Alexandra's story

It all started in the summer of 1986. It was a fun filled vacation to Lake Powel with many cousins and friends.  The days where filled with tubing behind boats, water skiing, jet skiing and nights spent by the fire pit roasting marshmallows, or charring them to fried crisp for all of us who where too impatient for slow roasting and we plunged them deep into the flames. 
        Seven days seemed to fly by in my child like mind, never did I think that after so many adventures we would all vote on going home. To my horror, I woke up the next morning to every one packing up. What? No one asked me my opinion on leaving; we must stay a few more days, or better yet the whole summer. I stomped over to my mother to exclaim my utmost disapproval. “ Mom, we have had so much fun here and there is much more to be had, we need to stay a few more days.”
       She laughed in the normal motherly sure dear tone and said, “We cannot stay another day, Dad needs to get home for work.” 
       My chin hit the floor; did my mother actually forget it was summer? Dad didn’t have to return to work for another month and a half at least. I was so excited that I had the cure for our lack of vacation. All most jumping out of my skin I exclaimed, “Mom you are hilarious, did you forget it's summer?” My mom, not knowing if I was kidding since I was known to be the court jester of the family, said “Of course I know it's summer, but Dad doesn’t have the summer off, he works year round.” 
       I was in total shock.How could my sweet loving mother, have allowed my father to choose such a dismal, bleak, heart breaking job. Year round? What the heck did that mean? He never got time off? When did he regroup? When did he get tan? When did he read books in a hammock? Come to think of it, I had never seen my dad in any of those scenarios. And his legs translucent with kind of a blueish tint which confirmed his lack of tanning time.  The aloe vera taped to his head since day one now made so much sense. 
       My world was swirling, my childhood innocence crushed. I was having a mini panic attack and needed a respite. Something calm, something stable. In the distance, I saw my oasis, the snow cone shack. I couldn’t run fast enough to drown my sorrows in my high coloric sugar rush. I got up to the shack and Sonny who I had crushed on the whole week, looked at me and said, "What can I get you hot cakes? My mind was a mush; I couldn’t choose--so many good flavors, so little time. I will take one of everything. He called that the Kamakazi Krush. He must have sensed my need for reprieve and he handed me a snow cone the size my abdomen. Wow, I got it bad. “Sonny, does your dad work year round?”  He grinned and said, “No, my dad's a crab fishermen, peak season is only 3 months a year.” My eyes welled up with tears--to think Sonny the snow cone shack guy has it better then me. His mother had helped his father find a reasonable job, with time off. My mom was always so sweet; how could she have sent my dad there all these years? I had take matters into my own hands. “Hey Sonny do you know if your dad's ship has an opening?” Well, I'm not sure I could ask him for you? Could… you today?  We are running out of time, we are expected to go back to the city today. There is only one draw back. My Dad has zero skills for this position. Well what does he do for work now? He’s an attorney and he works year round. He needs a way and doesn’t even know it.  I will try to pull some strings but it might be difficult with such an unskilled person applying. Do you know if he owns galoshes? Or a pair of rubber overalls? I don’t think so but he is very adaptable. Thanks for all your help." I knew I had the answer, a glimmer of hope to a great summer beamed in the distance.

The day something out of the ordinary happened

The day something happened that was out of the ordinary was the day I found out Kendra, my old nanny, has cancer. They told her she will only live, at most, another year. She has four kids and a loving husband. We were very close and I feel heartbroken, I had spent lots of my summers reading in her arms...

Em's blog

Emily has a very interesting blog. She is able to capture a picture and weave that image into her stories and descriptions using very meaningful adjectives and action packed verbs. I also loves the subtle way she draws you into the blog. Once you start reading, you just can't get away.

Self Reflection Poem

Alexandra
Outgoing, Loyal, Friendly, Smart
Konrad, Erik
Outdoors, Friends, Cooking
Passionate, Caring, Excited
Family, Food, Sports
Love, Service, Smiles
Rats, Drowning, Mice
Beijing, India, Poland
Mountains, Scrub Oak, Deer
Heras

10 things I should have learned by now

#1. How to spell
#2. How to do double dutch
#3. How to surf
#4. How to ski
#5. How to snowboard
#6. How to longboard
#7. How to run a 6 minute mile
#8. How to fill up a gasoline can without spilling
#9. How to flip pancakes without having them stick
#10. How to make ice cream cake

10 places I will visit before I die

#1. Poland
#2. Belgium
#3. Bangkok
#4. Kenya
#5. Beijing
#6. Africa
#7. Egypt
#8. Iceland
#9. Ireland
#10. India

10 things that make me the most happy

#1. My mom
#2. My dad
#3. Erik
#4. Konrad
#5. Andrew
#6. My grandma
#7. Emily (always and forever)
#8. Hollis
#9. Gabby
#10. Aubree

