LauderKids

Where do I start this blog? I don't even know where to begin this week. There's SO much going on, blog buds! Next week I graduate from middle school. Big, right? And I'm writing my first book because I want to be a famous writer some day. Also pretty big, I guess. I work on the book almost every night and I'll even let you read the very beginning now. This is how my story starts: "Sometimes I feel like I want to be someone else. A different person, all grown up and away from childhood at last. But I never feel like I want to live somewhere else. So this will be a book, my first book, all about growing up as a teen in Fort Lauderdale."

Hope you like it! I'll share more with you in some other blogs, ok? But this week I have to tell you about two things for sure. Because my best friend, Juliette, and I are officially certified scuba divers now. You remember everything in my other blogs about our great diving experiences, right? We both feel really proud about making it. Now we can go scuba diving whenever we want. Very cool.

Then we tried something else for the first time in our lives. I even wrote a little about it in my book. It's what I really want to blog about this week. We went riding on Segways. Woo-hoo! :-) At Birch State Park in Fort Lauderdale, there's this place that rents out Segways - and lots of other stuff like Rollerblades and bikes.

So what's a Segway, you ask? It's ... well, SO totally weird! But in a really fun way!! My dad took us to the park and rode the Segways with Juliette and me. And Spencer. Eek! Remember him? That's Juliette's goofy younger brother, as my regular blog buds know. Can you believe that he still acts like he's completely in love with me or something??! He's 12. I'll turn 15 in July!! OMG!! Get real, Spencer. It's almost a little creepy sometimes. LOL.

Anyway, we all go to this really pretty park to rent our Segways from somewhere called M.Cruz Rentals. It's this business right in Birch State Park. Then the owner Brent shows us how to ride them. That's when we got to the weird part. These strange little machines are like scooters, kinda, sorta. But not really. LOL. They have really fast motors and two wheels and they move forward when you lean forward. Then they slow down or stop when you lean backward.

Sounds easy, huh? It is. But not for the first few minutes. As my dad soon found out. I tried it and I have to say it went pretty good for me. Same with Juliette and even Spencer figured it out. But Dad? Hahaha. Too funny. I guess that's what happens when you get old or something, right? Because he stands on the thing and can't get it to move. Then it moves and starts spinning in a really fast circle. Around and around. Brent has to turn it off so Dad doesn't get dizzy and fall off in front of everyone.

Then Dad finally makes it move forward but he goes too fast, then too slow, then too fast, then too slow. Over and over. You get the idea. Like I said, totally too funny. Dad was like, "How do you drive this thing?" And I said, "Daaaad! You're the one who drives a car. And you can't drive this easy little Segway thing? Duh!" We're all laughing, even Brent, though I think he was worried Dad was going to crash the Segway or something.

But finally my dad found the secret. He was fine after that. Well, most of the time after that. Because this is when our fun little adventure began. Brent took us on a tour of the park for a whole hour and we got to ride the Segways as fast as we wanted. We saw all kinds of wild Florida creatures and beautiful huge trees and - but you know what? There's too much to tell you about. So I guess I'll have to wait til next week to finish the story. Come back then so you can hear about the great time we had. Including laughing even more at my poor old klutzy dad! ;-)) See ya then!

That's exactly what Juliette said right after our first scuba dive in the wide, deep Atlantic Ocean. We were both down there together, with the rest of our scuba class. In a world of water. And the only word I can think of to describe that experience? "Awesome!" Really, for once that's totally the right word. So we're down there underwater for a long time and then come to the surface together, Juliette and me. And she takes the scuba tank regulator out of her mouth so she can talk and pulls up her dive mask. She's smiling like the widest smile. And Juliette just says, "Coral rocks!"

I started laughing so hard I almost choked on all that sea water! ROFL. Except there was no floor - just the ocean. :-) Really I know you know what my great BFF meant by "Coral rocks!" But it's just that some coral really looks like rocks, even though it's really tiny creatures that are alive and everything. But - oh anyway, I thought it was so funny. Like my dad says sometimes,  "I guess you had to be there." LOL.

Oh yes, I should tell you again that I'm Isabella, your faithful blogger bud. In case you're new to my weekly blog or something. Remember last week I told you Juliette and I were going on our first big ocean dive? Well, wow - it wasn't just "awesome." It was a totally, totally amazing thing for anyone to do!! Because once I put on my mask and fins and jumped in for the first time, I couldn't believe how I felt. I wasn't scared at all, like I expected to feel. No, I felt all calm and very happy to see this strange new place for the first time in my life.

