August 24, 2011 The end, for now! (^_^)

Hey people who read my blog! Anyways, I feel really bad about just randomly quitting this blog. The reason being..I'm just that lazy! Nice to know, right? Anyways, I'm going to finish this blog off. So, good bye...until next year! Yep, I'm starting the blog back up (if I remember) in the summer! See you then!
-The Luna Tourist

August 13, 2011 Bike Rides and Ikea

Okay, the main highlights for today/yesterday is that:
1)my family and I biked to Pearl Street again and
2)we drove to Ikea

So, we woke up around 9:30am or so and were rushed out of the house by 10:00am to go on a bike ride. Since someone decided that the way there was too difficult (yeah, I agree), we decided to go on a different route that is less scenic but easier. Once we arrived at Pearl Street, we did our usual routine of walking through the farmer's market and tasting some of the delicious foods. When we were walking around the market, my dad noticed this sign that said that they would be having a cooking demo for ratatouille at 11:00am which meant that it was about to start.
The demo was pretty interesting and they did give out free samples so I liked it. The food itself seemed more like a vegetable stir-fry than a ratatouille but it was still good..... After that, we followed our regular routine and walked over to Maiberry for a smoothie and some lemonade from Starbucks. Soon after, we passed by this asian festival where we bought this mochi from this restaurant called Smooch. Strange name...

We then biked back home and after two hours or so, we drove to Denver to visit Ikea. For you guys who don't know what Ikea is, it is Swedish furniture store that sells amazingly modern items. So, before we looked around, we immediately raced to the food court that serves THE BEST food. My dad and I shared this salmon dish and these spinach and cheese crepes (which was much better than last weeks), my mom ate a plate of swedish meatballs and a salad, and my brother ate a caesar salad and a plate of mac and cheese. Hmm, a great lunch.
We finished looking at most of the furniture displays and then headed straight to the market where we bought some blueberry juice (my favorite) and this sparkling apple drink.

The blueberry drink wasn't as sweet as it was in Norway unfortunately but it was good enough... So, that was basically our day. Enjoy this picture of blueberries.

August 11 (or should I put 12?), 2011 A drawing...

Okay, so, one of my best friends and one of my brother's friends think that I am good at drawing. So, this blog post is for my personal benefit to show that I can not draw to save my life! Anyways, the horrible drawing is below. This is not copied or traced so if you think you've seen something as ugly as this (*laugh*) then your wrong! Enjoy the rest of your day!

August 7, 2011 Grand Lake, CO, Horse Rides, and Pedal Boats (Edited)

Hello people who read my blog! Sorry I haven't been writing blogs for a while because:
1) Not all of our days are interesting enough to write about and
2) I admit, I'm getting a bit lazy.
Okay, way back on Sunday we drove to Grand Lake, Colorado which is about two and half hour(s) drive one way. The drive was pretty uneventful except for the fact that we saw quite a lot of elk.
Once we finally arrived at the Grand Lake, the first thing we did was park and walk around for about five minutes. Our short walk was put to a halt when we saw the bakery that we ate at last year we were here. So, for breakfast/brunch, we bought two crossant sandwich (one plain ham and cheese and one called a European which contains spinach, eggs, and a whole bunch of other stuff), a latte, and a strawberry flavored ice tea.
When we finished our delicious food, we walked along the pier. Soon after, we raced to our car and drove to Sombrero Ranches where we were scheduled to ride horses. Turns out, we drove there a little to quickly and we were early so we just drove around the town.

