4 Wheels 4 Girls

August 28th, we were hanging out at Crissy’s lake house, and decided it was time for a game of Monopoly. Crissy got the game down for us and Greta set it up. She’s always the banker, because she’s the oldest, and just because she’s the only one that likes to be the banker. Emily is Jean’s friend, Amy’s, daughter. Emily, Ana, Ellie, and me were just normal players. So was Greta, but she was the banker, too. So we got ready and finally started. We played for what seemed like forever, and then when we finished, we counted up our money. Wow! I had 1,206 dollars! That was the most I had ever had! And usually, when I play Monopoly, I go in dept. But this time…
I WON!

August 25th, we were planning to go out on Mike and Lisa’s new boat. Suddenly, like two hours before we left, Ellie got sick. So she decided to not come. But that didn’t keep us from going.

We wanted to get some exercise so we rode our bikes down to the marina where the boat was. It was a nice ride. We finally made it and I hopped off my bike. I spotted Lisa and I ran over. Then everyone finally came and Mike showed us the boat. Wow! It was really nice! There were four pink deck chairs that were sitting on the flat boat. Then there was a roof kind of thing and that’s where the driver sat. There was also two booths in the back under the cover/roof thing. There was a cooler in the back, too. I plopped down on on of the pink deck chairs and we started moving.

Heading up the Mississippi on the pontoon boat

It was pretty slow going, but that was good, because it meant we’d have a long way back. Then I noticed Dad and Mike getting out a big container. I peeked inside and there were crackers, slices of summer sausage, and cheese curds. Then Mike brought out two bags of sliced cheese: one cheddar, ( which I LOVE) and the other bacon somethin’ somethin’ somethin’ somethin’, as Mike called it. Hahaha! Well, he also brought out two different kinds of crackers and then a different kind of sliced sausage! I made a cracker with cheddar cheese and sausage and it was delicious! We rode around on the boat and stopped at the sandbar to feel the water and play in the sand.

Sinking into the sandbar

Then we left and rode around more. We got a call from Cassie, Mike and Lisa’s daughter that’s 23, and she said she’d like to come out and join us. So we picked her up and went a little longer. We went to see some lily pads and they were really pretty, especially against the sunset. That was where Mike had gotten stuck a few days before.

We spotted a bald eagle hanging out on one of the islands in the river

Finally, we had to head back. We said bye and hopped on our bikes. On our way home, we saw lots of bats. One flew right into Dad’s face. Then one flew into mine. I was disappointed when we had to go inside and leave the bats, but we had made it home.

August 14th, Dad and I were kind of bored, so we decided to go out for a bike ride. First we went down to Mike and Lisa’s house down by the river. We stopped to say hi, but then a ton of teenage boys came by so Dad and I moved on. Dad suggested the Blackhawk Bridge, the one that the second you are across, you’re in Wisconsin. At first I was a little too scared, since we drive across it a lot and it goes over water from really high up. And you can see right through the bottom of the bridge because it’s made of metal bars. But I said I’d give it a try. So we started across. Dad said, “Whatever you do, don’t stop. You can’t stop.” So I didn’t stop. I stared straight ahead and tried to concentrate on the road ahead of me, but once I accidentally looked down. To my surprise, it wasn’t scary, just cool. And for the rest of the bridge, I was confident. Finally we made it across. We were in Wisconsin! I had never biked to Wisconsin before! Hahaha!

We made it back across the bridge and Dad decided it was a good time for a treat. We stopped at the Skinny Dip and we both got chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cones. They were delicious. Thanks, Dad!

Eventually, we had to head home. But I had a nice ride with Dad. Thanks again!

August 12th, we were at Fish Days, hurrying after dinner to get over to the tractor pull, the activity for the night. When I saw what we were going to have to do, I told our parents that I didn’t want to do it. But guess what? They made me. There were tons of little kids, and not very many kids my age. The only kid I saw that I knew my age was a girl that was in my class named Nicki. That’s who I mostly hung out with on Fish Days besides another girl named Annie. She had done the tractor pull before but she didn’t do it that time. Which left me alone with Nicki. I looked around some more and Dad pointed to a trailer on the back of a truck, filled with different colored and sized mini tractors. My mouth hung open at them as I realized I’d have to ride one of those things and look like I’m struggling because Dad told me there’s a weight on the back that gets heavier as you peddle. And they were teeny! I mean, this was going to be a total embarrassment to look like I’m trying. I didn’t want to seem like I was determined, because then people would think I’m a showoff, but I didn’t want people thinking I’m weak, either. It was SO embarrassing! Well, I had to do it, so I did.

