We're back!

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weridness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."

In other words, I'm back from father/daughter camp! and I'm going to tell you exquisetely everything about it!

Friday was pretty good. The weather was gorgeous! and we got to go walk around Chamber's Bay golf course that is almost open after working at dad's office for a little while. Unfortunately, traffic was terrible and we were a little late to camp. However, we didn't miss dinner like we thought we would, which was a very nice thing. The food there is always great!
Friday night is open swim from nine to ten, and both pools (there are two smallish ones, one shallow and one deep) were heated more than usual, which was a really nice surprise. we always get a whirlpool going and this year was by far the best ever, mostly because it was organized by Ed and the lifeguard who were shouting at us through the megaphone, when to reverse directions and stuff. It was AMAZING!!!
Friday night was got back to the lodge, Dad braided my hair, and then we stayed up playing 4-square for about three hours or so. talked with another dad and daughter for about half and hour before heading to bed - the last ones up as usual.

A few side-notes before I get to Saturday: There is this really fabulificent tire swing at camp, and there used to be a bunch of logs stacked up against the tree it was tied to, so you could climb to the top and jump of instead of having someone push you. Dad and I have always been trying to figure out just how high we could (semi-safely) make it go. This year, they had to take the logs away because they were rotting on the inside, and hornets were nesting in them (a bad combination with camp). So Dad and I were kinda bummed at first of course, but then we figured out a way to half-way climb this tree up to a little natural ledge. see, there's a rift in the middle of the tree where it's kinda rotted out, and there's these little natural footholds put there just for us to climb up! So we could actually get higher than before (before the logs were in the way of the swing path)! it was pretty neat.
Also, Danielle is a friend who we met my first year there, and since she is five years older than me she thought I was the cutest thing in the world as a six-year-old, and we saw her several years after that. She moved to Arizona three or four years ago, and the we went to camp in September and she went in June, but the last couple of years we've gone in June, so we've gotten to see her again! And now that I'm a little older, we're a little closer too, not just like babysitter and cute little girl...so it was awesome to see her again this year!

Saturday's forecast: showers with a chance of rain, and rain with a chance of showers. It was also a little drizzley at times, and at other times just overcast. Not too bad for all the things there are to do at Father/Daughter camp! dad and I did the high ropes course for the first time this year, which was absolutely amazing and totally freaked me out too!!! i loved it - can't wait to do it again next year! we were supposed to go horseback riding, but the ropes course went longer than expected and me missed our trail ride, however, they refunded our money and we went shopping at the camp store instead! got a cool shirt that says Warm Beach Christian Camp on it, and also an awesome cross made out of horseshoe spikes. during the day we played 4-square, went on the tire swing, and did a million other tiny things that i can't write all of here (including archery and walks).
we didn't go canoeing because it was raining really hard at the scheduled time best for tides, and we didn't want to go and just be miserable...so i guess next year (we're going in September next year - the weather is always nice in September!) later that night Danielle put french braids in my hair and we sang a bunch of worship songs with some of the smaller girls. Then, after everyone except Danielle, Destiny and Chris (the other pair in our cabin), and me and my dad had gone off to bed, we sat up playing never-ending rounds of Uno until about one in the morning!!! the first round went about half an hour, then the second round I went out first, and the game kept going and going and going and going and going and going and going and going..........................................until finally i just grabbed seven cards and dealt myself back in and we played for about another half hour!

oh yes. did I mention there was lots of sugar involved? and Danielle just kept singing about four lines of the same stupid song over and over......mmm dum dum...mmm dum dum....mmm dum dum....mmm dum dum.....then you have to trill you rrrr's for a very long time. awesome song. we all started cracking up anytime she would start singing it!

like I said. lots of sugar.

Rod was not at camp *sadtear* ;( boooooohooooooo. he couldn't get away from his church in wherever-it-was up north, BUT, the new horse head wrangler dude did horse chapel!!!!!! so that was still really awesome. chapel Sunday morning was about accountability. for example:

Skip (the wrangler) used Mirage (the horse) for the lesson. Mirage is a great riding horse for the trail rides, but he has a healthy appetite and knows when an inexperienced rider is on him, ha-ha. So Skip was saying, if he doesn't get on Mirage every now and then and ride him (sometimes having to use spurs), Mirage will become a real pain and 1) won't be a good trail horse anymore 2) won't be useful for the camp anymore. SO, dads need to be accountable to someone who knows them well, otherwise, they will start falling apart because they'll be keeping these things in them and not dealing with them, and also they won't be useful in God's plan for their lives. ALSO, daughters need to be accountable to their dads for the same reasons.

of course Skip said it better than me, but that's the basic idea of horse chapel. I'll ask dad if he can remember any really good ones from previous years i should share with you guys.

