texas!!
okay. there is no way i am going to write about everything we did in texas. waaaaaay too much. thus, i shall write some of the highlights. it began with a 15 hour drive that began at 4:30 am saturday morning on the 6th of august. when we got to plano (which is just outside of dallas) the girls slept at the hesters' (heidi's parents' house) and the guys at the judy's (jason's parents' house) [those two are 2 of my youth leaders].
SUNDAY we left at 8:30am to head to waco, tx for church. 2 hour drive but it was SOOOOO worth it. we attended UBC (university baptist church) where heidi went when she was in college down there. dcb (the DAVID CROWDER BAND) does worship there, as it's their church. dcb is one of my all time favorite bands. i was at their concert on halloween 2003 when i accepted Christ. their music significantly affected my view on Christian music and such. that was sweet.after church we went to this coffee shop nearby called COMMON GROUND. it's really sweet because it was a house turned into a college-esqe coffee shop. sweetness all around. then we drove out to this plot of land the judy's own and camped there one night. the highlight of that was riding the ATVs (four wheelers).
MONDAY we had some quiet time, shot a gun, rode the ATVs some more, and got back to plano.
TUESDAY we spent the day out at the lake. they rented a 'party boat' or pontoon boat (or whatever) and we used the judy's speed boat. we rode big circle intertubes that were pulled from the speed boat. i went twice (though, i was wearing jeans and a t-shirt because i forgot by swim suit and swim shorts. *shrug*) THAT WAS TOTALLY SWEET. i also rode a jet ski or wave runner. julia learned to wakeboard (snowboarding on the water). at the end of the day some of us (me, erik, david ford, heidi, jason, julia, daniel hester, and charisse) got on the speed boat to watch heidi wakeboard. well, we were on the opposite side of this HUGE lake when we ran out of gas...we waited a while and heidi's dat came up on the jetski. we told him we were out of gas & that we had called the others so he went to get us the gas. we waited a long time...like and hour. it was fun, though, being stranded at sea...er...lake. we finally got back only to learn that all the others had left (save mr.judy and michelle, jason's sister, and mr.hester who followed us back on the jetski) and they had brought jason's bag with them which had the keys to the van in it. so, we were thus stranded at parking lot. lol. good times. jason, erik, daniel, and david played four square with a lame volley ball while julia, charisse, and i sat around. it was humorous to me. we finally got back, 3 hours late, to a home cooked meal by heidi's grand-dad. BRISKET!! (er, can't spell, sorry) and homemade ice cream. wah! it was SOOO good! like, i'm hungry thinking of it. we were supposed to have a 'seniors' night that night, but pushed it to thursday since we'd been held up.
WEDNESDAY was fun. first we played this trust game with blindfolds to lead a partner thorough the backyard and then the game where everyone puts a hand in and reaches across the circle to hold a person's hand and then we put our other hand in and hold someone else's hand and then we had to unknot ourselves into a circle. then we broke up in our 2 groups for the summer: franklin park team and chicago team. we recapped the summer and hashed out what we learned. then we went into downtown dallas and split into two teams to do a scavenger hunt of sorts when we had to do silly things or whatever. funny stuff. our team lost... then we got back and listened to a friend of the judy's, bob, give his testimony and tell us about a cult called the way he used to belong to before he realized its evilness and corruption.
(side note, i don't remember which night we first went over to it, but there was this crazy house that's been abandoned 18 years or so around the block from the hesters'. it was fun going over there one night...i think it was monday night, actually)
THURSDAY was erik's 18th birthday. we all got together at the hesters' and daniel talked to us about the day's devotional (the running spiritual lessons and theme, written up for us by brian blomer, was brokenness. good stuff to learn about there) and gave his testimony quickly. we finished watching 'pirates of the caribbean', which we began the other night, and then michelle talked to us about the horrible situation going on in yuganda, africa and showed us a film on it called 'invisible children'. very powerful stuff. then we had "thanksgiving dinner" and cake for birthdays (heidi's was yesterday and ethan's [heidi & jason's baby] earlier this month) then 'seniors' (dan ford, erik, and i) went out with the hesters' and judys' to starbucks and chatted about college and life and stuff. it was sweet. then we went back and erik, dan, and i chatted for a while out on the golf course behind the judys' house. after erik went back to play capture the flag, dan and i chatted for a while until we got tired and my allergies got crazy from the cat there. sweetness all around for the day.
FRIDAY was our last day to spend there so we all got together at the judys' for breakfast, then regrouped about the 'summer of love' activites between the franklin park and chicago teams. then we had some free time. some of us (me, charisse, erik, charity, paul, heidi, and daniel) went down to dallas again to visit the 'grassy knoll' and area where JFK was shot. then we went to west end which had a lot of souvenir shops and some really great fudge. daniel bought some peanut butter fudge that was really really good. then we went back, changed (girls into skirts, boys into nicer whatever) and went to dinner at this place called TRAILDUST. it's a 'western' restaurant with a live band playing country music and dancing. most of us got steak. yuuuum. then, those of us who lost on the scavenger hunt had to go out and initiate some dancing right before we left. it was hilarious. then we left for one last activity...we all went to a real RODEO and it was pretty sweet. after that charisse and i rode back with daniel in his car. it's this neat blue subaru XR? (something or other, can't remember). that was really fun cuz it goes way fast very quickly. yay for stick shift cars! and then we all repacked out stuff and slept for like 2 hours.
SATURDAY we all got up at 4:30 am and stuff. we were on the road by 6am and spent a long day driving back. Got back to the Deane's house around 8pm or so.
(another thing, charisse and i got to be good friends through this trip, which is pretty awesome. also, reese, erik, dan, and i all bonded really well...i'm glad for good friends!)
and thus concludes my recap of texas as short as i could make it.