Ana at the Fish Days tractor pull

Finally, I did it and it was over with. The point was to get as far as you could without stopping. And I actually made it pretty far. My aunt and uncle congratulated us by getting us ice cream. Yum! Suddenly, a bunch of my friends that didn’t do the tractor pull but were watching ran up to me yelling my name. I was so confused at first but understood when they told me I’d won. I was given a trophy and my picture was taken. I guess it wasn’t so bad after all!

I won a trophy?!

August 7th, my parents announced that I would be going off to some camp for middle school girls. I was like, What? At the last minute, you’re just telling me about a random camp that you signed me up for without even telling me? And now you’re saying I have to go? Well, if I was mad, I certainly wasn’t when we got to camp.

I had packed a bag of clothes, my swimsuit, a sleeping bag, and a pillow for the overnight camp. When we pulled in to Lonnings Landing, (which was where the camp was) I spotted a sign that said,
GIRLS 2 B GIRLS THIS WAY
And there was an arrow pointing right. Jean and Dad said bye to me and Greta and dropped us off by the sign. We followed the arrow, carrying all our bags. I was really nervous, but I faced my fears and went up to the woman with blonde hair to sign in. I saw all the other girls heading over to the pavilion, which was where I was. There were about 30 of them. The woman told Greta and me to put our bags over by the picnic tables, so we found a spot and plopped them down. Then another lady told me and Greta numbers and pointed to which table to sit at. I sat down next to a girl that I recognized… Who was she? Oh! I knew her because she was my third or fourth cousin! I said hi to everyone at my table, and I felt really stupid because I felt like everyone already knew each-other since Jean and Dad had taken us an hour late.

Then a counselor passed out two starbursts to each person, and then handed every table a card. We looked at the card. It had little colored squares; each a color of a starburst! By each color square was a question. Then I understood the game completely. I had a red and a pink starburst. So that meant that I had to answer the questions by the pink and red squares.

That's me up on top, about to jump on my beach ball

I got used to everyone and made lots of friends. We did all kinds of fun things like tubing, swimming in a lake and jumping off a platform into the 16 feet deep water, eating, watching movies, roasting marshmallows by the fire, hanging out, listening to cool, healthy music, making homemade ice cream, and lots of inspiring activities for girls. I had a great time with my friends, and the next day, when it was time to leave, I was really disappointed that it couldn’t go on longer. I had my friends sign my shirt that I had painted a few hours before, and one of the counselors passed out CDs with the girl music that we had been listening to for the camp. Another counselor passed out sheets of paper with information about a different girls camp. Then another counselor gave us each a silver and red beach-ball.

I had the funnest time ever! I am so going back next year!

Saturday, August 6th, the first day we were in Lansing, we left Grandma’s house to head out to the Lansing Pool on our bikes. It wasn’t that far; last summer, the year before, and the year before that, every day, my sisters and I would ride our bikes up to the pool. It’s only, like, a mile.

So anyway, we slipped our swimsuits on, gathered our towels and clothes for after the pool, went outside and into the back garage, pulled on our helmets, and were off to the pool! It’s all uphill to the pool and all downhill back. I like that because we’re so tired on the way up, which makes the pool feel better, and then after swimming, we’re kind of exhausted from all the exercise, so it’s nice to have some relaxing time on the way home.

Cooling off in the pool

So we finally made it up to the pool and I took off my helmet as fast as I could so I could jump in the pool. It’s very unlike me to jump in instead of walk in slowly, but I was so hot! I didn’t even bother to put my hair in a ponytail; just plopped right in. It was freezing and I kind of wanted to shriek, but it felt so good that I didn’t. I waved to my sisters to get in and they followed me into the water. I ducked my head under and shot through the water, trying to get used to the temperature. I came up and shouted, “I was the first one under!”

Hanging out with our cousin, Abby

Then I noticed my cousin, Abby, sitting in the red lifeguard chair with a long, red, floaty lifeguard equipment thingy. Abby was on duty today! We walked over and said hi. (We would have ran, but at the pool, if you want the whistle blown at you, all you have to do is run.)

