Volleyball: Halfway Across the Country

Last night at about 10:00, I got hope from the airport after a flight home from Minneapolis!! My volleyball team had a tournament there starting on Friday, so we flew over on Thursday afternoon. We got to the hotel at about 6 (Minneapolis time) and then had dinner (lasagne...mmmmmm.)

Friday, we lost our first two matches against teams from Minnesota and Texas, then beat a team from Kentucky. We got ice cream afterward, then had pizza delivered to our rooms. We were in the afternoon pool, so we got to sleep in.

Saturday, we all got up at and went to the MALL OF AMERICA. It is GINORMOUS. There's an amusement park, an aquarium, and a movie theater all inside it. I got 1 shirt. Most of the time we just marvelled at the vastness of it. It was so much fun. And then later, we won all our games. We then had dinner at this Italian place. Chicken parmesan, Fettucine Alfredo, and Spaghetti&Meatballs. Didn't get out of there till like 11:30, but it was still good.

Sunday we played at 11, won, and then at 1 and won again. We ended up winning our bracket. Then we went back to the hotel and got our bags and took the train to the airport. Now we're home.

It was about 70 and sunny the whole time. I really like Minneapolis, it's a good town.

A Late Merry Christmas

Sorry, this is a few weeks late, but Merry Christmas!! We were in Idaho with my grandparents and other family. There was about 2 inches of snow, and about 20 degrees and sunny the whole time. There was food, card games, presents, family, food, and did I mention food? It was so much fun. I learned Pinochle, Hearts, and Cribbage. I got:

• John Deere sweatshirt
• Plaid shirt/scarf/gloves
• Charm City Cakes T-shirt
• Black Uggs
• Duffel bag from my high school
• iTunes gift card
• One of those things that you put in your drawers to make your clothes smell better

Then we travelled to Boise to go to the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl, where the University of Idaho was playing Bowling Green (Ohio). They won 43-42 in the last 4 seconds!! It was AMAZING. I also got a jacket from the bookstore. My cousins and I went swimming at the hotel and we watched Evan Almighty in the exercise room. Then on the 31st we flew to Spokane, then drove home. We were gone for 9 days, and school starts again tomorrow. Grr. Oh well, it was an amazing break, Christmas, and New Years. Happy New Year!!

I'm BAAAAAAAACK!!!!

Hola peoples!!!

I just got back a few hours ago from Idaho, where I stayed in a cabin for a week at a lake. It was a blast. I waterskied, tubed, layed in the sun, played card games, played in the water, read 2 great books, ate great food, shot hoops, went on boat rides, kayaked, took midnight plunges into the water with my awesome cousin Jamie, and-

STOP

There is not enough space or time to describe all the amazing things I did with my amazing cousins. Oh well. Maybe I will put on some pictures later but unfortunately I do not have my camera with me at this time.

My hair is kinda bleached out and I am tan (but not sunburnt! YAY that's a first) but I contracted the common cold while there. Which sucks. Oh well. I also got very dry skin on my face which hurt very badly. I figured out on the 4th day that Lubriderm had minimal effect. Instead, I coated my face in Vaseline 100% petroleum jelly, and that worked wonders.

Adios for now!!!!!

California: Day 2

Still in Santa Barbara.......

9:50: I am woken up by my mom. Wow I slept in!!!

10:30: We go to my grandma's place to go take her to the dentist. She can walk really well now, and doesn't stumble at the curbs.

10:55: Get to the dentist, then when Grandma goes in, we head downtown and walk around a bit. All the newspapers were headlining "King of Pop is dead at 50" We went into a bunch of stores (I had fun fooling around with the iPhones in the Apple store) then we went back to the dentist to get Grandma

11:48: We take Grandma out to lunch at the Mesa Cafe. I get a really good cheeseburger. ALL of the TV's are programmed to the Michael Jackson news, all the radios are blaring "Thriller." Mom and Dad were kind of miffed because Farah Fawcett died too, and she got, like, and inch-long article at the very bottom of the newspaper.

12:40: We take Grandma back to her place and say good-bye, then drive back to my aunt's house

1:20: We get home and lay out in the sun for a while again. I shot some hoops again. I wasn't much better than I was yesterday. I braided a few lanyards, drank a soda, just relaxed, or tried to because it was very hot. My back stuck to the lawn chair.

