Prologue
I jumped up from the chair on the sunlit balcony, threw my towel over my shoulder, and ran barefoot down the stairs from the top floor condo towards waves crashing on the shore ahead of me. My sister and someone else were screaming my name. Then the cool hard cement beneath my feet turned into the burning hot sand of the beach, which I already loved! My stomach was churning with the food I had just gulped down, but I ignored the feeling as I threw my towel on the ground and jumped into the cool, refreshing, salty water. I was there at last! Ahhh! Time for some fun in the sun! I thought.


Finally! The day that we had been counting down since Christmas! Anna Maria Island! I had never been to the ocean before. Well, not unless the time when I was about one year old counts. Somehow the crashing of waves, distant whispers from cars, and happy cheers from the sun-kissed parents weren’t new to me. It was like I had grown up my while life listening to those very sounds. It was very comforting.

We arrived a little before noon, after a two day long road trip. We hopped out of the car and my sister, Payton, and I grabbed our suitcases and raced to the elevators! “Ha! I beat you!” I said. Ding! The elevator was already there. We went to floor two, the top floor. Once we were at our condo Payton and I decided to save unpacking for later. Payton and my parents weren’t hungry so they went straight to the beach. They told me to come down as soon as I ate my sandwich.

I finished eating then I jumped up from the chair on the sunlit balcony, threw my towel over my shoulder, and ran barefoot down the stairs from the top floor condo towards the sound of waves crashing on the shore ahead of me. My sister and someone else were screaming my name. Then the cool hard cement beneath my feet turned into the burning hot sand of the beach which I already loved! My stomach was churning with the food I had just gulped down but I ignored the feeling as I threw my towel on the ground and jumped into the cool, refreshing, salty water. I was there at last! Ahhh! Time for some fun in the sun! I thought.

When I popped up to the surface, sun directly in my eyes and salt filling up my mouth, I felt great! When my eyes finally adjusted to the blaring, hot sun I saw that the other person with Payton was Ashley! Ashley was a current 7th grader that went to my school. She was two years older than me. When I talked to her she said that they were staying at the same place as us and our parents didn’t even plan that on purpose! How weird?! I thought!

There were hardly any waves in the ocean so we decided to go to the pool. The water was almost as warm as a hot tub! We spent the rest of the day splishing and splashing in the small pool and soaking up the sun.

Later my family decided that we weren’t hungry enough for dinner so we just walked around town and got ice cream! It was a great way to start vacation. When we returned to the light pink and cream colored condos, we unpacked and went to bed.

The next morning I awoke to the smell of bacon and pancakes! Payton must’ve already been awake because she was nowhere to be seen in the small beige room. I slowly opened the door and took a step into the cooler air, walked down the hall, and then saw my mom and Payton on the balcony. I went out to eat breakfast with them. My dad was most likely on a bike ride. At first we were mostly silent, staring out at the glittering ocean. Then I spotted some dolphins! “Look! Look!” I said as I pointed them out.

They were beautiful and very playful. Chasing each other; playing tag. They jumped up and down out of the water like little puppies. They were friendly to each other just like good pals saying, “Hello.”

The plan for the day was to go to our friend’s private cottage! The friends were the Parrells and the Duncans. It was only a short ways away but we still drove because of the big load of beach stuff we had!
The kids were all in the water. So me and Payton ran out and dove in! The waves were only medium sized, but we still got out our boogie boards and played in the oh-so-blue-and-sparkling waves! Shouts arouse from the nearby neighbors, also in the water, but what where they saying? “Ahhh! Stingrays! Stingrays!” shouted Lauren and oddly enough there were the light gray, brownish even, stingrays. They blended in with the wet sand on the bottom of the ocean. All of a sudden my mind was rushing with What-if’s. What if one stings me? What if one stung one of my friends? Would we die? But then reassuringly our parents yelled to us, “Shuffle your feet and they won’t touch you!”
Out of pure curiosity I dug my toes into the gushy wet sand. It felt great between my toes. Then I shuffled forward about an inch, a puff of sand clouded up the water. I kept going. Soon there was a parade of 6 kids trailing behind me all with little puffs of sand hanging around their feet. Once we got close to the stingrays I could almost feel them tickling my toes. Then boom, like a dart they were off! Then it was Michael’s turn to lead the mini parade of kids. We went back up to the stingrays. Finally, the stingrays decided to be smart and move on to another spot in the vast ocean where they wouldn’t be bothered by kids.
By lunch time the sand was burning hot from the high up sun. We lazed out on our towels, chowed down on our dinosaur chicken nuggets, talked about vacation, and looked out at the gleaming ocean. There was another round of dolphins passing through in the same manner that the ones we saw this morning were.
We played soccer on the beach for pretty much the rest of the day. Sand was flying everywhere, the sun was blaring right in my eyes, sweat dripping down everyone’s foreheads. Every once and a while we would take a break and run from the burning hot sand to the cool water from the ocean that was calling our names.
Then the parents called us in for pizza! Yum! Dinner went by in such a fast blur of time. Afterwards, we decided to have a sandcastle contest. It was boys vs. girls. And you can guess who won! The girls of course!
The day we had been counting down since Christmas was now over. The crashing of waves, distant whispers from cars, and the happy cheers from the sun-kissed parents raced threw my mind as I peacefully fell asleep thinking this is the Perfect Start of Spring Break!