Summer Happenings

Its been awhile that's for sure!  I came home from Alabama(yes I made it home ;)  and my computer went wonky.  Here at the house by no means am I exaggerating to say that I am the Computer Tech here.  If there is a problem with any electronic device of any shape or form I'm usually called on.  I'm not saying I'm a pro because just about anybody can jiggle wires or press buttons; I guess its because I have *ahem* patience. 
Unfortunately, I couldn't fix my computer so I had to take it in.  Now that I got it back its time to do some updating! 

I successfully graduated!  After years and years of English, Science, Math and other subjects that had rules that made you wonder what crazy person came up with it, I 'm finished with high school. 

No sooner that I got home from Alabama I headed out east with Mom, Sarah and Emily to North Carolina for a week.


The Biltmore

 

A conservatory kind of thing near the Biltmore

 

 

 

Horses on the farm near Biltmore

Of course we saw lots of dogs on the trip much to my delight:)

A stuffed warthog inside the hotel we stayed at.

Inside another hotel we stayed at

Beachin!

Apparently an horrific bridge to Emily and mom.

Entrance to a plantation.

The house but isn't the original.  Apparently the first two were like shacks.  Nice upgrade:)

Lots of different beverages on this trip.

So far its been a pretty good summer!

Coming home today...uh, PSYCH

So I was supposed to come home today.  We pull up to the airport entrance to see this:

One side of the road was blocked off because it was broken up.  Police and a towtruck watched to make sure that cars didn't get stuck. 
So after forging across the river, we get a call from dad saying that my flight has been cancelled.  But we still needed to go in to reschedule and that kind of sort. 
We get in looking like half blown half drenched rats. 

And so we waited in line.

For an hour...and didn't move.

There was only one lady handling our line and there were two men holding it up because I guess they wanted to leave today. 
To top things off, I took dramamine before we left on our hour drive.  I was about sleeping on my feet.  Once the two men moved, the line started moving.  Course, we didn't stand there without being entertained.  A huge cricket had made its way into the airport.  First, a lady slightly tapped it with her foot squashing its juice out of its limp crunchy body.  And then a pretty pretty tall man finished it off by walking across not noticing that he just murdered a innocent bug. 
So we got to listen to the commentary on the bug. 
Once we got up to the desk, we had to figure out whether or not my flights would get me home.  We decided it would be best to wait till tomorrow. 
So then we headed back home.  After nodding on and off on the ride home, I crawled into bed and slept.  I had woken up at 2 or 3 because of the tornado sirens.  Thankfully, it was north of us.
So we're gonna try again tomorrow:)  

Each to the Beach

Saturday- all of us girls and Amy(their mom) packed the beach bags and cooler into the trunk of the car and headed off to the beach.  I had forgotten how hard it is to take pictures in the bright sun because you can't see the screen.  So I hoped that my fingers weren't in the way and that I was getting a picture of something good.

People who decided to plop down in front of us.  Oh well. 



When we first went into the water, I was a bit paranoid.  I wasn't wearing my glasses so I couldn't see all that clearly.  I'm paranoid of sharks anyways, but then I couldn't see the ocean floor so I was worried about crabs and such. As far as I'm concerned, those pinchers could whack a whole toe off.   So once we waded back up to the shore, I put my glasses on. Even if water splashed up on them, it was better to have some sight then none. 
There were quite alot of dolphins being sighted.  We even got pretty close to them.  A fish popped up out of the water and the next thing you knew a dolphin gobbled that thing up mid air.  We weren't close enough to touch them or anything though. 

I was looking at the boats and such not really paying attention to around me when I felt like I was getting poked by something sharp on my back.  Well, like I said earlier, I'm already paranoid.  So when I look over my shoulder to see a baby crab starting to crawl up my back, I flip out.  I stood straight up and started trying to get away.  Of course, the others thought it was funny but hey.  Theres no telling what that crab might have done if I just let it crawl up my back. 

Tower of Sand Balls.  The unknown wonder of the world.  ;)

A couple of us are a little redder face than before we went to the beach.  Plus our arms, legs, neck and some of our back.  Haha, eh, maybe I should've put more than one coating of sunscreen on.  Needless to say, people at church knew that we went to the beach. 

Katie, Me, and Kimberly

Despite being sunburned, we had alot of fun.  Just gonna be using a lot of aloe vera for the next couple days. 


Romping in Botanical Gardens

Friday-The guys finished their day of school and we being the adventurous people who didn't want to sit home all day, went to the Botanical Gardens.  Its a place to walk around with different kinds of gardens in it.

Community Garden

This was growing in the compost pile.  However it was pretty.
:)



Caleb, Kimberly, Christian.  Aren't they sweet?

Fountain in the rocks

More of the Community Garden

I've seen this one around Alabama alot.

They call this art?

He's a biggin!

Koi Fish pond:)

Desert Garden

Christian posing for me

The Rose Garden

The Larger Koi pond

Caleb bombing my picture

Hoping to catch a turtle

Caleb managed to scoop a turtle out being lured in by bread, but no sooner that he got it on land that it bit him and escaped back into the water before the rest of us could get to his spot.  Then we ran out of bread so we couldn't lure them in.  A couple foreign people tried to catch the big koi fish as they passed through.  One of the guy's plan was to try and scoop it out of there.  The only thing he scooped out though was water which landed on Christian who was next to him.  It was pretty funny:)

We did see a snapping turtle head, but he wouldn't show the rest of himself so I couldn't get a picture of him.  His neck was really long so when you first see him, he looked like a snake. 

