Blueberries

On the Hunt

Cheap Entertainment

Feed the Sheep

Safety Lesson

Night Fishing

Follow That Van

From Corvallis to Sandy

Get a Load of That

Jump On It

I'm working on a house in Corvallis, Oregon this week.

Back with my Cousins

Reflection

one year of blogging today

The View

Gone

fishing and camping with my Uncle Jim

Chickens

Firewood

Hitchhiker

How Would You Like Your Eggs?

Just Cuz

 

Chicken Little

Hay Day

On Trip Part 1

Today is the day I go down to Oregon. Seeing as I am not sure about internet use, I am writing this before I leave. And also seeing as I have been writing about taking pictures at Summer Hummer all week, here is a link to their website. Be sure and stop by the photo section to check out the pictures. While I didn't take all of them, I took a portion of them. I mainly focused on action shots. If you see a staged picture of kids smiling into the camera, odds are I didn't take it. If you see an unstaged picture, the chances are higher that I took it.

Gift on the Go

First off, I would like to wish my mother happy birthday. We had a nice dessert as a family with both sets of grandparents in her honor.

Today was a busy day. I dropped my little sister off at Summer Hummer, and then drove back to town to play pickleball. I was really on top of my game today, and it was a really fun day at pickleball. I then drove back to Summer Hummer and took pictures for the rest of the afternoon.

When the campers left today, it was time for the leaders to have fun. We had pizza and then played dodge ball. This was no ordinary game of dodge ball. The lights were turned out in the gym and blacks light and a strobe light illuminated the people and the dodge balls. Well, most of the dodge balls, some you couldn't really see until they slammed against your body at high speeds. It was an intense game of dodge ball, and although it was a bit bizarre and a bit hard to see, it was one of the funnest games of dodge ball I have ever played.

When I got home, it was time to get ready for my mom's birthday party. It is also was the time I bought a train ticket to Oregon, for tomorrow morning. It was a bit of last minute thing to go down tomorrow, but a plan to go to Oregon has been in the works for several days. So the rest of my night after the party has been spent getting ready to leave for around 10 days to Oregon. I am excited, but tired.

Picture Perfect

Today I took pictures at Summer Hummer again. I get a bit spoiled by getting to use a really expensive camera with a nice lens. The lens was nice, but it took a bit to get used to it. It has a 70-300mm lens. Basically, it takes really clear pictures of things far away, but can only take pictures of things far away. This means I have to be far away from the object I want to take a picture of. This can be difficult at times, especially when active children are involved, and has taken some getting used to. I also was in charge of group portraits for a while today. I was a bit nervous at the thought of being in charge of this, but it went fine.

That's the Way the Ball Bounces

As with any sport, the referees in pickleball make mistakes and questionable calls. Especially considering the refs are the people on the side the ball bounces on. This means the other team decides whether the ball you hit was in or out.

Most the time, it is not a problem. Today, however, a few of the other teams calls really got to me. They shouldn't have, but they did. They threw me off my game, and I didn't play well. Some people play great when they are mad, I play terrible. Next time I need to not let it bother me so much. It is just a game, and we are all there to have fun.

Winning is not the most important thing, playing my hardest, having fun, being a good teammate, and being honest are all a lot more important things when it comes to life, sports, and especially pickleball.

Pocketless Photographer

Today was the first day of Summer Hummer camp held at my church. For the second year in a row, I am on the media team. I take pictures of the over 850 campers at the week long camp.

I took over 500 pictures today. Next time, I need to wear shorts with pockets. I had stuff I needed to carry around, but my shorts didn't have adequate pockets, so I had to wear my coat. This isn't usually so bad, but when it is 85 degrees out, it is no fun to have to wear a coat. Other than that, things went fine.

Costco and More with Cousins

Today it was nice to visit with my cousins and their family. We went to lunch at Costco with my cousins family and grandparents. I never knew there was so much fun stuff at Costco. We sampled the reclining couch and listened to the sample music. There is more than just food to sample at Costco.

My aunt and uncle helped prepare a meal at our house. It was burritos, which is one of many favorites of mine. We also had delicious apple and blackberry crisps for dessert. The cousins enjoyed our trampoline. And our entire family really enjoyed seeing them and having them over at our house. You are invited any time.

Amazing Masking

Today I worked with my dad with a few other people to fix up an old house. We were painting the interior of the house to get it ready to sell. I helped with the painting, but my specialty was getting it ready to paint.

I spent a solid five hours today masking so the rooms in the house could be painted. Certain walls were not being painted, some floors staying, as well as doors, windows, and counters. They all needed to be masked. I liked this job, but I didn't like that it was 45 minutes away from our house each way. We had a nice dinner with my dad's parents, my grandparents, to finish off the day.

Frames, Family, Food, and Fireworks

Today started out with less fire and more work. I painted three window frames at a house my father is working at. It was a bit time consuming because I had to be careful that no paint got on the newly installed carpets, or freshly painted walls.

After that, I went out to the lake and helped get ready for a dinner at my grandparents. It was especially neat to be able to have the meal in their new house. After all the work they have done, progress that has been made, and time I've spent working on installing the floor, it was amazing to see it in use. It is now a house, and was "officially inaugurated." It was a really great meal. Too great, I ate a lot. My sister made a Oreo ice cream cake thing that was excellent. I didn't want any of it to go to waste or melt, so I ate more than my share. She ended up putting it in the freezer so I guess I didn't really help anybody out.

It was also nice because my cousins came up from Oregon to the meal. I got to see their family and my newest/youngest cousin. We also brought our dog Red out to the lake for the first time in his life. He swam so far out in the lake I was a bit worried he wouldn't be able to make it back to the shore because I have never seen him swim. He loved it out there, at least until the fireworks started. Then he really didn't like it.

Our poor dog really did not like the fireworks. He was really scared and panicked when we got home. He followed my every move in the house. My siblings and I watched our neighbors shoot off fireworks. My mom wanted to get a picture of us sitting on the tailgate together. It was fine until the cable holding the tailgate snapped, hitting my little sister in the leg. I felt sorry for her, but she handled it better than I would have. It was a fun day.

Rain Pain

Today I did not ride my bike to pickleball. It was good that I didn't because it was pouring down rain on and off all morning. There was even some thunder and lightning. It was also good because my sister and mom came to pick me up. So for the first time in the two plus years I have been going there, they got to see me play. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to win the one on one game I was playing while they were watching me, but I almost did.

Bad Bucket

Today I ended up doing what I said I might on yesterday's post. I went jogging and swimming. I also went to my sister's soccer game. Around halftime, I really had to go to the bathroom. It must have been the Gatorade I chugged with dinner.

Both the port-a-potties had red above the handle. I assumed this meant "stop" they are in use, as a green would indicate you can now "go". Both showed they were in use, red, for a long time, and I really had to go.

Finally, I went and knocked on one of the doors. Nobody answered, so I went in. The door lock was broken, so it only showed that someone was in it. This was good and bad news. Good because I could finally go to the bathroom, but bad because I had waited a long time for nobody, and the lock on the door didn't work so somebody could barge in without notice. Thankfully, nobody did and I could finally relax and watch the rest of the game which my sister's team ended up winning.

Poorish Pickleballing

Today I rode my bike to pickleball again. Although, it didn't really help me warm up for the games. I didn't play very well for the first half of pickleball. Or maybe I would have done way worse if I hadn't rode my bike. I think my bad playing had to do with a lack of sleep, and surplus of food that was left over from my party. I think I will go jogging tomorrow, that and swimming if the weather is decent. After pickleball, two-thirds of my family went to the theater and watched a movie. It was fun.