April PPOW

The Wreck

One ordinary summer day, I was at Lizzie’s house.  We were going to go paddle boating and do some other things.  The day didn’t turn out as planned. We were having a blast.  Lizzie and I were paddle boating just like we had been doing on and off all day.  Lizzie’s mom comes down to take a picture to send to my mom.  As she was going to send the picture to my mom she gets a call.  The call was from my mom.  She answers and is talking for quite a while.  That was a usual thing for our mom’s to be talking, but we tied the paddle boat up anyways.

We walk up to Bernadette and she says, “It’s your mom.”

I exclaimed, “What a surprise!”

As we were standing there talking, Bernadette’s face seemed worried.  Lizzie and I didn’t know what was happening.  As soon as Bernadette got off the phone, she turned to us and paused for a little bit.  

When she began to speak, she said, “Your sister and Felicia were in a car wreck.”

As soon as she said that my heart began racing.  I didn’t know what had happened at all or anything.  

She began to speak again, “Your sister and Felicia were heading home from Felicia’s parents on a gravel road since the bridge was down.  Sidney was driving and they came over a hill to two cars racing.”

I was probably sheet white by then.  Anyways my mom didn’t know much by then, but was going to call Bernadette back.  We went inside and while I was getting vinegar put on my legs, since they were so burnt, my mom calls back.  She talked to Bernadette and told her what was  happening.  

When she got off the phone, she came into the kitchen and said, “Your sister is going to be fine and so is Felicia, but Felicia has a concussion, and she hurt her ankle.  

I sighed and was kind of happy.  My mom had asked Bernadette to ask me  if I wanted to go home or to the hospital to see her.  At that very second I wanted to go see her, but I thought about it and didn’t want to be a pain.  I wanted my parents taking care of my sister and not worrying about me.  So I stayed at Lizzie’s house another night and of course, I had a blast because we always do.  The next day I spent most of it at Lizzie’s until Holly took me to the baseball game that night because that is where my sister wanted to go.  She wanted to get out of the house because she was stuck there all day.  She was all bandaged up and got asked a million questions.  

The next morning, I woke up to a sheriff at my house.  I didn’t realize that till I came down the steps and went to turn the corner and saw a sheriff. I turned around and went back up the stairs to get some better clothes on.  Felicia and my sister were in sitting on the dining room couch.  I walked into the kitchen and Felicia got up and was really happy to see me.  Happier than usually, I think because of the concussion.  The sheriff asked them questions and talked to them about the girls racing and how they were probably at fault.  

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This is the story of the accident I got from my sister when we sat down in our bedroom and talked about it.  Felicia and Sidney went over to Atlantic to Felicia’s parents house.  They had to take a gravel road to get there and on the way back because the bridge was getting fixed.  Felicia asked Sid if she wanted to drive on the way home.  Sid had her permit, so she drove.  They were headed home on the gravel road.  They were coming up on a hill and they saw a red car coming over the hill and it was going very fast throwing rocks at them and making quite a bit of dust.  Sid slowed down and got over to the side a little.  Right after that red car passed and the rock hit the windshield Felicia looked up at her windshield to see if it was cracked.  Sid glanced over at where the rock hit and glanced up and saw a green car right in front of her.  The next thing she knew was they had been hit and spun quite a ways.  

Felicia and Sidney both looked at each other and asked if they were alright.  They both thought they were fine.  They both tried to grab the handle to get out, but they were to smashed. The steering wheel was smashed up against Sidney and so was the front dash.  She says her adrenaline rush came to her, and she had to get out.  She said that her door was bent in, so she could reach her hand in and pry the door open.  While she was trying to do that Felicia was moaning about her ankle, so Sid thought she really needed to get out so she could help Felicia. Sid got out somehow and went over to Felicia’s side.  She helped her get out and they both just sat there by the car leaned up against it. They looked at each other, and Sidney was bleeding all over her legs, and Felicia’s ankle was swollen and slightly bruised at the time.  They thought they needed to call someone. So Felicia grabbed her phone and called her mom.  Her mom answered, and Felicia started to talk, but she hung up on her.  

She turned to Sid and said, “I don’t want to worry her.”

Sid said, “But Flea we need help, we were just in an accident.”

So Felicia called back and told her mom.  Her parents were on their way.  Their house wasn’t that far from where the accident happened.  Before her parents got there, the cops were already there.  The red car that passed first must have called.  

Shortly Brenda and Alan came running up to them, they each hugged the girls.  Alan asked Sidney if she had called her mom or dad. She hadn’t so she called dad and told him that her and Felicia had been in a car accident.  He started to ask all these questions, so Alan took the phone and talked to him. My dad left work and headed straight there. They let my mom know and she also left.  

