Trip Part One

Greetings. So, Jess and I just (okay, like 4 days ago) got back from an amazing trip. We were gone for 11 days in Nashville, TN, and Greencastle, IN. I think I have blogged before about David Hall. He ran in 2008 for state senate. This year, he is running for US Congress. The Halls are an awesome, homeschooling family, and when Jessica had a break from college this spring, we decided to fly down. Our friends Peter and Stephen were able to come too, and we were able to get quite a bit done.

We left our house around 1630 Friday (the 14th) afternoon. Daddy drove Jess and me up to the airport and we found our gate just fine and hung out there taking pictures until our flight was boarding.

At which point, we took out our boarding passes and observed that we were seated in Row 22. So we walked to the rear of the airplane, only to find that the last row was 21. This presented a rather humorous problem. The head stewardess was trying to figure out what in the world to do with us, and we ended up just picking two other random seats. They were in the exit aisle so we had a lot of leg room. By the way, thunderstorms are WAY cooler from above. We flew by several, and it was so cool to see the lightning in the clouds below us.

Charlotte was our layover airport, and we had about 10 minutes from when we got off our airplane till when the next one started boarding. We hurried through the terminal and made it exactly on time. Then we flew to Nashville. And on that flight I had to sit in the middle seat and some random guy with a weird haircut sat next to me but he didn't talk or anything so it was okay.

We landed in Nashville around 2240 their time (central time) and went down to the baggage claim. We had to wait a little while because luggage was delayed, but it finally came and we drove to the Hall home with Zach and Mr. Hall, who had come to pick us up. It was about almost midnight their time when we got there, so it was almost one my time, and I was really tired.



We went in the back door which opens up into a laundry/computer room, and Allie and Annie came running out and hugged us and said hi. They're really nice girls. Then, just inside the door going from that room into the kitchen, Peter and Stephen were standing, and we greeted them. So we all met, and it was really neat to meet them all, because I felt as if I had known them since I've heard so much about them, but I had really only met Peter.

The next day (Saturday), we were supposed to leave at 0800, so I got up around 7, dressed, and ate. Dymon and Mrs. Hall appeared that morning, and we met them too, naturally. Then we were given David Hall for Congress t-shirts and went out door knocking. We split up into two groups: Jess, Allie, and I were one of them, and Dymon, Peter, and Stephen were the other group. We had sandwiches for lunch. In the afternoon, we were summoned home due to impending bad weather. We did some phone banking and then just stayed home for the evening, playing Monopoly, etc. (Below: random pictures of various people hanging out at home. You will note the large role laptops play in home life :) )



Sunday morning was, of course, church. The teens (that'd be the 4 oldest Hall kids, Jess, Peter, Stephen, and me) went to Sunday School, and then had the regular service. Then the teens went to CiCi'sPizza. (Take a guess at the menu...) It rained in the late afternoon, but before then, we went outside and took pictures...Jess and Annie posed, and we even got some pics of the guys. It took minimal coercion to get them to pose, and I use pose in the sense of "stand within a few meters of each other and face the general area the camera is."

Allie and Annie
Stephen, Dymon, and Peter
Annie and Jess
Sunday evening was cool, because Stephen had a region cadet advisory council teleconference meeting that he needed to call into, and I was allowed to listen to it. It was really interesting, even though I didn't know exactly what they were talking about. I got the basic gist.

Monday was a fun day. Allie, Dymon,Stephen, Annie, Jess, and I went as one group door knocking. Later in the afternoon, we all went together while attempting to locate the hard-to-find roads, such as Coles Ferry Pike. I will never forget Coles Ferry Pike. It didn't have a sign, but finally, between the brilliant geniuses in the car, we found it....that road goes down in door-knocking infamy! We did try to get directions from a small country store, and as an interesting side note, they didn't have a light in their bathroom. But at least they had a bathroom, right? (Actually, I think the guys merely tried to get a map. Asking for directions might've been a good idea because we were on that road right then...we just didn't know it!) Then, after we had located our houses, we went to Sonic for a shake/slushy/other drink, and then home.

Tuesday was more door-knocking. The Halls's friend, Reuben, came with us. He, Dymon, and I went in Mr. Hall's truck as one team; Allie, Stephen, and Jess were another; and the third team was Mrs. Hall, Peter, and Annie. We met up for lunch and then headed back.




Group shot left to right: Peter, Stephen, Reuben, Annie, Allie, Jess, me, Dymon

About mid-afternoon, in the farthest part of Wilson County, my team's truck broke down. It wouldn't shift. So, we had, as Dymon said, "the time of our lives" out waiting for Mr. Hall and his mechanic Billy to come. Never before have I seen two guys in their early twenties laying on their backs in the bed of a pick-up truck, eyes closed, expounding on what they could see in their minds eyes. Reuben saw a factory in a desert in Hong Kong. Dymon asked him what the factory made, and Reuben said, "Small plastic items."

