To begin with! This month has been pretty much packed. Poor Mc. Donald's has only seen my face about 1/4 of this month--vacations have taken me away a lot. Same with Rootbeer, my cat, and I think he's still getting used to having me home right now.
On my first day of summer break, my trip to Branson MO with my band took place! It was a blast! I loved going to a city that was obviously Christian and conservative. Denver's the complete opposite I often feel, so it was nice to be reminded that there ARE Christians out there that aren't at church or youth group. :) My friends can testify that I said I wanted to move to Branson probably at least 20 times. You could walk into a regular gift shop and find Christian T-shirts! I mean, honestly, how cool is that?! I ended up buying three new Christians Tee's. :) Also, when the band and I were at a show, a pianist came up and talked about how amazing God is, and how she wanted her playing to glorify God! Right there in the middle of a show!! I think I about cried, to be honest; I had wanted the band to maybe hear a testimony, or someone speak about God that way, and it happened! I don't know if it touched anyone in the band, but weather it did or not, I was totally blessed.
We were in Branson for about a week. While we were there, we played at four locations; outside the Branson Belle cruise ship, at the Dixie Stampede, at a Chinese show, and at the amusement park Silver Dollar City (before we got rained out xD). But most of our time was just being together, watching fabulous shows, shopping, quacking at each other when we Rode the Ducks, etc. :)
If I had to choose a favorite part of this trip, it'd probably be when we watched the show in the Branson Belle cruise ship. That's where the pianist talked about God. :) But I liked the show not only because of that, but the magician was absolutely hilarious, and the musicians spectacular. I think a lot of us enjoyed that show. (Any band kids reading this? Sissy Dog! :D). I also really enjoyed Silver Dollar City. My family doesn't really get into amusement parks, so I sadly don't go very often. This trip reminded me of how epic roller coasters are.
I also enjoyed getting to know some of my friends better. I learned a lot about myself as well, and I think we came back closer and more understanding of each other. We just got a new band director this year, so we're going to need to band (haha) together similarly to how we did on this vacation.
Here's a few of my best photos taken on the trip (sorry; we weren't allowed to take photos at the Chinese show or the Dixie Stampede):
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| Ride the Ducks |
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| The Branson Belle |
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| On board the Branson Belle cruise ship |
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| Pianist and string player on the Branson Belle |
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| My above all favorite flower, hydreas! Taken in Silver Dollar City |
Thus, I really, really enjoyed that first vacation! :)
After my trip to Branson, I had a few days to catch my breathe before my family and I went on a vacation with some family friends to New Mexico! :) We were around the Taos area a lot I think. There, we star-gazed, went to Bandelier National Monument and Tent Rocks National Monument, a science and art museum, shopped, hiked around at Capulin Volcano (northern NM), and got to know each other through the 4 or 5 days we had together.
The two national monuments I mentioned were really cool. Bandelier was a location where Indians used to live, so you could go into the cliffs and see their old homes. It was really hot that day, and we did a lot of hiking, but I enjoyed it immensely. Tent Rocks was even hotter, but on one of the two hikes through there, you could go back into a canyon and see the crazy rocks up close. I liked that hike the most, and I got to know Jessica, our family's friends' 20 year old daughter pretty well on this hike. She's an artist, so she was able to give me a few pointers on photography, and we both suffered through the heat together xD . It was this vacation out of the three so far that I took the most photos; around 800. :D I'm very pleased with myself.
I had a great time on this vacation, but that's about all I have to say... xD Sorry if I disappointed anyone. Here's some of my best photos of the trip:
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| Bandelier National Monument |
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| Inside an Indian home in Bandelier National Monument |
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| Bandelier National Monument |
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| Tent Rocks National Monument |
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| In the canyon at Tent Rocks National Monument |
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| Tent Rocks National Monument |
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| Prickly pear cactus near the top of Capulin Volcano |
*Phew*...okay, one more vacation. When we got back from this trip, I had about a week before heading back to New Mexico to go camping with my Aunt Janine and her family!! I just got back a few days ago, and I had a blast. :D We went fishing, swam ( A LOT xD), got to know each other, and...well, swam some more, haha.
Day One: Dad drove me down there to meet them, and my Uncle David drove us down to our campsite in Cimarron Canyon. There was six of us in total: Me, my aunt and uncle, and my cousins Chris (21 yrs), Julie (11 yrs), and Andrew (9 yrs). We set up camp at a beautiful, secluded location right next to a gurgling creek, which my cousins and I often swam and played around in. :)
Day Two: Uncle David and Chris went on a hike, while my aunt, the kids and I went fishing at Eagle Nest Lake. We spent all day there, and Andrew pretty much submerged himself in the water. I think he enjoyed swimming around 10 times more than fishing. :) Julie and I went thigh deep into the cold water and fished, while Aunt Janine (a photographer herself) went around and took photos. I caught a total of two fish. When we went back to camp we had them for dessert (weird dessert, I know, but it wasn't really during supper, so...). Before we had our fish, us cousins spent some quality time together goofing off at an empty campsite. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip. :)
Day Three: David and Chris went hiking again while the rest of us fished, this time at some ponds. At noon the boys returned, and we had lunch before us cousins got to spend some more quality time together by swimming upstream at the creek by the camp. We had fun climbing over fallen logs, splashing each other, etc. Afterwards, we all got dry as we played some board games.
