“I remember the time I witnessed about twenty people getting snowed into one house.” Every year for christmas my family and I visit Thousands of people; My Mom’s Mom and my Dad’s Dad and my mom’s sisters and my Dad’s sister and my Mom’s Dad and my Mom’s Brother. Thats a LOT of people. On … Continue reading Snowed In
“Not it!” “Not it!” “Not it!” One by one all my cousins and uncles were screaming “not it” so that they didn’t have to bomb the matchstick. Every year in Groton Long Point we all play a game called matchstick (my dad and his brothers made up a game called match stick when they were … Continue reading Match Stick Mistake
“Sarah, Brooke” We all were calling for the two ten-year old cousins. “Wohoo” my dad whistled. I thought the whole world could here his whistle. Apparently not, Sarah and Brooke didn’t come back. The whole family was worried. My aunt got in her car and drove around the whole block once. When she came back … Continue reading Shadows on the Sidewalk
United. Together groups of diverse ethnicities, cultures, and upbringings, cheered as one when a Yankee Great, no THE Yankee Great, slowly strolled to a small white box in which he would swing his bat. The epic milestone that this legend could quite possibly surpass would become the highlight, of his already illustrious career. Upon … Continue reading The Shot Heard Around the World
Imagine: you’re on a bright red strong zodiak, bouncing on the white waves that are surrounding you. Seagulls sing their song as you whoosh past them. Seals stick their heads in and out of the water to say hello. As the fog horn blast and the fog gets thinner, there is a puff of mist … Continue reading The Exciting Voyage
As we pull into the parking lot in my friend’s minivan, we hear shots being fired. We put on our gear and load our weapons. We stop and grab our care package out of the trunk and move to our AO. We put the care package down and get ready for game team. … Continue reading Ground Zero : Black Hawk Down
“Ahhh,” We shouted as we lunged towards our enemies. With one swift blow I swept their legs out from underneath them, crippling them for a moment. While taking him prisoner I thought about how this took precise planning over a long period of time, and how all of it was time spent well with my … Continue reading “We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Base!”
I sat there, watching them run by me as I laid down on the frozen grass. I couldn’t believe that it was only 5 pm and it was already pitch black. It was New Years and there were 2 other parties going on down Rock House Road, with lots of screaming. We had a lot … Continue reading Rock House
“ Can you two please, STOP, you are giving me a headache,” my mom screamed. Apparently, my brother Matt and I couldn’t hear her due to the fact that we continued fighting over the stupidest thing. A blender. Why? I don’t know why, but I guess that’s what siblings do. My long brown hair draped … Continue reading Cut It Out!
“Clonk!” The door closed. The teacher is out of the room. What is usually thought as a peaceful and quiet class has turned into a room of anarchy and running 4th graders. Back then, I was that one quiet boy who sat at his desk doing his spelling homework 5 months … Continue reading Teacher Out of the Room
“That was a very good course. That wasn’t just a course that was THE course.” Daniel said. I could see the happiness in his expression. “Erin you had zero faults on course zero faults on leads and changes. Any chips or longs?” Daniel asked Erin the owner of Silver Linings Stables. “No chips or … Continue reading Silver Linings
I’ll always remember this moment. Always. In my last moment of death I will remember this moment. This story, this experience is basically drilled into my brain forever and ever. The fact of the matter is that I’m basically drowning right now. Goodbye friends, goodbye family. How did it get to this? An hour before I was completely fine, sitting on the grass next to a murky lake making a pile of rocks for no particular reason. I always did pointless things back in 4th grade, just to fill the lonely time at my brothers baseball games. Of course, I should be bored at baseball, I mean after all it was just a bunch of boys trying to hit a small ball with a big bat. The sun was shining high in the sky with the smell of hotdogs and other junk food in the air, children were screaming and yelling in the distance as wind rustled through the trees. Nothing special here. “Hey Johanna come over here.” Jeez louise, a 7th grader, talking to me? This never happened because I was of course only 9. A real life teenager actually freaked me out. What if I said something dumb? What if she doesn’t