The driver of the other car was hurt pretty badly.  When my dad got there they had they road blocked off, so he went around and he saw a helicopter.  He said he was thinking that on the phone they told him it wasn’t that bad.

So he parked his car to the side and started up the road and the officer stopped him, but he kept walking and said, “That’s my daughter.”

 He started running up there.  My dad doesn’t run very often.  

The driver of the other car got life flighted to Creighton.  Felicia had to ride the ambulance to the hospital because she didn’t really know what was happening and didn’t understand that she was in an accident.  That was because of the concussion. Sid rode in Felicia’s brother’s truck, since it was the first one there besides the cops.  They both got checked up by the ER doctor and got bandaged up.  Felicia had to have a scan to make sure she didn’t have any brain damage, and it was just a concussion.

Sid ended up having huge cuts all over her legs and a few deep ones.  She had a couple bruised ribs from the steering wheel, and her nose was sore from the air bag.  She also had tingling in her knees for a long time, so she went to a specialist to get them checked out.  They were very swollen and they said that they are just going to have to heal. It will probably take a year or so.  She was in pain for a while.  She has huge scars from the cuts still and her knees swell up and hurt occasionally.  Felicia had a concussion, a little cut, and a very badly bruised ankle. Her ankle still hurts her and she is finding pinched nerves and that, but they are both doing very good.  

The driver of the other vehicle ended up having some broken bones.  We all thought that everyone would have learned a lesson, but we found out that driver was just caught doing something with alcohol.

Even though the other girls were caught at fault, they didn’t get charged with anything.  It happened to be that they were racing on the highway and turned onto the gravel road.  Someone had reported them racing and passing each other on the highway minutes before the wreck. On a hill the green car was coming over and trying to pass the red car, but Sidney and Felicia were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Considering it was a head on collision.  All the sheriff’s said that they are two very lucky girls. They said most of the time when they see this stuff happen, they do not survive.  We are all very happened that Sid and Felicia aren’t badly injured.

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.

My first football game

My First Football Game

One morning I was sleeping in, and I thought nothing was going to happen that weekend. Then my dad walked into my room and woke me up. He didn’t tell me what for, he just told me to get dressed and put on a Kansas City Chiefs shirt. After I put on my shirt, I walked down stairs with my parents, and my siblings were waiting for me also wearing Kansas City gear.

My brother Tyson looked like he was about to have a seizure because he was so excited. My brother Donovan and my sister, Alisa, were sitting on the couch waiting impatiently for what the news was, just as I was wondering what we were doing all dressed up in Kansas City Chiefs gear. My parents came walking in after going to the Country Store to get some gas and some snacks.

My mom abruptly said, “Everyone listen up!”

“We are going to be going to the Kansas City Chiefs game today,” added Trent.

My brother and I started jumping with joy over the news that we get to go to a football game. My brother Donovan was doing whatever he does, and my sister wasn’t really a chiefs fan in the first place, but she still was excited.

“Alright get what you need and go get in the car,” Trent stated.

“Don’t bring stuff you don’t need,” Melissa Demanded.

“I know mom,” I replied.

“Why do we have to go to the stupid football game,” blurted Donovan all of a sudden.

“Because we want to do something nice for you guys,” replied Melissa.

Once we got buckled up and ready to go, my dad pulled out of our driveway and took off to Missouri. During our trip to Missouri, Donovan started complaining saying things like I’m bored and why are we doing this.

“Shut up! and be quiet,” I screamed at Donovan for being so annoying for more than half of the trip. He gave me a weird look, and then he turned away and closed his eye for the rest of the trip. My mom turned to check on us, and saw Tyson, Alisa, and Donovan Asleep, but I was wide awake because I wanted to see the stadium first.

“Wake up everyone we are almost there,” said Melissa.

“What?” yawned Tyson.

He woke up to see the Chiefs stadium being packed full of fans. Just as fast as he fell asleep, he got up to get a better look at the field. Donovan, not even caring, got up wanting to be home playing video games, just as he always does. Alisa she didn’t really care either, she probably want to also be at home just as much at Donovan.

Once we found a close spot to the field we went to go and get our tickets scanned, so we could get into the stadium. We got out of the car, and I was the first one out anxious to get into the stadium. “Alright guys stay close, and don’t get lost,” stated Melissa.

“Yeah we know,” replied Tyson.

As we started walking over to the field, there was a bunch of guys wanting to sell merchandise and tickets. After we had worked our way to get our tickets scanned; we got in, and tried to find our seats.  

“Wow!” said Donovan as he started looking around at everything.

