Hayes in the Last Frontier - Cruising to Alaska

Last week I went on an Alaskan cruise with my Grammy, Grandaddy, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Brian, my cousin Carlton and my Mommy and Daddy.  We did lots of fun things.

One of my favorite things was visiting Club HAL.  Club HAL is a children's program on the ship.  We had different themes every night.  For example, we had Spy Night, Survivor Night, Un-birthday Night and lots more.  My favorite theme was Spy Night - I liked it because we had to work together to figure out how to do the activities.  Carlton came with me on some nights. We played Wii Just Dance and you could also go during the day when we played lots of games.

On the ship, there were two pools.  One was outside and the one I swam in can be in or outside.  It had a roof that the ship could open when the weather was sunny, which it was two days during the trip.  There were lots of kids at the pool and I made a few good friends.

 My friends' names are Lian, who is from Seattle, and Audrey, who lives in Chicago.  We were jumping into the water in funny ways.  Lucky for me, I got their phone numbers at home so I can call them.  We ate lots of ice cream when we weren't swimming.  I let Audrey borrow one of my bathing suits on the last day to swim because she had lost hers the day before.

The most amazing thing about our trip was the dog sledding.  We got on a helicopter (I sat right next to the pilot) and flew over the mountains to the Mendenhall Glacier.  It was so pretty looking down on the mountains.  Once we landed on the glacier, we met the dogs and our musher and got to ride on the sled.  I was the first one to be on the back to help steer.  After we took our ride, I got to hold a husky puppy who was four weeks old - she was so cute and her name was Robin.  I wanted to bring her back home but the musher said they count the puppies before everyone leaves.

When we stopped in Sitka, in Alaska, my Mommy, Daddy and I walked through a rainforest park to the Raptor Center.  We saw lots of big birds including owls and bald eagles - we didn't go too far down the nature path in the center because the sign said that bears might be there.

It took a long time to get back home on Saturday, and when we got to the airport, our luggage wasn't there. We are hoping that it comes today because presents we bought for people are in our suitcases - I was lucky that I carried Bear on the plane so he is just fine here with me.

Tonight Mommy and I are going to the American Idol concert in Durham.  We will get to see the top 15 finalists perform; I can't wait to see the last two, who were my favorites - there names are Jena and Caleb.
Caleb won but Jena is very good too.

Tomorrow is my first day of horse camp near Grandmother's house - talk to you later with an update!
  

Exploring Seattle

Before we went on our cruise we walked around Seattle.  We went on a very long plane ride to get here. In the morning we ate breakfast at the famous Pike market. After that we took a monorail to the Seattle Space Needle. We took a big elevator to the top.  When we got the top I had hot chocolate. From the top we saw the whole city of Seattle. After we got down we went to the Seattle aquarium. We saw lots of sea animals there like seals, fish and two octopuses.  Then we went to a restaurant on the pier and I had ice cream and Daddy had oysters. Finally we met Grammy granddaddy Brian Rachel and Carlton for dinner. It was a long day so I fell asleep while the fireworks were playing. Today we get on the boat - talk to you later thanks. 

Volleyball Camp this week!

This week I went to Triangle Volleyball camp in Morrisville. I have been there for lessons before but I had never done summer camp there. Watch out !, because Hayes is here . I am going to tell you my top 4 things.

     My first thing is my friends.  Their names are Braylen and Payton.  They are very nice when they helped me practice.  We had lots of fun.

   

  I learned lots of things during practice.  We learned how to serve, attack, set and pass the ball.  It's hard when you first start it, but when you get used to it it's pretty fun.  I hope I can practice more so I can be better and try out for their team.

     The games we played are fun and help with practice.  There is one game where you have to try to attack, pass or serve over the net.  If you hit it out of the court, you have to go sit down.  Then the next person in line goes and if the person on the other side of the net catches it, then they can come back to the first side. After all the people who hit it out start to build up on the other side, it's harder because there are more people trying to catch the ball to steal your spot.  The way you win is that you have to be the last person to be hitting and if you make it in the court you win!  I won once but it was very hard.  You need to practice a lot.

     I really liked the t-shirt I got at the end of the camp.  It has a circle with a palm tree with the Triangle Volleyball symbol on it.  It is very cool.  I hope that I can go back for summer camp and lessons again.  The teachers are so nice and the camp is very fun.