After driving around a bit, we drove back to the ranch, signed in, and then we were assigned our horses. The names were:
-Copper (my dad's affectionate, and energetic horse)
-Mama (my mom's vicious horse)
-Oliver (Ty's affectionate, and energetic horse) and
-Dr. Pepper (My calm, nice, and obedient horse)
So, our guide was this college guy named Chris who kept asking us questions, rode his horse backwards (to face us), and was very.. knowledgable about horses. The 2-hour horse ride was fun, peaceful, and most of all, amazing! (Yeah, the actual walk through the trail was amazing, going back to the ranch on the road, not so much!) I want to do that every year we come back here!
For lunch, we found this nice crêperie (which is a place that serves mostly crepes). The food here was decent, not much to write home about... I mean, I could see them heat up the food in the microwave!!! All negative inputs aside, here's what we had to eat there:
-my dad and I shared a meat & cheese plate (good cheese!)
-my brother ordered chicken fettucini crepe (I wonder how it tasted)
-my mom bought the carnitas crepe (er.)
So, that was our lunch. We got ripped-off! *_*
Our next activity was renting a pedal boat for an hour. Even though the peddle boat I wanted (the sparkly purple one) was already rented out by someone else, we still got a sparkly one. Since I really wanted to see the purple pedal boat up close, Ty and I had to pedal all the way towards the other side of the lake. As we pedaled, we passed by all the other pedal boats except the green (or was it blue?) one. Near the end of the boat ride, my legs were super sore and tired so I put my feet in the water. By the time we arrived at the pier, my feet were almost numb....
After that, we drove back to Boulder and stopped by this Vietnamese restaurant named Chez Thuy where we ate a delicious dinner.

Well, that's all there is for today/Sunday! Please leave comments and check one of the boxes below. Agh! I hit my funny bone! I didn't know that I had a funny bone in my body.. (old, cliche-ish inside joke that Ty and I share) Have a nice day!

August 4,5, and 6, 2011 Barnes and Noble, Colorado Rockies Game, Long Bike Rides, Pink Lemonade, and a Colleague's Party Thing

Okay, as you may have guessed, this blog post will most likely be long but I'll soften the blow by putting many pictures. Then again, you can always skip around and then post a comment saying that you survived the long post. Please enjoy this picture before moving on to the next few paragraphs.

Now, lets move into the LONG PASSAGE/POST!
On Thursday, our day was pretty plain and the only highlight was spending about an hour and a half in Barnes and Noble. What an exciting day...
Later on Friday, we drove to Denver, Colorado (an hour drive) to see a (Colorado) Rockies' Baseball. This game (and yes, we've been to a Rockies' game before) was against Washington Nationals. If you have no interest in baseball, skip this passage but I don't recommend it. Anyways, in the first inning the National's got 2 runs. The next inning, the Rockies' pitcher got hit in the face/neck and was out for the rest of the game. Third inning, the National's got ANOTHER run and another run in the fourth inning. In the fifth or sixth inning, the Rockies' actually got three runs and had a chance to catch up! But then, the National's scored a run in one of the last three innings and won the game. Not that I'm disappointed... I mean, I'm not a baseball fan so who won doesn't really affect me.
The day after that/yesterday, we woke up around 10:00am and then left an hour later for a rather long bike ride. We biked all the way to Pearl Street (which is about 5 miles one way) and I was so tired after that. What didn't make the bike ride any easier is the constant uphill er, hills that took forever to cross. After quite a few refreshments (lunch and Maiberry), we biked back. This ride seemed much shorter but seemed harder. Since I was pretty tired from the ride TO Pearl Street so I just walked up most of the hills.
In the middle of our ride back, we stopped and bought a few glasses of pink lemonade from this lemonade stand. So yeah, that's all I have to say about the stand.

One returned, we showered, got dressed, and then drove to Whole Food's to buy a cake. Next, we drove to my dad's colleague's party. We were given good food and then we took the other two kids at the party (Erin, 10, and Sarah, 6) to the playground across the street. We returned to the house and ran to the playground multiple times because there wasn't really much to do in the house. Soon, they had to leave so my brother and I just sat around, waiting to leave.

See, that wasn't so bad. By the way, do you see the word "reaction" that's underneath the word "labels"? Please click the box to the right of the word that you think this post is.

