North Carolina and Virginia Beach

Originally we were supposed to leave to go to Core Point, North Carolina on Tuesday last week, but unfortunately, my mom was stuck in the hospital so we didn't end up driving down until Friday. Out of the two of us, I definitely enjoy going to Core Point more than Zia. She's in those teenage years/ it's her personality to prefer to be around friends. The reason we went to Core Point was to go to the Tripp family reunion. Personally, it wasn't too interesting for me because pretty much everyone there was like "Wow I haven't seen you since you were like 3 feet tall." And I was just like... yeah, I'm not much taller. It was the day after the family reunion that was my favorite. My mom's cousin's, David and Suzy, have jet skiing and they took us out on the river. Around elevenish we went tubing behind the jet skis. Zia wimped out 'cause her hands hurt after a while but I kept tubing for a while. Then we rode the jet skis down the river. Next came lunch and then more tubing. i have my tubing strategy all worked out. It's all about switching hand holds. That's the trick to hanging on. My main issue on the tube was getting water in my mouth and eyes. Falling off wasn't too much of a problem. After we were done tubing, we went jet skiing again. Zia and I went on the jet ski with David. David  my mom's cousin, not David my dad. That was a lot of fun, too. We did a bunch of donuts and it became a sort of how long can we not fall off thing. Let me tell you, we fell off plenty of times. When Zia was sitting on the backend she fell off by herself quite a few times but when I was sitting on the back, it was either all or nothing. I wasn't gonna fall off by myself, plus, I have a tighter grip than Zia (while holding on to the people's live jackets in front of me.) Then David and Zia switched and Zia drove. We didn't even have to do donuts to fall off. Zia's driving just made us fall off numerous times. It was funny once Zia, the driver, fell off while the rest of us stayed on and another time I was sitting in the middle and yet somehow David and Zia fell off.  That day was probably the best day of my summer. It was a lot of fun and was worth the skinned elbows and soreness. And trust me, the next day I was feeling very sore. In fact, I'm still feeling quite sore. 
Luckily, the next day I wasn't doing anything too strenuous. We just drove up to Virginia Beach to stay with my parents' friends, Buck and Deb. I really enjoy staying with them because it's fun to bake with Deb and I love their dog, Cassie. Cassie is scared of the floor and stairs, so she stays on the carpets around the house for the most part. Deb and I made a Nutella Brioche, which tasted just as good as it looks. 

Dinner at Buck and Deb's are also always quite fabulous tasting. We stayed in Virginia Beach for one full day because my dad needed to get some work done in Antech, his company. On that one full day Zia and I decided it would be fun to go zip lining. Except... it wasn't zip lining. It was one of those in the tree tops obstacle courses. For those of you who were unaware, I have a phobia of heights. Yeah, not just a fear but a phobia. So this why rather terrifying for me. But I got through! And without falling. I'm pretty proud. Doing that in the sky thing was an interesting experience but not one I'll do again anytime soon. After we got back, we had a snack then went out on the water. (There's a lake right behind Buck and Deb's house) I went on a Kayak while Zia was on a paddle board. As you can imagine, my arms today are even MORE sore because they were still recovering from the tubing when I went on obstacle courses in trees and then kayaking. Yeah, my arms aren't feeling so great today (this is written the day after all this stuff.) Anyway, today we just drove back home. Nothing too interesting. We have plans to go to the beach in August, so that should be fun. Sorry if the writing is confusing/crappy in this post, I'm really tired. 
-Anji