thought it was. Mt. Rushmore was cool to look at, but it got boring after about five minutes. My favorite part about the whole trip was the zoo we went to. I found it way more fun then Mt. Rushmore was.

The best part about the the zoo was when my dad told my mom, who is deathly afraid of snakes and can’t even watch them on t.v, that there was a snake that got loose. At first my mom didn't believe him at all because she didn’t hear anyone talking about it. Then dad went and bought a stuffed one from the gift shop. He waited until she wasn’t looking to throw it at her. She screamed as loud as she could and everyone started looking at her.

As soon as she realized that it was not a real snake, she hit my dad and wouldn’t talk to him for the rest of the day. Over all I found the zoo pretty fun. The way home was just as boring as the way over there. On the way home we decided to stop at a water park where we lost Tucker. My dad was so post to be watching the boys.

“Where's Tucker?” asked my mom when she got back to the bathroom.

“Right there by the other one,” he said pointing at Tyson.

“Really, Joey?”Mom yelled. “I leave you here to watch them for five minutes and you loose one!”

“I didn’t lose him.” Dad started, “he’s around here somewhere.”

“Thanks, that was very helpful!” she yelled. She was more worried about yelling at my dad then actually looking for my brother. We looked around for him for about a half hour.

We found him on the water slides not long after that.

“See, I told you he was fine,” Dad said. Mom glared at him and hit him on the back of the head.

“He could of been kidnapped!” she yelled. “Do you want that to happen?”

“Yeah, then I could have the bottom bunk on the way home,” Tyson said. I laughed, I thought it was a pretty funny joke, but my mom was not amused. She had enough of all of us for one day, not that she could get away from us we still had a few days on the road. The next day everyone wanted to ride horses before we got home.

I was fine with that, but my grandpa wanted to go to some museum. My mom said that I had to go with because it would be rude to make him go alone, but I didn’t see her jumping at the chance to go to some boring museum. Being the amazing granddaughter that I am; I agreed to go with. I had to pretend that it was fun and cool, but after the first three hours that was getting hard to do.

We ended up being at the museum for a total of four hours.

“Thanks for coming with, that was fun,” said my grandpa after it got over.

“No problem,” I told him even though I had no fun at all while everyone else got to go ride horses, but I figured the old man was getting pretty old so might as well spend some time with him.

“How was it?” Mom asked when we got back.

“It was four hours,” I told her.

“So it was fun then?” she asked laughing.

“Yeah, next time you can go,” I said. I thought the trip was going to be pretty boring trapped in a R.V. with my family for a week, but it turned out being okay for the most part.

April PPOW

The Fish and the Turtle

Once there was a fish that got separated from his parents. He was a very vibrant, orange and white clown fish. He went days through the big ocean trying to find his parents. While he was swimming he found a sea turtle named Jasper. They started talking and Jasper said,

“Where are your parents?”

“I lost them in the sea.” said Squirt.

“Why would you go away from your parents?” asked Jasper.

“When I went to go touch the reef, I got lost,” cried Squirt.

“I can help you!” Exclaimed Jasper.

“Really?” Questioned Squirt.

“Of course,” announced Jasper.

“Well, let’s head over there first.”

They swam and swam for miles.

“Do you know where we are going?” asked Squirt.

“Nope,” replied Jasper.

“Then why are we going this way?” asked Squirt.

“We are going the way I think your parents might have went,” said Jasper.

“I don’t think they would have gone this way,” said Squirt with a worried look on his face.

“You never know,” said Jasper.

“This place looks scary,” Squirt said as he started swimming closer to Jasper.

“It’s not that bad,” said Jasper. “It actually seems kind of cool.”

They swam and looked everywhere, but there was no sign of Squirt’s parents.

“We are never going to find them.” said Squirt looking around.

“Don’t think like that,” said Jasper.

“What do you think happened to them,” asked Squirt as he started to cry.

“Trust me they are fine,” replied Jasper.

“You don’t know that,” said Squirt.

“You just got lost,” said Jasper. “Nothing happened to them.”

They looked all day and all night, but found nothing. The looked around the reefs and everywhere close to it.

“Maybe your parents are at home,” suggested Jasper.

“They might be,” started Squirt. “I guess we should go look there next.”

“I bet that’s where they are,” said Jasper.

So they swam across the reef all the way to Squirt’s home. They got to Squirt’s house and looked around, but nobody was there.

“Where could they be?” asked Squirt. “We have looked everywhere and still can’t find them.

“You can come and stay with me until we find them,” suggested Jasper.

“That would be great thanks Jasper!” said Squirt with a smile on his face.

