Naylea's Blog

During winter break I went to Colorado, this is a story about my trip. At about 3:30 in the morning my uncle arrived at our house so he can go with us. At around 4:30 we packed up the car and left. I immediately went to sleep because it was way too early to be up. Shorty after I woke up and decided to watch a movie on my IPad. After the movie had ended I started to feel car sick so I went back to sleep. I got woken up because we had arrived in Las Vegas. My whole family was debating if we should stop and eat, or keep driving. We realized we were all getting hangry and we should probably eat something. We stopped at a Deny’s to eat brunch because it was about 10:00.  We ate our food and used the restroom and after that we were all happy. We got back in the car and about thirty minutes later my brother started to get fussy, and we had to pull out his toys. We were all calm and got back on the road. I don’t remember that much happened  during this time besides sleeping and watching movies. We arrived at what we thought our destination was and got off the car. This is wear things went wrong very quickly. We were in Utah and we were at Zion National Park, at least we though we were. We drove up a the mountain and got off the car to have a little picnic. We looked at the beautiful mountain and after about an hour we went on our way. We put the GPS to go to our hotel for the night and we saw that it was like two hours away, but it was only supposed to be like forty minutes. We quickly realized we were at the wrong mountain, but the worst part is that the other place was very far and it was already three pm so we were tired. I fell asleep and I got woken up when we finally got to the right mountain. We walked to the welcome center and then they told us bad news. They said that to get to the mountain you had to take a little tour bus and the last tour bus had just left. So we looked around at the souvenir shop and went to this little river they had, but we ended up leaving. We drove to the hotel and stoped at a Mexican restaurant on the way. We got to the hotel and unloaded the car, checked into our room, and went to sleep. The next morning we woke up at 4:30 AM. We got ready to leave and we got in the car at about five. We were having problems checking out of our hotel so it took us a minute but at 5:30 we got to Starbucks to get breakfast. I got a bagel with cream cheese and hot chocolate. I slept most of the time and then I watched movies but at around 1 PM we arrived in Aspen, Colorado. When we got there, we put on our snow gear and went to go walk in the little town. We saw some stores And bought lunch and hot chocolate as well as Aspen, sweaters and magnets. We were about five minutes away from our hotel so we drove over there after we were done. We got to the hotel at around 3 PM. We checked in and immediately went to go see our room and it was beautiful. It had A door leading to the outside and directly outside of our room was a bunch of snow with like a big open field that led up to the mountain where people would ski on. It looked really pretty And every morning, while we were there, we would go outside and look at people skiing On the hill, right outside our room. The day we got to our Aspen hotel, we got dinner at a barbecue place in the hotel and we took showers and we were so tired but managed to watch a movie. The next day we also woke up early. We went to elk camp and we went to an alpine coaster. It was really fun because you could control the speed of the coaster. We spent most of our day their and got dinner at snow mass village. We had Italian food and it was really good. We went back to our hotel and had to find snacks to eat because we had eaten at the Italian place at like 3:00 and it was like almost 8:00 PM. We found hot chocolate and went down to the lobby to play UNO. We only played for about ten minutes, but then my brother got fussy. We decided it was best to continue in our room so we invited my uncle to our room to play. We went to our room and ended up outside in the little field area because it was snowing! My dad, my uncle, my brother and I all were playing in the snow making snowman’s and snowballs late at night. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. Once it got too cold we went inside and my uncle went to his room. We took showers and went to sleep. By the way we left on December 22, 2024. The next day, (December 24th) we woke up early, checked out of the hotel and headed to Vail. When I got in the car my instinct was to go to sleep. So I reached for my pillow and it was frozen. I was very upset because not only was it hard as a rock it was cold too! So I couldn’t even lay on it. We arrived at Vail and went to go eat breakfast. The place we went to was very small and our group of five took up half of the little cafe. We had pancakes and waffles with hot chocolate. Later we went to stores and exploring. We went and checked it to the hotel and then left because we had one more event booked. We went on a sleigh ride! It was a red sleigh and the had blankets to use. There were two horses pulling us and it was very, very cold. It was a bumpy ride but it was worth it. They gave us free s’mores. We left the stables and went to a market so we could get snacks for I ride back home because we weren’t stopping like we did on the way there. We got snacks and rinks and went back to our third hotel. We took showers again and watched Home Alone. Unlike every other Christmas Eve, we didn’t stay up until twelve, but that ok because we were all tired. The next day we woke up early and packed up our stuff. We got breakfast at the hotel and I had a raisin bagel. We got in the car and my pillow was frozen once again. Nothing really happened after that we went all the way home. It took us about thirteen hours to get back home, but the last two where the worst! We stopped about two hours before we got home to get gas, we collectively decided to not get off to use the restroom because it took to much time. So we went all the way, little did we know how much traffic there was. It took us like an extra hour because we were moving like two inches every twenty minutes. Eventually we started moving again, but at that point I was about to pee my pants. The good part is I made it home and I showered and went to bed.

