Elizabeth+Pianucci

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My Amazing Weekend of Roaring Fun
At the Great Wolf Lodge I could have packed days before the trip, but I decided to be myself and procrastinate; I packed the night before. At 10:30 P.M. I was scrambling to remember every little thing like a squirrel scrambling to find a nut. Working with the dim light of my three foot Christmas tree in my bedroom, I was careful not to wake my sleeping family. If I woke them from their hibernation, I knew I was in for a lecture about procrastinating. Looking back, it would’ve been smarter to make a checklist and to slowly pack everything necessary. But why would I do things the easy way? I went to bed eager to wake up, nervous about over sleeping, and wishing I had more time to sleep, before my trip to the Great Wolf Lodge for my best friend, Emily’s birthday party. Usually to wake up at 6:30 in the morning is a horrible experience for me and everyone around me. However, on the day of my trip everything went smooth as silk. I woke up with a sense of nervousness. I worried about missing my family and forgetting something. I even worried about having packed too much. As I got ready I tried to brush these worries off of me. Despite my worrying, I was up, ready, and doing last minute things by 7:45 A.M. This is very unusual for me. I swear, the times I need to be ready I’m always ten minutes behind schedule, but on a morning when I don’t have to be somewhere at a specific time, I’m done in 20 minutes flat. After adding in last-minute things to my luggage, I was ready to leave. I grabbed my suitcase, swung my over-sized, navy blue, Abercrombie bag over my shoulder, and walked into the hallway. After hugging my dad goodbye and running down the unfinished wood staircase with a big, blue rolling duffel bag trailing behind me, I wanted to leave. I wanted to leave before my nerves set in and I changed my mind about going. The second I hit the bottom of the stairs, I dropped my things and checked my bag for the hundreth time. Camera, check. Phone, check. Wallet, check. I-pod, check. DSi, check. Phone charger, check. Book, check. Science notebook, check. I threw my coat on, grabbed the cupcakes, and walked out the door, leaving everything else for my mom to grab. “Whatever I don’t have, I can live without for a weekend,” I mumbled to myself. “Plus, I’m with four other girls, if I forgot it, they’ll have it.” Before hopping into the car, the cold air hit me. It smacked me in the face, causing me to think… snow. My mom and I loaded up the car and turned it on. She blasted the heat and I put our seatwarmers on the highest setting. I almost let the cupcakes slip out of my hands. All my mom’s hardwork making those vanilla with chocolate icing cupcakes from scratch would have gone to waste. I stared at the edible purple glitter and the white chocolate hearts standing tall, stuck into the rich, thick swirled icing. The two of us had a brief conversation during the five minute drive through Metuchen to arrive at my friend Emily’s house in the other side of Edison. When we arrived we both got out of my mom’s white Passat Volkswagon. She “popped” the trunk and we unloaded my bags. As I walked up the steps I walked past the balloons that read “13”. I had seen these bright balloons from the minute we turned onto Emily’s block. I walked right in, being cautious not to let out Roxy, Emily’ dog. I plopped all of my bags her couch. My mom handed me my rolling duffel, she said, “Lift it so you don’t scratch the floor.” I gave Emily a big smile and she smiled back; we can talk just through facial expressions and she got my message, “IT’S TODAY! FINALLY!” After saying our goodbyes, my mom left only to return seconds later. She gave me the brown North Face gloves that I had dropped in Emily’s driveway. The minute my mom left, my attention turned to Emily’s dog, Roxy who got shaved. “Come here Rox!! Hello! ... Hello!” I squealed in a baby voice. “Oh yeah. She got shaved a few days ago,” Emily stated, smiling toward her Shi-tzu puppy. “They weighed her before and after she got shaved and she lost two pounds!” her mom, Mrs. Cubelo added, laughing a bit. We all giggled, none of us could believe that Roxy’s hair weighed two entire pounds. I mean her fluffy white, brown, and amber red hair that seemed as light as a cloud was two pounds. It was hard to believe. I noticed another new thing about Roxy. She seemed to have a different personality. It was funny but it seemed that the shave, shaved away some of her craziness. She had become a mellow dog. The subject was quickly changed as Emily tried to put music on her brand new