July 4th

 

Dear Friends,

 

I hope you had a marvelous Independence Day along with the long weekend. For me it was gratifying. But then at the end of the day I thought to myself why do we celebrate Independence Day?

Let me share what I know and read.

4th July, also known as Independence Day, became a federal holiday from 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day goes back to the 18th century. It all started when the Second Continental Congress arranged a meeting in Philadelphia. They created a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. On July 2, 1776, the continental congress (Government of thirteen colonies) voted in favor of Independence, two days later delegates from 13 different colonies adopted the declaration of independence (Document drafted by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R). From 1776 to present day, July 4 is celebrated as Independence Day, with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades concerts to more casual family gathering and barbecues, we went for the latter. So, to celebrate July 4 me and my family had a blast at Little America Amusement Park. It was a roller coaster! so, hop on board and I will take you on for a ride. My dad drove us miles away from our house on July 4, 2021. I do get motion sickness, so to me it felt like we were traveling to another city. Still, it was worth the wait. When we got out of the car my legs felt free. I stretched them out like I was getting ready for a jog. It took me and my sister a while to get all stretched up and ready to go. My parents were already on the move. We rushed up to them. Soon we made our way to the ticket counter. My dad had gotten us tickets. After getting the tickets we started roaming around the amusement park. When it hit us. We did not have lunch. So, we quickly had our lunch at the nearest subway. It was delicious and appetizing. After lunch, we headed back to Little America. 

We scampered around looking for the first ride we were going to do. My dad suggested that me and my sister should go on the Mad mouse. It was a roller coaster which had many twists and turns. I loathe roller coasters. But I went anyway. My sister and I handed tickets to the man who controlled the roller coaster. He scurried over to a smooth black cart. “The little one has to sit in the front, and you have to sit in the back.” The man said. I sat in the cart first then my sister joined in. We were soon off and away. The roller coaster was zooming fast. It made me dizzy and whenever it went down, I used to get a strange feeling in my tummy. After the roller coaster, Me, and my sister rushed back to our parents. Next stop we went to the Merry-Go-Round. I opted for a brown horse and my sister went for another horse a behind me, it was a fun experience. After that we went over to the monorail. It is a beautiful yellow cart with a great view of the park. Me and my sister handed a woman the tickets and hopped into the cart! “Have a great trip.” Said the lady. She pulled a lever, and we went off and away. We slowly rode around the park, noticing different rides. I suggest you go on this first to get a glimpse of which ride you want to go in next. As soon as we got off the cart, we knew exactly which ride we wanted to go to next. We headed over to the twirl-A-whirl. We gave a man our tickets. After giving him our tickets, we hurried over to a huge chair which would probably be able to hold 4 people. There was a bit of a line, so we had to wait for everyone to give the man their tickets. After a long wait the chair started turning. It started slow, then picked up pace after every minute of the ride. It was frolic! Me and my sister could not stop laughing until the ride ended. After we got off the ride. I wanted to go to the haunted house. This time our parents tagged along. We handed a man tickets and entered the house. In the “haunted house” there were these pressure plates. If you stepped on one it would make a loud sound. But the bad part is there are no windows nor lights so we could not see where we were stepping and where we needed to turn. I suggest that if you are going to Little America Amusement Park please go to the haunted house at your own risk. It is not haunted! Rather it is a dark room and we had to grope our way out and on top of it if we put our foot in the wrong place loud noise was adding to the chaos, we returned to our house after spending half a day at the Little America Amusement Park

On the same day in the evening, we decided to go and see nearby Fireworks. Since we arrived late at the firework site all parking was taken away. My dad had parked our car on the grass like other late arrivals. Me and my sister sat on the trunk of our car waiting for the fireworks. Spark boom! A noise came from the distance. The fireworks had started! We watched curiously at the radiant colors filling the night sky. It was eye catching. I took a few pictures of the fireworks. After a while, the fireworks ended. It was a beautiful sight. Well, this was not my first 4th July but then I wanted this one to be embedded in my memory.

 