This month I read Better Than the Movies, by Lynn Painter. This book is about a girl names Elizabeth Buxbaum and how she is in the middle of a love triangle with two different guys.  One being the next door neighbor, Wes Bennett. And the other being a childhood friend, Michael.  Liz comes up with a master plan to get Michael to realize she’s not “little Liz” anymore and she evolves Wes in that plan because Wes and Micheal are friends. Liz’s plan works and Micheal finally realizes that Liz is new and improved, but Wes and Liz have been spending so much time with each other that now things seem weird between them. Liz has both guys right where she wants them, but the question now is who will she choose?

I really liked this book because it had a very happy ending. The book was building up and up and I really liked the way it ended. It’s a very sweet and I enjoyed the way the characters would interact and engage with each other. Liz was going through family problems as well as trying to get a guy to go to prom with her and it was an entertaining to see how she handled  everything.

My favorite character was Liz because she showed determination and perseverance throughout the whole story. Liz was coping with her mother’s death as well as having a new stepmom and being a teenage girl on the side of all of this. Throughout the story Liz expressed that she was sad about her mom and that makes her so much better. One quote that proves this is on page 168, “I hadn’t heard a new story about my mother in such a long time that his words where oxygen and I was breathing them in with a life-and-death desperation.” This quote shows how much she needed to hear that story that Wes was telling her. She was going through so much and she just needed that oxygen.

My favorite quote in the book is on page 221, “For the first time he wouldn’t be next door to me.” This is my favorite quote because it’s foreshadowing that Liz does car about Wes and she likes that he’s next door. Thinking about him not being close to her made her think and that’s why that is my favorite quote.

If I could invite any three people to have dinner with me I would invite: Alexander Hamilton, my grandpa and my grandma. I would invite my grandma because she deserves a nice dinner. My grandma watches me after school and in elementary she picked me up and dropped me off every single day. This would be my way of thanking her for everything she’s done for me over the past few years. She’s watched me since the day I was born and would always take me to the store with her. She taught me a lot of things as I grew up and I greatly appreciate her. I would invite my grandpa because he has always been an amazing person. He goes out of his way to make my day better he always offers to go on a walk and I always talk to him about my day and he listens. He picks me up from school everyday and I appreciate him a lot. I would invite Alexander Hamilton because I want to talk to him about something’s. I would ask him what the American revolution was like. How it was like to fight in a war and what were the struggles of fighting. It was obviously hard, but what was the hardest thing to accomplish during that time. I need to know!

My dream job is a speech-language pathologist. My first reason why is because I would like to help people improve one of the most important life skills. My brother has needed speech therapy and I’m so grateful for everyone who has helped him therefore I want to help people too. My second reason is because I want to work with kids. I love little kids and I want to make a difference in their life. They are super fun to be around and they bring positive energy every day. My third reason why Is because it seems like a really fun job. I want to have a job I enjoy and look forward to everyday not something I don’t feel like doing and don’t want to go to every morning. My fourth reason is because it pays about $45 an hour. I would need a lot of money because I want to be the owner of a speech center and to fund that I would need a good amount of money to buy it. This is why being a speech pathologist is my dream job.

