Sick Day!

Today I realized it was Friday and time for my weekly blog post but then I realized that there was one ity bity problem… I had done nothing this week that was interesting and I definitely wasn’t doing anything today that was productive or interesting. So instead I am writing about my day off school, laying in bed trying hoping I wouldn’t be sick all weekend.

I woke up and started to get ready for school even though I felt kind of sick and then my mom saw me and asked if I wanted to stay in bed for the day and rest and that meant a day off school so I said “okay” and got my pajamas back on and jumped into bed as fast as I could. Of course, like everyone who stays in bed for a day, I watched One Tree Hill on netflix while going in and out of naps.

I forgot about the lunch I had with my aunt, Andrea, and my cousin, Bella. As much as I wanted to stay in bed I had to get up and go to lunch for just an hour. I asked my  mom if I didn’t have to go but she told me that it would be good for me to get up and get some fresh air for a little bit. So I threw on some comfy clothes and dragged myself to the car and then to lunch.

Well I hate to admit it but my mom was right. Lunch was fun and it felt good to get out of bed for a little bit. We all went to the Shop and it was delicious! I got the brutus salad, I hadn’t been to the Shop to eat lunch for a while so I forgot how good it was. After lunch, I dropped my cousin off at school and I got back into bed and slept for the rest of the day.

So yea, being sick is very far from   fun but it happens.

West Camino Cielo

Yesterday my dad, brother, FatG, and I all went on an adventure in my dad’s jeep. It is a 1986 jeep. We drove up around 4 and got home at 7 ish. After school we all met at my dad’s house and packed up some snacks and then we were off! 

 PSA: Driving in the jeep is the equivalent to driving through a wind tunnel so my hair turned into a huge not.

Anyways during the drive up the pass we were listening to music and it was windy but it was still hot out so we weren’t that cold. Then we turned left onto West Camino Cielo we drove all the way past the water tower and hit a dirt road. Then it was time for off roading!! 

 My dad drove for a while and took us up and down some pretty steep hills which was scary for me but all the guys were having a bunch of fun. The road we were on went all the way to Refugio Beach so we drove along it FOREVER. After a while my dad let my brother and FatG drive, I didn’t want to (but I recommend trying it sometime because I have and it’s super fun). 

 We finally hit another paved road after a few hours which was soooo nice. Then my brother asked if we could go look at Refugio Beach so we made a little pit stop there. Btw Refugio Beach is a beautiful place to camp so you should go check it out sometime.

After that we jumped on the freeway and headed home. I couldn’t tell you the rest of the drive home because I fell asleep on my friends lap during the drive home. 

 But I can tell you that when we got home we were all covered in dirt and ready to shower ASAP. Plus I was tired and ready to go to sleep!! 

Sunsets and Hammocks

Yes this week is another sunset post! But this time it’s at butterfly. I din’t do much this week and this was the only thing I had to write about. Anyways, I was at my house and had just finished homework when my friends Bella and Grace texted me asking if I wanted to watch the sunset. So I went to meet them at butterfly wall. Our friends Nico and FatG (Carlos) came to meet us too because they were at home bored. 

 When FatG and Nico got there started to set up these two hammocks that they brought. It took them forever!! We kept telling them that by the time they set them up and got comfortable, but they didn’t listen. Bella, Grace, and I just sat on the wall and watched the sunset while dumb and dumber were struggling behind us. The sunset was super pretty but it was really cold but we didn’t mind. The sun started to slowly set while our friends were slowly setting up the hammocks. We all had fun watching them set it up because it was pretty funny how much they were struggling. After a while they figured it out though. Finally they got settled in their hammocks which also took a while because Nico had to stand on FatG to get into his. They didn’t really think anything out that well. 

 Bella, Grace, and I were just laughing the whole time and taking videos and trying to watch the sunset. We all watched the last few minutes of the sunset in peace and then we heard Nico say “We basically missed the sunset” which we had already told him was going to happen. Then when it got dark we took the hammocks down, they were up for about fifteen minutes so I really don’t understand why they wasted time setting them up, and headed home. 

 Overall it wasn’t the best sunset but I was all my close friends so we made the best of it! You should go watch a sunset with your friends soon 🙂 
 

Mammoth Mountain

This spring break I went on a six day trip to Mammoth with my dads side of the family. There was ten of us in all: my grandpa, grandma, Charlie, Jen, Bella, Julia, Liliana, my dad, brother, and me. You could say it was somewhat chaotic, there was a lot of peoplein one house. I got yelled at a few times and got mad at others a few times… but that’s family.

Day one: The first day was all driving. We left Santa Barbara at four after I got off of work. It was a later start then we usually get but it was okay. Liliana, Julia, Billy (my brother) and my dad (and obviously me) were in my dads car, the rest of the family was already in Mammoth. We got there around 11:30 and we were all so tired and when we got there but we had to unpack the car. We did that as fast as possible and we were in bed by 12:15 and excited for the next day.

