How Times Flies, Part 2

     So the next leg of our journey included driving up to Michigan to visit my OTHER set of awesome cousins.  Aunt June, Uncle Tom and their three adopted asian kids, Alexander (the oldest), Grace (the cutest), and Samuel (the youngest).

     We did lots of cool stuff at their house.  I watched Alexander and Chris play halo.  Mary, Alexander, Chris, and I watched everything from the early episodes of Stargate Atlantis to the 3rd season of Doctor Who.  Btw - I LOVE DAVID TENNANT (some people will know who I'm talking about, haha).  The majority of the funnest...wow I really am tired, listen to me!  Funnest indeed!  Anyway, that day that was very fun was spent at Kensington Lake.  We ate lunch, went kyaking, took lots of pictures, and then drove around to the other side of the lake to swim and ride the gigantic water slide.  Those who have seen my new gmail profile picture...I got it from here.

                        That's Aunt June and                 That's me and my little
                         Uncle Tom.  They're                 adopted cousin Grace!
                        really generous to us.                 She's ADORABLE!!!!

        That's me, Chris, Mary, and                     That would be Chris and 

     Alexander at Kensington Lake.                Alexander having a water fight.

      Yep...that's my brother, haha                  Wouldn't want to get near that...

       That's Sam (right), Katie (middle),                That's Sam and Aunt June out
        and Grace (left) in the backyard                 boating on the lake.  Sam really      
                 swimming pool.                                    freaks her out sometimes :)

         That's me trying to sink a                       That's mom and Aunt June
    battleship with my x-ray vision.                 sitting in beach chairs talking
         Naw...its just toy boat :)                       about something unbelievable.

     All in all, my stay at my cousins house was pretty awesome.  Love you guys!!!  We stopped at my great aunt's funeral on the way home from Michigan.  The funeral was very sad and dark and was held in a small catholic church.  It made me really think about the joyfulness there was at Mr. Spiro's and Amy Calderone's funeral and the joy that we have in Jesus.  Even in the death of someone, we're still rejoicing not only for them but yet again for God's great love and mercy.  Ok, everyone!  That's all for now!
~Anna

How Time Flies, Part 1

     Oh my heavens, how time flies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ok, bit of an update.  At the end of June, I went to a swing-dance party at the Smith's house.  I didn't dance because I was frightfully tired and couldn't have kept it up anyway.  I did do line dances and group dances just for fun though.  I talked with my amazing friends and ate some food (though I wasn't very hungry).  Summer nights and massage lines...YES.

     The next night, I went to go see LORD OF THE RINGS EXTENDED: RETURN OF THE KING EXTENDED EDITION.  It was pretty amazing.

     The next day I was going to go to the beach, but didn't get to.  Gas money was incredibly expensive, I had a math camp with two neighborhood girls (who are adorable btw), and we needed to pack for our upcoming vacation.

     After picking up Chris from his Halo party at Drew's house on Saturday night (July 2), we headed out of the state to Ohio where my awesome cousins live.  I'll get to them a little later.  We drove...and drove...and stopped at Starbucks...and drove...and drove...and just for a change we drove some more!  Fun, right?  To top that night off, our hotel registration had been delayed and we couldn't find a hotel to stay in.  For some weird reason, the 4th of July weekend had skipped all of our minds and gone to the clouded skies for the day.  So we slept in the car, which wasn't all that bad.  Now that I look back on it, I believe that God took that 4th of July thought and threw it out the window for our own benefit.  Maybe he wanted our family to bond more, learn to work together, etc.  In any case, there was never a happier family to exit that crowded car the next morning.  I'm just glad we didn't have the dogs with us...

My cousins are absolutely incredible.  They live on a partial farm place WAY out in OHIO.  They used to have horses but they gave them away a couple years ago, so now they have Go-carts and vegetable gardens and lots of green fields to do awesome stuff in.  Currently, they have two dogs, a billion cats, and a bunch of baby chickens.

           Chris driving the Go-cart. hehe               Me driving Peter's car :D

              4 of the billion cats hanging                    Chris and Peter having a

              out on the porch.  The black                  superhuman fight on the 

             one comes from a wild litter.                trampoline that never breaks.                                 

           The two dogs.  Annie, the black           The new baby chickens they
           and white one...and Samwise the        recently got are adorable.  My
          Brave (from Lord of the Rings.)         little sister is obsessed with them.

           Me, Rachel, and Mary sitting               Rachel let me try a face mask
          on the porch.  Rachel took me               while I was there.  I could
          shopping earlier.  She's amazing :)          seriously pass for an elf...

We went to the fireworks, listened to music, played video games, flied Peter's RC planes outside, and went swimming in the river.  Yay!  I love my cousins!  Peter...and Rachel...and Elizabeth...and Sarah (who is traveling).  We made two major stops on our vacation.  This has already been quite a long post and I would not want to bore you with all the things that I am doing this summer.  Soooo...let's hear from you guys.  What vacations have you guys taken so far this summer??  Love to hear from you!!!!!!!!

"The next moment is as much beyond our grasp, and as much in God's care, as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is as foolish as care for a day in the next thousand years. In neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything."  ~CS Lewis.