Sunday was also great, of course, but sad because we had to leave. We started with that chapel just described right after the traditional pancake breakfast. there's a special part of chapel every year on Sunday, but I can't tell it to you because some of you girls might go in the future and I don't want to ruin it for you!!! after chapel, the rocket launches took place. every year, dads and daughters can buy and assemble a rocket if they want to, to be launched on Sunday. Dad and I never have, as it's rather time-consuming, but we usually watch the launches if we can, and sometimes rescue a rocket or two from trees, fields, etc. I think only one or two were lost this year, which is actually pretty good considering the weather (cloudy and windy)! After that, Dad and I went down the ziplines strung up across a ravine (which was, of course, thrilling and terrifying to one afraid of heights and fast things, but yes, I'd do it again in a heartbeat!), then camp cleanup (which is basically just packing bags and cleaning up the archery and BB gun areas, very quick process), and then lunch. After lunch, our exit strategy is always a milkshake at Willow and Jim's Country Cafe about ten minutes away, where everyone goes on their way out. The milkshakes are HUGE!!!!!!! you get like the whole glass, and then practically another milkshake in the metal container thingy, for like four and a half bucks, and it's the most delicious milkshake ever......

oh yes, and KJ was there Sunday!!! KJ is Ed's daughter, well, one of Ed's daughters...ok so her name is Kirsten but she's called KJ too. And she's all grown up now and lives in Bellingham.....*sad* but she came on Sunday!!!!!!

then we had to leave. but of course I exchanged e-mail and phone #'s w/ everyone, and promises of "see you next year!", etc. etc. ah....I miss it for another whole year......but you girls have got to come next year!!!!!!




so that's father/daughter camp. what else? oh yes, the house. well ours is on the market, and one person came to look at it Monday, and two people have driven by while we were here and taken flyers, but no takers yet! the house we love so much is still on the market as of today....we are all praying for God's will, but wish we knew what it was! anyway, each day is just a few more boxes packed in anticipation, and trying to keep everything clean. Please pray that something happens soon (or of course if God's giving us a lesson in patience, that whatever He wants we'll be quick to obey)!



You asked for it!!! (well, no you didn't but you got it anyway!)

Verya's cool list

eating ice cream with a fork - 100 points

needing ice water with you ice cream if it has chocolate - 23 points

You kick your computer and the problem goes away - 85 points

Liking LotR and/or PotC - 20,000 points and you're amazing!!!

Dickens is one of your favorite authors - never enough cool points for this

liking linguistics - 50 points

saying embarrassing things and then not realizing you said it until later - i identify with you and we can be oblivious together so 21 points

playing classical music, listening to almost anything/everything else - 48.3 points

English spelling comes more naturally than American (ex. colour instead of color) - about 200 points - you rock!

you think "Dickens' coat" is obviously better than "Dickens's coat" - 432 points

liking cats - 30 points (add 20 if you own at least one)

reading the appendices of LotR - 75 points

knowing when a hobbit's coming of age is - 100 points

your top ten favorite movie list might include: LotR, PotC, Little Women, While You Were Sleeping, Muppet Treasure Island, National Treasure, Sahara, Pride and Prejudice mini-series, something not in English (w/ subtitles or w/out), Newsies - 86 points each

you like to act - 28 points (add an additional 28 if you are horrible but still try!)

play an instrument - 299

would rather watch a movie than read a book - mega negative points, -500 for starters

baseball is your favorite sport to watch- 31899 (double if golf is your favorite sport to play)

quoting random movie lines, even when your listeners don't have a clue what you're talking about - 198 points (add additional 100 if someone catches on, +100 if they quote back, +100 if you quote when no one's aroung, 200 points if you quote from books)

liking blondes - 49 points

knowing who Ioan Gruffudd is - 500 points

always rooting for the home team - 1000 points

getting lost - 150 points (double if you don't care, triple if you don't care, have fun and/or get lost with a friend, quadruple if you don't care, have fun and/or get lost with a friend, and/or get lost in a larger-than-you're-used-to library)

talking to yourself - 23 points per conversation in a week (double if someone replies)

being a chocoholic and/or a saltoholic - 25 points each, 100 if both


honorable mention: liking to cook, having a round bed, knowing the difference between Quenya and Sindarin (or speaking any form of Elvish), knowing how to spell eunuch (and understanding distantcousinofmyauntsnephewtwiceremovedlovelysingingvoicethougheunuch), eunuch reminds you immediately of PotC, grasping the grammatical ideas of the cannibal language, watching Disney movies




guess that's about it! can't wait to hear from you guys!!!