August 2 and 3, 2011 Tennis Practice, Swimming, and Biking

Wow, I never thought that I would see the day that all of the topics would be sport related...
So, on Tuesday, we really didn't do anything other than play tennis. The main highlight of the day was Ty's tennis practice. Thirty minutes into the practice, it began raining and his arm began hurting so we drove away. Much later in the day, my parents and I played more tennis. That was such an.......interesting day...
On Wednesday, my mom, Ty and I went swimming! Even though the pool is super small, it had this awesome slide(okay, it's not that awesome but a slide is a slide). We swam around for about an hour and a half and then drove away to pick up my dad. Once we returned home, we ate dinner and then went out for a short bike ride. Honestly, we didn't really go anywhere because we have no idea where any (nearby) trails are but, we did see some animals. The first two were elks (or something that looks like that). They just raced across the playground we were resting at. The next few animals were deer, some sort of cat, and more elks. We passed by a lady taking a picture of them with her phone. We would have done the same but we didn't have a camera and the one on my mom's phone fails. Then again, even if we did have a camera, who actually has the coordination to take a picture AND ride a bike at the same time?
Wow, my post are getting MUCH, MUCH shorter. If you can please comment, I would appreciate that. To comment, you scroll down to the end of the post and click on the comment button. This button should be next to the writing that says what time I posted this/the post. So, please comment, no matter how short.

August 1, 2011 Tennis Practice, Eye Exams, and Contact Trials

So, once again, this post is about a day late. Wow, I'm getting pretty bad at being able to post these er, post on the day these things happen.
Anyways, yesterday, we had tennis lesson (45 minutes) with Gonzo. I went first because I really wanted to drink my Vitamin Water. So, even though the lesson was only 45 minutes each, it felt like years had gone by before Ty ever got his turn. Eventually, the practice/private lesson did end but I was extremely tired because of the thin Colorado/Boulder air (and yes, I'm still not used to the air).
About four hours later, we drove to Costco so I could have my eye exam. Now, my eyes are -3.75 (left eye) and -3.25 (right eye). Yay. Then, I was taught (by the optometrists' assistant) how to put in and take out my contacts. Eventually, I got both in (well, after poking my eye numerous times) and then was forced to take on out. The taking out process is a lot harder! So, yeah that's about it. Wow, my life is sssssooooo interesting...... Haha, I'm not putting a picture!

July 30 and 31, 2011 Long Drives, (The) Great Sand Dunes, Yoga with Yaga, The Colorado Ocean, and Catch-up Pictures

Now, you may be wondering why there was no post yesterday and why the today's post is going to be super long. The answer.......right after this brief commercial!

Sorry for the interruption but the answer is: I decided to merge yesterday's and todays adventure/story into one huge blog post! Anyways, lets begin the day (well, technically, yesterday)!
Yesterday, we were required to wake up around 6:30am so we could make it to the Great Sand Dunes. So, the drive to (and from) our destination was 5 hours so we were cooped up in the car for a little more than 10 hours that day.
When we finally arrived at the Great Sand Dunes, our first stop was the visitor center to expand out knowledge on this national park. After watching a very informative video, we walked onto the balcony and snapped a few pictures. Once we got enough pictures, we jumped into our car drove a bit further into the park (we only got this privilege because the uncomfortable car turned out to be a four wheel drive so we could drive a bit longer).

Believe it or not, that picture to the right is sand (and no, the picture is not made of sand, the mountain looking thing that looks closer then the other mountain is made of sand.
Ten minutes later, we began hiking (the trail was half a mile) but a few minutes later, it began raining so we ran back our car and tried to wait the storm out. Unfortunately, the storm didn't want to stop er, storming so we decided to come back another, sunnier day. While we were driving away, we stopped and watch these two, not so smart people stand on the top of the dune which is the most likely place for lightning to strike. I think I saw them praying.... Eventually, we arrived home and....I got hit by a screen door because Ty didn't bother holding the door for me. He assumed that I had my foot in the door. He assumed wrong.
The next day/today, we woke up and drove to this park to do a yoga class. This class was taught by my dad's colleague. This class was almost exactly like Friday's except that this class had some different poses and was outside so we got eaten alive by bugs. The class lasted for about an hour and we were given free stuff! Yaga gave out free Larabars for everyone and the girls were given these pencil pouch thing that contained some items. After the class, I ate a Larabar (the cherry pie one) and it tasted awesome. There's no other way to explain it.

