Baseball Fever Snapshot By Curtis Romero

When I was in about 4th grade I went to one of my baseball games. Our team always won, we never lost one the whole season. Then one day we were really close to the other team and I was up to bat. I was so scared I felt like the game depended on me and I would be that one kid that everyone hates for the rest of the year.
My hands were so sweaty and I griped the bat with a ninja grip and slowly walked up to the plate. I shuffled up to the plate and hoisted the bat over my shoulder ready to make a fool of myself. Is the pitcher warmed up with confidence that he could strike me out. He then threw the ball at light speed coming right at my. I swung the bat as hard as I could hoping the moment would be over. I then heard “strike!”. With disappointment and frightfulness I swung the bat back over my shoulders. I then saw the pitcher fling the ball at me, I swung that bat as hard as I could. Then I heard once more “strike!”. I was so mad; I could not let this pitcher beat me. Angrily and aggressively I flung the bat back over my shoulders and braced myself for the last throw. The pitcher threw the ball then everything seemed to go in slow motion. I leaned my body in and swung my arms in one last attempt to not become to teams village idiot. Then I heard “crack!”, I looked over and the ball was zooming down the field. It was like opera running for an ice cream truck. Nothing could get in its way, nothing could stop it. I then ran and light speed going down to first base, Made a fast pace turn to 2nd. As I was coming to third I looked over my shoulder to see where the ball was. I then saw the center field brace himself to throw the ball to home. Of course I was stupid enough to run right past 3rd base and head straight to home base. I was then in a race with a ball that seemed like it wanted to kill me. I sprinted halfway as I saw the ball right over my head. I Then was smart enough to leap straight for home base. Then I heard the sound “whack!”. I then knew that the catcher had the ball and just as I touched the base with a hopeful onward face then ball with the catchers hand came straight down like a wrecking ball. I closed my eyes slowly looked up and I heard “safe!”. I lit up with happiness and I leaped up and ran to my team.
Later that day we ended up winning the game like we always did. I will forever remember that moment of glory and triumph.

The car crash By: Melissa Gabourie

Me my mom and my brother (James) were driving along my mom was going to and dropping us off at daycare and just then someone drove in front of us and we crashed as soon as we did I took off my seat belt and jumped into my mom’s lap I was so scared because I was only 4, my brother was 1, so he was in a car seat a few minutes later the police arrived when they got there they had to break the window because the car was so beat up and that just scared me more then they saw me on my mom’s lap and they put me and my mom on a board type thing I didn’t know what was going on I was so scared and I screamed the whole way to the hospital. I would have screamed louder but they put me and my mom right by each other so we could hold hands. When we got to the hospital I was asleep somehow, I woke up and I looked at the doctor, he then said my mom was dead, he also said that my dad should be here in about an hour and asked me "Do you want to see your mom", I nodded "Of course". Then we went over to my mom, and as soon as I saw her I started crying, I went over to her, leaned over her and started crying. I cried until my dad got there, and my dad had to drag me away but we stayed another hour because my dad started crying too. When we got to the waiting room I saw my brother, he then asked "Where is mommy?" We told him but he didn’t understand. Then we got in the car and I asked James what he did that day after I went to sleep he said that he got to the hospital and just played the whole time. When we got home we found the most recent picture we could find and hung it on the wall immediately. Then we went to grandma’s house and everybody’s house so we could tell them the bad news and tell them what had happened as soon as we did they started crying I think that grandma, (mom’s mom) cried the most . We made sure everybody had the most recent picture of her to keep and love her. We still love our mom but life went on. There has been lots of tragedies in my life but this one would have to be the worst tragedy ever because, think about it, I lost my mom and now I don’t have a mom to talk about girl stuff with.

Disneyworld Family Folklore By Karsten Hansen

Karsten Hansen
Period 4
12/12/o8

Disneyorld Family Folklore
About three years ago when I was in 5th grade I went on a trip to Disneyworld with my family. The flight there took 30 hours and there was NO food to eat on the plane. My sister and I were also squished next together by a large woman on the plane.

