San Diego!

Okay, so we went to San Diego on Thursday and boy was it FREEZING! To someone who has lived in San Diego for a while, it would have been pretty warm. But me being used to weather around 110 degrees ferenheit everyday during the summer, 70 degrees was pretty cold for me! I know... I'm such a wimp! Oh well! Anyway, we drove to San diego on Thursday and got there at about 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning. I don't know the exact time because I was sleeping most of the way there. On Friday, we did some sightseeing. We went to an old lighthouse which was super cool!Then we went to an old HUGE ship called the "Midway," and that was awesome! There were a ton of different rooms and on the top of the whole thing, there was a landing deck where a bunch of war planes and helicopters landed and were launched for flight. After that, we went to the beach. There were a bunch of people there, and I must admit that although I had a bunch of fun, I know there are nicer beaches. There wasn't a LOT of garbage there, but there were no shells and there was kelp and sea grass all over the beach where they had just happened to be washed up. It was kind of creepy because everytime the water went over my feet, (and I couldn't see what was under the water even though it was only a couple inches deep) the kelp got tangled around my ankles and kept making me think that the plant was a fish or something. On Saturday, we went to the San Deigo zoo because we hadn't been to a good zoo in a long time and everyone said that this zoo was huge-which it was. I saw an animal I didn't even know existed! It's called Okapi. (You might want to look it up and see a picture of it because it is SUPER cool! It is in the giraffe family, has a face that looks like a giraffe's, and has little tiny horns. It's body is brown, it's back legs are zebra-striped, and it's front legs are also black and white and have spots (the spots aren't perfectly round). On Sunday, we went to Sea World. Unfortunately, the ride Atlantis was closed down until about noon the next day because something leaked and they had to drain out all the water, pressure wash the ground of the ride, and refill the entire thing again with water. Fortunately, though, we did see a bunch of shows. They replaced the show "Bonnie and Clyde" with a show called "Clyde and Seemore." It still has the two seals in it, the story line just changed. We also went on the rapids ride. Since Atlantis was closed down, everyone went to the rapids ride instead and there was a HUGE line...we had to wait an hour, give or take a few. We also went on it at night because no one ever wants to get soaking wet at night. And I can't believe I was dumb enough to go on. My brother, my little sister, and I all got soaked...and I mean SOAKED! We went to the Shamoo show after the rapids ride and then went back to the hotel. We drove back on Monday, which meant that I missed a day of swim team. I didn't mind too much because we were timing for the I.M. (Two laps of butterfly, two laps of backstroke, two laps of breaststroke, and two laps of freestyle all together in a sprint.) I think just about everyone hates the I.M. I know that this was a really really long post, but I had lots to say! I think that's about it so...bye!

SUMMER!

Hey everyone! I haven't done much with my blog in a while, but...oh well! Anyway, summer has been so fun for me so far! All I have really done so far is swim team (for the fourth year in a row), but we are planning on traveling just a little bit soon. For the first week of swim team, we were getting up at about 5:50 a.m. or 6:00 a.m. Ok...not a big deal. I can wake up at six if I want to-I had to do it for school anyway so it wasn't too hard. We had to be in the pool by 7:00...which was REALLY cold but still...not too bad. Then, the coaches realized that the pool was too crowded with both groups in at 7:00, so they separated the groups and now the older group (my brother) has to be in the pool by 6:00! So now, I am still in the water by 7:00, but I have to wake up at 4:50 a.m. in order that my brother can swim with his group. IT IS SOOOO TIRING! However, our four days a week of swimming pays off in several ways. First, we get a good workout...which is always good. And second, we have meets (competitions with other teams.) The first meet we did freestyle. I got first place in the singles and second place in the relays. For the backstroke meet, I got second place in the singles and third place in the relays. I am kind of nervous because tonight I have the butterfly meet-and I HATE butterfly! But I made the relays again, and for some reason, I always seem to be the anchor (the fastest in the relay group). But there are A and B teams. The A team is the fastest relay team and the B team is the slower of the two groups. Then sometimes they have the C or even sometimes D relay teams for the swimmers who didn't get in the top 8 (the A and B relay teams) in the time trials. (I forgot to mention that every Wednesday, we have time trials in which we all do a sprint exactly like we would do in the meet for whatever stroke we are doing that week. Then, you get your time, and it is recorded down. That is how they get the top swimmers for the relays.) I was in the C relay once, and that was because one of the coaches accitentally made a mistake and put me on the C team, whereas, I was supposed to be on the A relay team. I think that's pretty much all I have to say for now, so...BYE! Oh, and feel free to comment on this post and tell me about your summer....I'd love to hear, and I will try my best to comment back!

The end of school, the beginning of summer!