i-pod. “Mom, it won’t work!” Emily moaned. Strolling over, I was confident I could solve the problem. “Look at it,” Emily explained, pointing to a sign that meant “no” on her computer. I surveyed her new i-pod. The NEW i-pod touch with the camera, that’s super thin and light. Inside, I was kind of jealous. However, I kept reminding myself that I had the i-phone 3-g. All I heard were the clicks on the keyboard from Emily’s fingers trying desperately to put songs on her i-pod. I could feel the frustration on Emily’s face, staring cold and hard at the computer screen. She gave up, hopeless of it working. “You can use mine Em,” I babbled, trying to make Emily feel better. But my offer didn’t make a difference at first. It wasn’t the fact that the songs wouldn’t load although they were bought from i-tunes. It was that her brand new i-pod wasn’t working as expected. She nagged her mom until her mom gave it a try. Right as we thought it worked, the little “no” sign came up. I repeated myself again, except this time it actually had an impact. “Yeah. We’ll do that,” Emily reassured herself that she would have music at her party. Mrs. Cubelo’s boss drove up in his Lincoln SUV. Mrs. Cubelo and him were going to trade cars so that we had more room in the car. After saying hello, we ran upstairs. Emily heard her car start up and then saw it begin to pull away. “My bemer! I miss it already,” Emily cried in a small voice about her white BMW sedan. We went downstairs and did a little bit of science homework. “Well,” Mrs. Cubelo said, “I have to go get bagels.” Emily and I nodded. Grabbing her purse and her phone, she was out the door. Soon after, we heard footsteps upstairs. Emily’s older brother. Just as he was going to come down the stairs, Emily hollered, “Dan! Don’t come down in boxers, put on pants… Liz is here.” We heard steps trailing back to his room. I giggled. He came down and walked straight into the family room of the spit-level house. Clank! Bang! It sounded like someone was playing the drums with pots and pans. Confused at what was going on, I gave Emily a puzzled look. Without even asking me what I meant, she answered my question, “Lifting weights. Does it every morning.” I understood. Five minutes later, or in other words a few reps later Dan stumbled up the stairs. “I’m gonna go get coffee,” Dan mumbled. He left, leaving Emily and me alone. Well, with the guard dog Roxy of course… Looking through the screen door, we saw Jackie, Emily’s close friend pull up in her van. She got out and took her things out of the truck. She started up the grass to get into the house, just as her dad called her back. She forgot to say goodbye. Trudging back, she struggled to carry her things. To help, Emily grabbed her gift. She turned back, her mouth as wide as a child’s smile on Christmas morning and she shook her gift, acting like she didn’t know what it was. It was about the same length as the present she asked for from Jackie. A rip-stick. Running in, I swung the door open for them and helped them in. When Jackie came in, she put her things down and sat down at the dining room table. We had a quick conversation. It was interrupted by Jackie saying, “Ummmmm, Emily… There is some guy walking up to the house!” We all were a bit creeped out. I mean three twelve year-old girls alone in a house seeing a man walking up to the open door. Emily ran over. She was about to shut and lock the door when she noticed it was her uncle. When she told us, Jackie and I were relieved. Laughing, we quieted down as Maritza came in. When she came in she said a quick hello, but that was pretty much it. Quiet and timid, Maritza sat down, barely contributing to our slightly awkward conversation. Thinking to myself, I thought about two things. I thought about how I hoped that as the weekend progressed Maritza would warm up and talk a bit more. Second, I wondered where Allyson was. Emily’s mom came in the front door, interrupting my thought. She carried bagels, butter, and cream cheese. All of the sodas and chips were organized in the trunk of the car, ready to depart. Emily’s mom gave us the food and left the rest to us. Looking around the table, it hit me again, that Allyson had not arrived yet. While I dialed her number, I asked Emily if she had spoken to her. Getting the answer I expected (no) I waited as the phone connected to Allyson’s. “Hello?” I heard through my phone. “Hey… Where are you?” I asked. I heard Allyson stop to tell her mom it was Me. “Well, we were pulling up to Em’s house while my mom was listing everything thing I needed. And when she said ‘present’, I remembered that I forgot her gift. So, we just stopped home and I’m on my