“Yeah Donovan its pretty cool,” said Trent. We started looking around for our spots, and I was just looking around at everything.

“Up there,” said Melissa pointing at the row we are supposed to go and sit at.

“Race ya!” said Tyson as he took off up the stairs to get to our seats. Then I took off after him, trying to beat him to our seats. I almost caught up to him, but he had to far of a head start.

“Beat ya,” said Tyson as he was standing by our seats. As I went to go sit down, my parents came walking down also to sit in there spots. Donovan was sitting on the other side of me, and my dad was on the other side of Donovan. Then, Tyson, Alisa, and my mom were sitting on the left side of me.

“Alright, if you guys need to go to the bathroom now is the time,” stated Melissa.

“I need to drop one!” Tyson said abruptly. Later the game started, and Kansas City wasn’t doing to hot. Matt Cassel was not doing his best, and everyone wanted Ricky Stanzi to come in.

At the end of the game, there were these Buffalo Bills fans that were bad mouthing Kansas City Chiefs fans. They got into a long argument, and it went on until the game was over and the team that won was the Buffalo Bills. “So, how did you enjoy today?” asked Melissa.

“Matt Cassel sucks!” I screamed.

March PPOW Colorado

Colorado

            My trip to Colorado started when my aunt Ang invited us out to stay for a week. Of course we had to go so we planed it in June. The trip was a long 12-hour drive from Hancock, Iowa to Broomfield, Colorado. The whole way there, we were constantly going uphill. When we got to Ang’s house, we said hi to her, and our cousin Mark, who lives there. We didn’t do anything the first day because the drive was too long, and we wanted to catch up with Ang and Mark.

            Ang is known for her cooking, and the first day, she smoked pulled pork and ribs.  It was really good. The next day, we went to Elich Gardens Theme Park in Denver. When I was there, we rode on many rollercoasters, and rides I never have before. My sister Alyssa and my step-dad, Randy, went on The XLR8R. The XLR8R pulls you 150 feet in the air and drops you in a free fall style. My favorite was called the Mind Eraser rollercoaster.

            I was too scared to go on it, so I watched from below. Then after they were done, we did some more rides and headed back to Ang’s house. The next day, we decided to go hiking on a mountain in Boulder. We saw a lot of clear water running down the mountain, and a lot of pretty plants. The view was amazing and I wanted to stay up there longer. Even though it was really hot, it was worth it.

            We also did a lot of shopping at cool stores that day. The next day was really hot so all of us decided to go to the local pool. We had a lot of fun swimming and it was nice to cool off. When we got back to Ang’s house, she smoked ribs and we all ate and went to bed. The next day we started planning on going up to “Pikes Peak,” by taking the “Cog Railway.” Ang bought our tickets and we headed out.

            It was my first time taking a train, and going up “Pikes Peak.” On our way up, the conductor told everyone all about the land. He pointed out that the railway we were riding is the highest “Cog Railway” in the world. He also said that most of the trees on the mountain were over 2000 years old. The ride was very long and my sisters were getting a little sicker the higher we got.

             Thankfully I wasn’t feeling that bad, and was still enjoying the ride. The conductor also pointed out that Katharine Lee Bates wagon tracks were still there when she wrote America the Beautiful in 1893. I thought that it was very cool to see the wagon tracks even after all of these years. When we finally reached the top of the mountain there was a building there that everyone went into. My step-dad and I went outside after a while to look at the view.

            I could see some clouds when I looked down the side of the mountain because we were so high up. Out of nowhere it started to snow but I still stayed outside. Then a few seconds later there was thunder and lightning at the same time that it was snowing. It was the first time I had seen it snow and thunder outside at the same time. They told us all to go inside because we could easily get hit by lightning.

            When we were inside there were people making fresh doughnuts. We didn’t get any because none of us felt so well. The weather outside was getting worse so we had to get back on the train, and head back down. Once we got outside again we noticed how much it had snowed already so we had to move fast. It was really cold so everyone had to put up there windows to keep warm. The weather went from warm and sunny to cold a windy. I thought that it was really cool how the weather can change so fast.

            On our way down we still couldn’t believe how pretty the view was. When we were getting to the end the conductor started handing out books to everyone to see if they would buy it. We bought a book and it came with a CD and a souvenir. The CD talked about the history of the “Cog Railway” and extra information about it. We went back to Ang’s and went to bed after the long day. The next day was sadly our last and we decided to just stay at Ang’s and relax.

Ang made a really good breakfast for our last full day there. We ended up playing a lot of board games and watching good movies after that. We played Yahtzee and Mark ended up winning by far. My sisters and I started watching movies while the parents were outside by the warm fire. The night ended well and we had to go to bed early so we could wake up and leave early the next day.