When the flight finally landed we got off the plane and could barely breathe because of the humidity!! Luckily we got to drive to our hotel in a limo so it made everything better. The hotel was called Disney's Wilderness Lodge. It was HUGE and had a bunch of things that were imitations of national monuments. For example there was a fake Old Faithful (from Yellowstone) that would go off about every 5 minutes for about three minutes.

For the first couple days we pretty much just hung out at the hotel and went to the Magic Kingdom which we got there from a boat. Then on the 3rd day we went to Animal Kingdom, home to the new Expedition Everest. We, unfortunately, had to skip it for the first couple hours and go on a safari thing. I was just anxious to go on the humongous mountain roller coaster. Then right before we were going to leave we finally got to go on Expedition Everest!! I was so excited!! Unfortunately my sister and mom were too tired to walk anymore, so they decided to go back to the hotel.

It was just my dad and I now and the line would take less time to go through now because we had less people. It still took 2 hours, but it was worth it. We got to sit right in the front of the train, and it was our very first time!! The ride was finally going to begin. We started up the tall mountain to the tippy top, then a short drop. We were going kind of slow. Then out of nowhere there was a BIG drop so we were going really fast now. Then we saw the track and it was broken!! It was part of the ride though. We started backing up and then the ride shut down altogether. We, again, thought it was part of the ride, but it wasn’t.

We had been stuck for hours and no one had come to help us yet. Everyone that was on the ride was starting to get hungry and had to go to the bathroom. Some people behind us were even going to maybe miss their flight.

It was starting to get dark outside and nobody had come to help us yet. The people behind us had missed their flight, so them and some other people were just thinking of getting out and trying to find the way out by walking. The bad part about that was there was no ground underneath us right then, just the track.

Little did we know is that this whole time the engineers of the ride had been trying to get things that were tall enough to come up and get us, but they hadn’t found a way yet. Then when they finally did they came and got us down.

When my dad and I finally got to the hotel, my mom and sister immediately asked where we had been. In response my dad just looked out the window and said "I can’t remember". So it had turned out that my dad slept through the whole thing and my sister and I ever since have called him "Mr. Sleepikins".

Trip to Disney World, by Kelsey Robinson

My family and I were traveling to Florida to go to Disney World. We were all so excited to get there. I was 6 years old and my sister 9. We couldn’t sit still in our car. Finally we arrived at our hotel that we would be staying in for the two weeks we would be staying here. We unpacked our car and carried in our things. My dad was in a wheelchair at the time because he hurt his ankle while playing basketball and it was still healing. After all of our things were in our hotel room we headed out to go look around inside of Disney World.
We walked in and my mouth dropped and hit the cement ground. My mom reached down and picked it up to put it back in place. We wanted to look at some type of gift/souvenir store. We found one in an alley way. It was behind and next to 3 gray-brick buildings. My family walked inside eagerly wanting to see what was there. I walked to the back wall and picked up Minnie Mouse. I grinned and ran over to show my mom. She thought they were so cute and said,
“Those are so cute; but we’re just looking today, but we can come back and get them later if you really want them.”
“Okay!” I agreed!
I skipped back over to where I found her when I ran into a lady that weighed at least 600 pounds. I lost myself for a second. It seemed as if she was hugging me to her because I couldn’t get out. My mom rushed over and tugged me out of the death hold. My mom patted me on my back as I looked up at the over-sized citizen. I looked up at her with a face that looked like I might cry but with a mixture of a glare. My mom pushed me to a walk and I took Minnie from me to place on the shelf next to a too wide grinning Mickey.
I turned on my heel and headed for the door. My dad wheeled himself out of the store in front of me. I, my mom and dad waited outside the store for Kylie (my sister) to finish looking and come outside to meet us. She is so slow; she is 9 and takes four hours to get ready for school on regular days. She walked out and my dad started down the hill back the main alley when his wheel fell off! My sister, my mom and I stood at the top of the hill laughing and crying at the same time. Frantically he tried to stop his wheelchair, he ran into the brick building. When he hit the building the rest of his wheelchair crumbled to pieces. The next thing we knew he was on the ground. My mom, sister, and I were still at the top of the hill still processing that Rob (my dad) was sitting on the concrete surrounded by broken metal pieces.
By the time we all ran down to meet him all of these strangers were around him trying to help him in some way. When everyone realized who we were and how we were related to Rob they left slowly not quite sure what to do. We helped him up and we immediately took him to get a new wheelchair dragging him behind us because he was too heavy for us to lift. When we got him a new, sturdy wheelchair we went shopping around some more and all was well. He never fell out of a wheelchair again!!!

