Happy and Sad Times

Fourth grade was the best year of school that I have ever had in my whole life. I learned things that seemed hard to me when we first started them, but actually became more easy when we took them step-by -step and then finally I got them. Just like ordered pairs. I didn’t know how to connect the dots but, my best friend Stephen took the time to help me on it.

My favorite subject in fourth grade was science because we got to handle earthworms and it was very fun. We had to see if the worms liked the dark or the light better and also if they would move if we tried to touch them on the back or their head.

The subject that I really despise is math. I am really good at math and I don’t know why I don’t like it. This has been my most favorite grade level. I never want to leave fourth grade, but unfortunately.

This field trip was the best experience I have ever had with my class! Guess where we went as a class… Carlsbad caverns! What the cool thing was, was that I would be having a new experience, because I have never been to the caverns. Okay, enough small talk and let’s get to the story. “Wow, that looks scary,” I whispered to Frankie. “I know,” he responded to me. As soon as down the natural entrance we took a picture of the whole class down in the caves. There was millions maybe even more than that! In my group was: Frankie, Isaac, Josh, and I in ms. torres’ group. We were touring the big room and guess what… my camera died on me! and I was about to take a picture of the Witch’s Finger, but at least I got a picture of the Lion’s Tail. As soon as we got to the Bottomless Pit, that’s when I got scared! It seamed like the pit never ended and I have a great fear of heights. As we got to the end of the caverns we finally got to sit down. This was the best experience I’ve ever had with my friends and I recommend you go there!

 ”Abel it’s time for basketball practice!” my mom and dad said as they woke me up from my power nap. 

“Yes!” I shouted, “I can’t wait until we get there.” 

As we arrived at Burges High School I was so excited about practicing and getting better that I couldn’t keep still. 

Beeeeep! went our coach’s whistle.  “Hi my name is coach Frank and this is your assistant coach, coach Paco,” he said as he introduced himself and his assistant.  “Now! Enough small talk.  Ten laps around the court!” coach Frank said. 

“What!” Joe, a new eleven year old teammate, complained. 

“Make that twenty laps Joe!” coach said. 

“Wow!” Frankie mouthed to me. 

When we finished our ten laps, coach introduced Frankie, Esteban and I to the team.  “This is Frankie, Esteban and Abel.  You will have to know their names by the end of the day or I will make you run!” 

For the first hour he made us do our lay-ups and if we missed one, guess what…we ran! 

“Finally it’s the last hour of the day!” Esteban said to me.  For the last hour they made us do foot fire, which is a what they call the popcorn exercises that we do at school, except we have to do it nonstop. 

Beeeeep! “It’s the end of practice, you may go home!”  coach Frank said. 

“Thank God!” all three of us said together. 

Then came Wednesday of the following week. “Abel, practice!” my mom said. 

“Uugghh!”  I groaned, “not again!”

After an eleven hour drive to Denver from El Paso and an eleven hour nap, my dad, my mom, and I went to see the rest of downtown Denver, Colorado. The downtown area is HUGE and CLEAN, there are skyscrapers everywhere! El Paso’s downtown is NOTHING compared to Denver’s, okay let’s cut the chit-chat and start on our little adventure, shall we?

“Oh, my God!” my mom said as she saw the little Johnny Rockets (a restaurant with a specialty of burgers). We were about to go straight to Hot Topic (a music store), when… sccccrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeech! went the brakes of my dad’s car.

“Dad, why are we turning back?” I asked.

“I’m not just going to say ‘bye-bye’ to our most favorite restaurant in the whole world!” he responded.

We paid for parking and ran to it! The burgers were the best, the patty was juicy, the lettuce was fresh, and best of all the fries had cheese!

We had finally left and were on our way to Hot Topic. Over-there I bought some rock band shirts. That was the best place I’ve ever been to. I recommend that you go sometime, just don’t drive.

photograph by Thomas Hawk

Eleven hours on Friday and eleven hours on Sunday. Thats how much driving we would be doing to and from Denver, Colorado just to get to this game. It was the first NBA game that my mom, my dad and I had ever seen in person.

