One fun thing that happened on the way to Santa Cruz Island was that a shipping boat past by us and created a big wake.  When our boat passed over the big wake our boat went up the first wake and it felt like 3 feet going up and 5 feet going down really, really fast.  Our boat slapped loud against the water from the wake.  We also saw an oil platform that looked interesting up close.  The part I liked most though was the wake.

For New Years this year, we went to Santa Cruz, spent time with family, and we had fun playing games together. We had so much to do in a short amount of time, but we did a lot of stuff.

The first day was pretty exciting. The first thing we did was meet Uncle Neil. When we met him in his garage, Loren and I were going psycho because both of us missed him so much. In Uncle Neil’s house, we played a game called Dungeon Defenders on his X-Box 360. When our time was up for playing, our Grammy just pulled up to the house. When I met Grammy in the driveway,  I was so happy because I missed her so much. That night, we opened a lot of presents. One really special present, from Mason, was a diamond block ore (from Minecraft) that glows when you turn it on! When Uncle Neil picked up one of his presents, it set off a “no peeking” alarm. He jumped out of his seat and dropped the present.  It was funny to see his reaction. After opening all the presents, I started to build Lego's.

After building legos, it was about one more minute before the official New Year. Right at that moment, there was a BANG! I shot a bit of confetti out of a confetti shooter that Uncle Neil gave me. It shot green, yellow, red, blue and purple confetti. We made more popping sounds with party poppers. The party poppers shot out long strands of yellow confetti along with other colored confetti. Then we went out side of the hotel with noisemakers and we ran around in the parking lot yelling “HAPPY NEW YEARS!”.

The next day was pretty crazy because we had a lot to do in a short amount of time. The first thing we did that day was to go on a walk around the Santa Cruz Harbor. Instead of walking, I tried to skateboard for the first time. It was the most challenging thing and after a little bit I went back to my way of riding. My way of riding a skateboard is that you sit down on it and push with your hands! After the walk we went down to the beach. When we got to the beach, Loren and I went and played under a lifeguard tower. After about ten minutes or so I was so hungry I could not focus. We ate burritos from The Palomar on the deck by the O’Neill Sea Odyssey where my Dad works sometimes. After awhile it was time to see Grammy and Grandpa go back to Modesto. It was a sad moment...these visits finish so quick.

The last thing we did was tide-pooling. In case you don't know what tide-pooling is, tide-pooling is where you look at sea animals at low tide. We went to Natural Bridges and on the walk there dad fell in muddy water when he was trying to take a picture of a bird. “Hahahahahahaha,” we all laughed! After that, we had to go across a rocky ledge, on that ledge I felt like I was going to fall in muddy water my self. After a short walk we got to the tide pooling area. The water was so cold I felt like I was going to freeze. We saw hundreds and hundreds of barnacles and other sea animals.

In summary, spending time with family was well worth the trip to Santa Cruz. We had so much fun in those two days.

The story you're about to read is about two Thanksgiving days. You’re going to be hungry after you read this.

On both Thanksgiving days, I was very joyful. The first reason I was excited was that I got to see my cousin Collin and the rest of his family at Aunt Dorene’s house. Another reason why I was happy was that I got to see my Grammy, my Mom’s mom. When Collin’s family and my family went to the park across the street from Aunt Dorene’s house, Collin, Loren and I went played tag on the play structure. It was so hard to tag someone when I was “it” because everyone was faster than me. A BIG reason why I was happy was that I got to play on my cousin Carter’s Xbox 360. The Xbox is in a game room in their backyard. The game room has two funky looking chairs, one couch, a shelf for the games and the TV, and a small pile of junk. The car game Loren and I played was Project Gotham Racing 4. The BIGGEST reason why I was happy was that I got taught how to knit by my Aunt Ashley. It was hard at first, but then it got really easy. I was very happy after that.

There was also a lot of food and smells. My favorite food was the green bean casserole because it tasted like octopus arms and onion rings mixed together, and it smelled liked onion rings plain. The food I liked least was the brussel sprouts because it looked like a brain, tasted like dirt and smelled like butter on lettuce. Everyone helped make the food and I tried everything there was to eat; My Dad Keith and my brother Loren made chocolate pudding, My Mom made yams, My Aunt Dorene had potato sausage (which is a Swedish dish), Aunt Chandra cooked the turkey, Matt made deviled eggs with bacon on them. So much to eat and smell on Thanksgiving.

