Praise the Lord (PTL)

It's been a few days since the last time I blogged, but I swear, I have a good reason! On Saturday, my uncle, Cousin OMY, and Aunt "Rose" arrived about 5 PM or so. Since then, several things have happened. Some rather interesting things.

Today, my cousin OMY, Aunt "Rose", mom, sister, and I all went to Greenfield Village in Dearborn. For those who don't know what Greenfield Village is, I'll explain. It's a collection of old renovated or reproduction buildings such as Noah Webster's home. We've been going forever, but this was my cousin's first trip there. We left early because the forecast was that there were going to be severe thunderstorms around 1 or 2 PM. Luckily, the downpour didn't start until after we left at around 3 PM. While there, we walked around and looked at all the houses and such. One of the buildings was a country doctor, whose "extract of wahoo" you can see in the picture. My cousin and aunt wanted to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride, so they went and got a "ride pass", which lets you go on unlimited amounts of carriage/Model-T/carousel rides. My mom, sister, and I went and got ice cream in the meantime. I got a vanilla cone dipped in butterscotch, but since it was about 90 degrees F outside, quite a bit of the ice cream dripped onto my hands, arms, around my face, and surprisingly, my legs. I had to lean over so that I didn't drip anything onto my clothing. After that, everyone, minus my mom, rode a Model-T around the village. It was the second time that I have rode them, but this time it seemed shorter. Also, the driver wasn't that talkative, either. Because they had free rides to the merry-go-round, Aunt "Rose" and OMY decided that they couldn't pass it up, and rode around once. It was pretty funny. By then, the rain clouds were coming in, and we decided that it was time to leave. Speaking of funny, both my cousin and aunt wore their "Effingham Hearts" t-shirts that they picked up at a Walmart's in Illinois on the way up. I swear, they must have been stopped 5 or 6 times and asked about it. One guy even hesitated to pronounce Effingham, which is pronounced just as you would imagine it to be. Hilarious!

Since my relatives arrived, we have been playing either Apples to Apples or Mexican Train Dominoes almost every night. Last night, I won two out of the three games that we played of Apples to Apples. Let's just say that the experience was... interesting. Most of the times that we play, it's after desert, so we're a little hyper. We now have this new catch phrase that we randomly burst out and say: "PRAISE THE LORD". Just like that, in all caps, while raising your hands, palms out. You would probably recognize it if you saw it. Anyway, we've shortened it to PTL, which I texted to a bunch of my friends, who returned my message with equal parts confusion and bemused. For now that's all, but I'm sure that there will be many more interesting to report in the next few days.

Duck Crossing

Not much has happened in the past few days, but there were a couple of occurrences. A few days ago, we were out shopping or something, and we came to where there were a bunch of cars were stopped on the road for no apparent reason. Well, when we got to the front of the traffic jam, we saw that there was this gaggle of geese taking their sweet time to cross the road. It was hilarious! As soon as one crossed our lane, a new one would start the journey across the road. We were probably stopped for at least 5 minutes. And this wasn't on some deserted country road. No, this happened on a busy road, and traffic was stopped in both directions. Pretty funny-not something you see everyday.

Today, my mom and I went to the Secretary of State to get my driver's permit. We had to bring in a bunch of things in, and I had to take an eye test, but now, I can drive with authorized persons (by my parents) above the age of 21. While out, we went everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I swear, after getting my permit, we must of criss-crossed all over town 5 different times. Exhausting. The weather has been really mild here for the past few days; the mid 70's, partly cloudy. My mom called aunt "Rose" (who FYI is still in the family picture, "watching in SD" ) to tell her how hot it is up here, seeing as it's around 100 F where they are. Apparently, she responded by telling my cousin, who is coming up to Michigan with my (and her) aunt and uncle, to make sure she packs a coat because it's going to be cold up here. I can just imagine them being bundled up in 70 F weather. Anyway, they are supposed to arrive here on Saturday. The date used to be Friday, but the widow people who are re-doing the windows decided that they are coming on Thursday. That's all for now... until my relatives come up.