Day two: The whole family woke up early and were ready to ski/snowboard. Jen (my aunt) made us a huge breakfast that was delicious. She made us eggs and toast and cut up some fruit and coffee. We all ate and then got ready for the day. The first day was cold so we had to wear a lot of layers. Most of the family went skiing/snowboarding but my grandparents and Jen stayed behind. When we got to the mountain we were all super excited and ready to go. Since everyone in my family is at different levels we all took Canyon Express for our first run because it is an easy run and everyone could handle it. Bella was learning… more like teaching herself how to snowboard this trip and Liliana is a beginner at skiing so they stayed on Canyon Express and Schoolyard. My dad, Billy, Julia, Charlie, and me all went off and did some more difficult runs though. Then we all met up for lunch. After lunch some of us went home because we were tired. And by 5 everyone was home and it was time for dinner.

Day three and four: They were pretty much the same as day two, It was snowing and cold and we needed a lot of layers. However they were somewhat different because Bella was able to go on the more difficult runs with the family and Liliana was getting lessons so she could ski with us on the last day. We also were able to meet up with our friends from SB which was fun. When we got back to where we were staying all the kids would go to the hot tub while the parents made dinner. After dinner we played charades, which my family gets very competitive about. And then it was off to bed.

Day five: It was our last day of skiing/snowboarding. Day five was different though because it was super hot. Very few layers were necessary, we were all just in snow pants and a sweatshirt. On the last day we met up with all of our friends that were up there and it was super fun. The only thing that was a bummer about the last day was that all of our faces got super sunburnt and by the end of the day the snow was pretty much all slush. Then it was back to where we were staying for a big family dinner and to pack so we could leave the next morning.

Day six: We woke up at 8 and it was time to pack up the cars and hit the road. My friend Matty, one of the people we met up with in Mammoth was driving home with us so we also had to go pick him up. We all went to the Stove for breakfast and then we were off! Our only pit stop on the way home was Convict Lake which was a quick stop and very pretty. The rest is pretty boring… just driving nothing special.

Spring break was a success and very memorable!

  

Windy Sunset

Last night I picked up my friend Gabe we didn’t have any plans so we decided why not go watch the sunset? We drove up to the water tower on East Camino Cielo. The drive up was gorgeous, the mountains were purple and everything was somewhat orange.

When we got there I went to open my door and I found that it was a bit more difficult than usual because I was fighting the wind. When we got out of the car the wind was extremely strong, we could lean into without falling over. Then I was freezing and just wanted to get back into the car because I didn’t really care about missing the sunset at that point.

But my friend Gabe told me to stay because it was really pretty. Then I remembered the blanket that I had in my trunk but the only problem was that it was difficult to keep a hold of it while I was climbing the ladder on the water tower. Finally me and him were on the water tower and I tried to wrap the blanket around me. That didn’t go well… at all! I got pulled forward and all I wanted to do was be warm and watch a sunset. My friend was laughing at me as he watched me struggle but I din’t find it that funny.

Finally I got the blanket somewhat wrapped around me an then we sat there and enjoyed part of the sunset. But me, being the whimp that I am when I’m cold, went back to the car before the sun fully set. When Gabe got to the car he saw that I was taking a nap and that I was all bundled up in my blanket.

At last, it was time to go home! It was nice being in the car with the heater and I was actually able to enjoy the rest of the sunset on the drive down. It was much more enjoyable with the heater by the way.

If you ever have time I recommend going somewhere with a view over your town to watch the sunset, and try to bring a friend!

Catalina

Avalon, Catalina.

Across the channel there is an island called Catalina. There is a cute, small town called Avalon that my family and I visit every summer for about a week.

It is a very touristy place. Fairies are always coming and going and there are a bunch of tourist activities. There is zip lining, submarines, parasailing, diving, ghost tours, golf cart tours, mini golfing and so much more. My family’s favorite things to do are zip line, mini golf, and of course we always go on a golf cart tour. However, the golf cart torus we go on every year so they are kinda boring now but we still do it because it is somewhat a tradition.

Along with all the tourist activities we do while we are there we also spend a lot of time on the boat tanning and swimming around. I usually tan until I get super hot and then jump in and swim around for a few minutes and that get back out to tan.

In Catalina we usually eat breakfast and lunch on the boat and then go into town for dinner. There is only a few restaurants there but we go to the same ones pretty much every time. The parents have usually had a few drinks and are pretty amusing to watch when we go out.

One time my dad and uncle were just “buzzed” and we went to get dinner and they were talking extremely loud so me, my cousin Bella, and my best friend Emma were laughing so hard and could barley breath. We were mostly laughing out of embarrassment.

After dinner it is back to the boat and time for a movie and then to bed. Usually it takes a while to chose a movie but we always end up picking Star Wars, I have no idea why. The best part is we always start it from the beginning and fall asleep in 45 minutes so I basically have the first 45 minutes of the movie memorized.

