( Ellie's Dream) part two

Ellie rubbed her eyes and sat up. The sun shone bright through the window. Outside the dewy grass sparkled like thousands of diamonds. Ellie sighed and looked out the window. Don't sulk on a beautiful morning like this! she told herself. She slowly dragged herself out of bed, took off her loose pyjamas, stuffing them under her pillow untidily, and then pulled on her favourite checked shirt and jeans.
"Hi Mum," Ellie said. Mum turned from the stove where porridge was cooking and stared. Ellie's face was as pale as the moon and her eyes were swollen and red.
" What's happened to you?" she exclaimed.
"Nothing," Ellie shot back.
"Well, something must have?" Mum protested.
Ellie sank down into a chair and put her chin in her hands. There was no use arguing with Mum.
"I cried myself to sleep last night," she mumbled. there was silence.
"About that horse?" Mum asked, and without waiting for an answer, continued,
"Well you'd better go and wash your face.Our new neighbor, Mrs Terrace and her daughter, are coming for to visit today.Her daughter is a champion barrel racer, you will like her."
Ellie got up and went to the bathroom.
She felt frustrated, Just what I need,now I won't get to see Spirit today.
..........

100 word challenge, week 3

The prompt for this week is 5 words. They can be used anywhere, in any order. they are:
                              ...Gateway, cold, running, black, friend...
Here it is...

Kate got up and went to the window. Something caught her eye. A black figure was walking into the darkness. She froze.
"What's wrong?" asked her friend Melissa.
She pointed to it. The girls darted outside.They shivered. It was cold.
"There!"
The figure was slinking out the gateway. Kate started walking. She could just make out a box.
The box had legs and it was running! How scary!
Kate screamed.
"Let's go inside!"

The next morning they related their adventures.
"It was me." said Kate's brother "I took my go kart down the hills. Those legs were the wheels."
The girls just looked at each other and sighed .
............

100 word challenge

Hi! I'm back! the prompt for this week is ...but where could I go...
Here it is...

I grabbed the lunch pail and dashed out the door. Mary was waiting for me on the old workhorse.
"Come on!" she urged " I don't want to be late for our first day at school."
Ma came outside with baby Rose. Rose hopped onto the mounting block.
" But where could I go? I wanna come!"
she cried. I hugged her.
"When you're older." I promised.
I lifted up my full skirt and scrambled onto the  horse's back. Mary's shiny black boots squeezed the horse's sides and we rode across the swaying grass of the prairie.
"Goodbye Ma!" we yelled "Goodbye!"
................

A Royal Encounter

A few weeks ago something very exciting happened to me. Mum and Dad and Sawyer went  to Nelson for 8 nights. We ( me,Ty, Monte and Danny ) were going to stay 5 nights at Nanna's house and 3 nights at Gran's house. 
It was lucky because the week we went there the Royals were in New Zealand. Anyway on Thursday we went to Te Awamutu to go to Banny's (Gran's) house. Right at the last minute  second we decided that I would go back with Nanna and on Saturday and actually see the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!! 
On the way back to the house me and Nanna stopped at Cambridge where they were going to be walking down the road. All the shop windows were full of Union Jack flags, cardboard cut-outs and pictures of them. 
Then we went back to Nanna's. Poppa wasn't home yet (he had gone to Auckland) so me and Nanna got some dinner at a shop. It was yummy. Then I hid in the bedroom until Poppa came in. He had no idea I was here. When he was sitting down I came out and said "Hello, Poppa!" and he got such a surprise! 
The next morning I started a royal scrapbook. In the afternoon  we got ready for the next day.
Saturday morning was sunny ( thankfully! ). At 7:30 we left  for Cambridge. About 20 minutes later we got to the town hall. There was some railings along the edge of the park. Surprisingly there was quite a lot of people there already! We set up our chairs and I read a book. After a while I ran around the park but I could hardly find my way back there was so many people! 20 minutes later you couldn't get out of the crowd at all. Some people had been there since 2 o'clock  in the morning! 
The Duke and Duchess arrived later. Every body started to chatter and squeal as the silver car appeared around the corner. It drew up to a halt and the moment we had been waiting for arrived. William and Kate stepped out. She was dressed in a rich, emerald green dress with shiny zips going quarter of the way up her long-sleeved dress. She had black high heels on. They went to have a quick lunch in the hall and then they started shaking hands. The Duchess started on the left side of the road and William on the right side. They slowly moved along the line. Then, Prince William got closer and closer until he was right next to us. I stuck my hand out excitedly. He shook the person's hand next to Nanna, then Nanna's hand, then he grabbed MY hand!!!!! He said hello and shook my hand!! Eek!! 
I didn't get to shake Kate's hand but I got to shake a Prince's hand!!!! Then we went back home, and the Duke and Duchess went to a hospital thing. I had a great day. I will always remember that Saturday. Thanks Nanna and Poppa.
.........
I was in the newspaper that week too!