Father's Day at The Milwaukee Zoo

 
Dear Friends,

This Father’s Day experience was exciting and pleasurable for me and my family. My family and a few family friends had an ADVENTURE at the Milwaukee Zoo. I tried new things and saw new animals. It was Exotic. An experience of a lifetime. I would love to share the experience with you. My sister and I were running towards our car like a mouse who saw cheese. I silently passed my dad and headed quickly towards the car, but my sister was already there making faces in front of the door window. Beep! Beep! My dad had used his keys to unlock the car my sister and I rushed inside. We buckled our seat belts. My sister was overly excited. I sat with my legs crossed and my eyes on the wheel. After a minute, my parents entered the car. They buckled their seats, and my dad started a route to the Milwaukee Zoo. I impatiently asked, “How long will it take us to get there?” My mom eyes me and says in a bittersweet type of voice “Aarohi you need to be patient we just started.” I slumped on my seat when she turned her head to face the front of the car. I slowly sat up and stared out my window watching as the car rolled through the apartments. Before a mile away I noticed the big trees full of green leaves all around. It was ecstatic to feel such beauty around. I watched flowers swaying with the wind. I did not notice the time pass by until my dad does a stop which almost made me fall off my seat. But luckily for me I had my seat belt on. My dad had taken a wrong turn, so we went all the way around the Milwaukee Zoo until we got back to the entrance. Now, I was aware of where we are and what the rest of my family is chatting about. My dad rolls over to a line of cars. Guess we were not the only ones who planned to go to the zoo that day. It was packed so the lines were long as an anaconda. There were 3 lines all packed up and waiting to get into the Zoo. Shortly after we were by the front gate of the Zoo. There was a little ticket counter. A man poked his head out. My dad pulled down the window to give the man money to enter the zoo. When the man got the money, he started counting. “. Yup! you can head right on in.” My dad pulled his Window back up. He pulled into a parking slot (he was really picky, so it took us a while to find one). He had found a shady spot, I got out of the car and onto the sidewalk I raced down to the doors of the Zoo with my sister. It was a tie. When we made it to the entry, we turned around waiting for our parents to quickly get over here. As soon as we were only a few inches apart I walked along with my parents while my sis started running in front of us. We stood near the entrance. I kept my eyes peeled for any of my friends' cars. While we were waiting for other friends to join my dad took out his phone and started taking pics of me and my sister in a different pose. While my dad was busy taking a snap, I noticed my friends' familiar white car and saw them sitting inside. I had a huge grin on my face. I watched as the white car disappeared behind clumps of cars. I waited patiently (What I mean by that is annoying my sister).  Soon after the white car's appearance I saw my friend and her family walking towards us. My parents greet them with a huge smile and say, “HAPPY FATHERS DAY!” They have a smile spreading across their faces too. They replied, “HAPPY FATHERS DAY”. The parents shook hands together while I slowly walked over to my friend to greet her. “Hey,” I say with a welcoming smile. She gives me a quick smile and says “Hi” her smile fades as she tunes into the parents’ conversation. I ask her a few questions trying to spark a conversation. Few minutes later another familiar car pops up. It parks a little closer to where we all were standing. I had gotten distracted talking to my sister. Because When I peered back, I noticed my friend jogging over with her brother calmly walking behind her. She soon reached us and had a huge grin on her face. She yelled towards us! My friend turned around and yelled back “Hey!” My friend who was jogging came to a halt. I replied “hi” with a tiny grin. She looked at me and replied “hey” she gave me a quick smile then turned to my other friend. The grownups wanted to take a few pictures of all the kids under the sign which said Milwaukee Zoo. I walked over to a bench right under the sign with the rest of the kids. Not everyone would fit onto the bench so me and my 2 friends stood behind the bench. After taking a few pictures we were finally able to go inside the zoo. When we got into the Zoo everyone's gaze fell on the Zipline. Quickly one of my friends asked “Can we do it!? Please!” The parents took a while to think. Soon they said, “Why not?” The kids ran ahead reaching a stand. There was a short line who wanted to sign up to do the course or zip line. There were three courses to choose from. I cannot remember the other two. Well because I did not get to do them. My friend's dad bought tickets for everyone who opted for the zipline, and we all waited there patiently. When it was our turn for the zipline, zipline service people told us that only four can go at a time. I was one of the first four. A woman helped me put on safety gear so I won’t fall. My friend and her mom got their straps first. They started walking cautiously up the stairs.

Soon my mom and I got strapped and they instructed us how to move ahead till you reach the top which was four floors up. It was hard walking up the stairs. You would need to stretch your arms to stay on the steps you were on. As soon as I got to the top of the stairs my friend had just pushed herself off on the zipline. I was extremely nervous when I looked down, it seemed as if I was many floors up because everyone looked tiny. Now my fear was taking over me. A strange voice repeated in my head “it’s a long way down” after my friend reached safely other side of the zipline, it was my turn. I walked towards the edge where the zipline starts engulfed with fear. Initially I was hesitant but then all the shouting and cheering around for me gave me strength to push myself off the edge. Believe me guys this was my first ride, and I did not open my eyes till I reached the other end. I took a sigh of relief. A man helped me to the other side of the zipline. Another man who was a little more talkative asked “How was it? You seemed a bit scared, but I bet you feel a lot braver now.” With the voice still ringing in my head no way. I calmly said “No, but I did enjoy it a little I think.”