Later on, we drove to the Colorado Ocean to meet up with Yaga and her family (her husband and her two sons). Now, you may be thinking, "There is no such thing as a Colorado Ocean!" and that is where you are wrong! There is this place called a Union Reservoir which a man-made lake/ocean. It was almost exactly like a beach but it was a) green and b) not salty (which is a plus). We stayed here for quite a while and then came back to our house.

And now, there is some things I would like to put on this post! 1) Here is what you've been waiting for! Below are the pictures of my brother's tennis trophy for being a finalist and there is a picture of the cute black cat below the other picture.

Before I move on to the second thing I have to say, I want to say something (else). This afternoon/tonight, there was a huge storm and the cat returned! This time, I was allowed to feed it some bread and carnitas meat.
2) The second thing I have to say is that I am getting my eye exam (for contacts) tomorrow! I can't wait for some random person to poke my eye out. Kidding! Bye!

July 29, 2011 Ty's Tennis Tournament and Yoga

Today, we had to wake up at 4:30am and then had to drive to Littleton, which is where his tournament was being held. We arrived around 7:00 so he had about half an hour for him to warm up with my dad. The court was very....unique. There were six courts total and the whole thing was located in what can only be described as a bubble.After a while, his opponent arrived and they played their match. This match took about an hour or so but Ty finally pulled through by winning the third set/tiebreaker. The next match was one and a half hour later so we bought a light snack and made shadow puppets in the park.
Finally, 11:00am rolled around and Ty was off to play another match. This time, he lost but at least he was a finalist so he got a trophy. (Still, I can't believe his opponent won! That guy didn't hit any winners and just tapped the ball, waiting for the other player to make the mistakes. Funny, that sort of sounds like my opponent, Ruth...) I don't remember my opponent from last year getting anything like that. Now, I would give you a picture of the trophy but I can't find it and the picture that my brother took is in the camera case which is in the car. Basically, that means no picture because of misplacements. All I can say about the trophy is that it's different from mine (the one I got from last year) because mine's made of plastic while his is some sort of metal.
We drove back to Boulder and my dad went to work. Since he needed the rental car to get there, my mom, my brother, and I lounged around, watching TV, reading, and checking our emails. While I was watching some animated show, it began raining so my mom opened the door to watch the rain. To the right of the backdoor was this black kitten (okay, it's either a really old cat or a kitten. It's hard to tell the age of cats sometimes.....) that was so cute. It crawled over to us and let us pet it and let my brother take some pictures of it. Not very good ones because it kept moving but good enough. Once again, I would put some pictures of it but the pictures are on the SD card that is in the camera case which is in the car. I'll try finding a picture that looks like it but don't count on it.

This was the closest thing I could find but it just lacked the cuteness factor.
Once my dad arrived around 6:30pm, he changed into more yoga appropriate clothes and we drove over to this yoga place called Power Core Yoga. While we signed up, I had to change my birthday so I would be 13 (13 was the minimum age you had to be to be allowed in the classes. It's more of a matter of maturity more than anything). My new birthday is 01/24/98! Then again, it's not like it matters if I was 13 because I can be very mature when I want/have to be. I mean, it's not like I disrupted the class by giggling or talking. I was actually really quite. The yoga class we took was the free hot power yoga. Okay, it's a specific type of yoga but I can't remember the name. (If you don't know, hot yoga is yoga in a heated room that makes you really sweat and power yoga is more like aerobics.)
The class was actually fun and it really made me work. I guess my favorite position was the half frog because it doesn't really stretch much and it was really.....relaxing. Once again, I have no picture and I can't find any pictures.
I just want to take a moment and say: I found this drink and I bought it without realizing that it's suppose to make you sleepy. I drank it before Ty's match and I (almost) fell asleep in the park.

