Family Moments

“Morgan!” My father hollered from below the staircase. “I’ll be in the car, come on, we need to hurry,” I sighed as I galloped down the stairs. We're on schedule to arrive 20 minutes early, so a couple of minutes difference wasn't going to kill anyone. I glided into the garage and paced over to the car.

Gripping my sweater with anticipation, I hopped into the car and clipped in my buckle with a satisfying click. From the backseat, I observed my father typing the directions into the glowing navigation system of the truck. My leg bounced up and down anxiously as I waited for my sister and mother to join us in the car. Finally, they climbed in to join us, and we rolled out of the driveway. I smiled as I pictured my cousin running down the field to score a touchdown. As our car drove down the road, I felt as if we were hitting every red light. After what seemed like hours, we arrived at the parking lot. I could see a mix of flustered drivers struggling to find spots, and others scrambling to leave. All of us were on an intense lookout for a spot, and thankfully, through all the chaos, we spotted one. As we entered the fields, I saw stands upon stands selling everything from tacos, ice cream, nachos, pizza, chicken, popcorn, slushies, and hot dogs. The cacophony of smells made my stomach grumble, and I looked back longingly as we walked down the freshly cut grass to my cousin's game. 

We pulled our chairs out and clumsily set them up on the sidelines of the field, right next to my grandma. Since my uncle was running drills with the team, we wouldn’t be seeing him or my cousin until after the game. 

“Hey Beepsie!” I exclaimed as I skipped over to my grandma. 

“Hi sweetie, it's so good to see you again! Are you excited to watch your cousin?”

“Super,” I replied as I whipped my chair out and parked it beside her.

The split of the referee's whistle pierced the air, and the game was on. The nervousness of parents who wanted their children to score, to tackle, and to win hung in the air. Children's feet stomped up and down the field, each making downfield runs and scoring touchdowns. The game continued on through dinner time, so I rushed to grab some of the mouth-watering tacos I’d seen before to enjoy in the last few minutes of the game. When I got back, the game was all tied up. 

The game had been exhilarating, but the other team had made a last-minute touchdown, crowning them the champions. My cousin dragged her feet as she slumped off the field, and tears welled in her eyes. As she wiped her nose, her dad pulled her into an embrace, and my family and I made sure to give them space. When she pulled her head back up and peered at us, her ocean-blue eyes glowing in the lights and her streaming tears, we knew it was time to show our support. We gathered around her, bugging her and retelling our favorite parts of the game. We praised her for all of her effort spent at practice, running, dodging, tackling, and determination. The sun was setting, and it decorated the sky with beautiful shades of orange and pink. We walked together and celebrated my cousin's skill with slices of 3-cheese pizza and quality family time.

This moment had meant so much to me. At that time, I hadn’t seen my cousin for at least a couple of months, and even when we could meet up, it wasn’t for very long. Now I get to see her doing something she loves to do, and be with other family members as well. It’ll be another while till I get to see her again, so these memories are something I cherish and try to hold on to.

By Morgan Stouffer

I could smell popcorn everywhere once I entered Disneyland. My sister and I started to walk to all of the rides to see which ride we should go on, and my sister picked Space Mountain. We started to check the time limit to wait, and we saw it said 50 minutes. My sister then picked Thunder Mountain, we decided to check that side, and it said 20 minutes. Me, my sister, my mom and my brother, and his girlfriend agreed because the ride was short. 

Once the 20 minutes passed and we were able to get on the ride, we all got buckled up to go on the ride before it started, and the workers checked if our seatbelts were tight enough. Once all the workers checked, they said that the ride would start any minute, and we heard a man on the speaker say, “ Hello, please keep your hands, arms, and feet in the roller coaster for safety. Please enjoy the ride now that it will start”. 

Me and my sister started to laugh because we made jokes that we were going to get splashed with the waterfall that was on the side, the ride than started and it went fast at first and then slow because we went into a dark tunnel that was leading up because we were going to go down once we all reached the top it stopped for 5 seconds before going down and everyone started to scream and I started to laugh hard because my sister was screaming her lungs out and it sounded like she was dying because of how she was screaming. 

We then went into bumps that went up and down over and over until we went into another dark tunnel. I then gripped the seatbelt because it went faster and faster, and I could smell turkey legs everywhere. The train then stopped because there was fake TNT blowing up. 

When we reached the top again, and it didn’t stop this time, it just went straight down even faster than last time, the ride then reached the end.

Once we all exited Disneyland, knowing the day was over, we then started to walk to the car, exhausted and happy, knowing that I had spent a wonderful day with my family.

By Evalynn Licon