This past summer, I went to Lake Muskoka, Canada with my entire family and a few family friends. I had been to Canada multiple times before last summer, and to be honest, I wasn't looking forward to the many things that I knew would make this trip a unique struggle for better wording. A six-hour drive with 8 people in the car, being in a random location with no way to talk to any friends, and most of all having to share a room with my older sister, oh joy. I was expecting Lake Muskoka to be a major let down and to be a waste of a week of my summer, but, boy was I wrong.

When my family arrived to our friend’s guest cottage, we were truly speechless. The cottage had a waterfall, a basketball court, a tennis court, and was right on the water. The inside of the cottage was gorgeous and we felt at home right when we entered.

In the living room, there was a giant flat screen with a big and cozy green couch, and a light brown pool table behind it. My sister Devyn and I rushed to see the rooms so that we could find our favorite one to claim. We walked towards the back of the house and nudged our heads into a bright yellow room, scanning the room high and low with our eyes we decided to look at our other options. The next room that we came across was clearly the master room, right when you walked in there was a big plush white rug that felt like a bucket of feathers as your toes sunk in deeper, we looked at the king sized bed with the floral patterning and both decided to dive onto it. As I slowly got up, I started to walk to the bathroom in the master bedroom, there was a giant glass shower that had holes on the sides of it to shoot water from all different angles, and next to that an old fashioned style bathtub that sat right in front of an open porch.

“Can’t we just call dibs on this room?” I asked my sister with a chuckle.
“You know our parents would never go for that one.” she replied.
“Fine let’s go look for the other room.” I suggested with a disappointed look.
As we walked out of the master bedroom, I had high hopes of liking the other room, seeing as it was the last one left. The room seemed to be decorated in the theme of a beach, the bed was in the middle of the room with a deep blue comforter and a large white plush pillow, the rug that laid on the floor nearest to the bed looked identical to a fishing net, and even felt rigid on my bare feet. As I looked towards the right side of the room I saw two big light blue dressers that almost touched the ceiling, and we even had our own balcony that walked out onto the water.
“I love this room!” I squealed obnoxiously.
“Me too. This is definitely the room for us!” Devyn exclaimed.

The first night there was a blast. We went out to a restaurant that was off of the water, and the food was truly amazing. For the week that we were at Lake Muskoka, both of our families bonded so much; from the many dinners, to the scary movie nights, to even the late-night swims. But overall my favorite moment was the day we went wakeboarding.

It was my very first time wakeboarding and it was by far the most fun I have ever had. The cool summer air was blowing, the sun was out, the water was cold, but not too cold, and I was surrounded by my family and friends.
I sat on the back of the gorgeous white speed coat with red interior as the instructor strapped my feet into the thick black boots with a thick black board attached to them. The wakeboard instructor went by the name Connor, he was on the shorter side around 5’9, and was very tan with light brown freckles all along his nose, he had bright hazel, green eyes, dark brown wavy hair that came down to his shoulders, and a warm welcoming smile. After Connor tightened up the shoes on the board, he further explained how to stay up while on the board.

“Get a tight grip on the rope, fold your body into a squatting position and hold your knees to your chest, lean back and bend your legs while coming up, don’t try to stand up on your own just let the boat pull you, once you’re up pull the rope to the side of your hip and stand up straight, oh, and one more thing have fun you are totally gonna kill it,” The words rolled so quickly off of his tongue that I had to try to reprocess every word in my slightly puzzled head.

“Uhhh..okay I think I’ve got it: if I fall, don’t hit me with the boat...or laugh,” I stated in an unsteady sarcastic tone.

Within seconds I was in the water swimming towards the long white thin rope. I swung my body to the left so that I was facing the boat, I lifted my knees up to my chest like a frog preparing to leap, and held the rope in between my legs. When I was ready, I gave Connor a thumbs up, who sat on the edge of the back of the boat and gave a thumbs up to his brother who was driving. As he started the engine and began to pull off, I thought of everything Connor had told me to do: Don’t try to get up on your own let the boat pull you, pull the rope to the side of your hip, come on Kayla, don’t make a fool of yourself in front of all these people. I felt the boat begin to drag my body upwards, and I began to stand on top of the wave, I stood up straight and showed the biggest most nervous smile and for the 45 seconds I was up, I was having the time of my life. I took one hand off, and waved to everyone on the boat and I saw everyone begin to clap like a group of in sync seals. Suddenly, I hit a huge wave and suffered a brutal faceplant that left my face red and stinging, but shortly after that I was ready to try again.

That week in Lake Muskoka, Canada, the week that I thought I would dread the most, turned out to be a week well spent and I was more than happy that I was able to spend it with the people I love the most.The phrase “Don’t knock it till you try it” is a saying that I have heard numerous times, but have never actually dealt with first hand. This experience made me not only want to explore places that are out of my comfort zone, but also made me realize that I should appreciate every opportunity that I am given regardless, especially if I am given the chance to experience it with my family.