4:00: Leave and go to UCSB (where my dad went) to go to the Santa Barbara Foresters game. It's like a bunch of college guys who play in a summer league. They were playing the San Luis Obispo Rattlers. It was pretty fun. I got a really long hot dog and an ice cream sandwich. The announcer guy said that if a player hits a foul ball, you can collect it and take it to the announcing place, and you get a free Cold Stone gift card. My cousin Joe got one!! Anyway, when we left the game in the top of the 8th, it was 11-0 Foresters. Afterwards, we went to Cold Stone (I got Cheesecake w/ brownie) then we went home.

7:13: We get home and watch my mom, dad, aunt, and uncle eat Mexican food. I played some Wii Play for a while, then went back into the kitchen and found my grandma's old jewelry boxes out again. My dad gave my this really pretty green brooch, and this litte metal purse thingy that holds a tissue, 15 cents, and a mirror. It belonged to my great-grandma.

9:00: Go to bed!!

California: Day 1

Okay. so on June 25th, I woke up at 4:30 and got dressed, got everything together, blah, blah, blah, then..........

5:00: Leave for the airport
5:57: Arrive at the airport
6:45: Board the plane
7:20: Take-off
9:07: Land
9:20: Get all our stuff at baggage claim, get our rental car, etc., etc., etc.
10:00: Leave for Santa Barbara
11:12: Arrive in Santa Barbara
11:15: Put all our stuff in my aunt's house
11:30: Go see my grandma at her assisted living home, talk for a while
12:17: Leave and go back to my aunt's house
12:49: Leave to go to Hope Ranch Beach. It was VERY windy and actually kind of cold. I didn't go in the water because.....well......I just didn't. There, we got a call from my 16 year old cousin, Sadye, who exclaimed to my aunt that "MICHAEL JACKSON JUST DIED!!!" It was on the news EVERYWHERE. After we got over that, my dad and I attempted to play some volleyball on the beach with little success because of the wind.
4:06: Get home from the beach and lay out in the sun on the back deck for a while. I shot some hoops on theie basketball hoop that was mounted above their garage door. (I need some more practice.) My uncle comes home and tells us about how cool Fenway Park is, and about those crazy Red Sox fans on the subway.
6:29: Come back in the house with my uncle and dad, and Uncle Bill puts out a cheese platter with Brie, Dubliner, and Goat cheese. I filled up on that really fast.
7:04: My mom and aunt get home from the store (it took them like 2 hours.) It was then that I was introduced to "Seventeen" magazine. It's....um......interesting.
9:01: We finally eat dinner of sausages and French Fries. My uncle brings out ketchup and this really spicy German mustard that he snuck home on the plane. I didn't eat much because I was already full of cheese. I went to bed after that, or tried to because my aunt, mom, and dad were all studying really old stuff that they found in my grandma's house, like my late grandfather's ashes, some really old silverware, and like 6 jewelry boxes.

Ah...Home Sweet Home...

Yesterday at about 10:30 we got home from the airport after a week long trip to California. It was AMAZING. We went to Santa Barbara, DISNEYLAND, Balboa Island, San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, and Burbank. I had SO MUCH FUN!!!! I kind of have a tan now, since we went to, like, 7 different beaches. My face is sunburnt, my hair smells like chlorine, and my heels are as rough as sandpaper, and I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!!! (Well, maybe I could be if I was still asleep. I seem unable to sleep in.)

"You are now boarding Flight 2823 Service to..."

CALIFORNIA!!!!! Yippee!!!! Tomorrow I am waking up at 4:30 am to leave the house at 5:00 to get to the airport at 6:00 to board the plane at 6:50 to leave at 7:20 to get to Burbank at 9:07. We are seeing my aunt, uncle, cousins and grandma in Santa Barbara, then driving to Anaheim and DISNEYLAND!!!!! (I haven't been there since I was 6.) Then from there we're driving to San Diego to see my other aunt. Then we're driving to Orange County to see my dad's old friend from college. THEN we're driving BACK to Burbank to see my great-aunt. THEN we're getting BACK on a plane and flying BACK here. It's gonna be SO MUCH FUN!!!!

A Pretty Darn Amazin' House

Yesterday after the tournament and the boat party were both over, and we had cleaned up the boat, I went to my friend Brooke's house. She has 20 acres of land, a pool, and a tree house that could pass for a real house. The best part was that she has this little mini-Jeep called a Ranger. I got to drive it! I wasn't very good; I almost tipped us at one part, but I thought I was pretty good. Halle was closer to tipping us than I was!