“Hello, my name is Peter and I will be your waiter for the day,” said a young man as he approached us at our seats in the Pepsi Center. I could not believe it, we did not even have to leave our seats to get hot dogs, drinks, popcorn and even candy. I could see some of the Lakers on the court taking practice shots and some of them were standing by a big crowd of fans taking pictures with them and giving them autographs.

About twenty minutes past and then he came out of the tunnel…Kobe Bryant!

“There he is, that is the greatest basketball player in the world,” my dad said to me. We were all so excited to be seeing all of these players in person.

The game started and the crowd was so loud. I felt like we were all alone because we were surrounded by Denver Nugget fans. I did not care though, by the second quarter the Lakers had taken over the game and they were ahead by 7 points at half time. The lead grew to 19 points by the end of the third quarter and that was enough for the fans to start leaving early. Not us, we stayed until the very end to enjoy this wonderful game and an even better victory.

I know that people are probably wondering what type of formations are in Carlsbad caverns so here is a close-up of the types of formations inside the caverns. The first thing you are probably wondering about are the things on the ground and ceiling. Those are called stalagmites and stalactites. They are made up of water and other matter. Please visit Carlsbad Caverns, thanks!

If you want to see Mexican free-tailed bats fly out of the caves of Carlsbad caverns, then all you need to do is follow ALL of these simple rules of the bat flight program. All you’ve got to do while you’re waiting for the bats to come out is whisper and be as quiet as a mouse, or as possible as can be. You don’t want the bats to go in the wrong direction, do you? If you don’t you can’t take any photographs or any videos especialy if they have a flash with them. The last, but not least rule is that you have to be very quiet while the bats are flying out of the caves or it will lead them in the wrong direction. These rules apply for everybody that visits, especialy the Edgemere fourth graders! Please go! 

I woke up in the morning and I already felt older, do you know why?  Because it was my tenth birthday!  That day we decided that we were going to have my birthday at my house at seven o’ clock in the evening.  Later that day after school I got home and my grandma was making enchiladas for my birthday dinner.  My parents surprised me with one of my favorite gifts ever, a Playstation 3!  At 6:30 pm my aunt Annette arrived to our house along with my cousin Austin.  Half an hour later my uncle Peter showed up with my aunt Amber and my three cousins.  My grandma and my grandpa showed up shortly after.  I had a great time with all of my family there.  I was even surprised when my uncles Ricky and Cristian showed up.  Everybody gave me such nice gifts.  The gift that really stood out was the one that my uncle Peter gave me.  He gave me the real dolphin pin that they gave to him when he was in the U.S. Navy on submarines.  That was one of the best birthdays in my whole life! 

I have always wanted to go to Carlsbad Caverns, and guess where fourth grade is going on a field trip this year… Carlsbad caverns! In this entry I will be telling you the history of the caverns.

Jim White was a cowboy who discovered the caverns. When he was surveying a fence he saw a dark, black cloud moving in the sky, so he followed it and discovered a mysterious hole in the ground. He decided to go into the hole and discover it, but when he crawled into it he saw a bunch of bumps coming from the ground which are called stalagmites and spikes on the ceiling  which are called stalactites. Jim White had not discovered the whole cavern, or cave, so there is still an undiscovered part of the caverns.

This book is a book about a frog named Jubal and he packs a picnic and is so happy that he has a perfect day and that he is going to share with a friend or two. He asks everybody he wants to share with, but they don’t want to, so he goes and sits down, but a hand comes and picks him up. It was a wizard and he gave him a star for Jubal to make a wish. Does his wish come true?

This book reminds of when I wanted to play a game with my cousins just like Jubal wanted to have a picnic, and my cousins wouldn’t play with me so I made a wish so that they would play with me and it came true!

I do recommend this book, because it will really teach you a lesson to believe in your goals and to not give up on them either.