A Day at Disneyland/California Adventures By Tien Hoang

In the summer before sixth grade I went to Disneyland and California Adventures. The place of overpriced food, souvenirs, and oversized cartoon characters. A small squirrel is cute but one that’s bigger than it’s own tree house is really creepy. Imagine one of them in your house. So then we went there and split up in two groups, my sisters with my parents and me with my 16 year old cousin and my 19 year old uncle. They went to Disneyland and we went to California Adventures. We went to Soarin’ Over California. My cousin forgot his hat on the ride and never got it back.
Then we went to Grizzly River Run. My cousin had to go in another Tube, but me and my cousin got in the same one and we had to sit backwards to the river. Crap. Me and my cousins were the only other people that weren’t wearing those ridiculous ponchos. Why go on the ride if you weren’t going to get wet? These people were a mystery to me and my cousin. We always had to guess when we were going to drop down a river, but by the other people’s faces and screams it wasn’t so hard. When we got off we were soaked from head to toe, but of course those weirdos were untouched. Not a drop touched them! It turns out one of those freaks were my uncle.
Then we went to the California Screamin’. It went like 45 miles per hour but it wasn’t that scary. Just like two big falls, one loop, and a bunch up camel humps(small hills). It didn’t touch the Colossus at Lagoon. It didn’t even touch the Jet Star 2. It wasn’t too bad though.
Then we bought some churros. My uncle got chocolate dip too. Then we went to the Tower of Terror. We didn’t get to finish our churro so we had to toss them. Then we got in the ride and got strapped in. The line was not very long. It started. We lurched up and then it halted to a stop. The window opened and took our picture. That’s when we fell. It was a lot like Re-Entry except it was in a Hotel and looked cooler. When we got out I looked at my cousin and he was fine. My uncle wasn’t. He had chocolate syrup on him. Seems he snuck in his churro and the melted chocolate. We bust out laughing. He looked like he crapped his pants because most of it was on his pants.
Then we went to the Maliboomer. It was like the Rocket except it was about 100 feet higher. I didn’t really want to go in this one. “Maybe when I’m 12 or 13” I told my cousin and uncle. They were like ok. I was surprised they took it so easy. Usually they didn’t. So then we got there. I said that I would wait right here. My cousin said “Nah” just come with us and watch our sandals while we go. I said “Alright”. Then he said to check the seat of the chair to see if anything was there. I checked, but then he shoved me into the seat and locked me in the seatbelt and Barf Shield-thingy. I started to kinda whine. Then a fat dude from the line started laughing at me. I was pissed off. I told the fat guy to go back and eat his burger. My uncle yelled at me. Then it started. I was about to barf. It went up about 5 feet then stopped. What the heck! Then the announcer started counting down “5..4..3..” Then we shot off at like, 100 MPH. Geez… I was gonna puke. But before I could it went up and down 3 more times then stopped. I got off. I kicked my cousin in the gonads and ran. My uncle laughed and whacked him on the head for fun.
The rest off the day wasn’t so bad. Then we watched Aladdin and the genie was FUNNY! He was like, I look like Britney Spears (He was kinda fat and Britney Spears was kinda pregnant). The rest of the day was cool though. I fricken loved Disneyland. I also love California Adventures.

Day at lagoon By Keigan Shepard

A couple years ago I went to lagoon with my family. We were having a lot of fun and are goal was to ride on every single ride. My aunt made a checklist of all of the rides even the little kid ones, which I did not like at all. All crammed in little kid rides that are boring but it was our goal so we had to do it. We rode a couple of the better ones more times like the colossus, wicked, spider, rocko planes, and a couple more. All of the younger cousins wanted to do bumper cars and the arcade, so we went there for a while I ended up winning a jackpot and winning a motor scooter. It was way cool!

