Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Ghost Story

A couple years back, when I was about ten, my family and I went camping. We went to Lanikuhonua which is out in Ko'Olina. It is a privately owned piece of property, so we were the only ones camping there. We were also joined by 5 other families, all close to ours. Lanikuhonua is like a small Kapi'olani park; its a big open field that is right on the beach, with pal trees and KuKui nut trees. There is electricity but only in certain areas, and most of the time the lights are off.
One night all the dads went toot the UH football game and all the moms went into town to go out to dinner. There were six boys left behind to fend for themselves. Me along with five of my good friends sat around the camp fire and pondered on what to do. After about 30 m minutes of sitting there thinking and talking story we all decided to play flash light tag. We decided to play partners, Kyle and Taylor were "it", so the other to pairs went of and hid. Thurston and I went up the parking lot. As we were up there we kept hearing strange noises, things neither of us have ever heard before. I had a chilling feeling through out my body, and I always had this sensation to look behind us. There were only three cars in the parking lot that night: a small car, a van, and a truck, lined up in that order. After a few minutes we went and hid in between the van and the truck. This whole time we were hiding I still had this chill in my body. Literally a minute after we hid behind the van Kyle and Taylor came running up the driveway from the park. They look towards us, and took off running back into the park. I looked at Thurston and said, "That was weird. Why didn't they look for us?" He shrugged his shoulders quietly. After about another five minutes of waiting, we went back down to the camp site. Nobody was around, nobody was running around, nobody was screaming and having a good time, nobody was sitting by the camp fire sippin' on cokes, everybody was gone. we went to Kyle's tent where we found the other four boys sitting there just talking and eating cheetos. When they saw us they had this surprised, like Oh my god, look on there face.
"Did you see it" they asked.
"See what?" I replied.
"The man behind you, in the parking lot. The man with the pipe in his hand, behind the truck. How could you not see him, he was standing right behind you." I looked at Thurston and he looked at me. We both had a oh my god there was a ghost behind us look, but at the same time bummed that we didn't see it. We stood up outside of the tent and looked toward the parking lot, and off in the distance now inside the park, was a white figure with what looked like a long hard object in his hand, walking in our direction. I ducked my head inside the tent and told the guys to look. When my head reappeared from he tent, along with four other heads, the figure was gone. We sat in the tent for the rest of the night talking about what just happened and what it could of been. That whole three and a half hours till the adults came back was the most exciting yet scary three and half hours of my life.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Personal Response

Every year when my family and I go to Snowmass it always seems that skiers extremely dislike snowboarders. Most of the time it is adult skiers that dislike the boarders. Usually it is the mid-age male boarders that the skiers dislike because they are so crazy. On the slopes the boarders are very reckless and go speeding by everybody. Sometimes it really irritates the skiers because skiers are more of the, take you time-go slow-enjoy it, type. Boarders on the other hand are more the go fast-beat everyone down the hill-speed by everybody type. There are some mountains that are for skiers only and no boarders are allowed.
I personally think that t hat this is unfair because it is like a stereotype against boarders. Anytime I am riding down the mountain and pass a skier, they always give me this stick-eye look, like this what is you problem/what are you doing here, look. The worst is in line to get on the chair lift. When standing in line for the lift the people in each line must alternate letting people through. When my friends and I (who are all boarders) stand in line, adult skiers don’t let us in. they always follow the people in front of them real close so that there is no room for us to jump in line. The only way for us to get in line is to either, jus go in line and cut in front of them, or if there are other boarders that let us in. Another reason I think that it is unfair is because there are young skiers that are jus as bad or even worse.
I think that there is a personal battle between boarders and adult skiers that rages in the mountains. Although I think it is unfair I don’t really mind it. They can think what they want and I’ll jus mind my own business. I don’t know them and they don’t know me, the only thing we know about each other is that I’m a punk boarder and they are older skiers that complain about everything.
Even though we don’t like each other, I still have a great time and look forward to next year.

