Summer is officially in full swing! Whoo-hoo! I absolutely love summer. I mean, what's not to love? Swimming, going of the rope swing, bon fires, no school, sunshine, longer days (which means more daylight, which means more time to play outside with friends). There's just one thing I don't love about summer.
It's goes by way too fast.
But that is why I'm determined to make everyday count. I'm gonna make the most of every precious, school-less day. That's actually kinda what Mr. Stuenzi talked about in church this week. How life is so short. We are all just a mist. Here for a short while then gone. He had us all look to the person next to us and say, "Hello Mist." He also said two things today that I really liked. One was, " We live wisely by remembering we live briefly." And the other was, "Procrastination is assassination of the future God has for you." This one hit home for me because sadly, I can be quite a procrastinator. Mr. Stuenzi always seems to know just what to say, and how to say it. All the pastors do. Mr. Fitch, Kevin, Errol, and Paul. I don't think I've ever left church thinking, "Well, that was boring." Or, "I can't apply that to my life."
This summer also marks 25 years of Mr. Stuenzi being at ParkerHill. So in honor of that, some of the guys at church made a hilarious video. It was so funny! And it was a surprise, so he didn't even know it was coming. In the video, Paul would ask Mr. Stuenzi a question and they used clips of his sermons from the past years as Mr. Stuenzi's answers. But they made the answers really funny. Ah, I just love my church. It's just- oh I don't even want to start, or else I won't be able to stop.
Okay, back to summer. I just don't even know where to start. So much has been going on! I guess I'll just try to give an update on the Haas happenings, and see where things go from there.
A few days after Mom and Dad got home from Europe, we left for a 10 day vacay to North Carolina. Lake James to be specific. It's about 45 minutes from Asheville. It's the same place we spent out seven month respite/sabbatical last year. We rented a house on the lake. We all had a great time. The girls were in riding camp for the week. Camp Lake James also has kids day camp during the summer, so Nate went there in the afternoons. We also just had a great time relaxing, boating, tubing, and playing with friends. If you ask me, I'd say we have four or five families from the church that we are friends with, but two that have kids our ages. The Waters' have kids 16, 15, 13, and 8. And the Culbertson's have kids 12, 10, 9, 7, 5, and 3. ( I think, but don't quote me) Anyway we had them over a few times and had a blast. We invented a new sport that we called 'tube wrestling'. Since the pontoon boat doesn't go as fast as the wave runners (and we didn't have them with us) tubing was fun, but you weren't holding on for dear life like you did when the wave runners pulled you. So to make things a little more interesting, we would push, shove, and wrestle until someone or everyone fell off. It was a lot of fun. At one point, all the girls wanted to go, so it was me, Savannah, Abby, Kaylee, Katie, and Mariah all tubing at once. It's a big tube, but we were still squashed. We started out as a pyramid with Mariah, Savannah and me on the bottom, Abby and Kaylee in the middle and Kate on the top. But one corner into the ride and we were just a mound of bodies grabbing on to anything and everything, trying not to fall off.
We got home from NC on July first. We didn't have any plans for the 4th at the time, but ended up being able to throw together picnic at the lake with several families from the community.
The following Saturday, the Parsons had get to together at their house for fireworks. That was great because we didn't have any at our picnic. We also had a pretty fun game of soccer (highlight of my night), and played until we almost couldn't see. Then we sat on the dock and watched fireworks. It was quite an impressive show. People even stopped on the bridge to watch. Afterwards the Shank's released floating lantern's from their dock across the lake, which was pretty cool. They were just like the ones in Tangled. Only there were thousands more in the movie. After that, they started a bon fire. And there were so many s'more supplies! You could just keep going back and back and back, until you were all s'mored out. But is that even possible?
The fire was so big and hot that you could barely stand and roast your marshmallow. And you had to turn you face away every few seconds. So, being the genius kids we are, decided to lay on the ground and hold our sticks over the fire. And it worked surprisingly well.
This weekend is the Haas side family reunion. Uncle Tom and Uncle John are already here. And guess what?! Uncle Tom brought this ATV like machine. It's called a commander, I think. I has two seats and a back with a tailgate, not unlike the mule. But it's ten times more awesome!!! And the best part? He lets us drive it! This weekend (tomorrow) is also the Bear Creek Triathlon. Which most of my family will be participating in. I'm just volunteering this year. Kinda lame, I know. Maybe I'll do it next year. Or at least be on a team. But either way, I'm super excited about it. Mariah has been downing carbs, and asked mom if she can take a 5-hour energy drink. That request was denied.
Next weekend is the Oechsle side family reunion. Mom really does have the weirdest maiden name. And that weekend is the Bear Creek Picnic. Which is always so much fun. And like every year, I can't wait for it.
On Sunday, Mariah and I leave for Worldview Academy. I went in 2011, but didn't go last summer. So I'm super pumped. It's a pretty awesome camp that I think should be mandatory for every American high schooler. Jess and Julia will be coming, too.
School starts August 12 for me. Ugh-_- I'm utterly disgusted, and living in denial that it is less then four weeks away. But I've decided not to dwell on that and just to enjoy every moment of summer, the best I can.
So I think I've covered most of the summer's happenings. No, actually I haven't. But my summer's are just so jam-packed-full of awesomeness, how can I fit it all in one blog entry? Well, I can't. And I'm not gonna try. Because if I did, then I probably would get carpal tunnel, and that wouldn't be good now would it?
This is what I meant when I said we had to lay on the ground to roast our marshmallows.
What happens when my friends get my phone? I end up with tons of pictures like this.
Stopped by Sweet Frog for some frozen yogurt after an afternoon of picking up trash, as a youth group volunteer project. |
| tubing! |
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| all six of us! |
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