“Well…at least you enjoyed it,” said the man looking at the other side of the zipline. I walked forward very slowly then I felt a tug. The man had pushed me right off. I was zooming away. This time I chose not to shut my eyes because though the ride was uncomfortable, the safety gear was pressing on me tight. I gazed around while I was speeding towards the other end. Honestly, it was a lovely view, but I couldn't enjoy it because of the safety gear making me uncomfortable. I carefully landed my feet on the hardwood and a woman helped me get off the zipline. I rushed down. The woman who helped me put on the gear came up to me and asked, “Was it fun?”

“Yes, but I was still nervous.” I replied as she showed the gear off. I walked back to the gate when the woman exclaimed “2 more people can come now.” My friend and her dad quickly pushed the gate open to let me out and they could go in. My friend asked me “was it fun?”

“No and yes,” I replied nervously. I quickly walked over to my friends, she immediately asked.

“How was it?”

“Fun but I was really nervous.” I replied.

And started munching snacks brought by one of my friends' moms. Then I saw my friend taking off from the zipline, she went back a little and pushed herself off with a speed. She was zooming off to the other side of the zipline. After she got to the other side I got distracted by a female peacock. Suddenly, I felt a water drop on my arm. I looked up when another drop fell on my face. It was drizzling. The rain started getting heavy, luckily, we brought umbrellas. I saw my dad pushing himself off the zipline edge, he was just opposite of me while he was speeding towards the other end, he was waving his hand at us. I am 100 percent sure this was his first adventure on the zipline, and it never felt like that, I was amazed. He finished his zipline and walked to us as if it were nothing.

After the zipline now was the turn for the Zoo animals. At the gate we were greeted by penguins who were curiously watching us pass by. It took us a while, but we finally found the monkey exhibit. When we first entered the exhibit, we were greeted by an empty cage. We pressed our faces on the window looking for the gorillas. When my friend found them. They were in the sleeping zone. I curiously watched one, it was a gigantic creature with well-built muscles all around, suddenly it opened its eyes and believe me it was big dark and beautiful. My friends and I kept moving from one cage to another enjoying the sight of animals and making them a permanent memory. It was joyous and fun when you have friends around.

We all noticed a machine which as below.

Pay 3.00 or use debit card to get a statue of an animal.

One of my friends got interested in it and spent three dollars to get an animal statue. Slowly we moved out of the monkey cage and saw my mom gesturing at me. I peered into the cage that my mom was staring at. A cute little temple monkey, I felt like it was more curious about us then we were about him. After a while headed over to the reptiles. The mother’s stayed behind. They wanted to relax after the long walk. When we entered, we were greeted by a variety of vivacious small fishes, frogs, and snakes. I was interested to see the frogs badly because they are my favorite reptiles. My friend got lost exploring and we almost lost her. There were a few lizards in their hideouts, but none were camouflaged or anything. We even got to see one of the largest snakes in the whole world! It took us a while to get out because we were dazzled by nature's beauty. When we finally got out the moms were silently waiting for us by a small fountain. The fountain was an artistic piece by itself, it was a globe rotating by the force of water below, it took us a while to understand how it was rotating. We started looking for the different countries engraved in the globe and found our country “India” as well. Soon we started moving ahead to look for big cats, on the way we saw a beautiful creature with the longest neck, giraffes. It took me a while to gulp in that I was seeing such a beautiful animal. We all waited a while there to fill in this beauty. We finally made it to the big cats and the rain started pouring on us again. We flee into the exhibit. Drying off inside I noticed zoo management had put a tiny computer which was tracking how many people can be inside at a given time as a COVID precaution. The door was opening as per the count, we did not wait long, it was quick for all of us to be allowed in, when we entered saw the whole room was filled with cats. We peer in every cage. Pressing are faces on the glass. We saw a Lynx, lion, leopard, tiger, and panther. When we finally left the exhibit the rain was still pouring. I noticed a statue of a woman sitting on a bench with her dog and a man standing behind and smiling at them. I rushed and sat down on the bench. My dad took my picture with the statute. I didn’t realize that I was sitting on a wet bench, only felt it when I stood up to move ahead. The rain finally stopped, on the way we saw elephants, ostrich tortoises and hippopotamus. I am sure we missed many other exhibits like we never got a chance to see birds. Every one of us got tired and hungry. We headed to our cars to go for lunch because we all were starving. My dad starts the GPS to Qdoba. It was not far from here. We have gone there before once and, in my opinion, I did not like the food. It took us only like 2 to 3 minutes to get there. I rushed inside because my rumbling stomach could not stand it anymore. I waited for my turn. When it was my turn I ordered 3 cheese nachos for me and my sister. We all enjoyed the food. I can tell you we enjoyed it because we were hungry. Our parents took a long time to say goodbye to each other, so we hung out by the restaurant exploring the front side of the restaurant until we had to go. I waved goodbye to my friends as I entered my car. My eyes felt heavy from all the walking and my feet felt like bricks. Well, this was my Father’s Day Adventure, and I say I will remember it for many Father’s Day because this was my first adventure above the ground.

Hope now you know me a little bit more.