Summer is finally over. I went to the pool a lot and did not think about anything, just kept my mind open. It felt like I could just relax or just sleep. On Monday, I played tennis and just had fun. No matches.

One thing I loved about this summer was not thinking about school. Some of the things I did included having a fun time seeing my cousins, traveling to California, Arizona and Las Vegas where I have never been to. It was so much fun I never wanted it to end. I want to go back to those places and have a year just for relaxing. I also went to Michigan. We go every year. My favorite part of this trip is hearing the waves and looking at the lake. It is so peaceful. It went so fast for 2 weeks. It is also fun seeing your cousins that you do not really see a lot.

I think I grew up in some ways. Now I am 13 and starting Junior High and a new adventure. I don't know what else to say about that right now, but more to come in future posts!
Annie B, age 13

Another Summer Afternoon

This afternoon, I'm going to the pool with a new friend from last year. She invited me to come with her today to the club. We belong to the same club. We are going to swim, play some ball and have a fun time. I think we will stay until it closes and that is 8:00. We will probably eat there. The snack bar is not so good so sometimes I eat before I go. I like their French fires and ice cream treats.

Toms update

News flash! I got new shoes again! I saw these shoes a couple of weeks ago and I wanted them so bad but the store did not have them in stock. I was so sad they did not have them in my shoe size. The shoe salesman said we can get them from a different store. So we ordered them and they came yesterday. I was so happy I am still speechless. i plan to wear them the first day of school. If it kinda gets cold I would wear them with my new jeans.

My Shopping Adventure

I got a new necklace yesterday when I was shopping. I went to a big shopping center near my house with couple of my friends. We started the day with a big department store. We headed to the accessory department and I found this necklace. It is a butterfly with blue stones.






I also bought these shoes called Toms. I love these because they are so comfy and for a good cause. This company called Toms gives shoes to people who don't have a pair of shoes and cant afford them. Some live in Africa.I also like the sparkles. They also come with a bag and it says Toms on it.






The other thing I did was to get more feathers in my hair. I picked two pinks and one thick purple.
We ate lunch at Potbellys. I had a pizza sandwich. I had a blast!

Ship Wrecked

Something bad happened. I went on the boat and it died out. I was stuck on the lake. My mom and dad were with me. My Dad was driving and it just stopped. My dad was in the water so the boat did not hit the shore and ruin the boat. My mom called the marina and it came to get us after one hour. They could not start the boat either.

We got towed back to the marina. It took 50 minutes. My mom had a cell phone which was good. I maybe will not go on the boat again.

Room with a View Again

This is what I woke up to. It was so beautiful. I am going swimming today off the dock. I played in the water yesterday. The water is kinda cold. The water is super low and I can stand at the end of the dock. Have not seen any crawfish yet.

You Won't Believe What Happened!

I was floating on the tube and getting some sun and just relaxing and my mom said there is a huge fish! It was like 2 feet long and it was black and it was swimming right under my tube. I got so scared I wanted to get off the tube.

My Travels

This is our house. We go here every summer with my grandparents. My bedroom faces out to the water. I can sleep here really late because it is so quiet. I like to bike ride and play tennis. And I also like to go out to dinner.

The Weekend Before I Go!

Today I went to look for dry ice. It was hard to find. I went to all the big stores but they didn't carry dry ice. My grandfather likes peach ice cream. We saw some so we bought some and it is a limited edition flavor which means it is only sold in the summer months. It is eight hours to our destination, so we need dry ice.
Maybe our local ice cream shop will have it.

Good Wishes

I wish my friend and her family good prayers and good thoughts. I hope he gets better soon. I am so sad this happened.

Tennis Update

This has been a great week for tennis. I really like practicing before the match.
I got award for a good sportimship. I was very happy it I never thought that I would get anything. I did not get one last week about then I get this week it is my very first award I am so happy for myself. I hope to get this week one but you never know. I am still speech less. From tting one. I hope two this week that would be awesome.

