Christmas in Paradise

Last year for Christmas, my entire family on my mom’s side spent the holiday season in Maui. There were 20 of us there, and we had a great time spending some quality family time on the beach. The place we were staying at was right on the beach, and our whole family was in the same hotel. There was a shopping center about a 2 minute walk down the boardwalk from the hotel, and it had lots of designer outlets and shops, as well as a whaling museum. My cousin Erin and I walked to Sephora at least once every day to do our makeup with all the samples they had out. When we weren’t at Sephora, we were at the ABC store or at the self-serve frozen yogurt place eating as much as we possibly could. In between shopping sprees, Erin and I would tan on the beach with our other cousin Sarah. On the beach there was a sand volleyball court, and it would be an off day when we didn’t start at least one volleyball game with almost the entire family playing. It was so much fun to play the sport that I love with the people that mean so much to me in a warm, sunny and fun place. My older cousins Matt and Greg would spend the whole time chirping each other about how much beer the other had had that day. This amazing experience was a result of my grandparent’s generosity, as it was my Grandan’s 79^th birthday present to the rest of the family. It was originally supposed to be this year for Grandan’s 80^th, but he had a run-in with cancer last year so we decided to push it forward by one year. (Don’t worry- he’s now cancer free!) I feel very lucky to have shared this amazing vacation with my family and extended family over the holidays because of all the fun we had and because who doesn’t love Maui!

#5 Collapsing into bed when you’re completely, massively exhausted

Two summers ago, I was invited to the Team Alberta training camp and tryouts in Edmonton for a week in July. I played my heart out for the week and was disappointed when I got cut. However, this last summer, I was invited back to the training camp. I felt more confident because I was playing in the correct age group, whereas the year before I had been playing up with girls a year older than me. Over the week, the training sessions were four hours every day plus strength training, nutrition classes, and sports psychology. Every night was a relief to finally get back to the residence we were staying at and climb into bed. This became more and more of a relief as the week wore on, and even more when I made the team and had to stay another week and a half in Edmonton to compete in the Western Elite Championships. My team practiced for four hours every day for the next week, and when the time to compete against the other provincial teams rolled around, everyone was weary, ecstatic, and running off adrenaline. The three days the tournament spanned over were some of the most fun, and the most tiring, of my life. My team was able to win the silver medal at the championship, which was absolutely amazing. However, after the euphoria had somewhat drained away and my mom and I were driving back to Calgary after the final, I started to feel the effects the countless hours of physical activity had had on my body. I remember how hard it was to keep my eyes open as we came into Calgary from Deerfoot. That night, it was a huge relief to finally collapse into my own bed after so many days of collapsing into the too-hard bed at the residence. Every muscle in my body was overworked, and I remember thinking that my bed was probably the most comfortable thing in the world at that moment. Playing for Team Alberta was very fun, but collapsing into my own bed afterwards was almost better. Awesome!!!

Post- Sweet 16, 2 a.m.

It was very late, probably around 2 in the morning. Kaitlyn and I had just come back from one of our friend’s party, and we were still overexcited and hyped. It had been a really fun night, with lots of games and laughter. It was a sweet 16 birthday party, and there were a ton of people in attendance. We had a lot of fun with all the people we knew, and we made lots of new friends while we were there. It was very hard to pull ourselves away, but we had curfew. All the way home, we sat in the car and sang very loudly (and very badly) to the radio. We honestly could not stop giggling the entire way. When we got back to my house, it was hard to go to sleep. We kept talking about everything that had happened at the party and gossiped late into the night. At one point I was laughing so uncontrollably that almost fell off the bed. It was so late in the night and we had been talking for so long that everything was funny. Our eyes were still bright with excitement from the party, and everything we did or said was hilarious. The only thing I remember that stands out in my memory was that I was calling Kaitlyn a burrito because she had pulled the sleeping bag up all the way over her head and was rolling around on the air mattress. After a few minutes of this, we were both hysterical. I don’t remember much else from that night as it was a blur of joy and exhilaration, but it was still a fantastic and fun-filled night. I remember having a great time at the party and then coming back to my house and sharing a great bonding memory with my best friend.  Awesome!!!

Penticton Memories

The only times that I have really been camping, not just in a tent in the backyard, are the times my mom, brother and I drove up to Penticton to spend a week with my aunt and cousin. This summer, while we were there, we set up our cousin’s tent trailer right on the beach of Skaha lake. The lake is very long and thin, with a public beach at one end at a bridge at Okanagan Falls at the other. My cousins own a wakeboarding boat, and we would go out in the afternoon to get Hawaiian shaved ice at the beach and then jump off the bridge at the other end. My cousin Erin and I would always jump off the lowest ledge of the bridge so that we wouldn’t splash down far enough to have the seaweed touch us. I loved riding in the boat, with the sun shining and warming us up as the wind sent goosebumps over our arms and chests. When we weren’t on the boat, we spent our days reading in lawn chairs and making friendship bracelets out of embroidery thread. I really enjoyed making friendship bracelets with Erin because she has a bad knee, so she wasn’t able to really do much else other than tan, read, and make friendship bracelets. There was also a grass volleyball court at the campgrounds, and most nights after we had eaten a dinner made completely on the propane barbeque we would play kids versus adults. The kids would always win, and the evening would end with the parents complaining how they were at a disadvantage because the sun was shining in their eyes. Some of my favourite memories from the trip to Penticton this summer was when we floated down the canal. The whole family plus my cousin’s friends brought floaties to the canal and tied them all together with a long piece of rope. Our floating armada of floaties (there were at least 10 rafts and floating chairs) took up the majority of the canal. It took us almost three hours to float all the way down the channel, during which Erin and I were able to get some of the worst sunburns on our backs we’d had since we went to Hawaii for Christmas. We tanned and gossiped the whole time, and the whole experience was very fun. Another great memory from the trip was when we drove to Tickleberry’s in Okanagan Falls. Tickleberry’s is a huge ice cream shop that has easily 50 flavours of ice cream. We went several times, and I got sea salt caramel flavour all the times we went. My brother wanted to get a large cone, because they would take a picture and put it on the wall. I had a lot of fun this summer in Penticton, and there were many good memories made that I will look back on fondly.