Summertime is a Funnertime

Yes, yes, I know "funner" isn't a word, but for the sake of how superbly it rhymes with "Summertime", let's put aside our grammatical tendencies and let it be...

See? Don't you feel loads better? haha ;{D

So, the last time I posted, I told y'all I was going to Word of Life Family Campground to help get it ready for campers...I did go up, just not the day I planned. I got a sinus infection that started with a runny nose and post nasal drip on Saturday night, the night before I was supposed to leave, and on Sunday, it was like my nose exploded and mucus just imbedded itself in my nose and sinuses. On Monday, there was no improvement, so I decided that if I wasn't any better on Tuesday then I'd go to the doctor...well, you can probably guess what happened. Yep, I had to go visit the good ol' Doc and I got antibiotics to help clear out the sinuses. Wednesday I felt heaps better and thought it was about time to head up to the Adirondacks :)

I always snap some pictures of Andrew's Pond. This place is so photogenic during a sunset. I've lost count of how many sunsets I've seen at Andrew's Pond, but everyone has been beautiful. It's a great place to go and think, pray, or do your Quiet Time :)

The first week of camp is already over, and they're starting week 2 today! Please just keep everybody from all the WOL camps (Campground, Ranch, Inn, & Island) in your prayers as they serve the campers and that they may create environments that brings people closer to the Lord and to each other. 

Interested in camping at the Campground? 

Watch this promo video first, then >>>CLICK HERE<<<

Before going up to camp, I got to see some of my friends graduate from the same high school I graduated from. Sad thing, is that next year, Oakwood is only going to be an elementary school, because they're not getting enough high-schoolers to enroll. The economy has definitely taken a toll on Oakwood, but I'm trying to be optimistic and praying that the kids in elementary will stay at Oakwood once they finish 6th grade, so there'll be a High School again. 

Anyway, it was cool seeing my friends graduate and headed off to different colleges and pursuits :)

(l to r) Angela, Cody, Alec(aka Mico), Brian, Amaal

It's been a long time comin', but you did it, guys! Congrats!

Me and Amaal. :D She's such a sweetie! (I don't know why my hair looks like two different colors, but it looks pretty sweet! haha)

Me and Brian :{D 

Man, I've known this kid for ages! His older brother, Mark graduated with me, and his family goes to the same church as mine. It's still so crazy to think this guy has graduated high school! I remember when he was in kindergarten, and now he can drive a car and vote, and grow a beard! Time flies!

Brian and my little brother, Dave

These two have been friends for a long time! I had to get a picture of them, but way to not look at the camera, Brian! haha

A few days ago, my family celebrated Nick's, my brother-in-law, birthday! And Dave and I were actually able to be there! We've missed a bunch of his birthdays since we were always up at camp for the summer. One present he got that I wish I could've gotten were tickets to see Brad Paisley, The Band Perry, and Scotty McCreery! That was last night and I've heard it was awesome by many of my friends that went. I just waited too long to buy a ticket. 

But I've heard that when The Zac Brown Band was playing up here, their concert sold out, and I'm pretty sure that the Brad Paisley concert almost or did sell out too, so hopefully that'll compel other country bands to wander up to the great Northeast and serenade us. Countryfest in Albany is coming up next week! I might go if my sister and Nick go. 

Elise wanted to help Nick open presents. Don'tcha love that flower hairclip?!

The big 2-8. what an old man ;) haha...Laura made the cake! It was yummy!

And Elise also wanted to help blow out the candles.

Tree climbing time!

I told Nick to swing like a monkey haha

Dave's dismount. It looks like he's kickin' Nick in the stomach!

Yesterday, Dave and I went to see BRAVE. My...goodness! I love this movie! And since I have a lot of Scottish in me, it made me enjoy it more! I wish my Scottish roots would come out in my accent, because I'm am in love with their accent, especially Merida's! And her red, curly, bushy, hair is amazing! It's also another movie with a female archer (and Merida is wicked skilled! ***spoiler alert*** They show this one scene of her on her horse shooting at all these targets hanging from trees! I think she'd give Katniss a run for her money! haha), and now I just really wanna buy a bow and arrows and start shooting at targets :) This movie is great for the whole family, and has a very good moral in it...but I won't say because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it ;)

There...I think I caught y'all up on the happenings :)

Have an enjoyable last day of June! And get ready for July, the heart of summer!

ERW

PS- OH! I almost forgot! almost...MIKE WILL BE COMING HOME ON JULY13TH!!!!! Thank you to all who were praying for him, and please keep it up! He's still got 2-ish weeks to go and the flight back!

Categories: camping, creation, edited pictures, family, Mike, movies, photography, sickness, summer, update, Word of Life

How I Know It's Officially Summer

How do I know it's officially summer?

Easy...because camp is starting up at Word of Life!

