LauderKids

Hola, blog amigos! It's your faithful blogger, Isabella, back for my last summer blog. We started school again this week. I'm in high school now, officially and everything. Ninth grade is ok so far, but I can't wait til I'm one of the cool seniors or even just a junior. You know how it is when it's like you're the new kid in school, right? But at least my great boyfriend Francisco is with me. He likes it even if school in South Florida is so totally different than in Colombia where he's from. My BFF Juliette is still in middle school in 8^th grade. I miss you, J!! But I am like just SO glad I've got Francisco!!!

So what can I say? The summer is over and I really am so sad it is. :-((  But I still like to think about all the great adventures I had. Best of all for sure was meeting Francisco!! And NOT dating that stuck-up dude Bryan!! Remember him? Ewwwww. But Juliette and I had so much fun too, just us. And sometimes our buds Francine and Nicki too, who also are in high school and just the best! Hi guys!! ;-)))

It all started when Juliette and I got certified as real true scuba divers. Wow, totally amazing! Remember how scared I was when I tried it the first time just in that little tiny swimming pool?? ROFL. Because now I put on my mask and push the regulator in my mouth and jump in. Into the ocean! Not just some stupid swimming pool. J and I both love it and we try to go diving every time we can. Like, maybe again next week. Can't wait!!

And we did those Segway thingies with my dad and J's dorky younger brother, Spencer. So much fun! Especially when my klutzy dad fell off in the middle of the woods at Birch State Park and we couldn't stop laughing at him. Sorry, Dad, but it's true ... Ya know I love ya, Dad!! YTB!!! Haha.

I did so much this summer I can hardly remember everything. It seems almost like a long time ago to me. But Juliette and I went parasailing, which was amazing!! And we went to the cool W Hotel with Nicki and Francine and we went shopping on Las Olas and bought lots of ice cream at Kilwin's. Francisco took me out on jet skis for the first time ever and we kissed in the moonlight by the ocean. See what I mean? Totally a summer of adventure.

Not to mention the book I'm writing. I told you about that too, remember? I even posted one special part of my book for you in this blog. I want to be a famous writer someday. So I'm writing this book all about living in Fort Lauderdale and growing up in the most incredible place in the world. It's so beautiful here. And exciting and romantic and I've been living here with my dad for way over two years already. I don't ever want to move. But you should most definitely come down to visit me!! I know you'll love it as much as I do.

So I guess now I have to say goodbye, right? Maybe BFN anyway. Ohhhhh I'll miss my blog buds SO much!!! I hope you'll maybe come back sometimes and read some of my old blogs and the other blogs posted here too because they're lots of fun. Three whole summers of blogging all right here, mi amigos! Anyway, I really will miss you all - everybody who reads my blogs, ok? Just know I'll be thinking about you during my first year of high school. Wish you were here too. Then maybe you could help me study for my first high school math exam next week!! LOL!! TTYL!!!! :-)))

So in last week's blog I said maybe my next adventure would be a surprise, right? Well, it totally was! I did something in my final week of freedom before high school that was fast, exciting, kinda scary. And fun! :-)

Oh hi again, blog amigos! This is Isabella, btw, in case you're new to my blog or anything. You should go back and read some of my other blogs. I'm having such an amazing time in my great summer of adventure. And great summer of romance too! Those two things were a big part of this week when my awesome Colombian boyfriend Francisco took me to the ocean ... to try a jet ski for the first time. Woo-hoo!! Definitely romantic because he surprised me totally. Definitely a real adventure because they really do move fast, you know?

Francisco texted that morning about going to the beach. I was like, "Cool!" We took the bus from my house and got off at Las Olas, then started walking with our backpacks. But I didn't know where we were going. So I'm saying, "Uh, Francisco? Why don't we just put our towels down on the beach, like, maybe right here?" But he laughed and kept walking. Whatever, right?

Until we get to this little place that rents jet skis. Francisco just looks at me and smiles. Then he says, "I want to try this today. With you!" Whoa really? Like my good friend Nicki says sometimes, "I am DOWN with that!" Right, Nicki? Hahaha!