When you're underwater, everything seems really peaceful and pretty. I've watched all those YouTube videos and TV shows about diving under the ocean but you have to see it yourself to really understand. But I'll still try to describe it for you a little bit. Remember, I want to be a famous writer when I grow up anyway, right? LOL.

The first thing you notice is how light you feel. It's like being in space or something, I guess. Astronauts on the space shuttle even train underwater. Somehow it's different when you're in the ocean instead of just practicing scuba diving in the little pool. Then you start swimming under all those waves and you know it really is a whole new world. Big schools of purple fish and yellow fish and tiny white fish floated by, right past Juliette and me and the rest of our scuba class. I really have to just say "awesome" again.

Then our instructor, Bob, took us to see some of the coral that's just off the coast of Florida. It's even right here off the famous beach in Fort Lauderdale. That was the most beautiful thing of all. Some of the coral looks like colorful plants waving in the wind. And some of it looks like cactus. Kind of. And some of it looks to me just like ... rocks. Hahaha. Just like Juliette said, right? "Coral rocks!"

But she's really right, even if I like to tease her about that. Coral DOES rock - and so does scuba diving! I can't wait to go into the ocean again on another dive and Juliette feels the same way. And best thing of all, guess what? We both passed all our tests so far and we're now almost officially certified scuba divers! Next week we do some more ocean diving with Bob and and our class. And that's it. Certified! How cool is that, right? For sure I'll tell you more about some of the other underwater adventures we'll definitely have later this summer, blog-o-buds. Ok? But next week, I think I'll have something new to talk about. Ever heard of a Segway? I'm going to try one for the first time in a couple days. I just hope it's half as fun as scuba diving. Then maybe in the next blog I can say, "Segway Rocks" too! TTYL! Have a great week!!!

We just started this scuba diving thing and we both love it already. After only two lessons. Some scuba schools do it a little different than ours, I guess, but we had two classes just in the pool. Then next week, we're going way out in the open ocean. That might feel seriously scary!

It was scary enough this week. Listen to what we had to do: our instructor calls it "buddy breathing." It's like at first we're just under the water, swimming around with all our equipment on and having fun and kind of goofing with each other. But then everyone has to get a buddy, so I swim over to Juliette. Then one of us has to get rid of the regulator that we use to breathe, you know, take it out of our mouth. Then we share one regulator by breathing with our buddy. So there's Juliette and me, total BFFs, and we're completely under the water about 8 feet deep now. And we're taking turns passing just this one regulator back and forth, back and forth so we don't drown right there in front of everybody. It seemed like we did this for an hour. But really it was only maybe one minute or so, I think.

Then you know what else we had to do? Each of us had to take off all our scuba equipment while breathing from our own regulator and then lay all that equipment on the bottom of the pool. There's my fins and my air tank and everything else. Just laying there. I even had to take off my mask, which of course means things looked pretty blurry. Then I had to put it all back on and clear my mask so I could see again. It's all just part of the training.

It's funny to clear your mask under the water. I feel like a dolphin or a whale or something, blowing bubbles through my nose. The air I blow out pushes the water from my mask so I can see again. Pretty cool, right? BTW - I really, really want to say that scuba diving is just like the best. Juliette thinks so too. So you should try it if you can. Or maybe at least go snorkeling, where you only use a mask and fins and a snorkel. LOL, that's such a funny word! Snorkel!

Either way, scuba diving or snorkeling, you just feel so free and happy in the water. It's way different than anything I've ever tried, you know? But now it's really time to put myself to the big test. Because it's one thing to jump into a nice safe swimming pool. But it's something different to jump into the ocean - the huge, gigantic, endless ocean with all the fish and the coral and the ships everywhere.

It should be quite the experience, don't you think? But I know I can handle it and so can Juliette! That's why we do all that practice in the pool first and try all these weird things. Like our "BFF breathing," as Juliette and I call the buddy breathing thing we did. ROFL. I don't know why, but we both think that's so funny! Come back for my new blog next week and see what happens to us in the ocean. I hope we're still laughing after that!! :-)

Juliette is so totally brave. Sometimes I feel like a real chicken next to her. Cluck, cluck! :-) Because we took our first scuba diving lesson this week, blog buds. And guess who got scared out of her wits? Here's a hint: It wasn't my best friend, Juliette.

Remember last week I told you that "Julibella" was going into the swimming pool with our masks and fins and all the clunky equipment that divers wear? Oh yeah, and in case you didn't read that blog, "Julibella" is just a name for Juliette and me. I'm Isabella, your faithful blogger buddy. Our friends call us Julibella sometimes because we're so close. You know, like sisters. So anyway, we were both really all excited to get into the water for our first lesson. Until ...

