On first day of summer, all of our close friends were invited to came over to our boat and we cruised the channels in our dingy and formally caught up on what we had missed during the 8th grade. To be honest, we did not miss too much. Many of our friends started up the hobby of "paintball". That day, we scheduled an event where 8 of us would go to Urban Quest for a day of fun. The Thursday after our middle school "career" had ended our schedule had come. On the day of our event, I woke up with a feeling of excitement, nervousness, and visions of me getting layered in paint. I had heard how this activity was very exhilarating and we drove to an area near the strawberry fields near the harbor. One at a time, our friends started to show up at our planned location and we all had to go to a booth where we could rent some guns, helmets, and got a small lesson on paint ball etiquette. After making sure all of the equipment was ready we were lead with other groups to an arena in the shape or a rectangle. Before we knew it, our team marched to their side of the battlefield. Everyone moved hastily to a safe area with a good viewpoint. The umpire, who was the supervisor of the event, shouted, "begin" to signal that the game had started. I wasn't quite sure where to go, so I started to crouch behind cover and go to my brother. Right as I stood up and reached him, he raised his hand. He turned to me, and the whole right side of his face was covered in paint. He said, "don't go this way" and walked off to benches where you must wait for the round is over to get back into the game. It was hilarious how within five seconds since the battle commenced, his entire right side of his face was layered with red paint. Little did I know that within that very same minute I barely poked my head out and ironically my facemask was completely covered in paint. At the end of the battle we realized that we were facing a team who was being sponsored by actual paintball companies. We didn't stand a change due to never have fired a paintball gun before. The day continued with another three rounds before we ran out paintballs and then it was time to call home to be picked up. When everyone got home we all took showers. We were filthy. We had dirt, sweat, and paint incrusted everywhere on our bodies. But it was nothing a ten-minute shower couldn't handle.
After another week of just being with friends my parents decided that we should go to the Channel Islands for a few days on our boat, Gonenative. There wasn't much planning required and the boat simply needed some food, water, and fuel. Within a day after the decision of going to the Islands, we were on our way. We left at approximately 6:00 A.M. and after a leisurely cruise across the calm ocean we arrived five hours later. We arrived in an empty bay and after anchoring we felt that it would be a great day for a hike. We lowered our dingy, which is a smaller inflatable boat with a small engine attached to it, into the water and we all got in. The length to the dock was about fifty yards to the dock on shore and when we arrived we tied up there. We walked on the dock to reach shore and we saw the beautiful landscape of Catalina Island before our eyes. We took pictures as we walked up the trail that let to the top of the mountain. During the height many animals were out strolling in the brushes around us. I saw a few foxes, which were quite rare to see. After an hour of hiking we managed to reach the summit and were able to see great distances from every angle. The Gonenative in the bay and it looked almost like a toy. The mainland was easily seen and many boats that were sailing could also be viewed. After taking many picture we decided that it was time to descend to the base of the mountain and head back. The descent was relatively easy since it was downhill, but it was a lot easier to slip on the dirt and loose rocks. Everyone managed to reach the base unscathed and we returned to the dock, untied the dingy, and were on our way back to the Gonenative. After a nice dinner and a movie it was time to turn in, and we all went to bed. The next day we pulled anchor and headed with the direction of the wind to go fishing. We were dragging fishing lines behind us in hope that we may catch an unsuspecting fish. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, no fish were hooked and we anchored in a new nearby bay. Since the sun had set we had another scrumptious dinner and retired for the night. The next morning we were informed by radio that a rough storm was heading our way so we decided to beat it by heading back instead of waiting at the Islands to clear. We quickly pulled anchor and set a course to Ventura Harbor. It was rather calm until we were more then 90 percent to our destination. The wind gradually increased during the day and it was about 40 knots (50 mph) by the time we entered the harbor it was about 50 knots outside. After returning home we docked our boat and walked up the dock to our house. For the remainder of the summer then weren't many interesting activities worth mentioning except we went to the beach multiple time, played with friends, and went to see family. It was a simple carefree summer, and I loved it.