Annie's Amazing Blog

I enjoyed going to Campbell Stone very much. I enjoyed seeing all of the people there and socializing with them. 5^th grade went there twice, once towards the beginning of the year and once a week ago. For the first time we were assigned a ‘buddy’ and we went to their room and talked to them. They told us all about their life and we told them all about ours. The first time was mostly for fun but, the second time, we got to interview our buddy. We asked them many questions and we had a great time.

My group ,which was Grace, Kate, and I met with a man named Robert Ballue. Robert told us about growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, and his life there. He told us that when he was a little kid that he liked playing hockey on the street with his friends and he liked to play baseball. Also, he told us that he had a pet German Shepard when he was little named Smokey. He told us that he has four daughters, six grand children, and one great grandson. He told us that he likes to watch the Braves and golf. He also said that he likes Campbell Stone very much. Also, he said his favorite activites at Campbell Stone were bingo and exercising. He said he has been there eight months. Also, a little fun fact is that he loves Coke Zero and Chinese food.

I have really liked going to Campbell Stone and meeting Mr. Robert. I think that it was so fun and I hope that we get to do it again soon.

In Homeless Bird there are many metaphors. Many of them referring to birds. Many of the birds come along in Koly’s life. Some of them are in her imagination. Her life is very similar to a bird that can’t find a home. At first Koly has a lovely home with her family, then she is forced to marry a man. She marries the man, named Hari, and lives at his house.  Then her husband dies, her ‘sister’ gets married and moves away, and her Sassur (Hari’s dad) dies. And, when she least expects it her Sass ( Hari’s mom) drops her off at a widows country, Vrindavan.  There she is left alone, homeless, much like a bird. She has nothing but her intelligence, knowledge, and 50 rupees. She must find her way around and try to survive.

There are so many metaphors in this book. Here a some of them that stick out and reflect Koly’s life. First, one day Koly was reading Tagore’s Poems to Sassur. She decided to read a poem to him, a poem about a flock of birds and one bird that always goes a separate way from the flock. This resembles Koly’s life because Koly doesn’t always get to go with the group. She usually departs from everyone else and goes her a different way. Also,  there is another example of birds shown throughout the book. This is when Koly and Raji go out to the little creek. This creek reminded Koly of the creek from her previous home with Hari. Raji and her soon saw a heron by the water. They saw the heron multiply times. Koly is very much like this bird to me. This bird can’t exactly find the right home but it has a pretty good idea it wants to stay where it is. This is like when Koly goes to Maa Kamala’s she is pretty sure she wants to stay there but isn’t totally sure it is the right place.  Even though she loved it at Maa Kamala’s she wasn’t sure to stay there or to go with Raji.

When you were little you always wanted to be a princess, in this story she did! The royal wedding was April, 29, 2011 and was watched by more than 2 billion people! Catherine (Kate) Middleton and Prince William were married in Westminister.  Kate’s dress was what almost everyone was talking about. She of course looked beautiful in it .In this article it stated that there were 2.6 billion tweets about the wedding on the wedding day. Prince William remarked to Kate, “You look beautiful!” Also once they were getting in the car to drive away, he told her, “I am so happy.”

I think that this event is very important for multiple reasons. I think mostly because everyone wants to be a princess and she did become one. Also, Kate and Prince William are perfect for each other and the occasion was very special to them. It was special to everyone else because we were crowning a new princess. I think that the whole wedding was very beautiful and went well. This event was very important to 2011 and it will definitely be remembered.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/Royal_Wedding/royal-wedding-2011-top-moments-william-catherines-big/story?id=13489892&page=2#.TyBWzWO2qew

For Christmas I received many different presents, but one present that was so fun to get to go to was Cavalia. I went to Cavalia a couple of years ago but this year was so amazing! For those of you who have never heard of Cavalia, it is a show with horses and people and the bond between them. They do amazing things, I mean very amazing. For a lot of people there, they probably thought that it was so cool! But for me , since I ride horses,I know how hard it is, how much dedication and patience it takes to learn all of the tricks and how to trust your horse so deeply. For example, one man’s horse was galloping full speed, then the guy climbed under the horse’s stomach and came up on the other side, while the horse was still  galloping! It was truly amazing to see how much trust it took in the rider and the horse. I truly understand the bond and how you can risk your life for the animal you love.

Images from : http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=cavalia+odysseo&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=2owgT4rjKMvhggfNtOGUDw&biw=1440&bih=703&sei=3owgT5fdDNHtggfk7ujfCA

Koly is in a very bad situation right now. One of her favorite things in life was Chandra and now she is gone. She is very excited at first for Chandra since she gets to get married. Before Chandra got married they would always get together, tell secrets, and talk about whatever pleased or bothered them. Chandra was always very kind to Koly. She always accepted Koly no matter what her Maa said or Baap thought about her. So once she marries, she will have to leave and have to be without her. Koly now has to suffer through being with just Sass and Sassur without her best friend, Chandra.