like me? This 7th grader was named Hailey and we had sort of a friendship. If I saw her anywhere besides baseball she would ignore me. It was weird. I walked over. “Yeah what is it?” I said with curiosity “It’s way too hot out, maybe we should go swimming.” “Umm I don’t know if that’s the best idea. Isn’t the lake infested or something?” “I’m sure it’s perfectly fine, nobody will notice. Why don’t you go first?” This is where the trouble starts. Right here. The truth is back then I absolutely fell for peer pressure, especially from someone older. My mind went blank and I couldn’t think. I stood up straight and faced her. “I don’t think I should, the lake probably has snapping turtles.” I timidly explained. “Yeah right you’re just using excuses. If you don’t go in I’ll tell everyone you’re a baby.” I again could not think straight. My mind clouded with pictures of everybody calling me a baby and making fun of me. “Fine.” Why had I said that? I couldn’t swim well. The lake was filled with creatures and dirt and darkness and little kids peering over the edge looking to their doom if they fell over. I was terrified of it. Little beads of sweat were coming down my face from the sun and the stare of Hailey. We were both standing on the dock now to the water, looking down I peered into the despicable, disgusting, downright dirty lake. Why oh why had I agreed to this? I knew I was going to do it one way or another. Swimming was not my thing at the time and the lake was about 50 feet deep. I took a running start and hopped in. Water clogged my nose as my body submerged into the cold dark water. My feet and hands started to tangle with water weed and I knew I couldn’t keep above the water for long. At this very moment in my life I decided that I hated teenagers. Being convinced that theyĺl look cool if they get some random kid to go swimming was not someone I wanted to hang out with. Cold water shot at my body like bullets and my breath was knocked out of me as I struggled to keep my head above the muddy substance. I bobbed once, went under all the way and got back up. I bobbed twice, struggling to make it back up. The third bob under was the one I was sure my life would end by. Suddenly a hand grabbed me and I knew I was saved this time. The mystery hand grabbed me and pulled me up on the dock with all of its strength. The most surprising thing was the identity of the hand. It was Hailey. Jeez, did I look like a baby now. “It’s fine that you couldn’t swim very well, I thought you could by now.” “Yeah I’m not the strongest swimmer.” I replied without looking her in the eye. I was so embarrassed. A teenager had finally talked to me, and I had made a fool out f myself. Not my best day. As I trudged back up to my parents I knew I was in big trouble. My new soccer uniform that I had been wearing was ruined with waterweed and disgusting clumps of dirt and plants. My parents were not happy to see me. They scolded me about what I had done for a week … Continue reading Why I Hate Teenagers
“BOOM, BOOM, BOOM,” hearing the sound of multiple fireworks blowing up on the streets of Annapolis. Meeting up with our cousins, Cole, Quinn and Kylie and their mom and dad, who live in North Carolina. Everyone trying to catch a glance of the red, white and blue fireworks fly into the sky. My mom and … Continue reading Uncovering the Surprise
Sound bounced around my ears. It shook from the sound rumbling around in my head, was wet and damp out cold and chilly and the breeze made me shiver. It was worth the wait . . . It was a cold New York City day the sound of the wind howled in my face as … Continue reading Jam Session
It was almost the first month that I have lived in Connecticut. My mother took me to a camp that went to six flags. On that day a kid named Caden Levitt showed me a video on a ride called The Goliath which wasn’t a big ride but it was known as the scariest ride in six … Continue reading Losing to Goliath
Christmas is supposed to be a fun time with your family and friends, and kids to have a magical day full of gifts and cookies. For me it has always been this way. I’ve never had any trouble on Christmas and never expected too. “Jake WAKE UP!” My brother shouts in my ear, making me … Continue reading The Night Before Two Days After Christmas Eve
“We’re suing.” Ian said for what was probably the 400th time. “If they don’t pay the medical fees, oh they’re gonna be sorry, we-” “Ian. I get it.” I said. Why was he telling me what happened to him again? I witnessed it with my own two eyes. In fact, I was probably one of … Continue reading Assault and Battery