The two thanksgiving days were joyful. We had such a good time with family.

- By Elliot

We made the trip to Ensenada, Mexico because we wanted to check-out the harbor there. We were thinking about sailing there for our next stop. We thought it would only take a few hours but it was an all day trip.

Loren, Mom, Dad and I got ready to go about 10:35a.m. We made sure we had our passports, medicine and phone, so we headed on our way. Mason stayed home because somebody had to stay home with Molly. On the drive down we saw cars, fishing rings in the ocean, cement houses, a huge Mexico flag, and a lot of stores. We saw about 100 Pemex, which is a gas station in Mexico. It took us about 2 hours to drive down the coast.

At Marina Coral harbor, we saw and did a lot of things. We saw a lot of little kids coming out of a party room with Halloween costumes on and gifts in bags. Outside the restaurant we saw a hummingbird sucking nectar from a purple flower. We climbed some rocks that were protecting the harbor from waves. We walked on something that looked like a bike course because of the angled cement. We ate lunch there and I had the Marina Coral Fettuccine which had shrimp, mussels, scallops and octopus. Yum...I liked the octopus the best! Loren had pepperoni pizza which I don’t like.

We left for Chula Vista about 1:35p.m. Before we left Ensenada we went to find the house that we are going to stay in at Christmas, this was an hour south. We went on bumpy dirt roads which were making me nervous.  I saw lots of horses on the side of the road that you could rent to go riding.  We saw a white horse painted with black stripes to look like a zebra with a dog sitting in the saddle.  That was funny!  Near the U.S. border there were people selling blankets, washing windows, selling toys, juggling plastic eggs and there were people chucking blue glow sticks in the air.  It took a long time for us to get across the border and back to the boat.  When we got back to the boat, we ate a quick dinner. After that, Loren and I brushed our teeth so Mom would read us a quick chapter in book three of Ranger’s Apprentice.

Last week, we brought Molly to the boat from one of our grandma's house. She was there because she has a bad back and she wasn’t safe on the boat. Molly broke her back by jumping off a bed in Boulder, CO.We had to go to one of my grandma’s house to pick-up Molly.

We started the drive at about 3:35p.m. The drive was from Chula Vista, CA, to Modesto, CA. It’s an 8 hour drive. I saw trees that had leaves off them, we smelled cow poop, we saw cars going real slow, we saw a lot of stops along the way, and we saw a lot of stars. It was a long drive without Molly.

The next day, Dad, Mom, Loren, Mason and I went to go pick-up Molly from my Grammy’s house. When we got into the house, Molly was going loco because she was happy to see us. Another dog named Bentley was using me as a scratch toy and I had a lot of scratch marks all over me because Bentley was happy to see me. Loren and I were going crazy because we were happy to see Molly and Bentley. At the house, Loren and I played with Molly and Bentley outside. It was about 3:35p.m. when we started our next drive to Chula Vista, CA from Modesto, CA.

We started the 8 hour drive with Molly. We started the drive by going to a gas station with two cars to fill up the two cars gas tanks. After the two the cars gas tanks were full, Mason, Mom and I headed off to Jamba Juice to get a smoothie. We left Modesto after we got Jamba Juice. We smelled cigarettes when we were still in Modesto. The leaves were brown, yellow and red. The trees had more leaves off them. I had two burritos from Taco Bell. We still smelled cow poop on the way to Chula Vista, CA. It was a long drive.

When Mason, Mom and I got back to Chula Vista, (by the way, Loren and Dad were already there) I was so tired that I fell right asleep when I was done brushing my teeth. Everybody was tired. We all had a long day. I’m happy Molly is with us.

Dad, Loren and I went to the aquarium.  When I touched a stingray I thought it would be rough, but instead it felt smooth.  When I looked in a fish tank, I didn't expect to see an eel.  Most of my family went to the aquarium with me.

At the aquarium we saw a lot of exhibits with animals in them. We saw cute penguins swimming in the water.  I think penguins are cute because of their faces.  We saw two fat sea lions swimming in water.  We saw a lot of animals in one tank.

I liked a lot of things at The Aquarium of the Pacific.  I liked feeding birds nectar because they went on my arm.  I liked the zebra shark in the shark exhibit because of its color. The Aquarium of the Pacific is fun!