way,” she explained. I chuckled, “Okay, see you soon.” The call disconnected. Hungrily, I ate my bagel with cream cheese, keeping my eye out for Allyson. When I saw her car pull up I felt a lot better. I darted out the front door running down the driveway to help Allyson with her things. “Hey Skinny Minny,” Mrs. Lombardo, Allyson’s mom said. Everyone calls me that. I helped Allyson in. When she sat down, we discussed things from school and just random things. I grew nervous when I noticed that everyone had over one hundred dollars and I had about thirty-five. I decided to be a bit frugal on the trip and spend my money wisely. The four of us sat around, hung out, opened presents, and watched T.V. Waiting for Bern, Emily’s god-mother, we all grew impatient. Finally, she pulled into the driveway. Excited, all of us whipped on our coats and grabbed our belongings. Once outside, we all split up. Emily and Maritza went in her godmother’s car, while Jackie, Allyson, and I went with Mrs. Cubelo. After driving steadily on the highway for a little while, everyone in Mrs. Cubelo’s car, other than her of course, tried to nap to make time go faster. We all succeeded somewhat, however we all awoke before arriving. The car ride seemed longer than all of my car rides into Pennsylvania. As a matter of fact, I think it was longer. We reached our golden destination in about two hours. To drive up to the resort you have to drive up a swerving hill. It feels like forever. The first image you see are the brightly colored water slides that exit the building and enter it without opening. This made all of us a bit more giddy to get in the waterpark. The building that looked like a log cabin mansion, fit into its area perfectly. The wilderness or trees that seemed like wilderness to a suburb girl like me, set the scene perfectly. Getting out of the car, Jackie told me that her dad told her it was snowing crazily in Edison. I was kind of mad that the day we left it had to snow. But, I reminded myself that I was going to the Great Wolf Lodge. The parking lot was jam packed, so I was happy to get a close parking spot. Especially because it was freezing out side and walking across the parking lot would be dreadful. Walking into the log cabin mansion was exhilarating. The ceilings were so high and everything was wood. It was decorated for Christmas. Straight ahead was the gift shop and right next door was… STARBUCKS. “Oh my goodness!” I squealed. Looking around, all of us were mezmerized. We left our jackets with Mrs. Cubelo so that we could explore. I remember that I took pictures of everything. I was so excited I took a picture of the design in the carpet! The gift shop was first. There was t-shirts, magnets, even better Vera Bradley and Brighton. After choosing what we would later buy, the five of us headed over to Starbucks. As we glanced in, Jackie made us go into the bathroom. After leaving that place we ran into the lobby. It was snowing! Not snow outside, but fake snow inside! Some guy out of nowhere yelled, “This snow is about as real as Santa!” I wanted to say that there were little kids around and that he shouldn’t say that. But I didn’t. After the snowfall we took pictures while Mrs. Cubelo and Bern stood in line for our room key. Soon enough, they called us over to put on our wrist bands. Surprisingly, each of them could unlock our door. We ran to our room, fought about whom would open the door, but finally decided it would be Emily, the birthday girl. Our room was the last one in the hallway on the main floor. After opening the door with newly found technology we walked into cabin heaven. The first things you saw were two walkways. If you went to your left you would pass a closet with a safe in it and you would reach the end, hitting a marble counter with a huge mirror and a sink. Looking at the safe, it seemed kind of pointless. There was a sticker on top that read something like this, “This safe is password sensitive. The password is 8888.” It was ironic that the safe was meant to hold important things from intruders and the password for it was right on the safe. Anyway, there you could walk into a bathroom. If you chose not too do that, you would have gone down the other walkway. If you looked to your left you would see a kitchenette, containing a sink, cups/other supplies, countertops, a mirror, a microwave, a mini fridge, drawers, and a coffee maker. The first door you would come to would be the bedroom with two queen beds and a T.V. Even the lamps looked like branches. I was impressed with their efforts of making it like a lodge. This room became ours, the girls, room. When you walked back out, you would