I'm kind of scared of the drink because I don't know the side effects so I'm just going to avoid it and maybe pour it down the drink. Another drink thing is that WE ARE OUT OF GREEN TEA! In LA, the hotel had complementary tea (and lollipops). As always, my brother and I took advantage of this and took tons of tea packets. We have all this tea like, Chamomile, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Black Tea, Orange & Spice, English Teatime, Raspberry Royale, etc. but not green tea, my favorite. AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

July 28, 2011 Tennis Practice, Playgrounds, and New People

Today, my brother and I had to go to this 1 and 1/2 hour tennis practice that started at 2:30pm and ended at 4:00pm. Since Catherine didn't come, I'm guessing that this practice was only for the people who made it to the finals (they have to play tomorrow) and I was allowed to come because I'm a sibling of a person who made it to the finals (you know, Ty). My brother and I warmed up against this young boy named Max who is pretty good. Then, Ty had to move to the other courts and he left me to play against Max. Soon, Alyssa (another girl who was in the second 12 and under bracket. She, unlike me, is going to the finals) arrived with her brother, Austin, and Gonzo (the coach) told us to warmup a bit and them play a set.
A few rallies later, Gonzo then told us to switch to the other courts (where my brother, Kevin, Randall, Max, and Alyssa's brother were playing some serving game) and play the set. So, we began the set and I was in the lead 3-0 when she started saying that her eyes weren't adjusted to the super blue courts so we began hitting around. After we hit some balls, we joined Randall, Max, and Austin in the serving game (my brother and Kevin had to play a set but Ty's arm began hurting so he sat out for the rest of the time). Basically, you played the game by serving when it's your turn and the person on the other side (usually Max because he wanted to work on his strokes but he traded off with Austin when he was thirsty) and you just play the point out.
Then, Gonzo told us to start picking up the balls because Matt's tennis lessons were going to be held on the court we were playing on so we moved to the last court and began hitting the balls against the wall. Eventually, we decided to play doubles because there was nothing else to do. We didn't even finish one game before Gonzo interrupted and told us to gather around on the grass because he had an announcement. After giving the people playing tomorrow a pep talk, everyone dispersed because it was already 4pm. Wow, that passed by quickly.
Later on, after buying Haagen Daz Chocolate on Dark Chocolate bars

from the grocery store and picking up my dad from work, we returned to the East Boulder tennis courts (which is where we had our tennis practice) where my parents played. While they were playing, my brother and I horsed around on the playground next to the courts, filming lame (and funny!) Survivor Man videos. After a while, two kids about my age arrived at the playground because their parents were running) and invited us to play hide-n-seek tag with them.
The first person to be "it" was the girl named Mckena (I'm guessing that that's how you spell her name)a.k.a. Kena. She's a little on the short side but she was really good and eventually caught me. My turn as "it" took forever but Kena finally let me catch her and it was her turn all over again. This time, she was a little more crafty and finally caught her younger brother (who doesn't look like he's younger), Riley. He tries to catch someone but failed. After a while, Kena and I quit since we were so tired. We then hopped over the small black fence and began throwing rocks into this murky lake and admired the fish and some creatures bones. We hopped back over the fence and began sharing our wacky stories with everyone while swinging on swings. Then, we all moved to the equipment and began sliding down slides, climbing up slides, etc. Soon, the dreaded moment came. My parents were finished playing and came to collect us from the playground. Kena and Riley don't have email accounts and aren't allowed to use the computers they have and (of course) they weren't allowed to give us their personal information such as their phone numbers so Ty and I can no longer talk to them. I was so sad and I ended up stubbing my toe on a rock and it began bleeding. Since we had to go to the Recreational Center to get a band-aid, we passed by the playground numerous times so we said good-bye to them three times. Even though we only got to know them for a few hours, I'm really going to miss those two. :( Bye bye.

July 27, 2011 Another Tournament, Library Visit, and a Strange Greeting

So, you MAY be wondering what I mean by another tournament and what I mean by another tournament is that my brother, Ty, had a tournament. Since he is older than me, he played in the 14 and under tournament and he was out in bracket #1 which is the hardest bracket. Anyways, the outcome. He won and is now going to the semifinals which is on Friday. If he wins that match, he goes to the finals which is also on Friday. Wait, wait, wait! This blog is about me (yes, I am that selfish) so I will now explain what I did during the 1-2 hour match (they have to play two sets because they're older). Since the match took forever and we had to sit on very uncomfortable wooden bleachers that were tilted forward so you can't lie down and sleep without falling off the bench, I kept my nose in my book, ignoring what was happening in the outside world. Sadly, certain bugs don't understand the meaning of "leave them alone and they'll leave you alone" and they kept swarming around me. I'm like a bug magnet!

