ALL MY ESSAYS

Trip to NYC (Written in 6th grade)

My dad relapsed and unfortunately passed a bit less than a year after this was written.

Today, we are going to go on a trip to NYC! Before we start, I have to explain why we are going. It is a family emergency for my dad. We are going to get the pesky cancer out of his body. So, yea. There are some rules we have to go over first before we go. I wrote these, and stamped them and everything.
Lauren's Rules For NYC:
1. Respect my family! We are going through a hard time, and do not make it harder!
2. Greet everyone at the door with a smile. :)
3. Have the best time you ever had.
We are about to have a lot of fun, with shopping and New York food. Let's get in the car and buckle our seatbelts, and let's go off to NYC!

August 16th (Day 1):
First, obviously was a very long road trip. My mom woke me up, and we had breakfast did my usual morning routine, and then I left to go to NYC. The family loaded in the car and left. Our first stop was to the gas station. We got our car loaded up with gas. Then, we drove for a little bit. We had lunch at the Burger King at the Delaware Rest Stop. We found our way across the Delaware Memorial Bridge, we saw a beautiful blue lake. Then, we were in New Jersey, and we smelled a disgusting skunk! It made me want to puke. When we got close, an amazing song came on the radio. It was called "My Mistake" by Cam. We raced through the Lincoln Tunnel, and when we got to NYC, all we had to do was navigate the busy streets and find my grandma's apartment. The problem was, a lot of the streets were closed down, because of a parade! I also saw a sign that was a marquee McDonalds sign. It was the coolest sign I saw. We FINALLY got there, and my mom and grandma were hanging out on a deck at the top of her building. My grandma had ordered matzo ball soup for dinner. We ate the delicious matzo ball soup and stayed up and played on our beautiful iPads. We went to bed at about nine. I was asleep for the rest of the night.
August 17th (Day 2):
I woke up, and realized my grandma wasn't there! She had been with my dad for his surgery. My aunt, Clarisse, had come to watch over Anna and I. We had donuts for breakfast. I bit into a delicious, glazed, sugary donut. We raced to go swimming at the apartment. After that, we had lunch at this really awesome burger place called "Shake Shack." I ordered a cheeseburger. After I finished, I had a vanilla milkshake. We went shopping for books, and we each got to pick out one book that my aunt would buy for us. I picked out "The Seventh Most Important Thing." I forget who the author is, but that is what I picked out. We went back to the apartment and I dressed up my stuffed cats and glammed them up. I made them look super adorable. My mom came home and we raced to the pool once again and went swimming. We had dinner once again and it was some Chinese food. I had a delicious serving of Kung Pao Chicken. I went to bed once again. Day 2 was a wrap, and I was looking forward to what was coming on Day 3.
August 18th (Day 3):
I woke up and visited my dad at the hospital, with plans to go to the Dollar Store afterwards. I was so excited to go to the Dollar Store. I had ten dollars I could spend, that I earned by doing chores around the apartment. When we got into his room, still with plans, we talked to him for a little bit. But at THE LAST MINUTE, before we were FINALLY going to go to the dollar store, my grandma told my dad our plans, and he screeched out that we could not go. ☹ That was such a shame, because I really wanted to get some new Barbies. But my dad asked angrily, "Why do you want to go to the dollar store" I told him "um... because everything is a dollar." He excaimed that wasn't true. My grandma suggested we go to a STUPID store called Jack's instead. I angrily rejected. Everything there is NOT a dollar. My grandma told me everything there was "two dollars." The dollar store is a way better deal. My dad yelled, not only I couldn't go to the dollar store, but whatever store I did go to, I couldn't buy Barbies. Since my dad said that, my grandma abided by his rules and I couldn't buy any new Barbies. That also ticked me off a lot. Looks like our plans got ruined! I was super brokenhearted for the rest of the day. I finally went to bed. Thanks a lot grandma!
August 19th (Day 4):
I woke up and was looking for a good cheat for a game called The Sims Freeplay. After many attempts, I finally found a video that had a working one. It gave unlimited Simoleins and Lifestyle Points, which I desperately needed the Lifestyle Points to buy a new house called "The Player Designed House." I listened carefully to the video, and I got what I desperately wanted. I was rich on the world of Sims! Just as I started playing, my sister burst into the room, sounding excited. She kept stalking my iPad for the rest of the day, until I taught her how to do the cheat. She enjoyed it too, and she stopped stalking my device. I played the game ALL DAY, and got to level 24. We had dinner of leftover Chinese food, and my cousin came to watch over my sister and I, and he thought it was cool that we modded our game. I completed some more quests in the game, and then at 9:00, I went to bed. Day five was coming up, thankfully.
August 20th (Day 5)
The first 5 days passed quickly, so I decided we should go shopping. We went to lunch first, and we went to McDonalds. I had a cheeseburger, and it was delicious. We went to the largest department store in the world called Macy's. I took a picture of my stuffed cats with some makeup. I took another one of my stuffed cats wearing clothes. We then went to Toys-R-us and looked at some toys. I came across a lego set and a lot of dolls. We went back home and we went swimming, had dinner and went to bed.

*Sorry about the skip, I am only doing the important days. *
September 1st (Day 16)
We went to Uniqlo to get a brand-new fuzzy jacket! I bought 2 of them, A pink one and a navy blue one. I walked into the store, and it was beautiful. I picked out what I wanted, and then, I saw these windows, with floating mannequins! There was also rainbow lit stairs. It was awesome, just awesome. Later that day, I went upstairs to take some more pictures of my stuffed cats, and all the sudden, in the apartment lounge, I found a door! I had no idea where the door was to, and I went inside. It was a mini kitchen! I decided that that would be the perfect place to take photos! We then went out for lunch! My sister had pizza and I had some soup. We went for ice cream! It was an amazing day. Then, I heard the door open! My dad had come home from the hospital! We ran up to him, and hugged him. He had no cancer, but due to his surgery, he had to wait a little bit to swallow again.

September 2nd (Final Day)
My family was packing up to go home, but my dad had to stay behind, sadly. I made a video, and reluctantly packed my luggage to go back home. School was starting in a couple of days, and I was going into 6th grade. I was super excited to go back, and see my friends again. We loaded into the minivan, and drove back home. It was an awesome two weeks, it was the best trip ever. We were back home, and I said hello to all my Barbies, stuffed animals, and dolls. Everything was normal again. I went to sleep, back in my own bed, and I kept dreaming about my trip.

Epilogue
I came to the bus stop, very excited. I was starting 6th grade. On the last day of school last year, I had been very sad that I would leave Hailey. It was an amazing day. I got to school, and gave Hailey a huge hug. The whole trip sounded like a weird dream, and everything was normal again!