stumble right into the living room. There was a T.V. above a fireplace, a couch, and a table. Right out two sliding doors was a balcony. Because of the frigid winter weather it was useless to us. The other room was Mrs. Cubelo’s room and she had an attached bathroom. Quickly and excitedly all of us girls put on our bathing suits. I felt so uncomfortable. It was completely too tight, and I didn’t want to even attempt to untie the knot that had been made by my mom. So, although I was a bit squeezed into the halter-top bikini, I wanted to go to the water park. We all threw on cover-ups and slipped on our flip-flops and off we went. Wearing all of this ‘summer gear’ during the winter felt so unusual. Hearing the sound of flip-flops hitting all of our heels walking through the hallways of the hotel, sounded as sweet as honey. It brought back summer memories. When we got up to the doors of the waterpark, the gates of paradise, the eighty-degree temperature literally splashed onto our bodies. The smell of chlorine, the smell of summer, filled our nostrils. Taking my first steps into the water park took my breath away. It was like a flashback to summer times. We ran, dropping our things onto the nearest folding chair. Darting to the nearest line for a water slide we dodged other visitors. Standing in line didn’t seem too bad. The first time. As we got to the top of the wooden staircase that twisted and turned up to the beginning of the slides, Jackie noticed something. She gasped, “Look at the beams! On the walls!” We all laughed. On the beams were hair bands and silly bands. All of us wondered how they ended up there. Randomly, Jackie who can be a bit crazy and spontaneous at times, questioned, “Who has a hair band?” Once again, we all laughed. Yet this time we were interrupted by Jackie saying, “I’m not kidding,” in a serious voice. She searched each of our wrists, grabbing the first silly band she saw off of Maritza’s wrist. Fling! The silly band was propelled into the air before any of us could object. It stopped midway and dropped down. Landing in the lazy river, it floated away with the current. Jackie grabbed a hair band off of Allyson’s wrist after attempting to grab another silly band from Maritza. She flung it, but this time it landed on the beam. We all cracked up, not caring about how everyone who surrounded us was staring. While we were standing only a few people from the top floor, we all decided on which slide we were going to go through. It would be the “disco tube”, its real name forgotten. It was the “disco tube” because there were flashing lights and blasting music inside. As we surveyed the tubes entering the slide we saw it sat four people. Bummed out, we planned that Jackie and Emily would go together and Allyson, Maritza, and I would go together. Of course my nerves set in as we began to board the tube. I was even more afraid because the person who pushed us (the lifeguard) was more interested in clapping to the beat of the song than pushing us down the slide. However, he did not neglect the idea of spinning us like a top. He spun us, scaring me half to death. I didn’t care how easy or smooth the ride was, I was NOT going backwards. Luckily, I didn’t have to go backwards. The ride wasn’t too bad, until something unexpected happened. We hit an angle of at least 90°. Well maybe not that steep, but at the moment it felt like it. The tube was not even touching the plastic slide as we slid down the slope. I remember glancing at Allyson, a so-called pro at these water slides. She seemed scared and nervous; looking back this scared the living daylights out of me. If she was scared, I should be scared. The rest of the ride, I was on edge. What if I would have to go through that terrible experience again? We went fast, flew up onto the sides of the slide, and twisted and turned. But we never had that insane drop again. As we exited the slide I thanked god that I had survived. We climbed out of the tiny, little pool or what seemed like a big puddle to me, to reach the tiled floor. I stood there waiting for Jackie and Emily to exit the slide. Waiting I could hear their screams, but I could not quite make them out. In my mind I pictured their faces with traumatized looks on them. As their tube came to a stop I noticed they were not as flustered as I was. However, they were still a bit scared. At that moment I wanted to take a break. Desperate, I brought up the fact that we should try out the wave pool to escape lines. Looking back, I really hoped it worked, for I was scared to ride another slide. We ran, splashing into the pool that dropped to deeper levels every couple of steps. When we reached