THE YEAR IN REVIEW 2005

This year has been one of the best years of my life. The first major event of this year was in February when my family went on our annual trip to Santa Fe, NM. We spent a lot of time with our friends down there and skied a lot. Brent and I skiied the whole Santa Fe ski area and vowed to conquer Taos next year in Febraury of 2006. We had a lot of fun, as usual. The next big event was Spring Break 2005. My mom and I traveled to Mexico for the break. Our first stop was Chichen Itza, the Mayan Ruins. The ruins were beautiful and the temple was huge! Our second and last stop was Playa del Carmen, a beach south of Cancun. The waves were enormous and Cole, a friend I made down there, and I boogy-boarded and body-boarded a ton. It was awesome. I graduated from 7th grade in June, and I was exempt from all of my finals. So, my dad and I went on a mountain biking trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a blast. We rode for five days and the canyon was beautiful. There were parts of the trip where we had to carry our bikes over trees for a quarter-mile straight. It was really hard. The food was excellent and the guides were amazing. Then, came Ligonier Camp a rligious activities camp that I have gone to for three years near Pittsburgh, PA. This was my first year in The Next Level and it was great! We did the zipline, rock climbing, mountain biking, mountain boarding, water fights, and much more. This year the regious bible studies really got to me and when I got back I started going back to church and praying every night. In July I went to my beach house in Brigantine, NJ for a week. Then, I went off to Ireland with my aunt. There I met Amanda, Lisa, Darcie, Pete, and Greg. We all had the coolest time ever. We went out to a pub one night and there was a live band and everything. We visited Dublin and I got to go to the Guinness Storehouse. We also visited Blarney Castle and I got to kiss the Blarney Stone. I also got to see the Cliffs of Mohr. We had a medieval feast the last night in Bunratty Castle and afterwards we gave Pete a Mohawk. It looked so cool. Amanda and I ran to almost every gas station in Killkenny trying to find glue tostick up his hair but ended up using gel instead. Two days after coming back from Ireland, my family and I went on our other annual trip to The "N" in the Adirondack Mountains of New York for two weeks. The first week I spent a lot of time with my best friend Mason; we did a little raod biking together. The second week I spent with the most amazing girl on Earth: Jamie. She and I hiked with a group up one the nearby mountains and swam in the lake at the top. We also went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together. After The "N" came 8th grade and school. It's going pretty well so far. The first weekend of December I went up to my grandmother's and hung out with my friends from The "N". It was great. I slept over at Mason's house in Cornwall on the Hudson and we went to the movies. We had an awesome time. Next, came Christmas and Hanukkah. That pretty much brings you up-to-date with my year. Next is a list of great book I have read over the last year.

Books:

Honor Among Thieves, Jeffrey Archer; Prey, Michael Chrighton; Jurassic Park, Michael Chrighton; The Andromeda Strain, Michael Chrighton; Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain; Idiot, Johnny Damon; Hayduke Lives!, Edward Abbey; Reaper, Ben Mezrich; Life of Pi, Yann Martel; House of the Scorpion, Nancy Farmer; Eldest, Christopher Paolini; Scorpia, Anthony Horowitz; Arc Angel, Anthony Horowitz; Farenheit 451, Ray Bradbury; The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown; Fire in the Heart, Deepak Chopra; Angels and Demons, Dan Bown; Deception Point, Dan Brown; The Pearl, John Steinbeck; Digital Fortress, Dan Brown; Night, Elie Wiesel; Chosen, Chaim Potok; The Eleventh Commandment, Jeffrey Archer; A Matter of Honor, Jeffrey Archer.

Hope you all have a great year, 2006!

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