All of the staff arrived yesterday, and I'm getting up there tomorrow afternoon :)

This year flew by! I feel like camp just ended! I'm so excited to get up there and see all my friends and meet some new ones.

I have a feeling it's going to be an epic summer! I say that every summer, but this summer feels different, like a good different, because I think there will be many newcomers, both staff and camper, and the campground has also gotten a facelift in some areas (i.e. the dining hall extension and the "Sandlot" style backfence at Papa Joe's softball field).



It's lookin pretty awesome!

I will be up there all next week helping out and training the newbies in the kitchen with the wonderful Blucher Chacon and Mike Parker! So that means this will be my last post for a while...

The funny thing is that technically I'm on "vacation" but that'll involve me getting up early every day and working all day! So it's really just another work week...and it's supposed to be HOT next week! But we'll all have a blast! At least I'll be somewhere other than home...it's gonna be so nice having a change of scenery!

So all you Dads out there, have a happy Father's day! Kick back and relax...especially my Dad! He does so much for our family. We're having a cookout at my sister's tomorrow. Ya gotta love summer cookouts! Watermelons gonna be there, so you can bet I will be too ;) (don't worry, I'm not *just* showing up for the watermelon ;) 

Oh, if y'all think of it, just keep me in your prayers tomorrow as I head up to WOL. For safe travels and that my car will make it up there okay. I think it will, but hey, you never know...

Happy weekend, y'all!

Here's to summertime...

ERW

Categories: Dad, Father's Day, summer, Word of Life

Look Who It Is!

Look who it is!



Recognize that redhead on the right in the back row?

Hey, Mike!

He posted this on facebook. Haven't really talked to him in a while, but maybe this weekend we will.

Not too much going on this weekend, which I'm kinda glad for because I feel like I've been doing stuff nonstop every day this week! So it'll be nice to relax tonight, and tomorrow will consist of church and then going to a movie with my other brother Dave. We were gonna go see The Avengers, but I'm so torn because I want to see Prometheus too...decisions, decisions :]

Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals is today, so fingers crossed for the Devils!

What are you guys up to this weekend? What movie are you definitely going to see this summer?

Don't be shy to comment because even if you don't have a blog on blogger, there are a couple of ways to post a comment!

Until next time...

ERW

Categories: family, Hockey, Mike, movies, weekend

Just Random Things....

Hey guys and gals!

Hang in there, Thursday almost over, and tomorrow is Friday! Hope all y'all have fun things to do this weekend, and where I live, it's supposed (key word being "supposed") to be nice warm weather with lots of sunshine which we haven't gotten a lot of this past week with all the rain...but still, if you or your family has a garden, that rain is precious! So, I haven't minded too much that its been rainy. In fact, I like the rain...so there.

Well, my New York Rangers never made it to the Stanley Cup Finals thanks to the New Jersey Devils, but funny enough, I'm rooting for the Devils since I go see their farm team play and some of the guys on NJ have played in Albany, like Stephen Gionta (who I got a picture with last fall! he's a nice guy and has the cutest family)

'Course, this is him pre-playoff beard! haha...oh, and he's not kneeling or anything! That's how tall he is! My height 5'8"! Woop woop! Represent! Anyway, The Devils won last night so now the series is 3-1, LA leading. Devs gotta win every game now...we'll see what happens!

Have you seen this movie yet?



Snow White and the Huntsman

If you haven't, what are you waiting for?! I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish! It's got Chris Hemsworth in it, so what's not to like? I know, I know, you're probably thinking, "Kristen Stewart", but seriously, she's not half bad in this movie! Charlize Theron was perfect as Ravena, and I just about died when I heard Chris Hemsworth's accent he uses for his role! I think this is a great date movie! Plenty of things to keep both girls and guys happy :)

And just to keep the Chris Hemsworth theme going...I might be going to see The Avengers this Sunday! Still haven't seen it, and I figured I'd better go asap before it leaves theaters! So excited to see it though! I've heard great things about that movie :D

As for school, I'm drowning in flash cards right now! Medical Terminology is trying to kick my butt, but I'm fightin' back as best I can! With multi-colored index cards to boot :{D

In a few weeks, I'll finally be up at Word of Life Family Campground! My second home during the summertime :) So psyched to get up there because they're building a new dining hall! And since I'm a kitchen volunteer, this is extra exciting for me! The campground has come a long way since I first started working there at 13. It looks like the FCG has a great future ahead! Sadly, I know that this might be my last summer helping out because hopefully, I'll find an animal clinic or kennel to work at, but I'm okay with it because there does come a point when you have to move on from things. I'll always love the FCG and will visit (maybe even camp there for a week) but I probably won't get to actually get in there and help out with stuff like I do now...

but, as I'm depressing myself with that talk, I've snapped out of it and am thrilled that I get to help out this summer! Not gonna take any time up there for granted. 