This is a Ranger

This looks sorta...kinda...a little bit...like Brooke's tree house

Best V-Ball Tourney of the Year: Day 2

On Sunday, it was the second day of my FAVORITE volleyball tournament of the year.
DAY 2!

6:02: Wake up
6:49: Leave for the University
7:16: Arrive at the University
8:00: Play (and lose) our first match
9:00: Play (and lose) our second match
10:00 Referee a match
11:00: Okay, so my mom and my friend Brooke's mom told me and Brooke that "Oh, we're only going on the boat for about 5 minutes to drop some stuff off." Yeah...about that. We ended up staying on the boat for 8 hours. we swam, we talked, we tanned, we had SO MUCH FUN. We went up to the main gym and hit this cool volleyball on a bungee cord that told you how many miles an hour you hit it, there was a video of it, and there was a coach there telling you what you were doing wrong! It was AWESOME!

Best V-Ball Tourney of the Year: Day 1

So over the 4-Day weekend, I had a volleyball tournament over 3 of the days. It was SO much fun! So...here's day 1!

6:23: Wake up
6:44: Leave for the University
7:17: Get to the University
8:00: Play (and lose) our first match
9:00: Rest for a match, eat, veg out for about an hour
10:00: Referee a match
11:00: Play (and lose) our second match
12:00: Referee another match
1:00: Play (and win!) our third match

Then...from 2:00 - 7:30, we went on my friend's 70 foot boat/yacht!! IT WAS SO COOL! There's this little ledge at the top, where you can jump into the lake! It was really cold, but it felt really good after a day of playing and getting all sweaty. There is also a lounge on the bow where you can rest your towels and get all nice and warm after jumping in the lake. I got sunburned on my shoulders, though, but it doesn't hurt at all!!!

A Sunny Place!!!

This past weekend, I was in Reno with my volleyball team for the Junior Far West Qualifier. It was very nice and sunny, and a lot of fun. There was only one downside. My friend Megan had said she hadn't been feeling good, but she kept on playing. When it was time for her to sub out, she threw up three times right there on the court. She ended up having to go to the ER because they thought she might have appendicitis. But she didn't, thank God, she just had the stomach flu. She couldn't play the rest of the weekend. But there were a lot of upsides, too. Like on Monday, after we played, we went to the Grand Sierra Resort and went BUNGEE JUMPING!! Well, semi-bungee jumping. This is what the ride looked like: Then afterwards we went to In N Out Burger which was AMAZING! Then we flew home.

Attention Guiness......

If I'm not mistaken, my cousins in California have broken a Guiness World Record!! They have a goldfish who has been alive for over 11 years!!

Anne: The 11 year-old goldfish! (I never had a goldfish that lasted over 11 months!!)

I never thought you could fit so much candy in one store!!!

When we were in California, we went to this amazing candy store!! There was a gelato bar, a movie screen playing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old one) and a WHOLE WALL OF PEZ!!!

Ooh........Pretty........ O_o

These pictures were taken out of the window of the plane on the way home from California. A long flight to be sure, but its good to be home.

The Best Store in the History of the Universe

This was a store where we went on vacation. I got a shirt there. I wanted to get this cool tye-dye sweatshirt, but it was over $90!!! :-0

The Worst Plane Ever

nuff said

Bon Voyage!!

I will be away in CALIFORNIA (Sun!! Warmth!! YAY!!) from today until the New Year, so don't expect any posts after this one.

From Out of Town

I am doing this post from the hotel computer out of town! I am in the Tri-Cities for my cousin's Bar Mitzvah. The party isn't all that fun, because the guys are being stupid, talking about double-X whenever my girl cousins and I walk in (if you don't know what I'm talking about, think of Pop. adn Eco. last year in science) and not letting us play Guitar Hero. Then they're making fun of looking weird at my 7 year old cousin who has Asbergers. The actual ceremony was like 3 hours. So, out of hte 4 Bar/Bat Mitzvah's I've gone to, this is probably the least fun. It's been nice to see all my cousins, and the food is really good, but, you know. My Aunt Bobbi has an exchange student from Korea here with her, a kid named Jonathan. He seems nice. It's funny, there are probably more Catholic people here than Jewish people!

Well, that's it from here.