School

So far, school has been almost the same as last year. It already feels like it has gone on for months. Its strange for me because during school I can't wait for the summer, but in the summer I can't wait until school starts. Something I really don't like about this year is that the eighth graders now have second lunch instead of first and I am always super hungry. Because of that, I have to eat a whole lot of snacks during the day, but I am only allowed to eat in one class.

After school I play soccer. I will also play basketball, and track if they have it. Our soccer team has two teams there is no Varsity and JV, just two different teams mixed with seventh and eighth graders that the coaches tried to divide easily. I think our team is pretty good even though we lost our first game. I knew we were better that the other team, we just didn't know what to do with the ball once we had it.

This year I hope I can get better grades than last year. Last year I had mostly A's but near the end of the year my grades started to lower a tiny bit. I hope that doesn't happen this year.

Horseback Riding

On the 5th day of our trip to Yellowstone, my dad, uncle, sister, cousin, and I went horseback riding at Bear Paw Outfitters.

When we arrived at the correct place, we waited for a few minutes and got our stuff ready for the trip. Soon one of our guides came out with a horse and taught us the proper ways to control our horses. When she was done she called someone from our group of nine to climb up on that horse. Then they started to bring out more horses, some were white, some were brown, and some were white with brown spots. When it was my turn, I walked up put one foot on the stump and stepped up and put my other foot on the stirrup. I climbed up and sat down. The guide adjusted a few straps and then sent the horse to wait in line with the other horses. Eventually, everyone was in their saddles and ready to go.

We first rode out of the driveway and onto a dirt trail. Shortly after, our group was riding up a mountainside. We spotted many deer and rocks that were overturned by a black bear because it was looking for food. Most of the time the party was going up but at some points we were going down. My dad told me to stand up a little bit on the stirrups so the pressure would go to my feet and my behind wouldn't hurt when we were going down. After about an hour we were in the woods surrounded by trees. Sometimes my horse would go really close to a tree so my leg would scrape against it. Occasionally I had to whack my horse with the straps because it was falling behind the other horses. When we came to a stream, the horses took a good long drink and then we continued on our way. Two hours after we started our journey we came to the half way point. It felt magnificent to get off the horse and walk around. I also felt very small compare to the enormous horses. After our 15 minute break we got back on our horses (with more difficulty than the first time because we didn't have a stump) and got on our way.

The journey back was a little bit different and much hotter. I had forgot to put on sunblock in the car so I was a little bit worried I might get burned but miraculously, I didn't. We saw a few more deer and fawns. After two more hours of riding we got back to the ranch. It felt weird walking around but good.

I had a great time horseback riding and I hope I can go again sometime. Maybe in a few years.

Yellowstone

Two weeks ago my family and I went to the famous national park, Yellowstone, home of the well known Old Faithful.

When we arrived in Livingston after a two day trip, our family came to a KOA campground. There we saw our relatives. The campground was quiet nice, it had a pool, a stage, and lots of nice cabins. Our family stayed in a tent while our relatives stayed in two of the cabins.

On the third day we went to the actual Yellowstone Park. We hiked up a lot and saw many ponds full of steaming water. Off the boarded walkway there were some footprints and it tempted me to step off but I thought about it and decided not to. I later read a sign that said many people have died here because they have been burned by the boiling water under the surface.

The next day we went back to Yellowstone and saw many cool springs. I think Emerald Spring was the coolest spring we saw the whole day. It was blue and deep with yellow on the edges. It was steaming and it smelled horrible. I think it was the sulfur or something like that to make it smell literally, like rotten eggs. After that, we drove another half an hour to the distinguished Old Faithful. After waiting for several minutes, The little mound of steam started to steam some more and then it spurted a little fountain. After a few seconds the geyser had reached it's full height while the people were cheering.

On the next day of our trip, my dad, sister, cousin, uncle, and I went to go horseback riding. I had a great time riding around the mountains, through streams, and into the forest on one of the horses named Hercules.

I had a excellent time in Montana and Yellowstone and I hope maybe I can go back again.

Driving

When I am old enough, I will try to start driving as soon as possible. Maybe when I have enough money, I will get a car or a motorcycle. I might get a motorcycle because gas prices are so high and will probably be higher when I am 16.

I think I will try to ride a bike to most places around town to save money. I think the trains should come back and be popular again so people could ride on them. I would ride the train a lot if there was one that went through here. My dad said he would rather have a train to go to his work so he could read a book and because he works far away.

There are some people in my neighborhood that drive to their mail box even if it is just a block away and they leave the car running for about 5 minutes while they read every single letter they receive. It makes me really frustrated and I want to tell them that they are killing a whole bunch of animals, especially polar bears. I think people should drive a lot less and try to walk some places too because another problem in this country is obesity. There is a mall right next to my house and if I go there I usually walk because it is fun to walk there and it saves gas, money, and the environment.

Blueberries

Yesterday, my family, my relatives and I went to pick blueberries at Gile Berry Farms.