This year of school has been my favorite so far! Getting to know so many people, making new friends, and having extremely fun classes! If you didn't know it yet, I surprisingly won the speech contest again this year! The speech topic was "a person who has touched many lives," and I did mine on Nick Vujicic. In order to be able to add more stories and more emotion, I pretended that he was my older brother, which I didn't think would be a problem because last year I won and I pretended I was an 86 year old! Anyway, after the speech, everyone took it the wrong way and thought that he was actually my real brother! It was funny at first, but now it is getting kind of annoying when everyone is asking me if the only kids in my family were me, my younger sister, my older brother, and my older older brother-referring to Nick Vujicic as my older older brother! Like I said in the last post I made, science class was my favorite class this year. Over the summer, I am doing swim team with my sister, my friend Hayley, my brother, and my friend's younger sister. This is mine and my siblings' 4th year doing swim team, and this is my friend's and my friend's sister's 2nd year doing it. It stinks because half of the week, I have to get up at 5:00 in the morning to do it. Then on Thursday evenings, we have meets-where we compete against other swim teams. I am glad that, at least, Hayley and I don't have to compete against anyone more than a year older than us...for now at least. Dont' get me wrong, I love swim team. I just wish I didn't have to get up before sunrise half of the week! Other than swim team, we dont' have much more planned for this summer-because of swim team. My uncle is coming over next week to hang out with us, which we are all really excited about because he is a blast! For example, one time we were visiting my grandpa, and we decided to go for a swim in the community pool. After a few minutes of swimming around, my uncle came running in and broke just about every rule there was: no running, cannot be fully dressed-you have to be wearing a bathing suit, no shoes on, you have to rinse off before you get in the pool, no cannonballs, and no screaming really loud! And that was just one of the silly things my uncle has done. That is pretty much all I have to say for now so...Ciao!

:)

My science class this year!

This year in school has been a blast for me! My favorite class this year was-by far-science class! Just so you know why I liked it so much, here are some examples of what happened in some of the classes: To start off, my class was full of about 9 or 10 insane boys that are all a grade older than me, so it was really entertaining to see what they would do! One time, a few weeks ago, my teacher told some of the guys to not get out of their seats. So, they took the duck tape and taped themselves to their stools! When one of them, who's name is Paul, stood up, because he taped over his shoulders too, he was all hunched over! It was really entertaining watching him try to walk all hunched over with a stool attached to his rear end! That's not the end of it. Then, to do an experiment, he had to get up onto a table to tape a balloon to the ceiling! I could not stop laughing when he tried to get up onto a table and stand up all hunched over with a stool on his bottom! Then, when another one, who's name is Trae, had to go to the bathroom, my teacher-just for laughs-made him take his chair to the bathroom with him! It was so funny! About a week ago, some of them decided to make a fort for the class hamster out of popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun! Surprisingly, the fort turned out to be pretty cool! When they put the hamster in, it got really scared. After a few minutes, the hamster went to the back of the fort, ran full speed into the opposite wall, and flipped completely over! After that, after a few tries, it finally jumped really high and climbed over the walls of the fort! It was so funny to see the boys, and my teacher, try to catch a runaway hamster! There are so many more stories for me to tell about my science class this year, but I think that is enough for now... I might write another post about some things that happened in school later. I am kind of sad that school ended because, 1: I will miss my friends, and 2: Science class is going to seem so boring for me next year compared to the one I had this year!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had fun decorating and searching for their eggs! Anyway, since I copied down some verses from the Bible for Good Friday, I thought I would finish up the story with Christ's resurrection today:

Mark 16:1-20

The Resurrection

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' "

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Good Friday

Today, as you know, is Good Friday. I thought I would put this up here; I thought it was quite appropriate for today. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do. So here's the crucifixion of Christ our Savior.

Luke 23:26-49

The Crucifixion

As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and maade him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then they will say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'"
"For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgivve them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
There was a written notice above him, wich read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
But the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

Jesus' Death

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "surely this was a righteous man." When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

The Dolly Steam Boat

Over the weekend, my family went to Canyon Lake to ride on a Dolly Steam Boat. On the ride, we were told to keep our eyes "peeled" for any wild animals. Although we didn't see any of the javelinas, (it's pronounced havelinas) which are wild pigs with big tusks, bobcats, mountain lions, or anything else like that, we did see a bunch of big horned sheep. They were so cool! They were a grayish tan color and they had big horns, hence the name big horned sheep. It was kinda cold, but luckily I had a jacket, a thin one but, nevertheless, a jacket. On the way back, we noticed that we were almost out of gas! Unfortunately, the ride back was mostly uphill and required a lot of gas to get up! Even more unfortunate, the nearest gas station was about 10-15 miles away! Fortunately, my dad was able to coast half the time (coasting is when you don't use any gas and depend on downhills to build up speed). He only used gas when we were losing our speed and needed to get uphill and when we got on the main road. It was really scary because on the Apache trail that we had to go on, there were sharp turns without any rails and we were basically on the edge of the cliff! Although we didn't have very much gas, we barely made it to the gas station. After that we just went home. That trip was so fun!!!