Saturday, March 5, 2011

Ski in BrettonWoods

I I playfully kicked my legs as I hopped out, grasping for the handle. When I got off the trail, I paused for a second to watch my sister. She seemed to be having fun too! She lay back there, looking very relaxed. My dad came down and went up the hill. He seemed to go higher than any of us. I giggled, because he looked funny sitting up there. Suddenly, he tumbled back down. I grabbed my tube and went running back up the hill. It was so exhilarating, and I couldn’t wait to go again!

By the time I reached the top, I was panting. It was hard work pulling the tube up! I came up with a strategy to go faster down the trail. When my dad gave me a big push, I lifted myself up so I wasn’t touching the ground. I watched as I zoomed by the trees and people. I bumped into the side, jerking me upright. “Wee!!” I screamed as I went up the hill. I got stuck for a second, then came sliding quickly back down. I went a quarter of the way up the trail, and slid back down. I jumped out blissfully, pleased that my plan had worked, and that I went farther. Happily, I went up and down many more times.

Even though I had to drag tubes up the hill, I was full of energy. When Jasmine was tired, she would sit in the tube and either I or my dad would drag her up. Finally, we decided to stop. It was fun, but tiring to drag the tube back up the hill, so I agreed to stop. I piggy backed Jasmine on the way to the car. It was fun, acting like I was really strong. Actually she was heavy and kept slipping, so I had to let her back on the ground. Overall, snow tubing was fun to try and I determined that I liked it and would do it again, soon.

Skiing turned out to be fantastic when it snowed. Jasmine, my dad and I first went to Granny’s Grit. I was thrilled, because Granny’s Grit usually had the best soft snow. We cut over to Herb’s Secret because usually it had less people. Luckily, there were no people, so Jasmine and I could do anything we wanted! First, we skied horizontally across the whole trail and landed in the untouched snow on the side. Jasmine would slide in, and then I would slide in farther, giggling. And then our dad would surprise us by sliding in the farthest. When we were all in the snow, we would start sliding backwards slowly, about to fall. I would end up falling. Jasmine would start the whole process over and I would follow. Twice, I ran into tree branches, making me fall down. It didn’t hurt though, because it was always cushiony snow.

One fun thing we did was to go behind the trees and sometimes there were steep drops, which I went shrieking down. There was one part that had a huge jump. The first time I went on it, I was a bit anxious, but it was actually really fun. I waited for Jasmine at the bottom. When she slid to my side, I said, “Hey, let’s watch daddy fall.” She chortled and waited. Amazingly, he actually did fall! I started laughing with Jasmine as he got up.

There was one humorous thing that Jasmine and I did to irritate my dad. There was a pathway that nobody had been on, leading the middle of the woods. It was basically a dead end leading to the middle of nowhere. The first time, Jasmine stopped there unintentionally. “Can we go there?” she asked. My dad said no. The second time we went on the trail, I stopped there intentionally. When Jasmine saw me stopping there, she chuckled and glided beside me and waited. When my dad asked why we stopped there again, I asked him the question Jasmine had asked. I thought it was pretty funny, but apparently my dad did not. But still, every time we went down the trail, we stopped there.

Once my dad got bored, he would take out his phone and video tape us. His hands were probably chilly, so he accidentally dropped his phone. We were worried that he couldn’t find it, but it was kind of funny to imagine what the video would be like at that part. At four o’ clock, they had to close. I didn’t whine though. My legs were sore from skiing that much. I had a fantastic time, and couldn’t wait to go again next year! playfully kicked my legs as I hopped out, grasping for the handle. When I got off the trail, I paused for a second to watch my sister. She seemed to be having fun too! She lay back there, looking very relaxed. My dad came down and went up the hill. He seemed to go higher than any of us. I giggled, because he looked funny sitting up there. Suddenly, he tumbled back down. I grabbed my tube and went running back up the hill. It was so exhilarating, and I couldn’t wait to go again!

By the time I reached the top, I was panting. It was hard work pulling the tube up! I came up with a strategy to go faster down the trail. When my dad gave me a big push, I lifted myself up so I wasn’t touching the ground. I watched as I zoomed by the trees and people. I bumped into the side, jerking me upright. “Wee!!” I screamed as I went up the hill. I got stuck for a second, then came sliding quickly back down. I went a quarter of the way up the trail, and slid back down. I jumped out blissfully, pleased that my plan had worked, and that I went farther. Happily, I went up and down many more times.