Day Four: We packed up all our stuff to head to a hotel 8 in Taos for one night, where we could take our first and only shower of the trip (it was amazing :) ). On our way down, we swam in Eagle Nest Lake (Julie wanted to swim in it this time) and had lunch.
Here's where I interrupt the style in which I'm telling you of this vacation to tell you a story that took place on day four...
After swimming in the lake for about an 1 1/2 hours, we all headed back to the car. Wanting to get back into regular clothes before heading to Taos, I grabbed my jean shorts that were in the backseat, and opened the trunk to try and find a dry shirt to wear. I was distracted at this point when my uncle told me not to open the trunk (it was packed, and things could've fallen on top of me), so I hastily grabbed a shirt before hopping in the car, and we drove off. About fifteen minutes from the lake, I looked down at my left hand to find it...bare. Within five seconds, I remembered that I had taken off my purity ring (given to me when I turned 16 months ago) so that the verse on it wouldn't be chipped away by the water. My ring has a few chipped off letters due to me not taking it off during showers the first few weeks I had it, and so I quickly learned that if I wanted the words to stay put, I couldn't wear my ring when in the water. Thus the reason it was off while we swam at the lake.
A bit nervous, I checked my jean shorts for the ring, which was where I had placed the ring before swimming. It wasn't there.
And so like any girl attached to a purity ring, I got emotional, and my uncle pulled over to the side of the road while we all frantically began to search for the lost ring in the car. Everyone but Andrew (who was stuck in the back of the car) looked under the seats, on the seats...everywhere. But it was no where to be found. David agreed to go back to the parking lot to see if we could find it (I was pleasantly surprised at this). Getting back into the car, we turned around to head on back to the lake.
And guess what? I found my ring within 15 seconds!! :D It was a bit dusty, but other than that it was just fine. :) My aunt suggested we celebrate (like the lady from the parable of the Lost Coin in the Bible) by getting some ice cream and everyone eagerly agreed. :)
God is so kind to us. :)
Back on track now!! After our ice cream, we got to Taos around 6 P.M. After settling in, us cousins watched Disney channel for a while, before we saw an ad for the new movie that had just come out that day, Pixar's Brave. I turned to Chris and said slyly,
"Hey...we don't have plans tonight." At this he lit up, and the kids got excited. Aunt Janine walked in then and Chris asked if we could go see it. She agreed, and we got to the movie theatre in time for the 6:50 showing. The movie was great, and I loved watching it with my cousins. :D It made it that much more exciting.
Day Five: We headed to our new campsite by the Rio Grande River, about 20 minutes from Taos. There the kids and I swam and goofed off in the river, and later on Chris, Julie and I rafted down a portion of the river in their own raft, while Aunt Janine went down in an inter-tube. Uncle David and Andrew watched us and later picked us up. We had s'mores that night for the first time (fire restrictions kept us from them at the last campsite). :)
Day Six: David and Andrew went rafting this time, and Julie decided to join them. Chris went down the inter-tube, and I joined my aunt in taking photos. At a rapids area, Chris climbed out of the inter-tube, saying it'd be unsafe for him to go down the rapids (shallow water plus a tall guy like himself=dangerous), so he said I could go. I had a blast! :D Almost tipped over a few times, but still. Afterwards, we all had lunch before going on a professional rafting trip. Everyone but Janine went, due to her back. That was fun as well.
Day Seven: Packed up, swam one last time in the river with the kids, and met up with Oliver at Pizza Hut in Taos. Then Oliver took me home, and we arrived at about 10 P.M. and yesh.
THE END. xD
Here's some photos:
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| Eagle Nest Lake |
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| The creek at Cimarron Canyon |
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| The Rio Grande |
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| On the road home |
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| Perch caught at Eagle Nest Lake |
And now everything has calmed down for a while. :) Rootbeer can see me home, Mc. Donald's can actually expect some hours from me, marching band can be thought of again...
So what's the plan for the rest of the summer? Not much. Marching band and work will take up a lot of my time now. My cousin Marian will be coming down to see me for a day right before school starts (!), and I'm hoping my job will give me yet ANOTHER week off in late July so I can go on my first missions trip. I guess we'll see how that works out. :/
That be all. If you survived this huge entry, congratulations!! Until next time!
~Kathy
