What I'm Looking Forward to this Summer- Aine Byrne

     I can't be the only one that feels these past few months have flown by. I feel like I have blinked since February, and now all of the sudden tomorrow is June. With that, the end of school is coming up quick. In every class, we have maybe one or two topics left until total freedom. Now that I've finally realized the month we're in, I have had time to get really excited about summer and all my plans for it, so I wanted to share a few.

    At the end of June, me and my family are going to Zion National Park in Utah. We have never been a big beach family, and all of our family vacations have been centered around hiking, mountains, and the like. So this trip will be super exciting because it's all that sort of stuff, but so much cooler. Not that I don't love the views in New Hampshire or Maine or other places we have been, but they don't even hold a candle to the picturesqueness of Zion. 
    Funnily enough, the day after I get back from Utah, I'm state-hopping again, this time to Kentucky. This trip is a little different, though, because it's a volunteer trip to help the less-fortunate. I-along with a few of my friends from town- will be helping restore homes of people in need for a week. I'm super excited to do this since I've never done something like this before and I think I will learn a lot from it, especially since I won't be able to bring my phone with me the entire time.
    Of course, I wouldn't be able to talk about summer without talking about LBI. Since I was in sixth grade, I have been going to LBI with my friends for a week, and it's always the time of my life. It's the only place where we have total freedom and get to do whatever we want whenever we want. We go to the beach, bike to get lunch, back to the beach, go home and shower, and then hang out the rest of the night. In LBI, everything is only a few blocks away from each other, so we go mini-golfing, shopping, out to dinner, or just to a different friend's house, and we don't have to rely on parents for rides or permission. This week is also a last hurrah of sorts before we all start our fall sports in August.