A magician has made me invisible for a day! There are so many things I could do. I will start off my day by driving in car to a store, most likely the Irvine spectrum. I will probably get pulled over because there is a car without a person in it. I would then make it to the spectrum and of course start in target. I would take three carts and take as much as possible. I would quickly get out of there and shove everything in my car. I would then drive to my grandmas house and make a mess with anything I could find. I would then drive to South coast plaza and look through people shopping bags. As I get my fair share of things I would then drive back home and pack a bag. I would go to the airport and sneak on whatever flight makes my heart happy because why not! It’s free anyway. I would try to get on a flight to Dubai because I would love to go there. I would then arrive and my day would probably be over and I would be visible once again.

This month I read Love and Gelato by Jenna Evan’s Welch. This book is about a young girl who’s named Carolina, Lina for short. Her mother was dying due to cancer and she wanted Lina to go to Italy for just a month to two, to experience what she experienced as a young girl. Shortly after he mom died Lina went to Italy and stayed with her “dad”. It got Lina wondering, what kind of dad stays out of his child’s life for sixteen years? Lina was given a journal that her mom made when she was in Italy. She found out a lot. She visited sites her mom went to including her school. As Lina continued reading the journal, her mom starts writing about her love life. Lina comes to find out the guy she’s staying with is not her dad. I recommend reading this book because it has a lot of emotions and grief. It demonstrates a real life situation and also shows the importance of being able to see the world. If Lina wouldn’t have agreed to go to Italy, she would have never learned of her mom when she was younger. This story shows love and heartbreak. That is why I recommend this book. My favorite character is Lina. Lina went through a lot and had the courage to go back to where her mom spent her teenage years even though she had died. One of my favorite quotes of hers was “…I had Nutella on my face and my first real love sprawled out next to me and any minute the stars where going to sink back into the sky in preparation for a new day, and first time in a long time, I couldn’t wait for what that day would bring.” On page 386. This quote is so important to her and the story. At the beginning of the story she had lost her mom and was dealing with a lot of grief. At the end she was actually excited to see what the next day brought to her. This quote showed evolution through the story and made me happy for her.

I woke up to the sound waves crashing and birds chirping. As I opened my eyes the sun shined on my face. It was a warm day out on the island. I live on an abandoned island, I’ve been here for about three years now. Life on the island is very different than living in a regular city or town. I have to hunt for my own food and water. I live by myself, but I have lots of animals friends that join me. You’re probably wondering how I got her, and that’s a great question. One day me and my family decided to go whale watching. It was fun until it wasn’t. We spotted a whale near by and the captain panicked! The tiny wooden boat flipped over and I blacked out. The next thing I know is that I ended up on the shore of a pretty spacious island with sand, palm trees , coconut trees, and bushes. It was white sand and super pretty clear water with rocks at the bottom. The water is shallow and cold. So that’s how I ended up here, but this is how I go about my day.  When I woke up I first went out to the water to take a shower. Obviously I don’t have shampoo or body wash so I just rinse of with water.  After that I go and put on the only clothes I have. I only have one bathing suit and one pair of clothes that I hand wash at the end of each day. I then go and climb a coconut tree because that’s what I have for most of my meals. I eat half of the coconut and save the rest for later. I then take a walk around the island or a swim in the ocean. Im currently working on fixing up a broken boat I found when I got her so I could go explore and hopefully leave this island. After a while I usually take a nap. I then wake up from my nap because I got to burned in the hot hot sun. I get up and go hunt for fish to eat for lunch and maybe dinner. After hunting I usually eat the rest of the coconut. I cook my dinner by starting a fire with sticks and brush. I eat that and I watch the sun set. I then go out to the ocean to wash my clothes off. I hang my clothes up on the tree and put myself to sleep.

This month I read The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L Walther. The Summer of Broken Rules is a young adult romance novel about a young girl named Meredith Fox and her family. Meredith has recently suffered the loss of her sister Claire Fox and due to that she has separated herself from the real world for a whole year. When summer came around it was also time for her cousin Sarah’s wedding so Meredith and her family went to the town where all her family meets over summer, the paqua farm. Meredith sees all her family and close friends that she completely ignored for a year after her sister’s passing. She meets new people and apologized to many people as well. She also meet her new summer “friend” over a game of assassin. Stephen Witry is his name, also know as Wit. Between the two of them they form an alliance, but Meredith get a little distracted while being around Wit. They become a “thing” and everyone knows even though she tried to hide it. Towards the end of the story she finds out that Wit knew something that he should have told her. They get into a bit of a fight and decide it’s best to just be friend. When the time comes Meredith has to decide if she will follow Wit and be with him, or stay close to home and let him leave just as friends .