Snowmass

Every spring break my family and I travel to Snowmass Colorado to go skiing and snowboarding. Snowmass is about 10 minutes away from Aspen, and about four hours away from Denver. The lowest point of Snowmass is an Area called Two Creeks with an elevation of 8,223 ft. The highest point is called the Cique Head wall. That has an elevation of roughly 12,400 ft. Snowmass is a great place to take the family on a trip because it is so safe, and convenient. The mountain is HUGE and has a wide variety of runs.
On the mountain there are three different levels of runs. Green, usually at the bass of the mountain is for beginners and is the easiest type of run. Greens are flat wide trails that are easy for kids to learn how to ski and board. The next level is Blue. Blues are all throughout the mountain. Some blues are harder then others but most of the time they are the same. Blues have a combination of steep, and flat terrain. Blues are wide trails with trees on each side. The majority of the mountain is made up of blues and no matter what level skier you are; you will have a good time. The next level is Black. These are more advanced runs and are most of the time steep with little flat parts. Blacks are for people that know what they are doing on the mountain and are experienced skier/boarder. Blacks can be dangerous because they are steep and long. They are also not as wide as other runs; they are much narrower then blues. The last level is a Double Black. Double blacks are for experts only; they are very steep and have no flat terrain at all. Double blacks are pretty much cliffs with snow and are not to be taken lightly. The beginning of a black is a cliff drop off, after you make it past that, you half to make your way down a very steep mountain with lots of moguls.
Moguls are big lumps of snow that form after skiers ski the same path over and over again. I personally think that moguls are terrible because they are hard to board over. If there are moguls I leave, I go through the trees or something jus to get off that run. If you are not experienced with moguls it can be dangerous because the ground is very uneven and not stable. One of my most favorite things to do is to go through he trees on the sides of runs. Not a lot of people go through the trees, so the snow in there is GREAT! There is so much soft untouched snow, and if it snowed a lot the night before, it is heaven on earth. There is nothing on the mountain that can beat fresh powder in the trees.
The family is split in half when it comes to who skis and who boards. My parents and nephew all ski, but my brother, sister, and I all board. My parents have both been skiing for a super long time, but are still just on blues. My nephew, Kanai just started skiing 3 years ago, so he is still on Greens, and just starting blues. My sister is a Blue type person but will do blacks if other people want to. My brother and I both love blues and blacks, the only difference is that he is much more experienced then me. We both like to go fast down the mountain but I always look for good trees. He used to go on every Double Black around, he would even go on runs that weren’t even marked. I’ve gone on a few Double Blacks, but I’m still working on them. I also love to go through terrain parks, with big jumps and rails.
Every year I always look forward to going to Snowmass because we always have such a good time there, and I never feel like leaving.