We said our goodbyes and left early in the morning. The car ride back was really long with all the stops along the way. We stopped at a little store and got some Colorado shirts to remember our trip. We also got these weird suckers with scorpions in them. None of us actually ate them but we just thought that it was cool to have.

When we were on the road we were going downhill the whole time. We thought it was cool because on the way there we were going uphill the whole time. As we got farther away the more I missed it already. Yes, It was sad to leave but it was something we can always talk about.

We plan on going back hopefully sometime soon and visit Ang and Mark.

           

 

           

                                                                  

Cancer Fundraiser- March PPOW

Cancer Fundraiser

On March 8, 2015, I Ashley Jones, helped out with a cancer fundraiser. I did this fundraiser with my family and my best friend Isabella. The fundraiser was for my mother’s co-worker’s son, named Logan. Logan is 19 years old and has had cancer twice.

Here is his story: Logan kept getting morning headaches and nausea in the summer of 2002. When it was the school year again, Logan went to the eye doctor to see if he needed glasses. The doctor noticed something called hemorrhaging and he was immediately sent to a Children’s Hospital. He had surgery the next morning to remove a Medulloblastoma from his Medulla Oblongata. Luckily, the surgery removed the whole tumor, but while he was recovering he developed spinal meningitis. Logan began chemotherapy and radiation, although he lost most of his hearing because of it, he successfully beat cancer and came out of the treatments very healthy.

This summer Logan lost all hearing in his left ear, and was able to get a cochlear implant. A month or so later, he developed double vision and had trouble balancing. After a few rough months for him and his family, they had learned that Logan’s cancer had returned. This time it was a different kind of tumor- Glioblastoma Multiforme, also know as (GBM). He had surgery on November 11, and they were able to remove 90% of his tumor. That left behind 10% of his tumor, and that was on his brain stem and facial/auditory nerve. Although it was risky, they took a chance and put him under radiation again. They have seen some great results and they are planning on a new round of chemo.

Another co-worker was feeling generous and took the time to put together this wonderful event. She has known him and his dad for years and wanted to raise money so his dad could pay all the big hospital bills. This event literally turned my life around. It made me realize how short life is, and that you should live it too the fullest. It also taught me that there are kind people in this world that do care for others.

They had many different ways of raising money, Raffle tickets, baked goods, bowls of chili, hot dogs, t-shirts, and a silent auction. My shift started at 1:00 pm and ended at 3:00 pm. During those two hours Bella and I served chili to lots of people. Since my shift was just around lunch time, it was really busy. My mom sold raffle tickets and my dad helped out with the bake sale. Drew was originally going to sell t-shirts but it was really slow when his shift started, so he ended up selling raffle tickets with my mom. We had so many food donations that they couldn’t all bring them inside.

Since this fundraiser involved my mom’s co-worker, I was able to meet her other friends from work. They were so inspired to help out their friend in need. People that were working the bake sale couldn’t count money so my dad had to do it for them. Drew went around and asked people if they wanted to buy raffle tickets while they ate. Many people bought them and went to look at what they wished to win.

While Bella and I served chili, a guy came up four times to try many different kinds of chili. As we awkwardly served him chili, we were secretly dying of laughter. We also met so many amazing people there while working the stand. You probably think that serving chili isn’t fun at all, but I had the best time ever. I was so lucky to share that day with such great people.

It really warms my heart that so many people did this for Logan. We made him feel so special and we showed him that he is not alone. Logan was very happy and so was his dad. The fundraiser went from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm.

After we were all done working, we decided to stay and buy some raffle tickets. We bought four sets of yellow tickets and two sets of blue. There were different colors for the different prize areas. Later on after we put our tickets in the buckets, Drew decides to take a look at the silent auction that was going on.

Drew ended up putting the first bid on season tickets for three sports at Creighton, you had to increase the bid by five dollars and his opening price was $90. The sports ended up being: Women’s volleyball, Men’s Basketball, and Men’s Soccer. As some time passes by, a guy puts down a higher price than Drew’s. After men go back and forth including Drew, the time slowly slips away and Drew ends up losing the auction. He wasn’t too happy about it, but it’s okay, he will get over it.

It ends up being 4:00 P.M. before they start drawing the raffle tickets. It went pretty slow because half the people that won were in a different room or had already left. It also was slow because there were so many things you could win. One lady won three things, another person won about five things. After they were done naming the yellow ticket winners, they went on to the blue.