---
today i went and bought the new nickel creek CD because daniel had gotten it on tuesday when it came out and it sounded good and, let me tell you, it is!!
all's well that end's well.
SUNDAY we left at 8:30am to head to waco, tx for church. 2 hour drive but it was SOOOOO worth it. we attended UBC (university baptist church) where heidi went when she was in college down there. dcb (the DAVID CROWDER BAND) does worship there, as it's their church. dcb is one of my all time favorite bands. i was at their concert on halloween 2003 when i accepted Christ. their music significantly affected my view on Christian music and such. that was sweet.after church we went to this coffee shop nearby called COMMON GROUND. it's really sweet because it was a house turned into a college-esqe coffee shop. sweetness all around. then we drove out to this plot of land the judy's own and camped there one night. the highlight of that was riding the ATVs (four wheelers).
MONDAY we had some quiet time, shot a gun, rode the ATVs some more, and got back to plano.
TUESDAY we spent the day out at the lake. they rented a 'party boat' or pontoon boat (or whatever) and we used the judy's speed boat. we rode big circle intertubes that were pulled from the speed boat. i went twice (though, i was wearing jeans and a t-shirt because i forgot by swim suit and swim shorts. *shrug*) THAT WAS TOTALLY SWEET. i also rode a jet ski or wave runner. julia learned to wakeboard (snowboarding on the water). at the end of the day some of us (me, erik, david ford, heidi, jason, julia, daniel hester, and charisse) got on the speed boat to watch heidi wakeboard. well, we were on the opposite side of this HUGE lake when we ran out of gas...we waited a while and heidi's dat came up on the jetski. we told him we were out of gas & that we had called the others so he went to get us the gas. we waited a long time...like and hour. it was fun, though, being stranded at sea...er...lake. we finally got back only to learn that all the others had left (save mr.judy and michelle, jason's sister, and mr.hester who followed us back on the jetski) and they had brought jason's bag with them which had the keys to the van in it. so, we were thus stranded at parking lot. lol. good times. jason, erik, daniel, and david played four square with a lame volley ball while julia, charisse, and i sat around. it was humorous to me. we finally got back, 3 hours late, to a home cooked meal by heidi's grand-dad. BRISKET!! (er, can't spell, sorry) and homemade ice cream. wah! it was SOOO good! like, i'm hungry thinking of it. we were supposed to have a 'seniors' night that night, but pushed it to thursday since we'd been held up.
WEDNESDAY was fun. first we played this trust game with blindfolds to lead a partner thorough the backyard and then the game where everyone puts a hand in and reaches across the circle to hold a person's hand and then we put our other hand in and hold someone else's hand and then we had to unknot ourselves into a circle. then we broke up in our 2 groups for the summer: franklin park team and chicago team. we recapped the summer and hashed out what we learned. then we went into downtown dallas and split into two teams to do a scavenger hunt of sorts when we had to do silly things or whatever. funny stuff. our team lost... then we got back and listened to a friend of the judy's, bob, give his testimony and tell us about a cult called the way he used to belong to before he realized its evilness and corruption.
(side note, i don't remember which night we first went over to it, but there was this crazy house that's been abandoned 18 years or so around the block from the hesters'. it was fun going over there one night...i think it was monday night, actually)
THURSDAY was erik's 18th birthday. we all got together at the hesters' and daniel talked to us about the day's devotional (the running spiritual lessons and theme, written up for us by brian blomer, was brokenness. good stuff to learn about there) and gave his testimony quickly. we finished watching 'pirates of the caribbean', which we began the other night, and then michelle talked to us about the horrible situation going on in yuganda, africa and showed us a film on it called 'invisible children'. very powerful stuff. then we had "thanksgiving dinner" and cake for birthdays (heidi's was yesterday and ethan's [heidi & jason's baby] earlier this month) then 'seniors' (dan ford, erik, and i) went out with the hesters' and judys' to starbucks and chatted about college and life and stuff. it was sweet. then we went back and erik, dan, and i chatted for a while out on the golf course behind the judys' house. after erik went back to play capture the flag, dan and i chatted for a while until we got tired and my allergies got crazy from the cat there. sweetness all around for the day.
FRIDAY was our last day to spend there so we all got together at the judys' for breakfast, then regrouped about the 'summer of love' activites between the franklin park and chicago teams. then we had some free time. some of us (me, charisse, erik, charity, paul, heidi, and daniel) went down to dallas again to visit the 'grassy knoll' and area where JFK was shot. then we went to west end which had a lot of souvenir shops and some really great fudge. daniel bought some peanut butter fudge that was really really good. then we went back, changed (girls into skirts, boys into nicer whatever) and went to dinner at this place called TRAILDUST. it's a 'western' restaurant with a live band playing country music and dancing. most of us got steak. yuuuum. then, those of us who lost on the scavenger hunt had to go out and initiate some dancing right before we left. it was hilarious. then we left for one last activity...we all went to a real RODEO and it was pretty sweet. after that charisse and i rode back with daniel in his car. it's this neat blue subaru XR? (something or other, can't remember). that was really fun cuz it goes way fast very quickly. yay for stick shift cars! and then we all repacked out stuff and slept for like 2 hours.
SATURDAY we all got up at 4:30 am and stuff. we were on the road by 6am and spent a long day driving back. Got back to the Deane's house around 8pm or so.
(another thing, charisse and i got to be good friends through this trip, which is pretty awesome. also, reese, erik, dan, and i all bonded really well...i'm glad for good friends!)
and thus concludes my recap of texas as short as i could make it.
---
today i went and bought the new nickel creek CD because daniel had gotten it on tuesday when it came out and it sounded good and, let me tell you, it is!!
all's well that end's well.