 

It was a fun day:)  Katie who had stayed home, made pizza dough so that when we got home we could make our own individual pizzas:)  It was good.

Thus concluded our Friday.





Skip a day to Thursday

Wed was a normal day. 

Thursday, Me and Kimberly went to Tropical Smoothie to get smoothies.  Hence, the name tropical smoothie.  We no sooner pull into the parking lot when Kimberly's phone rings.  She picks up an 8 year old boy from school everyday and watches him till his mom comes home.  His mom said that he was complaining about his back and neck hurting and that she needed to pick him up early.  So we backtrack to his school, pick him up and take him home.  We were there about an half an hour to an hour when his dad came home to take over. Course, time flew by as we talked and played with their Yorkie, Chipper.

Chipper

 So we headed back to Tropical Smoothie and got a smoothie and half of an sandwich.  It was pretty good!  Mine was called Sunny Day.  It had Kiwi, Mango, Orange and Banana in it.  I didn't want bananas in it so they switched it with pomegranate for me.  It was awesome:)

We then rented The Lone Ranger and us three girls watched it while folding laundry. 

Day 6 in AL

You're like, but Rachel, what happen to all the other days?  Hmm, well I didn't really take pictures,and nothing too significant happened.  Day 1 and 2, Thursday and Friday was spent traveling and being sick. 
Saturday Day 3:  shopping and going to a b'day party and egging people's houses(gasp)  Its actually not as bad as it sounds.  You're hiding Easter eggs in certain people's yards as quickly as possible(you don't want them to catch you in the act)  Then leave a sign on the door telling them that they've been egged.  One of the eggs is empty but its symbolic saying, Jesus has risen.
Easter Sunday Day 4.  Side note, Their church is super duper big.  Their 3000 to about the 100 people in my church can be a bit overwhelming!  So to start the ball rolling we worked(watched kids) during the 1st service.  The 1st service is more traditional, music wise.  Plus they have their own orchestra if that isn't amazing!  Back to watching kids, in the class that I was helping watch, there were a total of 23, 4 and 5 year olds.  I don't think they were too rowdy.   After that, Sunday school.  Theres enough people for guys and girls to be separated into different classes(going by grade!)  Then there was 2nd service.  In the beginning there were a couple baptisms then the service continued.  The 2nd service's is like the music you'd hear on the christian radio.  They have their own band and what not. 
Then Home.  A couple families that the Millers know(the family's last name that I somehow didn't mention in the first posting??) came over.  So after a great meal, hiding eggs for the littler kids, laying on the couch, I went into one of the bedrooms and laid there. 
Monday Day 5:  hmm... Monday...I think Monday was just an ordinary day.  One of the girl's had to work from 7:30 to 3 so I didn't see her till then.  Played Go fish with the boys.  Helped clean the house a bit... yeah.  That was Monday.

So now onto Tuesday!  The day that I decided to take pictures. 
All of the Miller kids have SAT testing this week so they left around 8.  Their mom had to work so it was narrowed down to me, Mr. Miller and Christian(he's the youngest of the bunch.)  Mr.  Miller showed me some things I could do if I wanted then he left for work. 
Once Christian finished school, we went out to pick up some of the larger sticks that had fallen.

The stick pile

Watering the bushes because we can;)

Did some laundry, played Farkle with Christian then everybody came home.  Had Tacos for lunch.  Afterwards me and the 3 boys sat down and had an intense game of Go Fish.  I know.  It just sends chills down your back when you imagine it.  Hairs standing straight up on your arms, I bet. 
Visited with Kimberly(oldest girl)  before she had to go to work then moved into Katie's room(2nd oldest girl)  Before long, I was outside playing tag with Christian and Andrew(2nd oldest boy)  and their friend, C.J. , their neighbor.  Jumping through bushes and scaling over the chain link fence is something I haven't done for a while.  Did get a bit scraped up, not sure when it happened though.  The boys continued playing, I, on the other hand went into the house. 

Around 5 or 6, Caleb(the oldest boy) had a ball game.  So I tagged along with him, Kimberly and their mom to the ball park.  After having Kimberly try to explain what was happening, half way through, I just gave up on trying to understand.  I guess we play the less complicated version of baseball at home.  Tried a peanut, DID NOT like it. 

Peanuts is like their major crop down here I guess?  Just like we have a popcorn festival they have a peanut festival.

There was a couple balls that made it over the very very tall chain link fence to where people are sitting.  One of which was two benches from hitting me and Kimberly.  We sat at the top of the bleachers. 

Caleb can throw a pretty fast straight ball which may be the highest of compliments, but compared to the pitchers on the other team who were throwing every which way and that, it's a pretty high one in my mind.  Caleb's team won by one. 

Afterwards, we came home, ate something, and went to bed.  I think we didn't get home until about 9 or so.  Hope to get more pictures taken as the days progress:)