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 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 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 19 and 20, 2011 Garden Gnomes, Planes, Cars, and Houses

First of all, I'm apologizing for the inconvenience of typing/posting this a day late. Yesterday was spent travelling and packing up. Then again, who was actually waiting for me to write a post??
Anyways, after we finished packing up, the owner of the hotel/motel was nice enough to let us leave our luggages in his garage while we went to the botanical garden. After a relatively short walk to the garden we picked up a map or two. It turns out that there was this activity for "children" going on that was open to all. For this activity, you have to pick up a special map and use a clue to help you find the first gnome. Once you find the gnome, there is a door next to it which has the next clue. The first gnome is actually 3-D and made out of metal while the others are just doors which you open. In the doors, you find the clue and there is a gnome pasted next to the clue. When you find all ten gnomes (which we did!), your quest was over. This was pretty interesting considering they led you to awesome places. My favorite place you had to search for the gnome door was in this huge pine tree. The tree's roots came above ground and some branches were very low. These served as obstacles so you had to jump and crawl around or above them to find the door. This added to the awesomeness. Even though this activity was meant for little kids, I did enjoy the hunt and that's all that matters. Plus, without the activity, we would have just been walking around looking at bare branches and trees because it was winter and not many things grow during this season.
After a few hours, we came back to the hotel/motel, hopped on a shuttle, arrived at the Christchurch airport, and eventually got through checking in our bags and security. At that point, we were running a little late so we raced to the gate with little time to spare. The first flight was to Auckland, New Zealand and was about 2 hours. Since there was nothing to do on the flight due to my lack of books, I just slept a bit. Once we arrived in Auckland we had a two hour layover, meaning that we had to wait in the airport for two hours. These two hours passed in a snap and before I knew it, my family and I were on the plane to LA. This flight was about 12 hours long but because it was international, they had screens which let you listen to music, and watch TV episodes and movies for free!
Finally, we arrived in LA and we had a four hour layover. Yay... The next flight was about 2 hours and it had screens even though it wasn't international! The screens were kind of useless since you had to pay money for any good shows or/and movies but it was good enough. I also got to sit in economy plus with my mom since I'm considered a minor and I shouldn't sit by myself. We didn't even have to pay extra for the upgrade!If you do not fly often or have never flown higher than economy, I shall explain what economy plus is. Economy plus is basically the same thing as economy but you get a little more leg room. The following is a diagram explaining the luxury of the seating in an airplane.
-First Class This is the best one but is also the priciest one. If you have to sit next to someone (or if you don't) depends on the size of the aircraft.
-Business Class This is not always available in airplanes but it has a bit less leg room than First Class and you have to sit next to someone.
-Economy Plus Class This one is not always available. This class has a lot less leg room than Business Class and you have to sit three to a row on most rows.
-Economy Class This class is always available and offers the least amount of leg room. This is the cheapest one.
Please remember that this is based on my experience only so it may not be exactly right. Once we arrived in Denver, we had to rent this car and drive to Boulder, Colorado (which is where we are staying). This drive was about 1 or 2 hours and very uncomfortable since I had to sit in the middle because my brother's guitar took up the other seat. The headrest was rock hard so it made it very hard to sleep. We eventually arrived at the house we're renting and brought ou stuff in.
Hmm, since we left Christchurch on Tuesday night and landed in Denver on Tuesday night and we have been on a plane for about 14 hours, it's like we time traveled because of the time difference! Anyways, here is the picture of the uncomfortable (and impractical) car!

Also, the house has very....... artistic decorations and the room I'm sleeping in has the same flowery border as I had! This room is SUPER girly (ugh) but has a bunk bed! Wel, my hands are aching. I guess this is good-bye.
Wait! I have to say one more thing! The next few blogs will be considerably shorter because this is practically my second home (Boulder, not the actual place we're staying at) so we most likely won't do the touristy things/attractions. Bye for real this time!

July 7th, 2011 The horrid name of a restaurant, Vegemite, Harbour Town, and Tennis

Today, we began our day by playing tennis......in the Margaret Court (which is an Australian Open court)! Here, we played for about two and half hours. During this amount of time, I somehow got the Small Potatoes theme song stuck in my head and began singing it for awhile. Little did I know that we were being watched. Hopefully, the cameras can't hear me. For the most part, I just goofed off while playing but it was still fun.
After that, we went to Pie Face (again) but this time, I bought a spinach roll instead of an actual pie. We are now two less pies away from getting the free pie. To bad we're leaving for New Zealand tomorrow.
We then ate dim sum/Yum Cha at this restaurant that I can't remember the name of (It was called something along the lines of Green Jade. The funny thing is, I got four business cards from this place, hoping I'd be able to get at least one of them home safely and I actually brought all four home. The thing is, my dad threw it away when we were packing). This place has delicious food but the name is horrible!
Next we went to Harbour Town which is basically an outdoor mall with free tea, coffee, and water in the visitor center. This place also had this free animal "petting zoo" where they had a(n) crocodile/aligator, a turtle, a snake, lizards, a sugar glider, birds, a possum, and a wombat!

Even though this place is awesome, but had some strange signs...

What kind of town is this?!
Now, I want to talk about what Australia's famous for...vegemite. For you people who don't have a clue what this is, it is concentrated yeast extract. Doesn't that just sound lovely? Anyways, it taste salty, kind of like soy sauce but it smells...ew. I would never eat this by itself.
Okay, about the horrid restaurant name, it turns out my dad didn't throw away the cards. Instead, he told me where it was and I found it!! The name: Crystal Jade (Still a bad name...) The address:
154 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
So, that's about it. Enjoy this fail advertisement in Harbour Town.

July 6th, 2011 Fails and Food

Since I had quite a few fails today so I decided to write part of my blog about this. So my first fail was:
1) I was complaining about this loose button on my coat and we ventured into this liquor store so my parents could buy something. While we were there, I was playing with the loose button, trying to pass time. As I was playing with it, all the stitches just burst, leaving me with a stray button. I was like, "Why?????? Why must the young die so young????"
2)Okay, since the first fail wasn't that funny, I hope you enjoy the next one. On this one, I had just put the button in my pocket and was fingering it. As I was doing so, the restaurant card that I took so I could write down the info. on it, flew out. Fail?
3) Okay enough with the "fails". Let's get on with the blog.
Now for a while, I've been wanting to eat at this place called Hungry Jack's which is basically an Australian version of Burger King. I mean, look at the logo's!

For dinner, my family and I ate at this Malaysian place called Sambal Kampung. This place offers great customer service and super fast food. Not only is the food served fast, it's delicious and pretty well priced. The only part I didn't like about this place was this crunchy-ish part of the supposedly boneless, skinless chicken. Overall rating: 9 (Wow, that's rare!) And the address:
234 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000

One last thing I want to mention before I end this post is this chocolate shop called Haigh's Chocolates. Even though the chocolate is absolutely amazing, (to me) it seems overpriced. One thing I find weird about this place is that you can only find their chocolates in their shop and never in places like Target, but oh well. The website is:

http://haighschocolates.com.au/

Enjoy:D