The bus ride was pretty long and we got lost for a little while- neither Pat nor Betty managed to see the sign for the road we were supposed to turn on, but we backtracked and found it. There were bears with chainsaws and a golf cart in the air that made Kim really excited and after more questionable navigation moments we got to Sam's grandparent's lakehouse!
That is a view of the house from the lake, but of course we came upon it from the road so that is not what we saw first. We did see Sam and Gwen, who were there waiting for us! It was very very hot, so we unloaded the bus (we had SO MUCH stuff) and threw everything somewhere in the house, then changed into bathing suits and went swimming! The nasty nasty plant that used to live at the bottom of the lake was gone, so we could go in without fear, and there was jumping off a roof and flipping and throwing Andy and Sam and horseplay and jokes and floating and noodles and fun!
Gwen finally called us for dinner, and we went and ate delicious hamburgers and hot dogs and there was so so much food, but we were all really hungry from swimming, so it was great! After dinner and drying off, we got on the boat to go ride around the lake. I took my camera and took lots of pictures- here are some highlights!
Travis and Bobby really did not want me to take their picture, so I took about 5.
Kim wanted me to take her picture, and she smiled so pretty with Victoria and Katie Jo.
Sam and Vladimir tried to prove their manliness by taking the 3-horsepower little boat. They ultimately failed.
We went past Willow Run, where the Septemeber retreat will be- I am so sad that I will be in another country and miss it!
Here is Katie O and Betty's back. They are looking at the pretty lake!
See how pretty the sunset was?
I think that first sunset picture proves that I may have some skill as a photographer, but maybe it is just my camera's special sunset setting.
When we got back, I took a picture of Bobby that I really like for some reason.
We all got off the boat and went inside because it was getting dark, and hung out and talked and talked and Sam and Vladimir pulled out their guitars, and Sam broke a string, but insisted it wasn't important. I took pictures of the guitar playing, and Lindsay stuck her foot into one of them!
There was lots of great talking and sharing and we went out and looked at the stars and they were very pretty and made me feel really good. Around 1, we decided to play Life and it turns out that Life is hard to play when it is late and you are tired and the game just gets longer and longer and longer. We started changing rules to try to make it end faster, but it still lasted until after 2. When we finished the game, Katie O and Kim and Katie Jo and I retired to our back room, and everyone else (except Pat and Betty and Gwen who were sensible and had gone to bed much earlier) apparently stayed up much later talking and talking and talking. Sam made some videos for me, but I haven't figured out how to put them on here yet. I have heard many stories of late-night hijinks, but, being as I was not there and having no guarnatee of their veracity, I shall not repeat them. The next morning, we had Hot Pockets and cereal and I ate more breakfast than I ever eat, but I was hungry! Then we hurried out to swim and swim in the lake because it is so so much fun. We came in for lunch (sammiches and leftover hamburgers and hot dogs and I ate a ton yet again!) and then we went out on the boat, leaving Pat to enjoy some peace and quiet (she doesn't do water and swimming). We went all the way out to the middle of the lake and jumped in on our floats and noodles and there were more hijinks (Sam and Vladimir are of course most responsible). There are lots of waves in the lake, and they make you drift and drift. Most of us held onto each other's floats, but Betty and Katie Jo floated very very far away- Sam and Vladimir stole a float from someone and went out to them, but then there were 4 people very far away that we couldn't get to come in! We eventually got them corralled back to the boat and then we figured out that there was a rope we could hold onto and then we wouldn't float away from the boat! We held on until we'd floated nearly across the lake and then we all got back on the boat and drove back towards our cove. Through skilled boat-manuevering, Gwen managed to get us to float right back into our cove by 5 in the evening- just in time to shower before dinner! Some people went in before others, and a few stayed in the shallows of the lake to wrestle and splash and play chicken. I took pictures!
I swear Sam was above water when I hit the shutter on this picture- he is in that big splash bit, having been shoved under by Vladimir.
Sam tried to get his revenge.
The next three are a sequence of events involving Sam and Andy.
And, finally, those are Sam's legs, not Vladimir's, in my this picture.
I went up and colored some butterflies with Pat for a while after that, and then I showered (it felt really nice to be clean!) and we had delicious lasagna for dinner and we hung out and talked and talked and were waiting for Sam and Vladimir so we could discuss some stuff, and it got dark, and we talked and waited and talked and finally Vladimir poked his head in and said we could come outside 'cause they'd planned something for us. We all went down and sat on a tarp by the lake and Vladimir and Sam played their guitars and sang and it was so beautiful and sweet and we all loved it. We made them play the song at least 10 times for us, then we went back inside and shared for a while and we all cried and then we went out and looked at the stars and the world was so beautiful and amazing and I can't describe it. Once again, Pat and Betty and Gwen went to bed at a sensible hour and we stayed up talking and giggling and Katie O and Andy and I played Upwords and were bad at it, but that's okay. We finished the game and Andy fell asleep on the floor almost immediately while we were hanging out. I took a picture, but forgot to upload it. Oh well. I did upload this picture of Katie and Kim!
Some of us went to bed about 1:30 because we are smart, but the others stayed up really really late again (once again, I'm not sharing the stories I heard). We woke up Sunday morning to Pat and Betty arguing like an old married couple (Betty insists this is just for show because she knew we were listening) and had breakfast and packed and cleaned and hung out and took a few group pictures and loaded up the bus and ate lunch and went home. Andy fell asleep on the bus ride back and Bobby was restless and hyper and Victoria threw things at him and we said goodbye to half the group when they got off at Okran and then to the rest in Hopewell and Andy's mom drove us (me and Travis and Bobby and Andy) home and I took a nap and went and played Frisbee with Billy and Andy and Lynn and Mary and Laura and Cindy and Kathy and Tim and Nicholas (Stephen was with a certain girl and apparently too good for us) and Lee and Elizabeth and Joe and Turner and I'm probably forgetting some people but I hope not. It was hot hot hot and humid and we sweated and sweated and Bill laid out twice and was so so soaked by the end of the game and it was so much fun and my team got slaughtered but that's okay. I slept a whole lot last night, and I'm very very sore, but I'm so happy.
I'm a little sad that this was the last time that particular DYC will ever be together like that, and that it may be a very long time indeed before I see some of these people again, but that is the way life is.
There's gonna be a bon voyage shindig at church on Wednesday (6:30 pm). Everyone's invited- e-mail me if you need more info (oneseventy@gmail.com).
Gender: 59% female.
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2 comments:
Thanks for going and getting that song stuck in my head AGAIN!
And I took pictures of the shallows, but the lake gets awful deep awful fast and Sam's neighbor's boathouse is perfect for jumping. I just didn't take the camera out into the water for reasons that should be obvious, you know?
Kari. I CANT BELEIVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! you said you had a picture of me when i crased after playing upwords but you forgot to upload it OW WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so embaressed!! just kidding . I know you didnt mean it that way ..........I hope.HMMMMM Ow WEll Talk to ya soon!
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