Waking up at 7 a.m. on the first day of school was the worst thing to happen to me in August. Now I have to worry about upcoming due dates and studying for incoming tests, but I am still reminiscing on my summer outside of our wonderful state of Oklahoma.  

My favorite place outside of Oklahoma was White Sands National Park. The weather was nothing like the hot grossness that is Oklahoma right now even though it was a desert. 

During my time in the desert, I went sledding. While some might think that sledding is only for snow, sledding also works incredibly well with sand. Many other people in the park had brought sleds from home or bought them in the gift shop. 

However, being incredibly underprepared for everything, I cut out a piece of cardboard from a box in the back of the car. 

Walking in the sand was not my favorite thing. Walking up the dunes was very difficult, but I managed. And by managed I mean I fell on my face several times and looked like a bumbling penguin. Going down the dune was a completely different experience, except for the part where my square of cardboard decided to fold in half, and I once again found my face slamming into the sand. 

While not everybody spent their summers face-planted in the sand, our writing staff also had enjoyable summers. Here are some of their highlights:

From Abby Marshall, “Going to see Barbie at the Kickingbird Cinema! My sisters, mom, and I wore different shades of pink, and got ready together.”

From Noah Robertson, “I spent many of my summer nights and days just experiencing life with friends. Here is one morning I stayed up with my friends Collin and Abby to watch the sunrise from the rooftop.”

From Gitashri Gopalakrishnan, “This summer I went to India! And Spent time with family and friends while traveling around the southern parts of India! This is a Shiva Statue, at Thiruvananthapuram, Neyyattinkara, Kerala, India!”

From Ethan Leehan, “Over the summer I spent a lot of time reconnecting with friends and building more meaningful relationships. I went on a ton of fun trips to the lake and visited family across the country! I can’t wait to graduate this year.”

Do you have your own summer pics and stories you want to share? Send them to us on Instagram for a chance to be featured in a post.