100 Word Challenge

I'm starting to do a 100 word challenge. Every week I will write a 100 word story on my blog. Here is the prompt for this week:...some of the words sounded like foreign language...
.......

The two horses tramped quietly through the large, open savanna. Vultures circled above the explorers' heads and diamond-backs slithered across the dry earth.
"What's that?"
Milly pointed to a dark line near the riders.
"The jungle." replied her guide.
As they entered the jungle the coolness flooded over  her. She saw something move in the bushes. A girl stepped out. She was dressed in a skirt and some of the words sounded like foreign language.
"Me, lost." she managed to say.
The riders nodded.
"Come with us." Milly offered.
The girl's eyes sparkled.
She mounted and rode into the sunset.
.............
Do you like it?
I had to count it about ten times!

{Ellie's Dream} Part 1

Hi!
sorry I haven't written for so long. On the first of February was my 10th birthday. I had a 'Little House on the Prairie' party (of course!).
Anyway, here is the start of the story I wrote that won the competition last year. It doesn't have chapters, only paragraphs.

                                ELLIE'S DREAM
Ten year-old Ellie flopped into the porch swing with a happy sigh. It was hard to believe it had already been one year since she had moved to the ranch with her parents. For her it was a dream come true to wake up every morning, pull on her cowgirl boots and go galloping across the ranch. Ever since she
could remember,she had dreamt of nothing except travelling around rodeos,being a barrel racer. She began thinking about the new quarter horse her dad had just bought. He was really beautiful.
"Ellie!" Mum's call broke through her thoughts, "Dinner's ready!"
Ellie called to Dad and raced into the kitchen. Delicious smells drifted up from their Homewood stove.
"How's the new quarter horse, Dad?" Ellie asked eagerly. "Do you think he would be good at barrel racing?"
"Well, I'm gonna try him out  tomorrow." Dad gulped down a spoonful of soup, "Any desert?"
  .............
At lunch time the next day Dad came in mopping his forehead with a handkerchief.
"Waste of money that horse," he muttered. "I'm selling him to any fool who wants him."
Ellie was shocked! He couldn't do that! What about barrel racing?
"You can't Dad!" she cried.
"Ellie," Dad sighed "you know there is no room on a ranch for a useless horse."
Ellie pushed back her chair suddenly and raced out the door. She stopped in front of the corral.
"Spirit!" she called. The new horse turned his head and walked over to her.He is not useless!
Ellie blinked back hot,angry tears.
"Oh!" she burst out so suddenly that Spirit reared up,"I will train you! Starting from...now!"
Ellie leapt into action. She picked an apple from the tree and stuck her arm through the railing.
"Spirit, come on," Ellie crooned softly. Spirit took a step forward. "Good boy!" she whispered. Spirit took a few more steps and nibbled the apple.
"Get away from him!" someone suddenly shouted. Ellie turned,"Mum?" her voice sounded surprised.
"That horse is dangerous, Ellie," Mum scolded, "and useless."
Mum pulled Ellie away. The girl's sparkling, blue eyes suddenly filled with tears,
"Please!" she begged, still sobbing, "Don't sell him!"
Mum sighed, "You'll have to talk to Dad about that", and left Ellie standing alone, crying.
.......

Exciting news!!

Back again! And I have some exciting news...

A few months ago I entered a writing competition. It was from 5-21 year olds. You had to write a story about "hope". My story was about a girl called Ellie who lived on a horse ranch and really wanted to be a barrel racer in the rodeo. One day her dad brought a quarter horse home from the sale yards (a place where they sell horses, sheep and cattle). But when he rode the horse he said it was too frisky to keep and that he would sell Spirit (the horse). Ellie tried to tell her parents that she could train Spirit to race but they kept telling her to stay away from him. But she didn’t listen to them. Early every morning she would go to Spirit and feed him an apple. Until one morning when her dad sold Spirit. But Ellie didn’t give up.Without anyone knowing she made a deal with Spirit’s new owners that every morning she would come and train Spirit to race in the rodeo....(and that's all I'm going to tell you!)

After I sent my story in it was about six weeks until we heard from the judges. Guess what? I was in the shortlist! Then one week later we heard from them again. Guess what? I was in the finals! 

It is only me and another girl (that I know) in the finals. But the best thing about being in the finals is that you have to go to Australia for the prize-giving dinner!!!

I’m so excited! I’ve never been overseas before. The prize-giving is in Brisbane. 

Also, on the way home from Brisbane me and Mum are flying business class! (We had to because the other planes went from Brisbane to Sydney then back to NZ. That made eight hours altogether.) 

We are going in two weeks. Yippee!!!

………………………........

Have you ever been to Brisbane?

What are some good things to do around that area?