the farthest end, five feet, we heard a noise. It sounded like the tsunami alert noise I had heard on T.V. before. Yet nobody ran in terror or looked alert. Instead they all splashed and screamed happily. The wall of the pool in front of us began to send ocean currents toward us. There were two techniques we used to, well, not drown in these waves. First, we closed our eyes, held our breath and dove under them. Second, the more fun of the two, was when we would ride over the waves. This was exhilarating. It was nice to be able to ride waves without worrying about the deep, dark secrets of the ocean. As the waves began to die down, we swam out of the pool. Allyson, Emily, and Jackie wanted to go and ride another slide. Maritza and I told them to go ahead, that we would stay behind and find them later. They ran off. The plan seemed to be so smart. We did some activities in two pools and then we were bored. We walked toward the slides. This is when we noticed that our plan was not too bright. We couldn’t find them and we had no clue what slide they went on. I got this nervous pit in my stomach. I felt lost. Lost in a sea of people, but with no one at all. The feeling of defeat came over me. I knew they were in that water park, but they were no where to be found. Even worse, I was stuck with the quiet and shy girl, Maritza. I had to take care of finding the others on my own without her help. Then Maritza said, “Look, Aunt Fern.” At first I was sure the woman walking towards us, Mrs. Cubelo, was unreal, a hallucination. Then I heard her voice. As she came closer I explained that the other girls were on a slide. She told us that her and Bern would be in the hot tub. A glimmer of hope was in reach. It felt as if we had been saved from a stranded island. I nodded. She walked away. Then the girls walked up. They explained that the slide they went on was so much fun and easier than the “disco one”. Reluctantly, I walked to get on line. I questioned them about a million times if the slide was hard. I always got the same answer, no. As we boarded the tube, I made a remark about how this slide was chilly. The lifeguard snarled, “They are all cold.” Whoosh. We were off. This slide was my kind of slide. It twisted and turned, going fast. I even stood up, showing my wild side. For a little while longer we frolicked around in the water park, riding slides and swimming in pools. Then we decided to return to the hotel room. After checking in with Mrs. Cubelo we grabbed our belongings and set off to the room. We ran, well some of us, to reach our room. I noticed that Allyson ran like all of the vampires in Twilight. I began to call her “Twilight runner”. Showered, dressed, and partially ready, all of us retreated to the mirror to do our makeup. We shared techniques on makeup and helped each other. After getting dolled up, we waited for Bern and Mrs. Cubelo to return to the room. Then we took the elevator downstairs to check out all of the special rooms, the arcade, the computer room, and more. Going into the computer room first, we noticed that it was only five dollars after nine o’clock. Leaving, we went into the arcade. I set a limit on the amount of money that I would use. I knew that if I didn’t, I would get carried away. Every time I go to the boardwalk I use too much money on games. This time, I would force myself not to do that. Getting the tokens for my ten dollar limit, I chose to start with a crane game, my favorite. “Ok, I’m going to try this two times… Then I will walk away,” I mumbled to myself. I gave it a try. I had a grip on a stuffed animal. It was going towards the shoot. “Yes! C’mon!” I screamed in my mind. But then it dropped. “Okay. One more time,” I lectured to myself. After deciding to try for a stuffed toy Santa, I put in my quarter. Luckily, the crane grabbed the stuffed toy and dropped it in the shoot. Finally I won! We all played games and won tickets. Holding your tickets in your hands makes it seem like you have a million tickets. However when you put them in the ticket counter, you have like sixty tickets. So you can get either a stick of gum or a few tootsie rolls. Or that is what it feels like. Anyway I got a bracelet that said “Great Wolf Lodge”. While at the prize counter, Jackie made friends with an employee, Chrisjon. She talked to him as if they were long lost friends and they called each other homies. Everywhere we went from then on, Jackie asked if they knew Chrisjon. After the arcade we were as hungry as a group of starving bears. To return to our room we exited through an elevator with a glass wall. Leaving was a little sad, but knowing that there was fresh pizza waiting in the