Even though I had to drag tubes up the hill, I was full of energy. When Jasmine was tired, she would sit in the tube and either I or my dad would drag her up. Finally, we decided to stop. It was fun, but tiring to drag the tube back up the hill, so I agreed to stop. I piggy backed Jasmine on the way to the car. It was fun, acting like I was really strong. Actually she was heavy and kept slipping, so I had to let her back on the ground. Overall, snow tubing was fun to try and I determined that I liked it and would do it again, soon.

Skiing turned out to be fantastic when it snowed. Jasmine, my dad and I first went to Granny’s Grit. I was thrilled, because Granny’s Grit usually had the best soft snow. We cut over to Herb’s Secret because usually it had less people. Luckily, there were no people, so Jasmine and I could do anything we wanted! First, we skied horizontally across the whole trail and landed in the untouched snow on the side. Jasmine would slide in, and then I would slide in farther, giggling. And then our dad would surprise us by sliding in the farthest. When we were all in the snow, we would start sliding backwards slowly, about to fall. I would end up falling. Jasmine would start the whole process over and I would follow. Twice, I ran into tree branches, making me fall down. It didn’t hurt though, because it was always cushiony snow.

One fun thing we did was to go behind the trees and sometimes there were steep drops, which I went shrieking down. There was one part that had a huge jump. The first time I went on it, I was a bit anxious, but it was actually really fun. I waited for Jasmine at the bottom. When she slid to my side, I said, “Hey, let’s watch daddy fall.” She chortled and waited. Amazingly, he actually did fall! I started laughing with Jasmine as he got up.

There was one humorous thing that Jasmine and I did to irritate my dad. There was a pathway that nobody had been on, leading the middle of the woods. It was basically a dead end leading to the middle of nowhere. The first time, Jasmine stopped there unintentionally. “Can we go there?” she asked. My dad said no. The second time we went on the trail, I stopped there intentionally. When Jasmine saw me stopping there, she chuckled and glided beside me and waited. When my dad asked why we stopped there again, I asked him the question Jasmine had asked. I thought it was pretty funny, but apparently my dad did not. But still, every time we went down the trail, we stopped there.

Once my dad got bored, he would take out his phone and video tape us. His hands were probably chilly, so he accidentally dropped his phone. We were worried that he couldn’t find it, but it was kind of funny to imagine what the video would be like at that part. At four o’ clock, they had to close. I didn’t whine though. My legs were sore from skiing that much. I had a fantastic time, and couldn’t wait to go again next year!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Spelling Bee

Wednesday 16, 2011, I went to the Scripps Spelling Competition at my school auditorium. I was excited, but not nervous. My goal was to get top three so I could get a trophy. My first word was auburn. I didn't recognize the word, but I made a guess. A-u-b-u-r-n... I said. I was right! I was glad I didn't fail on round one. I was surprised when one third of the group got disqualified, because last year one person each round did. My next easy word was penalty. That was a breeze. The next word I didn't know, but it was easy. It was exoskeleton. Eventually, it became the championship round. It was so tense and nervous.There were two fifth graders left (including me) and an eighth and sixth grader. The eighth grader was the one who got second place right after the champion last year. Three of us got eliminated. Now it was only me and the eighth grader. She got asked succinct. The audience held their breath. She seemed very hesitant, asking many questions. I thought to myself, I know this word, how come she gets to spell it? Apparently, she didn't know the word and spelled it incorrectly. Now I had a chance to spell two words correctly to win! I walked up unsteadily. The crowd stared at me intently. "Monstrosity," declared the announcer. "M-O-N-S-T-R-O-S-I-T-Y," I said clearly. I heard the word correct mumbled from the judges. I let out a sigh. So far, succinct and monstrosity were easy, so this one shouldn't be too hard...-but I shouldn't of got my hopes too high. Again, the announcer said,"surmountable". My hands started to tremble. "Uh, can you please give me the definition?" I asked. After he told me, I picked up the pencil and started writing. "Surmountable. S-U-R-M-O-U-N-T-A-B-L-E," I said loud and clear, because that was the last word to be spelled that night. And sure enough, it was right! I ran down and politely thanked everyone who congratulated me. After walking through a whole crowd of people, I got to the judges' table. I got handed the trophy. Many people congratulated me on my way out. I felt like I was  TV star or something like that. I couldn't believe it. It was one of my best nights ever!!
This is me! Taken by our principle.