Well anyway, Francisco paid for everything all by himself and didn't let me give him anything. He's so sweet, like I told you. Then the jet ski guy shows us how to run this thingie and it's a little weird at first. Not too hard really. Just weird til you get used to it. I mean, they are like SO fast you can't believe it! I thought Segways were fast when we tried those this summer. Remember my Segway trip, blog-o-buds? Well NO way! They're not fast compared to jet skis!!

So Francisco and I hop on one jet ski and he starts driving first. And then he just suddenly hits the gas. The jet ski goes like "ZZZZZZZOOOOOMMMMM!!" I almost fell off but I was holding him so tight I didn't fall. Before I know what's up, we're way out in the ocean and hitting waves and flying into the air. Just completely amazing!! We went back and forth and back and forth, all up and down beside the beach but far enough away so there's no swimmers or anything. It was the big blue Atlantic Ocean and Francisco and me. I was screaming and yelling and laughing for an hour.

I got to drive too and so he just sits behind me and holds on. But you KNOW I wasn't driving this jet ski thing like Francisco drives this jet ski thing, ok?  LOL. I was more like "putt-putt-putt" over the waves. Not too fast, you know? Still fun! But I have to admit it was more exciting when he was driving. But I saw some other girl out there driving her own jet ski with some friends and she was going even faster than Francisco! That's how my BFF Juliette would be too. But no, not me, no way. Slow and safe - that's how I like this, thanks.

When we finished on our jet ski, Francisco and I went swimming and it was soooo nice. The ocean is really warm and we splashed each other and played almost like little kids. Then we laid down on the beach on our towels. And well ... hmm, let's just say we started kissing and didn't talk too much for a while. ;-))) That's all I'm going to write in this blog about my big adventure with Francisco. Except that I can't wait to see him again!! And I really wish this great summer of adventure never had to end!! BFN - see you all again next week for sure!!!

I can't believe my great summer of adventure is almost over. Wow, blog amigos - can you believe it?? Only two more blogs to go after this. Then my dad is making me stop the blogging again so I can get into the high school thing and everything. I guess that's ok. Except I'll miss all of you!! :-)))

But the summer's not over yet, right? I see my Colombian boyfriend Francisco 3 or 4 times a week now. In between seeing each other we text a LOT. Haha. You know what I mean. Yesterday we took the Sun Trolley downtown to Starbucks and sat outside so we could suck down iced green tea lemonades. Yummy! Then we walked around and just looked in shops and had so much fun talking about everything. I am SOOOOO lucky to have such a nice, amazing, sweet boyfriend!! He's cute too!! (BTW, I told him about my blog ... So now he reads it just like you. But he really is nice and amazing and sweet!! Hola, Francisco!!)

Oh and I should tell you what happened last Saturday night. Great time, blog-o-buds! It was a total girls night out, ya know? Juliette and Francine and Nicki and me - we all went to this really cool thing on the beach. They call it "Saturday Night Alive." The name is kinda like the TV show "Saturday Night Live," get it? LOL! But this is a party that's really "alive" on the beach.

They've got lots and lots of live bands, all way up and down A1A. That's the street by the beautiful Fort Lauderdale beach. It's supposed to be maybe a mile of bands and DJs and almost every kind of music but it seems like even more than a mile. I read some blog that says Saturday Night Alive is happening this Saturday and next Saturday too from 7pm til 11pm and it's seriously amazing. You should go! The four of us think this Saturday Night Alive thing is just like the best!

So here's what happened. We're walking by this place with a salsa band playing outside and Francine starts dancing on the sidewalk. She's so funny! She just goes, "I've totally gotta move every time I hear salsa. Can't help it!" So then we all start dancing too and we're just having so much fun, right? But then this guy on these big old stilts comes across the street to us. And he starts dancing too - on stilts! With Francine! Then Nicki gets into it with our stiltman and they're both dancing with Francine. TOO funny ... ROFL!! Juliette and I almost couldn't breathe because we were laughing so hard!!