I enjoyed reading this book because there was a lot of things going on at once. It was a very eventful book and I loved that there was always something going on there was never a break where is was mellow. I also loved that it was a real life situation and it talked about grief, heartbreak, and loyalty while still being fun and enthusiastic. I liked the fact that it included a lot of family time and it was kind of based around family.

My favorite quote was “I hadn’t listened to Claire’s laugh in over a year. her gorgeous, dazzling laugh. The world felt so quiet without it.” On page 252. I found this quote important because it showed how different Meredith’s life was after her sister passed. It showed the effect grief has on you when you loose something. After this in the story Meredith continued to ghost her family for a few days even though before this she was super sad because she was leaving the farm because the summer was ending. Overall this book was amazingly written and I rate it a 8/10.

This is the story on the day I broke my arm. It all started on a Tuesday afternoon in second grade. It was spirit week and it was neon day. I was wearing a white polo shirt with a neon orange skirt, and a matching bow. We had a sub that day and after lunch she had nothing for us to do. She decided to let us out to the playground for the rest of the day. So the whole class lined up and we walked to the playground. Me and a few other girls decided to play on the slides. As we were playing another group of girls came up to us and we all started playing together. I was at the top of the side when a girl asked me if I had ever been on the monkey bars. I had never, ever been on the monkey bars, but I didn’t want to admit it so I said, “Yea I have and I’m really good at it too.” So she proceeded to ask me to show her. So there I go, I walked over to the platform where the monkey bars started and I looked down and got very scared. I didn’t give up though, I jumped up to the first bar and hung for about a minute, then as I jumped to the next bar I fell. As I was falling it felt like 100 feet down, but of course it wasn’t. I felt the air blowing through my hair. I knew immediately as I hit the ground my hand was broken. I landed with my wrist bent and all of my body on top of my wrist. I immediately was super scared and called my friends at the top to tell the teacher. Everybody ran away and I thought that they didn’t tell anyone, but they did. Soon after the teacher came to help me as well as an activity monitor. They helped me up and took me too the nurse. The unfortunate thing is that the nurse had gone home for the day since it was already almost time to leave. The office staff gave me an ice pack and called my mom. When they supposedly called my mom, they gave me the phone and it didn’t sound like her voice, but I still talked to her. I figured it was my aunt since my mom was at work. The lady then told me that I had cousins that could take me home because she couldn’t pick me up. I knew I had no family at school so I knew something was wrong. They the picked up the phone again and before I knew it my grandma arrived and was in the office with a bowl of cucumber. She came to me and I was in so much pain and she told me that she had already called my mom, but originally the office called the wrong parents. My mom got there super quick and she didn’t check in. She saw me sitting and walked straight to the nurses office and started looking through the drawers. My mom worked at a doctors office at the time so she knew what to do. She found this box thing that kept my arm from moving and she taped it around my arm. My mom and grandma took me out to the car because by this time school had ended. We went to the hospital and called my dad on the way. When we got there we had to wait for hour and hours just to get into a room. The ice pack was warm and I couldn’t eat. It was about twelve pm when I had ate last and at this time is was around six pm. I also don’t remember being able to drink water. They finally told me I needed to be put under anesthesia so they could put my bone back in place. They started the process at night anywhere from ten to twelve I want to think. We ended up leaving the hospital at around three in the morning the next day. All I remember is feeling bad for my dad because he had to wake up at five in the morning he didn’t even sleep. I don’t remember much after that just that my mom stayed home from work the next day and I stayed home from school. In the end I healed in about five months and I’m all better now.

Somebody I look up to as my hero is Princess Diana. There are many reasons why I look up to her. My first reason is because she broke a lot of royal rules although she wasn’t supposed to. Princess Diana went to multiple of her son’s school events and participated in them while she was Princess and she didn’t care that what people would say about her. Princess Diana also donated to charity. Before she had passed away she had donated about 1.4 million dollars to charity as well as her wedding dress. She was a great inspiration and influence to society and I aspire to be like her one day.