Pedi Potential

It's almost time for getting my nails done. My favorite of getting a pedi is when they massage your feet. I feel like a princess when they massage ; it feels so good! I am thinking of a fun summer color. Something that makes me think summer is still here because I start school so early. Something bright like the sun. Some people get their nails dressed in blue, green, yellow and orange. I think that is kind of strange because it is not classy. Probably I will get pink or red for my next pedicure. I can't wait ! Usually my mom has nothing on her nails so she might get her nails done too.

Catching Up

It's been a week since I have had the time to write anything! Sorry peeps, I was not updating my posts. After I go on vacation, I will go on a post streak ! I have played a lot of tennis this past week. So what else have I been doing? Well, my brother made some dinner last week. It was really good and I loved the dessert. It was ice cream that was my favorite brand. Dinner was a chimichurri; it has steak and sauce and you eat them with a fork. The sauce is kind of thick and you put it around the steak. YUMMY! I have not seen my friends for a little while. I can't have free time because I am playing tennis all the time. It's ok for now. I have to wake up early for tennis- at 8:00 instead of 10:00. It's still sleeping in but not as good. My cousins went to camp last week for 4 weeks. I feel sad because now we cannot go over and have fun. But the oldest is coming back from a school trip to Mexico that lasted a month. We are going on Sunday to see him on his rooftop that was redone. Also, last week I noticed something was on the bottom of my feet. I am starting to get blisters but it does not hurt when I play tennis.

Will it ever cool down? Last week was not so hot. In this picture above I am wearing a tennis outfit for Hawaiian day. I had to wear something Hawaiian. Everybody forgot except the teacher. I gave the teacher some lais in my bag for them and said Welcome to Hawaii. When I got there my neck stared to get hot wire from the sweat, so I had to take them off. Tennis has been fun and very hot at the same time. My backhand is getting a lot better. I would never give up playing tennis even in this heat.

Sometimes I don't know to write about. I just want to get a post out. Others times I know what to write about. I feel like a writer. But know I feel something is holding me back. When I try to write I feel like I am in a deep hole. My best way to get out is to dig out like a shovel and now from typing I am out of the hole. If I had the energy I would write about tennis.

What Time is it? Tennis Time!

Today I had 5 hours of tennis. That is 23 hours of tennis a week in my book! People say it is a lot and I say, not really. Tennis is my favorite sport and I don't care how long it is- 24 or even 25 hours. I just like having fun. At the beginning of the the day of tennis I have 9-12 and then 2-4. In that gap, I have lunch. My favorite stroke is my forehand. My volleys are getting better, This week I started getting better because we were doing volleys. I am still scared of the ball when I am at the net. You saw a couple posts ago that I was playing a tennis match? I am going to play a match this Friday. I am excited!

So last Friday I played my first tennis game. I lost 2 and won one. I felt really disappointed but know I know I have to try even harder than before. I was nervous at all the games. I get nervous about a lot of stuff; I don't know why!! The sun was super strong and I forgot to put sun screen on- that is a big no-no in our family. Each time when I served, the sun was in my eye. When I tried to serve once, it got in and I was really happy. I wish I had my hat and sunglasses because it was so bright. It felt so much harder than a practice. In practice I felt really good but in the match I felt not as good as I was in practice. That made me think I was losing myself but sometimes there was a weird topspin on the ball and I could not hit it. When it bounces, it goes a differnt place than you think. You are right there and then the ball goes wacky on you. I guess I just need more practice and to believe in my heart that I can do anything.

Match Point

So, now that I am awake, I am thinking about tennis. At 2:00 today I have a tennis match. I am kind of nervous and excited. I feel really proud of my game but about my serve...sometimes I double fault and that is embarrassing. There is a pink tennis dress that I love that I am wearing. My first match of the season...I hope it is going to be a good one!

Sleeping Beauty

I am so tired this morning. Last night I went to bad late. I had so much fun talking to my brother. We were talking about texting. I was annoyed that every few seconds I will here the ding from his phone. When he got the text I would say Is that Courtney again? He said yes and then I said If you don't want me to know that she is texting to you turn off the noise! Then we stared yelling at each other about something stupid. We have a secret signal. It looks like we are doing raspberrys. It cracks me up when we play like this. I wish I didn't go to bed so late. it is getting to be a habit.

Got this t shirt on the last day. It will remind of my trip.:-) Now i am home back to a normal life.

