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.

The Bivouac!

Okay folks...grab a cup of hot cocoa or something and get comfy. This is going to be massive. Quick Note: I'm referring to all cadets by their first names, simply to keep last names of my blog.

Let's start out by defining some terms.
Bivouac: Pronounced "biv-wack" or, "camping," this is where you go out in the woods and live in tent (pronounced "mud puddle") for a couple days.
MRE: This stands for Meal Ready to Eat. You'll find it in the military surplus store with the rest of the cat food.
24-Hour Pack: This holds all the stuff you would need if you were on a ground team mission for 24 hours, and I use "you" in the sense of "Daniel Boone."
Hike: This is what we call it when we go into the woods and walk, either on the trail, off the trail, in the mud, or...in the mud. Pretty much.
CQ: Charge of Quarters. They walk around and keep everyone awake at night, so that we will be alert if any intruders should intrude.

It began Friday afternoon, when 8 cadets and two senior members met up at our squadron's headquarters to ride up to the bivouac. We loaded the van (10 people plus all their stuff...) and headed out.

Once we got there, Sarah and I set up the tent we were sharing. Then we sloshed back through the mud, grabbed our gear, put it in our tent, and found whatever staff members we needed to talk to. I found Joanna (actually, she found me), who was the other public affairs staff member. We found schedules, and I started taking pictures. The cadets continued arriving and setting up. Friday evening pretty much consisted of in-processing, setting up, getting the cadets into flights, and The Building of The Fire. Well, the excitement consisted moreso of The Positioning Of The Grate Legs So The Grate Will Fit On Top, but whatever.

Around 2200, we headed out on a night hike. As our group walked through the woods, we observed several items, such as a vest, that we picked up as we walked on our way to the flashing SOS beacon that we saw. Unfortunately, we weren't supposed to a) pick up the items or b) find the beacon, so when we were informed of this by the second group, we melted into the woods in embarrassment at our prowess, skill, and observational abilities. Melting into the woods (and I use the term "melting" very loosely) meant that we had to rely on our cat-like vision to navigate around puddles, trees, logs, mud, other people, etc. Judging by the sound effects, most of the hikers did not have cat-like vision.

After a midnight staff meeting, we headed to bed (and I am also using the term "bed" loosely). A train roared by every so often, it was freezing cold, and the ground was bumpy. I was on the verge of sleep when my tent buddy said, "Would it be a bad time to say that I have to go to the bathroom?" We escaped CQ and went off (at least the girls were allowed to use the bathroom in the house...finding that out was a story all to itself, involving awkwardness and near-hysterical giggling after the incident occurred). Then, after we had gotten back to our tent...the cadet in the tent a couple inches away from ours started snoring. I'm glad to know that at least one person slept fairly well, I'm sure.

Finally, in the morning, around 0630 or so, Sarah and I rousted ourselves out of our tent. We bemoaned our one hour of sleep as we stalked to the bathroom to prepare for what we knew would be a long day. We both had a hatred for the birds, who chirped loudly, cheerfully, and incessantly. They had gotten a full night of sleep, so why couldn't they just shut up and let us be tired and grumpy, we reasoned. After breakfast and getting wood for the fire, Bravo Flight went on a hike to identify safety hazard. My camera and I attached ourselves to Bravo. After the hike, one of the cadet officers, Matthew, taught us a class on shelter building. After going over some basics, he had each pair of cadets build a shelter. Then, he walked around and identified what he liked, or what he saw that could be problems, with each shelter.

Next, Alpha and Bravo flights had a class on fire building. Then they set fire to the cadet commander's tent. NO! Then they split up into four groups and built fires. Then they tried to light them. Some had better success than others, by which I mean, they all got them lit -- it's just that some went out after about ten seconds. Then we had lunch.

After lunch, the cadets were taken out to the woods where there was a very large log laying on the ground. Each flight was given a cross-cut saw and instructions, and the competition was on! The flights were motivated, and they were really close. It took close to an hour to saw through, and at the end they used a log as a lever to break the bark on the underside of the log. After that, we moved the log to camp, put it next to the fire, and used it to sit on. Of course.

Okay...have you ever wondered how you transport people from a plane crash out in the woods to an ambulance on the road? It's called a litter, and the next thing we learned how to do was using one. Basically, you put the victim (but never call them that -- you make up a name for them and call them by that name if necessary) in the litter, strap them in, and off you go. Random Bit of Trivia: You can tip the person upside down and they won't fall out of the litter. So our motto is: We may drop you, but you won't fall out! Comforting words to calm the quaking soul... I personally was carried in the litter for about half of a half of a journey -- it was interesting, and by that, I mean the treetops were pretty, but it was a little scary listening to the commentary, which centered on warnings of obstacles and near-drops.

