My First Pointe Class ( by Margaret )

I was so nervous a soon as I walked in the door to the Dancers' Studio in Carthage because it was my first pointe class. I was only eleven years old and I was also kind of hesitant because I was the only one there.

Finally everyone arrived, and we got our supplies out of our bag. First we put these squishy pink gel pads on that were supposed to protect our feet. Then, as soon as I got my pointe shoes out of my bag, I began to get excited because the idea of me dancing with my pink pointe shoes made me feel very graceful. After we put our shoes on, we walked into the dance room. " I can help you tie your ribbons," Danielle, my dance teacher said, as she bent down to tie my beautiful pink silky ribbons.

After we had stretched awhile, we went to the bar. Danielle had us start with the basic steps like plies and tondues. It felt so much different when we did them with pointe shoes on. Then Danielle had us walk across the floor on demi pointe which is between your flat foot and on your toes. Danielle said that we should do this often, " to break our boxes in."

The most surprising part was balancing without using the bar and walking across the floor because I discovered that I could do it. As we walked across the floor, Danielle would correct us by saying " Make sure you are getting all the way up on your boxes." "She also said that we should have tight thighs, knees, and that we should suck up really tall."We also got to grape vine and bouree across the floor, which was kind of tricky since I had never done them on pointe shoes.

Before class, mom had told me that I would have blisters and my toes would bleed.So after class I was expecting blood and blisters, but quess what , there weren't any! Mom told me I was "very lucky" because most girls do get blisters. After that mom said the we had to go home.

While we were riding home, I told mom that I couldn't wait tell next Saturday because I would get to have my pointe class again. That night I had a dream that I was a graceful ballerina performing the part of Clara in the nutcracker. I had to learn fifteen dances in the program and after the last one I fainted because I had been on pointe for too long. Then finally I woke up, and realized that of course it was only a dream and I didn't have to worry because I knew I wouldn't be doing fifteen dances. After that, I couldn't wait to go back to pointe class.

My Disaster Camping Trip (by Madison)

It was the summer of 2004 and my family wanted to go on a vacation. The Givens, who are friends of our family, were also wanting to take a break. They were wanting to go to Table Rock Lake and camp. Mom thought that was a great idea since my family had never been camping before. My dad thought that we should rent a cabin, and everyone else would have been fine with that, but mom said, " No! I want the real thing with the tent and the woods and everything like that!" So we all started planning, packing, and getting excited for our camping trip.

Finally, after about a week of waiting, we left for the camp site. Each family took a separate car although us kids would have enjoyed spending that long car trip together. All the way there my siblings and I planned what we were going to do and of course asked questions. Some were about the camp site, some were about what we were going to do when we got there, and of course the classic questions like, "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer? I have to go to the bathroom!"

When we got there we had to unpack. Everyone had to help even though some of us would have rather gone exploring. Then, after we finally got done unpacking us kids got our wish. We went to look around and when we saw the shiny, blue lake we wanted to go swimming right away.

After about 3 days of our wonderful trip it turned to disaster. It started to rain and rain and rain. The thunder and lightning was soon filling the sky. Finally dad and Reg said to pack up because we were going to leave. And that's when the piercing tornado sirens started to go off. Everybody started freaking out and running around, yelling and trying to get everything packed fast.

After a while, all of us kids didn't have anything that we could help with so mom told us to go get in the van. We wanted to stay together so we all crowded into my family's van. We were terrified because we knew that being in a car while there are tornadoes was not a good idea. The adults were all running around outside trying to get everything so I decided the best way to help would be to keep everybody calm. After a while mom came and got us and said it was time to go home.

When we got home we all laughed at the trip because it really was rather funny, everyone freaking out and running around, but mom still said, "I never want to go camping again!"

My first camping experience was not a great one although I know that the Givens and my family will always remember it. But I have a feeling we won't be going again soon!