After all this fun we needed something to drink so we bought bottles of water from a guy selling it on the street. Whew, it cooled me off and I needed it. What's really so excellent about this party by the ocean is that it's all free. You can walk along and listen to a million bands. And then just bop across the street to the beach whenever you want. Which is what we did.

The sky was getting all purple and red and yellow from the sunset behind us. The ocean was kind of like a gray color but also with some pretty blue mixed in it too. Completely awesome. So we all just wanted to sit on the sand for a while and chill and drink our water. And watch the sky and the sea. And listen to the music across the street. We talked about how beautiful the ocean is in Fort Lauderdale and we all said the same thing. We all love it here! It's a totally amazing place to grow up. 

I'm not sure what I'll be doing next week, which is our last week of freedom before school starts. Big gulp. High school and everything for me, right? But that's ok. I just want to have another incredible adventure or two (or three! :-) ) before my summer of adventure is over. So come back for another blog and find out what's up with me. It might just be another big surprise - for you. And for me. LOL! Adios for now, blog buds!!

I was right. Everything really is changing. Remember my first blog this year? All the way back in May that's what I said: "Everything is happening to me now. All at once. It feels like everything is changing." And it is pretty scary sometimes. I was right about that too. But it's also really so much fun. Because things are changing in good ways for me. :-)))

I mean everything is so totally amazing with my boyfriend Francisco. And now I'm good friends with Nicki and Francine, two of the nicest girls in school. And I'm getting ready to start high school in a couple weeks. Gulp. But that's all good too. I think high school is going to be great. And I've still got the best, most excellent BFF in the whole world!! Yay!!

That's why I called this blog "Old Times Again." Because it was like old times again with Juliette, my absolute total best friend. We had so much fun shopping together yesterday. I felt almost like a little kid, kinda like when I moved here. That was over two years ago and I was only 12 then! Wow, that was so long ago it seems like forever. Back then it was just Juliette and me - and sometimes her goofy younger brother, Spencer. And that's how it was on Las Olas yesterday. Just J and me. But no Spencer this time!

Juliette and I were texting yesterday morning about school starting again pretty soon. And we're both going like, "I need some new clothes." It was pretty funny. But it was good too. My dad already said I could go shopping and so did her mom. They gave us credit cards and told us how much we could spend. So now we're like, "Yessss! Let's go today, girl!!"

You probably know all about Las Olas, right? I've told you about it before but maybe you don't remember or you live in another state or whatever. It's this totally beautiful street with little shops and stores and restaurants and everything else on it. Both Juliette and I love going there. Especially together - with credit cards!! Hahaha ...

So first we go bopping into this cute shop and guess what? They had these great tie-dyed tops in a huge sale and we both bought two of them in maybe our first 20 minutes shopping. Juliette got a mostly pink top and another one with lots of blue. I got a tie-dye that's mostly red and purple and a second one with lots and lots of yellow. Know why the yellow, blog amigos? Because Francisco is from Colombia and the flag from Colombia has lots of yellow in it. I think he'll like my new top a lot!!

We're not little kids anymore like we were when we used to go shopping on Las Olas. But sometimes yesterday we felt like kids anyway!! LOL!! Because we just laughed and laughed about everything. Sometimes I couldn't stop giggling. I really did feel like I was 12 again instead of being a high school girl now.

That's ok because we had SO much fun!! We both ended up buying a cool pair of jeans and J got a really pretty skirt too. After we both spent all we were allowed on those credit cards we just walked over to Kilwin's for some great ice cream cones. Mmmmmmmm!!! Chocolate all the way for me. J got mint chocolate chip. Tasted hers - & both flavors are awesome!!

And that was our afternoon together, blog buds. We went home to her house after that and played Rock Band, which Spencer got for his birthday last year. Juliette mostly played drums and I played guitar and we did pretty good too. Until Spencer came home and told us to stop. I think he's mad because I have a boyfriend!! ;-) But it was a great day with my BFF, just like in the old times when we were kids. Except I'm not a kid anymore - and tomorrow I have a date with Francisco. Maybe I'll wear my new "Colombia" tie-dye for him!! BFN, blog buds! See ya next week!! :-)))