Spring Break

This past spring break my family and I went to Snowmass Colorado. My family consists of my parents, my brother Kaione, my nephew Kanai, my aunty and uncle Cindy and David. We call them my biological parents because I’m more like them then my real parents. My cousin Kevin and my aunty Pam also joined us. After my family came close family friends, the Cotes, the Beals, the Blankenfleds, my dads best friend from High school Bruce Conable. We always have a crew of at least 15 that come up to Snowmass with us. This trip I boarded everyday wit my brother and Kevin, and when the David came in I boarded with him. On the 3rd day everyone had arrived and we all skied and boarded together. We always have the best time up in Snowmass. We start everyday at 10:30 down at Two Creeks, which is 5 minutes away from the house. We like to stay on that side of the mountain. Our favorite lift is called Elk Camp. The reason they call it Elk Camp is because in the summer, a herd of Elk live there, they “Camp” there. It has 5 blues that are all the same in difficuty. One of my personal favorites is Sandy Park. Sandy Park is off of Elk camp and is a long Blue with lots of trees and jumps that we could go through. Another one of my favorites is Sneakys. Sneakys is another long blue except this one is on the other side of the mountain. The area that Sneakys is in is the Big Burn. Big Burn is a lot of fun because the altitude is so high that the snow is very soft and is great for boarding. Big Burn is a much bigger area then Elk Camp and has more runs and has much more threes. My family and I love both areas but we prefer Elk Camp because it is more convenient and has half as many people that Big Burn does. The only exception is when it dumped with snow the night before because Big Burn has better powder.
On the 3rd and last day I was there it dumped like crazy, there was so much snow that when we got on thee lift the snow would collect on our jackets and we would be covered in snow. In that situation the Big Burn is much better.
The first two days of our trip the temperature was very hot, it was around 50 degrees. Now that might seem cold to us, but up there that is really hot. The snow was melting and was real slushy, which isn’t good because the board sticks to the snow easier. On the third day it snowed all night and in the morning throw was great. The fourth, fifth, sixth day the temperature was much colder, it was around 28 degrees. Now that is cold. We had to bundle up much and it was hard to move our arms. On the seventh day it snowed from 6 a.m. until about 6 p.m. that morning David woke me up at 8:30 and we were on the lift at 9:00. That morning we went to the Big Burn and went through the trees. The snow and the fog was so think that I could see 50 ft. in front of me. Our last run was about 10:30 a.m. before we had to go meet the rest of the family. I came down first and waited t=at the restaurant. I waited and waited for my uncle to come down. I waited foe 20 minutes, those where the longest 20 minutes of my life because I didn’t know where my uncle was, I didn’t know if he was ok or if he needed help. Finally I called my mom and told her what was going on. As I told her that the snow started to clear and I looked to my left. 100 ft. down the mountain was my uncle, he was sitting and waiting by the lift and was jus about to leave. I raced down there and got his attention. He slimed so big and was so happy to see me. He asked me where I have been and I told him that I was waiting at the restaurant and that I was waiting for, like 20 minutes. He told me that he was waiting for 20minutes to except he was waiting down at the lift. We were worried so much about each other and the whole time we were 100 ft. apart but couldn’t see each other.
We spent our last day on Elk Camp, charging the trees and cliffs. It was a great last day and I can’t wait to go back again. Snowmass is one of my most favorite places in the world, and I can’t wait till next spring break!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Family Story (part 2)

In the year 1939 my moms parents spent their honneymoon in Sun Valley Idaho, they had the best times of their lives. They never forgot the time they spent there. From that day on it was always my grandmother dream to go back to that very special place.

In 1992 my family and I went to Sun Valley Idaho for Christmas. My family included my parents, my older brother Kaione 14, and my older sister Kristin 11. We were joined by my moms sister, Aunty Cindy, and her two sons, Ryan 16 and Hugh Beckley 19, we were also joined my moms parents. At the time that we went I was about 18 months old and could barley walk. My parents took turns taking care of me while everyone else was out skiing and snowboarding. One day they decided to put me in a day care at the bottom of the mountain, just for a couple of hours while they went on a couple of runs up and down the mountain. They didn't realize that when they dropped me off, shortly after a mother drop off her three kids at the same day care and all three of her kids we sick with a fever and cold. My parents were back in about two to three hours when the people that worked their told my mom that they had three sick kids at the same day care and they sent ski patrol to look for the parents of the kids. Unfortunately I got sick with the flue the very next day, a week before Christmas.
For the next three days I couldn’t sleep, I kept throwing up, and I was so weak I could barley open my eyes. On the fifth day I took my second trip to the doctors, and the doctor said, "If he doesn’t get better in the next 48 hours, then we are going to half to keep him here at the hospital." That night my parents stayed up with me all night taking turns holding me and feeding me ice cubes and giving me 7-up so that I replenished some of the sugar and water I lost when I was sick. Thank god the next day, (day six), I started getting better. The next day, (day seven), we went back to the doctor and he said that I was finally getting better but, I was still going to be very tiered and I was going to be very weak and that I needed lots of rest.

When we got back to the lodge from the doctors, everybody was still on the slopes, and I was sitting in the car and was barley moving. My mom got out of our 1990 Volkswagen and came around to get me. She open the door put her purse inside with keys in it, tuned around to put something on the ground, and the door shut close behind her. She turned around and I was locked inside with the keys and her purse. Now remember 14 years ago people didn’t really have cells phones, so my mom ran back to the lodge, called AAA for the code to the door so she could get back in. With the code she ran back to the car, where I was sitting their crying, but at the same time so weak and tiered I could barley sit up, I was now laying down on the seat locked inside the car. The code to the door didn’t work so my mom then ran back to the lodge and called my cousin Hugh Beckley to come and help her. Just so happened that my sister and Hugh Beckley were staying in my aunties Condon right across the street. They all came over and my mom called 911. When everyone arrived the police officer was tiring to open the door, my sister was talking to me to try and keep me calm, my cousin, who is a very big guy, started getting very worried about me and getting very impatient with the police officer. Finally after about 10 minutes of everybody trying to open the door, my cousin Hugh, said, "I’m going to kick the window in."

