Movies

Today I watched two movies, one far better than the other. My brother, cousin and I went to watch a movie in the theater. It was one of those movies that is only minutely entertaining because it is being watched in a theater. Tonight, the cousins and grandparents watched a movie. It was on a much smaller screen than the first movie I watched today, but was a far better movie.

Back to the Barbecue

Today I went to a salmon barbecue for Western alumni and incoming students. It felt weird to reflect and remember that it was just a year ago that I attend the same barbecue as an incoming freshman. It feels like so much has changed since then, but time has gone by quickly at the same time. What didn't change was my lack of success with the prize wheel, or the tastiness of the salmon.

Wild Waves

Summer Shootout

Today I went on an adventure of sorts with some friends. It was fun. Summer is slowly coming to an end. My feelings on this are mixed. Summer has been fun, but college is amazing. I can't wait to go back, but in the meantime, I will enjoy the rest of my summer with family and friends.

Late Start

Today I went to pickleball. It starts at 8:30am, but I rarely get there before 9:15am. But it goes until around 11:30am, so I still can get in a full two hours of pickleball.

Family Fun

Today all the cousins on my mom's side of the family were here for a family reunion of sorts. It was a lot of fun. We all went swimming and enjoyed using our new raft, the juggernaut. We ate an amazing lunch and the week in review dinner was excellent. Tonight is a movie night at our house.

Watts Up

Raft Craft

Today we finished building a raft that was started yesterday. Actually, collecting milk jugs to build it with, was started months ago. The raft used 128 milk jugs to provide the buoyancy. That is a lot of milk. The raft can hold up to 900 pounds. It was fun to build and is even more fun to use.

Ferry Fun

Cousin Fun

The past few days, it has been a lot of fun having our cousins here. We have had fun swimming, kayaking, eating, playing, and all sorts of other fun activities.

Potsticker Success

Today I helped to make some potstickers/dumplings. Actually, it was quite a few. After the food processor died, I helped chop some of the ingredients. Then a team of us helped to wrap them. It takes quite a bit of practice to wrap them correctly. Mine didn't look very nice, but I tried. They sure tasted good at dinner, especially after all the work that was put into making them by me and everyone else.

Sister's Seattle Celebration

Today was my sister's 18th birthday. Happy birthday Sarah. You are a great sister and I look forward to us both being at the same college starting in the fall. To celebrate her birthday, we all went to Seattle. It was a lot of fun.

Birthday Bash

Today we celebrated my sister and cousin's birthday. Neither was actually today, but the dinner celebration was. It was a great meal with an equally great dessert. It was fun to swim with the cousins earlier in the day, our dog even joined in on the fun.

Work Day

Today we had a work day out at my grandparents. They had a load of rock delivered and spread out on their driveway. A crew of us helped to even it out in parts. We also helped cut up some firewood. It was a workout cutting and hauling firewood. But it was neat to see everyone working together as a group getting a lot done and we were all treated to a nice meal.

Dog Days of Summer

Late last night/early this morning, I helped my father prime some walls at his school. It was a bit sad to prime a white wall white so it could be painted white especially so late at night, not to mention hard to tell what I had already primed. I usually walk the family dog at night, but was a bit too tired after priming. As if knowing I owed him, I went in to my room to go to bed and our dog, Red, was sprawled out on my bed with his head on my pillow. He took up almost all the bed and he wouldn't move.

Eating Fully

Today we had a nice meal with our cousins. Until very recently, I was a rather picky eater. There were a lot of foods I thought I didn't like, so I never ate them. Over the past year, I've become awakened to such foods as blueberries and pineapple. Man was I missing out. A year ago, I wouldn't have taken full advantage of the opportunities to be had at today's meal. But tonight I piled on the bean sprouts and cabbage, and lots of other great stuff and loved it fully.

Work Out

Today I cleaned our house. Our entire family was working to clean our house before our relatives arrive. The house is looking pretty good and it is nice to have our relatives here.

