It's been forever, but I'm finally blogging about our vacation to Florida. I think I go through bursts where all the ideas rush to the front of my head and I just want to blog all day long, Then, usually for months after, I write nothing even though exciting stuff is happening all the time!
To work on keeping things short. I'm going to try and blog about our vacation in 500 words and I'm staying away from point form. Here we go!
We left Canada on a Saturday morning to drive to Pittsburgh where my brother lives. We would be driving down with him and his wife. Sunday morning, after my brother finished church, we piled into two cars and began our eighteen hour escapade. If you know me well, it probably won't surprise you that all I packed to entertain myself was a notebook, a pen and a novel. The ten hours the first day were beautiful, as we drove through West Virginia and Virginia, I loved the mountains. Around ten o'clock that night we stayed the night in Columbia, South Carolina. The next day we drove the rest of the trip and stopped for roadside peaches just inside Florida. Around six that evening we reached the cottage on Anna Maria Island. What a surprise it was to find trees blown over and streets flooded. We'd caught the tail of Tropical Storm Debby.
The first few days were spent at the beach across the street, collecting shells. The positive side to the storm was that it washed up all kinds of things. If we weren't too tired, we'd get up at six, before high tide and collect all kinds of stuff, then spend the days at the beach and wash off at the pool later on. After day one, even with sunscreen, we were burnt to crisps. Slowly, the murky water started to go back to it's clear blue, it stopped raining and got hotter. Every day I wore a dress and my hair in a waterfall braid. I called it my beach look. My brother caught two catfish that we ate for dinner, they were delicious. The Friday after we arrived we were joined by my older sister, who flew down for the weekend just so we could have a real family vacation. The first in eight years.
That was probably the best part of the trip, when the most stuff happened. We went out for dinner a couple times. My brother took us fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and while I was catching little fish-whose names I only remember sounding like Tracker Jacker-Adam caught a baby hammerhead shark. He was actually adorable, although it was creepy that he was swimming just a few feet in front of us. We also saw a manatee twenty feet from shore along with some dolphin's while we watched the sun set on the sand. I found a bunch of baby clams in tide pools and my older siblings swam out to the sandbar. Then we bought a few souvenirs. I love when we're all together because that's when we all laugh the most.
My sister went home and we stayed until the following Thursday. July 4th was our last night and we went out to the beach to watch the sunset. After it got dark fireworks were exploding in every direction literally above our heads. We didn't know where to look next. They were exquisite. The next morning we were on our way back home. Finally we pulled into the driveway of my brother's house and that night, collapsed into our beds. The next afternoon we drove back home and unpacked everything. That night I fell asleep really fast. I hadn't slept in my bed in two weeks. Yes, we would miss Florida, but it was good to be home.
Total: 558 words. A little over, but it's worth it.
Recently, in the local paper, we read about a contest being held by the St. Catharines Library called Fresh Ink. This year would be the twelfth annual writing contest for students aged twelve through eighteen living in the Niagara Region. All you had to do was write a short story or poem. My Mom suggested I enter and I gladly agreed, but I had one problem. I can't write short stories. Everything I've ever written since I was little, has been long and well...detailed. I had ideas coming out my eyeballs for this contest, but with a limit of 1,500 words I was feeling it would be impossible.
Maybe you've read my previous entry, Lilac Lane. Mom suggested I enter that because she loved it. After this was decided, I payed little attention to writing at all until I figured I should probably check the word count on it. I discovered it was 1,630 words. Mom assured me we could edit it so that it would be shorter, but then something happened; we got busy. Suddenly I was being called out to movie sets and we had a few appointments and get togethers and the next thing I knew it was July 31st. We were in Burlington, early in the morning, when it hit me. I put my hand to my head. The deadline was today and my work was at home. Needless to say I was disappointed and mad at myself.
On the way to my grandparents, where we would spend the morning, I was explaining to my Mom how Dad had woken me up that morning. She was laughing hysterically. Then I had the idea. I would use Grandma's computer to write my entry and I would write about my experience from that morning. Sure enough, at Grandma's I went to her computer and I think maybe an hour later, I had completed my entry for the contest. I printed it out, and as a team, Mom and I edited it and read it aloud to my grandparents. The next thing knew, I had clicked the submit button. This was the first contest I've ever entered for my writing and the excitement I felt...that I still feel, is incomparable!
To read my entry, click the link at the top of the page titled Fresh Ink 2012. Thoughts are welcome!
It's been forever, but I'm finally blogging about our vacation to Florida. I think I go through bursts where all the ideas rush to the front of my head and I just want to blog all day long, Then, usually for months after, I write nothing even though exciting stuff is happening all the time!
The first few days were spent at the beach across the street, collecting shells. The positive side to the storm was that it washed up all kinds of things. If we weren't too tired, we'd get up at six, before high tide and collect all kinds of stuff, then spend the days at the beach and wash off at the pool later on. After day one, even with sunscreen, we were burnt to crisps. Slowly, the murky water started to go back to it's clear blue, it stopped raining and got hotter. Every day I wore a dress and my hair in a waterfall braid. I called it my beach look. My brother caught two catfish that we ate for dinner, they were delicious. The Friday after we arrived we were joined by my older sister, who flew down for the weekend just so we could have a real family vacation. The first in eight years.
That was probably the best part of the trip, when the most stuff happened. We went out for dinner a couple times. My brother took us fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and while I was catching little fish-whose names I only remember sounding like Tracker Jacker-Adam caught a baby hammerhead shark. He was actually adorable, although it was creepy that he was swimming just a few feet in front of us. We also saw a manatee twenty feet from shore along with some dolphin's while we watched the sun set on the sand. I found a bunch of baby clams in tide pools and my older siblings swam out to the sandbar. Then we bought a few souvenirs. I love when we're all together because that's when we all laugh the most. 