They both went back to Jasper’s house to sleep. Squirt stayed with Jasper much longer than he thought he would. They looked for Squirt parents during the day, but they never could find

them. Squirt loved living with his best friend, but always wondered what happened to his parents. One day Squirt went by himself for a swim around the reef.

As he was swimming he saw a familiar fish swimming ahead of him.

“Wait up!” he called, but the fish swam faster.

“Slow down!” called Squirt again, but the fish did not slow down. The fish even started to swim faster than before. The fish finally swam out of view and Squirt stopped trying to catch it. Squirt swam straight home to tell Jasper what he saw. Squirt knew that the fish he saw was his mom.

“Why would she swim away when she saw me?” questioned Squirt.

“I’m sure there is a good reason for it,” said Jasper.

“Maybe they wanted me to get lost,” said Squirt.

Squirt looked around everyday to see if he could find his mom again. He looked everywhere he could think of, but still found nothing.

“Maybe you should just give up,” Jasper suggested.

“Give up on finding them?” asked Squirt.

“Yes, looking for them everyday is making you crazy.” Jasper said as he looked away.

“I think you're right,” started Squirt. “You're the only family that I need.”

Squirt and Jasper stayed best friends and Squirt continued to live with Jasper. Squirt was happy that he found a friend as great as Jasper, but he still wondered what became of his parents. He wondered why they would leave him behind. Squirt finally forgot about what happened to his parents and he and Jasper lived long, happy lives together.

March PPOW

The Secret Continued

There is no way that what I just heard my mom say could be true. All I could do was stand there with my mouth open and stare at my mom, and I could see the Stacey was feeling the exact same way that I was feeling.

“Honey, please say something,” Mom said with a worried look in her eye. Then she looked at Stacey and you could see only pain in her expression. I turned and ran out of the house as fast as my leg would let me.

“Wait!” I heard my mom yelling after, but I went straight to my car and locked the doors. I heard a knock on my window. I looked up expecting to see my mom standing there, but it was Stacey.

“Where are you going Blair,” asked Stacey.

“Anywhere but here,” I reply, refusing to look her in the eye. Stacey walked around to the other side of the car and got in.

“Fine,” she started “but i’m going with you.” As much as I wanted to be alone I let Stacey stay in the car. If she really was my sister I would have to learn not to hate her. I turned the key and backed out of the driveway. I didn’t really have a place in mind, but I just kept driving.

“Is there anywhere you want to go?” I asked Stacey. Not really sure that she would answer.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Florida,” Stacey says as she looks out the window. I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t kidding.

“You do realize that we live Nebraska, right?” I ask.

“Yes I realize where we live.” Stacey says rolling her eyes. “But I think we both need to get far away from here and take a break.” A day ago the idea of traveling across the country with Stacey would of made me sick, but now I want to get to know Stacey better. I also want to get far way from my lying mother, and I do just need a break from my life for a little while.

“How could Mom not tell me I have a sister?” I think to myself. Not to mention that it was Stacey, who I have hated all through High School. I started driving to Florida, trying not to think about anything but the road.

“I’m sorry Blair,” Stacey says out of nowhere. I look over at her, but she won’t make eye contact with me.

“Sorry for what?” I ask. Even though there are a million different things she could be sorry for.

“For trying to take your race.” Stacey looks out the window as she talks.

“I never should of done that.” she continues. “I was just jealous that you were better than me, and after you got hurt I saw my chance to finally be the best one on the team.” I don’t know what to say after she’s done talking.

I can tell that she really is sorry, but I keep my mouth shut and don’t say anything.

“I really am trying here...sis.” Stacey looks at me when she says this. “ Come on, i’m trying to be funny Blair.” I smile and laugh a little even though I don’t mean to.

“What’s Dad like?” I ask, not really wanted to hear the answer. Stacey looks at me with a sad look on her face.

“Trust me Blair.” Stacey starts. “You don’t want to know him.” I see that talking about him makes Stacey upset, so I decided to leave it alone. I don’t think i’m ready to know about him yet anyway. We stop at a diner to eat after driving for about two hours.

“You know,” says Stacey, “I’ve always wanted a sister.”

“Me too.” I say smiling. Maybe Stacey wasn’t so bad after all. I can’t believe I went from hating her to being her sister and actually liking her within a matter of hours. I sit down at our table and start staring at the wall. I think about track and how much I miss it. I think i’m finally started to understand that i’ll never run again. At least not like how I use to.

I think about my mom and how she could keep something so huge from me.

“Stacey?” I ask.=

“Yeah? she says.

“I don't think I ever want to go back.” I turn to look at her.

“Me either.” replies Stacey. “Our lives kind of suck.” She smiles when she says it, but I can see the pain in her eyes.

“Then lets not go home.” I say as I look at Stacey. I’m not kidding, not even a little.