Friday

Today I went running. I also continued to clean my room. My relatives from California arrive tomorrow. I am excited for them to be here, it will be fun. For some reason, I thought it was Saturday all day long. I guess I will have two Saturdays in one week.

Piece of Cake

Today I baked a cake. I've always enjoyed eating cake, but never really knew the baking part of it could be so much fun too. It may have been the first cake I ever baked from scratch. It didn't look as pretty as I hoped, but it tasted wonderful. I baked it for a friend leaving for college. Good luck at college Eric, it won't necessarily be a piece of cake, but it will be sweet.

No Need to be Alarmed

I have yet to use an alarm clock this entire summer. I like to wake up when I wake up. This has worked out fine all summer until yesterday. I woke up a good hour after pickleball started. I really wanted to get there on time because someone I hadn't seen in almost a year was going to there. Thankfully, I still made it to pickeball. I should have learned my lesson from this and should start using an alarm, but I probably won't.

Painting Surprise

Today my mom and sister were at Western for freshman orientation. The past two days, while they have been gone, my dad and I have been remodeling my parent's bedroom. We repainted and moved stuff around. It was a lot of work, but it looks really nice. We were a bit rushed trying to finish before they got home. Thankfully, my sister was in on the surprise, so she was able to help stall a bit on the way home.

Running in the Rain

Today it rained. It was actually a bit refreshing to go running in the rain as opposed to the oppressive heat. I started to clean my room, but didn't make much progress. It seems like my room is always in need of cleaning. I don't understand or appreciate that fact.

Great Game

Today I went with my grandparents, father and sister to the Mariners game. We rode the ferry over. It was a nice trip. The Mariners won, which is always nice. Walking around the streets of Seattle after the game was interesting. We joined a mob getting free drinks, watched a street performer do some pretty amazing magic tricks, and were surrounded by chanting people playing drums. Overall, it was a really fun trip.

Not on a Roll

Today I went running. My ankle felt fine while running, but I tried to not twist or turn it at all because that would have hurt. These things take time to recover, but it is hard to give them that time.

Firewood and Friends

Today I helped cut some firewood. It was hard work, but it is nice to be able to help someone out. This afternoon, I hung out with some friends from college. It was a lot of fun. I miss my college friends and look forward to seeing them next year and hopefully making a lot more of them.

Mall Hop

Today I went to pickleball, although I probably should have given my ankle a day to recovery. In case you are wondering, I didn't face the man today. Not because of my ankle, although that would have been a great reason, but because he wasn't there today. This afternoon, I went to the mall with my sisters, mom and grandma. I normally don't like the mall very much, but it was fun to be with family.

Return and Relax

Today was my first day back home after house sitting. In fact, it was one of my only days home in the past month. I helped my father paint for a while but spent most of today relaxing.

Wake up Call

Today I went to pickleball. My ankle is a bit sore, so I didn't play too well. Partially because it hurts to move, but mainly because I was afraid of making it worse. The people we were house sitting for were supposed to get back home around 4:00pm. Things got a bit hectic when they called and said that got an earlier flight and would be home around 1:00pm. Thankfully, we were able to pack our stuff and clean up the house before they got back. It was nice staying at their nice house on the lake for a week and even nicer to get paid to do so.

Unweak Week

Today was our last full day house sitting. We had a friend over and had a good time hanging out before he goes to college. Not using sunscreen all summer finally caught up with me, but I have no real regrets just pain. My grandparents came over for a nice barbecue dinner with my family. Overall, it was a nice way to wrap up a great week of house sitting.

90 Degrees: Not Right for Running

Today I went running. I do this quite a bit, but it isn't normally over 90 degrees when I do so. It was very hot and I was very thirsty. It felt really good to be able to jump in the lake after my run.

Good Work Done

Today I went to a giant community work party that did various jobs around the school my dad works at. It was neat to see over 200 people joining together to work towards a common goal. I used a brush cutter machine that was quite a beast. It was a workout trying to control the machine, and I sort of think it was more in control than I was. But I was able to get the job done as were countless other people on countless other jobs.