Greatest fears

My greatest fears:
#1. Mice
#2. Rats
#3. The dark
#4. Anyone close to me getting divorced
#5. Being buried alive
#6. Drowning
#7. Being hit by a car
#8. Someone stealing my first kiss
#9. Cockroaches
#10. My mom finding out when I get sunburned

10 objects I could not live without

10 objects I could not live without:
#1. My older brother Erik
#2. My family
#3. My best friends
#4. Traveling
#5. Modern medical surgeries
#6. Doctors
#7. Engineers
#8. Food (especially fried rice)
#9. Pistachio ice cream
#10. My mom

10 true facts

10 true things:

#1. Waking your mom up in the middle of the night is not a good idea

#2. Drinking a lot of water before a race makes you sick

#3. Sleeping helps your test scores

#4. Smiling at people makes them smile back

#5. Using bananas in place of eggs tastes gross

#6. Putting yourself down never does any good

#7. While sleeping during class feels good at the time, it is NEVER worth it

#8. Drinking lots of water helps your all around health

#9. Guys who have an amazing personality are very attractive

#10. Kissing in the snow is romantic

5 ways to get your little brother to stop annoying you:

#1 Bribe him. It is as simple as that.

#2 Do exactly what he is doing until he gets annoyed at you and stops. *Warning, do not make him angry enough for him to get you into trouble, that is not worth it.

3 Blackmail... okay okay I know it sounds a little  extreme, but don't tell me that you have never done it. We all have those days that you just want to be a tiny bit devious, and now I have come up with the perfect solution.

#4 Go on a run. I figured out that running lets you release all your anger and helps you drown your thoughts and worries in the foot steps of your past.

#5 Learn to deal with it. I know it seems like your friends' little brothers are perfect angels, and you got the annoying ones. I am sorry to break it to you but all little boys are the same, they are born to annoy. But with their great annoyance comes the abounding blessings of having little siblings. Little brothers are always there when you need a little smile, inside joke, or even a mud fight. They are there when you are having a bad day and just need to laugh. So you sit outside snuggling them in your lap, watching their bright red Popsicle melt down the edge of their chin. In reality it is your perspective that needs to change. They will never be annoying to you unless you let them; so enjoy every moment you have with them and cherish the memories.

Traveling has always been a passion of mine. I love the lurching in my stomach when you take off and land on the runway. The thrill spikes my interest in the world around me. The first step off the plane is the most memorizing, you glide off with all the excitement and bounce in your step and you look around you, take a deep breath, and think, "I am finally here and it is much more remarkable than I ever thought it would be."

To get more involved online I would post pictures and little tips and fun facts about the place I have been to help readers understand and enjoy the culture.

From the wise words of Dr.Suess

"When you think things are bad,
when you feel sour and blue,
when you start to get mad...
you should do what I do...
just tell yourself, Duckie,
you're really quite lucky!
Some people are much more...
oh, ever so much more...
oh, muchly much-much more
unlucky than you!"
-Dr.Suess

The real competition

"The best way to beat competition is to compete aginst yourself."
-Julian Hall
Is this not one of the truest quotes? I have noticed that in sports, music, or whatever you are compeating in when you really start to get competative against other people you end up saying or doing not nice things in order to try to reach the top, which you only regret in the end. If you only compete with yourself the only person that can get harmed is you.

My perfect day

My perfect day... oh that is a hard one. Wait a second; I have already had my perfect day! My perfect day was in Rome two years ago. It started with waking up to a crazy Italian lady yelling outside the window. Hm.. not how you would imagine the start of a perfect day huh?? You might say, "Wait a second here, how could you hear someone outside shouldn't you be in a hotel?" HA NO! That is why it was so amazing, we were in an apartment, but not any apartment, we were in a 200 year old apartment that was in the right smack center of the city right next to the Vatican. The apartment had that musty smell that just added to the apartments "antique feel." The hallways were about two feet wide, and the kitchen... that was a whole new adventure.

After waking up to the lovely shrill voice of a lady outside the window, my family decided to take a short stroll to an bakery to get our breakfast. I never knew that on a walk I could learn more about the ancient city then I would on a tour. We bought our breakfast from a quaint little Italian bakery that had, what it seemed like, a vast variety of pastries. It was so hard to choose which one to buy since they were all screaming, "Eat me I taste as good as I look!" In the end I bought an apple croissant, and when I bit into the buttery crust the warm sugary apples came seeping into my mouth.

From the bakery we decided to take a local bus to a chapel in Rome that was all made of its dead member’s bones. Creepy right? It ended up being one of the neatest places I have ever been to. With its chandeliers made out of arms and skulls of all shapes and sizes lining the walls, it was hard not to gasp in awe at the sight before you.

After the tour through the Capuchini Bone Chapel in Rome we spent the day walking around the city and marveling in the wonders of Rome. Towards the end of the afternoon we ended up at the Trevi Fountain and decided to get gelatos from San Crispino which is known for its classic pure gelatos.