After the match, Ty was awarded with a clear blue water bottle and a huge poster that shows who won or lost and we went back to the house and learned more Spanish. A few hours later, I finally nagged my mom long enough for her to take me to the library to pick up a few books that were on hold. Once my mom and I climbed into the car, my dad and my brother raced out and asked if we could drop them off at Barnes and Noble. When we finished dropping off my brother and my dad, and picked up the three books, my mom and I drove back the house to cook dinner. About thirty minutes later, we left the house (I should really find another word for "house") and picked up my brother and my dad.
Finally, we located them and came back home. When we climbed out of the car, we found a very strange greeting waiting for us in the window of the neighbors (Technically, it's not our neighbor. It's one house down from our neighbors.) In the window was a baby just standing on the window sill. Did I mention that he/she was naked!? Ew! Not a sight I need to see! So that was basically our day.
For a while now, I've been wanting to put down this lame joke but kept forgetting about it so I shall type it now!
Person 1: Hey, Person 2, what does a Hindu?
Person 2: Huh?
Person 1: Lays eggs!
Person 2: What?
Person 1: Get it? What does a hen do?
Person 2: Huh?

HA HA HA HA HA! Also, in this book I'm reading, I came across this character named Jade. Immediately, I threw the book off my bed and then climbed down the bunk bed ladder to retrieve it. Why must such nice/good characters have....that as a name??? Anyways, please enjoy the next few fail pictures. I actually like searching for fail pictures so I will try my best in putting fail pictures on each post.

July 26, 2011 Bad Luck in Tennis and Complementary Mints

As you all know (or don't know), my tennis tournament was today. Very exciting. The actual results, not so exciting. Anyways, since I was the state champ last year, I was given a bye so I was automatically put in the quarterfinals. My first match was relatively hard at first but then got easier as I warmed up. So, the end score was 9-2, I won! The girl looked like she was about to cry during the match when I got the lead but I think I understand why. I proceeded to the semifinals which was at 1:00pm so I got to eat lunch between the matches (we ate Mexican food!). We returned to the courts shortly after we finished our food, checked in, and waited for my opponent to arrive.
Once 1:00 finally rolled around, my opponent (named Ruth) arrived. First, we warmed up for about two minutes and then began the semifinals match. This is a match I did horribly on. Well, I didn't do that bad, she was just super good (personally, I think she should've been in the Girl's 12 and under Singles Bracket 1 which is the best one). Ruth got almost every shot in so our rallies were long and drawn-out. Since she made almost no mistakes, I ended most of the rallies with a ball just barely out or slapping the net. In the end, the score was 9-1. I lost. Badly. Like the girl I played before, I cried because that was the first match I had ever lost when I was up against a girl (close to) my age. Now, I'm really mad that I lost to her but since she's probably 12, she shouldn't be in the 12 and under tournament next year so I have a chance to win next summer. I just have to wait...
After that, we went to get ice-cream at this amazing ice-cream shop so that kept my mind off the loss for about ten minutes. Once we devoured our ice-cream, we went to pick up my dad who was working so he didn't see me play. Then, we began hiking around for a bit and then drove to this restaurant called Baker St. Pub and Grill. My small soup and salad with oil, vinegar, and salmon was great but a bit bland (well duh, what's a salad without any real dressing). Wait, before you get confused, the salad was bland, not the soup. The soup was excellent but I had to put in a lot of work taking out the bacon because I wasn't in the mood for ultra soggy bacon. My brother and my mom ordered some buffalo burgers which tasted like regular burgers, and my dad got this tuna with mash potatoes and green beans (ick :6). When we left, we passed by this mint container that offered you complimentary mints. Of course, my brother and I took advantage of this feature and took about 10 mints each. Maybe I should start a mint collection like I have in Myrtle Beach...