I rode it around at lagoon but my family said I had to put where all of our drinks and stuff were at under the pavilion. I did it even though I didn’t want to. After we went to samurai which is almost my whole families’ favorite ride so we waited in a really long line but once we got on my little cousin started crying but still stayed on, my other cousin lost her shoes and started crying. We all liked it after all and rode it seven million times!! We rode on the water slide things and my sister fell of and got her phone all wet and it broke. We rode the rocket, blast off there are two rockets re entry and blast off. Blast off is where you go up really, really fast like three hundred miles per hour. The re entry is where you go up slowly and then go down really, really fast like six hundred miles per hour. So we went on the blast off and our family filled up the whole thing and all my aunts and cousins were screaming and my older cousin, Cody, and I were laughing at them, we got off.

We all went said we will do re entry later so we went to rattlesnake rapids. We were all soaked so we decided to do some roller coasters and fast rides that would dry us off we rode on samurai twenty five times more. We got pretty dry after that then we went and ate at the subway there is was so expensive we spent seven hundred dollars and ninety eight cents on sandwiches from subway but they were really, really good. We decided to just play little games around before we rode anything so we didn’t throw up. My cousin and I won almost every time except when our dads played they were good. So it felt like we had been playing these games for ninety six hours.

So we all went to the bathroom then we went and waited in line for rocket re entry there were sixty million people in line it took so long I hated it so bad. After a while we were almost up but we filled up the whole rocket so we had to let people go ahead of us. We got on and slowly went to the top and we got the top and our buckles that keep us in the seat went up and we couldn’t move them my aunt was screaming and my uncle laughed and said “If we fall our heads will squish like water melons.” My aunt got mad and said “If I wasn’t so scared I would slap you. So I started laughing and said “If we die at least we die having fun.” My aunt screamed so loud her lungs blew out. We couldn’t stop laughing and all of us sudden we get launched down ward and my aunt’s face looked all squished and we laughed at her we made it safely to the bottom. It was the end of the day so we went to our pavilion to get our things. I got my motor scooter and started riding it around again. We got to the exit and my youngest cousin yells “I forgot my teddy bear!” So everyone looked at me and asked if I could go get it. I said I would and rode back to the pavilion and got it then we left!

The Foot Sprain Family Folklore By Jedidiah Nielsen

Once upon a time I was with my dad and sisters in a hotel. We were walking out of the room and I said “I bet I can beat you down to the first floor while you are in the elevator and I’m on the stairs”. So I ran down the stairs right as they got into the elevator. I jumped down the stairs five at a time. On the eighth stair case I jumped all of the ten stairs that were there. As I was in the air I twisted my foot and came down on it at ten miles per hour. When I hit the ground I almost passed out as I got up. I didn’t want to let my dad when me in this experienced race.
So I lifted myself off the ground and hopped down on one foot the last seven stair cases. When I got to the first floor I crawled to the elevator doors and waited about five minutes. My dad came out of the elevator and so did my sisters. I went to the continental breakfast hopping on one foot everywhere I went. We left the hotel and into the Tahoe. So I had to sit in the back of the car right behind the seats. Everyone was wondering what happened to me when we were in the experienced race. So I recounted the story to everyone that was in the car. They almost cried when I said “my foot twisted in mid air”.
The pain was so bad that it felt like being stabbed in the foot every time it was touched or it hit the ground. I could not go to school for three weeks. Then on Saturday of the third week, my mom took me to work with her. We traveled to Riverton then we went to her shop that was called P.G.P (now it is called Imagine Laser and Awards). My uncle that works there asked what happened to me and I recounted the story to him and he said “that must have hurt”.
After my mom was done with her work at six o-clock then we went across the street to Peterson Food and Drug. My mom went in and asked for crutches she came back out with nothing and said that they were out of crutches. So we went home and I had to crawl for another two weeks. My mom went back to the store and rented a four foot pair of crutches. They it was like I was just burly learning to walk.
I was so happy to be able to walk again. So I went to school for three weeks on the crutches that my mom rented. Everyone was nicer to me because it was like being handicap. Now I know how the handicap must feel because I was one of them for like five to six weeks. That is the family folklore of my life.