The rest of Saturday was a few more classes, supper, closing formation, and a night hike with the litter (and its occupants). Saturday night, even though the same cadet snored again, I slept much better. Maybe exhaustion level is related to the ability to fall asleep.

Sunday morning was it...the exercise. Somewhere out there was a (simulated) plane crash, and its pilot. We had to find him and get him out. My camera and I headed out with Alpha Flight, and we marched around in brush for quite some time, and then struck out through some wood. It was raining slightly, fairly chilly, and muddy. We came across an open area -- I couldn't quite call it a field, but it was fairly open. Bravo Flight had arrived before we had and was already scouring the area. We found pieces from the airplane, and when I arrived, the medics were already tending to the victim, named Dan. His legs were duct taped together, and he was loaded into the litter and we headed out. We all met up at camp and had closing formation. Okay, here's the funny part: During closing formation, the sky turned from completely gray to completely blue. Go figure.

We packed up...and...left. Pretty much. It was sad. And I have mentioned pictures...they are all on facebook. If you don't know how to see them, contact me and I'll send you the link. I frankly was too lazy to upload a hundred here when they're just a couple clicks away :)

Thanks for reading!

A Blog Post

I'm starting to get a compulsive-blogging feeling, brought on mainly by the fact that I haven't blogged in 16 days. So here is an update, with promises to blog again. Next week. With pictures. Yep :)

I ought to put something, like a paragraph, in here about Easter, mostly because it happened and this blog documents happenings for those of you who are fortunate unfortunate enough not to be here with us. We had some of my mom's relatives over, and had a nice time visiting with them. We also did some church things, namely, a church breakfast, and a cantata by the choir (said cantata involved several of us who sang in the choir, did sign language along with one of the songs for a special effect, and ran the sound system and videotaping).

Last weekend, our friend Kim had a birthday party :) About 8 girls went over to her house for a sleepover. We had a fun time playing some games and talking. The next day, our Awana club had its 2nd annual in-house olympics. We've been practicing the games for it for several weeks, and all the clubbers did well. I was the line leader for the Green Team. We came in fourth place, but we still had fun. The Blue Team came in first, and that was the team with Hosanna and Josh, with Jessica as a leader.

A few evenings ago, Jessica and I headed to town. She had a political meeting, and then she was going to the college library to do some research and read a book that she has to read for college. I went along because I wanted a change of pace. We parked at the White Inn, which is where the political meeting was, and then walked down to the ATM machine that was at the drive-through bank. Jessica hopped from sidewalk crack to sidewalk crack. I considered walking the opposite direction. After the bank, she headed back to the White Inn, and I strolled down to the park and sat on a bench and did my math. After I started getting goosebumps (why did I not bring a jacket? I asked myself), I headed into the library. Then I did several more lessons of math.

(Okay, okay, okay...the last sentence is a total lie. I didn't even open my math book. I have a book at the library that I read every time I go there -- it's taken me several months and I'm not even halfway -- so I read that instead. Sigh. Doing several lessons of math sounds a lot better, though...)

The library closes at 8:00. Jessica was supposed to drive down and get me before then, but I could tell the librarians were ready to close, so I put my book back, grabbed my math, and walked back to the White Inn (which was an adventure all to itself...however, since I don't feel like posting *that* on my blog for the world to see, if you're interested, just contact me somehow). I got to the van before Jessica did. So of course there was only one thing to do: hide in the back and say "Hello, ma'am," in a low voice, to scare her. I need to work on my guy-voice...

Next stop....the college library. I figure that I'm the only person ever to do Algebra 1 there. It was interesting to see the college kids. Jessica made the observation that college students are not nearly as mature as she thought they would be (I guess she would know). That explains why she was hopping on sidewalk cracks again. But I still had to act like a mature highschooler. :P

And then, McDonalds. We were hungry, and Starbucks was too expensive. So we got some food and located a table and sat there and did our respective school work. I felt much better about doing my Algebra 1 there, as opposed to a college. Colleges seem to have a pervading atmosphere of intellectual things, like trigonometry. In McDonald's, however, the pervading atmosphere is one such that Algebra 1 ranks quite near the top -- possibly above the top-- of intellectual-ness. It made me feel better about myself, is what I think I'm trying to say.