Coming Home

We got back home safe and sound on Monday. At midnight. We wanted to leave around 7 in the morning or there abouts, but it didn't quite turn out that way. First my brother lost his phone, and we had to spend an hour or so looking for it. Unfortunately, it was on vibrate, as phones always are when you lose them. We searched all over the house and called it a few times, but it didn't turn up. So we left without it, or so we thought. It turned out to be in my brother's suitcase the whole time. Funny how that works out. The plan was that we would eat at Panera Bread a while down our route. But before we ate, we had to stop at a fireworks store and stock up on firecrackers and fountains before we left Missouri. We didn't even get to St. Louis until 1 PM, and there's still 10 hours after that. Before we continued, we had to stop and get ice cream at Ted Drewes. I got a brownie and cookie dough concrete (which is like a blizzard), which was so big that it served as my lunch, as well. Even Kingsley got a doggy dish (he was so full from the ice cream that he didn't eat dinner). Add in a few more stops, and a spilt tea, you get home at midnight. Much hasn't happened in the past few days, we're just recovering from vacation. We have been watching episodes from The Man from U.N.C.L.E, which is really funny, even if it's not trying to be. My dad wanted to see it, since he remembered watching it as a kid, and we rented the first few DVDs from the library. Apparently, there's always an attractive woman who helps, but she has to get her hair mussed up. It's like a rule, or something. I also finished my third book for summer reading, The Pearl by John Steinbeck. It was an easy read, and I found it quite interesting. Now I only have one more to read.For now, that's pretty much it.

One More Video

I forgot to put the best video that I took of the fireworks. This is either the beginning or the finale, I can't remember.

Summer Lovin'

I have a lot to catch up on since I haven't blogged in a few days. The first thing I should talk about is our trip to Monett, Missouri on Tuesday. My grandma, mom, sister, two aunts, and I went along for the ride. Our first stop was going to be a restaurant to eat lunch, but the first one we went to was only open Wednesday to Saturday! In fact, almost none of the stores in Pierce City were open on a Tuesday. Strike One. So, we decided to try this restaurant that my Aunt "Rose" had seen written up in the Monett newspaper, a Cajun restaurant. But when we drove to where it was supposed to be, there was a "for lease" sign on the window. Strike Two. Feeling a bit discouraged and saying that we could always eat at McDonald's (yeah right) we decided to try this restaurant that we had seen driving to the first restaurant. It was called The Bayou, and it actually turned out to be the second restaurant that we had tried to find. The story behind it was that the owners moved up to Monett from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina (I think), where they had been chefs. I got this "po-boy sandwich" with roast beef and debris gravy. Although it was extremely messy, with gravy dripping down my hands, it was soooo delicious. While there, my aunt threw up in the bathroom from backseat car sickness (she drove after that), and we saw this sign with the daily specials on it that said "1/2 off whole muff," as in muffeletta. After eating, we went into Monett to see this house where my great-grandparents lived when they were alive. We wanted to take pictures of it, but someone was on the porch. We didn't think that it would be appropriate to take pictures. We also stopped a really cool coffee shop called Mocha Jo's. I didn't get anything, but it was very interesting.

Other than that, there have been a few incidents. There were several spectacular falls off the wave runner. Uncle "Frank" went on it for the first time in two years or so, while doing donuts, fell off. He couldn't get back on, so he tried steering from the water, but he only accomplished going in circles. My brother had to go out and save him. The other one was when my aunt and my cousin went on. For the first few minutes, they went really slow. As soon as they picked up the pace, my aunt, who had the key, was thrown off the wave runner and it stopped immediately. My cousin had to drive it back in by himself while my aunt swam in. It was about that time when I saw lightning, and we had to go in.

Yesterday differed a little from the other days. My sister, parents, and I all drove up to Kansas City to take a tour of UMKC (University of Missouri - Kansas City). It was a four hour drive up from the lake house, but I was bribed with Hi-boy's. For those who don't know what Hi-boy's is, let me enlighten you. It is a 50 year old chain of 3 fast food restaurants in the Kansas City area that have the best hamburgers, onion rings, and tater tots. I got a plain hamburger and a cookie dough cyclone (which is an ice cream treat like a blizzard). The tour of the campus itself was pretty boring, but it was a nice campus. There was some mix-up with the tour, so we got a private tour, which was nice. I got a t-shirt with their mascot the "angry kangaroo" on it. Sounds vicious, doesn't it. We also went by my grandparent's house, but no one was there. That's pretty much the summation of my activities in the past few days.

Some More Pics and Video

Down at the Lake

Before I tell you the crazy events of today, I should probably tell what happened yesterday after I posted my last blog. Well, after breakfast, a bunch of my relatives and I went on a walk with all 7 dogs that were here (2 left today). After that, we spent most of our 4th of July at the lake swimming and tubing. The tubing part of our day's activities was interesting (for lack of a better word). I went twice with my cousin, who is my brother's age, and both of us didn't want to be whipped around in circles. Before I continue, I must mention that this is my Uncle "Frank" driving, while we are being helplessly pulled behind his boat. Not to mention that we got a new tube, which, if my memory is correct, goes much faster that the previous one. Needless to say, my Uncle "Frank" whipped us, not in circles, but by driving as fast as possible around impossibly fast turns. Not only that, but it started to rain while we were out, and while driving around in the boat, they felt almost like hail. All the kids at the dock and my other uncles took turns riding, and there were several spectacular wipe outs. Surprisingly (although I'm not sure why I should be), one of the most fearless was my 5 year old cousin, who after a crying after a wipe out, declared that she wanted to go again. Meanwhile, we (when I say we, I really mean my cousin) were screaming our heads off.

