This summer I learnt and did a lot of new things. I planted a raspberry bush from a seedling and then it grew berries that tasted delicious. I loved them, they tasted so natural and I felt like I could fly with enjoyment. I also just got a desk for my room and I built the chair all by myself. I feel very proud of myself. I am typing this reflection in the chair and it is very comfortable.

I visited Rehoboth Beach in Delaware and Boulder in Colorado this summer. I have been to Rehoboth Beach before, many times. In fact, I’ve been going since I was a baby. This summer I went fishing at a lake right next to the house that I was staying at and learnt new tricks to get the fish, for example, putting the bait on the surface and bobbing it up and down to attract the fish to the surface.  We ended up getting over eight fish with those tricks. That’s a lot of fish for me by the way. I also saw some beautiful birds on the lake like herons and cat birds. In the evening, we saw bats flying above us catching all the little insects in the sky.

After we drove back from the beach, we flew to Colorado. I had never been there before. Did you know that it is basically on a big hill. The altitude was so high it messed with my head. after I recovered from the altitude changes, I loved every minute of it. It is so different than New York City. There are mountains just around the corner (at least in Boulder, where I was staying).  I went hiking almost everyday. It is so hard to remember that people live there all year long, it is like a vacation spot. Here, there are skyscrapers everywhere. Oh and did I mention that they have to go 3 miles just to the nearest shop. in NYC it is normally a block or two and you’re at a store.. And we use a lot of public transportation in NYC. Also the people are a lot nicer in Boulder, I’m not being mean when I say that, it’s just an observation. My dad bought me a pocket knife there, it is really sharp and I cut myself the first and second time I used it. He got it for me because I was in the wilderness and it seemed like everyone had a knife. One of the boys I was staying with actually bought a hatchet!

I think that the best experience was going camping. This was the first time I went camping, but I will never forget it. It was a six mile hike up and down all the way there, then we slept one night and went all the way back. It was really tough also because we were carrying 40 pound backpacks. I do think it was worth it because I saw the night sky there. It was beautiful. The stars are amazing and that is because there is less light pollution there and we are higher up. We went out to a lake with a log over it in the middle of the night and it scared me so much because there were bears and elk out there. I was just scared of the bears. We had a water purifier that blew my mind.All you had to do was pump the stream water through it and it made it safe to drink!  I didn’t get any sleep that night cause it was so uncomfortable being slightly tilted downwards with my head below my feet and we kept hearing animals beside the tent. The people in the tent with me were Steve (my dad’s best friend), Ethan (Steve’s 10 year old son), Josh (Steve’s 14 year old son), my dad and my brother River. My mom and Steve’s wife stayed at home. I was the only girl!  I really built a relationship with the family we stayed with. As much as I liked Boulder, I do like where I live in Brooklyn.

When I first arrived in Boulder my family and I went to Shakespeare’s play called Much to do About Nothing. I loved the outfits and that it was done by really good actors. It was very funny and I went to bed at midnight because of it going on so long!  While I was in Colorado my mom and dad wanted a full experience, so we hiked up the Flatirons and The Royal Arch. If you don’t about The Flatirons they are three peaks in Boulder, Colorado. They have put new hiking trails all the way up each one of them. It was 3 miles fully up hill, but the view was amazing. You could see almost everything for miles and miles. Then we heard of a hike to the Royal Arch and my parents had to do it. The Royal Arch is an arch formed by two boulders leaning on each other. There is one single tree up next to it. It looked too good to be true. The wind was intense up there, but it helped cool us down. That trip was very active.

At the end of summer vacation I took Olivia b. advice and got my ears pierced. It didn’t hurt and I love the outcome of how they look. I have had no problems with them yet so I feel very lucky. Summer vacation has been a lot of fun and I am overwhelmed with joy for school.