Until I had to get into the water for real! LOL. Now try to imagine this scene, ok? Juliette and maybe five other people put on all their diving gear. I'm a little slower doing this so now they all jump into the pool with these big old fins and their masks and air tanks and everything else. They're swimming under the water and having a great time, right? Then I jump in the water too and go under and start swimming like them. Except - wow! I just kind of get all freaky and scared. Instantly! So I stand up in the pool right away, maybe like only two seconds after going underwater. And I pull off my mask and I just yell, "Air! Give me air!"

How totally embarrassing. I wanted to find some little hole in the wall and crawl in so I could hide from everyone. Even Juliette was laughing and I couldn't blame her. I would have laughed at me too. Well, what can I say? Sorry. It felt scary being under the water and trying to breathe for the first time. Even if breathing is so easy with a scuba tank - as I soon found out for myself.

That's right. I knew I had to get back under all that water. So I kind of laughed along with everyone else for a couple seconds. Then I just put my mask on again and put the regulator in my mouth again too. The regulator is that thingie you hold in your teeth so you can breathe underwater. Then I kind of close my eyes and ... glug, glug, glug! Just like that I'm going down and down, maybe four or five feet deep. And I'm breathing, really breathing, right in the middle of this big swimming pool.

It still felt pretty weird for a minute. But then it started to seem so cool to me. It's an amazing feeling, blog friends. It's almost like you become a fish or something, swimming all free and staying below the surface as long as you want. Juliette swam up to me underwater and I could tell she was smiling inside her mask. She gave me a hand sign to ask if I was ok. You know, a "thumbs up" thing, right? And so I just nod yes and then give her a big thumbs up right back. I was ok.

It took me a few minutes but now I knew I could do this. I could become a real certified scuba diver so I can go on dives in the ocean with, you know, like all the fish. Hmmm, maybe I should think about this again ... ;-)) But seriously, blog buds, I'm going to stick with it for sure. Juliette may be the brave one now. But I can be totally stubborn sometimes. Like about learning to scuba dive. So yes, both parts of "Julibella" will go back for more scuba lessons. Juliette - and me too. Next week I'll tell you about all the excitement in the pool when we start doing some strange things underwater. Sounds kind of scary to me. But fun too! BFN!

Everything is happening to me now. All at once. It feels like everything is changing. I have to admit that it's kind of exciting. But also pretty scary sometimes. And a little weird too, you know? Yes, this is Isabella, your old blogosphere friend back for another summer. I'm going to write about my life and great adventures and everything that happens to me. Just like I did two years ago, remember? Well, yeah, I did some blogging last summer too, but only sometimes for someone else's blog. This year, it's my blog again. Just me!

This really is an exciting, scary time in my life, blog friends. For one thing, I've only got a month of middle school left and then I'm gone. And then I go over to all the high school drama and pressure and everything else. That's pretty scary, don't you think? I'll be 15 in July - wow, getting kind of old already. LOL. Ninth grade is waiting for me.

But it's even scarier that I'm going to face high school alone, without my "other half." That means without my real true BFF, Juliette, who's a little younger than me and going into 8th grade next year. We're so close that all our girlfriends just call us "Julibella" sometimes. You know putting our names together, like, "Hey, let's ask Julibella what we should do tonight!" Big joke, right? Ha ... ha ... ha! :-) But we don't mind really because we ARE that close. Like sisters now, two whole years after I moved to Fort Lauderdale.

Starting high school and getting separated from Juliette. All at the same time. And as if that's not enough excitement and scary changes, there's more. Because I've totally decided I want to be a real writer - you know, like books and stories and things. I'm going to be a famous author. So I'm writing my first book already. I just started it. Gulp. A book about growing up in South Florida. Maybe I'll let you read some parts of it right here, yeah I probably will just post some bits from the book here on this blog. Because I'm trying to do my kind of "serious" writing in that book but I want my blog buds to read that too sometimes, ok?

So this blog is just for my "fun" writing! You know, just between us friends. And I think it's going to be really fun because ... guess what?! I'm taking scuba diving lessons starting next week! So is Juliette. That's right, friends, "Julibella" will be in the swimming pool with masks and fins and air tanks. See what I mean? Something else that's exciting and scary!

I'll tell you all about that first lesson in next week's blog. I'll have a new post every Friday on this website, which is where all my old blogs are too. (You can still read those blogs ... and last summer's blogs by Juliette and her little brother, Spencer. Even if Spencer's posts sometimes get kind of goofy. Don't believe everything he said about me, ok? :-) Just check out the archives for all that old stuff.) And then stay tuned, blog-o-buds. I have a feeling the next few months will be a pretty exciting, scary, fun time for all of you too. If you keep reading all my blogs, that is! LOL! See ya next week!!