“Ok.” says Stacey smiling. We get up the go back to the car. We get in the car and start driving to Florida. I drive with a smile on my face. I have nothing else to worry about. Im far away from my problems, and I have a new sister. Everything is perfect.

I’m never going back to all the lies and problems. I never would've thought that I would want to spend more than 5 minutes with Stacey. Now she’s my sister and I wouldn’t want my surprise to be anybody else.

February PPOW

Cruise

The beginning of my cruise started on a Saturday morning when I had to wake up at three o'clock in the morning to get ready and catch a shuttle to get to the airport.  The plan left at  eight o’clock.  Our first stop was to Atlanta, Georgia and it took us an hour and a half to get there.  Then we took another plane to Houston, Texas.  We then drove to Galveston, Texas and boarded our boat.  We boarded the boat at five and then it took two days to get to Cozumel, Mexico.  

On the way there we swam and every night they had a movie. So we sat in the hot tub on the main deck. I also went to shows while I was on the boat.  Some of the shows were dance shows, comedy shows, and couples shows. When we got to Cozumel we had to take a hour bus ride to the resort we were planning on going to that day.

Once we got to the resort the first thing we wanted to do was swim with dolphins. We got to a closed area in the ocean where they kept the dolphins. We put on life jackets and followed our dolphin trainer into the water. It was really cool we got to hold the dolphin. After that we got to grab the fin of the dolphin and it pulled us through the water.

I was so much fun. I decided that I wanted to try snorkeling while we were there since the water was so clear. I had the bright idea of not wearing a life jacket. I thought that I was good at swimming so I would not need one. It was going fine until my snorkel broke and I started choking on water.

I swam to shore and fixed it, but I decided that I had enough of that for one day. We then had to get back on the ship by five, so we didn’t have time to do anything else.

I was so happy to of gotten to swim with dolphins. It was on my bucket list. There was a  mall on the ship so my cousins and I spent our day next full day at sea shopping.

I bought something for all my friend to have, but everything ended up getting taken at the airport on our way home. We got to Progresso the next day. Progresso has the longest pier in the world, so we had a long bus ride to get to shore. Once we did get to shore we had to take a hour bus ride to the resort. The resort was not as nice as the one we went to in Cozumel.

The water in Progresso was also not nearly as clear as the water in Cozumel was. Progresso didn’t have as many activities as our first stop, so we just went to the beach and stayed there all day. We had to get back on the ship at six. The rest of the cruise was spent on the boat.

I didn’t mind being on the boat my cousins and I met a lot of new people, so we always had someone to hang out with. There was not many people our age on the boat. The only people even close to our age we met. There was only about eight people. I was pretty nice having my cousins there. There was four of them. Mia is 13, Sidney is 15, Zoey is 16, and Lexy is 12.

I only have seen them one other time not counting the cruise, and it was when I was five. I was really nervous going without my parents and not know any of the other girls. I met them the night we got on to the ship. I really happy when I ended up getting along with all of the girls.

We had a captains dinner our first full day at sea. Everybody on the ship had to wear a nice dress and a suit. There were three dining rooms to hold everybody. I didn’t mind getting dressed up since I never usually get to. When we got to our table and got our menus, I realized that all they had was seafood.

I was not to happy about that because the only thing I eat when I go anywhere is chicken strips and fries. I won’t eat anything else. My grandpa said that I had to get over that and try something else for once. He got lobster which I didn’t mind trying, but then he said I had to try snail. I was not eating snail. Then being the mean grandpa that he is, he said that if I didn’t eat it I would have to sleep outside.

I brought up the fact that I could fall into the ocean and die, but he didn’t go for that. Then I eat the snail because it was either eat the snail or fall off the boat and die. I t was the worst thing I have ever tasted in my life. The snail was slimy and chewy. Overall the trip was amazing.

It was really nice to get away from all of the cold weather and school, but I missed all of my friends and my family. The plane ride home seemed to take half the time it did to get to Texas. At the airport I got all of the gifts that I bought on the ship taken away. I didn’t really understand why starfish and sand was a danger to bring back into the country.

I argued with the guard that took my stuff, but he still didn’t give anything back. I was so happy when I got home and saw my mom. I showed her all the picture I took while I was gone. I had a really good time, but i’m glad to be home.

January PPOW

The Secret

I ran as fast as my legs would allow. It was the first day of track practice and coach told us that we would be racing to see who would get to run the 4x2 race. That was my race. I needed to win. I have always been the fastest one in the class, but I got hurt at the end of last year am still working on getting back.

Stacey and I were neck and neck. I used to be able to beat her no problem, but since I hurt my leg last year I can’t run as fast as I used to, at least not yet. I wanted to win so badly, show everyone, and coach that I still have what it takes. Stacey knew how much this race meant to me, but its not like she cared any. Stacey has always hated me, and to be honest I really don’t like her all that much.