Overall going to Catalina is super fun and if you have time I highly recommend getting a ticket for a fairy and going to visit for a while.

Painted Cave

Painted Cave. Terrifying.

My two friends Sofia and Maia went with me, my dad, and Ingo into painted cave. It was an interesting adventure to say the least. My friend Sofia and I are one hundred percent horrified of seals, when we see seals we freak out. So my dad takes all of us into painted cave in the skiff that he has. Right as you enter you can hear all the seals that are in the cave and so me and Sofia curled up into the smallest balls we could and sat on the floor. As you go deeper into the cave it gets darker, smaller, and the seals get louder. At one point me and Sofia were begging to go back to the boat but no. Everyone else thought it was so amusing to watch us freak out. So after continually screaming and freaking out for about ten minutes we finally got my dad to turn around.

Me and Sofia were relieved and my friend Maia thought it was hilarious to watch us. As we are heading out of Painted Cave I thought about how scary it would be to swim out so I said “Do you think anyone would ever swim out of here?”

My dad’s friend Ingo looked at me and said “Can you hold my drink for a second?” So I grabbed his cup and suddenly: SPLASH! Ummmm? He had just jumped into the water with all the seals and laughed and started swimming out towards the boat. I looked at my dad and then Sofia and then Maia completely shocked at what I had just seen. I thought only a crazy person would do that because that is terrifying.

All I knew was I was staying the skiff and there was absolutely no way that I was going to even put a finger in the water. So after what seemed like forever we were finally about three quarters of the way out of the cave and my dad turned off the engine. I turned around quickly and he told me that the engine failed so we were stuck. Then he started to giggle and said he was kidding. It was not funny.

Moral of the story is there are to many seals in Painted Cave and it was not enjoyable for me and my friend Sofia and neither of us are going back in it anytime soon.

Castillo Ranch

Me, my brother, my mom and my friend all went up to my mom’s boyfriends house to get away from Santa Barbara but not to far away. We drove up around 12 and when we got there we had to do a few chores but then we could do whatever we wanted.

When we first go there we had to feed the two dogs (Casey and Gunner), the cat (Pounce), and the two horses (Rocky and Hershey). After that we wanted to drive around the ranch. There was a small problem though, the Mule didn’t have any gas so we drove into town to get some. The ranch is by Los Alamos and the town is very small compared to Santa Barbara. After getting gas we drove through part of the town and got a late lunch at Charlie’s. Charlie’s is a small diner-ish spot but it is super delicious. Once we were finished we made our way back.

The Mule was full and it was time to adventure. My friend drove around and we went all over the ranch which took a few hours because the ranch is pretty big. We drove to the top of a hill that overlooked the house and it was gorgeous.

As we were driving we saw the two super cross tracks that are on the ranch and the red bull track. Then we drove by all the cows which scared me because cows are big and the ones on the ranch aren’t scared of people so they won’t move. They are really nice because they are used to people bringing them food so that’s the only reason they stand there and stare at you, but still its scary. Finally we had driven all around and the sun was starting to set so we started making our way back to the house.

My mom asked us what we wanted to do for dinner but none of us knew so we all looked at her until she started giving us ideas. She said about ten different places and then it was decided, Dos Carlitos. It was about a twenty minute drive and then a late dinner. Then back to the ranch, by the time we got home is was nine and we were all really tired so we all jumped into bed and fell asleep pretty fast.

Butterfly Beach

January 18. My friends, Grace, Bella, and I were driving around aimlessly and couldn’t figure out what to do. After about a half an hour of driving I turn around and say “Do you guys want to go jump in the water at butterfly beach?” They both looked at me like I was crazy because it was freezing outside, it was raining, and it was the middle of the winter. Finally after a few second Bella looks at me and says “YES!” Then we both looked at grace waiting for her answer. Finally it was unanimous, we were going to jump in.

We all went and got bathing suits and threw on sweatshirt. Off to the beach! We get there and after we park we all sat there thinking about how cold it was going to be. Finally Bella says “Well what are we waiting for?” Grace replies “I don’t know lets just go.”

We all jump out of the car and run down to the beach. Its raining and I was already shivering. I kinda stood back and hesitated but Bella and Grace both grabbed my hands and we all ran into together. I ran and jumped under the first wave and my body was numb. After being in the water for a few minutes Grace, Bella, and I were floating around. Then we ready to go get in a hot tub… ASAP!

But first, PICTURES!!! We didn’t spend to much time taking pictures because it started to rain again. So we ran to my car and turned the car on as fast I could and then the heater. All of us were shivering and wrapped in our towels overly excited about the heater. After warming up we all went to my moms to jump in the hot tub.Right when we got to my house I jumped in the hot tub and it felt like pins and needles poking me everywhere because I was still cold. Bella, Grace and I all sat in the hot tub for a little bit and then we went inside and told my mom about our little adventure. My mom thought we were crazy and we agreed.

It was fun but I ended up getting sick which wasn’t so fun. If you have time you should go run into the ocean some friends!