That was the final handshake on the last match. I can't upload videos so I'm putting a bad picture. Anyways, enjoy these fail pictures and have a good night.

July 25, 2011 Tennis, Strings, Bugs, and Libraries

Wow, I actually typed two posts today! I mean, I woke up at 8:00am (and that's early for me) just to write the last one.
Anyways, we did more SAT and Spanish today for the majority of the morning (well, we finished our "study session" around 1:30pm so that's past morning) and then went to the library. The term is pretty straightforward so I don't think I will have much to say about it. The few thing I do have to say is that this particular library lacks computers/technology, is small, but actually lets you do I self checkout kid of thing. As a kid (wait, I'm technically still a kid), I used to always want to be a clerk or library for a summer or school job. I wanted to be a clerk because whenever they have to type something, the keyboard made this click-ity sound that I love. I wanted to be a librarian because they (used to) have to use this stamp that makes a sound similar to the click-ity sound that the cashier/clerk sound. Sorry for the random flashback but it did fill up the paragraph.
After that, me picked my dad up from work, went grocery shopping (once again), and headed to the tennis courts. Actually, we've been playing tennis everyday so I don't thing I should write tennis in the title unless that's the only highlight of the day. So, I'm going green! I'm recycling the letters 'T','E','N','N','I', and 'S'! Anyways, while I was waiting for some random reason, this ladybug/manbug looking thing was flying around so I tried swatting because it was stalking me (well, it kept following me)! I hoped it would get the message and just go bug (pun intended) someone else but it was stupid so it just stayed there and got sliced in half! After awhile, it began moving again so my mom walked over and just killed it, so now there is a yellow-orangish mark on the tennis court, courtesy of me. Poor ladybug/manbug looking thing. It never saw it coming.
So, we stopped playing after awhile and began running. I ran about 5 laps total but I can proudly say that I can run/jog a lap and a fourth without stopping! After that lap and a fourth, I walked for about 1/4 of a lap and ran/jogged 1/4 a lap. For the other laps, it was 1/2 walking and half 1/2 jogging. The walking part was divided into 1/4's so...... At the end of the torture, my left side felt like someone just sawed it off! Ouch.
Tomorrow, the tournament is on! I just have to win 2 matches in a row (duh!) and I make it into the finals which is on Friday. While we were playing tennis, I noticed this part of my string breaking off so I hope my strings don't just snap while I'm playing. Just to be safe, I'm bringing my brother's racket even though it's completely different from mine. It'll have to do since I absolutely hate my mom's racket. Now I really need you to wish me luck. G'night!

July 24, 2011 More Tennis, Rob's Music Store, Pearl Street, and Sticky Tack

Okay, you may be wondering (or you may not) why this is a day late. The answer is......... why not? Then again, who was actually looking forward to reading this?
Anyways, I woke up at 11:00am and we couldn't go where we originally planned because my brother and I didn't wake up early enough. Oh well. So, instead, we drove to a music store. Rob's Music Store to be exact. So, this place is like any old music store, it strives to torture little sisters by luring their older siblings to play instruments. Even worse, this place had little to no air conditioning! I was burning up and I had to listen to random people play guitars! At least I had my book. Eventually, my parents made my brother put away the guitar and then we payed for Ty's "much needed" guitar strings.
After that, we (to be more accurate, I) were getting hungry so we drove to this Vietnamese restaurant. Since you can obviously see that this is not in the title, I'm not going to explain it! Afterwards, we walked around and my brother bought a "used" Nirvana box set that contains so many songs. Ugh, he even plays it in the car!
Later, we drove to this outdoor mall called Pearl Street. I don't know why I chose an outdoor mall because it was 91 degrees outside! (well, that may not be much to people in Myrtle Beach but once you've come from winter (Australia and New Zealand), that is super hot! Soon, we came to this frozen yogurt/smoothie place called Maiberry. Here we bought a total of three drinks.
1) A Large Blueberry Mist Smoothie
2) A Medium Citrus Smoothie whose name I can't quite but my finger on
3) A Large Taro Boba Drink