Stacey doesn’t even like to run sprints. She only wanted to win so I wouldn't. I was ahead and there was only a couple of yards left, I thought I had won, thats when my leg gave out. I got back up quickly, but not quick enough. Stacey ran past me and won the race.

“Guess you don’t have what it takes anymore Blair” says Stacey with a huge grin on her face.

“I have what it takes you just got lucky this time” I tell Stacey, as I feel my face getting red from anger.

“ Please, I could beat you any day, and don’t keep blaming it on your leg.”

She walks toward coach to talk about the race, and leaves me sitting on the bench feeling sorry for my self. For a second I think about if she’s right or not. Maybe it’s me and not my leg, but I quickly let that thought go because it is the leg, if I could run like I use to then I would. I changed back into my normal shoes and walked to my car.

I sat in the car for a long time before I started it. Why did Stacey have to ruin my life. It wasn't just in track practice. She always went out of her way to make my life suck. I told my mom about what happened when I got home.

She was mad of course, but when I brought up that it was Stacey that beat me she quickly changed the subject. I don’t understand why she always does it. Whenever I bring up Stacey, Mom will start talking about something else. I find it super weird, but then again who would want to talk about Stacey.

“Why do you always do that” I asked my mom when she changes the subject.

“Do what?” she asked. I could tell that she knew what I was talking about, but I asked again.

“Everytime I talk about Stacey you talk about something else.” I say, but I know she won’t give me a real answer.

“I don’t know what you mean” Mom says as she walks out the door to work. I push away any thoughts about Stacey. I sit at the window and watch Mom leave for work. She has two jobs. My dad left when I was really little so she has to work extra hard to keep us going.

I head to my room to do leg workouts. Ever since I hurt my leg I have been working super hard to get it back to how it used to be. My doctor said that it’s doing way better then he would of thought, but thats because I have been doing twice the work he told me to do. I don’t my leg to just be pretty good, I want it to be just like it was before I hurt it in the last race of last season.

At school the next day all Stacey talks about is how she is the fastest one on the team and how she beat me in practice the other night.

“Goodmorning class” my science teacher says in a bubbly voice.

“Today we will be getting into groups for our projects” she says with a smile on her face. Everybody in the room gets up to find a partner.

“Not so fast class.” Everyone in the room stops and looks at her.

“I will be picking your partners.” Everyone groans. Whenever she picks partner she puts you with the person you hate most. She thinks that it will bring us all closer together, but most of the groups just end up trying to kill each other. This makes me really mad because I already know who she is going to put me with.

I’m with Stacey everytime. It never works out we hate each other way to much.

“Well this will be fun.” Stacey says as she rolls her eye at me.

“It always is” I say as I sit down by her.

“Are you going to practice tonight” she says and I know where the question is going.

“Yeah, Why wouldn't I” I say.

“I just figured you would be to scared to get beat again.” Stacey says with her sly grin. The bell rings and everybody runs out of the room. This project is going to suck. Not only do I have to deal with Stacey at school and at practice, now she has to come over to my house to work on the project. I’m never going to get a break from her nasty personality.

Practice sucked, not only did Stacey take my event, coach asked if I was even ready to run, and if I should sit out for another season. I worked way too hard to sit out again.

“Ready to go?” Stacey says walking up to me after practice.

“I don’t know if I want you in my house” I say, even though I know, I don’t want her any where near my house.

“Mom, i’m home!” I yell into the living room, where I hear her watching t.v.

“Hey honey how was your--” Mom stops in the middle of her sentence, when she turns around. She is looking at Stacey like somebody just punched her in the face. I mean thats how I feel most of the time when I look at Stacey, but my mom had no reason to have that look on her face.

“Umm hi” Stacey says, but I can tell she feels weird about how my mom is looking at her.

“Mom, are you okay?” I was started to get worried when she didn’t move from her spot.

“Honey, can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute?” Mom asked, finally looking normal again.

“Sure” I ask walking toward the door. “ You can just wait in here” I say to Stacey as I follow my mom out of the room.

“I should of told you this along time ago” Mom says as she looks at the floor. I feel my stomach flip, I could tell by the way she was acting, that what she was about to say would not be good news.

“When your dad left-” Mom starts her story. “We decided it would work best just to split everything we have and go our separate ways”

“Mom what are you talking about” I say and I feel my heart start to beat faster in my chest.

“You have a sister honey” she says, and I know where this is going, but I don’t want to believe it. “I kept you and your father took you sister” she keeps going.

“Don’t say it” I yelled as my head starts to pound.

“Stacey is your sister, Blair”

                                                     To be continued……………...