Fast forward to night and the fireworks display. As usual, they were awesome. They should be seeing how much money and work my uncle puts into them. And I must say that they started with a bang. Below is a video I took sometime during the display (sorry, it's sideways).

Afterwards, we went around the back and watched some of the firework displays across the lake, which were entertaining, as well. And other than desert and a game of Mexican Train Dominoes (which I won 2 of 3 games), that pretty much sums up our 4th of July.

Today, after taking a walk with my dad, a bunch of my cousins/sibling and I had to pick up all the trash left over from last night's fireworks display. Man, picking up little pieces of cardboard off the ground is pretty backbreaking, especially when it's super hot and humid, and the sun is beating down on you. Whatever happened to child labor laws?? Anyway, we (cousins/brother/aunt/uncle) went down to the lake, where we stayed until 5:30 or so. I swear, I put sunscreen on so many times, and still I get sunburns. Go figure. One of my cousins and my aunt and her husband left early in the morning to get back to St. Louis, so there were slightly less people down at the dock.

My dad came late because he was fixing Uncle "Frank's" wave runner, which is only used when my dad is down here (to fix it). When he arrived, all of us kids down at the dock took turns taking rides with my dad, using up all the gas up in the process. And thus, we reach the climax of today's events. My dad and I were going to go get gas, but from the start, we were having troubles starting the engine. We made it about halfway to the gas station when the wave runner died on us. We tried starting the engine a bunch of times, and a few times we got a few feet before it died again. Of course, the reserve tank was also empty. We finally got near the gas station and my dad started the engine again and took off before it could die again. Unfortunately, this was after we passed into the No Wake Zone. Even more unfortunate was that there was a water patrol boat that just happened to be passing at the exact same time. Contrary to the gossip spread by SOMEONE (who we won't name *cough* Frank) around the house, we were NOT almost arrested or strip searched. My dad, who didn't have any ID and just happened to have the registration told them the circumstances and we were let off with just a warning. After that, there wasn't much excitement. Right before we left the dock we went on a boat ride where my Uncle "Frank" went at breakneck speeds. At least, that's what it felt like. When we got back to the dock, we found that the wave runner had somehow escaped from the dock, and my dad jumped into the water to go get it. And that's the end of today's excitements.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July! This is probably one of my favorite holidays. I don't know if I mentioned before, but we're down at my Uncle "Frank's" lake house for the holiday. It's right on Table Rock Lake and it's super fun to go swimming, boating, etc. Of course, though, the first day we're here, it's all cloudy and rainy... and is supposed to for the next few days. So much for swimming, at least for now.
We drove all 15 hours down yesterday. Man, that was a long drive; almost as if we were driving across Montana all over again. The drive was a little better because we were actually were driving through civilization, but no matter. I don't think we've driven the whole way before. We usually stop in St. Louis to stay the night with one of our relatives that live there, but no one was there this time. We wanted to leave really early in the morning, but by the time we were all packed and ready, it was around 7:30 ET. We ate breakfast at Panera Bread and were finally on the road by 8 or so. There were some interesting things that happened along the way. For one, we passed this same truck that was carrying pick-up trucks maybe 5 times along the drive down, and it was in different states, also. When we were a few hours away, we passed this billboard and all it said was "Jesus." I wanted to take a picture, but wasn't quick enough. There were some other little things, but they shouldn't or don't need to be mention, most likely the former. When we finally arrived, Uncle "Frank's" neighbors were putting on their fireworks show. There were a bunch of people parked on the side of the road and when we passed, everyone looked at us weird as in, "What are you doing?" Not to be outdone, my uncles set off a couple of their own fireworks in a sort of a "firework-off." If those few are any sign of what is to come tonight (weather permitting), we are in for quite a show.
To get ready to leave was in a trial in itself. First, on Thursday, I graduated from Segment 1 of Driver's ed. I only got 4 questions incorrect on the test, which is pretty good. If I had gotten 100%, they would have given me Segment 2 free, but no worries. Then, on Friday, I stayed over my friend's house for the night because we were going to go to East Lansing and MSU. Unfortunately, their car got a flat tire, so they didn't have enough room in their other car to take us all. After being left home, I called my mom, and she was going to take us to Ann Arbor. Then, my sister got hurt and it was called off. At night when we were packing, the power went off for 2 hours! As my mom said "It's like the Comedy of Errors." But we got here, and that's all that matters. Now, it's fireworks time. Happy Independence Day!