The first few weeks of summer were quite boring, actually (it was transition camp time) but I guess you could say that was the calm before the storm. The first (and one of the best things) that happened this past summer was TGE. The Great Escape is a church trip that I went on with my church youth group in colorado, and it was my third (and last) time to go. That trip was AMAZING, especially when we went white water rafting in the Arkansas River (which is the coldest river in the United States, no lie) and got dunked in at the end (oh, yeah, did I mention it was like seventy degrees outside?). Anyway, the thing about Colorado is is that it's so extremely beautiful. It seems so unreal to see a snow capped peak in the distance, and know that it's perfection is real. (I'll try to eventually post a picture of it some time soon!)
Sadly, that trip had to end, and as soon as we got back from the Rocky Mountains, I was rushed to re-pack so that we could arrive in the Smokey Mountains in (literally) twenty-four hours. If you have ever been to both the Smokey Mountains and the Rocky Mountains, then you know what I'm saying when I tell you that they are extremely different from each other. The part of the Smokeys that we went to was in Boone, North Carolina, which is where my aunt and uncle live (and also where the Samaritan's Purse is located which is where my aunt and uncle work :] ). When you're in the Smokey Mountains, and you wake up in the morning on top of a Mountain, it's quite and eerie feeling to look out of the window and see the clouds below you. That trip was fabulous, and if you ever go to Boone, make sure you go to Grandfather Mountain (it has a swinging bridge fifty feet in the air).
So that was basically the end of all my traveling for the summer when we got home. Over the next few weeks, a lot happened, such as my uncle getting a job as a head coaching job of a college baseball team, them (he, my aunt and their three children) moving to Arkansas, and us (my mom and I) meeting up with my aunt and the three children to kidnap the eldest for two weeks. My cousin tends to act older then her age (in a good, responsible kind of way), and she had been doing so much for my aunt over the past months, so we invited her to an intensive dance camp at my studio so she could get back to what she loves to do. She is an absolutely amazing dancer, and I thought it was pretty cool that she made friends here in ATX that she still keeps in touch with. Sadly, it ended too soon and she was heading back to Arkansas and her new life.
A lot of sad things have happened this summer, but most of them have a happy ending, like my friend Aya moving to Israel. Her father is a professor at UT, and he's taking a sabbatical the 08-09 school year, so at the end of July, Aya and her family packed up after saying their goodbyes and took off to Israel. The good thing about a sabbatical is that it only lasts a year, so we'll get to see Aya next August. :] Saying goodbye to Aya was basically the cherry on top of summer. It was a sad but optimistic goodbye, with a sort of finality woven in.
Well, that was my summer basically summed up in a lot of lines. It kind of got mushed together and confusing near the end, but I was kind of dozing off (I would blame it on allergy medicine making me go loopy, but I didn't take any today. Oops. ). Well, I think there's another blog due next week, so I'll blog to you then (weird sentence). Until then....
2 comments:
Hey Olivia...it's Juliet...thanks for the attempt of spreading the word to everyone if I hadn't already got in touch with them about my blog address change...anyway, that's fine that you had a malfunction at your house because my computer isn't exactly consistent either. This week is the Austin City Limits thing downtown and I actually might go to it. I never really go any events. I'm not going to homecoming either...anyway, my first weeks of summer was quite boring as well so the feeling is pretty mutual. I was unable to go to the transition camp for Anderson, but I really did want to go because our guide sort of got us lost and she just made everything a lot more confusing, so the first day of school was pretty confusing for me. The signs and arrows and number labels really helped me a whole lot. The storm??? Hmm.....interesting...I wish I belonged to a certain group..it's kind of nice knowing that you belong somewhere...right now...I'm currently playing tennis and it really is nice to feel like you're accepted and that you fit in...my family and I use to go to colorado all the time. My uncle won a humongous trophy for his design for a white-water rafting race when he was young and I was like...nice!!! I love to go white-water rafting...I love the exhiliration...but I hate rollar coasters...We use to go to Colorado when it was snowing and it was soo much fun...your next attempt should be Mount Everest...just kidding...anyway, you seem to be like a really athletic person and a huge fan of the outdoors. That's great! I'm not exactly a couch potato myself. A swinging bridge sounds really scary. I hate bridges when they're really high because I remember when we were going to Roatan we had to cross this really unstable, shaky bridge and it was held by some ropes and the design was really poor and we had to walk across once person at a time so it wouldn't break and there were alligators and crocodiles before us and I started screaming! It was hilarious! That's really too bad that you dont' get to see Aya for a long time...but it's okay...good friends always reunite...I've never been to Boone, but it sounds extremely exciting and beautiful...I'll remember the name of that place the next time I travel.
Oh wow, looks like you had a fun summer.
What school is your uncle coaching at, thats a pretty amazing accomplishment. =)
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