The Holidays!

I've been trying to think of things that my community does especially around the holidays that are coming up! I remembered last year seeing people line up along streets, pull their cars over on the road and stop where they were.  As I looked I saw police cars, fire trucks, cars and other vehicles coming down the street.  They were all decorated with lights and garland and other festive things! They went through the streets playing loud holiday music and waving out the windows. It was s lot of fun to watch them go by, it really gets people in the mood for the holidays! Also our local mall puts up a HUGE Christmas tree in the middle, and decorate it with huge ornaments! It's so pretty and every year it seems to get bigger and better! Also on certain nights at the mall in the center by the tree, they make it snow! Of corse it isn't real snow, the flakes are bubbly but it is still so fun! I go every year to watch my boyfriends' little brother sing with his class around the tree and it is the cutest thing! There is also holiday music playing throughout the streets of our mall and not only is the center area where the tree is decorated, every tree and lamp post has little twinkling white lights on it!  I love this time of the season, it always outs me in a good mood and I love what our community does around this time of the year! :)

Veteran's Day

So I could not think of what to write about so I looked at the list on Blackboard and decided to document an event in my community.
On Veteran's Day, last week, I went with my boyfriend and his family to the Rancho Cucamonga Central Park where they had a special day set up for veterans and their families. We got there and started walking around and we saw so many things from the wars. My boyfriend's grandpa was in the army and fought during Vietnam. He was in a helicopter and it was shot down! And the only reason he survived was because the helicopter hit trees to break its fall instead of the hard ground! All day he told me, my boyfriend and my boyfriend's brother stories back when he was in the army. Around the park there was army trucks and guns and gear set up so everyone can see. Some soldiers were there too and they were explaining how they use the equipment and what it is for. One of the cannons they had there shot almost 20 miles in distance! It was really neat to see all these things up close. We got to put on the helmets that they use and some of the gear and sit in the big huge trucks! My boyfriends little cousins were all there too and they all found it to be so interesting!
The best part was how excited his grandpa was to talk about all of the things that were there. He was so excited to explain what everything was and did and to share all kinds of different stories from when he was fighting. It was really cool to see my city do such cool things for veterans, they did so much for our country and should be rewarded all the time. There was even a black hawk helicopter that flew above our heads! We could all tell how much it meant to my boyfriend's grandpa and how much he enjoyed it. My city put together a good little tribute to the vets! :)

My night in Pomona

My best friend, Ryan, is in a fraternity at Cal Poly Pomona and the the other night he invited me and whoever I wanted to bring, to a party that his fraternity was hosting. The theme was Jamaican Me Crazy, so we all put on our Bob Marley shirts and left. The fraternity house is in Pomona off of a street called Gary.  My mom always told me what a bad area that is but I didn't care, I really wanted to go to this party.  I drove and we left at 10:15 on Friday night.  My mom was right, the area was gross and dirty looking but it didn't seem too bad.  We stood in line because they have to check IDs to make sure we were all 18.  When we finally got in, it was a lot of fun. There was loud music, dancing, friends I haven't seen in months and I was being introduced to all of Ryan's new friends!  It was a lot of fun!  But at around 12 midnight, the cops came and shut it down.  They said you had to be 21 to stay with a wristband from the fraternity.  Since we weren't 21, but had wristbands, we had to leave.  Now that it was almost 12:30 in the middle of this place my mom said was so bad, I was getting a little nervous to walk to my car a few streets away.  We walked out of the fraternity house to a bunch of angry people yelling about how they didn't want to leave.  We all quickly walked past them.  Then my phone rang and it was one of my older friends who stayed at the house, she called to warn me that one of our other friends just left and called her to tell her that there was a crazy lady with a gun in the area.  I didn't want to yell "lady a gun everybody go!"  So I just told my friends we need to hurry so we all started walking extremely fast always checking my surroundings.  We finally go to my car, got in and locked the doors. 

On our way home, we were all talking about how scary that was.  We said that has never happened to us in Rancho, luckily!  My one friend who has lived in the same house in Rancho for 18 years, said she has never felt as scared and worried in Rancho that she did in those couple hours in Pomona.  I came home and told my mom and she said "I told you so."  She also works in Pomona and was telling me about other things that happen here, shootings, kidnappings, drug busts and deals.  I was shocked, I always knew it was not considered a super nice area but I didn't know it was that bad!