room was promising. We gobbled it all down, leaving some extra pieces for later. Bern took Emily, Maritza, and I outside to grab the cupcakes. The three of us ran to escape the cold. Because of the dark, a pile of rocks was invisible to us. Maritza tripped and went flying. She lay, paralyzed on the cement ground. We questioned her to see if she was okay. Of course she told us she was fine. Emily and I continued toward the car. Once we found the gold SUV, Emily unlocked it and I ripped open the door. I grabbed the cupcakes and began to run back. “Wait, maybe I shouldn’t run,” I hollered. Then the plastic covering flew off the tin of cupcakes. This sent Emily running towards it. She swooped down and seized it, clutching it to her chest. Nearly freezing we burst through the doors of the hotel. Racing up the steps to our level was tiring. I buzzed us into the room. Allyson helped me stick all of the candles in the cupcakes. After having war with lighting the candles, everyone sang to Emily. The room was silent as we devoured our cupcakes. As a group we played Taboo. I was on Allyson and Bern’s team. We beat Emily, Jackie, Maritza, and Mrs. Cubelo. Still a bit hungry all of us headed to the elevator. When we arrived downstairs, we scrambled towards the ice cream store. It was like hitting a brick wall when we walked into the ice cream store. There had to be fifty people in there. All of us surveyed the ice cream flavors. My favorite flavor caught my eye. Java chip. Only problem was that the tub of java chip ice cream was absent from its spot. I asked if they happened to have anymore. I hoped to get the answer I wanted. “Ummmm, let me check,” the employee perkily answered. Hoping that they would have my flavor, I thought about how I wanted a milkshake. We ordered, paid, and got out of there. Next on our agenda was the computer room. Our admission was five dollars. The room was mostly dark except for some colored spotlights. There were T.V.s, computers, pull down screens, and tons of video games. We all got a computer and signed into our Facebook’s in unison. This room was not the best highlight of the night for me. It was fine, however I felt that while you’re in the Poconos you should let go off technology. Since we were still allowed to be walking around, we went into this store where you can buy a wand to do a scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt is located throughout the entire resort. All of us were kind of interested in this. But when we got to the store, we were in for a rude awakening. Each wand was twenty dollars, a wand topper was sixteen dollars, and the scavenger hunt itself was thirty dollars. Obviously, we all walked out of there without wands. Since hibernation hours were creeping up on us we decided to get back to the room. Hibernation hours were the times when all guests had to be in their rooms. These hours were from eleven o’clock at night until seven o’clock in the morning. We must have been out very late because as we were getting into the elevator an employee seemed to be following us. We frantically pressed the elevator buttons. Just to be sure Allyson sent the elevator to level four to confuse the guy. We got inside. Exhausted from the day behind us, we decided to hang out in pajamas in our bedroom. I got on my brand new, black and pink zebra feetsie pajamas. All of us were tired, but not too tired to eat! We had s’mores mix that was made by Allyson. It’s her specialty. It consists of mini marshmallows, little bits of chocolate, and wheat chex. Simple and delicious. Almost every one of us fell asleep the minute we hit the pillow. Emily and Allyson were the exceptions. They got to stay up and experience some funny moments. First, they said I got up and unzipped my pajamas only to fall back asleep. That would explain why I woke up without my feetsie pajamas on. Thank goodness I had clothes under it. The next event was when Jackie got up and whipped her pillow across the room, causing it to smack into the wall. Lastly, I woke up and said, “Cookies.” Allyson answered me with, “Yeah, Liz go get the cookies.” She told me that I mumbled to myself that the cookies were burning. After we woke up, we once again put on beach attire and headed towards Starbucks for breakfast. Before we did this we gathered all of our belongings for Mrs. Cubelo to bring to the car. All of us got bagels and a drink. I got a mocha frappuchino. Yum, my favorite. We found a bench to sit and we ate. Unfortunately, Allyson was feeling under the weather so she decided to be careful and not ride to many things. To be a good friend, I sat with her for a couple minutes in the hot tub. But then, I