After about five or so names, it comes to my attention that I put my ticket in the one they were drawing next. The item that I put my name in for was a Mary Kay makeup set. As I mumble my name; as a joke, they literally speak my name and I jumped right out of my seat. I was super excited for no reason at all, but I was still really happy that I won something.

As the rest of the raffles went on, we all clapped when someone won something. It was about the 
end of the event when Logan comes up to the microphone to say thank you to everyone who helped 
and/or came to support. This event raised about $13,000 all together. We said our goodbyes and left 
feeling so great because we just took the time to help out Logan and his family.  

My Trip to Mall of America

 My Trip to Mall of America

This year my family and I went to Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. First we woke up at six on a Saturday morning and went to Casey’s. The drive seemed like it took forever, but it was only five hours. We got there around noon and went straight to our hotel. We stayed in a huge hotel called Crowne Plaza. It had a pool, and a hot tub which I really enjoyed. After we checked into our hotel, we drove to Mall of America. We ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe; they had lots of guitars and drums hanging on the wall. The guitars and drums were signed by famous bands and singers like Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Linkin Park, and many others. I had a hamburger but it wasn’t that great. It had almost every store you could think of, surprisingly it didn’t have a Mcdonalds. They had Skittles, Peeps and Starburst stores. In the center of the mall was Nickelodeon Universe; it had amusement park rides. The scariest ride there was the Spongebob Squarepants Roller Coaster. It sounds kiddish and cheesy, but it was really scary; you go straight up a huge hill and then straight down. It made my stomach drop, when I went down the huge drop off. Then we went to a baseball store outside of the mall, and I bought a new Easton Baseball glove. Then we went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning we woke up and ate at IHOP and there pancakes were amazing. I had two pancakes and a omelet; they had 5 different types of syrup: strawberry, butter pecan, salted caramel, blueberry and original. Then we drove back to our hotel and got on a train to Mall of America. The train went super fast through downtown Minneapolis and straight to the mall. Right when I walked in I saw a Chinese family asking this lady if she could take their picture. She said yes then took their picture; she handed him his phone back. Then the Chinese man said “No, this is not good enough! We need to find a photographer!” I thought it was hilarious, but he didn’t think it was too funny. After that, we went straight to the Nike and Foot Locker Store’s. I bought some new shoes and Derek Jeter Jordan socks at foot locker. We ate lunch at Culver’s and then headed to this store called Planet Soccer. It had tons of soccer equipment and balls. I bought new cleats at the store and then we left. Then after we left the soccer store, and we went to Outback Steakhouse. I had fish and chips and it tasted amazing. We left Outback Steakhouse and went straight back to our hotel. We decided to go swimming in the pool and afterwards we went into the hot tub for a little while. Then we went back to our room and went to bed. The next day we woke up and ate breakfast at Mcdonald’s. After we ate at Mcdonald’s, we went back to our hotel to pack all of our stuff up. We packed everything up in our car then went to the Mall for the last time. First, we bought wristbands to ride all of the rides throughout the day. Then we rode the Log ride; it was really fun. You go up this huge hill and then fly down it, splashing through the water. The first time we rode it, we made my sister right in the very front so she got soaked. Then after we got bored of riding the log ride we went straight to the Spongebob Roller Coaster. We had two guys throw up behind us before the ride even started. The first hill was so high it almost touched the ceiling! After you went flying down the first hill, you go in a loop that goes upside down twice. It was the craziest ride they had and it made you feel like you were falling from the sky. The next ride we went on was the Fairly Odd Parents Roller Coaster, it spun in a circle while you were on the roller coaster. It made me really dizzy and it went super fast around hills and stuff. It was the fastest ride they had there. It almost made my sister sick; she was really pale for the rest of the day, but she survived. Then we had to go on the Ferris Wheel because my sister wanted to really bad. I thought it was really boring considering all you do is go in a big circle. Then after we got off, we ate at the food court. I had a hamburger from Johnny Rockets and it was one of the best hamburgers I have ever tasted. My brother and sister had fried rice at Panda Express. After we ate, we had to drive all the way home. On our way back we stopped in Des Moines and ate at a barbeque place called Smokey D’s. It had the best barbeque I have ever tasted. There is trophies all over the walls from all the contests and cookoffs they have one. The food Network had even came there to see how good their food was. They had checks of 100,000 dollars hanging up on the wall that they had one from BBQ Pitmasters. After we stuffed ourselves to the best barbecue ever, we started driving back home again. This vacation was really fun and exciting. Although the drive was really long, the Mall of America was worth it. My favorite part was going on the rides that went up really high then straight down as people screamed. I bought lots of stuff and had a great time on the rides and in the shops. It was one of the best vacations I have ever been on, and it is something that I will never forget for the rest of my life.    

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.