If I were Koly I would be so frustrated right now. I would be upset because I would have nothing to look forward to in life, just being tortured by Sass. I would take about a day to think about what to do. Then, I would probably try to sneak out and find Chandra.I could get on a train with the tickets bought with my silver earrings. If I found Chandra she would probably let me stay. If she says yes or no I would bring great dishonor to my family. I would not want to dishonor and bring great shame to my family but, I would not be able to live the rest of my life with Sass and Sassur. But I mostly wouldn’t want to spend it with Sass, but Sassur I think I would want to stay with him. But, what if Chandra wouldn’t let me bring such shame upon my family? I guess I am just going to find out. I hope she lets me because if she doesn’t, I’ll have go home to my Maa and Baap. Maybe even back to Sass and Sassur.

My gift of time was very fun. I learned that a gift of time is easy and brightens someone’s day! It not only is fun for you but for the person you do it for, or in my case the animal you do it for. I chose to walk my grandmother’s dogs. She has four so I chose to walk two of them, my favorite, Peanut and Bug. Peanut is a small dog that looks like sausage on legs. She has lots of hair that goes in some strange ways. {You can make it a Mohawk!} She is a black Chihuahua {kind of a Chihuahua} thing.  Bug is also a Chihuahua, but he is orange.  He is sweet, but protective.

Anyways, I walked them up and down her street 3 times. I used a Christmas/lobster leash since my grandma used to live in Florida. Then, at the end of the leash we put a connector to make both dogs be on the same leash.

I really enjoyed doing my gift of time. I could tell that my grandmother was very happy to have me walk her dogs and she didn’t have to. Also, the dogs seemed to be very joyful to be walked and appreciated it.

 Day 1

 Day 1 went very smoothly! It was probally the easiest and most worry free walk.  No big events happened just a nice calm walk.

Day 2

Wow, day 2 was a lot worse! I went by myself to walk them. They don’t like other dogs so, I have to be careful when other dogs come near.  So on day 2 we saw a dog so I started holding on tight then I look down and there is an empty collar!  Peanut had gotten away! I soon caught her and had to carry her all the way back! (Even though she is a Chihuahua she gets heavy after holding her a lot!)

Day3

Day 3 was pretty easy. They were perfect until we saw another dog. But, then I got them under control and let the other dog pass.

My Christmas Tradition

My family

decorates our tree every

 year, my dad lifts me to reach the top,

we all listen to Christmas music, we cover all

over making we use every ornament, once we are done,

our tree glows with pride

This Thanksgiving my whole family and all of my barn friends were especially thankful for one thing. That one thing is one friend who is very,very close to our hearts, Virginia. Virginia had a very bad accident recently. She is doing much better now and we have all been praying for her every moment we can.I am very excited that I finally get to visit her tommorrow! We all are very thankful she is in our life and she is safe. All of this Thanksgiving I was thinking about her and I realized we are all very blessed. I love Virginia and am so happy she is doing mostly better! Keep her in your prayers and remember how blessed you are! I love you, Virginia!

Everyone was there. I couldn’t wait, I thought the meal would be ready in 30 minutes, oh yeah! But, of course not. I ask my mom, ANOTHER two hours! AHHHH! We were all at our mountain house in Ellijay, GA. I was with my mom, dad, sister, two grandmothers Mama Faye and Gramz, Uncle Houston, Aunt Kim,and my two cousins. ( Taylor and Michelle~ They are twins and they just turned 14 today! Happy Birthday!) We were all preparing for our huge meal! As usual Mama Faye makes almost ALL the food! YUM! We were having ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rice, gravy, fried okra, mac-n-cheese, and of course turkey!

Since we had to wait for so long, we played an awesome card game called spit. We played for what seemed like a century. (maybe it was only 15 minutes but . . .) We also played an app on my IPad called Worder. My whole family is upsessed with it. We did almost anything to pass the time. But then I finally heard the best thing ever, “ Ok, you can go get your plates now!” We all scurried over to the table and loaded our plates so full.

During dinner we all talked and laughed. We talked about our little kid stories, all of clumsiness. We just enjoyed being together. Then, afterwards we had birthday cake for Taylor and Michelle. We finished the night with the amazing movie Elf. Also, we played more spit.

I will never forget this Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all my family and I am very blessed.

“Are you sure we should do it?” Thoughts flew through my mind a thousand
miles per hour. I was at White Water for my friend Chloe’s 11^th
birthday. We had done a bunch of brilliant rides like Dragon Tails, Bahama
Bobsled, and a ton more.  Anyways, we had
done all the rides we wanted to except for . . .  the Tornado. I was with Chloe, Lily, and
Allie and we were having a blast. I wanted to ride the Tornado so badly but I was
also a little scared. Chloe, Allie, and I were the only ones who wanted to ride
it. Lily, well we had to convince her.

