It all started in my second year of grade school during the month of May. I had always wanted to go on a long vacation that involved beautiful beaches and never-ending sunshine. Little did I know that soon this dream would come true.

When my parents told me that we were going on a family vacation, I could not explain the excitement that I was feeling. I was extremely happy about this soon to be vacation, and how much fun our family would have while we were on it. My parents said that we would be taking a trip to the island of Aruba. My first questions were, “How far is it? Will we drive? Where is it?” They began telling me that it was not close enough to drive and we would be taking a plane. I was excited about taking a plane because I had not flown much. They then told me that Aruba was in the Caribbean Sea. Of course I did not know where that was either and asked them, “Where’s that?” The stale reply to my many questions was, “You’ll see when we get there.” I used to say pridefully that I was only seven years old on my first trip out of the country and my brother Josh would be eighteen. He jokingly said to me that it must have been because my parents loved me more than him.

The minute we arrived at the airport I was ecstatic. I could not wait to get on the plane and go on our vacation. Everything was going well until I boarded the plane. I began to tell my parents that it smelled bad when my mom told me that it was impolite to say something negative about the plane and be grateful that we were on it. I decided that complaining would not make it any better and sat down next to my brother Josh. He had charged his phone so that I would be able to use it on the flight while he was writing papers for school. I was extremely excited when I saw Aruba out of the plane window as we were approaching our landing. I was so grateful to get off of the plane when we landed. I was waiting for my parents when Josh suggested that we collect our luggage and bring it back to my mom and dad. After collecting our luggage we boarded the bus that would take us to our hotel. My dream vacation has begun!

By the time we boarded the bus, I was complaining that my ear hurt. We checked in to the hotel and dropped off all of our bags and then went to the pool and beach for the first day to enjoy the beautiful weather. I told my mom that my ear was still hurting a lot and she took me to see the doctor. The doctor said that I had gotten an ear infection from the flight over and that I would need to drink a certain medicine every day. “I can’t drink this it tastes bad” was my response to my dad trying to give me the medicine. Whenever I wanted to go swimming I had to put a little foam piece in my ear to keep the water out. I began to think that the vacation might not be as fun as I had imagined.

My spirits started to lift as I enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool every day. It had a very big water slide and a lazy river. These are both fun to go swimming in and we always had a good time. My brother always played many different games with me in the pool and the lazy river. My ear infection was feeling better than the previous day and I was able to enjoy the island more.

My parents started to look into different activities that we could enjoy. They asked me if I would like to feed the iguanas, and I immediately said, “Yes!” When we went to the activity center the guide brought us all outside and gave us lettuce. I ran around trying to feed all of the iguanas that I possibly could with the amount of lettuce that they gave us. I enjoyed this because I had never seen an iguana before in person and wanted to be near them. This was one of my best experiences on the trip and I couldn’t wait to tell all my friends that I fed iguanas!
One game that my family and I played almost daily was shuffleboard. We would borrow the sticks and pucks from the hotel center and play on the courts that were right outside the doors of the hotel. Josh and I were on the same team playing against my parents. After talking for a few minutes about a prize, we decided that the winners should get double dessert after dinner, which was a dream prize for a seven year old! Josh and I won almost every time but never got double dessert because we were too full from our amazing meals at Texas de Brazil and other restaurants in the area. I laugh when I think of this because the amazing thought of my double dessert never became a reality.

On another day of our vacation, we decided to go snorkeling. This trip involved boarding the Jolly Roger, a pirate ship used for the adventure, and sailing to various locations that were good for observing fish and other ocean wildlife. I was having a great time with my mom and my underwater camera, but I eventually got tired of snorkeling. I took my snorkel out of my mouth so that I could tell my mom that I wanted to go back to the ship. I could not get it back in because the water had become slightly choppy and I was swallowing large amounts of water. As my mom was calling for help, she was trying to hold me above the water so that I could put my snorkel back in. The guide from the ship jumped into the water and helped my mom and I swim back to the ship. I was very relieved that I was finally safe and out of the water. After drying off and getting something to drink, I began to walk around on the deck. The captain of the ship walked up to me and asked me if I would like to steer the ship. I couldn’t believe my ears and excitedly said, “Yes!” to his offer and walked to the wheel of the pirate ship. He gave me his captain’s hat and showed me where I should steer the ship. I thanked him for letting me navigate the ship, which is something I would have never expected to do in my life. I felt like I was on top of the world, and would tell all of my friends about it when I got back home!

I enjoyed going out to eat at the many different and exotic places for dinner. One night we went to the edge of the island and to a restaurant right on the water. We sat on a dock and had the closest table to the water. There was a beautiful sunset and we could see the lighthouses and hotels all across the island. One of the servers told me that if I threw some bread in the water that the fish would swarm up and eat all of it. I did this, and when I looked down into the water I said to my brother, “It looks like a tornado of fish in the water.” As we kept throwing bread in the water, we saw a type of fish that I had never seen before. My dad told me that this fish was a barracuda. It shot through the cyclone of fish and disappeared as quickly as it came. Now I could also tell my friends that I had seen a barracuda!

I was very sad when we had to leave, but the feeling went away as I knew that I would have amazing experiences to share with my friends. I can’t wait to go back again! I will always cherish the joy of this amazing experience. It has sparked a desire in me to travel the world and see what other joys are awaiting me.