Anyhow, Mr. Hall and Billy came, and Billy fixed the truck in about 30 seconds. Then, Reuben and I were merged to Allie's group, and Dymon and Zach headed off to a meeting that they had to go to. And we all met up at Sonic again.



Then we went home and talked and ate and stuff. The topic of parallel postulates came up, somehow. Peter was excitedly explaining that concept to Stephen and me, who were clueless. Then, suddenly, Stephen got it, and was excitedly trying to explain it to me. "It's simple!!" I was told. I got it his second time through...hey, it takes talent and brains not to be able to understand something until the 4th time through! Reuben was asked what he thought about the parallel postulate. He said that the parallel postulate is where it's at. If he could have anything in the world, it would totally be a parallel postulate. I feel that he will go far in life.

So Wednesday morning we said goodbye to Stephen and he left to go back home. Then those of us who who remained went out door knocking again, in two groups-- guys against girls. Allie didn't feel well, so we went home early and went to the Wednesday evening church service. And Jess, Annie, and I watched the movie Ever After.

Thursday was more door knocking, and we actually ran out of literature (and there was great rejoicing). So we went home and hung out. And then Friday morning, Jess and I left the Halls to drive to our friends the Chambons house. They live in Greencastle, Indiana, and we went for their oldest daughter's graduation party. But that's the story for the next blog post.

Update

So, Jessica and Erika left. (We still have leftover cake from our party, does anyone want some? And yes, of course we miss them!)

I have been designated official hacker/blogger while Erika is gone, so prepare yourself!

We (the LITTLE kids) had an adventure last night, and since you are all dying to hear about it, I'll be happy to tell you about it. It began when Someone bought a tent. Obviously, since the purpose of a tent is sleeping in it outdoors, we slept in it outdoors.

Wait, I should tell you that this tent is very big. That can be a good thing. Also, have you ever noticed that the bigger a thing is, the more noise it usually makes? (This doesn't apply to Josh and Katrina. I can inform you that Katrina is capable of being as loud or louder than Josh. Yes.)

So, it was windy last night, and we were shocked because it is never windy on the hill. (And yes, that was sarcastic. ) Then it began to Rain. Bucketfuls of water poured into the tent and pretty soon we were floating on three feet of water. Katrina was a little scared, but she learned how to swim fairly quickly. Finally, when the water got to four feet, I heroically ran out into the blinding rain and built a shelter over the tent. Unfortunately the bears were thirsty that night. They had managed to drain the creek dry, (they are big bears), so they decided to tear down the tent.

It was an interesting night. Lydia managed to strangle the bears, and Katrina and Josh were only slightly frightened. (I gave them pom-poms and they became Lydia's cheering team. By the way, do you know how difficult it is to cheer someone on in four feet of water?)

Hosanna and Joanna slept through the whole thing, naturally, and the sun was shining in the morning.

Actually, that was all a lie. Lydia and I decided that since we had nothing really blog worthy, we would stretch the truth only a little.

Okay, so you need to comment and let me know how much of this you believed.

-The Hacker

Spring

It's that Time Of Year where people are prone to turn to one another and exclaim in voices of happy surprise and amazement, "Spring has sprung!! " And my thoughts can be summed up as: "Well, it's not like it does this every year, is it...?" But maybe that's just me.

At any rate, the way you can tell that spring sprunged is by these simple steps:
1) Open your door and step outside.
2) Exhale.
3) See if your breath condenses into a cloud of ice that will then fall down on your toes and shatter.
4) HAHA! Of course it did!! It's May. It will continue to be cold until mid-June.

No, the real way to tell if it is spring is:
1) Google "what is the first day of spring?"
2) Check your calendar to find out if you are past that date.
Simple.

But as to how you can tell if spring has sprung, is in the process of sprunging or has already sprunged...I don't know. It may have something to do with returning birds, flowers appearing, rain instead of snow, etc.

But enough of that. The point is, the snow is gone (even though it snowed a tiny bit yesterday), and we are doing summer-type activities, by which I mean, not wearing coats (in the house, that is). We have been doing schoolwork or college, and I've been working at a local fruit farm, trimming raspberries, blackberries, and black raspberries.

AWANA is done for the year. We had our awards night and wrapped it up.

In other news, Jessica and I are planning a trip to Australia this Friday.

Well, not really. We're actually going to Tennessee to campaign for some friends of ours who are running for political offices out there. Then we'll be going to Indiana for a friend's graduation party before flying home on the 24th. Annetta may update this blog from home while I'm away.

I will close this post with some pictures I took a few days ago.