The officer looked him and said, "Are you nuts? You can’t kick the window in; it’s not your car."

Standing at 6'6" 240lb All-American volleyball player, my cousin said, "Officer I don’t care whose car it is, that’s my baby cousin inside, and if you don’t open this car I’m going to stick my size 16 shoe through that window." I looked at him, and saw that he was going to kick in the window. I didn’t want glass all in my hair, so I reached inside my mom’s purse and grabbed her stop watch. Now this wasn’t any old stop watch, this watch actually stopped time. I hit the big red button on the side that said “STOP”. Just then everything froze in place, except for my sister. I got my sisters attention and I told her that I was going to unlock the back door and for her to grab the slim jim thing from the officer, and for her to pretend that she unlocked the door. So I jumped up, went over to the door, unlocked it, and then sat back down, and pressed the “Start” button to begin time again. As he said that me sister grabbed the lever and tried the back door just one more time, and POP she got it. She unlocked the door and jumped inside to grab me.

Two days later it was Christmas and we all went out to a five star lodge for a beautiful white Christmas. By that time I was feeling much better but still tiered, so my parents rapped me up real tight, to keep me warm, and put me in my stroller. My mom tells me it was one of the best Christmases she can remember. The entire family was up there having a white Christmas together. As the night was coming to a close my mom noticed that my brother Kaione and my cousin Ryan were both gone. They started looking everywhere for them, but no one could find them. Everyone was getting worried and that was the last thing that we needed. We all gathered outside, when all of a sudden, they heard something in the distance, it was dark so they couldn’t see anything, but they heard something. It wasn’t voices, but it was slay bells. As the sound got closer and closer, they noticed that a beautiful horse drawn caredge was pulling up in font of the lodge, and the best part of it was Kaione and Ryan were inside, standing up behind the driver yelling Marry Christmas. They snuck away while everyone was finishing their dinner and hired a caredge to take the family back to the lodge that we were staying at. Everybody was so surprised that no one could be mad. That night we rode back to the lodge and as a family singing HAWAIIAN Christmas carols.

No one new it but that was my grandmothers last Christmas. 35 days later she passed away, 35 days after one of the best experiences of her life she passed away. After she waited 53 years for her dream to finally come true, and after 53 years of waiting she lived her dream, and it was definetly a dream come true.

Personal Response

I think that when parents raise their kids, they should all raise them a certain way. I think that if parents are violent, and mean and cruel, to their kids, which could create problems in the kid’s life, for the rest of his life. If a parent is very close, and kind, and caring to their kids then they will be very kind caring, respect kids as they grow up.
If a parent raises their child without the loving and caring that a child needs in their early life, then I think that as they grow older the relationship between the parent and the child gets worse and worse. When they become a teenager and they have more freedom, then they go off on there own and don’t tell their mom and dad what’s going on. When that happens it’s sort of like the parents lose control of their child. When they try and gain that control back, it’s too late, the child already doesn’t like you. When you try harder to take control you start to get into fights, and arguments, and disagreements, with you child, and if you start to get into more fights more often then it looks likes its all going down hill. That is your child, that is you kid, and you are always getting into fights, and arguments, then the "I hate you" start to come out. In my opinion you are not suppose to say that words "I hate you" to your child, or let them say that to you.

This relates to my Personal question because so many families in America are affected by this. There are so many teenagers that get into fights with their parents and it is NOT necessary. That if your own family, your own blood, and personally I don’t think that you should have that type of relationship with your parent’s family member, or friend. With these types of relationships the hate in this world increases and that is something that doesn’t need, and can not afford.