wanted to do a couple rides. I did the lazy river, the wave pool, the “disco tube” (three times), and two other slides. Also, in the water park was an obstacle course of stairs and water everywhere. All of us did that. To warm up we all retreated to the hot tub. After fifteen minutes in there, all of us decided to dry off. Sitting there getting dried off made us all hungry. We scrambled towards a snack bar. We all bought fries and drinks. Not purposely, but Allyson and I got free fries because of a confusion with our orders. Emily had taken our fries to our table without us knowing. As a result, we told the employee we never got the fries and he gave new ones to us. Using all of the sauces we had, salt, and pepper, Allyson and I made a dip. It looked atrocious. Jackie and I were brave enough to try the concoction that turned out to be not too bad. We were occupied for about ten minutes, but soon we grew bored. Our eyes searched for Emily’s mom who was getting our clothes for us. The second we saw her we went straight towards her. After grabbing our pre-planned outfits, we all ran towards the dressing room. The line for a stall was like out the door and around the corner. Even though some of the stalls were so small that I would be squeezed in it, we all decided and agreed that we would all go in the same stall. The next part was the worst. Waiting. Finally a little girl came out. All of us went in it. We laid down towels on the wet tiled floor, designated our spots, and began to change. I believe I was the first one done. I went outside to get some fresh air. It was then when I discovered something. A bathing suit dryer. You stuff your bating suit down, hold the cover real tight onto the machine, and it sucks all of the water out of your bathing suit in one cycle. Happy with my achievement of drying my bathing suit, I walked to Mrs. Cubelo. “We’re hungry,” Emily told her mom. “Okay, We’re going to go to the restaurant here,” Mrs. Cubelo answered. Content, all of us headed towards the restaurant. It was a buffet of about every single type of food. Of course my plate was covered in unhealthy, comfort food. Emily’s was slightly unhealthy. Allyson’s was health food central. Salad, vegetables, fruits, all on her plate. We gobbled down the food. As Mrs. Cubelo got the bill she asked about the wolf ears everybody had on. “Oh yes!” the lady bellowed handing us our wolf ears. All of us thanked her. After putting them on and taking some shots of us howling and smiling we had to get on our way. I took some “Pops” cereal. So good and delicious. Waiting for Mrs. Cubelo to finish checking out, we went to the gift shop to buy our souvenirs. I got a magnet that said “Great Wolf Lodge” and a pencil that said “Great Wolf Lodge”. After waiting for everyone to be checked out, we headed outside to the car. The farewell was a bit sad, however it was time to go home. We all buckled up and got straight onto the highway. We all did the same thing that we did on the way to the Great Wolf Lodge. We slept. Except this time it worked. Waking up in Edison, I called my mom to tell her I was coming home. Pulling down my street was a bittersweet feeling. I was home, but I was not on vacation anymore. As I entered my house, I told my mom everything about my weekend. My amazing weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge. By: Elizabeth Pianucci  Author’s Note

 I wrote this memoir so that I can remember this experience and so that others can read about my experience to enjoy and to learn. I learned that things may be scary, but they can bring you joy. In addition, you need to take notice of that joy and enjoy it during the moment that it takes place. When I rode the “disco tube” I was so scared and nervous that I didn’t really enjoy the ride. It may seem cheesy, but I can relate this slide or tube to life itself. The slide was life. The big, steep drop was a bad/hard time or low point in life. The rest of the ride was the better or normal times of life. In this slide I dwelled on the bad or steep drop and did not enjoy the fun and easier parts. I learned that life should be enjoyed just by riding a water slide. I hope that readers take away life lessons from my experience just as I did. I would not have been able to finish this memoir without my mom’s encouragement. She kept me on-track and focused. Also, my love for writing made me want to do better and keep going. There came a point where I had to make myself move onto the next point. That’s why it took me so long to come to my ending. To tell you the truth I would’ve written ten times more if I had the time. Hopefully you enjoyed my writing and got something out of it.