Its not every day you get a picture painted especially for you by a penguin. It was my seventeenth birthday and it was quite a special one. My mother, sister, best friend/sister, her mother and her mother’s boyfriend and I took a trip up to Edmonton. We stayed in the West Ed Hotel in the Hollywood room. It was not only the celebration of my birthday but also my friend Brookelyn who can with me. We are about two months apart and have always wanted to celebrate together. Our parents decided to make this a surprise and planned everything without us even hinting that they were putting together such an eventful weekend. This picture shows my favorite part of the whole trip. It was the most unique experience and memorable moment; I will never forget it. Not only did this little guy paint me a beautiful picture but I also get to hold him and not going to lie I was a freaked out he would poop on me. Their feathers are like silk and I could have taken him home he was that adorable. They make really neat sounds and motions that we got to learn about what some of them meant. We got to tour all behind where they make the food and salt water for the animals and got to see the sea turtles from the top of the tank. My least favorite part was stuffing small dead fish with vitamins for the penguins. That was not a pretty sight but thankfully the smell was tolerable. I am so glad I had the chance to experience something so out of the ordinary and with someone who I am so close to.

A Moment

Over the break I went to my grandparents’ house in Creston BC for a week. It’s a small town surrounded with mountains; it is so quiet and peaceful. My dad’s side of the family was all there. While we were up there we played a board game called Settlers of Catan. Each game takes about two to three hours and I have never had so much fun playing a game before. It’s become a family tradition every winter, for the past three years we have united as a family at my grandparents’ house and play this game for the majority of our visit. It is a great way to bond with family while having a blast. We never get sick of it because the game is different every time. My favourite moment over the break was while we were playing this game. It was my grandparents, dad, stepmom, uncle and I playing one night and I was not doing very well until the last bit of the game. My uncle the champion was winning until I took his points from him last minute before he went out. This allowed me to win the game which out of the many times I have played it was my first time winning. My uncle was very impressed with how I played and told me he is happy to have a challenge. I have never been super close with my uncle, it has always been kind of an awkward relationship but after that game every time we played after that we competed and it allowed us to bond. It may have been a small thing but to me family is the most important thing and being able to connect over a board game with my uncle made it a special moment I will not forget.