Volleyball Team Bonding Day

13th of September, Saturday

Today was Volleyball Team Bonding day the whole day! It was a lot of fun.
We met at 10:30 at Athena. We were instructed to bring a complete set of change clothes, bathing suits and towels, but we didn't know where we would go, or what the plan was. This was the parent's surprise. The only problem was: it was pouring rain. Not quite the popular weather for outside activity. But we didn't mind.
  I sat in a car with Michelle (who's on my team, Varsity), Ryann and Nadine (JV), and Nadine's mom took us to an Adventure Park! It's the heaven of children, really. It's basicly an arcade with a lot of fun stuff. We started off with a minigolf tournament in groups of 3. I came second in our group, I was 1 point behind, but I didn't mind. I don't remember playing minigolf before, and it was a fun experience.
  After golf, we went to the WOW Factory! It's basicly a 2 story high ballpit with airguns, and the point is to hit each other with the ball (which are soft, so noone can get hurt). I got tired of minigolfing in the rain, so I didn't really run aroung. Teenagers got tired of the WOW Factory really quickly. Then we got 30 tokens each, to play in the arcade! I'm such a gambler! I played 15 of my tokens away at the first game I saw. Then another one ate 2 of my tokens and didn't print out the tickets you're supposed to get if you win. Lucky for me, the guy who works at the Adventure Park is in my English and Creative writing class, and Lexi's (volleyball friend's) boyfriend, so we're friends too. He gave me my tokens back and printed out extra tickets. I played my tokens away quite fast. I don't think they lasted more than 20 minutes. So we cashed in everything for gifts and candies. I got a ring pop, which is a candy on a ring, so you can put it on your finger, and be fabulous with it. I was skeptical at first, but realized it was only 60 calories (because it's really a small thing), so I ate it. It was good (not for my teeth though), and it lasted forever! All the way to Alyssa Umbrino's (JV) house, where we had lunch. All the Varsity, JV volleyball players and a lot of parents were there. We had pizza, and I was the weirdo in the group because I put ketchup on mine. I told them it was a Hungarian thing, but is it? Just get me some Hungarians to confirm that. Only Sara Ciotti liked it.
  From the Umbrino house, we went to the beach. The beach is fun ... in the summer. Today was not a sunny day. When we got there, the rain became more like a shower. With strong wind. The umbrella didn't help. So we went into one of the houses at the beach. This was like a private beach, 25 miles away, and the parents reserved a party house for the afternoon. It fit everyone in comfortably, and had a lot of tables and chairs and a fireplace. It was really cold and everyone was soaked when they got in.
  Ann Marie Leader, Sammi's mom instructed the games we played, like volleyball team Jeopardy (we had to guess our teammates from a short description of them), volleyball pong (like beerpong but with huge flowerpots and volleyballs and no beer ... but still fun). We played volleyball too outside, when the rain stopped. The grass was wet and therefore very slippery. Nobody dived for the ball.We tried to keep score, but just couldn't. We were having a lot of fun. Coach P's idea was, that we should hit the ball with our heads, so everyone tried to put the ball behind the net with their foreheads. Some attempts failed, some didn't, but all was hilarious.
  We had dinner at the beach too. Parents grilled, and brought salads and fruit. I brought my new camera. Herb let me borrow a memory card of his for today, so it works. The battery is certainly great, it still has a lot of juice in it. Me and Coach P tried to figure out how it works, and I think I got the basics (I still need some help). I took some pictures of the bonding at the beach, so you can see how they are.
  The parents made prizes for the winners of the games. I didn't win any, but there were 10 leftovers, so I got one of those. They were brown lunchbags filled with different stuff. I got a pair of Halloween socks, a headband, glowing bracelets and a water-pistol. Yay!
  The last stop of the Team Bonding was Courtney's house. It is such a beautiful place! Their kitchen is perfect, I got opsessed with it. It's exactly the kind of kitchen I'm going to have when I'm building my house. They also have a pool and a bar. We made 2 bonfires and sat around them, for it was really cold all days long. For some time, I danced with Niyana on Courtney's Wii, our favourite was the Indian dance, which was just as weird and fun as the title of the song: Bollywood Rainbow. After dancing, I sat in the parent's circle with some of the girls, and we talked about Halloween, the origin of Disney tales and animation / Lord of the Rings fun facts. The time went by really fast, and by the time I realized, it was 10 pm and Anne was picking me up. We went to Wegmans and made a quick late night shopping. We bought some baby bananas, which made me extremely happy, because my Mom loves them and I miss her. I miss my Dad too, and my pets. But I'm gonna miss them till next August, so I have to toughen up. I hope they do the same.