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Yes! I'm 16 now! I'm the last of all my friends to turn 16, pretty much, and now I've got my permit! So far, I've hit a car (only slightly) and had a huge line of traffic behind (and beeping at) me. I'm having a hard time turning and remembering to signal. My mom's a nervous wreck, sitting next to me in the car. My birthday was last Sunday (the 23rd). It was pretty uneventful, my dad brought me to a local Outback Steakhouse (well, semi-local. About 1/2 hour away) and we celebrated, and then returned home and had a cake with my whole family.

The week before we spent in a condo in NH. I'm going to go into extensive detail now, or else I'll forget everything (usually I take a travel journal, but I was too lazy this time). So we arrived Sunday night and unloaded. Monday my dad and I took off dirtbiking and went on this really nice rail trail in Littleton, NH (for all of you dirtbike fans, check it out). Of course, I'm a newbie to dirtbiking and I have a really hard time with that darn clutch, and I kept on stalling. It was pretty embarassing. On the way home we stopped for pizza, and then returned and swam (well, my little bro can't swim. The rest of us did though).

The most memorable quote of the vacation would have to be "Can we switch to the 12:00 train? My husband found his pants." My dad was checking through all of his dirtbiking gear and realized that he was missing his dirtbiking pants. Horrified, he came to the conclusion that he had left them in Littleton. So his new mission, instead of enjoying the Hobo railroad with my mom, sister and brother, was to rescue his pants before they were stolen. I, not wanting for him to travel alone, decided to join him on his quest instead of enjoying the railroad, of which the train was scheduled at 11:00.

My dad and I arrived in Littleton at 10:45. Luckily his pants were lying, looking pitifully abandoned. I picked them up and put them in the truck, while my dad dialed my mom, wanting to know if she could delay the train so we could go. My dad was mortified to hear my mom adress the ticket manager, "Can we switch to the 12:00 train? My husband found his pants." They couldn't switch (there was no 12:00 train), so my dad and I returned, and played battleship until they came back from the train. It started to pour, so we played Sorry and went swimming when it cleared off.

Wednesday was another dirtbiking day, my dad and I went on the most grueling but absoloutely fantastical dirtbiking trails ever! They were so great! I think they were in Stratford (or something like that). They were great. Really, really hard (because there were rocks. I'm afraid of rocks. And there was sand. And hills. And I'm afraid of sand and hills.) Except I accentally drove across the streeet because i couldn't stop. "What the hell was that? If there was a car coming you could have been killed!!!" (my dad was like scream and I was like crying ) But all in all it was awesome. There was a great ice cream shop and I had really good moosetracks ice cream. That's becoming my new favorite flavor. ^_^

Thursday was... interesting... Not only can my brother not swim, he also can't ride a bike. So we got one of those trail-along bikes that you hitch onto a bike, and it was hitched onto mine (I asked for it to be hitched on, which might have been a big mistake). It took a long time to get used to having someone on behind me ("You can't jump off the bike! You'll get a big bruise!"-what everyone told my brother after he jumped off the bike while it was in motion -_-; wink . The trail we went on was competely uphill. I was dying. That was sooooo painful. Although it was AMAZING going back! The complete downhill was soooo sick! (sick in a good way, not a bad way).

On one of those days (I think I mixed up the order) we went hiking. It was good, my sister complained on the way up and my brother complained on the way down, but it ws still fun.

Saturday my dad and I went on the Littleton trail again, but with much greater speed. Then when we returned, although it was pouring rain, we went to Wales Tales, which is this incredible water park. They have a ride where you feel like you're going down a toilet! ^_^

Well, that's it for now, next time I go on I'm talking about skating.