It had been a long day of hiking through the rugged Rocky Mountains. We had traveled just over 6 miles at altitudes up to 11,000 feet. One last hill remained, this was the hill which our campsite was atop. After hiking ¾ of the rocky hill I began to see our campsite. A small rocky campsite just big enough for two tents. My aunt, Tricia, sat at the top of the hill on a large rock. I made to the top and was amazed by the view, Capitol peak towered over our campsite at 14,000 feet. Below us was Capitol lake, which sat at the bottom of a straight cliff up to Capitol Peak. A few minutes later my sister, Maddy and her roommate, Claire showed up and we started to take out all of the food and snacks we divided up before the hike started. Each of us developing a small pile we took out all of the stuff we needed for preparing dinner. Maddy pulled out the chicken, tricia pulled out the stove, and suddenly we realized we are missing one huge piece of equipment. The propane… The plane came into the short runway rounded at the end of the runway and drove back to the terminal where we started unloading onto the tarmac. I walked into the Aspen terminal and immediately saw my aunt Tricia waiting for me. “Hi!!, How was your trip?” Tricia asked. “Hey, it was great. The mountains are really amazing when you’re flying over them.” I replied. After grabbing my backpack off of the small conveyor belt, we walked out of the terminal and toward the Walked Down the sidewalk next to Interstate 82, the Major highway that goes through Aspen. After walking down the sidewalk for 500 feet we came up to a tunnel that traveled under the road and connected Aspen Airport to Aspen Airport Business Center, where Tricia’s apartment was. When we got back to the Apartment it was almost 12 o’clock. After unpacking all of my stuff, I decided to recover from the long day of traveling by watching Tv. I went right to the normal channels I check, first Discovery and found the tv show Alone playing. In the show several people try to spend as long as they could in the rainy forests of Victoria Island in British Columbia. While watching, we decided to also plan out our week. “So, What do you want to do this week?” She asked. “Lot’s of hiking” I replied quickly but then thought about the answer “We’ll be going on our big hike to Capitol Lake on Saturday with your sister and her roommate. And the rest of the week is open for planning.” “We should go on a short hike tomorrow so I can get used to the altitude, but besides that we should just go with it and plan as we go” I added. When I woke up the next day I found out that Tricia had to work from 11 to 12 so I set off for bike ride on Aspen’s endless bike paths. I first biked around the airport, then to next to the golf course and before I knew it I was almost to the top of a steep switchback trail up the side of a cliff and looking out over the small town and Airport and Buttermilk mountain where the Xgames are held every year since they moved from Mount snow in 2002. And not to mention the amazing mountains that surrounded the small community. Before long I realized that it was time to head down the hill (and hopefully not fly off one of the steep and sharp corners while i’m at it). I started going down using the iffy brakes that were either fully stopped or not stopped at all. As I approached the first turn I slammed on the brakes so hard I nearly flipped over the Handlebars. Slowly (with my foot down) I rounded the blind corner hoping no one was approaching me up the hill. On my bike I began to pick up speed and before long the next corner was right in front of me. I slammed my inside foot down and made it around the corner. For the following corners I did the same, and I finally made it to the bottom and was thankful to be there (I’m sure the brakes were too). I arrived back at the apartment and immediately needed to get ready for our hike on the Hunter creek trail right inside town. “Are you ready?!” Tricia asked with excitement “Yeah” I said as I finished tying my boots. We arrived at the trailhead and started hiking right away. The first ¼ mile was flat and … Continue reading The Thing We Forgot
Victoria’s not strong . Emotionally or physically. I’m not one to talk, but she’s worse. A lot worse. So, this trip was not going to be an easy one. 5:45 am. Beep, beep, beep. I checked my phone. Yup, definitely August 19th. Tears rushed to my eyes. I didn’t hold them back, my cat was … Continue reading Saying Goodbye
“Aspetuck Wildcats you may take the mat,” The announcer boomed. We ran onto the blue mat cheering our team on, getting the crowd and judges excited. This was my first ever Regionals, if we got first or second here we would move on to compete at Nationals in Florida. If not, our season was over. … Continue reading A Music Mess Up