Several tables away from us (and on the other side of a wall) was a table at which Bill, Jane, Doris, and Mark were sitting. I am pretty sure that is what their names were. They had several very interesting (and somewhat loud) conversations, on politics, space, health, and so on. Finally, toward the end, we hard on of them say, "How do we get out?" We could only assume that these four people (and they were all the "senior citizen" age) had been sitting in McDonald's for quite some time; days, even; potentially weeks, unable to locate the exit. At that point, it had gotten fairly late, so we went home.

So that about brings us up to speed. Add in school work and the sundry activities that we're involved in, and you've pretty much got it. And I think that wraps up the post for today, folks!

Ethan and Ashley's Wedding, and Signature Sound

Last Saturday our family attended the wedding and reception for Ethan and Ashely, a sweet couple that we've known for many years. The wedding was really nice, and...blue! Yes, the favorite color for both of them is blue, and there were blue lights and decorations.

There was low lighting, which presented some problems for taking pictures! This is the bridal party.

And again...it's a clearer picture.

The bridesmaids were so pretty! Rachel, Jordan, and Shiloh made their dresses.
After the ceremony, everyone filed outside. (Below are Reuben, Elizabeth, and their dad.)

We all waited outside for the couple so we could throw birdseed at them.

You can really see the birdseed against Mr. Crook's suit.
Then we waited at the reception hall. These next three pics are the reception hall.


We had these cool, blue, glow-in-the-dark bracelets so we wouldn't get lost :)
As we waited, we decided to go outside and take pictures of us girls.


This is the cake.

But that wasn't the end of the day! We left the reception at shortly before 6:00 because Ernie Haase and Signature Sound was coming to town!

The pics are a little blurry too...but I think you can get the basic idea. I am hoping to regain my hearing by fall, however.






There were a lot of people.And then!! We got a picture of our family with Ernie Haase himself :)
Okay, this is too funny not to put in. After we put this picture on facebook, our friend James wrote out what he thought we were each thinking. So without his permission (please?), I shall put it here for everyone to enjoy and go into hysterics over :)

"Dad: "Hahaha! And here I thought Ernie Haase worked for Haagan-Daas! What a crack-up!"

Mom: "I have SO much stuff to do when I get home. Enough already."

Jessica: "This is so great! This is SO GREAT!!!! THIS IS LIKE GREAT! LIKE GREEEEEEEAAAAAAAATTTTT! Can I touch him? It's really him? ITS REALLY ERNIE HAASE!!!!!!"

Erika: "Let me model appropriately..."

Annetta: "Oh, such good times with dad! Oh, and Ernie Haase made it....that's nice."

Lydia: "My knees are locked...I'm gonna....topple over......but wait--don't forget to smile!"

Hosanna: "This is pretty cool. Ernie almost looks as good as me."

Joanna: "Oh, there's a camera--here, I'll smile."

Katrina: "Zzzzzzzz"

Josh: "I wonder if anyone notices it's past my bedtime?"

And of course, Jessica had one more thought....

"I can't wait to post this on FB! I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!! I am going to be SO COOL!!!! I'm not even going to use Ernie's last name...we'll be on a first name basis, like Bart and Ernie in Sesame Street!""

The End :)

Life

So, here I am again, staring at blogger's "Create a Post" page, dripping peanut butter on my keyboard... *pause while I lick it up* *okay, all better* I have titled this post a very generic, blah "Life." Life, in and of itself, is not blah, but it just seems that "life" is a boring handle to attach to something that is so...un-boring. Maybe it's good that it sounds boring -- sort of like reverse-psychology, so we don't get over-excited like we might if "life" were actually "Mad Adventure That You Will Die From" when it really feels like that :) (Before you click the x, let me assure you that that is as philosophical as I wax. We will now delve into some much more interesting topics, such as Joanna's birthday party.)

I have my "Pictures" folder open, and going in chronological order, the earliest blogable occurrence was Joanna's birthday party. Grandpa, our friend Elizabeth, and her mom came up too. Joanna turned 9 the end of February, and we had...

and
Yum.

This picture does not do it justice. It is the barn roof that we shoveled. Annetta, Lydia, Hosanna, Katie, Reuben, Elizabeth, Aaron, and I went back two days later to finish shoveling. We still didn't get *all* of it before they had to do chores and we had to go to Awana, but it's melted now anyhow. That big drift of snow that reaches up to the barn eaves is what we shoveled off.

For the past couple days, it has been amazingly spring-ish. Yesterday and today were decidedly more chilly, but we had some awesome days. This meant that we could go out on the porch roof and do schoolwork!


And that brings us all up to date! Schoolwork, Awana, schoolwork, CAP, schoolwork, oh, and don't forget about the laundry!

And my African Violet plant. He bids you farewell.