The Tornado is probably
the scariest ride in White Water. It is the big ‘go to’ ride, meaning when you
go to White Water that’s the ride you want to go on. Everyone in the park wants
to go on it. It is so fast-paced and thrilling, but it also gives mixed feelings.
You’re so excited to go on it, but also you are pretty frightened by the fact
that you are on a cone shaped ride drifting up and down the walls.

Mrs. Park had gotten us Flash Passes so we
didn’t have to wait in line. Because as I said this is probably the most
popular ride so the line is VERY long. When time was up we all were walking
bravely over towards the ride. We grabbed a tube. Allie and I blurted, “Thanks”
to the person handing out the tubes and we walked towards the stairs. Once we
got there Chloe, Allie and I were so eager. We sang out “We are going to ride
the Tornado, and it rocks!” Well at least we were thinking that. I’m not so
sure our facial expressions gave that one away. When we had gotten half way up
the stairs I glanced at Lily and she was looking down. Oh great, she’s looking
down and we are up pretty high. Finally, Lily peeped, “Guys, I don’t want to do
this anymore. I really don’t, please, let’s just not go.”

Chloe complained,
“Really Lily? We are already up here!”

Allie shouted,
“Lily, come on, it’ll be fun!”

Lily shook her
head while a nice couple who had been helping us carry our tube (which was
double the size of us) said, “It’s okay and not as bad as you would think. We
have done this so many times I can’t count.”

Lily said, “Okay
guys, I’ll do it.” All three of us jumped up and down and hugged her.

I looked up, uh-oh, we were only three tubes
away.  The butterflies in my stomach
turned into cats trying to scratch their way out. I was having a huge bowl of
emotion soup. One minute I was so amazed and excited then the next I was trying
to find a way out of this. I finally blurted, “I’m so scared, are y’all sure we
should do it?” Well it was too late for any turn arounds  . . . we were up next. I bit my lip, looked
at my friends, and climbed in. The tube was actually comfy. All four of us
whined to life guard, “Do not put me backwards please, please, please I’m
begging you, put them backwards!” He just gave us an evil you’ll- thank- me-
later grin. Then I turned my head, that grin was for me, I was headed backwards
down a deathly slide, great.  At first
the slide just turned. I was thinking, oh this isn’t so bad. Then all of a
sudden my back was parallel with the ground. I was holding on so tight it would
have busted someone’s hand open in a heartbeat.
Once we got down the slide of terror, the tube drifted from side to side
up and down the curved wall. We were just drifting up and down, up and down. It’s
like time stopped but then it started again and fast. Plop, the water pushed us
out.

I sat there in
the tube and my mind went blank. Had we really just done it? Did we all make it
out alive? Did everyone like it, dislike it? Then I shook myself back to
reality and screamed, “Yeah I did it, I rode the tornado!” Chloe, Allie, and
Lily were all screaming remarks like me.

Then we all
looked at each other and our smiles were ear to ear big. We jumped out of the
tube and swam over towards the steps. There was a huge party going on in our
heads. We all hugged each other and were almost doubling over in joy. We were
all so overwhelmed we just kept talking about how breath-taking it was and
hugging each other.

Allie and I
blurted out at Lily, “We told you, we told you it was going to be awesome.” She
nodded and her smile was a mile long. We all made comments about the ride.

Allie shouted,
“That was so much fun! I want to go again!”
Chloe sang out,
“I did it, I love the Tornado!”                                                                                                       Lily
screeched, “Thanks guys for pushing me to do it. It was so awesome!”

I bellowed, “I’m
so happy that we did it. I can’t believe that we were scared.”

We walked
towards Mrs. Park and we were jumping up and down with joy. Mrs. Park exclaimed,
“Girls that was so scary looking! Did y’all have fun?”

We all spat out,
“Yes, totally, yeah it was awesome!”  We laughed,
smiled and thought about how amazing that was.

We
turned around looking at the people in line, nervously clenching their tubes and
excitedly telling each other that they weren’t afraid. Then we looked at the
people about to go, one or two tubes next, grabbing each other’s hands preparing
for the ride glad as they could be. Finally, we looked at the real thing,
people shooting out the slide plummeting towards the curved cone drifting up
and down, up and down, screaming with delight. Then, plop, they are shot out
before even realizing they are done.

I
mentioned, “Now that I think about it, I only remember two parts of that whole
ride. Being shot out the slide being parallel with the ground and one time we
went up the side of the cone.”

“Yeah, that was
so fast I only remember those two parts also,” laughed Chloe.                               Lily and Allie
both agreed that the Tornado was so fast but super awesome.

While
we walked back to the locker to get our stuff we shined with pride and glory,
WE DID IT! We wear so proud you might as well have thought we just won a Grammy!
We got our stuff from the lockers and sashayed over to the car. Chloe screamed,
“That was such a great birthday present! I love White Water so much!” We all
nodded and agreed with her. Then we all just busted out laughing while running
over to our car. Then we all hugged one last time and hopped in the car. Once
we pulled out we all of a sudden got quiet and turned around we just looked at
the park in awe. This place is AMAZING!