We played until it got cold. Then we hopped out, showered, and started home. It was nice going there again!

Playing games at the Lansing Pool

August 5th, once we were in Iowa, Aunt Rose told us that that night, we’d go out to dinner. We didn’t know where we were going until we got there. We were in a little town called Rossville. The town really was teeny, and the only restaurant was a little fried fish place called the “Ol’ Rossville Store”. Which is where we ate.

When we pulled in to Rossville, I saw that the restaurant was packed. We had to drive around the parking lot twice to try to find a spot. Finally, we found one, and we hopped out and headed for the building. I had rode out to Rossville with Aunt Barb, and since Jean wasn’t with us, she told me that we were here as a surprise party for Jean. I hadn’t known that before!

We stepped into the restaurant and I saw Jean behind me. Yes! I couldn’t wait to see her face when she realized this was all for her! She came up beside me.
“Hi, Jean,” I said, trying not to sound excited.
“Hello, Stella!–” she started, but was interrupted when we stepped into the party room by a huge, “SURPRISE! Happy birthday, Jean!”
Jean’s face went first to confusion, next to joy, and then she started laughing and crying and she hugged everyone and said, “Oh, guys! You didn’t have to– oh, wow.”

Enjoying a surprise birthday party

I said hi to everyone. All of Jean’s brothers and sisters were there, which is a lot. She has three brothers, Gary, Mike, and Greg, and four sisters, Mary, Rose, Barb, and Janice. All of them have husbands and wives except for Barb and Janice, who both once had husbands but got divorced. So then I have Lisa, Fay, and Kim, and then I have Mark and Bob. So there were a lot of people there, including our family, which has six people. And Greg and Fay have a little boy that’s my cousin that was there named Thurgood, AND there was Grandma. SO…

I ordered the special, which was fried cod fish with tarter sauce. It was good, but I couldn’t finish it because I filled up on the salad bar. (And, but don’t tell, the fruit jello.) So I took my leftovers home. Jean got a few presents, and she got great cards with things like, “Wait, why did I come in to this room?” and “Where did I put the phone?” when the 50-year-old lady in the picture had it in her hand. They were really funny, and, thankfully, Jean though they were funny, too.

I had a great dinner, and plan on having it again (by my leftovers) some day soon!

August 3rd, after hanging out at Aunt Rose’s house, we went with Janice to see her new house. It was fun because it was like seeing a… Well, it was a new place! She showed us all the rooms. There was even a play room for kids! After we got a tour of the house, Janice gave our family two bags of cantaloupe for the road. Thanks Janice!

August 1st, we arrived in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was pretty late, and we had to go to the horse back riding place to make reservations for the next morning. After we did all that, we headed back to the main part of the park to go to our campground, but on the way, we saw three herds of wild horses with two foals nursing, a buffalo herd with two calfs WITH a herd of horses with it, and to add to it all, there was an amazing, hot pink, sunset. Wow!

A beautiful wild horse along the road

I was a great night and to make it BETTER, we got to have Popsicles and then, when we got to the campground, I got to practice sitting on Jean’s lap and steering the RV around the loop in the campground. In case I haven’t screamed this in your face before, I R-E-A-L-L-Y, really want to be able to drive. So that was really fun, and, I know, it’s just about impossible, but the night got better. When we finally pulled into a slot, since it was so hot, we got to have our windows wide open for the whole night for some cool, fresh air, AND we got to listen to the coyotes yipping and howling. Whew. I probably shouldn’t say this, because I’ll make you jealous, but I slept great, only to wake up to horse back riding in the morning. Amazing day!

The amazing pink sunset over the North Dakota badlands

July 30th, we were driving through Yellowstone and we had just pulled off on the side of the road to see a wolf pack and a grizzly bear. But the thing that was next was what I liked the most.

The sun was just starting to go down and we were going to eat dinner when I saw a huge, chunky, brown thing walking down the middle of the road. Buffalo alert! We stopped and let it pass. It was so close that we could hear the clops of its hooves, and it was so close that when I tried to take a picture, I was too close so I had to move back. It was so close that I could’ve reached out the window and petted it! That was an awesome experience!

Bison!