In and Out

Here is In and Out Burger Logo. We went there because we knew that we had to try it and get T-shirts for the family. The wait was really long; it was only kind of worth the wait. I tried the french fries and they weren't really salty the way I like them. I don't really know why this is so popular!! Even though I don't really like Taco Bell or KFC, I still like them better than these burgers and fries.

Room with a View

If you look hard enough you will see the Ocean just beyondgthe two umbrellas and there it is. This is the hotels pool. It was nice and cool on a hot day. We went to California because my Aunt said lets go to on a road trip. We stayed here for five or four days and it went so fast. My room had like a lake house feel to it. because it was on the ocean. My Aunt and my mom, and me all stayed in one room. I slept on the cot and my aunt and my mom slept on their beds.

It was fun checking out the gift shop. Just saying there was a lot of handsome people for people watching.

Sand Through My Toes

My mom said that I look like a 60's girl! After I look at it, I really do! This is me with my Aunt Kacha. We were on the beach on Santa Monica Pier Beach and it was phenomenal. We saw crabs going all over and it smelled so sea-weedish. The water was freezing cold - I thought it would be warm because it is the Pacific Ocean. This was the second day of the trip to California; we shopped a lot and got cute clothes.

Pawn Stars

This is me with my cousin we were at the gold in silver pawn shop in Las Vegas Nevada. Where the pawn stars is filmed. There was none of them who were on tv. They film on Mondays and Fridays. I went on Sunday I got a t shirt that said gold and sliver pawn shop. This Coca Cola machine was on the show. It is the most wachted show on cable.

New Rocks and New Friends

This is me in Bryce- think that is how to spell it...We stopped to see the art work of the rocks in Bryce. Rachael is in the red shirt- she is from Hong Kong. I met her by the bus trip that we were doing. Julia is in the white shirt. She is from Alabama. I like meeting new people because it makes the trip more fun.

Feel the Heat

I feel happy and hot; Remember this is Arizona ! It gets really hot!! I felt like the day was never going to end because it was so hot but it was beautiful. It is worth the heat.:D

Early Morning at the Canyon

This is me at the Grand Canyon. We were looking `down at the Grand Canyon. We woke up extra early to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful when the sun came up over the rocks. It was like a magical dream. When we woke up there was a lot of people watching what we were watching. It was crowded but it was worth it!

Just Saying...

I was on the Jcrew website just looking under handbags and this one came up. I was like I need that bag... I have to have it! All my friends know that I collect any kinds of handbags and this is the best of all. I am going to ask all my friends , Can you please give this to me for an early Xmas? It only costs 148 bucks that is pretty cheap. Just joking! That is a lot. :D :D

Giddy Up

I just got back from a trip with my grandma to Arizona, Utah and Las Vegas. We went riding, At first I didn't want to get on Sweet pea, because he was moving a lot and I felt like I was going to be tipped off. I was wondering if there was a rattle snake near the horse and if the horse will get spooked. The cowboy said he saw a rattle snake when he was riding early that day. He was out riding at 4 am and we were riding at 8 am. After i got on i did not want to get off Sweet pea :D. I felt like a cowgirl who was living in the Midwest in the 1800s. If you look closely there is my grandma in the background. Even my grandma was scared to death. She was just saying O my gosh all the time we were on the horse. I cant wait to go on a horse again.

Today I saw a buffalo. It was so cool-I never thought I will see a buffalo especially in Michigan just off the highway on a farm. It was brown and had long hair. My mom said it was a cow, but she looked again and said it really was a buffalo! We were near the town of New Buffalo.

Best Pals

This is me with my brother. We are at a soccer tournament. It took 4
hours to get here. My brother is getting his gear ready for first
game. I am going to check out the pool:)

Back in Black

Hi. I just got back from tennis. I had a great time and I love the sport.
It felt that my backhand is getting a lot better :)It was kind of hot out and I wish that I had brought my sunglasses. I was looking good in my new tennis outfit!

Can You Believe This?

Guess who came to my house JUSTIN BIEBER. I felt weird that he knows where I live .

My First Post

Hi this is Annie this was taken by my friend Julie we love to write together :) I just got out of school on Tuesday so I am happy is finally summer :) :D