We started out by getting our buckets and then walking down to where all the blueberry bushes were. After a few minutes we all started to notice that very few of the berries were ripe. But then we saw one of my parents friends there and he said there were lots of blueberries in the far right corner of the field. We were soon picking huge berries and our buckets started to fill up.

While we were having a water break under the shade of some tall blueberry plants, my uncle and I heard a buzzing sound. At first I thought it was a helicopter or a plane. But as it got louder, I looked up and there were hundreds of tiny black dots flying around, we realized that the buzzing was a huge swarm of bees buzzing overhead. I have never heard such loud bees in my entire life. For a moment I was afraid, but the bees soon past and nobody got stung.

At the end of our picking, we brought all the buckets back the the house and weighed the blueberries. Mostly everyone filled their bucket three quarters full. All the blueberries together weighed 20 pounds. It was a fun day at the Gile Farm and I hope to go there again soon.

Rainier Park

Just yesterday, my family, my mom's brother's family, and I went to Mt. Rainier National Park for a short visit.

After we hiked for a bit, we stopped inside the hotel for some snacks. All of us had some ice cream. On the hike down I started feeling a little icky. We soon reached the car and I tried to sleep. When I woke up I felt worse than ever. I groaned and my mom quickly handed me a bag. I started puking like crazy. My mom handed me another bag and I used it. I begged my uncle to stop the car and thankfully he pulled over. I stood outside for a while to get some fresh air and then we got back in the van and rode home.

When I Grow Up

At the moment, I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. Maybe I'll be a architect, or a fireman, or a policeman, or a athlete. I kind of want to be a architect because I think it is fun to draw designs to houses. Something bad about being a architect is that I would have to learn a lot of math and school. Also I really want to design my own house so there are no toilets behind doors or super long hallways with doors that hit each other. I might be a athlete because I like soccer, basketball, and hockey. The only problem with that is I don't think I am a good enough player to be a pro in sports but, I could probably be on a minor league team. One other job I would like would be a policeman. I think it would be interesting to drive around and arrest people for speeding. I don't think the driver would be to happy about the ticket but it will teach them a lesson, the hard way. Almost every day, there is news of car crashes and sometimes deaths. Most of those crashes come from people speeding or driving drunk. Police arrest people for drunk driving too. It may not change this country, but it may save a life.

Summer Hummer 08

Last week I was a camper at SonWorld Adventure Park VBS at my church. During the past week I had a good time singing, playing carpet ball,  water games, riding on luge racers, and playing dodgeball.

The part I enjoyed most was the fast, noisy, go carts. The go carts are really fun and exiting because the track has lots of twists and turns and the go carts run exceptionally fast. There is only one thing I do not like about the go cart station and that is, the track is very narrow which makes the course fun, but sometimes there is a person riding at a snail's pace in front of me and I cannot pass them and I would have to go slow.

This year there was over 850 campers that attended Summer Hummer and over 350 counselors and staff volunteers. Next year I am going to be a counselor because I think it is fun to work with kids.

I already knew almost all of the other kids in my group. Three of them used to be in my Boy Scout troop, one of them was my neighbor, and another one I see around the church.

I cannot wait until next summer and I hope to have a good time.

Camping at Sprout Lake

Last week my family and I went to Sprout Lake with a lot of our friendly relatives. On the first day most of us went swimming on the docks and in the icy cold lake. There was a white slide that went right into the water. Our relatives also brought a small gray rubber dingy. Sometimes I would go down the slide and land in the dingy. Most of the time a lot of freezing water splashed into the boat.

A few days later, a few family members and I canoed out on the lake and camped overnight in a tent on a small rocky beach. When we first got onto the lake, we canoed around then we stopped on a beach for lunch and a rest. After a few hours my uncle went out on one of the boats to go find a beach to camp on the lake. After another short hour we went to go find our uncle. It felt like forever until we found him. We told him that we found a nice camping spot on the lake. It felt so good to get to the rocky brown beach and stop paddling. My arms were hurting like I just lifted a thousand pounds. While we were hunting for firewood, I found a sort of a big box made out of wood with a hole on top. It soon came to me that it was a toilet. It came out to be useful on the trip.

The next morning, our family and relatives paddled back to the mobile home. Next summer when our relatives get together, I want to go to Bowen lakes.

Tadmor

This summer I will be going to camp Tadmor. Tadmor is a camp where students can play games, worship through music, and do fun stuff. Tadmor has lots of activities such as paintball, laser tag, dodgeball, basketball, and music. Last year I did not go to Tadmor because I was at a boy scout camp. I think I was the only person in sixth grade that did not go to Tadmor. When they got back last year they kept talking and talking about it. I hope to do lots of games, worshiping, and hanging out with friends. I hope this year my friends will go so I won't be all alone. I can't wait.

Intro

This is my first post on my blog. I will try to keep this blog updated a few times a week for the summer. I plan to write my experiences of the day and my thoughts about this summer. I hope you enjoy reading it.