We gulped down these drinks in a matter of seconds and then visited a few shops.
About an hour later, we came back to the tennis courts and began hitting around. Today, I received only three minor tennis injuries!
1) I hit my neck when I was just bouncing the ball and when I tried to catch it, it flew out of my hands and hit my neck
2) I hit my knee when I finished my serve (the serve was in!)
3) My right arm hurt so much after I served about a million times
Tennis is a dangerous sport. Anyways, I played a match with my dad and got 7......points in total. And he even gave me the doubles alley! (Again with the Mag-Net.) We played a volley game after that where he won, again. This time, the score was 15-9. Then again, these scores make sense because the following is a chart that shows the "rankings" in our family.
- My dad* (the best)
- My brother**
- My mom
- My brother**
- Me
- My brother**

*My dad plays in modes. Easy (which he plays me and sometimes my mom in), Medium (which he uses when he's against mom and usually my brother), Hard (which he plays when he's playing in his 4.0-4.5 team), and Impossible (I've never seen him play with this. This is before his two surgeries. He started teaching us tennis and playing for the team after he had his surgeries.) So, if anyone wants to play anybody in my family, they should start with my dad.
** My brother's playing depends on his mood, his hunger, who he's playing, who's watching, and the length between the last practice and the present. I've never actually played him because my parents think that we will just goof off the whole time (hmm, that may be true)
Anyways, I found 60 cents just lying on the ground in the tennis courts. I'm pretty happy that I found the money before my brother saw it/took it. I'm guessing that I only found it because I was almost wearing all purple (one of my favorite colors). If only I had black shoes and put silver and blue highlights in my hair, I would have found a lot more. Maybe a million.
Okay, I want to donate this little paragraph to Sticky Tack because it is that awesome! Since you read this far, I'm going to congratulate you with pictures. Also, please click here! Bye!

July 23, 2011 Track and Tennis

Like the first day I got here, I woke up at 1:30pm. After learning spanish for hours (I finally got past my brother! I now have 1454 points!), my mom and my brother going out to drop off some rackets that need restringing, and eating dinner, we all drove to the Millennium Hotel to pick up the two tennis rackets that were dropped off earlier. Actually, we had to wait awhile for the person to finish stringing (or would that be restringing?) so my parents sat on the bench, watching my brother and I build leaf boats, just to see them be devoured by the river. Eventually, the woman finished stringing the rackets and we were off to the tennis courts.
Once at the tennis courts (and after we finished warming up), I practiced serving with my mom. Half of my serves went into the net or out so I don't think the practice really improved my serve. I also hit my shins and knees while I was practicing so that's another reason why it probably was a waste of time.
After a bit, my mom and I began playing a set where I lost...again. A lot of my shots hit the net (I'm starting to think that the ball has a magnet in it and so does the net. That's why whenever you hit a shot, it goes straight to the net. A Mag-Net. Pun intended) and I got so frustrated that I started hitting the balls all over the place. I guess you can call me competitive. Or short-tempered. Or a sore loser. Just like last time, we didn't finish out set (we ended the match at 5-2). When we cut our match short, we walked over to the track thing which was next to the tennis courts, and started to run.
Well, I tried to run. After a few laps, my dad and my brother decided to join and they ran three laps. All in all, I ran 5 and 1/2 laps. Well, technically, I ran only 1 and 1/4 of a lap and walked the rest but still. Lesson learned today, I'm pretty bad at running.
Thanks for commenting and I hope you continue reading and commenting my posts. Also, if you are not a follower already, please follow the blog. I only have 6 followers and I want at least 10! Please enjoy the pictures of my beat-up racket. You can't really see the damage from the distance but trust me, it's beat up!

Oh, I forgot to mention something yesterday. The Colorado State Champion last year was me :)! Then again, it was 10 and under so the the opponents were easy but I was 10 and under last year so...... I'm entering the tournament once again this year (I'm in the 12 and under division now) and the tennis coach put me in level 2 (level 1 is the highest) and now I may have to go against Katherine and Claire. The tournament starts on Tuesday! I can't wait! Anyways, more pictures of my racket.