Here's some pictures of the construction...

 

^I spy Ralph Deshetsky! Love that guy! What a servant!

Word of Life won when they hired him to head up Maintenance :)

AAaahhh! Can't wait to see the finished work in a week and half!

And lastly, here's some pictures of the garden! Stuff is starting to GROW! :)

Have a great weekend!

ERW

Categories: camping, garden, Hockey, movies, photography, summer, Word of Life

Catching Up...

Well, my first post of June! I haven't posted anything since Memorial Day!

I did notice though that a couple days ago that I got 47 views on my blog! Thank you all so much who check out and read my blog and see what's going on in my life! Sometimes I feel like the stuff I write about could be boring to others or people could care less, but you've all proven me wrong! And actually, even one person viewed my blog, I'd be happy. I'm really doing this blog for myself. Like an online journal, and you're all fortunate enough that I let you know about and can read it! haha :p

About a week ago I bought a crowntail betta fish, but I told you he didn't have a name.

Now he does!

*trumpet fanfare*

Ladies and gents, I give you.....

TRITAN!!!

(And it was actually the birthday girl, Bethany, who's name I picked from the suggestions!)

Sometimes I call him King Tritan because he was on the Little Mermaid table at the party. He's a good little fishie :] but I swear to you that he knows when I'm gonna feed him because he's always freaking out and swimming in circles when I walk up to his bowl. Oh, and a couple days ago, I was sitting on my bed, and I started waving at him, and he would freak out then too and swim all around and go just plain loco! But when I stopped waving, he'd stop and be still too until I started waving again, then he'd go all nuts-o! I must have a trick fish on my hands! :] I'll let you know when I've trained him to jump out of the water and perform back flips...haha :p

The Disney party for Bethany and Michael's 27th birthday was a success! We had a small crowd show up, but we still had a blast!

^Here's me (in my Alice outfit and mask) and Bethany (in her chalk drawing Mary Poppins outfit and her mask).

^Bethany and Michael, the birthday girl and boy as Mary Poppins and Bert.

It was absolutely perfect that Teresa (middle) showed up as Mad Hatter since I was Alice and Amanda (right) was the Queen of Hearts! Teresa actually won the best costume prize!

^Kiersten (my "Mom"...long story) as Rapunzel and her fiancee', Travis as Flynn, and he's holding Pascal!

My mask, made by the lovely and talented, Amanda (Queen of Hearts)! We keep telling her to make stuff and sell it online! She's so crafty (the good kind *wink*)

^The Peter Pan Table

^The Alice in Wonderland table (That Alice statue is actually a cookie jar! It's my Mom's!)

^Little Mermaid table (Tritan in the center of everything!)

^Beauty & the Beast table (The mask sitting against the candleholders I won in a game! Amanda made masks for the themed tables as well!)

^Mary Poppins table (I almost took this mask. It's hard to see but Amanda glued a "broomstick" to the side!) That's Bethany and Michael's bird, Zeke, in the cage.

^Snow White table

^That statement couldn't be more true!

We also had a photobooth set up, and Disney music playing, food to eat, games to play, and I also had each person record a video birthday message that I'm gonna make into a movie as a present for Bethany and Michael! It was such a fun afternoon, and when we got everything cleaned up after the party, we stayed a while longer and played Apples to Apples. One of my favs! Man, was I wiped out after that day, though! Luckily, I had Monday off because of Memorial Day, so I got to sleep in. My first time sleeping in in a loooong time. Felt amazing!

We finally have our garden in! Here at home^ and we also planted stuff at church. My church tills up tons of land (because we fortunately have a lot of it) for members to have a community garden. Every year it seems more and more people sign up for it! It makes sense, what with the economy...we save a lot of money on veggies and fruit since we plant our own. We can our tomatoes and pickle green beans and Mom even made homemade pickles last year :p sooo yummy! This year we're growing: tomatoes, green, yellow, red, and orange peppers, strawberries, corn, squash, carrots, pumpkins, green beans, snap peas, lettuce, eggplant, broccoli, honey dew, watermelon and raddishes. whew! lots of weeding, watering, and picking in my future! But this is one of the reasons I love summer :] fresh, homegrown goodness!

And now I shall end with this cool picture I took today on the way to cousin's diaper shower (like a baby shower, but instead you get her lots of diapers since she already has stuff from her previous baby shower). My Dad's car has a sunroof, and I happened to look up and see this awesomeness! Dark, gray rain clouds on the left and a clear, aqua-blue sky on the right, and the sun trying to peek through in between them!

It serves a great reminder that no matter how much darkness you travel through, you will eventually make it to those clear blue skies with the sun waiting to warm your soul. It also reminds me that you can never truly hide the sun (Son) :{D

Have a great week, y'all!

ERW



Categories: birthday, Disney, garden, outdoors, party, pets, photography, summer