Highlights Of The School Year

The 2014-2015 school year is almost over. If you're like me, you're an 8th grader going into high school. Some of us are excited and happy to finally be going into high school. The others might be sad because we spent a lot of time in middle school and a lot of good memories were made. Although the school year isn't over yet, I thought that it would still be a good idea to talk about the good things to happened during the year so far.

The first month of school was exciting. My friends and I played volleyball. There was a lot of running in a sport that does not really require that much running. The practices starting during the summer. About a week before school started. Volleyball felt like it went on forever but it was about a month or two. School sports are always fun because it's a good time to socialize with others that you most likely don't talk to very often.

Top Places To Visit During Summer

Summer Break is almost here! It's almost time to break out your swim suit, stay in your pajamas all day, or do what ever it is that you do during summer break! If you're like me though, you're always looking for something to do during summer break. Face it, sitting on the couch and watching tv gets old. Something that I enjoy doing during the summer is going on summer trips. I never really go out of state though which is a little sad. There's still a bunch of things to do in Colorado though! Plus, I know a couple of things that you can do when you go out of state too.

Colorado may not seem like much but that's okay because like I said, there's still a lot more than you think here. Something that's fun that you can do is go camping. I love camping, but, if you're not an outdoor person, this isn't for you. If you don't know where to go camping at, look to west. What do you see? Mountains. And a lot of them too. There's national parks that will let you pith a tent. There's also camping grounds that they cleared out to make life a whole lot easier for you. Camping isn't staying in a cabin at a National Park. Oh no. Camping is pulling out the old tent, have fun campfires and creating new memories with your family! Don't be afraid if it would be your first time camping, it's actually really fun! However, the first thing that you want to do when you get home, is shower. You're in the wilderness, there is running water there. Unless you find a creak and bathe in that... Which probably isn't the best idea in the world. If you're worried about bears, don't be. You most likely won't run into one. If you do, don't scare it or it will attack you. I've never encountered a bear but there has been deer and raccoons. Not as scary.. Except for those raccoons.

Somewhere else that I recommend going for summer is Colorado Springs. There's a lot of fun things to do there. There's this place called "The Caves of the Wind." What is it? Well, they're caves, that are cold and windy. It could be a little scary but hey, you get a free flashlight! It's not meant for younger kids. I don't suggest taking a 2 year old in there. There's also this thing called "The 7 Falls." It's once again, what the name says. It's a place that has 7 waterfalls. You go up these rickety stairs while climbing up to each waterfall. You get super wet so take a raincoat! Be careful... It is slippery too. It's only cool when there's enough water going down to the stream that leads into the falls. I've also heard that if you make it to the 7th fall, there's a secret on down a path. It's small but it's there. Maybe. One last thing that I love to do when I go to Colorado Springs is going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It's like the Denver zoo but on the side of this mountain. It's also so big that you can take a ski lift up and to see the zoo and the city of Colorado Springs. It's really neat. It's about 3x the size of the Denver Zoo! I love it there! You can also feed the Giraffes. Something new, exciting and probably something that you haven't done before. They also have mountain lions. The glass is kind of slanted so they seem like they're walking on top of you. You have to go there yourself to know what it's like!

 Now for out of state ideas. I haven't been to any other state other than Kansas. There's nothing to see or do in Kansas so if you're looking for fun things to do, I don't recommend going there. This summer, I'm going to Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore. Yellowstone, in case you didn't know, is in Wyoming. Yellowstone is a national park so you most likely won't get any reception or wifi connection while you're there. So if you're planning on Facebooking every single day while you're on vacation, this probably isn't a good place for you to go. I wanted to go to see Old Faithful. Here's a quick fact about Old Faithful, it is one of the most easiest geysers to see when there. Park Rangers are able to easily predict when the geyser will erupt because of the fact that it's been erupting for the same regular fashion for the recorded history of the park. Did you know that Yellowstone National Park is caldera volcano meaning that it is a volcano under land. It can and most likely will explode. It's also a supervolcano. Basically meaning that when it explodes, it will be big. Colorado will get hit hard by this volcano. Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota. Everyone knows about it. It has our 4 founding fathers' faces engraved in it.

Friends

Honestly, I've been trying to avoid writing this blog. I want my  blogs to seem interesting and keep them fun to read. I don't know if people would like to hear about personal things but I'll give it a try...
Friends are good have. They're like you in almost every way! Or.. maybe they aren't. You'll still have your differences but you won't let that affect your friendship. Sometimes you guys will fight, and that's okay because what's a friendship with out a little disagreeing? I've had a lot of friends in my life and let me tell you, when I was younger, it was a lot easier to make friends than now. I used to know a lot of people and they used to know me too. I used to talk to more people than I do now. That ended when some of my "friends" started to make fun of me, they weren't what you would call, true friends.

I'll be honest, I still don't know how friendships work that well. They're kind is weird. You just find someone that you like and have things in common with and you just call them... well, your friend. I've learned some things in the past 14 years of my life about friends. This is what I've thought of when I think of friends-
Friends are people you can count on to be there for you. Bad break up? Don't cry to your pillow, call up that one person you can talk to about anything and tell them what's going. Things not going well at school? Talk to them, they'll help you. A friend is also someone who is going to honest to you. Let's say that you want to go shopping, you try something on and you ask them for their opinion and it looks bad, they aren't going to say "yep, that's the one!" Who would let their friend look bad? They would probably say "I don't think so."

A friend is also someone who you can trust. Got a deep dark secret? Trust them. If you're like me, you may have some trust issues but you can always tell that one person (or people depending if you have a group of friends.) Maybe you have a crush on someone who you know doesn't like you and you'll just DIE if anyone found out but you just need to tell someone. Maybe you've tried to write their name down 10000000 times hoping that just the thought of their name would finally end up disgusting you but sadly, Nothing works. Now what do you do? Sit there until you finally get them out of your mind? NOPE! You decide to tell your friend. You feel so much better! Funny thing about this scenario is, it's happened to a lot of people. And once you tell someone your secret, you get over them in a week!.. Maybe.

Another thing that I love to have friends around for is talking, about anything. You could be totally bored and the next thing you know, your friend calls you. ONce you start to talk to them, all of your problems seem to disappear. Maybe they know that you're stressed or having problems. They aren't going to bring those things up in a conversation. They want to give you space and when you really need the help, they'll know and can be there for you. They'll try to keep you distracted from the problem and they can do a darn good job at it that's for sure!

Everyone has a different opinion on what a friend should be and is. My opinion, shortened, is this. A friend is someone who will always be there. They're help you get through problems. They understand you. You know that you can trust them. Most of the time, you two don't even plan on meeting each other. It just kind of happens you know? All in all, a friend is someone who you can count on to be by your side think and thin. Those are the best kind of friends you can have.