“I get the green one!” I shouted as my cousin Rebecca and I ran down the steps to the dock so we could get into our kayaks.
Every summer my grandparents take my cousin and me to our house in Minnesota. Our house sits on top of a hill overlooking the lake in Voyagers Point. There is a main road and off of the main road lies a dirt road going up to Voyagers Point. When I see the dirt road ahead of me my heart starts to race and I know that this is the beginning of an amazing vacation.
As we approached the house the house and pulled into the driveway, I opened my door, reached my head out into the fresh air, took in a big breath. As we exited the car, Maddie greeted us. Maddie belongs to our neighbors Peter and Karen, but she only goes home at night. They let Maddie roam all around Voyagers Point, but she always seems to make her way home.
“ Hi, Maddie, I’ve missed you!” I said as I rubbed her head. After we greeted each other with hugs and kisses Maddie, Rebecca, and I all ran down to the dock and humped into the water.
After playing in the water with Maddie for ten minutes, we all got out to dry off. Except for Maddie, she shook all of the water off of her and it landed directly on Rebecca and me. We headed back up to the house and helped my grandparents carry everything in. After we carried everything in we went to our rooms to unpack all of our stuff. For the rest of the night we sat in the house, watched TV, ate dinner, and went to bed. We woke up in the morning excited for what the day had in store for us. On the first day we stayed home and kayaked. While we were kayaking, my cousin kept trying to splash me with water using her paddle. I stared at Rebecca awaiting the next splash of water that was going to hit my face. Pretty soon, I didn’t see Rebecca; all I saw was a panorama of tall green trees and their reflection on the water. Rebecca popped up behind me treading water.
“ What happened?” I asked trying not to start laughing.
“ I was trying to splash you and I tipped!” She said with a big smile on her face.
She swam back to the dock and pulled herself up onto it. I took this as a sign of “We’re done for the day” so I paddled back in to the dock. We walked back up to the cabin. Rebecca made me go in and get her a towel and promise not to tell my grandparents what had happened. We knew that if we told my grandfather about what happened he would give us a speech about how you should be careful while kayaking because you can get seriously injured.
The next day we went to Little Jolly Rock. On Poplar Lake there are two little islands, but one is bigger than the other. Their names are Little Jolly Rock, and Big Jolly Rock. We canoed over to Little Jolly Rock and ate lunch. After we ate lunch we explored the island and went fishing.
Later that night we went to Trail Center for dinner. My grandparents have been going to Voyagers Point for about twenty years. My grandfather and his father built our house, and the guesthouse. My grandfather tells us stories about when him and his dad would go to the house and how it made them closer. I guess that’s why they bring Rebecca and me. My grandparents are the rocks of the family. They keep everything and everybody together and they are always there for you no matter what the circumstances. After we reminisced about old memories we ate dinner and had our favorite things, malts. This was our last night at the house and we wanted to make it special. My grandparents invited all of our neighbors over and had a party. There are no kids that live there so Rebecca and I had to play with Maddie. After everybody left we all went to our rooms and went to sleep. That night, I couldn’t go to sleep because I was thinking about the amazing times I had with my family and how I didn’t want them to end.
In the morning when I woke up I knew that it would be the worst day ever. As I walked down the stairs I saw my grandfather packing the car. I plopped down on the couch while I tried to keep my eyes open.
“ Time to go.” My grandmother called from the kitchen.
Those words. I hated those words. Every time I heard those words it felt like a knife plunging into my heart.
As we pulled out of the driveway back onto that dirt road, I looked back at the house and smiled, anxiously awaiting the next year.